'
And he told him what had passed, adding, 'By Allah, O my brother,
nought but respect for thee withheld me from going in to her and
dealing with her even as I dealt with the eunuch!' They passed
the rest of the night in trouble and affliction, conversing and
cursing false women, and agreed to keep the matter secret, lest
their father should hear of it and kill the two women.
On the morrow, the King returned with his suite from hunting and
sat awhile in his chair of estate; after which he dismissed the
Amirs and went up to his harem, where he found his two wives
lying on the bed, exceeding sick. Now they had made a plot
against the two princes and concerted to do away their lives, for
that they had exposed themselves before them and feared to be at
their mercy. When Kemerezzeman saw them on this wise, he said to
them, 'What ails you?' Whereupon they rose and kissing his
hands, answered, perverting the case and saying, 'Know, O King,
that thy sons, who have been reared in thy bounty, have played
thee false and outraged thee in the persons of thy wives.' When
he heard this, the light in his eyes became darkness and his
reason fled for the excess of his rage; then said he to them,
'Expound this thing to me.
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