I do thee a mighty great favour in the eyes of all the Jann.”[216] Thereupon Tohfah arose and kissed the earth and the queen thanked her for this and bade her sit. So she sat down and the queen called for food; when they brought a table of gold, inlaid with pearls and jacinths and jewels and bearing kinds manifold of birds and viands of various hues, and the queen said, “O Tohfah, in the name of Allah! Let us eat bread and salt together, I and thou.” Accordingly the Songstress came forward and ate of those meats and found therein somewhat the like whereof she had never eaten; no, nor aught more delicious than it, while the slave-girls stood around the table, as the white compasseth the black of the eye, and she sat conversing and laughing with the queen. Then said the lady, “O my sister, a slave-girl told me of thee that thou saidst:—How loathly is what yonder Jinni Maymun eateth!”[217] Tohfah replied, “By Allah, O my lady, I have not any eye that can look at him,[218] and indeed I am fearful of him.” When the queen heard this, she laughed till she fell backwards and said, “O my sister, by the might of the graving upon the seal-ring of Solomon, prophet of Allah, I am queen over all the Jann, and none dare so much as cast on thee a glance of the eye;” whereat Tohfah kissed her hand. Then the tables were removed and the twain sat talking. Presently up came the kings of the Jinn from every side and kissed ground before the queen and stood in her service; and she thanked them for this, but moved not for one of them.[219] Then appeared the Shaykh Abu al-Tawáif Iblis (Allah curse him!) and kissed the earth before her, saying, “O my lady, may I not be bereft of these steps!”[220] She replied, “O Shaykh Abu al-Tawáif, it behoveth thee to thank the bounty of the Lady Tohfah, who was the cause of my coming.” Rejoined he, “Thou sayest sooth,” and kissed ground. Then the queen fared on towards the palace and there arose and alighted upon the trees an hundred thousand birds of manifold hues. The Songstress asked, “How many are these birds;” and Queen Wakhimah answered her, “Know, O my sister, that this queen is hight Queen al-Shahbá[221] and that she is queen over all the Jann from East to West. These birds thou seest are of her host, and unless they appeared in this shape, earth would not be wide enough for them. Indeed, they came forth with her and are present with her presence at this circumcision. She will give thee after the measure of that which hath been given to thee from the first of the festival to the last thereof;[222] and indeed she honoureth us all with her presence.” Then the queen entered the palace and sat down on the couch of the circumcision[223] at the upper end of the hall, whereupon Tohfah took the lute and pressing it to her breast, touched its strings suchwise that the wits of all present were bewildered and Shaykh Iblis cried to her, “O my lady Tohfah, I conjure thee, by the