KEMEREZZEMAN AND BUDOUR.

There was once, of old time, a king called Shehriman, who was

lord of many troops and guards and officers and reigned over

certain islands, known as the Khalidan Islands, on the borders of

the land of the Persians; but he was grown old and decrepit,

without having been blessed with a son, albeit he had four wives,

daughters of kings, and threescore concubines, with each of whom

he was wont to lie one night in turn. This preyed upon his mind

and disquieted him, so that he complained thereof to one of his

Viziers, saying, 'I fear lest my kingdom be lost, when I die, for

that I have no son to take it after me.' 'O King,' answered the

Vizier, 'peradventure God shall yet provide for this; do thou put

thy trust in Him and be constant in supplication to Him.' So the

King rose and making his ablutions, prayed a two-bow prayer with

a believing heart; after which he called one of his wives to bed

and lay with her forthright. By God's grace, she conceived by

him and when her months were accomplished, she bore a male child,

like the moon on the night of its full. The King named him

Kemerezzeman and rejoiced in him with exceeding joy and bade

decorate the city in his honour. So they decorated the city

seven days, whilst the drums beat and the messengers bore the

glad tidings abroad. Meanwhile nurses and attendants were

provided for the boy and he was reared in splendour and delight,

until he reached the age of fifteen. He grew up of surpassing

beauty and symmetry, and his father loved him very dear, so that

he could not brook to be parted from him day or night. One day,

he complained to one of his Viziers of the excess of his love for

his son, saying, 'O Vizier, of a truth I fear the shifts and

accidents of fortune for my son Kemerezzeman and fain would I

marry him in my lifetime.' 'O King,' answered the Vizier,

'marriage is one of the most honourable of actions, and thou

wouldst indeed do well to marry thy son in thy lifetime, ere

thou make him king.' Quoth the King, 'Fetch me my son;' so

Kemerezzeman came and bowed his head before his father, out of

modesty. 'O Kemerezzeman,' said the King, 'I desire to marry

thee and rejoice in thee in my lifetime.' 'O my father,'

answered the prince, 'know that I have no wish to marry, nor doth

my soul incline to women; for that I have read many books and

heard much talk concerning their craft and perfidy, even as saith

the poet:

If ye would know of women and question of their case, Lo, I am

versed in their fashions and skilled all else above.

When a man's head grows grizzled or for the nonce his wealth

Falls from his hand, then, trust me, he hath no part in

their love.

And again:

Gainsay women; he obeyeth Allah best who saith them nay, And he

prospers not who giveth them his bridle-rein to sway;

For they'll hinder him from winning to perfection in his gifts,

Though a thousand years he study, seeking after wisdom's

way.

Wherefore (continued Kemerezzeman) marriage is a thing to which I

will never consent; no, not though I drink the cup of death.'

When the King heard this, the light in his sight became darkness

and he was excessively chagrined at his son's lack of obedience

to his wishes; yet, for the great love he bore him, he forbore to

press him and was not wroth with him, but caressed him and spoke

him fair and showed him all manner of kindness such as tends to

cultivate affection. He took patience with him a whole year,

during which time Kemerezzeman increased daily in beauty and

elegance and amorous grace, till he became perfect in eloquence

and loveliness. All men were ravished with his beauty and every

breeze that blew carried the tidings of his charms; he was a

seduction to lovers and a garden of delight to longing hearts,

for he was sweet of speech and his face put the full moon to

shame. Accomplished in symmetry as in elegance and engaging

manners, his shape was slender and graceful as the willow-wand or

the flowering cane and his cheeks might pass for roses or

blood-red anemones. He was, in fine, charming in all respects,

even as the poet hath said of him:

He comes and "Blest be God!" say all men, high and base. "Glory

to Him who shaped and fashioned forth his face!"

He's monarch of the fair, wherever they may be; For, lo, they're

all become the liegemen of his grace.

The water of his mouth is liquid honey-dew And 'twixt his lips

for teeth fine pearls do interlace.

Perfect in every trait of beauty and unique, His witching

loveliness distracts the human race.

Beauty itself hath writ these words upon his cheek, "Except this

youth there's none that's fair in any place."

When the year came to an end, the King called his son to him and

said, 'O my son, wilt thou not hearken to me?' Whereupon

Kemerezzeman fell down for respect and shame before his father

and replied, 'O my father, how should I not hearken to thee,

seeing that God commandeth me to obey thee and not gainsay thee?'

'O my son,' said King Shehriman, 'know that I desire to marry

thee and rejoice in thee, whilst yet I live, and make thee king

over my realm, before my death.' When the prince heard this, he

bowed his head awhile, then raised it and said, 'O my father,

this is a thing that I will never do, though I drink the cup of

death. I know of a surety that God the Most High enjoins on me

obedience to thee; but in His name I conjure thee, press me not

in this matter of marriage, neither think that I will ever marry

my life long; for that I have read the books both of the ancients

and the moderns and have come to know all the troubles and

calamities that have befallen them through women and the

disasters that have sprung from their craft without end. How

well says the poet:

He, whom the baggages entrap, Deliverance shall never know,

Although a thousand forts he build, Plated with lead;--'gainst

such a foe

It shall not profit him to build Nor citadels avail, I trow.

Women are traitresses to all, Both near and far and high and low.

With fingers dyed and flowing hair Plaited with tresses, sweet of

show,

And eyelids beautified with kohl, They make one drink of bale and

woe.

And no less excellently saith another:

Women, for all to chastity they're bidden, everywhere Are carrion

tossed about of all the vultures of the air.

To-night their converse, ay, and all their secret charms are

thine, But on the morn their leg and wrist fall to another's

share;

Like to an inn in which thou lodg'st, departing with the dawn,

And one thou know'st not, after thee, lights down and lodges

there.

When King Shehriman heard these his son's words, he made him no

answer, of his great love for him, but redoubled in favour and

kindness to him. As soon as the audience was over, he called his

Vizier and taking him apart, said to him, 'O Vizier, tell me how

I shall do with my son in this matter of his marriage. I took

counsel with thee thereon and thou didst counsel me to marry him,

before making him king. I have spoken with him once and again of

marriage, and he still gainsaid me; so do thou now counsel me

what to do.' 'O King,' answered the Vizier, 'wait another year,

and if after that thou be minded to speak to him on the matter of

marriage, do it not privily, but on a day of state, when all the

Viziers and Amirs are present and all the troops standing before

thee. Then send for thy son and broach to him the matter of

marriage before the Viziers and grandees and officers of state

and captains; for he will surely be daunted by their presence and

will not dare to oppose thy will.' The King rejoiced exceedingly

in his Vizier's advice, deeming it excellent, and bestowed on him

a splendid robe of honour. Then he took patience with his son

another year, whilst, with every day that passed over him,

Kemerezzeman increased in grace and beauty and elegance and

perfection, till he was nigh twenty years old. Indeed, God had

clad him in the habit of beauty and crowned him with the crown of

perfection: his eyes were more ensorcelling than Harout and

Marout[FN#19] and the play of his glances more misleading than

Taghout.[FN#20] His cheeks shone with redness and his eyelashes

outvied the keen-edged sword: the whiteness of his forehead

resembled the shining moon and the blackness of his hair was as

the murky night. His waist was more slender than the gossamer

and his buttocks heavier than two hills of sand, troubling the

heart with their softness; but his waist complained of their

weight. In fine, his charms ravished all mankind, even as saith

the poet:

By his cheeks' unfading damask and his smiling teeth I swear, By

the arrows that he feathers with the witchery of his air,

By his sides so soft and tender and his glances bright and keen,

By the whiteness of his forehead and the blackness of his

hair,

By his arched imperious eyebrows, chasing slumber from mine eyes,

With their yeas and noes that hold me 'twixt rejoicing and

despair,

By the scorpious[FN#21] that he launches from his

ringlet-clustered brows, Seeking ever in their meshes

hapless lovers to ensnare,

By the myrtle of his whiskers and the roses of his cheeks, By his

lips' incarnate rubies and his teeth's fine pearls and rare,

By his breath's delicious fragrance and the waters of his mouth,

That defy old wine and choicest with their sweetness to

compare,

By his heavy hips that tremble, both in motion and repose, And

the slender waist above them, all too slight their weight to

bear,

By his hand's perennial bounty and his true and trusty speech, By

the stars that smile upon him, favouring and debonair,

Lo, the scent of musk none other than his very perfume is, And

the ambergris's fragrance breathes about him everywhere.

Yea, the sun in all his splendour cannot with his brightness vie,

And the crescent moon's a fragment that he from his nail

doth pare.

The King, accordingly, waited till a day of state, when the

audience hall was filled with his Amirs and Viziers and grandees

and officers of state and captains. As soon as they were all

assembled, he sent for his son Kemerezzeman, who came and kissing

the earth three times, stood before him, with his hands clasped

behind his back. Then said the King to him, 'Know, O my son,

that I have sent for thee and summoned thee to appear before this

assembly and all these officers of state that I may lay a

commandment on thee, wherein do thou not gainsay me. It is that

thou marry, for I am minded to wed thee to a king's daughter and

rejoice in thee ere I die.' When the prince heard these his

father's words, he bowed his head awhile, then raising it,

replied, being moved thereto by youthful folly and boyish

ignorance, 'Never will I marry, no, not though I drink the cup of

death! As for thee, thou art great in years and little of wit:

hast thou not, twice before this, questioned me of the matter of

marriage, and I refused thee? Indeed, thou dotest and art not

fit to govern a flock of sheep!' So saying, he unclasped his

hands from behind his back and rolled up his sleeves, in his

rage; moreover, he added many words to his father, knowing not

what he said, in the trouble of his spirit. The King was

confounded and ashamed, for that this befell in the presence of

his grandees and officers assembled on an occasion of state; but

presently the energy of kingship took him and he cried out upon

his son and made him tremble. Then he called to his guards and

bade them seize him and bind his hands behind his back. So they

laid hands on Kemerezzeman and binding him, brought him before

his father, full of shame and confusion, with his head bowed down

for fear and inquietude and his brow and face beaded with sweat.

The King loaded him with reproaches, saying, 'Out on thee, thou

whoreson and nursling of abomination! Dost thou dare to answer

me thus before my captains and officers? But hitherto none hath

corrected thee. Knowest thou not that this thou hast done were

disgraceful in the meanest of my subjects?' And he commanded his

guards to loose his bonds and imprison him in one of the turrets

of the citadel. So they carried the prince into an old tower,

wherein there was a dilapidated saloon, after having first swept

it and cleansed its floor and set him a couch in its midst, on

which they laid a mattress, a leathern rug and a cushion. Then

they brought him a great lantern and a candle, for the place

was dark, even by day, and posting an eunuch at the door, left

him to himself. Kemerezzeman threw himself on the couch,

broken-spirited and mournful-hearted, blaming himself and

repenting of his unseemly behaviour to his father, when

repentance availed him nothing, and saying, 'May God curse

marriage and girls and women, the traitresses! Would I had

hearkened to my father and married! It were better for me than

this prison.'

Meanwhile, King Shehriman abode on his throne till sundown, when

he took the Vizier apart and said to him, 'O Vizier, thine advice

is the cause of all this that hath befallen between me and my

son. What doth thou counsel me to do now?' 'O King,' answered

he, 'leave thy son in prison for the space of fifteen days; then

send for him and command him to marry, and he will not again

gainsay thee.' The King accepted the Vizier's counsel and lay

down to sleep, troubled at heart concerning Kemerezzeman, for he

loved him very dearly, having no other child, and it was his wont

not to sleep, save with his arm about his son's neck. So he

passed the night in trouble and unease, tossing from side to

side, as he were laid on coals of tamarisk-wood; for he was

overcome with inquietude and sleep visited him not all that

night; but his eyes ran over with tears and he repeated the

following verses:

The night, whilst the slanderers sleep, is tedious unto me;

Suffice thee a heart that aches for parting's agony!

I cry, whilst my night for care grows long and longer aye, "O

light of the morning, say, is there no returning for thee?"

And these also:

When the Pleïads I saw leave to shine in their stead And over the

pole-star a lethargy shed

And the maids of the Bier[FN#22] in black raiment unveiled, I

knew that the lamp of the morning was dead.

To return to Kemerezzeman. When the night came on, the eunuch

set the lantern before him and lighting a candle, placed it in

the candlestick; then brought him food. The prince ate a little

and reproached himself for his ill-behaviour to his father,

saying to himself, 'O my soul, knowst thou not that a son of Adam

is the hostage of his tongue and that a man's tongue is what

casts him into perils?' Then his eyes ran over with tears and he

bewailed that which he had done, from an anguished heart and an

aching bosom, repenting him with an exceeding repentance of the

wrong he had done his father repeating the following verses:

For the sheer stumble of his tongue the youth must death aby,

Though for the stumble of his foot the grown man shall not

die.

