And the youth answered, 'She is, O Vizier, that she is!'

But the Vizier cried, 'Nay, by Allah! she is that she will be.' And the

Vizier said, ''Tis she that is my daughter; tell me thy thought of her,

as thou thinkest it.'

And Shibli Bagarag replied, 'O Vizier, my thought of her is, she seemeth

indeed as Bhanavar the Beautiful--no other.'

Then the Vizier and the Eclipser of Reason exclaimed together, 'How of

Bhanavar and her story, O youth? We listen!'

So Shibli Bagarag leaned slightly on a cushion of a couch, and narrated

as followeth.