_Hayy Ibn Yokdhan, son of a Princess._ Not far from this Island there lay another Island of great tract and large compass, abounding in fruits and well peopled. It was then governed by a Prince of haughty, fierce, and jealous disposition: he had a sister, graced with matchless beauty. He kept her in close custody and would not permit her to marry; for among her suitors there was not one he declared worthy of her. Yet in spite of his watchfulness, his near kinsman, named Yokdhan, succeeded in winning her affections, and married her clandestinely according to the rites commonly known in those times. And before long she was with child and delivered of a son. _Hayy is exposed by his Mother._ Being in fear lest the matter should be discovered and her secret disclosed, she put him into a little ark and closed it firmly after having suckled the babe. Accompanied by her most trusted servants, she carried it to the seashore early in the night, her heart burning and distracted with love and fear, and then (tenderly kissing him with tearful eyes) she took her last leave of him, sending up this prayer to God:-- "O God! thou didst create this little child, when as yet it was nothing; thou didst cherish and nourish him while he lay confined within the dark closet of my womb; thou didst take great care of him until he formed into perfection and harmony. I, trembling before the haughty, unjust, and violent Prince, commend him unto thy goodness and pray that thou who surpasseth all in mercy wilt be bountiful unto him. Be thou, I pray thee, a guide and assistance unto him; forsake him not, and never leave him destitute of thy care." _Hayy is driven by the tide to another Island._ With these words she committed the little ark with the child into the sea, and the waters swelling with the tide carried it in the same night to the shore of another Island whereof we have just made mention. It so happened that there was such a powerful current of the high water--as it does happen there once a year--that the ark was carried right to the shore, and by its force cast into a shady grove, thick set with trees,--a very pleasant place, well sheltered from wind and rain, and secured from the sun, which at its rising and setting receded from it. Then when the waters subsided, the ark wherein the infant peacefully slumbered was left stranded, banked up by sands, safely aground, sheltered from blustering wind or in-coming tide. For when the wind blew, the sands were heaped together and obstructed the passage to the grove, and thus prevented the coming of any water into it so that the flood could not reach it. _Hayy is found by a Roe, which takes care of him._