Arabian Nights: 224th Night: Anis al Jalis, The Slave Girl - 24

The following night Shahrazad said:

I heard, O happy King, the old man went into a store room, and fetched a stick to beat the fisherman.  The fisherman, who was the Caliph in disguise, cried out from the window, "Help, help!" and was at once joined by the vizier and his men, who dressed the fisherman in royal robes, seated him on a chair, and stood in attendance.

When the old man came out of the store room with the stick, rushing towards the fisherman, he was stunned to see instead the Caliph seated on a chair, and Ja'far standing in attendance.  The old man began to bite his nails in bewilderment and  exclaimed, "Am I sleep or awake?" The Caliph turned to him, and said, "O Shaikh Ibrahim, What state do I see you in?"  The old man became sober at once, and rolling on the ground recited the following verses:

Forgive my error, it was a slip
Grant your slave a clemency 
I have confessed my own sin
Where is the expected clemency?

The Caliph forgave him and bade Anis al Jalis to be carried to the palace, where he assigned her a separate lodging and servants to attend her, saying to her, "You should know that I have sent your lord to be
the king in Basra, and God willing, when I send him the order of investiture and bestowal, I will send you along."

Nur al-Din Ali had reached Basra.  He went to the king's palace and gave the letter of Caliph to the king.  The king went through it, kissed it, and stood up three times, and said, "I hereby obey the God and Commander of the Faithful." But when he was about to abdicate, the vizier arrived, and when the king showed him the letter, the vizier read it, then tore out the invocation to God, put it in his mouth and chewed it.  The king asked, "Why did you do that?"

The vizier said, "My lord, "Did you think that this was the handwriting of the Caliph?"

The king asked, "Is it not?"

The vizier replied, "No, by your life, O King of the age.  It is nothing but a forgery by this devil.  Would the Caliph have sent him all by himself to assume the kingship without the order of investiture or deed of bestowal?"

The king asked, "What do you advise?"

The vizier replied, "I advise to hand this fellow over to me and wait.  If no order of investiture or deed of bestowal arrives, you will know that I am right and will punish him for what he had done to me."

But morning overtook and Shahrazad lapsed into silence.






Notes:-
1. investiture:  The action of formally investing a person with honours or rank.

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