Thus doth the slipping of his mouth smite off his head, I ween,

What while the slipping of his foot is healed, as time goes

by.

When he had made an end of eating, he called the eunuch, who

washed his hands. Then he made his ablutions and prayed the

prayers of sundown and nightfall, after which he sat down on the

couch, to read[FN#23] the Koran. He read the chapters called

'The Cow,' 'The family of Imran,' 'Ya-Sin,' 'The Compassionate,'

'Blessed be the King,' 'Unity' and 'The two Amulets,' and

concluded with blessing and supplication, seeking refuge with God

from Satan the accursed. Then he put off his trousers and the

rest of his clothes and lay down, in a shirt of fine waxed cloth

and a coif of blue stuff of Merv, upon a mattress of satin,

embroidered on both sides with gold and quilted with Irak silk,

having under his head a pillow stuffed with ostrich-down. In

this guise, he was like the full moon, when it rises on its

fourteenth night. Then, drawing over himself a coverlet of silk,

he fell asleep with the lantern burning at his feet and the

candle at his head, and woke not for a third part of the night,

being ignorant of that which lurked for him in the secret purpose

of God and what He who knoweth the hidden things had appointed

unto him. Now, as chance and destiny would have it, the tower in

question was old and had been many years deserted; and there was

therein a Roman well, inhabited by an Afriteh of the lineage of

Iblis the Accursed, by name Maimouneh, daughter of Ed Dimiryat, a

renowned King of the Jinn. In the middle of the night, Maimouneh

came up out of the well and made for heaven, thinking to listen

by stealth to the discourse of the angels; but, when she reached

the mouth of the well, she saw a light shining in the tower,

contrary to wont; whereat she was mightily amazed, having dwelt

there many years and never seen the like, and said to herself,

'Needs must there be some cause for this.' So she made for the

light and found that it came from the saloon, at whose door she

found the eunuch sleeping. She entered and saw a man Iying

asleep upon the couch, with the lantern burning at his feet and

the candle at his head; at which she wondered and going softly

up to him, folded her wings and drawing back the coverlid,

discovered his face. The lustre of his visage outshone that of

the candle, and the Afriteh abode awhile, astounded at his beauty

and grace; for his face beamed with light, his cheeks were

rose-red and his eyelids languorous; his brows were arched like

bows and his whole person exhaled a scent of musk, even as saith

of him the poet:

I kissed him and his cheeks forthwith grew red, and black and

bright The pupils grew that are my soul's seduction and

delight.

O heart, if slanderers avouch that there exists his like For

goodliness, say thou to them, "Produce him to my sight."

When Maimouneh saw him, she glorified God and said, 'Blessed be

Allah, the best of Creators!' For she was of the true-believing

Jinn. She stood awhile, gazing on his face, proclaiming the

unity of God and envying the youth his beauty and grace. And she

said in herself, 'By Allah, I will do him no hurt nor let any

harm him, but will ransom him from all ill, for this fair face

deserves not but that folk should look upon it and glorify God.

But how could his family find it in their hearts to leave him in

this desert place, where if one of our Marids came upon him at

this hour, he would kill him?' Then she bent over him and

kissing him between the eyes, folded back the coverlet over his

face; after which she spread her wings and soaring into the air,

flew upward till she drew near the lowest heaven, when she heard

the noise of wings beating the air and making for the sound,

found that it came from an Afrit called Dehnesh. So she swooped

down on him like a sparrow-hawk; and when he was ware of her and

knew her to be Maimouneh, daughter of the King of the Jinn, he

feared her and his nerves trembled; and he implored her

forbearance, saying, 'I conjure thee by the Most Great and August

Name and by the most noble talisman graven upon the seal of

Solomon, entreat me kindly and harm me not!' When she heard

this, her heart inclined to him and she said, 'Verily, thou

conjurest me with a mighty conjuration, O accursed one!

Nevertheless, I will not let thee go, till thou tell me whence

thou comest at this hour.' 'O princess,' answered he, 'know that

I come from the uttermost end of the land of Cathay and from

among the islands, and I will tell thee of a wonderful thing I

have seen this night. If thou find my words true, let me go my

way and write me a patent under thy hand that I am thy freedman,

so none of the Jinn, whether of the air or the earth, divers or

flyers,[FN#24] may do me let or hindrance.' 'And what is it thou

hast seen this night, O liar, O accursed one?' rejoined

Maimouneh. 'Tell me without leasing and think not to escape from

my hand with lies, for I swear to thee by the inscription on the

beazel of the ring of Solomon son of David (on whom be peace,)

except thy speech be true, I will pluck out thy feathers with

mine own hand and strip off thy skin and break thy bones.' 'I

accept this condition, O my lady,' answered Dehnesh, son of

Shemhourish the Flyer. 'Know that I come to-night from the

Islands of the Inland Sea in the parts of Cathay, which are the

dominions of King Ghaïour, lord of the Islands and the Seas and

the Seven Palaces. There I saw a daughter of his, than whom God

hath made none fairer in her time,--I cannot picture her to thee,

for my tongue would fail to describe her aright; but I will name

to thee somewhat of her charms, by way of approximation. Her

hair is like the nights of estrangement and separation and her

face like the days of union; and the poet hath well described her

when he says:

She took up three locks of her hair and spread them out one night

And straight four nights discovered at once unto my sight.

Then did she turn her visage up to the moon of the sky And showed

me two moons at one season, both burning clear and bright.

She hath a nose like the point of the burnished sword and cheeks

like purple wine or blood-red anemones: her lips are like coral

and cornelian and the water of her mouth is sweeter than old

wine, its taste would allay the torments of Hell. Her tongue is

moved by abounding wit and ready repartee: her breast is a

temptation to all that see it, glory be to Him who created it and

finished it: and joined thereto are two smooth round arms. As

says of her the poet El Welhan:

She hath two wrists, which, were they not by bracelets held, I

trow, Would flow out of their sleeves as brooks of liquid

silver flow.

She has breasts like two globes of ivory, the moons borrow from

their brightness, and a belly dimpled as it were a brocaded cloth

of the finest Egyptian linen, with creases like folded scrolls,

leading to a waist slender past conception, over buttocks like a

hill of sand, that force her to sit, when she would fain stand,

and awaken her, when she would sleep, even as saith of her the

poet:

Her slender waist a pair of buttocks overlies, The which both

over her and me do tyrannize.

For they confound my wit, whenas I think on them, And eke enforce

her sit, whenas she fain would rise.

They are upborne by smooth round thighs and legs like columns of

pearl, and all this rests upon two slender feet, pointed like

spear-blades, the handiwork of God, the Protector and Requiter, I

wonder how, of their littleness, they can sustain what is above

them. But I cut short my description of her charms, lest I be

tedious. The father of this young lady is a powerful king, a

fierce cavalier, immersed night and day in wars and battles,

fearless of death and dreading not ruin, for that he is a

masterful tyrant and an irresistible conqueror, lord of troops

and armies, continents and islands, cities and villages, and his

name is King Ghaïour, lord of the Islands and the Seas and of the

Seven Palaces. He loves his daughter, the young lady whom I have

described to thee, very dearly, and for love of her, he gathered

together the treasures of all the kings and built her therewith

seven palaces, each of a different fashion; the first of crystal,

the second of marble, the third of China steel, the fourth of

precious stones, the fifth of porcelain and vari-coloured onyx,

the sixth of silver and the seventh of gold. He filled the seven

palaces with rich silken carpets and hangings and vessels of gold

and silver and all manner of gear befitting kings and commanded

his daughter, whose name is the Princess Budour, to abide in each

by turns for a certain season of the year. When her beauty

became known and her fame was noised abroad in the neighbouring

countries, all the kings sent to her father, to demand her in

marriage, and he consulted her on the matter, but she misliked it

and said, "O my father, I have no mind to marry; for I am a

sovereign lady and a princess ruling over men, and I have no

desire for a man who shall rule over me." The more she refused,

the more the eagerness of her suitors increased and all the kings

of the Islands of the Inland Sea sent gifts and offerings to her

father, with letters asking her in marriage. So he pressed her

again and again to make choice of a husband, despite her

refusals, till at last she turned upon him angrily and said to

him, "O my father, if thou name marriage to me again, I will go

into my chamber and take a sword and fixing its hilt in the

ground, set its point to my breast; then will I lean upon it,

till it come forth from my back, and so kill myself." When the

King heard this, the light became darkness in his sight and his

heart was torn with anxiety and perplexity concerning her affair;

for he feared lest she should kill herself and knew not how to

deal with the kings who sought her hand. So he said to her, "If

thou be irrevocably determined not to marry, abstain from going

in and out." Then he shut her up in her chamber, appointing ten

old body-women to guard her, and made as though he were wroth

with her, forbidding her to go forth to the seven palaces;

moreover, he sent letters to all the kings, giving them to know

that she had been stricken with madness. It is now a year

(continued Dehnesh) since she has been thus cloistered, and every

night I go to her, whilst she is asleep, and take my fill of

gazing on her face and kiss her between the eyes: yet, of my love

to her, I do her no hurt neither swive her, for that her youth is

fair and her loveliness surpassing; every one who sees is jealous

for her of himself. I conjure thee, therefore, O my lady, to go

back with me and look on her beauty and symmetry; and after, if

thou wilt, chastise me or enslave me: for it is thine to command

and to forbid.' So saying, he bowed his head towards the earth

and drooped his wings; but Maimouneh laughed at his words and

spitting in his face, answered, 'What is this girl of whom thou

pratest but a potsherd to cleanse the privities withal? Faugh!

Faugh! By Allah, O accursed one, I thought thou hadst some rare

story to tell me or some marvel to make known to me! How would

it be if thou sawest my beloved? Verily this night I have seen a

young man whom if thou sawest though but in sleep, thou wouldst

be palsied with admiration and thy mouth would water.' 'And who

and what is this youth?' asked the Afrit. 'Know, O Dehnesh,'

answered she, 'that there hath befallen him the like of what

befell thy mistress; for his father pressed him again and again

to marry, but he refused, till at length his father waxed wroth

and imprisoned him in the tower where I dwell: and I came up

to-night and saw him.' 'O my lady,' said Dehnesh, 'show me the

youth, that I may see if he be indeed handsomer than my mistress,

the Princess Budour, or not; for I cannot believe that there

lives her equal.' 'Thou liest, O accursed one!' rejoined

Maimouneh. 'O most ill-omened of Marids and vilest of Satans!

Sure am I that there is not in this world the like of my beloved.

Art thou mad to even thy beloved with mine?' 'I conjure thee by

Allah, O my lady,' said Dehnesh, 'to go back with me and see my

mistress, and after I will return with thee and look upon thy

beloved.' 'It must needs be so, O accursed one!' answered she.

'Yet, for that thou art a knavish devil, I will not go with thee

nor shalt thou come with me, save upon surety and condition of

pledge. If thy beloved prove handsomer than mine, the pledge

shall be thine against me; but if my beloved prove the fairer,

the pledge shall be mine against thee.' 'O my lady,' said

Dehnesh, 'I accept this thy condition; so come with me to the

Islands.' 'Not so,' replied Maimouneh; 'for the abode of my

beloved is nearer than that of thine: here it is under us; so

come down with me and see my beloved, and after we will go look

upon thy mistress.' 'I hear and obey,' said Dehnesh. So they

descended and alighting on the tower, entered the saloon, where

Maimouneh stationed Dehnesh beside the bed and putting out her

hand, drew back the silken coverlet, whereupon Kemerezzeman's

face shone out like the sun. She looked at him a moment, then

turning to Dehnesh, said, ''Look, O accursed one, and be not the

vilest of madmen; I am a maiden and am ravished with him.' So

Dehnesh looked at the prince and gazed steadfastly on him awhile,

then, shaking his head, said to Maimouneh, 'By Allah, O my lady,

thou art excusable; but there is another thing to be considered,

and that is that the female estate differs from the male. By the

virtue of God, this thy beloved is the likest of all created

things to my mistress in beauty and loveliness and grace and

it is as though they were both cast alike in the mould of

perfection!' When Maimouneh heard these words, the light in

her sight became darkness and she dealt him so fierce a buffet

on the head with her wing as well-nigh made an end of him. Then,

'I conjure thee,' said she, 'by the light of his glorious

countenance, go at once, O accursed one, and bring hither thy

mistress in haste that we may lay them together and look on them

both, as they lie asleep side by side; so will it appear to us

whether is the goodlier and more beautiful of the two. Except

thou obey me forthright, I will dart my sparks at thee and

consume thee with my fire; yea, I will rend thee in pieces and

cast thee into the deserts, as an example to stay-at-home and

wayfarer.' 'O my lady,' answered the Afrit, 'I will do thy

bidding, for I know that my mistress is the fairer and sweeter.'

