The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, vol 2 | Page 7

have it loveth thee,
took from thee ten thousand ducats and bought therewith a slave-girl
whose like none ever beheld; but when he saw her, she pleased him and
he said to his son, 'Take her: thou art worthier of her than the Sultan.'
So he took her and did away with her virginity and she is now in his
house.' The King will say, 'Thou liest!' to which he will reply, 'With thy
leave I will fall upon him unawares and bring her to thee.' The King
will give him warranty for this and he will come down upon the house
and will take the girl and present her to the Sultan, who will question
her and she will not be able to deny the past. Then mine enemy will say,
'O my lord, thou wottest that I give thee the best of counsel; but I have
not found favour in thine eyes.' Thereupon the Sultan will make an
example of me, and I shall be a gazing-stock to all the people and my
life will be lost." Quoth his wife, "Let none know of this thing which
hath happened privily, and commit thy case to Allah and trust in Him to

save thee from such strait; for He who knoweth the future shall provide
for the future." With this she brought the Wazir a cup of wine and his
heart was quieted, and he ceased to feel wrath and fear. Thus far
concerning him; but as regards his son Nur al-Din Ali, fearing the
consequence of his misdeed he abode his day long in the flower garden
and came back only at night to his mother's apartment where he slept;
and, rising before dawn, returned to the gardens. He ceased not to do
thus for two whole months without showing his face to his parent, till at
last his mother said to his father, "O my lord, shall we lose our boy as
well as the girl? If matters continue long in this way he will flee from
us." "And what to do?" asked he; and she answered, "Do thou watch
this night; and, when he cometh, seize on him and frighten him: I will
rescue him from thee and do thou make peace with him and give him
the damsel to wife, for she loveth him as he loveth her. And I will pay
thee her price." So the Minister say up that night and, when his son
came, he seized him and throwing him down knelt on his breast and
showed as thou he would cut his throat; but his mother ran to the
youth's succour and asked her husband, "What wouldest thou do with
him?" He answered her, "I will split his weasand." Said the son to the
father, "Is my death, then, so light a matter to thee?"; and his father's
eyes welled with tears, for natural affection moved him, and he rejoined,
"O my son, how light was to thee the loss of my good and my life!"
Quoth Nur al-Din, "Hear, O my father, what the poet hath said,
‘Forgive me! thee-ward sinned I, but the wise * Ne'er to the sinner shall
deny his grace: Thy foe may pardon sue when lieth he * In lowest, and
thou holdest highest place!'"
Thereupon the Wazir rose from off his son's breast saying, "I forgive
thee!"; for his heart yearned to him; and the youth kissed the hand of
his sire who said, "O my son, were I sure that thou wouldest deal justly
by Anis al-Jalis, I would give her to thee." "O my father, what justice
am I to do to her?" "I enjoin thee, O my son, not to take another wife or
concubine to share with her, nor sell her." "O my father! I swear to thee
that verily I will not do her injustice in either way." Having sworn to
that effect Nur al-Din went in to the damsel and abode with her a whole
year, whilst Allah Almighty caused the King to forget the matter of the
maiden; and Al-Mu'ín, though the affair came to his ears, dared not
divulge it by reason of the high favour in which his rival stood with the

Sultan. At the end of the year Al-Fazl went one day to the public baths;
and, as he came out whilst he was still sweating, the air struck
him[FN#20] and he caught a cold which turned to a fever; then he took
to his bed. His malady gained ground and restlessness was longsome
upon him and weakness bound him like a chain; so he called out,
"Hither with my son;" and when Nur al-Din Ali came he said to him,
"O my son, know that man's lot and means are distributed and decreed;
and the