The Six Hundred and Forty-eighth 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 Manjab, speaking to the woman, said, "O my lady, say me, dost thou know of their traces any tidings, and hast thou come upon any manifest news?" Said she, "This thing was to befal thee of old, O thou poor fellow, even as quoth the poet in the following couplets,
'My tears flow fast, my heart knows no rest * And melts my soul
and cares aye molest:
Would Heaven mine eyeballs their form beheld * And flies my life,
and ah! who shall arrest?
'Tis wondrous the while shows my form to sight, * Fire burns my
vitals with flamey crest!
Indeed for parting I've wept, and yet * No friend I find to mine
aid addrest:
Ho thou the Moon in a moment gone * From sight, wilt thou rise to
a glance so blest?
An thou be 'stranged of estrangement who * Of men shall save me?
Would God I wist!
Fate hath won the race in departing me * And who with Fate can
avail contest?'"
"Then, O Commander of the Faithful, my longings grew and I poured fast tears in torrents and I was like to choke with my sobs, so I arose to walk about the city highways and I clung from wall to wall for what befel me of despight and affright at the disappearance of them,[147] and as I wandered about I repeated these verses,
'To man I'm humbled when my friends lost I * And missed the way
of right where hardships lie:
Sorrow and sickness long have been my lot * To bear, when need
was strong to justify:
Say me, shall any with their presence cheer— * Pity my soul?
Then bless my friend who's nigh!
I kiss your footprints for the love of you, * I greet your envoy
e'en albeit he lie.'
After this, O Prince of True Believers, I remained immersed in cark and care and anxious thought, and as ever I wandered about behold, a man met me and said, ''Tis now three days since they marched away and none wotteth where they have alighted.'[148] So I returned once more to the mansion-door and I sat beside it to take my rest when my glance was raised and fell upon the lintel and I saw attached to it a folded paper which I hent in hand and found written therein these lines,
'Scant shall avail with judgment just the tear * When at
love-humbled heart man dareth jeer:
I was thy dearling, fain with thee to dwell * But thou
transgressedst nor return canst speer:
And if by every means thou find me not, * From thee I fled and
other hold I dear:
I come in dreams to see if sore thy heart; * Let it take patience
in its woe sincere:
Thou dost beweep our union fled, but I * Wist that such weeping
brings no profit clear:
Ho, stander at my door, once honoured guest, * Haply my tidings
thou some day shalt hear.'
Thereupon, O Commander of the Faithful, I returned to my mother and sister and told them the tale of what had betided me, first and last, and the twain wept over me and my parent said, 'I thought not, O my son, that such case as this would come down upon thee; withal every calamity save Death is no calamity at all; so be thou of long-suffering, O my child, for the compensation of patience is upon Allah; and indeed this that hath happened to thee hath happened unto many the likes of thee, and know thou that Fate is effectual and Sort is sealed. Hast thou not heard the words of the poet who spoke these couplets,[149]
'The world aye whirleth with its sweet and sour * And Time aye
trippeth with its joy and stowre:
Say him to whom life-change is wilful strange * Right wilful is
the world and risks aye low'r:
See'st now how Ocean overwhelms his marge * And stores the
pearl-drop in his deepest bow'r:
On Earth how many are of leafy trees, * But none we harvest save
what fruit and flow'r:
See'st not the storm-winds blowing fierce and wild * Deign level
nothing save the trees that tow'r?
In Heaven are stars and planets numberless * But none save Sun
and Moon eclipse endure.
Thou judgest well the days when Time runs fair * Nor fearest
trouble from Fate's evil hour:
Thou wast deceived what time the Nights were fain, * But in the
bliss o' nights 'ware days of bane.'
Now when I heard these words of my mother, O Prince of True Believers, and what she addressed to me of wise sayings and poetry, I took patience and rendered account to Allah;"—And Shahrazad was surprised by the dawn of day and fell silent and ceased to say her permitted say. Then quoth her sister Dunyazad, "How sweet is thy story, 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 King suffer me to survive?" Now when it was the next night and that was