Page:Princess Badoura, a tale from the Arabian nights.djvu/146

112 'O King of the Age, perfect and incomparable, lo in dust and ashes I thy slave come to present to thee a petition.' And the King said, 'Ask, and it shall be granted thee.'

Then Scheherazade called to her attendants and said, 'Bring in the children!' So they brought the children quickly; one of them walked, one crawled, and one lay at the breast.

So she set them before the King, and said, 'These children are thine and mine. In pain I bore them, having little hope of any joy that they might bring me: for under sentence of death I brought them into the world, and though thrice I have been a mother thou hast not yet pardoned me. Say, therefore, O King, when is my death to be; or, if it is not to be, then let my suspense be ended.'

At these words the King wept; and embracing his children tenderly, cried: 'O Scheherazade, by Allah I swear to thee that before the coming