Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 8.djvu/287

275 a wall: so he drew near them whereas he might hear and apprehend what they said, unseen of them, and heard one say to the other, ‘O my brother, hear what my father told me yesternight of the calamity that hath betided him in the withering of his crops, before their time, by reason of the lack of rain and the great affliction that is fallen on this city.’ Quoth the other, ‘Knowst thou not the cause of this affliction?’ ‘Not I,’ answered the first. ‘I prithee, tell it me, if thou know it.’ ‘Yes,’ rejoined the second; ‘I know it and will tell it thee. Know that I have heard from one of my father’s friends that our king put his viziers and ministers to death, without offence done of them, by reason of his love for women and inclination to them; for that his viziers forbade him from this, but he would not be forbidden and commanded to slay them, in obedience to his women. Thus he killed Shimas my father, who was his vizier and the vizier of his father before him and the chief of his council; but thou shalt see how God will do with him by reason of his sins against them and how He shall avenge them of him.’ ‘How so?’ asked the first boy.

‘Know,’ replied his fellow, ‘that the King of Farther India maketh light of our king and hath sent him a letter, rating him and saying to him, “Build me a castle amiddleward the sea, or I will send unto thee Bediya my vizier, with twelve squadrons of horse, each twelve thousand strong, to seize upon thy kingdom and slay thy men and take thee and thy women prisoners.” And he hath given him three days’ time to answer. Now thou must know, O my brother, that this King of Farther India is a masterful tyrant, a man of might and exceeding prowess, and in his realm are much people; wherefore, except our king make shift to fend him off from himself, he will fall into perdition, whilst the King of Hind will seize on our possessions and slay our men and make