Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 8.djvu/154

142 So the vizier took Noureddin and carried him to his palace, thinking to slaughter him on the threshold of the gate; but the painters said to him, ‘O my lord, we have two days’ painting yet to do; so have patience with us and delay to slaughter this captive, till we have made an end of our work; belike by that time the rest of the thirty will come, so thou mayst despatch them all at one bout and accomplish thy vow in one day.’ So the vizier bade imprison him and they carried him to the stables and left him there in chains, hungering and thirsting and making moan for himself; for indeed he saw death face to face.

Now it chanced, by the ordinance of destiny and fore-ordered fate, that the king had two chargers, own brothers, such as the kings of the Chosroës might sigh in vain to possess themselves of one of them; they were called Sabic and Lahic and one of them was pure white and the other black as the darksome night. And all the kings of the isles had said, ‘Whoso stealeth us one of these horses, we will give him all he seeketh of red gold and pearls and jewels;’ but none could avail unto this. Now one of them fell sick of a jaundice and there came a whiteness over his eyes; whereupon the king sent for all the farriers in the city to treat him; but they all failed of his cure. Presently the vizier came in to the king and finding him troubled, because of the horse, thought to do away his concern and said to him, ‘O king, give me the horse and I will cure him.’ The king consented and caused carry the horse to the stable wherein was Noureddin; but, when he missed his brother, he cried out with an exceeding great cry and neighed, so that he affrighted all the folk. The vizier, seeing that he did thus but