"Craig Shaw Gardner - Arabian 3 - The Last Arabian Night" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gardner Craig Shaw)

When Dunyazad had determined that a sufficient time had elapsed, and
also when the loud cries had ceased to emanate from the adjacent
room, she once again visited her sister and the king, who lounged
together beneath great squares of silk and the cured skins of exotic
animals.

"Ah, most assuredly," Shahryar said from behind half-closed eyelids.
"Ravishing. I shall have to partake more often. Now, what have I done
with my sword?''

But instead of giving him a most direct answer, Scheherazade
remarked, "Regard, O King! My sister, Dunyazad, has returned."

And Dunyazad, for her part, replied,''Pray, O sister, tell me one of your
tales of marvel, that I do so admire!"

With that, the king raised his eyebrows in interest. "Oh, yes, yes, I
suppose the sword might wait for a bit. Let us have a story by all
means!"

Dunyazad and Scheherazade then exchanged a secret smile, in the way
that sisters sometimes do. And Dunyazad found a place to sit among
the cushions, being careful not to mention those objects by name, since,
when she had been outside the chamber door, she had heard all that
had transpired within.

"Perhaps," Scheherazade said, "I might think of a suitable story."

And with those words, she firmly laid the path of her Destiny.
 Chapter the Fourth,
in which a- story is left hanging,
rather than a head.

And Scheherazade told the following story:

The Tale of the Merchant and the Djinni

"I have heard, O auspicious King, that once there was a great
merchant, revered among all of his kind, and known to marketplaces
great and small throughout all the civilized world. Great were this
merchant's travels, for he roamed the world looking for new wonders
to explore.

"So it was that this merchant found himself in a distant place upon the
passing of the old year unto the new, far from his family and
acquaintances. And further did he go for a walk in this strange land,
which was built on the edge of a beautiful but arid waste, and in the
course of this walk he did find himself traversing that space where
arable land gave way to desert. Truly, the merchant had come to a