entreated him with honour the highmost that could be of all
honouring, as a return for which this traitor of the salt, this
reprobate betrayed me in a daughter that was by me. I feared to
do him dead lest I come to shame amongst the folk and endure
disgrace, I and my tribe, wherefore I have forwarded him to thy
Highness that thou mayest torture him with torments of varied art
and end his affair and slaughter him, thus saving us from the
shame which befel us at the hands of this reprobate
traitor."[FN#192] Now when the young Prince read this writ and
comprehended its contents, he suspected that it was not written
concerning him and he took thought in himself, saying, "Would
Heaven I knew what I can have done by this horseman who thus
seeketh diligently to destroy my life, for that this one had with
him no daughter, he being alone and wending his way without any
other save himself; and I made acquaintance with him nor passed
there between us a word which was unworthy or unmeet. Now this
affair must needs have one of two faces; to wit, the first, that
such mishap really did happen to him from some youth who
favoureth me and when he saw the likeness he gave me the letter;
or, on the second count, this must be a trial and a test sent to
me from Almighty Allah, and praise be to God the Great who
inspired me to open this missive. At any rate I thank the Most
Highest and laud Him for His warding off the distress and
calamity descending upon me and wherefrom He delivered me." Then
the young Prince ceased not wending over the wildest of wolds
until he came to a mighty grand city which he entered; and,
hiring himself a lodging in a Khan,[FN#193] dismounted thereat;
then, having tethered his mare and fed her with a sufficiency of
fodder, he fared forth to walk about the thoroughfares. Suddenly
he was met by an ancient dame who considered him and noted him