One day, having ascended a mountain, I likewise determined to throw myself [off its summit], and end my existence; just as I was ready to jump off, the same veiled horseman, the possessor of Zu-l-fakar, [399] appeared and said, “Why do you throw away your life; man is exposed to every pain and misery; your unhappy days are now over, and your propitious ones are coming; go quickly to Rum—­three afflicted persons like thee are gone there before thee—­meet them, and see the king of that country; the wishes of all five will be fulfilled in the same place.”  This is my story which I have just related; at last, from the happy tidings of our difficulty-solving guardian, [400] I am come into the presence of your worships, and have also been kindly received by the king, who is the shadow of Omnipotence; we ought all now to be comforted.”

This conversation was passing between the king Azad Bakht and the four Darweshes, when a eunuch came running from the royal seraglio and with respectful salutation, wished his majesty joy, and added, “This moment a prince is born, before whose refulgent beauty the sun and moon are abashed.”  The king was surprised, and asked, “No one was pregnant [401] in appearance; who has brought forth a son?” The eunuch replied, “Mahru, the female slave, who for some time hath lain under your majesty’s displeasure, and lived like an outcast in a corner [of the seraglio], and no one from fear ever went near her or asked after her state; on her the grace of God hath been such, that she hath borne a son like the moon.”

The king was so rejoiced, that he nearly expired from excessive joy; the four Darweshes also blessed him, and said, “May thy house be ever happy, and may thy son prosper; and may he grow up under thy shadow.”  The king replied, “This is owing to your propitious arrival, for otherwise I had no idea of such an event; if you give me leave, I will go and see him.”  The Darweshes answered, “In the name of God, go.”  The king went to the seraglio, and took the young prince in his lap, and thanked God; his mind became easy; pressing the infant to his bosom, he brought it and laid it at the Darweshes’ feet; they blessed it, and exorcised all evil spirits from approaching it.  The king commanded the preparations of a festival to be made [on the happy occasion], and the royal music struck up, and the door of the treasury was opened; with princely donations he made the poor [402] rich; on all the officers of state he bestowed a two-fold increase of lands and higher titles, and to the army he gave five years’ pay as a present; to the learned and holy he gave pensions and lands; and the wallets of the beggars were filled with pieces of gold and silver; and the ryots [403] were excused from paying any revenue for three years, and that whatever they cultivated during this period, they should keep for themselves.