Wherefore do thou leave this weeping and lamentation and
strengthen thy heart to bear arms." "O Vizier," replied
Zoulmekan, "my heart is heavy for the death of my brother and
father and our absence from our native land, and my mind is
concerned for my subjects." Thereupon the Vizier and the
bystanders wept; but they ceased not from the leaguer of
Constantinople, till, after awhile, news arrived from Baghdad, by
one of the Amirs, that the Sultan's wife had given birth to a son
and that the princess Nuzhet ez Zeman had named him Kanmakan.
Moreover, his sister wrote to him that the boy bid fair to be a
prodigy and that she had commanded the priests and preachers to
pray for them from the pulpits; also, that they were all well and
had been blessed with abundant rains and that his comrade the
stoker was in the enjoyment of all prosperity, with slaves and
servants to attend upon him; but that he was still ignorant of
what had befallen him. Zoulmekan rejoiced greatly at this news
and said to the Vizier Dendan, "Now is my hope fulfilled and my
back strengthened, in that I have been vouchsafed a son.
Wherefore I am minded to leave mourning and let make recitations
of the Koran over my brother's tomb and do almsdeeds on his
account." Quoth the Vizier, "It is well." Then he caused tents to
be pitched over his brother's tomb and they gathered together
such of the troops as could repeat the Koran.
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