We were like willow-boughs in garden shining ✿ And scented joys in happiest life combining;
Whenas one bough from other self would rend ✿ And oh! thou seest this for that repining!
Quoth I, “O maid, and what betideth thee of thy love for this man?”; and quot. she, “I see the sun upon the walls of his folk and I think the sun is he; or haply I catch sight of him unexpectedly and am confounded and the blood and the life fly my body and I abide in unreasoning plight a week or e’en a se’nnight.” Said I, “Excuse me, for I also have suffered that which is upon thee of love-longing and distraction of soul and wasting of frame and loss of strength; and I see in thee pallor of complexion and emaciation, such as testify of the fever-fits of desire. But how shouldst thou be unsmitten of passion and thou a sojourner in the land of Bassorah?” Said she, “By Allah, before I fell in love of this youth, I was perfect in beauty and loveliness and amorous grace which ravished all the Princes of Bassorah, till he fell in love with me.” I asked, “O maid, and who parted you?”; and she answered, “The vicissitudes of fortune,” but the manner of our separation was strange; and ’twas on this wise. One New Year’s day I had invited the damsels of Bassorah and amongst them a girl belonging to Sírán, who had bought her out of Oman for fourscore thousand dirhams. She loved me and loved me to madness and when she entered she threw herself upon me and well-nigh tore me in pieces with bites and pinches.[[159]] Then we withdrew apart, to drink wine at our ease, till our meat was ready[[160]] and our delight was complete, and she toyed with me and I with her, and now I was upon her and now she was upon me. Presently, the fumes of the wine moved her to strike her hand on the inkle of my petticoat-trousers, whereby it became loosed, unknown of either of us, and my trousers fell down in our play. At this moment he came in unobserved and, seeing me thus, was wroth at the sight and made off, as the Arab filly hearing the tinkle of her bridle.——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Six Hundred and Ninety-fifth Night,
She resumed, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the maiden said to Husayn al-Khali’a, “When my lover saw me playing, as I described to thee, with Siran’s girl, he went forth in anger. And ’tis now, O Shaykh, three years ago, and since then I have never ceased to excuse myself to him and coax him and crave his indulgence, but he will neither cast a look at me from the corner of his eye, nor write me a word nor speak to me by messenger nor hear from me aught.” Quoth I, “Harkye maid, is he an Arab or an Ajam?”; and quoth she, “Out on thee! He is of the Princes of Bassorah.” “Is he old or young?” asked I; and she looked at me laughingly and answered, “Thou art certainly a simpleton! He is like the moon on the night of its full, smooth-cheeked and beardless, nor is there any defect in him except his aversion to me.” Then I put the question, “What is his name?” and she replied, “What wilt thou do with him?” I rejoined, “I will do my best to come at him, that I may bring about reunion between you.” Said she, “I will tell thee on condition that thou carry him a note;” and I said, “I have no objection to that.” Then quoth she, “His name is Zamrah bin al-Mughayrah, hight Abú al-Sakhá,[[161]] and his palace is in the Mirbad.” Therewith she called to those within for inkcase and paper and tucking up[[162]] her sleeves, showed two wrists like broad rings of silver. She then wrote after the Basmalah as follows, “My lord, the omission of blessings[[163]] at the head of this my letter shows mine insufficiency, and know that had my prayer been answered, thou hadst never left me; for how often have I prayed that thou shouldest not leave me, and yet thou didst leave me! Were it not that distress with me exceedeth the bounds of restraint, that which thy servant hath forced herself to do in writing this writ were an aidance to her, despite her despair of thee, because of her knowledge of thee that thou wilt fail to answer. Do thou fulfil her desire, my lord, of a sight of thee from the porch, as thou passest in the street, wherewith thou wilt quicken the dead soul in her. Or, far better for her still than this, do thou write her a letter with thine own hand (Allah endow it with all excellence!), and appoint it in requital of the intimacy that was between us in the nights of time past, whereof thou must preserve the memory. My lord, was I not to thee a lover sick with passion? An thou answer my prayer, I will give to thee thanks and to Allah praise; and so—The Peace!”[[164]] Then she gave me the letter and I went away. Next morning I repaired to the door of the Viceroy Mohammed bin Sulayman, where I found an assembly of the notables of Bassorah, and amongst them a youth who adorned the gathering and surpassed in beauty and brightness all who were there; and indeed the Emir Mohammed set him above himself. I asked who he was and behold, it was Zamrah himself: so I said in my mind, “Verily, there hath befallen yonder unhappy one that which hath befallen her[[165]]!” Then I betook myself to the Mirbad and stood waiting at the door of his house, till he came riding up in state, when I accosted him and invoking more than usual blessings on him, handed him the missive. When he read it and understood it he said to me, “O Shaykh, we have taken other in her stead. Say me, wilt thou see the substitute?” I answered, “Yes.” Whereupon he called out a woman’s name, and there came forth a damsel who shamed the two greater lights; swelling-breasted, walking the gait of one who hasteneth without fear, to whom he gave the note, saying, “Do thou answer it.” When she read it, she turned pale at the contents and said to me, “O old man, crave pardon of Allah for this that thou hast brought.” So I went out, O Commander of the Faithful, dragging my feet and returning to her asked leave to enter. When she saw me, she asked, “What is behind thee?”; and I answered, “Evil and despair.” Quoth she, “Have thou no concern of him. Where are Allah and His power?”[[166]] Then she ordered me five hundred dinars and I took them and went away. Some days after I passed by the place and saw there horsemen and footmen. So I went in and lo! these were the companions of Zamrah, who were begging her to return to him; but she said, “No, by Allah, I will not look him in the face!” And she prostrated herself in gratitude to Allah and exultation over Zamrah’s defeat. Then I drew near her, and she pulled out to me a letter, wherein was written, after the Bismillah, “My lady, but for my forbearance towards thee (whose life Allah lengthen!) I would relate somewhat of what betided from thee and set out my excuse, in that thou trans-gressedst against me, whenas thou wast manifestly a sinner against thyself and myself in breach of vows and lack of constancy and preference of another over us; for, by Allah, on whom we call for help against that which was of thy free-will, thou didst transgress against the love of me; and so—The Peace!” Then she showed me the presents and rarities he had sent her, which were of the value of thirty thousand dinars. I saw her again after this, and Zamrah had married her. Quoth Al-Rashid, “Had not Zamrah been beforehand with us, I should certainly have had to do with her myself.”[[167]] And men tell the tale of
[151]. Al-Khalí’a has been explained in vol. i. 311: the translation of Al-Mas’udi (vi. 10) renders it “scélérat.” Abú Alí al-Husayn the Wag was a Bassorite and a worthy companion of Abu Nowas the Debauchee; but he adorned the Court of Al-Amin the son, not of Al-Rashid the father.
[152]. Governor of Bassorah, but not in Al-Husayn’s day.
[153]. The famous market-place where poems were recited; mentioned by Al-Hariri
[154]. A quarter of Bassorah.