he king, and interrogated, confessed that she was the daughter
of Sala-Solo, Prince of Gondar. Mansoor upon this explained the
decrees of Heaven; and although she wept, and said that she was
betrothed to the son of the sultan of Damascus, he paid no heed to
her, but took her to wife, and in due course of time had a son by her,
whom he named Ali; and he would thereafter smile grimly to, himself,
and say: 'I now have an Ali, I now have a child.'

The magician, who returned about this time, being consulted, said
that if the boy passed the critical period of fifteen years, he would
live, like his father, to a good old age. So Mansoor caused a
subterranean palace to be hewn out of the mountain, in the deeper
chambers of which, fitted up with all magnificence, he caused Ali to
be kept by a faithful nurse; whilst he himself dwelt in the front
chambers that overlooked the river, and gave audience to all who came
and floated in boats beneath his balconies; but no one was allowed to
ascend, except the wezeer and a few proved friends: [There, said
Ismaeen, pointing to one of the largest excavations on the opposite
side, there is the palace of King Mansoor.]

Other things happened meanwhile. The mother of Ali refusing to be
comforted, was divorced, and sent to the son of the king of Damascus,
who loved her, and who took her to wife. She hated King Mansoor, but
she yearned after her first-born, and she endeavoured to persuade her
husband to raise an army, and march to Upper Egypt, to slay the one
and seize the other. For many years he was not able to comply with her
wishes; but at length he collected a vast power, and crossing the
desert of Suwez, advanced rapidly towards the dominions of King
Mansoor.

It came to pass, that about the same time the fame of a mighty warrior
grew among the Arabs, one who scoffed at the king's name, attacked his
troops, and plundered his cultivated provinces. All the forces that
could be collected, were despatched to reduce this rebel, but in vain.
They were easily defeated, almost by the prowess of their chief's
unassisted arm; and it became known that the capital itself was to be
attacked before long. At this juncture, the intelligence arrived that
a hostile army was approaching from the north, and had already reached
the Two Mountains (Gebelein); and then, that another army had shewn
itself to the south, about the neighbourhood of the Cataracts--the
former, under the command of the sultan of Dama