One day it happened that two men attended at his tribunal and demanded an audience. Abū Saber caused them to be brought before him. One of those men was a merchant, and the other the robber who had carried off the sons of Abū Saber. The robber he immediately recognised, but was silent. The merchant then addressed him, and said: “Long be the King’s life! This man sold to me two boys; and after some time these boys began to say, ‘We are freemen—we are the sons of a Mussulman; and that man carried us away by force, and sold us, at which time, from fear of him, we were afraid to say that we were freemen.’ Now,” added the merchant, “let the King order this man to return me the money, and take back the boys.”
Abū Saber then asked the robber what he had to say. The man answered, that it was the merchant’s fault, who had not taken good care of the boys; but that for his own part he had always treated them well, which induced them to make this complaint, in order that he might take them back. Abū Saber then sent for the two boys, who proved to be his own sons. He knew them, but they had not any recollection of him. He desired them to explain this matter; and they declared that the robber had carried them away from their father and mother to his own dwelling, and had desired them not to say, on any account, that they were freemen; but that when sold as slaves they could not any longer suppress their complaints. Abū Saber, much affected by their story, ordered them to tell their names, and then sent them to his own apartments; after which he caused the robber to be imprisoned, and the merchant’s money to be deposited in the public treasury.
On another day it happened that two persons in like manner solicited an audience of the King. When they were admitted, one proved to be the wife of Abū Saber, and the other the man who had taken her away by force. But Abū Saber did not know his wife, because she wore her veil. The robber, having paid his respects, informed the King that this woman, who had lived with him for some time, would not consent to perform the duties of a wife. Abū Saber addressed the woman, and asked her why she refused to obey her husband. She immediately answered, that this man was not her husband; that she was the wife of a person named Abū Saber; and that this man had taken her to his house against her inclination.
Abū Saber ordered his servants to take the woman to his harem; and, having made a proclamation and assembled all the inhabitants of the city, caused the robber who had taken away his sons and the man who had carried off his wife to be brought before them; and, having explained the nature of their offences and related the circumstances of his own story, he gave orders for their execution.
After this he passed the remainder of his life in peaceful enjoyment of the supreme power, which at his death devolved upon his son, and continued for many generations in the family, as the reward of his patience.
Here Bakhtyār concluded his story, and by order of the King was sent back to prison.
CHAPTER V.
When the next morning arrived, the fifth Vizier waited upon the King, and represented the danger that might attend any further delay in the execution of Bakhtyār, as the indulgence which had been shown to him would be an encouragement to others, and induce them to commit offences, by giving them hopes of impunity. In consequence of this, the King ordered everything to be prepared for the execution of the young man, who, being brought before him, entreated his Majesty for a longer respite, and assured him that he would, on a future day, be as rejoiced at having spared his life, as a certain King of Yemen was at having pardoned the offence of his slave.