So they decorated the city
seven days, whilst the drums beat and the messengers bore the
glad tidings abroad. Meanwhile nurses and attendants were
provided for the boy and he was reared in splendour and delight,
until he reached the age of fifteen. He grew up of surpassing
beauty and symmetry, and his father loved him very dear, so that
he could not brook to be parted from him day or night. One day,
he complained to one of his Viziers of the excess of his love for
his son, saying, 'O Vizier, of a truth I fear the shifts and
accidents of fortune for my son Kemerezzeman and fain would I
marry him in my lifetime.' 'O King,' answered the Vizier,
'marriage is one of the most honourable of actions, and thou
wouldst indeed do well to marry thy son in thy lifetime, ere
thou make him king.' Quoth the King, 'Fetch me my son;' so
Kemerezzeman came and bowed his head before his father, out of
modesty. 'O Kemerezzeman,' said the King, 'I desire to marry
thee and rejoice in thee in my lifetime.' 'O my father,'
answered the prince, 'know that I have no wish to marry, nor doth
my soul incline to women; for that I have read many books and
heard much talk concerning their craft and perfidy, even as saith
the poet:
If ye would know of women and question of their case, Lo, I am
versed in their fashions and skilled all else above.
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