the singing-women had displayed me before him; and he threw them red gold until he had enriched the poor who were present. I have reclined upon the bosom of my gentle-hearted husband, with the black eyes and the joined eyebrows.--When her father heard this, the light became darkness before his face, and he exclaimed to her, O thou abandoned one! What is this that thou sayest? Where is thy reason?--O my father, she replied, thou hast broken my heart in pieces! Wherefore dost thou pay no attention? This of whom I spake is my husband, and he hath retired to his private closet. So her father went thither, in a state of astonishment, and, entering the closet, found the humpbacked groom with his head upon the slabs and his feet turned upwards; and the Wezeer was confounded at the sight, and said, Is not this the humpback?--and he spoke to him; but the humpback returned no answer, thinking that it was the 'Efreet who addressed him. The Wezeer, therefore, cried out at him with a loud voice, and said to him, Speak, or I will cut off thy head with this sword! Upon which the humpback exclaimed, By Allah, O sheykh of the 'Efreets, from the time that thou placedst me here I have not raised my head: I conjure thee therefore that thou shew favour to me!--The Wezeer, on hearing the humpback thus address him, said to him, What sayest thou? I am the father of the bride, and I am not an 'Efreet.--Then said the humpback, My life is not in thy hand, nor art thou able to take my soul; so go thy way before he come to thee who hath treated me in this manner. Ye would not marry me to any but the mistress of buffaloes and the mistress of 'Efreets! May Allah, then, confound him who married me to her, and confound him who was the cause of it!--Then did the humpbacked groom address the Wezeer, the father of the bride, again, saying, Allah confound him who was the cause of this!--Rise, said the Wezeer, and depart from this place.--Am I mad, he replied, that I should go with thee without the permission of the 'Efreet? For he said to me, When the sun shall have risen go thy way.--Hath the sun then risen or not? For I cannot depart from my place until the sun hath risen.--Upon this the Wezeer said to him, Who brought thee to this place? He answered, I came hither yesterday, and a dust rose from the midst of the water, and cried out, and increased in bulk until it became of the size of a buffalo, and said to me words that entered my ear. Leave me, therefore, and go. Allah confound the bride and him who married me to her!--The Wezeer then approached him, and dragged him forth, and he went out running, doubting whether the sun had risen, and went up to the Sulṭán, and informed him of that which had happened to him with the 'Efreet.