Hearing this, she wept with sore weeping and said to him, “By Allah, I suspected not that passion had come to such a pass with thee, as to cast thee into the arms of death! Had I wist of this, I had been favourable to thy wish, and thou shouldst have had thy will.” At this his tears streamed down even as the clouds rail rain, and he repeated this verse:—
She drew near whenas death was departing us, ✿ And deigned union grant when ‘twas useless all.
Then he groaned one groan and died. So she fell on him, kissing him and weeping and ceased not weeping till she swooned away; and when she came to herself, she charged her people to bury her in his grave and with streaming eyes recited these two couplets:-
We lived on earth a life of fair content; ✿ And tribe and house and home of us were proud;
But Time in whirling flight departed us, ✿ To join us now in womb of earth and shroud.[[100]]
Then she fell again to weeping, nor gave over shedding tears and lamenting till she fainted away; and she lay three days, senseless. Then she died and was buried in his grave. This is one of the strange chances of love.[[101]] And I have heard related a tale of the
[99]. Europeans usually write “Beni” for “Banu;” the oblique for the nominative. I prefer “Odhrah” or “Ozrah” to Udhrah; because the Ayn before the Zál takes in pronunciation the more open sound.
[100]. Possibly meaning that they were shrouded together; this would be opposed to Moslem sense of decorum in modern days, but the ancient were not so squeamish. See Night cccxi.
[101]. This phase of passion in the “varium et mutabile” is often treated of by Oriental story-tellers, and not unoften seen in real Eastern life.