prayed for his preservation. Now in early morning the breeze blew
free and fair so they loosed sail and made for the back[FN#169]
of the sea and voyaged safely for the first day and the second.
But on the third about mid-afternoon a furious gale came out
against them; whereby the sails were torn to tatters and the
masts fell overboard; so the crew made certain of death, and the
ship ceased not to be tossed upwards and to settle down without
mast or sail till midnight, all the folk lamenting one to other,
as did the maidens and their mother, till the wreck was driven
upon an island and there went to pieces. Then he whose life-term
was short died forthright and he whose life-term was long
survived; and some bestrode planks and others butts and others
again bulks of timber whereby all were separated each from other.
Now the mother and two of the daughters clomb upon planks they
chanced find and sought their safety; but the youngest of the
maidens, who had mounted a keg,[FN#170] and who knew nothing of
her mother and sisters, was carried up and cast down by the waves
for the space of five days till she landed upon an extensive
sea-board where she found a sufficiency to eat and drink. She sat
down upon the shore for an hour of time until she had taken rest
and her heart was calmed and her fear had flown and she had
recovered her spirits: then she rose and paced the sands, all
unknowing whither she should wend, and whenever she came upon
aught of herbs she would eat of them. This lasted through the
first day and the second till the forenoon of the third, when lo
and behold! a Knight advanced towards her, falcon on fist and
followed by a greyhound. For three days he had been wandering
about the waste questing game either of birds or of beasts, but
he happened not upon either when he chanced to meet the maiden,
and seeing her said in his mind, "By Allah, yon damsel is my