lord, inasmuch as thy Highness hath favoured me throughout my life, so of thy grace now deign let me know the how and the wherein I have sinned against thee?” “O traitor,” cried the King, “unto this present I knew not any sin of thine;” then, turning to the Wazir he said, “Take him and make him look out at the window and after let him tell us where be his pavilion.” And when the royal order was obeyed Alaeddin saw the place level as a well-trodden road, even as it had been ere the base of the building was laid, nor was there the faintest trace of edifice. Hereat he was astonished and perplexed knowing not what had occurred; but, when he returned to the presence, the King asked him, “What is it thou hast seen? Where is thy pavilion and where is my daughter, the core of my heart, my only child, than whom I have none other?” Alaeddin answered, “O King of the Age, I wot naught thereof nor aught of what hath befallen,” and the Sultan rejoined, “Thou must know, O Alaeddin, I have pardoned thee only that thou go forth and look into this affair and enquire for me concerning my daughter; nor do thou ever show thyself in my presence except she be with thee; and, if thou bring her not, by the life of my head I will cut off the head of thee.” The other replied, “To hear is to obey: only vouchsafe me a delay and respite of some forty days; after which, an I produce her not, strike off my head[200] and do with me whatso thou wishest.”——And Shahrazad was surprised by the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say. Now when it was the Five Hundred and Seventy-ninth Night,