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

different colorful tapestries, and even the hundreds upon hundreds of
pillars all showed fantastic designs of flowers and birds painted there in
gold.

But, while this harem was in the first place huge, and in the second
place well appointed, it also struck the sisters in the third place as being
empty in the extreme. Scheherazade asked their guide if this sense of
emptiness held any basis in truth. And at that, the elderly servant who
showed them their way nodded sagely and replied:

"Once, this place boasted a thousand servants for the many wives and
concubines. Alas, after all this beheading business began, the wife and
concubine population experienced a precipitous drop. After that
occurrence, there seemed no need to keep together such a staff, since
hardly anyone remained to be served." The elder coughed delicately.
"There has also been a certain tendency for some of the unfettered
servants to quietly disappear, as if they believed that this propensity for
sudden death among their mistresses might be contagious!" At this, the
elderly servant laughed, but he also rubbed at his neck, as if to assure
himself that all his parts were still in their proper places.
"Ah, but as underpopulated as these quarters are," he added hurriedly,
"they are still far from empty. Omar! Where are you, you scoundrel?"

"Always at your service," a high voice said from immediately behind
them. Scheherazade and her sister spun about to find a man of
enormous height and girth towering above them, his plentiful flesh
exposed, layer after layer of glistening fat, save for a small, discreet
loincloth of golden fabric that covered his privates, and a number of
golden bangles that encircled his arms and his neck, and large hoops
that dangled from both ears.

The elderly servant turned about at a more leisurely rate. "Ah," he said
genially. "Good of you to be so prompt. These two young women have
need of apartments."

"Really?" the large man replied in a beautiful soprano. "You have no
idea how long it has been since I've heard those words!" He laughed
merrily. "And who might these women be, so that I can be assured of
finding them suitable accommodations?"

The elder servant first introduced Scheherazade.

"The new queen?" Omar proclaimed in wonder. "I always knew that
someday, someone would survive that first night! Ah, I shall have to
show you our very best accommodations." He clapped his hands.
Somehow, his immensely pudgy palms made hardly any sound at all
when they came together. "And believe me, you may do whatever you
want with the apartment during your stay. We'll simply clean it up after
you're dead." He giggled softly. "This leads me to recall a poem: