Then all the people of Baghdad came to Kanmakan, seeking
to know what had befallen him, and he told them what had passed,
whereupon they were taken with awe of him and all the champions
and men of war feared him. After this, he drove his spoil to the
palace and planting the spear, on which was Kehrdash's head,
before the gate, gave largesse to the people of camels and horses
so that they loved him and all hearts inclined to him. Then he
took Subbah and lodged him in a spacious dwelling, giving him
part of the booty; after which he went in to his mother and told
her all that had befallen him. Meanwhile the news of him reached
the King, who rose and shutting himself up with his chief
officers, said to them, "I wish to reveal to you my secret and
acquaint you with the truth of my case. Know that Kanmakan will
be the cause of our expulsion from the kingdom; for he has slain
Kehrdash, albeit he had with him the tribes of the Turks and the
Kurds, and our affair with him will assuredly result in our
destruction, seeing that the most part of our troops are his
kinsmen and ye know what the Vizier Dendan hath done; how he
refuses to recognize me, after all the favours I have done him,
and is become a traitor to his faith. Indeed, it has come to my
knowledge that he hath levied an army in the provinces and goeth
about to make Kanmakan king, for that the kingdom was his
father's and his grandfather's before him, and he will surely
slay me without mercy.
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