The third saâlouk finds an even more beautiful palace with many beautiful girls. He has a good time with them for a year. They leave him for forty days, with a recommendation to not open a certain door.
Sheherazade continued the story of the third saâlouk:
The ten one-ey blind men told me: "This is our story, in summary, because, in detail, it would fill the pages of a big square book! As for you, let your destiny now be accomplished!"
At these words, as I clung to my resolution, they gave me the knife, sewed me in the skin of the sheep, exposed me on the terrace of the palace, and went away. And, suddenly, I felt carried away by the terrible bird Roc, which flew away; and as soon as I felt myself falling to the ground on the summit of the mountain, I split the skin of the sheep with the knife, and I came out entirely, crying: “Kesch! Kesh!" to drive away the terrible Roc which flew away heavily, and I saw that it was a great white bird, as big as ten elephants and as tall as twenty camels!
So I started walking, and hastening, so impatient was I, and in the middle of the day I arrived at the palace. At the sight of this palace, despite the description of the ten young men, I was amazed bordering on wonder, for it was so much more magnificent than words. The great golden door, through which I entered the palace, was surrounded by ninety-nine doors of aloeswood and sandalwood, and the doors of the halls were of ebony inlaid with gold. and diamonds; and all these gates led to halls and gardens where I saw all the accumulated riches of land and sea.
In the first room I entered, I found myself immediately amid forty young girls, who were so marvelously beautiful that the mind could not find itself in the midst of them nor the eyes rest preferably on one, and I was so full of admiration that I stopped, feeling my head spinning.
Then all together they rose because of me, and, in a pleasant voice, they said to me: “Let our house be your house, O our guest, and let your place be on our heads and in our eyes!" And they bade me sit down, and set me on a platform, and all sat down below me on the carpets, and said unto me, "O our lord, we are thy slaves and thy thing, and you are our master and the crown on our heads!"
Then they all began to serve me: one brought the hot water and the clothes, and washed my feet; the other poured on my hands perfumed water contained in a golden ewer; the third dressed me in an all-silk dress with a belt embroidered with gold and silver threads; the fourth presented me with a cup full of a delicious flower-scented drink; and this one was looking at me, and this one was smiling at me, and one was winking at me, and the other one was reciting verses at me, and this one was stretching her arms out in front of me, and the other twisted her waist in front of me on her thighs, and one of them said: “Ah!" and the other: “Ooh!" and this one said to me: "O you my eye!" and this one: "O you my soul!" and the other: “My insides!" and another: "My liver!" and one: "O flame of my heart!"
Then they all approached me, began to massage and caress me, and said to me: "O our guest, tell us your story, because we have been here alone, for a long time, without a man, and our happiness is now complete!" So I became calmer and told them only part of my story, and that until night approached.
Then the candles were brought in prodigious quantities, and the hall was lit up as if by the most brilliant sun. Then the tablecloth was spread and the most exquisite dishes and the most intoxicating drinks were served, and the instruments of pleasure were played and the most enchanting voices were sung, and some began to dance, while I continued to eat.
After all this rejoicing, they said to me" “O my darling, now is the time for solid pleasure and bed; choose, among us, the one of your choice, and do not fear to offend us, because each one of us will have her turn during one night, we the forty sisters; and, afterward, each, in turn, will start playing with you in bed again, every night."
So I, my mistress, did not know which of the sisters I should choose, for all were equally desirable. So I closed my eyes, stretched out my arms and took hold of one, and opened my eyes; but I closed them quickly, because of the dazzle of her beauty. She then held out her hand to me and led me to her bed. And I spent the whole night with her. I charged her forty times, each time a magazine charge! and her too! and she said to me every time: “You! O my eye! You! O my soul! And she caressed me, and I bit her, and she pinched me, and so on all night.
And so I continued, O my mistress, every night with one of the sisters, and every night many assaults, on both sides! And this for a whole year, in expansion and development. And, after each night, in the morning, the girl for the next night came to me, and led me to the hammam, washed my whole body, massaged me vigorously, and perfumed me with all the perfumes that Allah grants to his servants.
And so we came to the end of the year. On the morning of the last day, I saw all the girls running to my bed, and they were crying a lot and untying their hair in affliction and lamenting, then they said to me: "Know, O light of our eyes, that we must leave you, as we left the others before you, because you must know that you are not the first and that before you many loaders mounted us, like you, and did it to us, like you! Only, you, you are, in truth, the richest jumper in jumps and in measure of wide and long! And also you are certainly the most libertine and the kindest of all. It is for these reasons that we will never be able to live without you." And I say to them: "But tell me why you have to leave me. Because I don't want to lose the joy of my life in you either!" They answered me: “Know that we are all the daughters of a king but of different mothers. Since puberty, we have lived in this palace, and each year Allah leads our way with a loader who satisfies us, too! But, each year, we have to be absent for forty days, to go and see our father and our mothers. And today is the day! So I said: “But, O delicious ones, I will stay in the house to praise Allah until your return! They answered me: "May your desire be fulfilled!" Here are all the keys to the palace, which open all the doors. This palace is your home, and you are its master. But do not open the copper door which is at the end of the garden, otherwise, you will not be able to see us again and a great misfortune will inevitably happen to you. So be careful not to open the copper door!"
At these words, all came to hug me and kiss me one after the other, crying and saying to me: “May Allah be with you!" And they looked at me crying, and they left.
So I, O my mistress, I left the room holding the keys in my hand, and I began to visit this palace, which until that day I had not had time to see, so my body and my soul had been chained in bed to the arms of these girls. And I began, with the first key, to open the first door.
When I opened the first door, I saw a large garden full of fruit trees, so large and so beautiful that in my life I had never seen the like in the whole world; waters in small channels watered all the trees so that the fruits of these trees were of marvelous size and beauty. I ate of these fruits, especially bananas, dates as long as the fingers of a noble Arab, pomegranates, apples, and peaches. When I had finished eating, I thanked Allah for his gifts, and I opened the second door with the second key.
When I opened this door, my eyes and my nose were charmed by the flowers that filled a large garden watered by small streams. There were, in this garden, all the flowers that grow in the gardens of the emirs of the earth: jasmines, narcissus, roses, violets, hyacinths, anemones, carnations, tulips, buttercups, and all the flowers of all time. When I had finished smelling all the flowers, I picked a jasmine flower and stuck it in my nose, and left it there, to breathe it, and I thanked Allah Most High for his bounties.
I then opened the third door, and my ears were charmed by the voices of birds of all colors and species of the earth. These birds were all in a large cage made with sticks of aloe and sandalwood; the drinking water of these birds was contained in small saucers of jade and fine and colored jasper; the grains were contained in small gold cups; the ground was swept and watered; and the birds blessed the Creator. I listened to the voices of these birds when night approached, and I retired that day.
But the next day I hurried out and opened the fourth door, with the fourth key...
At this point in her narration, Sheherazade saw the morning appear and quietly fell silent.
First Night - Second Night - Third Night - Fourth Night - Fifth Night - Sixth Night - Seventh Night
Eighth Night - Ninth Night - Tenth Night - Eleventh Night - Twelfth Night - Thirteenth Night
Fourteenth Night - Fifteen Night - Sixteenth Night - Seventeenth Night - Eighteenth Night
Nineteenth Night
