' Her advice commended itself to Zubeideh, who bestowed on
her a dress of honour and a sum of money, bidding her do as she
had said. So she at once ordered a carpenter to make the
aforesaid figure, and as soon as it was finished, she brought it
to Zubeideh, who shrouded it and buried it and built a pavilion
over it, in which she set lighted lamps and candles and spread
carpets round the tomb. Moreover, she put on black and ordered
her household to do the same, and the news was spread abroad in
the palace that Cout el Culoub was dead. After awhile, the Khalif
returned from his journey and entered the palace, thinking only
of Cout el Culoub. He saw all the pages and damsels and eunuchs
in mourning, at which his heart quaked; and when he went in to
the Lady Zubeideh, he found her also clad in black. So he asked
the cause of this and was told that Cout el Culoub was dead,
whereupon he fell down in a swoon. As soon as he came to himself,
he enquired of her tomb, and Zubeideh said to him, 'Know, O
Commander of the Faithful, that for the honour in which I held
her, I have buried her in my own palace.' Then he repaired to her
tomb, in his travelling dress, and found the place spread with
carpets and lit with lamps. When he saw this, he thanked Zubeldeh
for what she had done and abode perplexed, halting between belief
and distrust, till at last suspicion got the better of him and he
ordered the grave to be opened and the body exhumed.
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