The beauty and attractions of Zulaikha are so noised abroad, that ambassadors from powerful princes on all sides crowd to her father’s court to demand her hand in marriage. But none come from Egypt, and Zulaikha is deeply disappointed.
But no messenger is there from Egypt, and Zulaikha will listen to no other. So her father is compelled to dismiss them with the proverbial excuse — “Who comes first has the first right,”—and to plead the anterior claim of Egypt.