kitchen will give us dates to eat to-day." When she heard those words, the woman left her cooking and ran up-stairs. And she said, "What is it, master?" And he said, "Look through the window." And when she looked, she saw her son coming with rejoicing, and the slaves, who were come rejoicing.
And his father ordered the soldiers, "Go after him and take the boy." And the soldiers went and ran and carried him, till they reached his father.
"Well! the news, my son?" And he said, "I have no news; my news is to open your mouth and I give you a taste of the dates." And he said, "Yes, this is having children, for my son to give me to taste." And he plucked a date, and put it in his father's mouth. And he plucked a date, and put it in his mother's mouth.
And he said, "This, my son, is having children; not like those fools, not like those good-for-nothings." And he said, "Well, my son, what did you do with the bird—you, and who else watched for the bird?" And he said, "As to the bird, I watched for it by myself; and I saw it, too, and it will not come again for its life, nor for your life, nor for the lives of those who are to come besides."
And he said, "My son, there is no single thing that has pleased me about you like this, that you have given me a taste of the dates, for I have waited five years and have not got a taste of the dates. And I have six sons, and yet I have not one. You, whom I called a fool, are the one who gave me a taste of the dates. As for them I want none of them."
And his mother arose and went to her husband, and said, "Do not reject them; he who rejects a son, rejects an unlawful son; and you, Sultan Majnún, if you reject these children, people will say they are not lawful children, and I, your wife, shall have no face before people.
