met him and kissed ground before him, and amongst them Fakhr Taj. When the King saw her, he looked at her and said to the others, “Who is yonder damsel?”; and they replied, “She is the daughter of Sabur, King of the Persians and Turks and Daylamites.” Quoth he, “Who brought her hither?” So they repeated to him her story; whereat he was moved to pity for her and said to her, “Grieve not, but take patience till thy son be grown a man, when I will go to the land of the Ajams and strike off thy father’s head from between his shoulders and seat thy son on the throne in his stead.” So she rose and kissed his hands and blessed him. Then she abode in the castle and her son grew up and was reared with the children of the King. They used to ride forth together a-hunting and birding and he became skilled in the chase of wild beasts and ravening lions and ate of their flesh, till his heart became harder than the rock. When he reached the age of fifteen, his spirit waxed big in him and he said to Fakhr Taj, “O my mamma, who is my papa?” She replied, “O my son, Gharib, King of Irak, is thy father and I am the King’s daughter, of the Persians,” and she told him her story. Quoth he, “Did my grandfather indeed give orders to slay thee and my father Gharib?”; and quoth she, “Yes.” Whereupon he, “By the claim thou hast on me for rearing me, I will assuredly go to thy father’s city and cut off his head and bring it into thy presence!”——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say. When it was the Six Hundred and Seventy-ninth Night,