Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 7.djvu/90

72 thee by Allah, the Lord of Lords, the Liberator of those that are in bondage, the Causer of causes, the One, the Clement, the Bountiful, the Giver of gifts, that thou tell me what ails thee and be not abashed at me, for I am thy slave and thy vizier and counsellor in all things!’ Quoth Seif, ‘Come and look at this portrait.’ So Saïd looked at it awhile and considering it straitly, saw written, at its head, in letters of pearl, these words, ‘This is the presentment of Bediya el Jemal, daughter of Shehyal ben Sharoukh, a king of the kings of the true-believing Jinn who have taken up their abode in the city of Babel and sojourn in the garden of Irem.’

So he said to the king, ‘O my brother, knowest thou of what woman this is the portraiture, that we may seek for her?’ ‘Not I, by Allah, O my brother,’ answered Seif: and Saïd said, ‘Come and read this writing.’ So Seif read it and cried out from his inmost heart, saying, ‘Alas! Alas! Alas!’ Quoth Saïd, ‘O my brother, if the original of the portrait exist and her name be Bediya el Jemal and she be in the world, I will make haste to seek her, that thou mayst without delay attain thy desire. But, God on thee, O my brother, leave this weeping, that the officers of the state may come in, to do their service to thee, and in the forenoon, do thou summon the merchants and fakirs and travellers and pilgrims and enquire of them concerning this city and the garden of Irem; it may be, by the help and blessing of God (extolled and exalted be He!), some one of them will direct us thither.’

So, when it was day, Seif el Mulouk went forth and mounted the throne, hugging the tunic in his arms, for he could neither stand nor sit without it, nor would sleep visit him, except it were with him; and the amirs and