Balavan was only induced to spare his sister-in-law from the hopes he entertained of one day obtaining her hand. This hope, however, restrained his murdering arm. As for Selimansha, he escaped this monster by the vigilance of his guards. At the moment when he approached the apartment of his father, in the dreadful design of completing his crimes by embruing his hands in his parent's blood, he was perceived by a slave, who, assisted by the eunuchs of the guard, deprived the murderer of every hope of success in the crime he was about to commit. Convinced then that he could not escape suspicion, he fled and concealed himself on the frontiers of the kingdom, in a castle fortified both by nature and by art.
Day, which began to appear, was soon to discover the horrors of this bloody night. With the first rays of morning the nurse went to feed her tender care, whose blood deluged the cradle. Lost in astonishment, she ran to the apartment of the King and Queen to announce this fatal news. Her despair and shrieks went before her, and awakened Chamsada. The unhappy Queen opened her eyes, and found her husband breathing his last at her side. The cries of the nurse made her dread misfortunes still more terrible. A widowed spouse and a weeping mother, she ran to the cradle of her son and took him in her arms. He still breathed, and she conceived the hope of saving his life. The whole palace was in motion. Selimansha arrived with his eunuchs, and surgeons were called, whose skill and attention restored the life of this innocent creature. But they were employed to no purpose on the body of the young monarch, whose death the unfortunate Chamsada deplored. Aromatic and medicinal herbs and the balms of the East produced their effect on the wound of the child, and rekindled the hopes of his mother. He was again placed in the bosom of his nurse, and the presumptive heir of Selimansha was at length out of danger.
In the meantime the aged monarch endeavoured to discover the murderer of his children. The hasty flight of Balavan, his poniard stained with blood, which was found in the apartment, soon confirmed the suspicions to which his vicious disposition had at first given rise. The unfortunate old man with difficulty restrained the excess of his grief.
"Heaven," exclaimed he, "keep far from me the angel of death, since it is your will that I should still be useful on earth."
After this he assembled the grandees and the Viziers, and announced to them his intention of resuming the reins of government.
His first care was to comfort the disconsolate Chamsada, and they agreed in directing their attention to the lovely infant whom Providence had preserved. While they strengthened his constitution, they also formed his understanding and his heart. The mother explained to him passages of the law which ought to guide his manners and his conduct, and the old man instructed him in the important knowledge of the world and of men.
At the age of eight, the young Prince was so robust that he was able to handle arms and endure the fatigue of riding; and in a few years more, his moral virtues were unfolded, and promised one day to eclipse those which had shone so conspicuous in the King his father.
Selimansha, now judging that his grandson, with the assistance of good counsel, was capable of wearing the crown, resigned the reins of empire into his hands amidst the assembled divan, and caused him to be proclaimed King, under the name of Shaseliman, amidst the acclamations of the kingdom. The people, not yet recovered from astonishment at the dreadful stroke which had deprived them of a Sovereign they adored, promised his heir the same attachment, and expected from him the same love.
The new King, directed by wise counsels, did not belie the happy anticipation of his subjects in his favour. The Cadis and Viziers, fulfilling with propriety the duties of their office, made the laws beloved, the wise and speedy execution of which confirmed the happiness of all. Equally punctual in the duties of religion as in those of the throne, Shaseliman was regular in his ablutions, attended prayers in the mosques, held three divans in the week, was every day busied with his ministers, and was found in every place where his presence was necessary to restore tranquillity and good order. The people, happy under his government, enjoyed their felicity in peace, when new crimes came to disturb it, and tear from them the hope of a durable happiness.
The accursed Balavan, pursued by remorse at the crime which he had committed, and not thinking himself safe among a people by whom he was hated, left the fortified place where he had taken refuge, and attempted to retire into Egypt, in order to implore the protection of the Sovereign of that vast empire. There, concealing his crimes, he presented himself as an unfortunate Prince, the victim of a woman, and sacrificed by a father whom age had rendered weak. The King of Egypt received him with kindness, and was preparing to give him assistance, when an envoy of Selimansha arrived and demanded audience.