" So he opened his eyes,
and finding an old woman at his head, raised his eyes and said to her,
"Who art thou?" Quoth she, "I am thy mother," and quoth he: "Thou
liest! I am the Commander of the Faithful the Viceregent of Allah."
Whereupon his mother shrieked aloud and said to him: "Heaven
preserve thy reason! Be silent, O my son, and cause not the loss of
our lives and the wasting of thy wealth, which will assuredly befall
us if any hear this talk and carry it to the Caliph."
So he rose from his sleep, and finding himself in his own saloon and
his mother by him, had doubts of his wit, and said to her: "By
Allah, O my mother, I saw myself in a dream in a palace, with slave
girls and Mamelukes about me and in attendance upon me, and I sat upon
the throne of the Caliphate and ruled. By Allah, O my mother, this
is what I saw, and in very sooth it was no dream!" Then he bethought
himself awhile and said: "Assuredly, I am Abu al-Hasan al-Khali'a, and
this that I saw was only a dream when I was made Caliph and bade and
forbade." Then he bethought himself again and said: "Nay, but 'twas
not a dream, and I am none other than the Caliph, and indeed I gave
gifts and bestowed honor robes.
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