' 'O
my son,' rejoined the King, 'the name of God encompass thee and
preserve thy wit from madness! What young lady is this of whom
thou talkest? By Allah, O my son, I know nothing of the affair,
and I conjure thee, tell me if it be a delusion of sleep or a
hallucination caused by food? Doubtless, thou layest down to
sleep last night, with thy mind occupied with marriage and
troubled with the thought of it (may God curse marriage and the
hour in which it occurred to me and him who counselled it!) and
dreamtest that a handsome young lady embraced thee and didst
fancy thou sawst her on wake; but all this, O my son, is but an
illusion of dreams.' 'Leave this talk,' replied Kemerezzeman,
'and swear to me by God, the All-wise Creator, the Humbler of the
mighty and the Destroyer of the Chosro?s, that thou knowest
nothing of the young lady nor of her abiding-place.' 'By the
virtue of the Most High God,' said the King, 'the God of Moses
and Abraham, I know nothing of all this and it is assuredly but
an illusion of dreams that thou hast seen in sleep.' Quoth the
prince, 'I will give thee a proof that it was not a dream. Come,
let me put a case to thee: did it ever happen to any to dream
that he was fighting a sore battle and after to awake and find in
his hand a sword besmeared with blood?' 'No, by Allah, O my
son,' answered the King, 'this hath never been.
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