and she said to me, 'What aileth thee and what evil assaileth
thee?' Quoth I, 'A messenger is come from the King to take all
the captives, and they demand thee of me.' Quoth she, 'Have no
fear, bring me to the King and I know what to say before and to
him.' I carried her into the presence of the Sultan Al-Malik al-
Nasir, who was seated, with the envoy of the King of the Franks
on his right hand, and I said to him, 'This is the woman that is
with me.' Then quoth the King and the envoy to her, 'Wilt thou go
to thy country or to[FN#36] thy husband? For Allah hath loosed
thy bonds and those of thy fellow captives.' Quoth she to the
Sultan, 'I am become a Moslemah and am great with child, as by my
middle ye may see, and the Franks shall have no more profit of
me.' The envoy asked, 'Whether is dearer to thee, this Moslem or
thy first husband and knight such an one?;' and she answered him
even as she had answered the Sultan. Then said the envoy to the
Franks with him, 'Heard ye her words?' They replied, 'Yes.' And
he said to me, 'Take thy wife and depart with her.' So I took her
and went away; but the envoy sent after me in haste and cried,
'Her mother gave me a charge for her, saying, 'My daughter is a
captive and naked; and I would have thee carry her this chest.'
Take it thou and deliver it to her.' Accordingly I carried the
chest home and gave it to her. She opened it and found in it all
her raiment as she had left it and therein I saw the two purses
of fifty and an hundred dinars which I had given her, untouched
and tied up with my own tying, wherefore I praised Almighty
Allah. There are my children by her and she is alive to this day
and 'twas she dressed you this food." We marvelled at his story
and at that which had befallen him of good fortune, and Allah is
All-knowing. But men also tell a tale anent the