Labakan strode triumphantly into the apartment and spread out his garment proudly before the eyes of the astonished Sultan. “See, father,” said he, “see, most honoured mother, is this not a masterpiece? I would lay a wager that even the court tailor himself could not make a better one.”
The Sultana smiled and turned to Omar: “And what have you accomplished, my son?” said she.
For reply Omar flung the roll of silk and scissors upon the floor. “I was taught to manage a horse, to handle a sword, and to hurl a lance,” said he, “but the art of needlework is unknown to me, neither is it a fitting art for the adopted son of Elfi Bey, the ruler of Cairo.”
“O thou true son of thy father,” cried the Sultana, “oh! that I might embrace thee and claim thee for my son. Pardon me, my lord and master,” she said, turning to the Sultan, “that I have tricked you in this way, in order to prove to you which is the prince and which the tailor. Certainly the caftan your son has made is a magnificent one, but I should like to ask him who taught him his trade?”
The Sultan bit his lip and glanced suspiciously first at his wife and then at Labakan, who had turned crimson with embarrassment and vexation at having betrayed himself.
“This test is not sufficient,” the Sultan decreed, “but Allah be praised, I know of a way out of the difficulty.”
He ordered his swiftest horse to be saddled, mounted in haste, and rode off towards a wood, which was not far from the city. In the midst of this wood dwelt a fairy named Adolzaide, who was said to have befriended previous Sultans of that country and given them good advice when they were in any difficulty, and so the Sultan turned to her in his present trouble.
He reached the spot where she was supposed to dwell, and having dismounted and tethered his horse to a tree, he cried out in a loud voice: “Adolzaide, if it be true that you have befriended my fathers in former times, help me now in my dire need, I pray you.”
Scarcely had he spoken these words when the trunk of a cedar tree parted and a veiled woman, clad in long white garments, appeared.
“I know your errand, Sultan Saaud,” she said, “and I am ready to help you, because your desire is an honourable and just one. Take these two caskets, show them to the two youths who claim to be your son, and let them choose which casket they will have. The true Omar will not fail to choose rightly, and you will then be no longer in doubt as to which is your heir.”