and faithful to me. Beside, you are older than the other ministers. And you have
the fear of God the most high and worthy of all praise as well as respect for your
King."
The minister said: "O my lord, it is in all sincerity that your servant puts above
his head the commands of your Majesty. I shall do my whole duty in conducting
the princess and her children to the King Haroun-er- Raschid."
So the King Chah Djouhou trusted his wife and his three children to this
perfidious minister, reposing upon the promise he had made. Forty camels were
laden with presents, forty nurses for the children, one hundred ladies in the suite
of the princess, a thousand cavaliers, well armed and well equipped, formed the
escort. The princess took leave of her husband. He held her clasped in his arms,
and, weeping, covered her and his three children with kisses. He bade her to
present his homage to her father the Sultan Haroun-er-Raschid, his salutations to
her elder brother Minbah-Chahaz, and to place at the feet of their majesties a
thousand and a thousand apologies, and to make his excuses to her brother
Minbah-Chahaz. Then the prince said to the wicked minister:
"O my minister, you must go now, and lead the camel of my wife, for I have
perfect confidence in you. Above all, guard her well."
But the King did not lean upon God the most high and worthy of all praise, and
that is why God punished him.
When the prince had finished speaking to the minister the latter said: "O my
lord, King of the world, your servant bears your command on his head." So the
cavalcade started on the march. Princess Djouher-Manikam mounted her camel
with her three children. A body-guard held the van. She proceeded accompanied
by the wretched minister and all the escort, wending from day to day toward the
city of Bagdad. They had reached one of the halting-places when day was
turning into night. The minister then erected a tent so that the princess might
repose in it. The people put up their tents all about. Princess Djouher-Manikam
dismounted from her camel and entered the tent, with her three children. The
tents of the nurses and ladies-in-waiting surrounded the tent of the princess in a
circle. In the middle of the night a violent rain began to fall. Then the wretched
minister, stirred by Satan, was stirred in his heart. He thought: "The King's wife
is most beautiful; beautiful, indeed, as her name, Djouher-Manikam. I must
marry her."