Everywhere he heard talk of the princess Budour's
madness, till he came to a city named Teyreb and seeking news of
the townsfolk, so haply he might light on a cure for his
foster-sister's malady, heard that Kemerezzeman, son of King
Shehriman, was fallen sick and afflicted with melancholy madness.
He enquired the name of this prince's capital and was told that
it stood on the Islands of Khalidan and was distant thence a
whole month's journey by sea and six by land. So he took passage
in a ship that was bound thither, and they sailed with a
favouring breeze for a whole month, till they came in sight of
the city and there remained for them but to enter the harbour;
when there came out on them a tempestuous wind which carried away
the masts and rent the canvas, so that the sails fell into the
sea and the ship foundered, with all on board. Each looked to
himself, and as for Merzewan, the current carried him under the
King's palace, wherein was Kemerezzeman. As fate would have it,
it was the day on which the King gave audience to his grandees
and officers, and he was sitting, with his son's head in his lap,
whilst an eunuch whisked away the flies. The prince had not
spoken, neither had he eaten nor drunk for two days, and he was
grown thinner than a spindle.
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