“Now, O king, I have told this story for that the king may know that tricks like to these and all manner of craftiness abound in women. Beware, slay not the prince on the woman’s word, or afterward thou shalt be repentant.” And he kissed the ground, and made intercession for the prince for that day. And the king granted it, and sent the youth to the prison, and went himself to the chase.
When it was evening the king returned from the chase and came to the palace, and the lady rose to greet him, and they sat down. After the repast the lady asked for news of the youth. The king said, “To-day, too, such an one of my vezirs made intercession for him and I sent him to the prison.” The lady said, “O king, be it known that not one of those vezirs is thy friend; God knows what pact they have with the youth. Mayhap the king has not heard what befel between the Sultan of Egypt and his vezirs.” The king said, “Tell on, let us hear.” Quoth the lady:
The Sultan and His Traitorous Son
“There was of old time in the city of Cairo a great sultan, and he had a youthful son. And that youth made a pact with the vezirs, saying, ‘If ye make me sultan, I will give you leave to do whatever ye may please.’ When they had agreed to this, he sowed enmity between the king and the vezirs and nobles; and each of them rose in revolt in a different quarter, and they took the youth for their chief, and waged war and did battle with the king. The king could not overcome them, and at length they made the youth king. They began to feast with the new king every day, and to accomplish their desires. And the king’s father saw that the purpose of the vezirs and the youth was evil, and he called a confidant, and one night they fled in disguise and entered a cave; and for seven days and seven nights the king went not forth from that cave. The new king heard of his father having fled, and he and the vezirs began to seek him and to send out criers, who proclaimed, ‘Whoso seizes my father and brings him to me, him will I honor.’ And the old king and his courtier went forth from the cave and came to a village, and were guests of an old woman in that village; and that old woman sowed seed. And she bestirred herself to entertain them, and brought them a mat, and they sat down. The king was hungry, and he pulled out a sequin and gave it to the old woman, and said, ‘Mother, go, fetch us food that we may eat.’ The woman said, ‘What will ye do with a sequin’s worth of food?’ The king replied, ‘No harm, fetch it.’ And the woman went and brought all manner of delicacies and set them before the king. And they sat down and ate. After the repast they began to talk with the woman; and the woman said, ‘What youths be ye?’ The king said, ‘We are of the servants of the fugitive king; we are seeking our master.’ The woman said, ‘I fear that ye too are followers of that unworthy youth, and would seize the king and take him.’ The king asked, ‘Does that unworthy youth seek his father?’ The woman replied, ‘Does he seek him? What means that? Those traitor vezirs and nobles every day cause criers to proclaim, “To him who seizes and brings that fugitive sultan we will give the lordship of whatever place he may wish; but of him who conceals him, or in whose house he is found, are the head and family gone.”’
“When the king heard these words from the woman his soul was troubled, and he said to her, ‘And are the nobles also submissive to the youth?’ The woman answered, ‘He has deposed many nobles, and appointed other nobles; these new nobles are all of them submissive to him.’ The king said, ‘Is there any of those old nobles whom thou knowest?’ The woman replied, ‘There is a vezir who was deposed by the fugitive sultan; I go about his house on business—I know him.’ As soon as the king heard this he turned and said to his confidant, ‘What sayest thou, shall I tell this woman that I am the sultan?’ The confidant replied, ‘Command is the king’s.’ The sultan turned and said to the woman, ‘O mother, I have a secret; if I tell it thee, canst thou keep it?’ The woman said, ‘I will give my head, but I will not give your secret,’ The king made the woman swear, and then said, ‘O mother, dost thou know me who I am?’ She answered, ‘Nay,’ Then the king said, ‘Lo, I am the fugitive sultan; be it not that this word escape thy mouth,’ When the woman heard this the blood went from her face, and she fell at the king’s feet. The king said, ‘Hast thou son or daughter?’ She replied, ‘I have a son,’ The king said, ‘If God most high seat me on my throne, I will give thy son whatever lordship he please,’ The woman bowed down and fell at the king’s feet. Then the king said to her, ‘Go now to the house of that vezir, and call him to a private place and salute him from me, and say, “The king is now seated in my house and wants thee, be it not that thou flinchest and comest not.”’
“When it was evening the woman went to the vezir’s house, and took the vezir to a private place, and gave him the king’s greeting, and told him all and how that he was sitting in her house. The vezir was glad, and he said, ‘Do thou now be off, I too will come now;’ and he sent her away. The woman came and told these things to the king. After a little he saw the vezir in the dress of an Arab, and he came and fell at the king’s feet and mourned and wept. The king said, ‘O vezir, I wronged thee and took thy wealth and deposed thee; ah! the past is past, the gone is gone. Befriend me as much as in thee lies, and if God most high raise me to my throne, I know the honor I will do thee.’ The vezir said, ‘O king, if thou tookest my wealth, it was thine own wealth; if thou didst depose me, I was thy slave and had done wrong; thou didst well. Now this is the way, that thou follow my words and lay aside kingship till our plan be accomplished; if afterward thou art wroth with me, then command; now let us work.’ The king said, ‘Do what thou wilt; now is not the time for words.’ The vezir said, ‘O king, arise and take my lamp in thine hand, and go on through the desert before thee till thou comest to my house; if anyone see thee he will think thee my man and recognize thee not.’ The king took the vezir’s lamp in his hand, and they went on and passed through the bazaars of Cairo, and came to the vezir’s house; and the vezir prepared a private room for the king.
“The king remained there some days, and the vezir secretly sent word to all the great nobles who had been deposed, and assembled them. And one night he brought them to the king and reconciled them, and said, ‘On the morrow be ye ready and show zeal each one of you for his estate.’ That night they gathered together all the disbanded soldiers who were there; and when it was morning they beat the kettledrums on every side, and ere those traitor nobles and vezirs had arisen they put many of them to the sword; and they seized the king’s son and all the rest of his vezirs, and brought them before the king. And the king executed the whole of them, slaying each of them with a different torment. Thenceforth he sat upon his throne with tranquillity of heart, and enjoyed happiness and delight.
“Now, O king, I have told this story for that the king may know that vezirs are not to be altogether trusted; and be thou ready, for these vezirs purpose evil against the king, and the like of this story shall befall thee. I have watched for my king and told him. And I know of a surety that they have made a pact if left till the morrow to seat the youth upon the throne, and to seize thee and to give thee into the youth’s hands. God knows what will happen to ill-fortuned me. Woe is me!” And she wept full bitterly. When the king heard this story from the lady, and beheld this plight, he believed the lady’s words, and held them to be true; and fear for his life fell upon the king. He said: “O lady, weep not; on the morrow will I seize the whole of the vezirs, and, after I have put the youth to death, I will give to each of them, one by one, his due.” When the lady heard these words from the king she was glad, and said, “O king, when thou hast slain the whole of them, appoint nobles vezirs in their stead, and then lean thy back against the wall of retirement, and give thyself up to mirth and merriment: till thou hast done thus thou shalt not be at ease.” And the king consented to this proposal, and they passed that night till the morning conversing.
Conclusion
When it was morning the king was wrathful, and he came and sat upon his throne, and he said, “Where is the youth? let him come.” They brought him, and the king said, “Ask ye him if he confesses to the charge of his mother.” Thereupon the grand vezir said, “Let him come before you and be asked, and it will be well; bring him, let us ask him.” The king commanded that they brought him, and he said, “Youth, speak; how hast thou done by thy mother?” The youth was silent. The king turned and said, “Be not silent, there is leave to thee, speak.” The youth was silent. Again the grand vezir said, “Perchance his governor might make him tell.”