ALI BABA AND THE FORTY THIEVES. 57

dagger hidden under his dress. “Iam
no longer surprised,” said she to herself,
“that this villain will not eat salt with
my master; he is his greatest enemy,
and means to murder him; but I will
_ still prevent the villain!”

When the supper was ended, the
Captain of the forty thieves now thought
that the time for revenging himself on
Ali Baba, by taking his life, was come.
“TY will make them both drink much
wine,” thought he, ‘and then the son,
against whom I bear no malice, will not
prevent my plunging my dagger into the
heart of his father, and I shall escape by
way of the garden, as I did before,
while the cook and the slave are at their
supper or perhaps asleep in the kitchen.”

Instead, however, of going to supper,
Morgiana did not allow him time to
carry out his wicked plans. She dressed
herself like a dancer, put on a head-dress
suitable to that character, and wore a
girdle round her waist of silver gilt, to
which she fastened a dagger, made of
the same metal. Her face was hidden
by a very handsome mask. When she
had so disguised herself, she said to
Abdalla, ‘Take your tabor, and let us go
and entertain our master’s guest, who is