Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 7.djvu/82

64 eunuch’s head and hands and pulling off the clothes he had on, gave them to him. Moreover, he said to those who were present in his assembly, ‘Whoso loveth me, let him bestow largesse upon this man.’ And they gave him of money and jewels and jacinths and horses and mules and gardens what was beyond count or reckoning.

At that moment, in came the Vizier Faris and said to Aasim, ‘O king of the age, I was sitting at home alone but now, absorbed in thought, pondering the matter of the pregnancy and saying in myself, “I wonder if this thing be true and whether Khatoun have conceived or not!” when, behold, an eunuch came in to me and brought me the glad news that my wife was indeed pregnant, for that her colour was changed and the child stirred in her belly: whereupon, in my joy, I pulled off all my clothes and gave them to him, together with a thousand dinars, and made him chief of the eunuchs.’ ‘O vizier,’ rejoined the king, ‘God (blessed and exalted be He!) hath, of His grace and bounty and goodness, made gift to us of the true faith and brought us out of darkness into light and hath been bountiful to us, of His favour and beneficence; wherefore I am minded to solace the folk and cause them to rejoice.’ Quoth Faris, ‘Do what thou wilt.’

Then said the king, ‘O vizier, go down forthright and set free all who are in the prisons, both debtors and criminals, and whoso transgresseth after this, we will requite according to his desert. Moreover, we forgive the people three years’ taxes, and do thou set up kitchens all round about the city walls and bid the cooks hang over the fire all kinds of cooking pots and cook all manner meats nor leave cooking night or day, and let all comers, both of the people of the city and of the neighbouring