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years agone,” answered Mubarek. “But, O my son Zein ul Asnam, by what token canst thou certify me that thou art the son of my lord the king of Bassora?” Quoth Zein ul Asnam, “Thou knowest that my father builded under his palace a vault and therein [a hall in which] he set forty[1] jars of fine jade and filled them with ancient gold;[2] and within this hall he made a second hall, wherein he placed eight images of precious stones, each wroughten of a single jewel and seated upon a throne of virgin gold.[3] Moreover, he wrote upon a curtain of silk there and I read the writ, whereby I found that he bade me come to thee, saying that thou wouldst acquaint me of the ninth image and where it is, the which, said he, was worth the eight, all of them.”
When Mubarek heard these words, he threw himself at Zein ul Asnam’s feet and fell to kissing them and saying, “Pardon me, O my lord! Verily, thou art the son of my lord.” Then said he to the prince, “O my lord, I make to-day a banquet unto all the chief men of Cairo and I would fain have thy highness honour
- ↑ Eight; see ante, p. 14.
- ↑ Edh dheheb el kedim.
- ↑ Edh dheheb er yemli, lit. sand- (i.e. alluvial) gold, gold in its native state, needing no smelting to extract it. This, by the way, is the first mention of the thrones or pedestals of the images.
