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

"Yes, it is a pity," the king agreed. "After all that nice ravishing, too."

"Well, you are the king," Scheherazade replied ever so sweetly. "And if
you feel that it is important to dispense with any further ravishing, not to
mention hearing the end of my ever-more-dramatic tale, I shall
understand, even though such a decision shall cost me my head!"

"No, no!" the king declared. "I cannot have you face such a sacrifice!
My swift and terrible sword can surely wait until tomorrow night!"

"As you wish," Scheherazade replied with the contented smile of a
woman in the presence of such a decisive king.

"Come," the king called to his slaves, who had been waiting discreetly
nearby. "Scheherazade and Dunyazad shall wait for me within my
harem while I attend to my daily affairs of state. And, then, tonight-''
The king paused, as though even one as great as he had difficulty
deciding what to say next.

"Tonight," Scheherazade offered for him, "shall be even more fantastic
than the night before."
"So be it!" the king agreed, and clapped his hands in that way that
instructed his staff and servants to make his wishes so.

Therefore was Scheherazade escorted to her new home, a place
suitable in other times for a queen. But this harem had been affected by
the king's penchant for separating pretty heads from lovely shoulders,
so that certain dark forces had entered even these inner confines of the
palace.

But Scheherazade, along with her sister, Dunyazad, entered this place
with a light heart. For how were either of them to know that it was not
the nights, but the days, that would offer them both far more
opportunities for death?
 Chapter the Fifth,
in which there is some discussion
of matters of life and of death,
as well as certain individuals
who may exist somewhere in between.

So it was that Scheherazade and Dunyazad were shown to the great
harem of King Shahryar. And it was truly a magnificent edifice, with
five times a hundred separate cubicles for the lesser wives and
concubines, and another dozen or two more finely appointed
apartments for the more favored among the king's familiars, not to
mention common areas of substantial size, including a bathing pool the
length and width of a marketplace, and a garden larger than many
villages. Furthermore, the many rooms were graced with great, high
domed ceilings, the numerous walls were covered with a thousand