shalt obtain it without toil and travail.[FN#18] But I would see
thee wax sensible and wise, abandoning all these courses which
have landed thee in poverty, O my son; and shunning songstresses
and commune with the inexperienced and the society of loose
livers, male and female. All such pleasures as these are for the
sons of the ne'er-do-well, not for the scions of the Kings thy
peers." Herewith Zayn al-Asnam sware an oath to bear in mind all
she might say to him, never to gainsay her commandments, nor
deviate from them a single hair's breadth; to abandon all she
should forbid him, and to fix his thoughts upon rule and
goverance. Then he addrest himself to sleep, and as he slumbered,
the Shaykh appeared to him a third time in vision, and said, "O
Zayn al-Asnam, O thou valorous Prince; this very day, as soon as
thou shalt have shaken off thy drowsiness, I will fulfil my
covenant with thee. So take with thee a pickaxe, and hie to such
a palace of thy sire, and turn up the ground, searching it well
in such a place where thou wilt find that which shall enrich
thee." As soon as the Prince awoke, he hastened to his mother in
huge joy and told her his tale; but she fell again to laughing at
him, and saying, "O my child, indeed this old man maketh mock of
thee and naught else; so get thyself clear of him." But Zayn
al-Asnam replied, "O mother mine, verily this Shaykh is soothfast
and no liar: for the first time he but tried me and now he
proposeth to perform his promise." Whereto his mother, "At all
events, the work is not wearisome; so do thou whatso thou willest
even as he bade thee. Make the trial and Inshallah--God
willing--return to me rejoicing; yet sore I fear lest thou come
back to me and say, 'Sooth thou hast spoken in thy speech, O my
mother!" However Zayn al-Asnam took up a pickaxe and, descending
to that part of the palace where his sire lay entombed, began to