Then she
appointed him wine and medicines and sat by his head awhile,
after which she mounted and returned to her palace and continued
to make the round of the bazaars in search of Ghanim.
Meanwhile Ghanim's mother and sister arrived at Baghdad and fell
in with the charitable syndic, who carried them to Cout el Culoub
and said to her, 'O princess of benevolent ladies, there be come
to our city this day a woman and her daughter, who are fair of
face and the marks of gentle breeding and fortune are manifest
upon them, though they are clad in hair garments and have each
a wallet hanging to her neck; and they are tearful-eyed and
sorrowful-hearted. So I have brought them to thee, that thou
mayest shelter them and rescue them from beggary, for they are
not fit to ask alms, and if God will, we shall enter Paradise
through them.' 'O my lord,' exclaimed she, 'thou makest me long
to see them! Where are they? Bring them to me.' So he bade the
eunuch bring them in; and when she looked on them and saw that
they were both possessed of beauty, she wept for them and said,
'By Allah, they are people of condition and show signs of former
fortune.' 'O my lady,' said the syndic's wife, 'we love the poor
and destitute, because of the recompense that God hath promised
to such as succour them: as for these, belike the oppressors have
done them violence and robbed them of their fortune and laid
waste their dwelling-place.
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