‘Yes.’  Now it was the last of the day; so he sent to her to come up into the ship and deliver the woman, for that the pangs of labour were come upon her; and he promised her clothes and spending-money.  Accordingly, she embarked in all assurance, with a heart at ease for herself, and transported her gear to the ship; but no sooner was she come thither than the anchors were weighed and the canvas spread and the ship set sail.

When the king saw this, he cried out and his wife wept in the ship and offered to cast herself into the sea; but the Magian bade the sailors lay hands on her.  So they seized her and it was but a little while ere the night darkened and the ship disappeared from the king’s eyes; whereupon he swooned away for excess of weeping and lamentation and passed his night bewailing his wife and children.

When the morning morrowed, he recited the following verses: 

How long, O Fate, wilt thou oppress and baffle me? 
Tell me, was ever yet a mortal spared of thee? 
     Behold, my loved ones all are ta’en from me away. 
They left me and content forthright forsook my heart,
Upon that day my loves my presence did depart;
     My pleasant life for loss of friends is troubled aye. 
By Allah, I knew not their worth nor yet how dear
A good it is to have one’s loved ones ever near,
     Until they left my heart on fire without allay. 
Ne’er shall I them forget, nay, nor the day they went
And left me all forlorn, to pine for languishment,
     My severance to bewail in torment and dismay. 
I make a vow to God, if ever day or night
The herald of good news my hearing shall delight,
     Announcing the return o’ th’ absent ones,
I’ll lay Upon their threshold’s dust my cheeks and to my soul,
“Take comfort, for the loved are come again,”
I’ll say.  If for my loved ones’ loss I rent my heart for dole,
     Before I rent my clothes, reproach me not, I pray.

He abode weeping for the loss of his wife and children till the morning, when he went forth wandering at a venture, knowing not what he should do, and gave not over faring along the sea-shore days and nights, unknowing whither he went and taking no food therein other than the herbs of the earth and seeing neither man nor beast nor other living thing, till his travel brought him to the top of a mountain.  He took up his sojourn in the mountain and abode there [awhile] alone, eating of its fruits and drinking of its waters.  Then he came down thence and fared on along the high road three days, at the end of which time he came upon tilled fields and villages and gave not over going till he sighted a great city on the shore of the sea and came to the gate thereof at the last of the day.  The gatekeepers suffered him not to enter; so he abode his night anhungred, and when he arose in the morning, be sat down hard by the gate.