Quoth Dunyazad, “O sister mine, an thou be other than sleepy, tell us one of thy fair tales, so therewith we may cut short the waking hours of this our night,” and quoth Shahrazad:——It hath reached me, O King of the Age, that the King of the Jann said to the Queen-mother, “Indeed Zayn al-Asnam hath not kept faith and covenant with all nicety as regards the young lady, in that he longed for her to become his wife. However, I am assured that this lapse befel him from man’s natural and inherent frailty albeit I repeatedly enjoined him to defend and protect her until he concealed from her his face. I now accept[61] this man’s valour and bestow her upon him to wife, for she is the Ninth Statue by me promised to him and she is fairer than all these jewelled images, the like of her not being found in the whole world of men save by the rarest of chances.” Then the King of the Jann turned to the Prince and said to him, “O Emir Zayn al-Asnam, this is thy bride: take her and enjoy her upon the one condition that thou love her only nor choose for thyself another one in addition to her; and I pledge myself that her faith thee-wards will be of the fairest.” Hereupon the King of the Jann disappeared and the Prince, gladdened and rejoicing, went forth with the maiden and for his love and affection to her he paid to her the first ceremonious visit that same night[62] and he made bride-feasts and banquets throughout his realm and in due time he formally wedded her and went in unto her. Then he stablished himself upon the throne of his kingship and ruled it, bidding and forbidding, and his consort became Queen of Bassorah. His mother left this life a short while afterwards and they both mourned and lamented their loss. Lastly he lived with his wife in all joyance of life till there came to them the Destroyer of delights and the Separator of societies.——And Shahrazad was surprised by the dawn of day and ceased to say her pleasant[63] say. THE TALE OF ZAYN AL-ASNAM. (_TURKISH._) _NOTE I._ I. The following version has been kindly made for me by Mr. E. J. W. Gibb, of Glasgow, author of “Ottoman Poems,” the “Story of Jewad,” and an excellent translation of the “Book of the Forty Wazirs.” It is alluded to in Vol. i., p. 46, of “Popular Tales and Fictions” (London: Blackwoods, 1887), etc., etc., by my collaborator, Mr. W. A. Clouston, a most valuable recueil, with whose dedication he honoured me. I now proceed to quote from Mr. Gibb’s “Foreword.” The book from which the following story has been translated was printed at Constantinople in A.H. 1268; and is entitled _Mukhayyalāt-i Ledun-i illāhī-i Giridli ‘Ali ‘Aziz Efendi_. = Phantasms from the Divine Presence, by ‘Ali ‘Aziz Efendi of Crete. The printer has given the following note at the beginning of the volume; it appears to have occurred in the MS. copy which he had.