writ he cried: "O my mother, 'tis again my desire to wend my way Cairo-wards and seek out this image; so do thou say how seest thou my vision, fact or fiction, after thou assuredst me saying, 'This be an imbroglio of sleep?' However, at all events, O my mother, now there is no help for it but that I travel once more to Cairo." Replied she, "O my child, seeing that thou be under the protection of the Apostle of Allah (whom may He save and assain!) so do thou fare in safety, while I and thy Wazir will order thy reign in thine absence till such time as thou shalt return." Accordingly the Prince went forth and gat him ready and rode on till he reached Cairo where he asked for Mubarak's house. The folk answered him saying, "O my lord, this be a man than whom none is wealthier or greater in boon deeds and bounties, and his home is ever open to the stranger." Then they showed him the way and he followed it till he came to Mubarak's mansion where he knocked at the door and a slave of the black slaves opened to him.--And Shahrazad was surprised by the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say. When it was the Five Hundred and First Night, Quoth Dunyazad, "O sister mine, an thou be other than sleepy, tell us one of thy fair tales, so therewith we may cut short the waking hours of this our night;" and quoth Shahrazad:--It hath reached me, O King of the Age, that Zayn al-Asnam knocked at the door when a slave of Mubarak's black slaves came out to him and opening asked him, "Who[FN#24] art thou and what is it thou wantest?" The Prince answered, "I am a foreigner from a far country, and I have heard of Mubarak thy lord that he is famed for liberality and generosity; so that I come hither purposing to become his guest." Thereupon the chattel went in to his lord and, after reporting the matter to him, came out and said to Zayn al-Asnam, "O my lord, a blessing hath descended upon us by thy footsteps. Do thou enter, for my master Mubarak awaiteth thee." Therewith the Prince passed into a court spacious exceedingly and all beautified with trees and waters, and the slave led him to the pavilion wherein Mubarak was sitting. As the guest came in the host straightway rose up and met him with cordial greeting and cried, "A benediction hath alighted upon us and this night is the most benedight of the nights by reason of thy coming to us! So who are thou, O youth, and whence is thine arrival and whither is thine intent?" He replied, "I am Zayn al-Asnam and I seek one Mubarak, a slave of the Sultan of Bassorah who deceased a year ago, and I am his son." Mubarak rejoined, "What sayest thou? Thou the son of the King of Bassorah?" and the other retorted, "Yea, verily I am his son."[FN#25] Quoth Mubarak, "In good sooth my late lord the King of Bassorah left no son known to me! But what may be thine age, O youth?" "Twenty years or so," quoth the Prince, presently adding, "But thou, how long is it since thou