at the death of his three gallant sons and the defeat of his
troops and the disgrace to his honour; nor did he abide half an
hour ere he summoned his Grandees and Officers of state and
complained to them of that his daughter Miriam had done with him
of the slaughter of her brothers and all he suffered therefrom of
passion and chagrin, and sought advice of them. They all
counselled him to write to the Vicar of Allah in His earth, the
Commander of the Faithful, Harun al-Rashid, and acquaint him with
his circumstance. So he wrote a letter to the Caliph, containing,
after the usual salutations, the following words. "We have a
daughter, Miriam the Girdle-girl hight, who hath been seduced and
debauched from us by a Moslem captive, named Nur al-Din Ali, son
of the merchant Taj al-Din of Cairo, and he hath taken her by
night and went forth with her to his own country; wherefore I beg
of the favour of our lord the Commander of the Faithful that he
write to all the lands of the Moslems to seize her and send her
back to us by a trusty messenger."--And Shahrazad perceived the
dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

When it was the Eight Hundred and Ninety-third Night,

She pursued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the King
of France wrote to the Caliph and Prince of True Believers, Harun
al-Rashid, a writ humbling himself by asking for his daughter
Miriam and begging of his favour that he write to all the
Moslems, enjoining her seizure and sending back to him by a
trusty messenger of the servants of his Highness the Commander of
the Faithful; adding, "And in requital of your help and aidance
in this matter, we will appoint to you half of the city of Rome
the Great, that thou mayst build therein mosques for the Moslems,