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Updated: June 14, 2025
But when King Afridun heard the tidings he arose and betook himself to Zat al-Dawahi, the same who had contrived the stratagem, and had travelled to Baghdad and had slain King Omar bin Al-Nu'uman; and who after carrying off her slaves and Queen Sophia, had returned with them all to her native land.
Now all the captives had heard the slave woman Marjanah, nurse to King Rumzan, speaking as she spake; when Nuzhat al-Zaman, without stay or delay, cried out, saying, "This King Rumzan is my brother by my father, King Omar bin al-Nu'uman, and his mother was Queen Abrizah, daughter of King Hardub, Lord of the Greeks; and I know this slave-woman Marjanah right well."
I know this defile and its straitness, and I know there be many places of refuge in it; for I have been here on razzia with King Omar bin al-Nu'uman, what while we besieged Constantinople. We abode in this place, and here is water colder than snow.
She answered, "No, but I was brought up with his daughter and he holdeth me dear and I have high honour with him; so if thou wouldst have the King grant thee thy desire, give me ink case and paper and I will write thee a letter; and when thou reachest the city of Baghdad, do thou deliver it into the hand of King Omar bin al-Nu'uman and say to him, 'Thy handmaid, Nuzhat al-Zaman, would have thee to know that the chances and changes of the nights and days have struck her as with a hammer, and have smitten her so that she hath been sold from place to place, and she sendeth thee her salams. And, if he ask further of her, say that I am now with the Viceroy at Damascus."
Thereupon her colour changed and she exclaimed, "Exceed not in talk and vain words; for verily this man had not come in to us, were he not assured that he could of himself and single handed make head against an hundred riders; and if I said to him, 'Thou art Sharrkan, son of King Omar bin al-Nu'uman, he would answer, 'Yes. But 'tis not of your competence to let or hinder him; for if you do so, he will not turn back from you till he hath slain all that are in this place.
When it was the Fifty-eighth Night, She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the trader saved Nuzhat al-Zaman from the Badawi and bore her to his lodgings and robed her in the richest raiment, he went down with her to the bazar, where he bought her what ornaments she chose and put them in a satin bag, which he set before her, saying, "All is for thee and I ask nothing of thee in return but that, when I lead thee to the Sultan, Viceroy of Damascus, thou acquaint him with the price I paid for thee, albeit it was little compared with thy value: and, if seeing thee he buy thee of me, thou tell him how I have dealt with thee and ask of him for me a royal patent, and a written recommendation wherewith I can repair to his father, King Omar bin al-Nu'uman, Lord of Baghdad, to the intent that he may forbid the tax on my stuffs or any other goods in which I traffic."
"I have no knowledge of the cause," she answered, and drew a silken curtain before herself, whilst Zau al-Makan seated himself without the curtain and commanded the Wazir to the presence and, when he came, said to him, "I desire thou relate to me in detail the cause of the killing of my sire, King Omar bin al-Nu'uman!"
This, then, is the cause of my concealment and the reason why I forbore to inform thee that thy father was King Omar bin al-Nu'uman; but when thou camest to the throne, I told thee what thou knowest; and I durst not reveal to thee the rest till this moment, O King of the Age!
Quoth Zau al-Makan, "I wonder to whom belong all these chattels and camels and stuffs!" So he asked one of the eunuchs, "Whither this dispatching? and he answered, "These are presents sent by the Emir of Damascus to King Omar bin al-Nu'uman, with the tribute of Syria." Now when Zau al-Makan heard his father's name his eyes brimmed over with tears, and he began repeating,
He sent envoys and ambassadors to capitals the most remote, to provide him with true report; and they would bring back tidings of justice and peace, with assurance of loyalty and obedience and of prayers in the pulpits for King Omar bin al-Nu'uman; for he was, O Ruler of the Age, a right noble King; and there came to him presents of rarities and toll and tribute from all lands of his governing.
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