Know, O Sultan and head of the Jann, that this mule was my wife. I went forth on a journey and was absent for a whole year. When I returned from my travels, I came to her by night and saw a black slave lying with her on the carpet bed. They were talking, flirting, laughing, kissing, and sporting together. When she saw me, she rose and came hastily toward me with a pitcher of water. Muttering spells over it, she sprinkled me and said, "Come forth from this shape into the shape of a dog!" And I became a dog on the instant.

She drove me out of the house, and I ran through the doorway without ceasing until I came to a butcher's stall, where I stopped and began to eat the bones lying there. When the stall owner saw me, he took me and led me to his house. But as soon as his daughter caught sight of me, she veiled her face and cried out, "Why do you bring men to me? Why do you come in with them?" Her father asked, "Where is the man?" She answered, "This dog is a man whom his wife has bewitched, and I am able to release him."

When her father heard her words, he said, "In God's name, O my daughter, release him." So she took a pitcher of water and, after uttering words over it, sprinkled a few drops upon me, saying, "Come forth from that form into your true form." And I returned to my natural shape.

Then I kissed her hand and said, "I wish you would transform my wife even as she transformed me." She gave me some water, saying, "As soon as you see her asleep, sprinkle this water upon her and speak the words you heard me utter, and she will become whatever you desire." I went to my wife and found her fast asleep. While sprinkling the water upon her, I said, "Come forth from that form into the form of a she-mule." And she became a she-mule on the instant—she whom you see before you now, O Sultan and head of the Kings of the Jann!

Then the Jinni turned toward her and said, "Is this the truth?" She nodded her head and replied by signs, "Indeed, it is the truth, for this is my tale and this is what has befallen me."

When the old man finished speaking, the Jinni shook with pleasure and gave him the remainder of the merchant's blood. Then Dunyazad said, "O my sister, how delightful is your tale, and how pleasant! How sweet and how engaging!" Shahrazad replied, "And what is this compared to what I could tell you on the night to come, if I live and the King spares me?" Then the King thought to himself, "By God, I will not slay her until I have heard the rest of her tale, for truly it is wondrous." So they rested that night in mutual embrace until the dawn. After this, the King went forth to his Hall of State. The Wazir and the troops came in, and the court was filled. The King gave orders and made judgments, appointed officials and dismissed others, issuing commands throughout the rest of the day. When the court broke up, King Shahryar entered his palace.

When it was the Third night,

After the King had spent the night with the Wazir's daughter, Dunyazad, her sister, said to her, "Finish your tale for us," and Shahrazad replied, "With joy and gladly! When the third old man told his tale to the Jinni—a tale more wondrous than the two before it—the Jinni marvelled greatly. Shaking with delight, he cried, "Lo! I have released the merchant from his punishment, and for your sake I free him entirely." Thereupon the merchant embraced the old men and thanked them, and these Shaykhs wished him joy at his deliverance and went forth, each to his own city. Yet this tale, O King, is not more wondrous than the story of the fisherman."

The King asked, "What is the fisherman's story?" And Shahrazad answered by telling the tale of