" Then he bade bring forth
for him dresses of honour and led horses and appointed him the
chief lodging in the palace, giving him much money and showing
him the utmost honour, for that he feared the issue of the Vizier
Dendan's doings. At this Kanmakan rejoiced and despondency and
humiliation ceased from him. Then he went to his house and said
to his mother, "O my mother, how is it with my cousin?" "By
Allah, O my son," answered she, "my concern for thine absence
hath distracted me from any other, even to thy beloved;
especially as she was the cause of thine exile and separation
from me." Then he complained to her of his sufferings, saying, "O
my mother, go to her and speak with her; haply she will favour me
with a sight of her and dispel my anguish." "O my son," replied
his mother, "idle desires abase the necks of men; so put away
from thee this thought that will but lead to vexation; for I will
not go to her nor carry her such a message." Thereupon he told
her what he had heard from the horse-thief concerning Dhat ed
Dewahi, how she was then in their land, on her way to Baghdad,
and added, "It was she who slew my uncle and grandfather, and
needs must I avenge them and wipe out our reproach." Then he left
her and repaired to an old woman, by name Saadaneh, a cunning,
perfidious and pernicious beldam, past mistress in all kinds of
trickery and deceit To her he complained of what he suffered for
love of his cousin Kuzia Fekan and begged her to go to her and
implore her favour for him.
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