After this wise， four years passed by， during which time the King sent every few days to seek news of Sufiyeh and her children； but all this while， his son Sherkan knew not that a male child had been born to his father， having news only of the birth of his daughter Nuzhet ez Zeman， and they hid the thing from him， until years and days had passed by， whilst he was busied in contending with the men of war and tilting against the cavaliers.
One day， as the King was sitting on his throne， there came in to him his chamberlains， who kissed the earth before him and said，"O King， there be come ambassadors from the King of the Greeks，lord of Constantinople the mighty， and they desire to be admitted to pay their respects to thee： so if the King give them leave to enter， we will admit them， and if not， there is no appeal from his decree." He bade admit them， and when they entered， he turned to them and asked them how they did and the reason of their coming. They kissed the earth before him and replied， "O illustrious King and lord of the long arm，[FN#5] know that King Afridoun， lord of the lands of the Greeks and of the Nazarene armies， holding the empire of Constantinople， hath sent us to make known to thee that he is now waging grievous war with a fierce rebel， the lord of Caesarea； and the cause of this war is as follows. One of the kings of the Arabs， awhile since， chanced，in one of his conquests， upon a treasure of the time of Alexander， from which he carried away countless riches and amongst other things， three round jewels， of the bigness of an ostrich"s egg， from a mine of pure white jewels， never was seen the like. Upon each of these jewels were graven talismans in the Greek character， and they had many properties and virtues，amongst the rest that if one of them were hung round the neck of a new-born child， no ailment would hurt him nor would he moan or be fevered， so long as it was about his neck. When they came to the hands of the Arabian King and he knew their virtues， he sent the three jewels， together with other presents and rarities， as a gift to King Afridoun， and to that end fitted out two ships， one bearing the treasure and presents and the other men to guard them against whoso should offer them hindrance on the sea， being nevertheless assured that none would dare waylay them， for that he was King of the Arabs， more by token that their way lay through the sea in the dominions of the King of Constantinople and they were bound to him， nor were there on the shores of that sea any but subjects of the most mighty King Afridoun. The ships set out and sailed till they drew near our city， when there sallied out on them certain corsairs of the country and amongst them troops of the King of Caesarea， who took all the treasures and rarities in the ships， together with the three jewels， and slew the men. When the news came to our King， he sent an army against them， but they defeated it； then he sent another army，stronger than the first， but they put this also to the rout；
whereupon the King was wroth and swore that he would go out against them in person at the head of his whole army and not turn back from them， till he had left Caesarea in ruins and laid waste all the lands and cities over which its King held sway. So he craves of the lord of the age and the time， the King of Baghdad and Khorassan， that he succour us with an army， to the end that glory may redound to him； and he has sent by us somewhat of various kinds of presents and begs the King to favour him by accepting them and accord us his aid." Then they kissed the earth before King Omar and brought out the presents， which were fifty slave-girls of the choicest of the land of the Greeks， and fifty white male slaves in tunics of brocade， rich girdles of gold and silver and in their ears pendants of gold and fine pearls， worth a thousand dinars each. The damsels were adorned after the same fashion and clad in stuffs worth much money. When the King saw them， he rejoiced in them and accepted them. Then he commanded that the ambassadors should be honourably entreated and summoning his viziers， took counsel with them of what he should do.
