A certain night she disappeared without my knowing where she had gone. Then,
O king of the world, I became as one mad and left my native land. Arriving at
the country of Roum I saw a baley outside the fort and came to sit down there.
Then, my lord, I saw the portrait hanging at the baley. It exactly resembles my
beloved, whom I lost. I pressed it in my arms and covered it with kisses. Such is
the truth, O king of the world."
The prince then said to his minister: "O minister, let this man be carefully
guarded and give him food and clothes."
The King of Damas, after abdicating the throne, had left his kingdom, and in the
costume of a dervish had started to travel through the different countries.
Arriving at Roum, the King Chah Djouhou saw a baley situated outside of the
fort, and went to sit down near it. The prince looking closely at the portrait,
which was exactly like the princess Djouher-Manikam, burst into a flood of tears
and exclaimed:
"Alas! Fruit of my heart, my well-beloved, light of my eyes! It is, indeed, your
picture. But you, whom I seek, oh, where are you?"
Speaking thus, the prince took the portrait in his arms and covered it with kisses.
Seeing this, the guards of the baley seized him and carried him before the King.
The King said to him: "My lord, whence do you come? How have you wandered
into this country? And why did you behave thus about my portrait?"
The King Chah Djouhou answered: "Know that my wife, who is named the
princess Djouher-Manikam, has disappeared far from me. It is for that reason
that I have left my kingdom, and that I, dressed as a dervish, have walked from
country to country, from plain to plain, from village to village, seeking her
whom I have never been able to find. But arriving in your Majesty's country I
saw hanging at the baley that portrait, which is of a striking resemblance to my
wife. It is for this reason that I wept in contemplating this picture."
The princess smiled, and at the same time her heart was softened at seeing the
conduct of her husband. She said to her prime minister: "O my minister, I
confide this person to your care. Treat him worthily, give him the best of food
and a suite of attendants. He is the King of Damas."
The minister therefore, by command of the princess, departed and conducted the