There [FN#21] was [once] in the city of Bassora a mighty Sultan
and he was exceeding rich, but he had no child who should be his
successor [FN#22] after him. For this he grieved sore and fell to
bestowing alms galore upon the poor and the needy and upon the
friends [FN#23] of God and the devout, seeking their intercession
with God the Most High, so He to whom belong might and majesty
should of His favour vouchsafe him a son. And God accepted his
prayer, for his fostering of the poor, and answered his petition;
so that one night of the nights he lay with the queen and she
went from him with child. When the Sultan knew this, he rejoiced
with an exceeding joy, and as the time of her child-bearing drew
nigh, he assembled all the astrologers and those who smote the
sand [FN#24] and said to them, "It is my will that ye enquire
concerning the child that shall be born to me this month, whether
it will be male or female, and tell me what will betide it of
chances and what will proceed from it." [FN#25] So the geomancers
smote their [tables of] sand and the astrologers took their
altitudes [FN#26] and observed the star of the babe [un]born and
said to the Sultan, "O King of the age and lord of the time and
the tide, the child that shall be born to thee of the queen is a
male and it beseemeth that thou name him Zein ul Asnam." [FN#27]
And as for those who smote upon the sand, they said to him,
"Know, O King, that this babe will become a renowned
brave, [FN#28] but he shall happen in his time upon certain
travail and tribulation; yet, an he endure with fortitude against
that which shall befall him, he shall become the richest of the
kings of the world." And the King said to them, "Since the babe