'Aun said, "O Mohammed, O Son of the Sultan, I have been
predestined to thee in this site whither thou wast fated to come;
but I have another and a further covenant to keep wherewith I
would charge thee." "What is that?" quoth he, and quoth the 'Aun,
"Verily thou shalt not depart this place until thou shalt have
laved me and shrouded me and graved[FN#374] me in the ground;"
and so saying he shrieked a loud shriek and his soul fled his
flesh. This was grievous to the son of the King and he and his
men arose and washed him and shrouded him and having prayed over
him buried him in the earth. After this the Prince turned him to
travel, so they laded the loads and he and his set forth
intending for their families and native land. They journeyed
during the space of thirty days till they reached the fork of the
highway whereat stood the great rock, and here they found tents
and pavilions and a host nor did they know what this mighty many
might mean. Now the father, when his son left him, suffered from
straitness of breast and was sore perplexed as to his affair and
he wot not what to do; so he bade make ready his army and
commanded the lords of the land to prepare for the march and all
set out seeking his son and determined to find tidings of him.
Nor did they cease faring till they reached the place where the
road forked into three and on the first rock they saw written the
three lines--"This is the road of safe chance;" and "This is the
way of repentance;" and "This is the path whereon whoso paceth
shall return nevermore." But when the father read it he was posed
and perplext as to the matter and he cried, "Would Heaven I knew
by which road of these three my son Mohammed may have travelled;"
and as he was brooding over this difficulty--And Shahrazad was
surprised by the dawn of day and fell silent and ceased saying
her permitted say. Then quoth her sister Dunyazad, "How sweet and