For rest is impossible to
me until I shall have won the dearling of my heart's core, the
beautiful Lady Badr al-Budur. And now I am resolved to ask her of
her sire the Sultan."
She rejoined: "O my son, by my life upon thee, speak not such
speech, lest any overhear thee and say thou be insane. So cast away
from thee such nonsense! Who shall undertake a matter like this, or
make such request to the King? Indeed, I know not how, supposing thy
speech to be soothfast, thou shalt manage to crave such grace of the
Sultan, or through whom thou desirest to propose it." He retorted:
"Through whom shall I ask it, O my mother, when thou art present?
And who is there fonder and more faithful to me than thyself? So my
design is that thou thyself shalt proffer this my petition." Quoth
she: "O my son, Allah remove me far therefrom! What! Have I lost my
wits, like thyself? Cast the thought away, and a long way, from thy
heart. Remember whose son thou art, O my child, the orphan boy of a
tailor, the poorest and meanest of the tailors toiling in this city;
and I, thy mother, am also come of pauper folk and indigent.
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