Page:The book of wonder voyages (1919).djvu/169

 adventures, so that she wondered greatly and blessed Allah for having brought him back in safety. And she marveled exceedingly at the beauty of his wife, whom she cheered and comforted and welcomed as a daughter.

Now that they had become so rich his mother suggested that it would be well to leave Bassorah, where they might be accused of having obtained their wealth by means of alchemy. So they left that city and went to dwell at Bagdad, where they lived magnificently, with servants and attendants and a little black boy for the house. And he abode with his wife in all solace and delight for three years, during which time she bore him two sons, one of whom he named Nasir and the other Mansur.

Then he began to think of his sisters, the Princesses, and of how good they had been to him, and helped him to obtain his desire. So he decided to visit them, and for that purpose went out and bought costly stuffs, trinkets, and fruit confections such as they had never seen. And he told his mother of his intent and gave her strict injunctions to watch over his wife saying: "Suffer her not to go out of the door, nor to look out of the window, nor over the wall, for if aught of evil befell her I should slay myself for her sake. Here is her feather dress in a chest underground; watch over it lest she find it and take it, for then she would fly away with her children, and I should never hear of her again."

Now, as Fate would have it, his wife heard what he said to his mother, but neither of them knew thereof.