The first thing he
asked upon his arrival was of the whereabouts of the king his
nephew, and he learned with great surprise and vexation that he had
disappeared.
'News being brought me,' said the queen, 'of the danger you were in
at the palace of the King of Samandal, whilst I was giving orders
to send other troops to avenge you, he disappeared. He must have
been frightened at hearing of your being in so great danger, and
did not think himself in sufficient safety with us.'
This news exceedingly afflicted King Saleh, who now repented of his
being so easily wrought upon by King Beder as to carry him away
with him without his mother's consent. Whilst he was in this
suspense about his nephew, he left his kingdom under the
administration of his mother, and went to govern that of the King
of Samandal, whom he continued to keep under great vigilance,
though with all due respect to his rank.
The same day that King Saleh returned to the kingdom of Samandal,
Queen Gulnare, mother to King Beder, arrived at the court of the
queen her mother. The princess was not at all surprised to find her
son did not return the same day he set out, it being not uncommon
for him to go further than he proposed in the heat of the chase;
but when she saw that he returned neither the next day, nor the day
after, she began to be alarmed.
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