So saying, he flew away and Maimouneh flew with him, to guard

him. They were absent awhile and presently returned, bearing the

young lady, who was clad in a shift of fine Venetian silk, laced

with gold and wrought with the most exquisite broidery and having

the following verses worked upon the ends of the sleeves:

Three things for ever hinder her to visit us, for fear Of the

intriguing spy and eke the rancorous envier;

Her forehead's lustre and the sound of all her ornaments And the

sweet scent her creases hold of ambergris and myrrh.

Grant with the border of her sleeve she hide her brows and doff

Her ornaments, how shall she do her scent away from her?

They carried her into the saloon and laying her beside

Kemerezzeman, uncovered both their faces, and behold, they were

the likest of all folk, one to the other, as they were twins or

an only brother and sister; and indeed they were a temptation to

the pious, even as says of them the poet El Mubin:

Be not thy love, O heart, to one alone confined, Lest, for that

one, amaze and doting thee enwind;

But love thou rather all the fair, and thou shalt find, If one

contrarious prove, another will be kind.

And quoth another:

Two fair ones lying on the earth I did of late espy; Two that I

needs must love, although they lay upon mine eye.

Dehnesh and Maimouneh gazed on them awhile, and the former said,

'By Allah, O my lady, it is good! My mistress is assuredly the

fairer.' 'Not so,' answered she, 'my beloved is the fairer. Out

on thee, O Dehnesh! Thou art blind of eye and heart and

distinguishest not between good and bad.[FN#25] Wilt thou hide

the truth? Dost thou not see his beauty and grace and symmetry?

Out on thee, hear what I purpose to say in praise of my beloved,

and do thou the like for her thou lovest, an thou be a true

lover.' Then she kissed Kemerezzeman again and again between the

eyes and repeated the following ode:

Ah me, what ails the censurer that he at thee should flite? How

shall I be consoled for thee, and thou a sapling slight?

Thou of the black and languorous eye, that casteth far and wide

Charms, whose sheer witchery compels to passion's utmost

height,

Whose looks, with Turkish languor fraught, work havoc in the

breast, Leaving such wounds as ne'er were made of falchion

in the fight,

Thou layst on me a heavy load of passion and desire, On me that

am too weak to bear a shift upon me dight.

My love for thee, as well thou know'st, my very nature is, And

that for others which I feign dissembling but and sleight.

An if my heart were like to thine, I'd not refuse; alack! 'Tis

but my body's like thy waist, worn thin and wasted quite.

Out on him for a moon that's famed for beauty far and near, That

for th' exemplar of all grace men everywhere do cite!

The railers say, "Who's this for love of whom thou art

distressed?" And I reply, "An if ye can, describe the lovely

wight."

O learn to yield, hard heart of his, take pattern by his shape!

So haply yet he may relent and put away despite.

Thou, that my prince in beauty art, a steward[FN#26] hast, whose

rule Aggrieves me and a chamberlain[FN#27] that doth me foul

upright.

He lies who says, "All loveliness in Joseph was comprised." How

many a Joseph is there not within thy beauty bright!

The Jinn do fear me, whenas I confront them face to face; But

when I meet with thee, my heart doth tremble for affright.

I feign aversion unto thee, for fear of slanderous tongues; The

more I feign, the more my love to madness I excite.

Black hair and smooth and glistening brows, eyes languorous and

soft, As of the maids of Paradise, and slender shape and

slight!

When Dehnesh heard this, he shook for delight and was filled with

admiration and said, 'Thou hast indeed done well in praise of him

whom thou lovest! Needs must I do my endeavour, in my turn, to

celebrate my mistress, to the best of my power, and recite

somewhat in her honour.' Then he went up to the lady Budour and

kissing her between the eyes, looked at her and at Maimouneh and

recited the following verses, for all he had no skill in poetry:

They chide my passion for my fair in harsh and cruel guise; But,

of their ignorance, forsooth, they're neither just nor wise.

Vouchsafe thy favours to the slave of love, for, an he taste Of

thine estrangement and disdain, assuredly he dies.

Indeed, for very stress of love, I'm drenched with streaming

tears, That, like a rivulet of blood, run ever from mine

eyes.

No wonder 'tis what I for love endure; the wonder is That any,

since the loss of thee, my body recognize.

Forbidden be thy sight to me, if I've a thought of doubt Or if my

heart of passion tire or feign or use disguise!

And also the following:

I feed mine eyes on the places where we met long ago; Far distant

now is the valley and I'm forslain for woe.

I'm drunk with the wine of passion and the teardrops in mine eyes

Dance to the song of the leader of the camels, as we go.

I cease not from mine endeavour to win to fortune fair; Yet in

Budour, Suada,[FN#28] all fortune is, I know.

Three things I reckon, I know not of which to most complain; Give

ear whilst I recount them and be you judge, I trow.

Firstly, her eyes, the sworders; second, the spearman, her shape,

And thirdly, her ringlets that clothe her in armour,[FN#29]

row upon row.

Quoth she (and indeed I question, for tidings of her I love, All

whom I meet, or townsman or Bedouin, high or low)

Quoth she unto me, "My dwelling is in thy heart; look there And

thou shalt see me." I answer, "And where is my heart?

Heigho!"

When Maimouneh heard this, she said, 'Thou hast done well, O

Dehnesh! But tell me, which of the two is the handsomer?' And

he answered, 'My mistress Budour is certainly handsomer than thy

beloved.' 'Thou liest, O accursed one!' cried Maimouneh. 'Nay,

my beloved is more beautiful than thine!' And they ceased not to

gainsay each other, till Maimouneh cried out at Dehnesh and would

have laid violent hands on him; but he humbled himself to her and

softening his speech, said to her, 'Let us leave talking, for we

do but contradict each other, and rather seek one who shall judge

fairly between us, whether of the two is fairer, and let us abide

by his sentence.' 'I agree to this,' answered she and smote the

earth with her foot, whereupon there came up a one-eyed Afrit,

hump-backed and scurvy, with eyes slit endlong in his face. On

his head were seven horns and four locks of hair falling to his

heels; his hands were like pitchforks, his legs like masts and he

had claws like a lion and hoofs like those of the wild ass. When

he saw Maimouneh, he kissed the earth before her and standing

with his hands clasped behind him, said, 'What is thy will, O

king's daughter?' 'O Keshkesh,' answered she, 'I would have thee

judge between me and this accursed Dehnesh.' And she made known

to him the whole matter, whereupon he looked at the prince and

princess and saw them lying asleep, embraced, each with an arm

about the other's neck, alike in beauty and grace and equal in

goodliness. The Marid gazed long and fixedly upon them,

marvelling at their beauty, and repeated the following verses:

Cleave fast to her thou lov'st and let the envious rail amain,

For calumny and envy ne'er to favour love were fain.

Lo, the Compassionate hath made no fairer thing to see Than when

one couch in its embrace enfoldeth lovers twain,

Each to the other's bosom clasped, clad in their own delight,

Whilst hand with hand and arm with arm about their necks

enchain.

If in thy time thou find but one to love thee and be true, I rede

thee cast the world away and with that one remain.

Lo, when two hearts are straitly knit in passion and desire, But

on cold iron smite the folk that chide at them in vain.

Thou that for loving censures the votaries of love, Canst thou

assain a heart diseased or heal a cankered brain?

O Lord, O Thou Compassionate, I prithee, ere we die, Though only

for a single day, unite us two again!

Then he turned to Maimouneh and Dehnesh and said to them, 'By

Allah, if you will have the truth, they are equal in beauty and

grace and perfection, nor is there any difference between them

but that of sex. But I have another idea, and it is that we wake

each of them in turn, without the other's knowledge, and

whichever is more enamoured of the other shall be held the lesser

in beauty and grace.' 'This is a good counsel,' answered

Maimouneh, and Dehnesh said, 'I consent to this.' Then Dehnesh

changed himself to a flea and bit Kemerezzeman on the neck,

whereupon the prince awoke with a start and rubbed the place of

the bite, because of the smart. Then turning sideways, he found

lying by him something, whose breath was more fragrant than musk,

and whose body was softer than cream. At this he marvelled

greatly and sitting up, looked at this that lay beside him and

saw it to be a young lady like the moon, as she were a splendid

pearl, or a shining sun, five feet high, with a shape like the

letter I, high-bosomed and rosy-checked; even as saith of her the

poet:

Four things there are, which ne'er unite, except it be To shed my

heart's best blood and take my soul by storm.

And these are night-black locks and brow as bright as day, Cheeks

ruddy as the rose and straight and slender form.

And also quoth another:

She shineth forth, a moon, and bends, a willow-wand, And

breathes, pure ambergris, and gazes, a gazelle.

It seems as if grief loved my heart and when from her

Estrangement I endure, possession to it fell.

She was clad in a shift of Venetian silk, without drawers, and

wore on her head a kerchief embroidered with gold and jewels; her

ears were hung with earrings, that shone like stars, and round

her neck was a collar of great pearls, past the competence of any

king. When he saw this, his reason was confounded and natural

heat began to stir in him; God awoke in him the desire of coition

and he said, 'What God wills, shall be, and what He will not,

shall not be!' So saying, he put out his hand and turning her

over, loosed the collar of her shift, laying bare her bosom, with

its breasts like globes of ivory; whereat his inclination for her

redoubled and he desired her with an exceeding desire. Then he

shook her and moved her, essaying to waken her and saying, 'O my

beloved, awake and look on me; I am Kemerezzeman.' But she awoke

not, neither moved her head, for Dehnesh made her sleep heavy.

With this, he considered awhile and said to himself, 'If I guess

aright, this is she to whom my father would have married me and I

have refused these three years past; but, God willing, as soon as

it is day, I will say to him, "Marry me to her that I may enjoy

her," nor will I let half the day pass ere I possess her and take

my fill of her beauty and grace.' Then he bent over Budour, to

kiss her, whereat Maimouneh trembled and was confounded and

Dehnesh was like to fly for joy. But, as Kemerezzeman was about

to kiss her, he was ashamed before God and turned away his head,

saying to his heart, 'Have patience.' Then he considered awhile

and said, 'I will be patient, lest my father have brought this

young lady and made her lie by my side, to try me with her,

charging her not to be lightly awakened, whenas I would fain

arouse her, and bidding her tell him all that I do to her.

Belike, he is hidden somewhere whence he can see all I do with

this young lady, himself unseen; and to-morrow he will flout me

and say, "How comes it that thou feignest to have no mind to

marry and yet didst kiss and clip yonder damsel?" So I will

forbear her, lest I be shamed before my father; and it were well

that I look not on her nor touch her at this present, except to

take from her somewhat to serve as a sign of remembrance and a

token between us.' Then he lifted her hand and took from her

little finger a ring worth much money, for that its beazel was of

precious jewels and around it were graven the following verses:

Think not that I have forgotten thy sometime promises, Though long

thou hast protracted thy cruelty, ywis.

Be generous, O my master, vouchsafe me of thy grace, So it to me

be given thy lips and cheeks to kiss.

Never, by Allah, never will I abandon thee, Though thou

transgress thy limits in love and go amiss!

Then he put the ring on his own little finger, and turning his

back to her, went to sleep. When Maimouneh saw this, she was

glad and said, 'Saw ye how my beloved Kemerezzeman forbore

this young lady? Verily, this was of the perfection of his

excellences; for see how he looked on her and noted her beauty

and grace, yet clipped her not neither kissed her nor put his

hand to her, but turned his back to her and slept.' 'It is

well,' answered they; 'we saw how perfectly he bore himself.'

Then Maimouneh changed herself into a flea and entering Budour's

clothes, crept up her leg and bit her four finger-breadths below

the navel; whereupon she opened her eyes and sitting up in bed,

saw a youth lying beside her and breathing heavily in his sleep,

the loveliest of God's creatures, with eyes that put to shame

the fair maids of Paradise, mouth like Solomon's seal, whose

water was sweeter to the taste and more efficacious than

triacle,[FN#30] lips the colour of coral and cheeks like

blood-red anemones, even as saith one, describing him:

From Zeyneb[FN#31] and Newar[FN#32] my mind is drawn away By the

rose of a cheek, whereo'er a whisker's myrtles stray.

I'm fallen in love with a fawn, a youngling tunic-clad, And joy

no more in love of bracelet-wearing may.

My mate in banquet-hall and closet's all unlike To her with whom

within my harem's close I play:

O thou that blames me, because I flee from Hind[FN#33] And

Zeyneb, my excuse is clear as break of day.

