' Now the people of that time used to
name their children by omens; and whilst the merchant and his
wife were taking counsel of the name, they heard one say to his
friend, 'Harkye, my lord Alaeddin!' So the merchant said, 'We
will call him Alaeddin Abou esh Shamat.'[FN#88] Then he committed
the child to the nurses, and he drank milk two years, after which
they weaned him and he grew up and throve and walked upon the
earth. When he came to seven years old, they put him in a chamber
under the earth, for fear of the evil eye, and his father said,
'He shall not come out, till his beard grows.' And he gave him in
charge to a slave-girl and a black slave; the former dressed him
his meals and the latter carried them to him. Then his father
circumcised him and made him a great feast; after which he
brought him a doctor of the law, who taught him to write and
repeat the Koran and other parts of knowledge, till he became an
accomplished scholar. One day, the slave, after bringing him the
tray of food, went away and forgot to shut the trap-door after
him: so Alaeddin came forth and went in to his mother, with whom
was a company of women of rank. As they sat talking, in came he
upon them, as he were a drunken white slave,[FN#89] for the
excess of his beauty; and when they saw him, they veiled their
faces and said to his mother, 'God requite thee, O such an one!
How canst thou let this strange slave in upon us? Knowest thou
not that modesty is a point of the Faith?' 'Pronounce the name of
God,'[FN#90] answered she.
Pages:
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374