' And he went on to
excuse himself to him and made his peace with King Suleiman's
Vizier, to whom he promised much money, if he would conceal from
the King what he had seen. Then he bade his officers carry the
prince to the bath and clothe him in one of the best of his own
suits and bring him back speedily. So they carried him to the
bath and brought him back to the presence-chamber, after having
clad him in the suit that the King had set apart for him. When he
entered, the King rose to receive him and made all his grandees
stand in attendance on him. Then he sat down to converse with
Aziz and the Vizier and acquainted them with what had befallen
him; after which they told him how they had returned to his
father and given him to know of his son's perilous plight and
added, 'And indeed our coming hath brought thee relief and us
gladness.' Quoth he, 'Good fortune hath attended your every
action, first and last.'
Meanwhile, King Shehriman went in to his daughter, the Princess
Dunya, and found her weeping and lamenting for Taj el Mulouk.
Moreover, she had taken a sword and fixed the hilt in the earth,
with the point to her heart between her breasts; and she bent
over it, saying, 'Needs must I kill myself and not live after my
beloved.' When her father entered and saw her in this case, he
cried out, 'O princess of kings' daughters, hold thy hand and
have compassion on thy father and the people of thy realm!' Then
he came up to her and said, 'God forbid that an ill thing should
befall thy father for thy sake!' And he told her that her lover
was the son of King Suleiman Shah and sought her to wife and that
the marriage waited only for her consent; whereat she smiled and
said, 'Did I not tell thee that he was a king's son? By Allah, I
must let him crucify thee on a piece of wood worth two dirhems!'
'O my daughter,' answered the King, 'have mercy on me, so may God
have mercy on thee!' 'Harkye,' rejoined she, 'make haste and
bring him to me without delay.
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