an end of him.  Then she took the ring and broke it, that none might possess it thenceforward, and tore up the saddle bags; after which she sent to the Shaykh al-Islam and other great officers of state, telling them what had passed and saying to them, “Choose you out a King to rule over you.”  And this is all that hath come down to us of the Story of Judar and his Brethren.[FN#311] But I have also heard, O King, a tale called the

        Historyof Gharib and his brother Ajib.[FN#312]

There was once in olden time a King of might, Kundamir highs, who had been a brave and doughty man of war, a Kahraman,[FN#313] in his day, but was grown passing old and decrepit.  Now it pleased Allah to vouchsafe him, in his extreme senility, a son, whom he named Ajib[FN#314]—­the Wonderful—­because of his beauty and loveliness; so he committed the babe to the midwives and wet-nurses and handmaids and serving-women, and they reared him till he was full seven years old, when his father gave him in charge to a divine of his own folk and faith.  The priest taught him the laws and tenets of their Misbelief and instructed him in philosophy and all manner of other knowledge, and it needed but three full told years ere he was proficient therein and his spirit waxed resolute and his judgment mature; and he became learned, eloquent and philosophic[FN#315]; consorting with the wise and disputing with the doctors of the law.  When his father saw this of him, it pleased him and he taught him to back the steed and stab with spear and smite with sword, till he grew to be an accomplished cavalier, versed in all martial exercises; and, by the end of his twentieth year, he surpassed in all things all the folk of his day.  But his skill in weapons made him grow up a stubborn tyrant and a devil arrogant, using to ride forth a-hunting and a-chasing amongst a thousand horsemen and to make raids and razzias upon the neighbouring knights, cutting off caravans and carrying away the daughters of Kings and nobles; wherefore many brought complaints against him to his father, who cried out to five of his slaves and when they came said, “Seize this dog!” So they seized Prince Ajib and, pinioning his hands behind him, beat him by his father’s command till he lost his senses; after which the King imprisoned him in a chamber so dark one might not know heaven from earth or length from breadth; and there he abode two days and a night.  Then the Emirs went in to the King and, kissing the ground between his hands, interceded with him for the Prince, and he released him.  So Ajib bore with his father for ten days, at the end of which he went in to him as he slept by night and smote his neck.  When the day rose, he mounted the throne of his sire’s estate and bade his men arm themselves cap-a-pie in steel and stand with drawn swords in front of him and on his right hand and on his left.  By and by, the Emirs and Captains entered and finding their King slain and