When the time of the
princess's delivery drew near, she yearned after her own people
and discovered her secret to me; so I went privily to a black
slave called Ghezban and telling him our case, bribed him to go
with us. Accordingly, he took us and fled forth the city with us
by stealth towards the land of the Greeks, till we came to a
desert place on the borders of our own country. Here the pangs of
labour came upon thy mother, and the slave, being moved by lust,
sought of her a shameful thing; whereat she cried out loudly and
was sore affrighted at him. In the excess of her alarm, she gave
birth to thee at once, and at this moment there arose, in the
direction of our country, a cloud of dust which spread till it
covered the plain. At this sight, the slave feared for his life;
so, in his rage, he smote Queen Abrizeh with his sword and slew
her, then, mounting his horse, went his way. Presently, the dust
lifted and discovered thy grandfather, King Herdoub, who, seeing
thy mother his daughter dead on the ground, was sorely troubled
and questioned me of the manner of her death and why she had left
her father's kingdom. So I told him all that had happened, first
and last; and this is the cause of the feud between the people of
the land of the Greeks and the people of Baghdad. Then we took up
thy dead mother and buried her; and I took thee and reared thee,
and hung this jewel about thy neck.
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