“Ai, my lord! I trust so; though it is long since we parted.”
Then the prince exclaimed: “Why have you not spoken of it until this moment? The desire of your heart shall be granted. Either we will bring your mother here or you shall go to her. Choose, my princess! We will do whichever your soul prefers.”
“My lord,” was the answer, “may Allah prolong your life and give you health and happiness! If you will grant permission, let me go to-morrow, with my children, and see her face once more, with my own eyes, and at the same time show her my three little sons.”
“It shall be so!” returned the prince. “I will send my vizier, with a number of soldiers, to conduct you and the children to your own mother.”
Morning came, and the prince, true to his promise, called his vizier and intrusted the princess to his care. Soon they were ready to set off—the mother, with her three children, in a carriage, the vizier on horseback, and a battalion of soldiers as escort.
But the princess was to meet other sorrows. They had not journeyed far when the vizier—who had not spoken a word—put his head in at the carriage window and asked, “Will you marry me, or shall I kill the children?” [[193]]
The princess was amazed beyond the power of speaking.
Then the vizier said: “Yes; certainly you will marry me. We will not return to the prince. I have suborned these soldiers. They will obey my commands. I have gold. We can go into another country. There is no reason why this should not be.”
But the princess refused. Then the vizier seized one of the children, killed it, and threw it beside the road.
After some time he repeated his question, received the same answer, and, notwithstanding the entreaties of the princess, took the second child, and, later on, the third. The poor woman was in despair.