ألف ليلة وليلة (Thousand and One Nights — 14th-15th century MS)

... and he looked from the wall of the garden away from the road, and the slave girls walked, and they were taken between them until they reached the door of the palace. They entered and closed the gate of the wall behind them, and went on their way. The narrator said, "All of this happened while King Shahryar had witnessed it all." The author of the narrative said, "When Shah Zaman saw this, he beheld the plight of his older brother, the King, and he made light of what they had done. He had looked at this great ordeal and the calamity that existed at his brother’s palace, where ten slaves, dressed in the guise of slave girls, were sleeping in his palace with his concubines and favorites, and all this for his wife and the slave Mas‘ud. His own anxiety and obsession vanished, and he said, 'This is our situation, and we are the kings of the earth and the rulers over its length and breadth, yet he has been transgressed against in his kingdom, in his wife, and in his concubines, and the calamity is within his house. My mind was not guided [to see] until now, and I had thought that no one had been afflicted except me, but I see now that all people are afflicted. By God, my calamity is lighter than my brother’s calamity.' So he began to live, and he let pass the time, for no one is safe from his ordeal. His wife finished her calamity, and the evening came upon him, so he ate with appetite and pleasure. The drink was brought to him, so he drank with appetite, and he emptied what was in his mind, and he ate and drank and found pleasure and joy, and said, 'After this, I am not one who is afflicted by this calamity. I am obedient.' He remained, eating and drinking for ten days, and his brother, King Shahryar, came back from the hunt. Shah Zaman welcomed him joyfully, stood in his service, and beamed at him, and his brother, King Shahryar, felt lonely for him and said, 'By God, my brother, you have made me miss you on this trip, and I wanted you to be in my company.' He said, 'Then his brother was happy. We sat, my brother, until the evening came, so food was brought to them, and they ate and drank, and the first to drink was Shah Zaman with appetite.' The author of the narrative said, 'Shah Zaman continued to eat and drink, and the worry and thought left him. His face reddened, his spirit grew strong, the blood circulated in him, his color returned, and he became fat and returned to his former state, and even greater. King Shahryar observed the change in his brother and what had happened to him that day and evening...'