Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 3.djvu/329

301 chief?’ asked Hassan Shouman. ‘At the make of yonder boy Aslan,’ replied Ed Denef; ‘for he is the likest of all creatures to Alaeddin Abou esh Shamat.’ Then he called Aslan and said to him, ‘What is thy mother’s name?’ ‘She is called the damsel Jessamine,’ answered Aslan; and Ed Denef said, ‘Harkye, Aslan, take heart and be of good cheer, for thy father was none other than Alaeddin Abou esh Shamat: but, O my son, go thou in to thy mother and question her of thy father.’ ‘I hear and obey,’ answered he, and going in to his mother, said to her, ‘Who is my father?’ Quoth she, ‘The Amir Khalid is thy father.’ ‘Not so,’ rejoined he, ‘my father was none other than Alaeddin Abou esh Shamat.’ At this, she wept and said, ‘Who told thee this?’ ‘Ahmed ed Denef, the Captain of the Guard,’ answered he; so she told him the whole story, saying, ‘O my son, the truth can no longer be hidden: know that Alaeddin was indeed thy father, but it was the Amir Khalid who reared thee and adopted thee as his son. And now, O my son, when thou seest Ahmed ed Denef, do thou say to him, “I conjure thee, by Allah, O my chief, avenge me on the murderer of my father Alaeddin Abou esh Shamat!”’ So he went out from her and betaking himself to Ahmed ed Denef, kissed his hand. Quoth Ed Denef, ‘What ails thee, O Aslan?’ And he answered, ‘I know now for certain that I am the son of Alaeddin Abou esh Shamat and I would have thee avenge me of my father’s murderer.’ ‘And who was thy father’s murderer?’ asked Ed Denef. ‘Ahmed Kemakim the arch-thief,’ replied Aslan. ‘Who told thee this?’ said Ed Denef, and Aslan answered, ‘I saw in his hand the lantern hung with jewels, that was lost with the rest of the Khalif’s gear, and asked him to give it me; but he refused, saying, “Lives have been lost on account of this,” and told me how it was he who had broken into the palace and stolen the goods and hidden them in my father’s house.’ Then said