They were taken from their houses separately,
convicted and condemned, and the fatal sentence was put in execution
within an hour.
In the meantime the Emperor Khoonoo-shah, followed by all the lords of
his court who were then present, went on foot to the door of the great
mosque; and after he had taken the queen out of the strict confinement
she had languished under for so many years, embracing her in the
miserable condition to which she was then reduced, he said to her,
with tears in his eyes:
"I come to entreat your pardon for the injustice I have done you, and
to make you the reparation I ought. I have punished your cruel sisters
who put the abominable cheat upon me; and I hope soon to present to
you two accomplished princes and a lovely princess, our children. Come
and resume your former rank, with all the honors which are your due."
All this was done and said before great crowds of people, who flocked
from all parts at the first news of what was passing, and immediately
spread the joyful intelligence through the city.
Next morning early the emperor and queen, whose mournful humiliating
dress was changed for magnificent robes, went with all their court to
the house built by the intendant of the gardens, where the emperor
presented the Princes Bahman and Perviz and the Princess Perie-zadeh
to their enraptured mother.
"These, much injured wife," said he, "are the two princes your sons,
and this the princess your daughter; embrace them with the same
tenderness I have done, since they are worthy both of me and you.
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