The Six Hundred and Eightieth Night,
Dunyazad said to her, "Allah upon thee, O my sister, an thou be other than sleepy, finish for us thy tale that we may cut short the watching of this our latter night!" She replied, "With love and good will!" It hath reached me, O auspicious King, the director, the right-guiding, lord of the rede which is benefiting and of deeds fair-seeming and worthy celebrating, that Prince Yusuf said to the Princess Al-Hayfa, "Indeed my pages saw me passing into the Palace and have given him[225] tidings to that effect." And she responded to him with fairest response and tenderness of terms and gem-like verse. Then she took her ink-case and paper and a brazen pen and would have written but he forbade her, saying by way of deprecation "This be not the right rede! An thou return a reply my slaves will take it and will bear it to my native country and will inform the folk of all our adventure: 'tis better far that I fare to them myself and greet them and going with them to my own country satisfy my sire, after which I will return to thee in hottest haste. And do not thou on this wise, for we fear lest our affair be made public and this our case be reported to thy royal father, and it prove hard to him by reason that all such talk in the case of the Kings is to them mighty grievous. Moreover, when he shall be acquainted with the truth he will either transport thee to his presence or he shall place over this Palace guards who may forbid thee from me and forbid me from thee, and this shall be a cause of our separation each from other." But Al-Hayfa shrieked aloud when she heard these words and wept and wailing said, "O my lord, prithee take me with thee, me and my handmaids and all that be in this my Palace." Said he, "I will not delay from thee save for the space of my wayfare an I live and Allah Almighty preserve me." Hereat she wept with loud weeping and groaned, and love-longing surged up in her and she fell to repeating the following couplets,
"Rain, O mine eyeballs, gouts of blood beshed * From clouds of
eyelids e'en as grass turns red.
O mighty bane that beatest on my bones * And oh heart-core, that
melts with fire long-fed!
My soul's own dearling speedeth on his march * Who can be patient
when his true love sped?
Deal kindly with my heart, have ruth, return * Soon to my Castle
nor be long misled."
And when Al-Hayfa had ended her verse, Yusuf wept with sore weeping and cried, "By Allah, I had intended to return to thee after I had fared to them and had settled the matter in hand. But suffer me dismiss those who have come for me and seek reunion with thee, Inshallah—an it be the will of Allah Almighty." Then he farewelled her and doffed what he had of dress, and when Al-Hayfa asked him, "Wherefore take off these clothes?" he answered,[226] "I will not inform anyone of our news, and indeed this dress mostly befitteth womenkind." Then he went forth from her with a grief-bound heart and she wept and cried, "Help! Help!"[227] and all her women shrieked and shed tears over parting with him. But as soon as Yusuf passed out of the palace-door he took off the gown which was upon him and turband'd it around his head together with his bow and quiver, and he stinted not to stem the stream until he had reached the further bank where he found and greeted the lord Yahya and his Mamelukes. They all kissed his hand, and his cousin enquired of him, "What is the cause of thy disappearing from these thy men for a space of ten days?" He replied, "By Allah, O son of my aunt, when I went up to yonder Palace, I found there a Youth of the sons of the kings, who welcomed and greeted me as a guest and honoured me with the highmost honour and favoured me with the fullest favour. But when I would have taken leave of him, the air smote me[228] and fell upon my loins and laid me up so that I feared to swim the stream and the unease that was upon me increased, and such is the reason of my delaying away from you." Then he took horse together with Yahya and the pages, and they all sought their homes and cut across the wilds and the wastes and the vales and the stony hills until they drew near to their destination and their city rose clear before eyes of them. As soon as they reached it the tidings were told to King Sahl[229] who made ready for faring forth, he and the lords of his land, to meet and greet his son and heir Yusuf; and meanwhile he bade decorate the capital with the choicest decorations and ornaments and adornments. The lieges gave one another joy of their Prince's safe return, and clothed their city in gala-guise, and the father having met the son alighted from his steed and embraced him and kissed him between the eyes, and personally conducting him up to the Palace did him due honour and largessed him; and so great and lasting was their joy that the day of arrival became high holiday. As soon as night fell, Prince Yusuf repaired to his own Palace where he was met by his mother and his women who were as full moons a-rising; and the spouses numbered three, besides forty concubines. However he turned away from them and he lay alone that night moaning even as moaneth the dove for the loss of her mate; and he regarded not one of those wives and lemans, and he passed the dark hours in brooding over the loss of his beloved, and in weeping and in the reciting of poetry— And Shahrazad was surprised by the dawn of day and fell silent and ceased saying her permitted say. Then quoth her sister Dunyazad, "How sweet and tasteful is thy tale, O sister mine, and how enjoyable and delectable!" Quoth she, "And where is this compared with that I would relate to you on the coming night an the Sovran suffer me to survive?" Now when it was the next night and that was