Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 7.djvu/23

5 and he kissed her head and hands for excess of gladness, saying, ‘Praised be God who hath vouchsafed me the things I desire! First, thy speech, and secondly, thy tidings that thou art with child by me.’

Then he went forth from her and seating himself on the throne of his kingship, in an ecstacy of happiness, bade his vizier distribute to the poor and needy and widows and others a hundred thousand dinars, by way of alms on his account and thank-offering to God the Most High. The vizier did as the king bade him, and the latter, returning to the damsel, sat with her and pressed her to his bosom, saying, ‘O my lady, O thou whose slave I am, thou hast been with me a whole year, night and day, waking and sleeping, yet hast not spoken to me till this day. What was the cause of this thy silence?’ ‘Hearken, O king of the age,’ answered she, ‘and know that I am a wretched exile, broken-hearted and parted from my mother and my family and my brother.’ When the king heard her words, he knew her desire and said, ‘As for thy saying that thou art wretched, there is no ground for such a speech, for my kingdom and all that I possess are at thy service and I also am become thy bondman; but, as for thy saying, “I am parted from my mother and brother and family,” tell me where they are and I will send and fetch them to thee.’

‘Know then, O august king,’ answered she, ‘that I am called Julnar of the Sea and that my father was of the kings of the sea. He died and left us his kingdom, but one of the other kings arose against us and took it from our hands. My mother also is a woman of the sea and I have a brother called Salih, with whom I fell out and swore that I would throw myself into the hands of a man of the folk of the land. So I came forth of the sea and sat down on the shore of an island in the moon, where a passer-by found me and carrying me to his house,