' Quoth she, 'I am willing to brook
all manner of hardship and servitude, but not thy son's sight.'
But God inclined the hearts of the slave-girls to her and they
used to do her service in the kitchen.
Meanwhile, they carried Alaeddin to the Divan and brought him,
together with the stolen goods, before the Khalif, who said,
'Where did ye find them?' 'Amiddleward Alaeddin's house,'
answered they; whereat the Khalif was filled with wrath and took
the things, but found not the lantern among them, and said to
Alaeddin, 'Where is the lantern?' 'I know nought of it,' answered
he; 'it was not I that stole it.' 'O traitor,' said the Khalif,
'how comes it that I brought thee near unto me and thou hast cast
me out, and I trusted in thee and thou hast betrayed me?' And he
commanded to hang him. So the Chief of the Police took him and
went down with him into the city, whilst the crier forewent them,
proclaiming aloud and saying, 'This is the reward and the least
of the reward of him who doth treason against the orthodox
Khalifs!' And the folk flocked to the gallows.
Meanwhile, Ahmed ed Denef, Alaeddin's adopted father, was
sitting, making merry with his followers in a garden, when in
came one of the water-carriers of the Divan and kissing Ahmed's
hand, said to him, 'O Captain, thou sittest at thine ease, with
water running at thy feet, and knowest not what has happened.
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