When Alaeddin’s mother heard her son’s speech, she thought little of his wit and said to him, “O my son, the name of God encompass thee!  Meseemeth thou hast lost thy wit; return to thy senses, [FN#325] O my son, and be not like the madmen!” “Nay, O my mother,” replied he, “I have not lost my wits nor am I mad; and this thy speech shall not change that which is in my mind, nor is rest possible to me except I get the darling of my heart, the lovely Lady Bedrulbudour.  And my intent is to demand her of her father the Sultan.”  So she said to him, “O my son, my life upon thee, speak not thus, lest one hear thee and say of thee that thou art mad.  Put away from thee this extravagance:  [FN#326] who shall undertake an affair like this and demand it of the Sultan?  Meknoweth not how thou wilt do to make this request of the Sultan, and if thou speak sooth, [FN#327] by whom wilt thou make it?” “O my mother,” rejoined Alaeddin, “by whom [should I make] a request like this, when thou art at hand, and whom have I trustier [FN#328] than thyself?  Wherefore my intent is that thou shalt make this request for me.”  “O my son,” quoth she, “God deliver me from this!  What, have I lost my wits like thee?  Put away this thought from thy mind and bethink thee who thou art, O my son,—­the son of a tailor, the poorest and least of the tailors in this city, and I also am thy mother and my folk are exceeding poor; so how wilt thou dare to demand the Sultan’s daughter, whom her father would not vouchsafe to marry with kings’ sons and Sultans, except they were his peers in puissance and rank and noblesse; nay, were they one degree less than he, he would not give them his daughter.”

Alaeddin [FN#329] waited till his mother had made an end of her speech and said to her, “O my mother, all that thou thinkest I know; marry, I know full well that I am the son of poor folk, nor may all this thy talk anywise avail to move me from my purpose; but I beseech thee, an I be thy very son and thou love me, do me this kindness; else wilt thou lose me, for death hasteneth upon me, an I attain not my wish of the beloved of my heart.  In any case, O my mother, I am thy son.”  When his mother heard his speech, she wept of her concern for him and said to him, “Yes, O my son, I am thy mother and thou art my son and the darling of my heart; [FN#330] I have none other than thee and the extreme of my desire is to rejoice in thee and marry thee.  So, an thou wilt, I will seek thee a bride of our own rank.  But suppose [I do this], they [FN#331] [will] ask at once an thou have craft or land or trade or garden, so thou mayst live, and what shall I answer them " And if I cannot answer poor folk like ourselves, how, O my son, shall I dare to seek the King’s daughter of China, who hath none before him and none after him?  Wherefore do thou ponder this matter in thine understanding.  And who seeketh her?  The son of a tailor. [FN#332] Indeed, I know that, an I speak of this, it will but be for the increase