" This, then, is their
story, and may God the Most High have mercy upon them!
KEMEREZZEMAN AND BUDOUR.
There was once, of old time, a king called Shehriman, who was
lord of many troops and guards and officers and reigned over
certain islands, known as the Khalidan Islands, on the borders of
the land of the Persians; but he was grown old and decrepit,
without having been blessed with a son, albeit he had four wives,
daughters of kings, and threescore concubines, with each of whom
he was wont to lie one night in turn. This preyed upon his mind
and disquieted him, so that he complained thereof to one of his
Viziers, saying, 'I fear lest my kingdom be lost, when I die, for
that I have no son to take it after me.' 'O King,' answered the
Vizier, 'peradventure God shall yet provide for this; do thou put
thy trust in Him and be constant in supplication to Him.' So the
King rose and making his ablutions, prayed a two-bow prayer with
a believing heart; after which he called one of his wives to bed
and lay with her forthright. By God's grace, she conceived by
him and when her months were accomplished, she bore a male child,
like the moon on the night of its full. The King named him
Kemerezzeman and rejoiced in him with exceeding joy and bade
decorate the city in his honour.
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