When it was the Five Hundred and Forty-ninth Night,

Quoth Dunyazad, “O sister mine, an thou be other than sleepy, do tell us some of thy pleasant tales,” whereupon Shahrazad replied, “With love and good will.”—­It hath reached me, O King of the Age, that when Alaeddin heard his mother’s words and how the Sultan had promised him his daughter, deferring, however, the wedding until after the third month, his mind was gladdened and he rejoiced exceedingly and said, “Inasmuch as the King hath given his word after three months (well, it is a long time!), at all events my gladness is mighty great.”  Then he thanked his parent, showing her how her good work had exceeded her toil and travail; and said to her, “By Allah, O my mother, hitherto I was as ’twere in my grave and therefrom thou hast withdrawn me; and I praise Allah Almighty because I am at this moment certified that no man in the world is happier than I or more fortunate.”  Then he took patience until two of the three months had gone by.  Now one day of the days his mother fared forth about sundown to the Bazar that she might buy somewhat of oil; and she found all the market shops fast shut and the whole city decorated, and the folk placing waxen tapers and flowers at their casements; and she beheld the soldiers and household troops and Aghas[FN#140] riding in procession and flambeaux and lustres flaming and flaring, and she wondered at the marvellous sight and the glamour of the scene.  So she went in to an oilman’s store which stood open still and bought her need of him and said, “By thy life, O uncle, tell me what be the tidings in town this day, that people have made all these decorations and every house and market-street are adorned and the troops all stand on guard?” The oilman asked her, “O woman, I suppose thou art a stranger and not one of this city?” and she answered, “Nay, I am thy townswoman.”  He rejoined, “Thou a towns-woman, and yet wottest not that this very night the son of the Grand Wazir goeth in to the Lady Badr al-Budur, daughter of the Sultan!  He is now in the Hammam and all this power of soldiery is on guard and standing under arms to await his coming forth, when they will bear him in bridal procession to the palace where the Princess expecteth him.”  As the mother of Alaeddin heard these words, she grieved and was distraught in thought and perplexed how to inform her son of this sorrowful event, well knowing that the poor youth was looking, hour by hour, to the end of the three months.  But she returned straightway home to him and when she had entered she said, “O my son, I would give thee certain tidings, yet hard to me will be the sorrow they shall occasion thee.”  He cried, “Let me know what be thy news;” and she replied, “Verily the Sultan hath broken his promise to thee in the matter of the Lady Badr al-Budur, and this very night the Grand Wazir’s son goeth in to her.  And for some time, O my son, I have suspected that the Minister would change the King’s mind, even