When he was sure that they were indeed gone and
that he was alone in the place, his heart was concerned to know
what was in the chest and he said to himself; 'I wonder what was
in the chest!' However, he waited till break of day, when he came
down from the palm-tree and scraped away the earth with his
hands, till he laid bare the chest and lifted it out of the hole.
Then he took a large stone and hammered at the lock, till he
broke it and raising the cover, beheld a beautiful young lady,
richly dressed and decked with jewels of gold and necklaces of
precious stones, worth a kingdom, no money could pay their price.
She was asleep and her breath rose and fell, as if she had been
drugged. When Ghanim saw her, he knew that some one had plotted
against her and drugged her; so he pulled her out of the chest
and laid her on the ground on her back. As soon as she scented
the breeze and the air entered her nostrils and lungs, she
sneezed and choked and coughed, when there fell from her mouth a
pastille of Cretan henbane, enough to make an elephant sleep from
night to night, if he but smelt it. Then she opened her eyes and
looking round, exclaimed in a sweet and melodious voice, 'Out on
thee, O breeze! There is in thee neither drink for the thirsty
nor solace for him whose thirst is quenched! Where is Zehr el
Bustan?' But no one answered her; so she turned and cried out,
'Ho, Sebiheh, Shejeret ed Durr, Nour el Huda, Nejmet es Subh,
Shehweh, Nuzheh, Hulweh, Zerifeh![FN#117] Out on ye, speak!'
But no one answered her; and she looked about her and said,
'Woe is me! they have buried me among the tombs! O Thou who
knowest what is in the breasts and who wilt requite at the Day of
Resurrection, who hath brought me out from among the screens and
curtains of the harem and laid me between four tombs?' All this
while Ghanim was standing by: then he said to her, 'O my lady,
here are neither screens nor curtains nor palaces; only thy bond
slave Ghanim ben Eyoub, whom He who knoweth the hidden things
hath brought hither, that he night save thee from these perils
and accomplish for thee all that thou desirest.
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