Towards the moon-hidden day she had another letter. After excusing himself for his late neglect he wrote:
I have an awkward thing to ask you. There is a lady with whom I have been secretly intimate. She is going away to a distant province and I want to send her a poem which will touch her heart deeply. Everything you write touches me, so please compose a poem for me.
She was unwilling conceitedly to carry out his wishes, but she thought it too prudish to refuse him, so she wrote with the words: "How can I satisfy you?"
Her poem:
In the tears of regret
Your image will linger long
Even after chilly Autumn has gone by.
It is painful for me to write a heartfelt letter in your place.
And on the margin she wrote:
Leaving you, where can she go?
For me no other life.
The Prince wrote back:
Very good poem is all that I can say. I cannot say that you have expressed my heart. Forsaking me she wanders away.