Yet thou sentest
none to tell me of this and I could not make the case public,
lest disgrace fall on my repute among the kings, by reason of my
daughter's dishonour. So I kept the affair secret till this year,
when I communicated with certain of the Frankish pirates and
sought news of my daughter from the kings of the islands. They
replied, "By Allah, we carried her not forth of thy realm, but we
have heard that King Herdoub took her from certain pirates." And
they told me all that had befallen her. So now, except thou wish
to be at feud with me and design to disgrace me and dishonour my
daughter, thou wilt forthright, as soon as this letter reaches
thee, send my daughter back to me. But if thou pay no heed to my
letter and disobey my commandment, I will assuredly requite thee
thy foul dealing and the baseness of thine acts.' When my father
read this letter, it was grievous to him and he regretted not
having known that Sufiyeh, King Afridoun's daughter, was amongst
the captured damsels, that he might have sent her back to her
father; and he was perplexed about the affair, for that, after
the lapse of so long a time, he could not send to King Omar ben
Ennuman and demand her back from him, the more that he had lately
heard that God had vouchsafed him children by this very Sufiyeh.
So when we considered the matter, we knew that this letter was
none other than a great calamity; and nothing would serve but
that my father must write an answer to it, making his excuses to
King Afridoun and swearing to him that he knew not that his
daughter was among the girls in the ship and setting forth how he
had sent her to King Omar ben Ennuman and God had vouchsafed him
children by her.
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