Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 7.djvu/39

21 her, she will not suffer me to do this; wherefore I will not return to her nor consult her, but will go with thee and tell her not and after return.’ And he wept before him.

When Salih heard what his nephew said, he was bewildered concerning his case and said, ‘I crave help of God the most High in any event.’ Then, seeing that Bedr was resolved to go with him, without consulting his mother, he drew from his finger a seal-ring, whereon were graven certain of the names of God the Most High, and gave it to him, saying, ‘Put this on thy finger, and thou wilt be safe from drowning and other [the perils of the sea] and from the mischief of its beasts and its great fishes.’ So Bedr took the ring and put it on his finger. Then they plunged into the sea and fared on till they came to Salih’s palace, where they found Bedr’s grandmother, the mother of his mother, seated with her kinsfolk, and going in to them, kissed their hands. When the old queen saw Bedr, she rose to him and embracing him, kissed him between the eyes and said to him, ‘A blessed coming, O my son! How didst thou leave thy mother Julnar?’ ‘She is well in health and fortune,’ answered he, ‘and salutes thee and her cousins.’

Then Salih told his mother how Bedr had fallen in love with the princess Jauhereh by report and was come, purposing to demand her in marriage of her father; which when the old queen heard, she was exceeding wroth with her son and sore troubled and concerned and said to Salih, ‘O my son, of a truth thou didst wrong to name the princess Jauhereh before thy nephew, knowing, as thou dost, that her father is stupid and arrogant, little of wit and exceeding violent of temper, grudging his daughter to those who demand her in marriage; for all the kings of the sea have sought her hand, but he would none of them and rejected them all, saying, “Ye are no match for her in beauty nor grace nor aught else.” Wherefore we fear to