When the ladies were placed, the caliph turned towards them, and said, Ladies, when I shall acquaint you that I came last night disguised in a merchant’s habit into your house, it will certainly alarm you, and make you fear that you have offended me; and perhaps you believe that I have sent for you for no other purpose but to show some marks of my resentment; but be not afraid; you may rest assured that I have forgotten all that has past, and am very well satisfied with your conduct. I wish that all the ladies of Bagdad had as much discretion as you have given proof of before me. I shall always remember the moderation you made use of, after the incivility that we had committed. I was then a merchant of Moussoul, but am at present Haroun Alraschid, the seventh caliph of the glorious house of Abbas, that holds the place of our great prophet. I have only sent for you to know who you are, and to ask you for what reason one of you, after severely whipping the two black bitches, did weep with them? And I am no less curious to know why another of you has her bosom so full of scars. Though the caliph pronounced these words very distinctly, and the three ladies heard him well enough, yet the vizier Giafar did, out of ceremony, repeat them over again. But, sir, said Scheherazade, it is day; and if your majesty thinks fit that I shall go on with the rest of this story, you will be pleased to prolong my life until to-morrow. The sultan agreed to it, knowing that Scheherazade would relate the history of Zobeide, which he had a great desire to hear. SIXTY-THIRD NIGHT. Dear sister, said Dinarzade, about break of day, if you be not asleep, pray tell us the story of Zobeide, for, doubtless, that lady told it to the caliph. She certainly did, said Scheherazade, after that prince by his discourse had encouraged her to it. And it was in this manner that she satisfied his curiosity:-- The story of Zobeide. Commander of the faithful, said she, the relation which I am about to give your majesty is one of the strangest that ever was heard. The two black bitches and myself are sisters by the same father and mother; and I shall acquaint you by what strange accident they came to be metamorphosed. The two ladies who live with me, and are now here, are also my sisters by the father’s side, but by another mother; she that has the scars upon her breast is named Amine, the other’s name is Safie, and mine Zobeide.