Chapter 23, Julnar the Sea-Born and Her Son King Badr Basim of Persia Summary

King Shahriman in Ajam-land Persia mourns that none of his hundred concubines has produced a child to inherit the kingdom. He lives in a castle by the sea. When a merchant arrives with a beautiful maiden, the King buys the maiden for ten thousand ducats. When the King sleeps with her he realizes that she was a virgin and he dotes on her all the more, neglecting his other concubines. The lovely woman does not speak for a full year until the King begs her to speak and the woman says she is carrying his child. She explains that she must be reunited with her mother and brother because they are people of the sea and only they know how to...