not to-day, his slaying shall not escape me to-morrow.”  Then he bade fetch the youth who, when present between his hands, prostrated to him and blessed him; whereupon quoth the king, “Woe to thee!  How long shall the folk upbraid me on thine account and blame me for delaying thy death?  Even the people of my city reproach me because of thee, so that I am grown a prating-stock amongst them, and indeed they come in to me and reproach me for not putting thee to death.  How long shall I delay this?  Verily, this very day I mean to shed thy blood and rid the folk of thy prattling.”  The youth replied, “O king, an there have betided thee talk because of me, by Allah, and again by Allah the Great, those who have brought on thee this talk from the folk are none but these wicked Wazirs, who chatter with the crowd and tell them foul tales and ill things in the king’s house, but I hope in the Most High that He will cause their malice to recoil upon their own heads.  As for the king’s menace of slaying me, I am in the grip of his hand; so let not the king occupy his mind with my slaughter, because I am like the sparrow in the grasp of the fowler; if he will, he cutteth his throat, and if he will, he letteth him go.  As for the delaying of my death, ’tis not from the king, but from Him in whose hand is my life; for, by Allah, O king, an the Almighty willed my slaughter, thou couldst not postpone it; no, not for a single hour.  And, indeed, man availeth not to fend off evil from himself, even as it was with the son of King Sulayman Shah, whose anxiety and carefulness for the winning of his wish in the matter of the new-born child availed him naught, for his last hour was deferred how many a time! and Allah saved him until he had accomplished his period and had fulfilled his life-term.”  Cried the king, “Fie upon thee, how great is thy craft and thy talk!  Tell me, what was their tale.”  And the youth said, “Hear, O king,

The Story of King Sulayman Shah and his Niece.[FN#231]

There was once a king named Sulayman Shah, who was goodly of policy and rede, and he had a brother who died and left a daughter; so Sulayman Shah reared her with the best of rearing and the girl became a model of reason and perfection, nor was there in her time a more beautiful than she.  Now the king had two sons, one of whom he had appointed in his mind to wed her, while the other purposed to take her.  The elder son’s name was Bahluwan[FN#232] and that of the younger Malik Shah[FN#233], and the girl was called Shah Khatun.  Now one day, King Sulayman Shah went in to his brother’s daughter and kissing her head, said to her, “Thou art my daughter and dearer to me than a child, for the love of thy late father who hath found mercy; wherefore I purpose espousing thee to one of my sons and appointing him my heir apparent, so he may be king after me.  Look, then, which thou wilt have of my sons,[FN#234] for that thou hast been reared with them and knowest them.”  The maiden arose and kissing his