But Zuleika was also right when she said he had a peasant's cleverness. Choosing the vizier's daughter as his prospective wife was indeed a sly move. The khan chuckled to himself. General Sabola was his best friend. They had been raised together in the camp of his own father, The Great Khan. Sabola would be reluctant to have a bride foisted upon him, but by the Gods! If this maiden, Bahira, was as sensual as was the princess, Sabola would have no cause for complaint. Suddenly Amir Khan was overcome with a feeling of exhaustion. Was it natural, or was it the work of the genie, Kansbar? It mattered not. He lay down, and fell into a deep slumber.

When he awoke, strangely refreshed, he heard the sounds of activity in his encampment. His servants were immediately there bringing him his morning meal. He had barely begun it when Sabola arrived to share it with him. He was almost as big as Amir Khan, smooth-shaven, with the powerful frame of a bull. His dark hair was cropped very short. His brown eyes were intelligent. He sat down at his lord's table, and then his jaw dropped at the words issuing forth from the Khan's mouth.

"We are going to be married, old friend," Amir Khan said with a chortle. "Both of us! I shall have the princess of Dariyabar to wife, and you shall take the vizier's fair daughter as your mate." Having said it, the khan began to eat heartily.

"I slept the sleep of the dead last night, Amir," Sabola said.

"Of course you did," the khan noted. "A spell was placed upon the city and our camp by the genie whose task it is to watch over Dariyabar. All slept but for Zuleika, princess of Dariyabar, and me." Then the khan told his best friend everything that had transpired between him and the princess.

"How can you be certain it is not a skillful trap hatched by this princess and her cousin, Haroun?" Sabola asked, suspicious.