Pagina 538 di 1116

Then the Sultan rose up to honour them, and thanking Nur al-Din

for his fine compliment, asked the Wazir, "Who may be this young

man?"; and the Minister answered, "This is my brother's son," and

related his tale from first to last. Quoth the Sultan, "And how

comes he to be thy nephew and we have never heard speak of him?"

Quoth the Minister, "O our lord the Sultan, I had a brother who

was Wazir in the land of Egypt and he died, leaving two sons,

whereof the elder hath taken his father's place and the younger,

whom thou seest, came to me. I had sworn I would not marry my

daughter to any but to him; so when he came I married him to her.