When it was the Seven Hundred and Sixteenth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Zurayk replied to Shuman, “She hath sworn that none shall ride astraddle upon her breast save the man who bringeth her the clothes of Kamar, daughter of Azariah the Jew and her crown and girdle and pantoufle[FN#250] of gold,” Ali cried, “If I do not bring her the clothes this very night, I renounce my claim to her.” Rejoined Zurayk, “O Ali, thou art a dead man if thou play any of thy pranks on Kamar.” “Why so?” asked Ali and the other answered, “Her father, Jew Azariah, is a skilful, wily, perfidious magician who hath the Jinn at his service. He owneth without the city a castle, whose walls are one brick of gold and one of silver and which is visible to the folk only whilst he is therein: when he goeth forth, it disappeareth. He brought his daughter this dress I speak of from an enchanted treasure, and every day he layeth it in a charger of gold and, opening the windows of the palace, crieth out, ‘Where are the sharpers of Cairo, the prigs of Al-Irak, the master-thieves of Ajam-land? Whoso prevaileth to take this dress, ’tis his.’ So all the long-fingered ones essayed the adventure, but failed to take it, and he turned them by his magic into apes and asses.” But Ali said, “I will assuredly take it, and Zaynab shall be displayed therein.”[FN#251] So he went to the shop of the Jew and found him a man of stern and forbidding aspect, seated with scales and stone-weights and gold and silver and nests of drawers and so forth before him, and a she-mule tethered hard by. Presently he rose and shutting his shop, laid the gold and silver in two purses, which he placed in a pair of saddle-bags and set on the she-mule’s back. Then he mounted and rode till he reached the city-outskirts followed, without his knowledge, by Ali, when he took out some dust from a pocket-purse and, muttering over it, sprinkled it upon the air. No sooner had he done this than sharper Ali saw a castle which had not its like, and the Jew mounted the steps upon his beast which was a subject Jinni; after which he dismounted and taking the saddle-bags off her back, dismissed the she-mule and she vanished. Then he entered the castle and sat down. Presently, he arose and opening the lattices, took a wand of gold, which he set up in the open window and, hanging thereto a golden charger by chains of the same metal, laid in it the dress, whilst Ali watched him from behind the door, and presently he cried out, saying, “Where are the sharpers of Cairo? Where are the prigs of Al-Irak, the master-thieves of the Ajam-land? Whoso can take this dress by his sleight, ’tis his!” Then he pronounced certain magical words and a tray of food spread itself before him. He ate and conjured a second time, whereupon the tray disappeared; and yet a third time, when a table of wine was placed between his hands and he drank. Quoth Ali, “I know not how I am to take the dress except if he be drunken.” Then he stole up behind the Jew whinger in grip; but the other turned and conjured, saying to his hand, “Hold with the sword;” whereupon Ali’s right arm was held and abode half-way in the air hending the hanger. He put out his left hand to the weapon, but it also stood fixed in the air, and so with his right foot, leaving him standing on one foot. Then the Jew dispelled the charm from him and Ali became as before. Presently Azariah struck a table of sand and found that the thief’s name was Mercury Ali of Cairo; so he turned to him and said, “Come nearer! Who art thou and what dost thou here?” He replied, “I am Ali of Cairo, of the band of Ahmad al-Danaf. I sought the hand of Zaynab, daughter of Dalilah the Wily, and she demanded thy daughter’s dress to her dowry; so do thou give it to me and become a Moslem, an thou wouldst save thy life.” Rejoined the Jew, “After thy death! Many have gone about to steal the dress, but failed to take it from me; wherefore an thou deign be advised, thou wilt begone and save thyself; for they only seek the dress of thee, that thou mayst fall into destruction; and indeed, had I not seen by geomancy that thy fortune overrideth my fortunes I had smitten thy neck.” Ali rejoiced to hear that his luck overcame that of the Jew and said to him, “There is no help for it but I must have the dress and thou must become a True Believer.” Asked the Jew, “Is this thy will and last word,” and Ali answered, “Yes.” So the Jew took a cup and filling it with water, conjured over it and said to Ali, “Come forth from this shape of a man into the form of an ass.” Then he sprinkled him with the water and straightway he became a donkey, with hoofs and long ears, and fell to braying after the manner of asinines.