its saddle and bridle.”  Hereupon he farewelled them and went forth and stemmed the stream and withdrawing his she-dromedary from the cave harnessed her and mounted her and set forth upon his desert way, and as soon as he reached the capital of Sind he went to his folk who greeted him kindly.  Now when King Al-Mihrjan heard of Mohammed ibn Ibrahim’s coming he sent to summon him and as soon as he appeared between his hands he asked concerning his absence.  “O King of the Time and the Tide,” quoth he, “I have been in Yasrib[FN#265] city;” and indeed he was one of the cup-companions of Al-Hayfa’s father and by the decree of Destiny he had been ever in high favour with the King.  So the twain sat down to drink wine and as Fortune willed it Ibn Ibrahim bore about him a letter containing poetry, part of the correspondence between the Prince and Princess, wherein were written the names of all three.  Now when he was at the height of his joy he wagged his head and shook off his turband and the paper fell therefrom into Al-Mihrjan’s lap.[FN#266] The King took it and read it and understood its contents but he kept the case secret for a while; presently, however, he dismissed his Courtiers and Equerries who were around him and forthright bade smite Mohammed ibn Ibrahim with stripes until his sides were torn.  Then quoth he, “Acquaint me concerning this youth who correspondeth with my daughter, making thee the goer between them twain, otherwise I will cut off thy head.”  Quoth Ibn Ibrahim, “Ho thou King; verily this be only poetry which I found in one of the histories of old.”—­And Shahrazad was surprised by the dawn of day and fell silent and ceased saying her permitted say.  Then quoth her sister Dunyazad, “How sweet and tasteful is thy tale, O sister mine, and how enjoyable and delectable!” Quoth she, “And where is this compared with that I would 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 Six Hundred and Ninety-sixth 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 Ibn Ibrahim said to Al-Mihrjan, “Verily I found this poetry in a tale of the olden time.”  So the King issued orders to smite his neck, when intercession was made for him by a Courtier hight Ta’il al-Wasf,[FN#267] whereupon the King commanded him to jail, whither he was taken forthright.  But as Ibn Ibrahim was being locked up, he said to the gaoler, “Say me, canst thou bring for me a pen-case and paper and pen?” and the other assented, fetching for him whatso he wanted.  So he wrote to Prince Yusuf the following couplets,