Hardly was the night come, when he went in to his wife and found her lying back, [apparently] asleep; so he sat down by her side and laying the hoopoe’s heart on her breast, waited awhile, so he might be certified that she slept.  Then said he to her, ’Shah Khatoun, Shah Khatoun, is this my recompense from thee?’ Quoth she, ‘What offence have I committed?’ And he, ’What offence can be greater than this?  Thou sentest after yonder youth and broughtest him hither, on account of the desire of thy heart, so thou mightest do with him that for which thou lustedst.’  ’I know not desire,’ answered she.  ’Verily, among thy servants are those who are comelier and handsomer than he; yet have I never desired one of them.’  ‘Why, then,’ asked he, ’didst thou lay hold of him and kiss him!’ And she said, ’This is my son and a piece of my heart; and of my longing and love for him, I could not contain myself, but sprang upon him and kissed him.’  When the king heard this, he was perplexed and amazed and said to her, ’Hast thou a proof that this youth is thy son?  Indeed, I have a letter from thine uncle King Suleiman Shah, [wherein he giveth me to know] that his unck Belehwan cut his throat.’  ‘Yes,’ answered she, ’he did indeed cut his throat, but severed not the windpipe; so my uncle sewed up the wound and reared him, [and he lived,] for that his hour was not come.’

When the king heard this, he said, ‘This proof sufficeth me,’ and rising forthright in the night, let bring the youth and the eunuch.  Then he examined the former’s throat with a candle and saw [the scar where] it [had been] cut from ear to ear, and indeed the place had healed up and it was like unto a stretched-out thread.  Therewithal the king fell down prostrate to God, [in thanksgiving to Him] for that He had delivered the prince from all these perils and from the stresses that he had undergone, and rejoiced with an exceeding joy for that he had wrought deliberately and had not made haste to slay him, in which case sore repentance had betided him.  As for the youth,” continued the young treasurer, “he was not saved but because his term was deferred, and on like wise, O king, is it with me; I too have a deferred term, which I shall attain, and a period which I shall accomplish, and I trust in God the Most High that He will give me the victory over these wicked viziers.”

When the youth had made an end of his speech, the king said, “Carry him back to the prison;” and when they had done this, he turned to the viziers and said to them, “Yonder youth looseth his tongue upon you, but I know your affectionate solicitude for the welfare of my empire and your loyal counsel to me; so be of good heart, for all that ye counsel me I will do.”  When they heard tnese words, they rejoiced and each of them said his say Then said the king, “I have not deferred his slaughter but to the intent that the talk might be prolonged and that words might abound, and I desire [now] that ye sit up for him a gibbet without the town and make proclamation among the folk that they assemble and take him and carry him in procession to the gibbet, with the crier crying before him and saying, ’This is the recompense of him whom the king delighted to favour and who hath betrayed him!’” The viziers rejoiced, when they heard this, and slept not that night, of their joy; and they made proclamation in the city and set up the gibbet.