one day and said to him, shedding tears the while, “Thou hast been my Eunuch from my childhood to this day; canst thou not therefore get me tidings of my son, seeing that I cannot speak of his matter?” He replied, “O my lady, this is an affair which thou hast concealed from the commencement, and were thy son here, ’twould not be possible for thee to entertain him, lest[FN#243] thine honour be smirched with the king; for they would never credit thee, since the news hath been bruited abroad that thy son was slain by his uncle.”  Quoth she, “The case is even as thou sayst and thou speaketh sooth; but, provided I know that my son is alive, let him be in these parts pasturing sheep and let me not sight him nor he sight me.”  He asked, “How shall we manage in this matter?” and she answered, “Here be my treasures and my wealth:  take all thou wilt and bring me my son or else tidings of him.”  Then they devised a device between them, which was that they should feign some business in their own country, to wit that she had wealth there buried from the time of her husband, Malik Shah, and that none knew of it but this Eunuch who was with her, so it behoved him to go fetch it.  Accordingly she acquainted the king her husband with that and sought his permit for the Eunuch to fare:  and the king granted him leave of absence for the journey and charged him devise a device, lest he come to grief.  The Castrato, therefore, disguised himself in merchant’s habit and repairing to Bahluwan’s city, began to make espial concerning the youth’s case; whereupon they told him that he had been prisoned in a souterrain and that his uncle had released him and despatched him to such a place, where they had slain him.  When the Eunuch heard this, the mishap was grievous to him and his breast was straitened and he knew not what to do.  It chanced one day of the days that a certain of the horsemen, who had fallen in with the young Malik Shah by the water and clad him and given him spendingmoney, saw the Eunuch in the city, habited as a merchant, and recognising him, questioned him of his case and of the cause of his coming.  Quoth he, “I came to sell merchandise;” and quoth the horseman, “I will tell thee somewhat, an thou canst keep it secret.”  Answered the Neutral, “That I can!  What is it?” and the other said, “We met the king’s son Malik Shah, I and sundry of the Arabs who were with me, and saw him by such a water and gave him spending-money and sent him towards the land of the Roum, near his mother, for that we feared for him lest his uncle Bahluwan slay him.”  Then he told him all that had passed between them, whereat the Eunuch’s countenance changed and he said to the cavalier “Thou art safe!” The knight replied, “Thou also art safe though thou come in quest of him.”  And the Eunuch rejoined, saying, “Truly, that is my errand:  there is no rest for his mother, lying down or rising up, and she hath sent me to seek news of him.”  Quoth the cavalier, “Go in safety, for he is