and bathed his face with rose-water. After awhile he revived and the king said to him, “I seek refuge with Allah for thee, O my son! What accident hath befallen thee?” The Prince replied, “O my father, I did but look on yonder picture and it bequeathed me a thousand qualms and there befel me that which thou beholdest.” Therewith the king bade fetch the Master-painter, and when he stood before him, he said to him, “Tell me of yonder portrait and what girl is this of the daughters of the kings; else I will take thy head.” Said the painter, “By Allah, O king, I limned it not, neither know I who she is; but there came to me a poor man and looked hard at me. So I asked him, Knowest thou the art of painting? and he answered, Yes. Whereupon I gave him the gear and said to him, Limn for us a rare semblance. Accordingly he painted yonder portrait and went away and I wot him not neither have I ever set eyes on him save that day.” Hearing this, the king ordered all his officers to go round about in the thoroughfares and colleges and to bring before him all strangers they found there. So they went forth and brought him much people, amongst whom was the pauper who had painted the portrait. When they came into the presence, the Sultan bade the crier make public proclamation that whoso wrought the portrait should discover himself and have whatso he wished. Thereupon the poor man came forward and kissing the ground before the king, said to him, “O king of the age, I am he who limned yonder likeness.” Quoth Al-Aziz, “And knowest thou who she is?” and quoth the other, “Yes, this is the portrait of Mariyah, daughter of the king of Baghdad.” The king ordered him a robe of honour and a slave-girl and he went his way. Then said Al-Abbas, “O my papa, give me leave to seek her, so I may look upon her: else shall I farewell the world, withouten fail.” The king his father wept and answered, “O my son, I builded thee a Hammam, that it might turn thee from leaving me, and behold, it hath been the cause of thy going forth; but the behest of Allah is a determinate decree.”[351] Then he wept again and Al-Abbas said to him, “Fear not for me, for thou knowest my prowess and puissance in returning answers in the assemblies of the land and my good breeding and accomplishments together with my skill in rhetoric; and indeed for him whose father thou art and whom thou hast reared and bred and in whom thou hast united praiseworthy qualities, the repute whereof hath traversed the East and the West, thou needest not fear aught, more especially as I purpose but to seek pleasuring and return to thee, an it be the will of Allah Almighty.” Quoth the king, “Whom wilt thou take with thee of attendants and what of monies?” Replied Al-Abbas, “O my papa, I have no need of horses or camels or weapons, for I purpose not warfare, and I will have none go forth with me save my page ’Amir and no more.” Now as he and his father were thus engaged in talk, in came his