Princess Daulat Khatun to my brother Sa'id, and we will both be
thy pages." "I hear and obey," answered Taj al-Muluk, and
assembling his Grandees a second time, let draw up the contract
of marriage between his daughter and Sa'id; after which they
scattered gold and silver and the King bade decorate the city. So
they held high festival and Sayf al-Muluk went in unto Badi'a
al-Jamal and Sa'id went in unto Daulat Khatun on the same night.
Moreover Sayf al-Muluk abode forty days with Badi'a al-Jamal, at
the end of which she said to him, "O King's son, say me, is there
left in thy heart any regret for aught?" And he replied, "Allah
forfend! I have accomplished my quest and there abideth no regret
in my heart at all: but I would fain meet my father and my mother
in the land of Egypt and see if they continue in welfare or not."
So she commanded a company of her slaves to convey them to Egypt,
and they carried them to Cairo, where Sayf al-Muluk and Sa'id
foregathered with their parents and abode with them a week; after
which they took leave of them and returned to Sarandib-city; and
from this time forwards, whenever they longed for their folk,
they used to go to them and return. Then Sayf al-Muluk and Badi'a
al-Jamal abode in all solace of life and its joyance as did Sa'id
and Daulat Khatun, till there came to them the Destroyer of
delights and Severer of societies; and they all died good
Moslems. So glory be to the Living One who dieth not, who
createth all creatures and decreeth to them death and who is the
First, without beginning, and the Last, without end! This is all
that hath come down to us of the story of Sayf al-Muluk and
Badi'a al-Jamal. And Allah alone wotteth the truth.[FN#4] But not
less excellent than this tale is the History of