'
When the old merchant heard this, he said, 'He whom thou seekest
is my son-in-law and I will show thee his house.' Now Alaeddin
was sitting in great concern, when one knocked at the door, and
he said, 'O Zubeideh, God is all-knowing! Thy father hath surely
sent me an officer from the Cadi or the Chief of the Police.' 'Go
down,' said she, 'and see what it is.' So he went down and
opening the door, found his father-in-law, with an Abyssinian
slave, dusky-hued and pleasant of favour, riding on a mule. When
the slave saw him, he alighted and kissed his hands: and Alaeddin
said, 'What dost thou want?' Quoth he, 'I am the slave of my load
Alaeddin Abou esh Shamat, son of Shemseddin, Provost of the
merchants of Cairo, who has sent me to him with this charge.'
Then he gave him the letter and Alaeddin, opening it, read what
follows:
Harkye, my letter, when my beloved sees thee, Kiss thou the earth
before him and his shoes.
Look thou go softly and hasten not nor hurry, For in his hands
are my life and my repose.
Then after the usual salutations from Shemseddin to his son, the
letter proceeded thus: 'Know, O my son, that news hath reached me
of the slaughter of thy men and the plunder of thy baggage; so I
send thee herewith fifty loads of Egyptian stuffs, together with
a suit of clothes and a cloak of sables and an ewer and basin of
gold.
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