“O sultan,” continued the genealogist, “when I shall inform thee of thy parentage and descent, let not there be any present who may hear me.”  “Wherefore?” replied the sultan.  “My lord,” answered the sharper, “you know the attributes of the Deity should be veiled in mystery.”  The sultan now commanded all his attendants to retire, and when they were alone, the genealogist advanced and said, “Mighty prince, thou art illegitimate, and the son of an adulteress.”

As soon as the sultan heard this, his colour changed, he turned pale, and fainted away.  When he was recovered, he remained some time in deep contemplation, after which he exclaimed, “By him who constituted me the guardian of his people, I swear that if thy assertion be found true I will abdicate my kingdom, and resign it to thee, for royalty cannot longer become me; but should thy words prove void of foundation, I will put thee to instant death.”  “To hear is to assent,” replied the sharper.

The sultan now arose, entered the haram, and bursting into his mother’s apartment with his cimeter drawn, exclaimed, “By him who divided the heavens from the earth, shouldst thou not answer faithfully to what I shall inquire, I will cut thee to pieces with this cimeter.”  The queen, trembling with alarm, said, “What dost thou ask of me?” “Inform me,” replied the sultan, “of whom am I the son?” “Since truth only can save me,” cried the princess, “know that thou art the offspring of a cook.  My husband had no children either male or female, on which account he became sad, and lost his health and appetite.  In a court of the haram we had several sorts of birds, and one day the sultan fancying he should relish one of them, ordered the cook to kill and dress it.  I happened then to be in the bath alone.

“As I was in the bath,” continued the sultana, “I saw the cook endeavouring to catch the birds.  At that instant it occurred to my mind from the instigation of Satan, that if I bore not a son, after the death of the sultan my influence would be lost.  I tempted the man, and thou art the produce of my crime.  The signs of my pregnancy soon appeared; and when the sultan was informed of them, he recovered his health, and rejoiced exceedingly, and conferred favours and presents on his ministers and courtiers daily, till the time of my delivery.  On that day he chanced to be upon a hunting excursion at a country palace; but when intelligence was brought him of the birth of a son, he instantly returned to me, and issued orders for the city to be decorated, which was done for forty days together, out of respect to the sultan.  Such was my crime, and such was thy birth.”

The sultan now returned to the adventurer, and commanded him to pull off his clothes, which he did; when the sultan, disrobing himself, habited him in the royal vestments, after which he said, “Inform me whence thou judgest that I was a bastard?”