Presently, the messenger returned and said, 'I see an army like
the stormy sea with its clashing billows; the earth trembles with
the tramp of their horses, and I know not the reason of their
coming.' When the King heard this, he was confounded and feared
lest his realm should be torn from him; so he turned to his
Vizier and said, 'Have not any of our troops gone forth to meet
this army?' But before he had done speaking, his chamberlains
entered with messengers from the approaching host, and amongst
them the Vizier who had accompanied Taj el Mulouk. They saluted
the King, who rose to receive them and bidding them draw near,
enquired the reason of their coming; whereupon the Vizier came
forward and said, 'Know that he who hath invaded thy realm is no
king like unto the Kings and Sultans of time past.' 'Who is he?'
asked Shehriman, and the Vizier replied, 'He is the lord of
justice and loyalty, the report of whose magnanimity the caravans
have blazed abroad, the Sultan Suleiman Shah, lord of the Green
Country and the Two Columns and the mountains of Ispahan, he who
loves justice and equity and abhors iniquity and oppression. He
saith to thee that his son, the darling of his heart and the
fruit of his loins, is with thee and in this thy city; and if he
find him in safety, his aim is won and thou shalt have praise and
thanks; but if he have disappeared from thy dominions or if aught
have befallen him, look thou for ruin and the laying waste of thy
realm; for this thy city shall become a desert, in which the
raven shall croak.
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