Then she told the story of the vizier to whom was intrusted a princess and her three children. The prince, listening but not knowing that it was the story of his own wife and children, felt his eyes grow full.
The people were all touched by the two stories; and when the teller felt assured that they were aroused to the necessary pitch, she arose and said:
“O, my people! Be it known that I am that twice-wronged one. My enemies are this priest and this vizier. This is my father; this, my brother; and [[202]]this”—here she fell upon her knees before him—“O! this is my prince and husband!”
When she had said this she went forward, and the prince covered her with his mantle; while the rest of the company sat quiet, biting their fingers to learn whether, indeed, they were waking.
When the prince could command himself, and the people had become assured of the truth of these stories, they took the priest and the vizier away and put them to death.
The princess kissed the hands of her father and brother, embraced her mother, who, hearing of the matter, had come, trembling, to learn if it were true; and, after a few days, returned to the palace with her beloved, true prince.
They were married over again, with festivities which lasted forty days and forty nights. They also had their hearts’ desire in the gift of children, to take the place of those who had been lost. Salaam! [[203]]
THE CRYSTAL KIOSK AND THE DIAMOND SHIP
The narrators of tales and the tellers of stories relate that, once upon a time, there was a king whose children died, one after another. His grief was so great at this that all the wise men and physicians of the kingdom came together in council and inquired, most diligently, of the nurse who had cared for each child in turn. After long debating they decided that the air of the outer world had caused the death of the little princes and princesses; and they solemnly advised the king to build a great room deep within the earth, to have ready should Allah graciously favor him with another child.