Page:Alaeddin and the Enchanted Lamp.djvu/45

 ZEIN UL ASNAM AND THE KING OF THE JINN.

There was [once] in the city of Bassora a mighty Sultan and he was exceeding rich, but he had no child who should be his successor after him. For this he grieved sore and fell to bestowing alms galore upon the poor and the needy and upon the friends of God and the devout, seeking their intercession with God the Most High, so He to whom belong might and majesty should of His favour vouchsafe him a son. And God accepted his prayer, for his fostering of the poor, and answered his petition; so that one night of the nights he lay with the queen and she went from him with child. When the Sultan knew this, he rejoiced with an exceeding joy, and as the time of her child-bearing drew nigh, he assembled all the astrologers