and went into the presence about set of sun when he found his liege lord at supper.  The King bade him sit to the trays which he did and he ate after the measure of his sufficiency, and again when the Sultan looked upon him he was pleased with him.  And when the hour of nightprayers came all prayed together;[FN#288] then the King invited him to sit down as a cup-companion and commanded him to relate one of his tales.—­And Shahrazad was surprised by the dawn of day and fell silent and ceased to say her permitted say.  Then quoth her sister Dunyazad, “How sweet is thy story, O sister mine, and how enjoyable and delectable!” Quoth she, “And where is this compared with that I should relate to you on the coming night an the Sovran suffer me to survive?” Now when it was the next night and that was

The Four Hundred and Seventeenth Night,

Dunyazad said to her, “Allah upon thee, O my sister, an thou be other than sleepy, finish for us thy tale that we may cut short the watching of this our latter night!” She replied, “With love and good will!” It hath reached me, O auspicious King, the director, the right-guiding, lord of the rede which is benefiting and of deeds fair-seeming and worthy celebrating, that the man took seat as a boon-companion of the King, and began to relate

The Tale of the Sultan and His Sons and the Enchanting Bird.[FN#289]

It is told anent a man, one of the Kings of Orient-land, that he had three sons, of whom the eldest one day of the days heard the folk saying, “In such a place there is a bird hight the shrilling Philomelet,[FN#290] which transmews everyone who comes to it into a form of stone.  Now when the heir apparent heard this report he went to his father and said, “’Tis my desire to fare forth and to get that marvellous bird;” and said the father, “O my son, thou wouldst work only to waste thy life-blood and to deprive us of thee; for that same bird hath ruined Kings and Sultans, not to speak of Bashas and Sanjaks,[FN#291] men in whose claws[FN#292] thou wouldst be as nothing.”  But the son replied, “Needs must I go and if thou forbid my going I will kill myself.”  So quoth his father, “There is no Majesty and no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great;” and saith the son, “Affects are affected and steps are sped towards a world that is vile and distributed daily bread."[FN#293] Then he said to him, “O my child, set out upon thy journey and mayest thou win to thy wish.”  Hereupon they prepared for him somewhat of victual and he went forth on his wayfare.  But before departing he took off his seal-ring from his finger and gave it to his second brother saying, “O my brother, an this signet press hard upon thy little finger do thou know and make certain that mishap hath happened to me.”  So the second Prince took it and put it upon his minim finger, after which the eldest youth farewelled his father and his mother and his brothers and the Lords of the land and departed seeking the city wherein