Page:Alaeddin and the Enchanted Lamp.djvu/257

211 “Now knowest thou the cause of my distress and seest Alaeddin his palace, whereof thou saidest that it was shut.” “O King of the Age,” rejoined the Vizier, “I told Thy Grace aforetime that this palace and these affairs were all of them [the work of] enchantment.”

At this the Sultan was fired with wrath and said to him, “Where is Alaeddin?” And he answered, “He is at the chase.” Whereupon the Sultan bade sundry of his eunuchs and officers go straightway fetch him bound and shackled. So they went till they came to Alaeddin and said to him, “O our lord Alaeddin, blame us not, for that the Sultan hath bidden us carry thee to him, bound and shackled; wherefore we beseech thee of excusement, for that we are under a royal commandment and may not gainsay it.” When Alaeddin heard their speech, wonderment took him and his tongue was tied, for that he knew not the cause; then he turned to the eunuchs and officers and said, “Prithee, sirs, have you no knowledge of the cause of this commandment of the Sultan? I know myself guiltless, forasmuch as I have done no sin against the Sultan nor against his realm.” And they said to him, “O our lord, we have no manner of