in an hour's time. Then he bade carry the slave-girls and their
burdens to the pavilion of the Lady Bedrulbudour; so the damsels
took up the dishes and entered; whereupon Alaeddin's mother came
forward and said to the Sultan, "O my lord, this is no great
matter for the Lady Bedrulbudour's exalted rank; nay, she
deserveth manifold this." So the Sultan turned to the Vizier and
said to him, "How sayst thou, O Vizier? He that can in so short a
time avail unto riches like these, is he not worthy to be the
Sultan's son-in-law and to have his daughter to bride?" Now the
Vizier marvelled at the greatness of these riches yet more than
the Sultan, but envy was killing him and waxed on him more and
more, when he saw that the Sultan was content with the
bride-gift [FN#435] and the dowry; withal he could not gainstand
the [manifest] truth and say to the Sultan, "He is not worthy;"
so he cast about to work upon him by practice, that he might
hinder him from giving his daughter the Lady Bedrulbudour to
Alaeddin, and accordingly said to him, [FN#436] "O my lord, all
the treasures of the world were not worth a paring of thy
daughter Bedrulbudour's nails; indeed, Thy Highness overrateth
this upon her." [FN#437]

When [FN#438] the Sultan heard the Vizier's words, he knew that
this his speech arose from the excess of his envy; so he turned
to Alaeddin's mother and said to her, "O woman, go to thy son and
tell him that I accept of him the marriage-gift and abide by my
promise to him and that my daughter is his bride and he my
son-in-law; so bid him come hither, that I may make acquaintance
with him. There shall betide him from me nought but all honour
and consideration and this night shall be the beginning of the
bridal festivities. But, as I said to thee, let him come hither