ls in the world. Didst thou but know the
grief which possessed me for thy separation, thou whom I took from thy
parents by fraud and brought thee to the King of the Jinn!" [138]

Scarce had the prince made an end of his speech when they heard a noise
of thunder rending the mountains and shaking the earth and fear get hold
upon the queen, the mother of Zein ul Asnam, yea, and sore trembling;
but, after a little, the King of the Jinn appeared and said to her, "O
lady, fear not, it is I who am thy son's protector and I love him with
an exceeding love for the love his father bore me. Nay, I am he
who appeared to him in his sleep and in this I purposed to try his
fortitude, whether or not he might avail to subdue himself for loyalty's
sake. Indeed the beauty of this young lady beguiled him and he could not
avail to keep his covenant with me so strictly but [139] that he desired
her for his bride. However, I know the frailty of human nature and
withal I think greatly of him that he guarded her and kept her unsullied
and withdrew himself from her; [140] wherefore I accept this his
constancy and bestow her on him as a bride. She is the ninth image,
which I promised him should be with him, and certes she is fairer than
all these images of jewels, inasmuch as her like is rarely found in the
world." Then the King of the Jinn turned to Zein ul Asnam and said to
him, "O Prince Zein ul Asnam, this is thy bride; take her and go in
to her, on condition that thou love her and take not unto her a
second [wife]; and I warrant thee of the goodliness of her fidelity
to-thee-ward." Therewithal he vanished from them and Zein ul Asnam went
out, glad and rejoicing in the young lady; [141] and of [the excess
of] his love for her he went in to her that night and let celebrate the
bridal and hold high festival in all the kingdom. Then he abode upon the
throne of his kingship, judging and commanding and forbidding, whilst
his bride became queen of Bassora; and after a little his mother died.
So he made her funeral obsequies [142] and mourned for her; after which
he lived with his bride in all content till there came to them the
Destroyer of Delights and the Sunderer of Societies.

ALAEDDIN AND THE ENCHANTED LAMP. [143]

There [144] was [once] in a city of the cities of China a man, a tailor
and poor, and he had a son by name Alaeddin, who was perverse and
graceless from his earliest childhood. When he came to ten years of age,
his fat