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

... relieved your worry and sadness, so tell me what is the reason that relieved you of your worry and restored your color?' He said, 'O King, I implore you by God to exempt me from that.' x 'There is no way to avoid that,' he said. 'Then I fear for you from the anxiety and obsession, which is greater than what happened to me.' The King said, 'And how is it for you, my brother? What did not arise...' [returning to the narrator] The author of the narrative said, 'So he told him what he saw from the window of the palace and the calamity that was in his presence, which is ten slaves and ten slave girls sleeping unclear with the concubines and the harem of the King by day.' And he told him from the beginning to the end, and there is no benefit in repetition. 'And when I saw what you were in, of calamity, I was consoled and said to myself: If this is my brother, the King of the Earth, and this happened to him, and the calamity is in his own house, then my worry vanished, what I had was removed, I became cheerful, and I ate and drank. This is the reason for my joy and the return of my color.' The author of the narrative said, 'When King Shahryar heard his brother's words and what had happened to him, he became angry with a severe anger, as if he were about to drip blood. Then he said, 'My brother, I do not believe you in what you say unless you look with my own eyes.' His rage increased, and at that, Shah Zaman said to him, 'If you want to see your calamity with your own eyes so that you believe me, then rise, let us resolve to go hunting. I and you and the army shall go out. As long as we are outside the city, we shall leave our tents, our gear, and the army as they are, and we shall enter, I and you, secretly into the city. We shall go up with me to your palace, and you will wake up and see with your own eyes.' The author of the narrative said, 'The King knew that his brother the King's account was true, so he ordered the army to go out on the journey and spent that night, he and his brother. When the morning came, they both rode, the army rode, and they went out of the city. The servants preceded them with the tents to the outside of the town, and they set up the tents and the entrance hall. The Sultan and the army descended, and when the night approached, the King sent to the great chamberlain, ordering him to keep his position and not to allow anyone from the army to enter from the city for three days. Then he gave him instructions regarding the army, and he and his brother disguised themselves and entered the city in the night and went up to the palace in which Shah Zaman was staying.'