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to my ward, and I have promised her to entrust the care of her to none but myself; for indeed I build upon her prayers and have felt the blessing of her counsels.’ ‘I will send her two trusty men,’ rejoined the King, ‘who shall pass the night in the ship and guard her and all that is with her.’ The merchant agreed to this and abode with the King, who called his secretary and steward and said to them, ‘Go and pass the night in this man’s ship and keep it safe, if it please God the Most High.’
So they went up into the ship and seating themselves, one in the bows and the other on the poop, passed a part of the night in repeating the praises of God (to whom belong might and majesty). Then said one to the other, ‘Harkye, such an one! The King bade us keep watch and I fear lest sleep overtake us; so, come, let us discourse of stories of fortune and of the good and evil chances we have seen.’ ‘O my brother,’ replied the other, ‘as for my tribulations, fate parted me from my mother and a brother of mine, whose name was even as thine; and it befell thus. My father took ship with us from such a place, and the winds and waves rose against us and were contrary, so that the ship was wrecked and God sundered our union.’ ‘What was the name of thy mother, O my brother?’ asked the first. ‘So and so,’ answered the other. ‘And of thy father?’ ‘So and so.’ When the first one heard this, he threw himself upon the other’s neck, saying, ‘By Allah, thou art my very brother!’ And each fell to telling the other what had befallen him in his youth, whilst their mother heard all they said, but held her peace and constrained her soul to patience.
When it was morning, one brother said to the other, ‘Come, brother, let us go to my lodging and talk there.’ ‘It is well,’ replied the other. So they went away and presently, the merchant came back and finding the woman