Would'st have me be a slave, the bondsman of a slave, One

cloistered and confined behind a wall alway?[FN#34]

When the princess saw him, a transport of passion and longing

seized her and she said to herself, 'Alas my shame! This is a

strange youth and I know him not. How comes he lying in one bed

with me?' Then she looked at him again and noting his beauty and

grace, said, 'By Allah, he is a comely youth and my heart is

well-nigh torn in sunder with longing for him. But alas, how am

I shamed by him! By Allah, had I known it was he who sought my

hand of my father, I had not rejected him, but had married him

and enjoyed his loveliness!' Then she gazed in his face and

said, 'O my lord and light of mine eyes, awake from sleep and

enjoy my beauty and grace.' And she moved him with her hand; but

Maimouneh let down sleep upon him (as it were a curtain) and

pressed on his head with her wings, so that he awoke not. The

princess went on to shake him and say, 'My life on thee, give ear

unto me! Awake and look on the narcissus and the tender green

and enjoy my body and my secret charms and dally with me and

touzle me from now till break of day! I conjure thee by Allah, O

my lord, sit up and lean against the pillow and sleep not!'

Still he made her no answer, but breathed heavily in his sleep.

'Alas! Alas!' continued she. 'Thou art proud in thy beauty and

grace and lovely looks! But if thou art handsome, so am I; what

then is this thou dost? Have they lessoned thee to flout me or

has the wretched old man, my father, made thee swear not to speak

to me to-night?' But he opened not his mouth neither awoke,

whereat her passion redoubled and God inflamed her heart with

love of him. She stole one glance at him that cost her a

thousand sighs: her heart fluttered and her entrails yearned and

she exclaimed, 'Speak to me, O my lord! O my friend, my beloved,

answer me and tell me thy name, for indeed thou hast ravished my

wit!' Still he abode drowned in sleep and answered her not a

word, and she sighed and said, 'Alas! Alas! why art thou so

self-satisfied?' Then she shook him and turning his hand over,

saw her ring on his little finger, whereat she cried out and

said, with a sigh of passion, 'Alack! Alack! By Allah, thou art

my beloved and lovest me! Yet meseems thou turnest away from me

out of coquetry, for all thou camest to me whilst I was asleep

and knew not what thou didst, and tookest my ring. But I will

not pull it off thy finger.' So saying, she opened the bosom of

his shirt and kissed him and put her hand to him, seeking

somewhat that she might take as a token, but found nothing. Then

she put her hand into his breast, and for the smoothness of his

body, it slipped down to his navel and thence to his yard,

whereupon her heart ached and her entrails quivered and desire

was sore upon her, for that women's lust is fiercer than that of

men, and she was confounded. Then she took his ring from his

finger and put it on her own and kissed his mouth and hands, nor

did she leave any part of him unkissed; after which she took him

to her breast and laying one of her hands under his neck and the

other under his armpit, fell asleep by his side. Then said

Maimouneh to Dehnesh, 'O accursed one, sawst thou how prudishly

and coquettishly my beloved bore himself and what ardour of

passion thy mistress showed to him? There can be no doubt that

my beloved is handsomer than thine; nevertheless I pardon thee.'

Then she wrote him a patent of manumission and said to Keshkesh,

'Help Dehnesh to take up his mistress and carry her back to her

own place, for the night wanes apace and there is but little left

of it.' 'I hear and obey,' answered Keshkesh. So the two

Afrits lifted up the Princess Budour and flying away with her,

carried her back to her own place and laid her on her bed, whilst

Maimouneh abode alone with Kemerezzeman, gazing upon him as he

slept, till the night was all but spent, when she went her way.

At break of day, the prince awoke from sleep and turned right and

left, but found not the young lady by him and said in himself,

'What is this? It would seem as if my father would fain incline

me to marriage with the young lady, that was with me, and have

now taken her away by stealth, to the intent that my desire for

marriage may redouble.' Then he called out to the eunuch who

slept at the door, saying, 'Out on thee, O accursed one, arise

forthright!' So the eunuch arose, dazed with sleep, and

brought him basin and ewer, whereupon Kemerezzeman entered the

draught-house and did his need; then, coming out, made his

ablutions and prayed the morning-prayer, after which he sat

telling his beads. Then he looked up, and seeing the eunuch

standing waiting upon him, said to him, 'Out on thee, O Sewab!

Who was it came hither and took away the young lady from beside

me, whilst I slept?' 'O my lord, what young lady?' asked the

eunuch. 'She that lay with me last night,' replied Kemerezzeman.

The eunuch was troubled at his words and said to him, 'By Allah,

there has been with thee neither young lady nor other! How

should she have come in to thee, when the door was locked and I

asleep before it? By Allah, O my lord, neither man nor woman has

come in to thee!' 'Thou liest, O pestilent slave!' exclaimed

the prince. 'Dost thou also presume to hoodwink me and wilt thou

not tell me what is come of the young lady who lay with me last

night and who took her away?' The eunuch was affrighted at him

and answered, 'By Allah, O my lord, I have seen neither girl nor

boy!' His words only angered Kemerezzeman and he said to him, 'O

accursed one, my father hath taught thee deceit! Come hither.'

So the eunuch came up to him, and the prince seized him by the

collar and threw him to the ground. He let fly a crack of wind,

and Kemerezzeman, kneeling upon him, kicked him and throttled

him, till he fainted away. Then he tied him to the well-rope,

and lowering him into the well, plunged him into the water, then

drew him up and plunged him in again. Now it was hard winter

weather, and Kemerezzeman ceased not to lower the eunuch into the

water and pull him up again, whilst he screamed and called for

help. Quoth the prince, 'By Allah, O accursed one, I will not

draw thee up out of the well, till thou tell me the story of the

young lady and who it was took her away, whilst I slept.' 'O my

lord,' answered the eunuch, seeing death staring him in the face,

'let me go and I will tell thee the truth.' So Kemerezzeman

pulled him up out of the well, all but dead for cold and wet and

torture and beating and fear of drowning. His teeth chattered

and he shook like the reed in the hurricane and his clothes were

drenched and his body befouled and torn by the rough slimy sides

of the well. When Kemerezzeman saw him in this sorry plight, he

relented towards him; and as soon as the eunuch found himself on

dry land, he said to him, 'O my lord, let me go and put off my

clothes and wring them out and spread them in the sun to dry and

don others; after which I will return to thee forthwith and tell

thee the truth of the matter.' 'O wretched slave,' answered the

prince, 'hadst thou not seen death face to face, thou hadst never

confessed; but go now and do thy will, and after return speedily

and tell me the truth.' So the eunuch went out, hardly crediting

his escape, and gave not over running and stumbling, in his

haste, till he came in to King Shehriman, whom he found sitting

talking with his Vizier of Kemerezzeman's case and saying, 'I

slept not last night, for anxiety concerning my son Kemerezzeman,

and indeed I fear lest some harm befall him in that old tower.

What good was there in imprisoning him?' 'Have no care for him,'

answered the Vizier. 'By Allah, no hurt will befall him! Leave

him in prison for a month, till his humour yield and his spirit

be broken and he return to his senses.' As he spoke, in came the

eunuch, in the aforesaid plight, and said to the King, who was

troubled at sight of him, 'O our lord the Sultan, thy son's wits

are fled and he has gone mad; he has dealt with me thus and thus,

so that I am become as thou seest, and says, "A young lady lay

with me this night and stole away whilst I slept. Where is she?"

And insists on my telling him where she is and who took her away.

But I have seen neither girl nor boy; the door was locked all

night, for I slept before it, with the key under my head, and

opened to him in the morning with my own hand.' When the King

heard this, he cried out, saying, 'Alas, my son!' And he was

sore enraged against the Vizier, who had been the cause of all

this, and said to him, 'Go, bring me news of my son and see what

hath befallen his wit.' So the Vizier rose and hastened with the

slave to the tower, tumbling over his skirts, in his fear of the

King's anger. The sun had now risen and when he came in to

Kemerezzeman, he found him sitting on the couch, reading the

Koran; so he saluted him and sitting down by his side, said to

him, 'O my lord, this wretched slave brought us news that

disquieted and alarmed us and incensed the King.' 'And what,'

asked Kemerezzeman, 'hath he told you of me, to trouble my

father? In good sooth, he hath troubled none but me.' 'He came

to us in a sorry plight,' answered the Vizier, 'and told us of

thee a thing which God forfend and a lie which it befits not to

repeat, may God preserve thy youth and sound wit and eloquent

tongue and forbid aught of foul to come from thee!' 'O Vizier,'

said the prince, 'what did this pestilent slave say of me?' 'He

told us,' replied the Vizier, 'thou hadst taken leave of thy wits

and would have it that a young lady lay with thee last night and

wast instant with him to tell thee whither she had gone and didst

torture him to that end.' When Kemerezzeman heard this, he was

sore enraged and said to the Vizier, 'It is manifest to me that

you taught the eunuch to do as he did and forbade him to tell me

what became of the young lady. But thou, O Vizier, art more

reasonable than the eunuch; so do thou tell me forthright whither

went the young lady that lay in my bosom last night; for it was

you who sent her and bade her sleep in my arms, and we lay

together till day; but when I awoke, I found her not. So where

is she now?' 'O my lord Kemerezzeman,' said the Vizier, 'the

name of God encompass thee! By Allah, we sent none to thee last

night, but thou layest alone, with the door locked on thee and

the eunuch sleeping before it, nor did there come to thee a

young lady or any other. Stablish thy reason, O my lord, and

return to thy senses and occupy thy mind no longer [with vain

imaginations].' 'O Vizier,' rejoined Kemerezzeman, incensed at

his words, 'the young lady in question is my beloved, the fair

one with the black eyes and red cheeks, whom I held in my arms

all last night.' The Vizier wondered at his words and said to

him, 'Didst thou see this damsel with thine eyes and on wake,

or in sleep?' 'O wretched old man,' answered Kemerezzeman,

'thinkest thou I saw her with my ears? Indeed, I saw her with my

very eyes and on wake and touched her with my hand and watched by

her half the night, gazing my fill on her beauty and grace and

elegance and lovely looks. But thou hadst schooled her and

charged her to speak no word to me; so she feigned sleep and I

lay by her side till morning, when I awoke and found her gone.'

'O my lord Kemerezzeman,' rejoined the Vizier, 'surely thou

sawest this in thy sleep; it must have been a delusion of dreams

or a hallucination caused by eating various kinds of food or a

suggestion of the accursed devils.' 'O pestilent old man,' cried

the prince, 'wilt thou too make a mock of me and tell me this was

an illusion of dreams, when this eunuch confessed to the young

lady, saying, "I will return to thee forthwith and tell thee all

about her?"' So saying, he sprang up and laying hold of the

Vizier's long beard, twisted his hand in it and tugging him off

the couch, threw him on the floor. It seemed to the Vizier as

though his soul departed his body for the violent plucking at his

beard, and Kemerezzeman fell to kicking him and pummelling his

breast and sides and cuffing him on the nape, till he had

well-nigh made an end of him. Then said the Vizier in himself,

'I must save myself from this madman by telling him a lie, even

as did the eunuch; else he will kill me, for he is mad beyond a

doubt.' So he said to Kemerezzeman, 'O my lord, bear me not

malice, for indeed thy father charged me to conceal from thee

this affair of the young lady; but now I am weak and weary and

sore with beating; for I am an old man and lack strength to

endure blows. So have a little patience with me and I will tell

thee all.' When the prince heard this, he left beating him

and said, 'Why couldst thou not tell me without blows and

humiliation? Rise now, unlucky old man that thou art, and tell

me her story.' Quoth the Vizier, 'Dost thou ask of the young

lady with the fair face and perfect shape?' 'Yes,' answered

Kemerezzeman. 'Tell me who it was laid her by my side and took

her away by night, and let me know whither she is gone, that I

may go to her. If my father did this to try me, with a view to

our marriage, I consent to marry her and be quit of this trouble;

for he only dealt thus with me, because I refused to marry. I

say again, I consent to marry: so tell this to my father, O

Vizier, and advise him to marry me to her, for I will have none

other and my heart loveth her alone. Go now to my father and

counsel him to hasten our marriage and bring me his answer

forthright.' 'It is well,' rejoined the Vizier, and went out

from him, hardly crediting his escape. Then he set off running

and stumbling as he went, for excess of affright and agitation,

till he came in to the King, who said to him, 'O Vizier, what has

befallen thee and who has maltreated thee and how comes it that I

see thee thus confounded and terrified?' 'O King,' answered the

Vizier, 'I bring thee news.' 'What is it?' asked Shehriman, and

the Vizier said, 'Know that thy son Kemerezzeman's wits are gone

and that madness hath betided him.' When the King heard this,

the light in his face became darkness and he said, 'Expound to me

the nature of my son's madness.' 'O my lord,' answered the

Vizier, 'I hear and obey.' Then he told him all that had passed

and the King said to him, 'O most ill-omened of Viziers and

filthiest of Amirs, know that the reward I will give thee in

return for this thy news of my son's madness shall be the cutting

off of thy bead and the forfeiture of thy goods; for thou hast

caused my son's disorder by the wicked and sinister counsel thou

hast given me first and last. By Allah, if aught of mischief or

madness have befallen him, I will nail thee upon the dome [of the

palace] and make thee taste the bitterness of death!' Then

rising, he betook himself with the Vizier to the tower, and when

Kemerezzeman saw him, he came down to him in haste from the couch

on which he sat and kissing his hands, drew back and stood before

him awhile, with his eyes cast down and his hands clasped behind

him. Then he raised his head and repeated the following verses,

whilst the tears streamed down his cheeks:

If I have borne myself blameworthily to you Or if I've made

default in that which is your due,

I do repent my fault; so let your clemency Th' offender

comprehend, who doth for pardon sue.

