this day to that a thousand solaces.”  So he paid no heed to their words or attention to their speeches but bestowed on them robes of honour, as well upon all who were present, and dismissed them; when, behold, in came Faris the Wazir and kissed the earth before the King in huge joy, saying, “Good tidings, O King!  My wife hath but now given birth to a son, as he were a slice of the moon.”  Replied Asim, “O Wazir, go, bring thy wife and child hither, that she may abide with my wife in my palace, and they shall bring up the two boys together.”  So Faris fetched his wife and son and they committed the two children to the nurses wet and dry.  And after seven days had passed over them, they brought them before the King and said to him, “What wilt thou name the twain?” Quoth he, “Do ye name them;” but quoth they, “None nameth the son save his sire.”  So he said, “Name my son Sayf al-Muluk, after my grandfather, and the Minister’s son Sa’id[FN#377] Then he bestowed robes of honour on the nurses wet and dry and said to them, “Be ye ruthful over them and rear them after the goodliest fashion.”  So they brought up the two boys diligently till they reached the age of five, when the King committed them to a doctor of Sciences[FN#378] who taught them to read the Koran and write.  When they were ten years old, King Asim gave them in charge to masters, who instructed them in cavalarice and shooting with shafts and lunging with lance and play of Polo and the like till, by the time they were fifteen years old, they were clever in all manner of martial exercises, nor was there one to view with them in horsemanship, for each of them would do battle with a thousand men and make head against them single handed.  So when they came to years of discretion, whenever King Asim looked on them he joyed in them with exceeding joy; and when they attained their twenty-fifth year, he took Faris his Minister apart one day and said to him, “O Wazir, I am minded to consult with thee concerning a thing I desire to do.”  Replied he, “Whatever thou hast a mind to do, do it; for thy judgment is blessed.”  Quoth the King, “O Wazir, I am become a very old and decrepit man, sore stricken in years, and I desire to take up my abode in an oratory, that I may worship Allah Almighty and give my kingdom and Sultanate to my son Sayf al-Muluk for that he is grown a goodly youth, perfect in knightly exercises and intellectual attainments, polite letters and gravity, dignity and the art of government.  What sayst thou, O Minister, of this project?” And quoth the counsellor, “Right indeed is thy rede:  the idea is a blessed and a fortunate, and if thou do this, I will do the like and my son Sa’id shall be the Prince’s Wazir, for he is a comely young man and complete in knowledge and judgment.  Thus will the two youths be together, and we will order their affair and neglect not their case, but guide them to goodness and in the way that is straight.”  Quoth the King, “Write letters and send them by couriers to all the countries and cities and sconces