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She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when King Asim seated his son, Sayf al-Muluk, upon the throne and all the people prayed for his victory and prosperity, the youth scattered gold and silver on the heads of the lieges, one and all, and conferred robes of honour and gave gifts and largesse.
After this Sayf al-Muluk bade his people bear Sa'id to the Hammam-bath: and they did so. When he came out, they clad him in costly clothing and carried him back to Sayf al-Muluk who seated him on the throne beside himself.
Quoth Sayf al-Muluk, "I am a stranger and had taken passage in a merchant ship which was wrecked and sank with all on board; but I saved myself on a plank and made my way hither; wherefore I asked thee the name of the place, and in asking is no offence."
Whereupon Sayf al-Muluk rose and kissing the ground before the King, thanked him and answered, "O King of the Age, I accept all thou givest me and return it to thee in freest gift; for I, O King of the Age, covet not sovranty nor sultanate nor desire aught but that Allah the Most High bring me to my desire."
Quoth he, "I wish you to go each to a different country and seek out diligently the learned and erudite and literate and the tellers of wondrous stories and marvellous histories and do your endeavour to procure me the story of Sayf al-Muluk.
So they wrote down all that had befallen him and kept it in store with other histories for the people of Mohammed the Best of Men. There was once in the city of Shiraz a mighty King called Sayf al-A'azam Shah, who had grown old, without being blessed with a son.
When it was the Seven Hundred and Sixty-ninth Night, She resumed, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the damsel said to Sayf al-Muluk, "Then the King of the Jann, after he had acquainted me with his case, embraced me and kissed me, saying, 'Abide here and fear nothing'; whereupon he went away from me for an hour and presently returned with these tables and carpets and furniture.
Replied Daulat Khatun, "O my sister how sad is severance and how gladsome is reunion; ask me not what hath befallen me! This Sayf al-Muluk is indeed a man! But why did he leave his father and mother and betake himself to travel and expose himself to these perils?" Quoth Daulat Khatun, "I have a mind to tell thee the first part of his history; but shame of thee hindereth me therefrom."
After this, King Asim and Faris the Minister arose and, opening the royal treasuries, conferred magnificent robes of honour on all the Viceroys and Emirs and Wazirs and Lords of the land and other folk and gave salaries and benefactions and wrote them new mandates and diplomas with the signatures of King Sayf al-Muluk and his Wazir Sa'id.
Far be it Love find any rest, for I am one * Who lost for love of you this heart, these vitals mine." Sayf al-Muluk replied, "O my eye and O my soul, Allah hath not made all men alike, and I, Inshallah, will keep my troth and die beneath thy feet. Soon shalt thou see what I will do in accordance with my words, and for whatso I say Allah is my warrant."
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