Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 5.djvu/47

29 Yea, thou with him shalt surely light on that Shall gladden thee and do away thy care; Fare, then, o’er plains and deserts to his stead And leave not journeying till thou find him there.

When the hermit awoke, he set out for the town, to which he had been directed by the dream, and coming thither, enquired for the King’s palace. At the gate he found an officer sitting on a great chair and clad in splendid apparel; so he saluted him and he returned his salutation and said to him, ‘What is thy business?’ ‘I am a wronged man,’ answered the devotee, ‘and come to prefer my complaint to the King.’ Quoth the officer, ‘Thou mayst not win to him to-day; for he hath appointed unto petitioners such a day in every seven, on which they may go in to him; so go thy ways soberly till then.’ The hermit was vexed with the King for thus sequestering himself from the folk and said in himself, ‘How shall this man be of the friends of God (to whom belong might and majesty) and be on this wise?’ Then he went away and awaited the day of audience.

When it came, he repaired to the palace, where he found a number of folk at the gate, awaiting admission, and stood with them, till there came out a Vizier, clad in rich raiment and attended by guards and servants, who said, ‘Let those, who have petitions to present, enter.’ So the hermit entered with the rest and found the King seated in the midst of his officers and grandees. The Vizier took up his post before him and brought forward the petitioners, one by one, till it came to the hermit’s turn, when the King looked on him and said, ‘Welcome to the lord of the cloud! Sit down, till I be at leisure for thee.’

The hermit was confounded at his words and confessed his dignity and excellence; and when the King had made an end with the petitioners, he rose and dismissed his Viziers and grandees; then, taking the stranger by the