Followed By The History Of King Wird Khan, Son Of King Jali'ad, With His Women And Wazirs.

THERE was once long ago and in ages and times long gone before, in the land of Hind, a mighty King, tall of presence and fair of favour and goodly of parts, noble of nature and generous, beneficent to the poor and loving to his subjects and all the people of his realm. His name was Jali'ád

King Jali'ad Of Hind And His Wazir Shimas. 33 and under his hand were two and seventy Kings and in his cities three hundred and fifty Kazis He had three score and ten Wazirs and over every ten of them he set a premier. The chiefest of all his ministers was a man called Shimás who was then two and twenty years old, a statesman of pleasant presence and noble nature, sweet of speech and ready with reply; shrewd in all manner of business, skilful as well and sagacious, for all his tender age, a man of good counsel and fine manners versed in all arts and sciences and accomplishments; and the King loved him with exceeding love and cherished him by reason of his proficiency in eloquence and rhetoric and the art of government and for that which Allah had given him of compassion and brooding care with his subjects for he was a King just in his Kingship and a protector of his peoples, constant in beneficence to great and small and giving them that which befitted them of good governance and bounty and protection and security and a lightener of their loads in taxes and tithes. And indeed he was loving to them each and every, high and low, entreating them with kindness and solicitude and governing them in such goodly guise as none had done before him. But, with all this, Almighty Allah had not blessed him with a child, and this was grievous to him and to the people of his reign. It chanced, one night, as Jali'ad lay in his bed, occupied with anxious thought of the issue of the affair of his Kingdom, that sleep overcame him and he dreamt that he poured water upon the roots of a tree,—

When it was the Nine Hundredth night

So he betook himself to Shimas and said to him, "The King calls for you directly because he has awoke from his sleep in affright and has sent me to bring you to him in haste." When Shimas heard this, he arose without delay and going to the King, found him seated on his bed. He prostrated himself before him wishing him permanence of glory and prosperity, and said, "May Allah not cause you grieve, O King! What has troubled you this night, and what is the cause of your seeking me thus in haste?" The King bade him be seated; and, as soon as he sat down, began telling his tale and said to him, "I have dreamt this night a dream which terrified me, and 'twas, that methought I poured water upon the roots of a tree where about were many other trees and as I was thus engaged, lo and behold! fire issued from it and burnt up all the growths that were around it; Why I was affrighted and fear took me. Then I awoke and sent to bid you to me, because of your knowledge and skill in the interpretation of dreams and of that which I know of the vastness of your wisdom and the greatness of yours understanding."

At this Shimas the Wazir bowed his head groundwards awhile and presently raising it, smiled; so the King said to him, "What think you, O Shimas? Tell me the truth of the matter and hide nothing from me." Answered Shimas, "O King, truly Allah Almighty grants you your wish and cools yours eyes; for the matter of this dream presags all good, to wit, that the Lord will bless you with a son, who shall inherit the Kingdom from you, after your long life. But there is something else I desire not to expound at this present, seeing that the time is not favourable for interpretation." The King rejoiced in these words with exceeding joy and great was his contentment his trouble departed from him, his mind was at rest and he said, "If the case be thus of the happy presage of my dream, do you complete to me its exposition when the fitting time betids: for that which it behoves not to expound to me now, it behoves that you expound to me when its time comes so my joy may be fulfilled, because I seek nothing in this save the approof of Allah extolled and exalted be He!"

Now when the Wazir Shimas saw that the King was urgent to have the rest of the exposition, he put him off with a pretext; but Jali'ad assembled all the astrologers and interpreters of dreams of his realm and as soon as they were in the presence related to them his vision saying, "I desire you to tell me the true interpretation of this." Whereupon one of them

The Mouse And The Cat. 35 came forward and craved the King's permission to speak, which being granted, he said, "Know, O King, that your Wazir Shimas is no wise unable to interpret this your dream; but he shrank from troubling your repose: Why he disclosed not unto you the whole of it: but, If you suffer me to speak I will expose to you that which he concealed from you." The King replied, "Speak without respect for persons, O interpreter, and be truthful in your speech." The interpreter said, "Know then, O King, that there will be born to you a boy child who shall inherit the Kingship from you, after your long life; but he shall not order himself towards the subjects after your fashion; nay, he shall transgress yours ordinances and oppress your subjects, and there shall befall him what befell the Mouse with the Cat; and I seek refuge with Almighty Allah!" The King asked, "But what is the story of the Cat and the Mouse?"; and the interpreter answered, "May Allah prolong the King's life! They tell the following tale of