When the King heard this, he embraced his son and kissing him

between the eyes, made him sit by his side on the couch; then

turned to the Vizier and looking on him with angry eyes, said to

him, 'O dog of a Vizier, why didst thou tell me that my son was

mad and make my heart quake for him?' Then he turned to the

prince and said to him, 'O my son, what is to-day called?' 'O my

father,' answered he, 'to-day is Saturday and to-morrow Sunday:

then come Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.' 'O

my son, O Kemerezzeman,' exclaimed the King, 'praised be God for

the preservation of thy reason! What is this present month

called in Arabic?'

'Dhoulcaadeh,' answered Kemerezzeman, 'and it is followed by

Dhoulhejjeh; then comes Muherrem, then Sefer, then Rebia the

First and Rebia the Second, the two Jumadas, Rejeb, Shaaban,

Ramazan and Shewwal.' At this the King rejoiced exceedingly and

spat in the Vizier's face, saying, 'O wicked old man, how canst

thou pretend that my son is mad? None is mad but thou.' The

Vizier shook his head and would have spoken, but bethought

himself to wait awhile and see what befell. Then the King said

to Kemerezzeman, 'O my son, what is this thou sayest to the

eunuch and the Vizier of a fair damsel that lay with thee last

night? What damsel is this of whom thou speakest?' Kemerezzeman

laughed at his father's words and replied, 'O my father, I can

bear no more jesting; so mock me not with another word, for my

humour is soured by that you have done with me. Let it suffice

thee to know that I consent to marry, but on condition that thou

give me to wife her with whom I lay yesternight; for I am assured

that it was thou sentest her to me and madest me in love with

her, then tookest her away from beside me before the dawn.' 'O

my son,' rejoined the King, 'the name of God encompass thee and

preserve thy wit from madness! What young lady is this of whom

thou talkest? By Allah, O my son, I know nothing of the affair,

and I conjure thee, tell me if it be a delusion of sleep or a

hallucination caused by food? Doubtless, thou layest down to

sleep last night, with thy mind occupied with marriage and

troubled with the thought of it (may God curse marriage and the

hour in which it occurred to me and him who counselled it!) and

dreamtest that a handsome young lady embraced thee and didst

fancy thou sawst her on wake; but all this, O my son, is but an

illusion of dreams.' 'Leave this talk,' replied Kemerezzeman,

'and swear to me by God, the All-wise Creator, the Humbler of the

mighty and the Destroyer of the Chosroës, that thou knowest

nothing of the young lady nor of her abiding-place.' 'By the

virtue of the Most High God,' said the King, 'the God of Moses

and Abraham, I know nothing of all this and it is assuredly but

an illusion of dreams that thou hast seen in sleep.' Quoth the

prince, 'I will give thee a proof that it was not a dream. Come,

let me put a case to thee: did it ever happen to any to dream

that he was fighting a sore battle and after to awake and find in

his hand a sword besmeared with blood?' 'No, by Allah, O my

son,' answered the King, 'this hath never been.' 'I will tell

thee what happened to me,' rejoined Kemerezzeman. 'Meseemed I

awoke from sleep in the middle of the past night and found a

young lady lying by my side, whose shape and favour were as mine.

I embraced her and turned her about with my hand and took her

ring, which I put on my finger, and she pulled off my ring and

put it on her finger. Then I went to sleep by her side, but

refrained from her and was ashamed to kiss her on the mouth,

deeming that thou hadst sent her to me, with intent to tempt me

with her and incline me to marriage, and misdoubting thee to be

hidden somewhere whence thou couldst see what I did with her. At

point of day, I awoke and found no trace of her, nor could I come

at any news of her, and there befell me what thou knowest of with

the eunuch and the Vizier. How then can this have been a dream

and a delusion, seeing that the ring is a reality? I should

indeed have deemed it a dream but for her ring on my finger.

Here it is: look at it, O King, and see what is its worth.' So

saying, he handed the ring to his father, who examined it and

turned it over, then said to his son, 'Verily, there hangs some

mighty mystery by this ring and some strange secret. What befell

thee last night is indeed a mysterious affair and I know not how

this intruder came in upon us. None is the cause of all this

trouble save the Vizier; but I conjure thee, O my son, to take

patience, so haply God may do away this affliction from thee and

bring thee complete relief: as quoth one of the poets:

It may be Fate at last shall draw its bridle-rein And bring us

happy chance; for Fortune changes still;

And things shall happen yet, despite the things fordone, To

further forth my hopes and bring me to my will.

And now, O my son,' added he, 'I am certified that thou art not

mad; but thy case is a strange one, none can unravel it for thee

but God the Most High.' 'By Allah, O my father,' cried the

prince, 'deal kindly with me and seek out this damsel and hasten

her coming to me; else I shall die of grief.' And he repeated

the following verses, in a voice that betrayed the ardour of his

passion:

An if thy very promise of union prove untrue, Let but in sleep

thy favours the longing lover cheer.

"How can the phantom visit a lover's eyes," quoth they, "From

which the grace of slumber is banned and banished sheer?"

And he sighed and wept and groaned aloud from a wounded heart,

whilst the tears streamed from his eyes. Then turning to his

father, with submission and despondency, he said to him, 'By

Allah, O my father, I cannot endure to be parted from her even

for an hour.' The King smote hand upon hand and exclaimed,

'There is no power and no virtue but in God, the Most High, the

Sublime! There is no device can profit us in this affair!' Then

he took his son by the hand and carried him to the palace, where

Kemerezzeman lay down on the bed of languor and the King sat at

his head, weeping and mourning over him and leaving him not night

or day, till at last the Vizier came in to him and said, 'O King

of the age and the time, how long wilt thou remain shut up with

thy son and deny thyself to thy troops? Verily, the order of thy

realm is like to be deranged, by reason of thine absence from

thy grandees and officers of state. It behoves the man of

understanding, if he have various wounds in his body, to apply

him (first) to heal the most dangerous; so it is my counsel to

thee that thou transport the prince to the pavilion overlooking

the sea and shut thyself up with him there, setting apart

Monday and Thursday in every week for state receptions and the

transaction of public business. On these days let thine Amirs

and Viziers and Chamberlains and deputies and captains and

grandees and the rest of the troops and subjects have access to

thee and submit their affairs to thee, and do thou their needs

and judge between them and give and take with them and command

and forbid. The rest of the week thou shalt pass with thy son

Kemerezzeman, and thus do till God vouchsafe you both relief.

Think not, O King, that thou art exempt from the shifts of

fortune and the strokes of calamity; for the wise man is still on

his guard, as well saith the poet:

Thou madest fair thy thought of Fate, whenas the days were fair,

And fearedst not the unknown ills that they to thee might

bring.

The nights were fair and calm to thee; thou wast deceived by

them, For in the peace of night is born full many a

troublous thing.

O all ye children of mankind, to whom the Fates are kind, Let

caution ever have a part in all your reckoning.'

The King was struck with the Vizier's words and deemed his

counsel wise and timely, fearing lest the order of the state be

deranged; so he rose at once and bade carry his son to the

pavilion in question, which was built (upon a rock) midmost the

water and was approached by a causeway, twenty cubits wide. It

had windows on all sides, overlooking the sea; its floor was of

variegated marble and its roof was painted in the richest colours

and decorated with gold and lapis-lazuli. They furnished it for

Kemerezzeman with embroidered rugs and carpets of the richest

silk and hung the walls with choice brocades and curtains

bespangled with jewels. In the midst they set him a couch of

juniper-wood, inlaid with pearls and jewels, and he sat down

thereon, like a man that had been sick twenty years; for the

excess of his concern and passion for the young lady had wasted

his charms and emaciated his body, and he could neither eat nor

drink nor sleep. His father seated himself at his head, mourning

sore for him, and every Monday and Thursday he gave his Viziers

and Amirs and grandees and officers and the rest of his subjects

leave to come in to him in the pavilion. So they entered and did

their several service and abode with him till the end of the day,

when they went their ways and he returned to his son, whom he

left not night nor day; and on this wise did he many days and

nights.

To return to the Princess Budour. When the two Afrits carried

her back to her palace and laid her on her bed, she slept on till

daybreak, when she awoke and sitting up, looked right and left,

but saw not the youth who had lain in her bosom. At this, her

heart was troubled, her reason fled and she gave a great cry,

whereupon all her damsels and nurses and serving-women awoke and

came in to her; and the chief of them said to her, 'What ails

thee, O my lady?' 'O wretched old woman,' answered the princess,

'where is my beloved, the handsome youth that lay last night in

my bosom? Tell me where he is gone.' When the old woman heard

this, the light in her eyes became darkness and she was sore in

fear of her mischief and said to her, 'O my lady Budour, what

unseemly words are these?' 'Out on thee, pestilent crone that

thou art!' cried the princess. 'Where is my beloved, the goodly

youth with the shining face and the slender shape, the black eyes

and the joined eyebrows, who lay with me last night from dusk

until near daybreak?' 'By Allah, O my lady,' replied the old

woman, 'I have seen no young man nor any other; but I conjure

thee, leave this unseemly jesting, lest we be all undone.

Belike, it may come to thy father's ears and who shall deliver us

from his hand?' 'I tell thee,' rejoined Budour, 'there lay a

youth with me last night, one of the fairest-faced of men.' 'God

preserve thy reason!' exclaimed the nurse. 'Indeed, no one lay

with thee last night.' The princess looked at her hand and

seeing her own ring gone and Kemerezzeman's ring on her finger in

its stead, said to the nurse, 'Out on thee, thou accursed

traitress, wilt thou lie to me and tell me that none lay with me

last night and forswear thyself to me?' 'By Allah,' replied the

nurse, 'I do not lie to thee nor have I sworn falsely!' Her

words incensed the princess and drawing a sword she had by her,

she smote the old woman with it and slew her; whereupon the

eunuch and the waiting-women cried out at her and running to her

father, acquainted him with her case. So he went to her

forthright and said to her, 'O my daughter, what ails thee?' 'O

my father,' answered she, 'where is the young man that lay with

me last night?' Then her reason left her and she cast her eyes

right and left and rent her dress even to the skirt. When the

King saw this, he bade the women lay hands on her; so they seized

and bound her, then putting a chain of iron about her neck, made

her fast to the window and there left her. As for her father,

the world was straitened upon him, when he saw what had befallen

her, for that he loved her and her case was not a little thing to

him. So he summoned the doctors and astrologers and magicians

and said to them, 'Whoso cureth my daughter of her disorder, I

will marry him to her and give him half my kingdom; but whoso

cometh to her and cureth her not, I will strike off his head and

hang it over her palace-gate.' Accordingly, all who went in to

her, but failed to cure her, he beheaded and hung their heads

over her palace-gate, till he had beheaded forty physicians and

crucified as many astrologers on her account; wherefore all the

folk held aloof from her, for all the physicians failed to cure

her malady and her case was a puzzle to the men of science and

the magicians. And as her longing and passion redoubled and love

and distraction were sore upon her, she poured forth tears and

repeated the following verses:

My longing after thee, my moon, my foeman is; The thought of thee

by night doth comrade with me dwell.

I pass the darksome hours, and in my bosom flames A fire, for

heat that's like the very fire of hell.

I'm smitten with excess of ardour and desire; By which my pain is

grown an anguish fierce and fell.

Then she sighed and repeated these also:

My peace on the belovéd ones, where'er they light them down! I

weary for the neighbourhood of those I love, full sore.

My salutation unto you,--not that of taking leave, But greetings

of abundant peace, increasing evermore!

For, of a truth, I love you dear and love your land no less; But

woe is me! I'm far away from that I weary for.

