Once upon a time there was a Sultan and his Wazir, and that Sultan had
seven children, all sons, and that Wazir had seven children, all
daughters.
[Illustration: Seven sons]
Those daughters of the Wazir had no mother; their mother had died, and
they were very poor.
The sons of the Sultan used to laugh at the daughters of the Wazir,
saying, "You poor people, what do you eat? It is our father who pays
your father his wages, and how do they suffice for you seven people who
are in one house? You poor creatures, you have not even a brother to
help you."
Now those girls used to plait baskets and sell them. They lived for many
days like that, their work being to cry every day, and when they came
out of school they used to plait and sell their baskets. Till one day
the youngest daughter, who was called Binti Ali, was sitting with her
father, and she said to him, "What advice have you to give us, father?"