he had taken from the city.  And he ceased not carrying them into the open country till near noon, when he halted in a waste and desolate place and, dismounting from his mare, let down the two chests from the mule’s back.  Then he opened them and took out Amjad and As’ad; and when he looked upon them he wept sore for their beauty and loveliness; then drawing his sword he said to them, “By Allah, O my lords, indeed it is hard for me to deal so evilly by you; but I am to be excused in this matter, being but a slave commanded, for that your father King Kamar al-Zaman hath bidden me strike off your heads.”  They replied, “O Emir, do the King’s bidding, for we bear with patience that which Allah (to Whom be Honour, Might and Glory!) hath decreed to us; and thou art quit of our blood.”  Then they embraced and bade each other farewell, and As’ad said to the treasurer, “Allah upon thee, O uncle, spare me the sight of my brother’s death-agony and make me not drink of his anguish, but kill me first, for that were the easier for me.”  And Amjad said the like and entreated the treasurer to kill him before As’ad, saying, “My brother is younger than I; so make me not taste of his anguish.  And they both wept bitter tears whilst the treasurer wept for their weeping;—­And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

      When it was the Two Hundred and Twenty-first Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the treasurer wept for their weeping; then the two brothers embraced and bade farewell and one said to the other, “All this cometh of the malice of those traitresses, my mother and thy mother; and this is the reward of my forbearance towards thy mother and of thy for bearance towards my mother!  But there is no Might and there is no Majesty save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great!  Verily, we are Allah’s and unto Him we are returning."[FN#364] And As’ad em braced his brother, sobbing and repeating these couplets,

“O Thou to whom sad trembling wights in fear complain! *
     O ever ready whatso cometh to sustain! 
The sole resource for me is at Thy door to knock, *
     At whose door knock an Thou to open wilt not deign? 
O Thou whose grace is treasured in the one word, Be![FN#365] *
     Favour me, I beseech, in Thee all weals contain.”

Now when Amjad heard his brother’s weeping he wept also and pressing him to his bosom repeated these two couplets,

“O Thou whose boons to me are more than one! *
     Whose gifts and favours have nor count nor bound! 
No stroke of all Fate’s strokes e’er fell on me, *
     But Thee to take me by the hand I found.”