Then she wept till her eyes grew weak and her cheeks pale and

withered: and thus she abode three years. Now she had a

foster-brother, by name Merzewan, who was absent from her all

this time, travelling in far countries. He loved her with an

exceeding love, passing that of brothers; so when he came back,

he went in to his mother and asked for his foster-sister the

princess Budour. 'Alas, my son,' answered she, 'thy sister has

been smitten with madness and has passed these three years, with

an iron chain about her neck; and all the physicians and men of

science have failed of curing her.' When he heard this, he said,

'I must needs go in to her; peradventure I may discover what ails

her, and be able to cure her.' 'So be it,' replied his mother;

'but wait till to-morrow, that I may make shift for thee.' Then

she went to the princess's palace and accosting the eunuch in

charge of the door, made him a present and said to him, 'I have a

married daughter, who was brought up with thy mistress and is

sore concerned for what has befallen her, and I desire of thy

favour that my daughter may go in to her and look on her awhile,

then return whence she came, and none shall know it.' 'This may

not be, except by night,' replied the eunuch, 'after the King has

visited the princess and gone away; then come thou and thy

daughter.' She kissed the eunuch's hand and returning home,

waited till the morrow at nightfall, when she dressed her son in

woman's apparel and taking him by the hand, carried him to the

palace. When the eunuch saw her, he said, 'Enter, but do not

tarry long.' So they went in and when Merzewan saw the princess

in the aforesaid plight, he saluted her, after his mother had

taken off his woman's attire: then pulling out the books he had

brought with him and lighting a candle, he began to recite

certain conjurations. The princess looked at him and knowing

him, said to him, 'O my brother, thou hast been absent on thy

travels and we have been cut off from news of thee.' 'True,'

answered he; 'but God has brought me back in safety and I am now

minded to set out again; nor has aught delayed me but the sad

news I hear of thee; wherefore my heart ached for thee and I came

to thee, so haply I may rid thee of thy malady.' 'O my brother,'

rejoined she, 'thinkest thou it is madness ails me?' 'Yes,'

answered he, and she said, 'Not so, by Allah! It is even as says

the poet:

Quoth they, "Thou'rt surely mad for him thou lov'st;" and I

replied, "Indeed the sweets of life belong unto the raving

race.

Lo, those who love have not, for that, the upper hand of fate;

Only the madman 'tis, I trow, o'ercometh time and space.

Yes, I am mad; so bring me him for whom ye say I'm mad; And if he

heal my madness, spare to blame me for my case."'

Then she told him that she was in love, and he said, 'Tell me thy

story and what befell thee: peradventure God may discover to me a

means of deliverance for thee.' 'Know then,' said she, 'that one

night I awoke from sleep, in the last watch of the night, and

sitting up, saw by my side the handsomest of youths, as he were a

willow-wand or an Indian cane, the tongue fails to describe him.

Me-thought this was my father's doing to try me, for that he had

consulted me, when the kings sought me of him in marriage, and I

had refused. It was this idea that withheld me from arousing

him, for I thought that if I did aught or embraced him, he would

most like tell my father. When I awoke in the morning, I found

his ring on my finger in place of my own, which he had taken;

and, O my brother, my heart was taken with him at first sight;

and for the violence of my passion and longing, I have never

since known the taste of sleep and have no occupation save

weeping and repeating verses night and day. This, then, O my

brother, is the story of the cause of my (pretended) madness.'

Then she poured forth tears and repeated the following verses:

Love has banished afar my delight; they are fled With a fawn that

hath hearts for a pasturing-stead.

To him lovers' blood is a trifle, for whom My soul is a-wasting

for passion and dread.

I'm jealous for him of my sight and my thought; My heart is a spy

on my eyes and my head.

His eyelashes dart at us death-dealing shafts; The hearts that

they light on are ruined and dead.

Whilst yet there is left me a share in the world, Shall I see

him, I wonder, or ever I'm sped?

I fain would conceal what I suffer for him; 'Tis shown to the spy

by the tears that I shed.

When near, his enjoyment is distant from me: But his image is

near, when afar he doth tread.

'See then, O my brother,' added she, 'how thou mayest aid me in

this my affliction.' Merzewan bowed his head awhile, marvelling

and knowing not what to do, then raised it and said to her, 'I

believe all thou hast said to be true, though the case of the

young man passes my imagination: but I will go round about all

countries and seek for what may heal thee; peradventure God shall

appoint thy deliverance to be at my hand. Meanwhile, take

patience and be not disquieted.' So saying, he took leave of

her, after he had prayed that she might be vouchsafed constancy,

and left her repeating the following verses:

Thine image in my thoughts fares as a pilgrim aye, For all thy

stead and mine are distant many a day.

The wishes of my heart do bring thee near to me For 'gainst the

speed of thought what is the levin's ray?

Depart thou not, that art the lustre of mine eyes; Yea, when

thou'rt far removed, all void of light are they.

He returned to his mother's house, where he passed the night, and

on the morrow, after furnishing himself for his journey, he set

out and travelled from city to city and from island to island for

a whole month. Everywhere he heard talk of the princess Budour's

madness, till he came to a city named Teyreb and seeking news of

the townsfolk, so haply he might light on a cure for his

foster-sister's malady, heard that Kemerezzeman, son of King

Shehriman, was fallen sick and afflicted with melancholy madness.

He enquired the name of this prince's capital and was told that

it stood on the Islands of Khalidan and was distant thence a

whole month's journey by sea and six by land. So he took passage

in a ship that was bound thither, and they sailed with a

favouring breeze for a whole month, till they came in sight of

the city and there remained for them but to enter the harbour;

when there came out on them a tempestuous wind which carried away

the masts and rent the canvas, so that the sails fell into the

sea and the ship foundered, with all on board. Each looked to

himself, and as for Merzewan, the current carried him under the

King's palace, wherein was Kemerezzeman. As fate would have it,

it was the day on which the King gave audience to his grandees

and officers, and he was sitting, with his son's head in his lap,

whilst an eunuch whisked away the flies. The prince had not

spoken, neither had he eaten nor drunk for two days, and he was

grown thinner than a spindle. Now the Vizier was standing near

the window giving on the sea and raising his eyes, saw Merzewan

at the last gasp for struggling with the waves; whereupon his

heart was moved to pity for him and he drew near to the King and

said to him, 'O King, I crave thy leave to go down to the court

of the pavilion and open the water-gate, that I may rescue a man

who is at the point of drowning in the sea and bring him forth of

peril into deliverance; peradventure, on this account, God may

ease thy son of his affliction.' 'O Vizier,' replied Shehriman,

enough is that which has befallen my son through thee and on

thine account. Belike, if thou rescue this drowning man, he will

look on my son and come to know our affairs and exult over me;

but I swear by Allah, that, if he come hither and see my son and

after go out and speak of our secrets to any, I will assuredly

strike off thy head before his; for thou art the cause of all

that hath befallen us, first and last. Now do as thou wilt.'

The Vizier rose and opening the postern, descended to the

causeway; then walked on twenty steps and came to the sea, where

he saw Merzewan nigh unto death. So he put out his hand to him

and catching him by the hair of his head, drew him ashore, in a

state of unconsciousness, with belly full of water and eyes

starting from his head. The Vizier waited till he came to

himself, when he pulled off his wet clothes and clad him in a

fresh suit, covering his head with one of his servants' turbans;

after which he said to him, 'I have been the means of saving thee

from drowning: do not thou requite me by causing my death and

thine own.' 'How so?' asked Merzewan; and the Vizier answered,

'Thou art now about to go up and pass among Amirs and Viziers,

all silent and speaking not, because of Kemerezzeman, the King's

son.' When Merzewan heard the name of Kemerezzeman, he knew that

this was he of whom he came in search, but he feigned ignorance

and said to the Vizier, 'And who is Kemerezzeman?' Quoth the

Vizier, 'He is the King's son and lies sick on his couch,

restless, eating not nor drinking neither sleeping night nor day;

indeed he is nigh upon death and we have lost hope of his

recovery. Beware lest thou look too long on him or on any place

other than that where thou settest thy feet: else thou art a lost

man and I also.' 'O Vizier,' said Merzewan, 'I conjure thee by

Allah, tell me of thy favour, the cause of this youth's malady.'

'I know none,' answered the Vizier, 'save that, three years ago,

his father pressed him to marry, but he refused; whereat the King

was wroth and imprisoned him. On the morrow, he would have it

that he had had, for a bedfellow, the night before, a young lady

of surpassing beauty, beggaring description, with whom he had

exchanged rings; but we know not the meaning of all this. So by

Allah, O my son, when thou comest up into the palace, look not on

the prince, but go thy way; for the King's heart is full of anger

against me.' 'By Allah,' said Merzewan in himself, 'this is he

whom I sought!' Then he followed the Vizier up to the palace,

where the latter seated himself at the prince's feet; but

Merzewan must needs go up to Kemerezzeman and stand before him,

gazing on him. At this, the Vizier was like to die of affright

and signed to Merzewan to go his way; but he feigned not to see

him and gave not over gazing upon Kemerezzeman, till he was

assured that it was indeed he of whom he was in search. Then,

'Glory be to God,' cried he, 'who hath made his shape even as her

shape and his complexion as her complexion and his cheek as her

cheek!' At this Kemerezzeman opened his eyes and gave ear to his

speech; and when Merzewan saw him listening, he repeated the

following verses:

I see thee full of song and plaint and ecstasy amain, And to the

setting forth in words of charms I find thee fain.

Can it be love hath wounded thee or art thou shot with shafts?

For sure these fashions but belong unto a smitten swain.

Ho, pour me out full cups of wine and sing me eke, in praise Of

Tenam, Suleyma, Rebäb,[FN#35] a glad and lovesome strain!

Yea, let the grape-vine's sun[FN#36] go round, whose mansion is

its jar, Whose East the cupbearer and West my thirsty mouth

I feign.

I'm jealous of the very clothes she dights upon her side, For

that upon her body soft and delicate they've lain;

And eke I'm envious of the cups that touch her dainty lips, When

to the kissing-place she sets them ever and again.

Think not that I in anywise with sword am done to death; 'Tis by

the arrows of a glance, alack! that I am slain.

Whenas we met again, I found her fingers dyed with red, As 'twere

the juice of tragacanth had steeped them in its stain.

Said I to her, "Thou'st dyed thy palms,[FN#37] whilst I was far

away. This then is how the slave of love is 'quited for his

pain."

Quoth she (and cast into my heart the flaming fires of love,

Speaking as one who hath no care love's secret to contain),

"No, by thy life, this is no dye I've used! So haste thou not To

heap accusings on my head and slander me in vain.

For, when I saw thee get thee gone upon our parting day, My eyes,

for very dreariment, with tears of blood did rain.

I wiped them with my hand, and so my fingers with my blood Were

all to-reddened and do yet their ruddy tint retain."

Had I for very passion wept, or e'er my mistress did, I should,

before repentance came, have solaced heart and brain;

But she before my weeping wept; her tears drew mine and so Quoth

I, "Unto the precedent the merit doth pertain."

Chide not at me for loving her, for by Love's self I swear, My

heart with anguish for her sake is well-nigh cleft in twain.

I weep for one whose face is decked by Beauty's self; there's

none, Arab or foreigner, to match with her, in hill or

plain.

The lore of Locman[FN#38] hath my love and Mary's chastity, with

Joseph's loveliness to boot and David's songful vein;

Whilst Jacob's grief to me belongs and Jonah's dreariment, Ay,

and Job's torment and despite and Adam's plight of bane.

Slay ye her not, although I die for love of her, but ask, How

came it lawful unto her to shed my blood in vain.

When Kemerezzeman heard these verses, they brought refreshment

and healing to his heart, and he sighed and turning his tongue in

his mouth, said to the King, 'O my father, let this young man

come and sit by my side.' The King, hearing these words from his

son, rejoiced exceedingly, though at the first he had been wroth

with Merzewan and thought in himself to have stricken off his

head: but when he heard Kemerezzeman speak, his anger left him

and he arose and drawing Merzewan to him, made him sit down by

his son and said to him, 'Praised be God for thy safety!' 'May

God bless thee,' answered Merzewan, 'and preserve thy son to

thee!' Then said the King, 'From what country comest thou?'

