my father and mother!" And she wept bitter tears over what had
befallen her, whilst the Sage fared on with her, without ceasing,
till he came to the land of the Greeks[FN#24] and alighted in a
verdant mead, abounding in streams and trees. Now this meadow lay
near a city wherein was a King of high puissance, and it chanced
that he went forth that day to hunt and divert himself. As he
passed by the meadow, he saw the Persian standing there, with the
damsel and the horse by his side; and, before the Sage was ware,
the King's slaves fell upon him and carried him and the lady and
the horse to their master who, noting the foulness of the man's
favour and his loathsomeness and the beauty of the girl and her
loveliness, said, "O my lady, what kin is this oldster to thee?"
The Persian made haste to reply, saying, "She is my wife and the
daughter of my father's brother." But the lady at once gave him
the lie and said, "O King, by Allah, I know him not, nor is he my
husband; nay, he is a wicked magician who hath stolen me away by
force and fraud." Thereupon the King bade bastinado the Persian
and they beat him till he was well-nigh dead; after which the
King commanded to carry him to the city and cast him into jail;
and, taking from him the damsel and the ebony horse (though he
knew not its properties nor the secret of its motion), set the
girl in his serraglio and the horse amongst his hoards. Such was
the case with the Sage and the lady; but as regards Prince Kamar
al-Akmar, he garbed himself in travelling gear and taking what he
needed of money, set out tracking their trail in very sorry
plight; and journeyed from country to country and city to city
seeking the Princess and enquiring after the ebony horse, whilst
all who heard him marvelled at him and deemed his talk
extravagant. Thus he continued doing a long while; but, for all
his enquiry and quest, he could hit on no new news of her. At