Here she ceased speaking and the Monarch and Minister both
wondered at her words and exclaimed, "Exalted be He who decreeth
to His servants severance and reunion." Then the Sultan of Cairo
arose without stay or delay and wrote letters to the King of
Al-Irak, the father of the damsels, telling him that he had taken
them under his safeguard, them and their mother, and gave the
writ to the Shaykh of the Cossids[FN#166] and appointed for it a
running courier and sent him forth with it to the desert. After
this the King took the three maidens and their mother and carried
them to his Palace where he set apart for them an apartment and
he appointed for them what sufficed of appointments. Now, as for
the Cossid who fared forth with the letter, he stinted not
spanning the waste for the space of two months until he made the
city of the bereaved King of Al-Irak, and when he asked for the
royal whereabouts they pointed out to him a pleasure-garden. So
he repaired thither and went in to him, kissed ground before him,
offered his services, prayed for him and lastly handed to him the
letter. The King took it and brake the seal and opened the
scroll; but when he read it and comprehended its contents, he
rose up and shrieked a loud shriek and fell to the floor in a
fainting fit. So the high officials flocked around him and raised
him from the ground, and when he recovered after an hour or so
they questioned him concerning the cause of this. He then related
to them the adventures of his wife and children; how they were
still in the bonds of life whole and hearty; and forthright he
ordered a ship to be got ready for them and stored therein gifts
and presents for him who had been the guardian of his Queen and
her daughters. But he knew not what lurked for them in the
future. So the ship sailed away, all on board seeking the desired
city, and she reached it without delay, the winds blowing light