'From the Islands of the Inland Sea,' replied he, 'the kingdom of

King Ghaïour, lord of the Islands and the seas and the Seven

Palaces.' Quoth the King, 'Maybe thy coming shall be blessed to

my son and God vouchsafe to heal him of his malady.' 'God

willing,' rejoined Merzewan, 'all shall yet be well.' Then

turning to Kemerezzeman, he said to him in his ear, unheard of

the King and his court, 'Be of good cheer, O my lord, and take

heart and courage. As for her for whose sake thou art thus, ask

not of her condition on thine account. Thou keptest thy secret

and fellest sick, but she discovered hers and they said she was

mad; and she is now in prison, with an iron chain about her neck,

in most piteous case; but, God willing, the healing of both of

you shall be at my hand.' When Kemerezzeman heard this, his life

returned to him and he took heart and courage and signed to his

father to help him sit up; at which the King was like to lose his

reason for joy and lifting him up, set two pillows for him

to lean upon. Then, of his fear for his son, he shook the

handkerchief of dismissal and all the Amirs and Viziers withdrew;

after which he bade perfume the palace with saffron and decorate

the city, saying to Merzewan, 'By Allah, O my son, thou hast a

lucky and a blessed aspect!' And he made much of him and called

for food, which when they brought, Merzewan said to the prince,

'Come, eat with me.' So he obeyed him and ate with him, while

the King called down blessings on Merzewan and said, 'How

auspicious is thy coming, O my son!' When he saw Kemerezzeman

eat, his joy redoubled and he went out and told the prince's

mother and the people of the palace. Then he let call abroad the

good news of the prince's recovery and proclaimed the decoration

of the city: so the people rejoiced and decorated the city and it

was a day of high festival. Merzewan passed the night with

Kemerezzeman, and the King also slept with them, in the excess of

his joy for his son's recovery. Next morning, when the King had

gone away and the two young men were left alone, Kemerezzeman

told Merzewan his story from first to last and the latter said to

him, 'I know her with whom thou didst foregather; her name is the

princess Budour and she is daughter to King Ghaïour.' Then he

told him all that had befallen the princess and acquainted him

with the excessive love she bore him, saying, 'All that befell

thee with thy father hath befallen her with hers, and thou art

without doubt her beloved, even as she is thine; so brace up thy

resolution and take heart, for I will bring thee to her and unite

you both anon and deal with you even as saith the poet:

Though to the lover adverse be the fair And drive him with her

rigours to despair,

Yet will I soon unite them, even as I The pivot of a pair of

scissors were.

And he went on to comfort and hearten Kemerezzeman and urged him

to eat and drink, cheering him and diverting him with talk and

song and stories, till he ate food and drank wine and life and

strength returned to him. In good time he became free of his

disorder and stood up and sought to go to the bath. So Merzewan

took him by the hand and carried him to the bath, where they

washed their bodies and made them clean. When his father heard

of this, in his joy he freed the prisoners and gave alms to the

poor; moreover he bestowed splendid dresses of honour upon his

grandees and let decorate the city seven days. Then said

Merzewan to Kemerezzeman, 'Know, O my lord, that the sole object

of my journey hither was to deliver the princess Budour from her

present strait; and it remains but for us to devise how we may

get to her, since thy father cannot brook the thought of parting

with thee. So it is my counsel that tomorrow thou ask his leave

to go a-hunting, saying, "I have a mind to divert myself with

hunting in the desert and to see the open country and pass the

night there." Then do thou take with thee a pair of saddle-bags

full of gold and mount a swift hackney and I will do the like;

and we will take each a spare horse. Suffer not any servant to

follow us, for as soon as we reach the open country, we will go

our ways.' Kemerezzeman rejoiced mightily in this plan and said,

'It is good.' Then he took heart and going in to his father,

sought his leave to go out to hunt, saying as Merzewan had taught

him. The King consented and said, 'O my son, a thousandfold

blessed be the day that restores thee to health! I will not

gainsay thee in this; but pass not more than one night in the

desert and return to me on the morrow; for thou knowest that life

is not good to me without thee, and indeed I can hardly as yet

credit thy recovery, because thou art to me as he of whom quoth

the poet:

Though Solomon his carpet were mine both day and night, Though

the Choeroës' empire, yea, and the world were mine,

All were to me in value less than a midge's wing, Except mine

eyes still rested upon that face of thine.'

Then he equipped the prince and Merzewan for the excursion,

bidding make them ready four horses, together with a dromedary to

carry the money and a camel for the water and victuals; and

Kemerezzeman forbade any of his attendants to follow him. His

father bade him farewell and pressed him to his breast and kissed

him, saying, 'I conjure thee by Allah, be not absent from me more

than one night, wherein sleep will be denied me, for I am even as

saith the poet:

Thy presence with me is my heaven of delight And my hell of

affliction the loss of thy sight.

My soul be thy ransom! If love be my crime For thee, my offence,

of a truth, is not light.

Doth passion blaze up in thy heart like to mine? I suffer the

torments of hell day and night.'

'O my father,' answered Kemerezzeman, 'God willing, I will lie

but one night abroad.' Then he took leave of him, and he and

Merzewan mounted and taking with them the dromedary and camel,

rode out into the open country. They drew not bridle from the

first of the day till nightfall, when they halted and ate and

drank and fed their beasts and rested awhile; after which they

again took horse and fared on three days, till they came to a

spacious wooded tract. Here they alighted and Merzewan, taking

the camel and one of the horses, slaughtered them and cut the

flesh off their bones. Then he took from Kemerezzeman his shirt

and trousers and cassock and tearing them in shreds, smeared them

with the horse's blood and cast them down in the fork of the

road. Then they ate and drank and taking horse set forward

again. 'O my brother,' said Kemerezzeman, 'what is this thou

hast done and how will it profit us?' 'Know,' answered Merzewan,

'that thy father, when he finds that we have outstayed the night

for which we had his leave, will mount and follow in our track

till he comes hither; and when he sees the blood and thy clothes

torn and bloodied, he will deem thee to have been slain of

highway robbers or wild beasts; so he will give up hope of thee

and return to his city, and by this devise we shall gain our

end.' 'By Allah,' said Kemerezzeman, 'this is indeed a rare

device! Thou hast done well.' Then they fared on days and

nights and Kemerezzeman did nought but weep and complain, till

they drew near their journey's end, when he rejoiced and repeated

the following verses:

Wilt thou be harsh to a lover, who's never unmindful of thee, And

wilt thou now cast him away to whom thou wast fain

heretofore?

May I forfeit the favour of God, if I ever was false to thy love!

Abandonment punish my crime, if I've broken the vows that I

swore!

But no, I've committed no crime, that calleth for rigour from

thee; Or, if in good sooth I'm at fault, I bring thee

repentance therefor.

Of the marvels of Fortune it is that thou shouldst abandon me

thus; But Fortune to bring to the light fresh marvels will

never give o'er.

When he had made an end of these verses, Merzewan said to him,

'See, yonder are King Ghaïour's Islands.' Whereat Kemerezzeman

rejoiced with an exceeding joy and thanked him for what he had

done and strained him to his bosom and kissed him between the

eyes. They entered the city and took up their lodging at a khan,

where they rested three days from the fatigues of the journey;

after which Merzewan carried Kemerezzeman to the bath and

clothing him in a merchant's habit, provided him with a geomantic

tablet of gold, a set of astrological instruments and an

astrolabe of silver, plated with gold. Then he said to him, 'Go,

O my lord, stand before the King's palace and cry out, "I am the

mathematician, I am the scribe, I am he that knows the Sought and

the Seeker, I am the skilled physician, I am the accomplished

astrologer. Where then is he that seeketh?" When the King hears

this, he will send after thee and carry thee in to his daughter

the princess Budour, thy mistress: but do thou say to him, "Grant

me three days' delay, and if she recover, give her to me to wife,

and if not, deal with me as with those who came before me." If

he agree to this, as soon as thou art alone with her, discover

thyself to her; and when she knows thee, her madness will cease

from her and she will be made whole in one night. Then do thou

give her to eat and drink, and her father, rejoicing in her

recovery, will marry thee to her and share his kingdom with thee,

according to the condition he hath imposed on himself: and so

peace be on thee.' 'May I never lack thine excellence!' replied

Kemerezzeman, and taking the instruments aforesaid, sallied forth

of the khan and took up his station before King Ghaïour's palace,

where he began to cry out, saying, 'I am the scribe, I am the

mathematician, he that knows the Sought and the Seeker, I am he

who makes calculations for marriage contracts, who draws

horoscopes, interprets dreams and traces the magical characters

by which hidden treasures are discovered! Where then is the

seeker?' When the people of the city heard this, they flocked to

him, for it was long since they had seen a scribe or an

astrologer, and stood round him, wondering at his beauty and

grace and perfect symmetry. Presently one of them accosted him

and said, 'God on thee, O fair youth with the eloquent tongue,

cast not thyself into perdition, in thy desire to marry the

princess Budour! Do but look on yonder heads hung up; they are

all those of men who have lost their lives in this same venture.'

He paid no heed to them, but cried out at the top of his voice,

saying, 'I am the doctor, the scribe! I am the astrologer, the

mathematician!' And all the townsfolk forbade him from this, but

he heeded them not, saying in himself, 'None knoweth desire save

he who suffereth it.' Then he began again to cry his loudest,

saying, 'I am the scribe, I am the mathematician, I am the

astrologer!' till all the townsfolk were wroth with him and said

to him, 'Thou art but a silly self-willed boy! Have pity on

thine own youth and tender years and beauty and grace.' But he

cried all the more, 'I am the astrologer, I am the mathematician!

Is there any one that seeketh?' As he was thus crying and the

people remonstrating with him, King Ghaïour heard his voice and

the clamour of the folk and said to his Vizier, 'Go down and

bring me yon astrologer.' So the Vizier went down and taking

Kemerezzeman from the midst of the crowd, carried him up to the

King, before whom he kissed the earth, repeating the following

verses:

Eight elements of high renown are all comprised in thee; By them

may Fortune never cease thy bounder slave to be!

Munificence and knowledge sure, glory and piety, Fair fluent

speech and eloquence and might and victory.

When the King saw him, he made him sit down by his side and said

to him, 'By Allah, O my son, an thou be not an astrologer,

venture not thy life nor submit thyself to my condition; for I

have bound myself to strike off the head of whoso goeth in to my

daughter and healeth her not of her disorder; but him who healeth

her I will marry to her. So let not thy beauty and grace delude

thee; for, by Allah, if thou cure her not, I will assuredly cut

off thy head!' 'I knew of this condition before I came hither,'

answered Kemerezzeman, 'and am ready to abide by it.' Then King

Ghaïour took the Cadis to witness against him and delivered him

to an eunuch, saying, 'Carry this fellow to the lady Budour.' So

the eunuch took him by the hand and led him along the gallery;

but Kemerezzeman out-went him and pushed on before, whilst the

eunuch ran after him, saying, 'Out on thee! Hasten not to

destroy thyself. By Allah, never yet saw I astrologer so eager

for his own destruction: thou knowest not the calamities that

await thee.' But Kemerezzeman turned away his face and repeated

the following verses:

A learnéd man, I'm ignorant before thy beauties bright; Indeed, I

know not what I say, confounded at thy sight.

If I compare thee to the sun, thou passest not away, Whilst the

sun setteth from the sky and fails anon of light.

Perfect, indeed, thy beauties are; they stupefy the wise Nor ev'n

the eloquent avail to praise thy charms aright.

The eunuch stationed Kemerezzeman behind the curtain of the

princess's door and the prince said to him, 'Whether of the two

wilt thou liefer have me do, cure thy lady from here or go in and

cure her within the curtain?' The eunuch marvelled at his words

and answered, 'It were more to thine honour to cure her from

here.' So Kemerezzeman sat down behind the curtain and taking

out pen and inkhorn and paper, wrote the following: 'This is the

letter of one whom passion torments and whom desire consumes and

sorrow and misery destroy; one who despairs of life and looks for

nothing but death, whose mourning heart has neither comforter nor

helper, whose sleepless eyes have none to succour them against

affliction, whose day is passed in fire and his night in torment,

whose body is wasted for much emaciation and there comes to him

no messenger from his beloved:

I write with a heart devoted to thee and the thought of thee And

an eyelid, wounded for weeping tears of the blood of me.

And a body that love and affliction and passion and long desire

Have clad with the garment of leanness and wasted utterly.

I plain me to thee of passion, for sore hath it baffled me Nor is

there a corner left me where patience yet may be.

Wherefore, have mercy, I prithee, show favour unto me, For my

heart, my heart is breaking for love and agony.

The cure of hearts is union with the beloved and whom his love

maltreateth, God is his physician. If either of us have broken

faith, may the false one fail of his desire! There is nought

goodlier than a lover who is faithful to a cruel beloved one.'

Then, for a subscription, he wrote, 'From the distracted and

despairing lover, him whom love and longing disquiet, from the

captive of passion and transport, Kemerezzeman, son of Shehriman,

to the peerless beauty, the pearl of the fair Houris, the Lady

Budour, daughter of King Ghaïour. Know that by night I am

wakeful and by day distraught, consumed with ever-increasing

wasting and sickness and longing and love, abounding in sighs,

rich in floods of tears, the prisoner of passion, the slain of

desire, the debtor of longing, the boon-companion of sickness, he

whose heart absence hath seared. I am the sleepless one, whose

eyes close not, the slave of love, whose tears run never dry, for

the fire of my heart is still unquenched and the flaming of my

longing is never hidden.' Then in the margin he wrote this

admired verse:

Peace from the stores of the grace of my Lord be rife On her in

whose hand are my heart and soul and life!

And also these:

Vouchsafe thy converse unto me some little, so, perchance, Thou

mayst have ruth on me or else my heart be set at ease.

