So she arose and setting before him that which she had ready,
said to him, " Rise, O my son, eat and restore thyself; and when
thou art rested, tell me what hath happened to thee and what
calamity hath befallen thee. I will not question thee now,
because thou art weary." So, [FN#270] when he had eaten and
drunken and had refreshed himself and was rested and restored, he
said to her, "Alack, mother mine, I have a sore grief against
thee in that thou leftest me to yonder accursed man, who strove
for my destruction. Indeed, he sought to kill me; nay, I saw
death face to face from that accursed wretch, whom thou deemedst
mine uncle, and but for God the Most High, who delivered me from
him, [I had perished]. Marry, both I and thou, O my mother,
suffered ourselves to be deluded by him after the measure of that
which the accursed promised to do with me of good and of the love
which he professed for me. Know, then, O my mother, that this man
is an accursed Maugrabin enchanter, a liar, a deceiver, an
impostor and a hypocrite; methinketh the devils that be under the
earth are not his match, may God put him to shame in every
book! [FN#271] Hear, O my mother, what this accursed did; nay, all
I shall tell thee is truth and soothfastness. Do but see the
villain's duplicity; bethink thee of the promises he made me that
he would do me all manner of good [FN#272] and the love he
professed to me, and how he did all this that he might accomplish
his purpose; nay, his intent was to kill me, and praised be God
for my deliverance! Hearken, O my mother, and learn what this
accursed one did."

Then he told her all that had befallen him from the time of his
leaving her, weeping the while for excess of joy; how the
Maugrabin brought him to the hill, wherein was the treasure, and