So the rebel minister started, and entered the tent of the princess, and asked her
to marry him. He found her seated by her three children, occupied in chasing
away the mosquitoes. When the princess saw him enter her tent she asked him:
"O my minister, what brings you to my tent at this hour in the middle of the
night?"
The minister answered, "I have come to beg you to marry me."
The princess then said: "Is that what brings you here? And it was to you that the
King intrusted me on account of your great age, and as if you were my father. It
was in you that he put all his confidence that you would take us safely, me and
my children, to my venerable father, King Haroun-er-Raschid. What must be
your nature, that you should so betray his trust?"
The wretched minister replied: "If you refuse to marry me, I will kill your
children."
"Never," said the princess, "never shall I consent to marry you. And if you kill
my children, what can I do against the decree of God, save to invoke his name?"
The minister killed one of the children. When it was dead, he made the same
demand on the princess for the second time, and she answered: "Never shall I
consent to marry you."
The minister said: "If you refuse, I shall kill another of your children."
The Princess Djouher-Manikam answered: "If you slay my child, it is by the
decree of God, and I submit to his will."
The minister killed the second child.
"No," repeated the princess. "Never shall I consent to wed you."
The wretched minister said: "Then I will kill your third child."
"If you kill him, what can I do but to submit to the will of God, and invoke his
name?" The third son of the King was killed.
Questioned anew, the princess said again, "Never shall I marry you."