Yea, for the transport of my love and longing after thee, Of all

I've suffered I make light and all my miseries.

God guard a folk whose dwelling-place is far removed from mine,

The secret of whose love I've kept in many lands and seas!

But fate, at last, hath turned on me a favourable face And on my

loved one's threshold-earth hath cast me on my knees.

Budour beside me in the bed I saw and straight my moon, Lit by

her sun, shone bright and blithe upon my destinies.[FN#39]

Then by way of subscription, he wrote the following verses:

Ask of my letter what my pen hath written, and the scroll Will

tell the passion and the pain that harbour in my soul.

My hand, what while my tears rain down, writes and desire makes

moan Unto the paper by the pen of all my weary dole.

My tears roll ever down my cheeks and overflow the page; Nay, I'd

ensue them with my blood, if they should cease to roll.

And at the end he added this other verse:

I send thee back herewith the ring I took whilere of thee, Whenas

we companied; so send me that thou hadst of me.

Then he folded up Budour's ring inside the letter and sealing it,

gave it to the eunuch, who went in with it to the princess. She

took it from him and opening it, found in it her own ring. Then

she read the letter and when she understood its purport and knew

that her beloved stood behind the curtain, her reason fled and

her breast dilated for joy; and she repeated the following

verses:

Long, long have I bewailed the sev'rance of our loves, With tears

that from my lids streamed down like burning rain,

And vowed that, if the days should reunite us two, My lips should

never speak of severance again.

Joy hath o'erwhelmed me so that, for the very stress Of that

which gladdens me, to weeping I am fain.

Tears are become to you a habit, O my eyes, So that ye weep as

well for gladness as for pain.

Then she rose and setting her feet to the wall, strained with all

her might upon the iron collar, till she broke it from her neck

and snapped the chains; then going forth, she threw herself on

Kemerezzeman and kissed him on the mouth, like a pigeon billing.

And she embraced him with all the stress of her love and longing

and said to him, 'O my lord, do I wake or sleep and has God

indeed vouchsafed us reunion after separation? Praised be He who

hath reknit our loves, after despair!' When the eunuch saw this,

he ran to King Ghaïour and kissing the earth before him, said, 'O

my lord, know that this is indeed the prince and paragon of

astrologers; for he hath cured thy daughter from behind the

curtain, without going in to her.' 'Look to it well,' said the

King; 'is this news true?' 'O my lord,' answered the eunuch,

'come and see for thyself how she hath found strength to break

the iron chains and is come forth to the astrologer, kissing and

embracing him.' So the King arose and went in to his daughter,

who, when she saw him, rose and covered her face, reciting the

following verses:

I love not the toothstick; 'tis hateful to me, For I, when I name

it, say, "Other than thee."[FN#40]

But I love, notwithstanding, the capparis-tree, For, whenas I

name it I say, "Thee I see."[FN#41]

The King was transported for joy at her recovery and kissed her

between the eyes, for he loved her very dearly; then turning to

Kemerezzeman, he asked him who he was and whence he came. The

prince told him his name and rank and that he was the son of King

Shehriman, and related to him the whole story from beginning to

end; whereat Ghaïour marvelled and said, 'Verily, your story

deserves to be recorded in books and read after you, generation

after generation.' Then he summoned Cadis and witnesses

forthright and married the two lovers; after which he bade

decorate the city seven days long. So they decorated the city

and held high festival, and all the troops donned their richest

clothes, whilst the drums beat and the criers announced the glad

tidings. Then they spread the tables with all manner meats and

unveiled the princess before Kemerezzeman, and behold, each was

like unto the other in beauty and elegance and amorous grace. So

the King rejoiced in the issue of her affair and in her marriage

and praised God for that He had made her to fall in love with a

goodly youth of the sons of the kings. Then Kemerezzeman went in

to her and lay with her that night and took his will of her,

whilst she in like manner fufilled her desire of him and enjoyed

his beauty and grace; and they clipped each other till the

morning. On the morrow, the King made a banquet and spreading

the tables with the richest meats, kept open house a whole month

to all comers from the Islands of the Inner and the Outer Seas.

Now, when Kemerezzeman had thus attained his desire and had

tarried awhile with the princess Budour, he bethought him of his

father and saw him in a dream, saying, 'O my son, is it thus thou

dealest with me?' and reciting the following verses:

The moon o' the dark by his neglect my spirit doth appal And to

the watching of his stars hath made my eyelids thrall.

But soft, my heart! It may be yet he will return to thee; And

patience, soul, beneath the pain he's smitten thee withal!

Kemerezzeman awoke in the morning, afflicted and troubled at what

he had seen, whereupon the princess questioned him and he told

her his dream. Then they both went in to King Ghaïour and

telling him what had passed, besought his leave to depart. He

gave the prince the leave he sought; but the princess said,

'O my father, I cannot endure to be parted from him.' Quoth

Ghaïour, 'Then go thou with him,' and gave her leave to be

absent a whole year, charging her to visit him once in every year

thereafterward. So she kissed his hand and Kemerezzeman did the

like; after which he proceeded to equip them for the journey,

furnishing them with horses and dromedaries of choice and a

litter for his daughter, besides mules and camels laden with

victual and all manner of travelling gear. Moreover, he

gave them slaves and eunuchs to serve them and bestowed on

Kemerezzeman ten splendid suits of cloth of gold, embroidered

with jewels, together with a treasury[FN#42] of money and ten

riding horses and as many she-camels. When the day of departure

arrived, the King accompanied them to the farthest limits of his

islands, where, going in to his daughter Budour in the litter, he

kissed her and strained her to his bosom, weeping and repeating

the following verses:

O thou that seekest parting, stay thy feet, For sure embraces are

a lover's right.

Softly, for fortune's nature is deceit And parting is the end of

love-delight.

Then, leaving her, he kissed her husband and commended his

daughter to his care; after which he bade him farewell and giving

the signal for departure, returned to his capital with his

troops. The prince and princess and their suite fared on without

stopping a whole month, at the end of which time they came to a

spacious champaign, abounding in pasturage, where they alighted

and pitched their tents. They ate and drank and rested, and

the princess Budour lay down to sleep. Presently, Kemerezzeman

went in to her and found her lying asleep, in a shift of

apricot-coloured silk, that showed all it should have covered,

and a coif of cloth of gold embroidered with pearls and jewels.

The breeze raised her shift and showed her breasts and navel and

a belly whiter than snow, each one of whose dimples contained an

ounce of benzoin ointment.[FN#43] At this sight, his love and

passion for her redoubled, and he recited the following verses:

If, whilst within my entrails the fires of hell did stir And

flames raged high about me, 'twere spoken in my ear,

"Which wilt thou have the rather, a draught of water cold Or

sight of her thou lovest?" I'd say, "The sight of her."

Then he put his hand to the ribbon of her trousers and drew it

and loosed it, for that his soul lusted after her, when he saw a

jewel, red as dragon's blood,[FN#44] made fast to the band. He

untied and examined it and seeing two lines of writing graven

thereon, in a character not to be read, marvelled and said in

himself, 'Except she set great store by this, she had not tied it

to the ribbon of her trousers nor hidden it in the most private

place about her person, that she might not be parted from it. I

wonder what she doth with it and what is the secret that is in

it.' So saying, he took it and went without the tent to look at

it in the light; but as he was examining it, a bird swooped down

on him and snatching it from his hand, flew off with it and

lighted on the ground at a little distance. Fearing to lose the

talisman, he ran after the bird; but it flew on before him,

keeping just out of his reach, and drew him on from place to

place and from hill to hill, till the night came on and the air

grew dark, when it roosted on a high tree. Kemerezzeman stopped

under the tree, confounded and faint for hunger and weariness,

and giving himself up for lost, would have turned back, but knew

not the way, for the darkness had overtaken him. So he

exclaimed, 'There is no power and no virtue but in God the Most

High, the Supreme!' and lying down under the tree, slept till

the morning, when he awoke and saw the bird also awake and fly

away. He arose and walked after it, and it flew on little by

little before him, after the measure of his going; at which he

smiled and said, 'By Allah, this is a strange thing! Yesterday,

the bird flew before me as fast as I could run; and to-day,

knowing that I am tired and cannot run, it flieth after the

measure of my walking. By Allah, this is wonderful! But,

whether it lead me to my death or to my life, I must needs follow

it, wherever it goeth, for it will surely not abide save in some

inhabited land. So he followed the bird, eating of the fruits

of the earth and drinking of its waters, for ten days' space, and

every night the bird roosted on a tree. At the end of this time,

he came in sight of an inhabited city, whereupon the bird darted

off like the glance of the eye and entering the town, was lost to

view: and Kemerezzeman marvelled at this and exclaimed, 'Praised

be God, who hath brought me hither in safety!' Then he sat down

by a stream and washed his hands and feet and face and rested

awhile: and recalling his late easy and pleasant life of union

with his beloved and contrasting it with his present plight of

trouble and weariness and hunger and strangerhood and severance,

the tears streamed from his eyes and he repeated the following

cinquains:

I strove to hide the load that love on me did lay; In vain, and

sleep for me is changed to wake alway.

Whenas wanhope doth press my heart both night and day, I cry

aloud, "O Fate, hold back thy hand, I pray.

For all my soul is sick with dolour and dismay!"

If but the Lord of Love were just indeed to me, Sleep had not

fled mine eyes by his unkind decree.

Have pity, sweet, on one that is for love of thee Worn out and

wasted sore; once rich and great was he,

Now beggared and cast down by love from his array.

The railers chide at thee full sore; I heed not, I, But stop my

ears to them and give them back the lie.

"Thou lov'st a slender one," say they; and I reply, "I've chosen

her and left all else beneath the sky."

Enough; when fate descends, the eyes are blinded aye.

As soon as he was rested, he rose and walked on, little by

little, till he came to the city-gate and entered, knowing not

whither he should go. He traversed the city from end to end,

without meeting any of the townsfolk, entering by the land-gate

and faring on till he came out at the sea-gate, for the city

stood on the sea-shore. Presently, he found himself among the

orchards and gardens of the place and passed among the trees,

till he came to a garden-gate and stopped before it, whereupon

the keeper came out to him and saluted him. The prince returned

his greeting and the other bade him welcome, saying, 'Praised be

God that thou hast come off safe from the people of the city!

Quick, come into the garden, ere any of the townsfolk see thee.'

So Kemerezzeman entered the garden, amazed, and said to the

keeper, 'Who and what then are the people of this city?' 'Know,'

answered the other,' that the people of this city are all

Magians: but, God on thee, tell me how and why thou camest

hither.' Accordingly, Kemerezzeman told him all that had

befallen him, at which the gardener marvelled greatly and said,

'Know, O my son, that from this place to the cities of Islam is

four months' journey by sea and a whole year by land. We have a

ship that sails yearly hence with merchandise to the Ebony

Islands, which are the nearest Muslim country, and thence to the

Khalidan Islands, the dominions of King Shehriman.' Kemerezzeman

considered awhile and concluding that he could not do better than

abide with the gardener and become his assistant, said to him,

'Wilt thou take me into thy service, to help thee in this

garden?' 'Willingly,' answered the gardener and clothing him in

a short blue gown, that reached to his knees, taught him to lead

the water to the roots of the trees. So Kemerezzeman abode with

him, watering the trees and hoeing up the weeds and weeping

floods of tears; for he had no rest day or night, by reason of

his strangerhood and separation from his beloved, and he ceased

not to repeat verses upon her, amongst others the following:

Ye made us a promise of yore; will ye not to your promise be

true? Ye spoke us a word aforetime; as ye spoke to us, will

ye not do?

We waken, whilst ye are asleep, according to passion's decree; So

have ye the vantage of us, for watchers and sleepers are

two.

We vowed to each other, whilere, that we would keep secret our

loves; But the breedbate possessed you to speak, and you

spoke and revealed what none knew.

Belovéd in pleasure and pain, chagrin and contentment alike,

Whate'er may betide, ye alone are the goal that my wishes

ensue.

There's one that still holdeth a heart, a heart sore tormented of

mine; Ah, would she'd have ruth on my plight and pity the

soul that she slew!

Not every one's eye is as mine, worn wounded and cankered with

tears, And hearts that are, even as mine, the bondslaves of

passion, are few.

Ye acted the tyrant with me, saying, "Love is a tyrant, I trow."

Indeed, ye were right, and the case has proved what ye said

to be true.

Alack! They've forgotten outright a passion-distraught one,

whose faith Time 'minisheth not, though the fires in his

entrails rage ever anew.

If my foeman in love be my judge, to whom shall I make my

complaint? To whom of injustice complain, to whom for

redress shall I sue?

Were it not for my needing of love and the ardour that burns in

my breast, I had not a heart love-enslaved and a soul that

for passion must rue.