She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that they halted in the city of Hamah three days; they then fared forwards and ceased not travelling till they reached another city. Here also they halted three days and thence they travelled till they entered the province Diyár Bakr. Here blew on them the breezes of Baghdad, and Zau al-Makan bethought him of his father and mother and native land, and how he was returning to his sire without his sister: so he wept and sighed and complained, and his regrets grew on him, and he began improvising these couplets,
"Sweetheart! How long must I await by so long suffering teed? * Nor cometh messenger to tell me where thou dost abide:
Ah me! in very sooth our meeting time was short enow: * Would Heaven shorter prove to me the present parting-tide!
Now trend my hand and open my robe and thou within shall sight * How wasted are the limbs of me and yet the waste I hide:
When say they 'Comfort take for loss of love' I but reply * 'By Allah, till the Day of Doom no comfort shall betide!' "
Thereupon said to him the Fireman, "Leave this weeping and wailing, for we are near the Chamberlain's tent." Quoth Zau al- Makan, "Needs must I recite somewhat of verse; haply it may quench the fire of my heart." "Allah upon thee," cried the other, "cease this lamentation till thou come to shine own country; then do what thou wilt, and I will be with thee wherever thou art." Replied Zau al-Makan, "By Allah! I cannot forbear from this!" Then he turned his face towards Baghdad and the moon was shining brightly and shedding her light on the place, and Nuzhat al-Zaman could not sleep that night, but was restless and called to mind her brother and wept. And while she was in tears, he heard Zau al-Makan weeping and improvising the following distichs,
'Al-Yaman's[FN#306] leven-gleam I see, * And sore despair despaireth me
For friend who erst abode wi' me * Crowning my cup with gladdest gree:
It minds me o' one who jilted me * To mourn my bitter liberty.
Say sooth, thou fair sheet lightning! shall * We meet once more in joy and glee?
O blamer! spare to me thy blame * My Lord hath sent this dule to dree,
Of friend who left me, fain to flee; * Of Time that breeds calamity:
All bliss hath fled the heart of me * Since Fortune proved mine enemy.
He[FN#307] brimmed a bowl of merest pine, * And made me drain the dregs, did he:
I see me, sweetheart, dead and gone * Ere I again shall gaze on thee.
Time! prithee bring our childhood back, * Restore our happy infancy,
When joy and safety 'joyed we * From shafts that now they shoot at me!
Who aids the hapless stranger wight, * That nights in fright and misery,
That wastes his days in lonely grief, * For 'Time's Delight'[FN#308] no more must be?
Doomed us despite our will to bear * The hands of base bores cark and care."
When he ended his verse he cried out and fell down in a fainting-fit. This is how it fared with him; but as regards Nuzhat al- Zaman, when she heard that voice in the night, her heart was at rest and she rose and in her joy she called the Chief Eunuch, who said to her, "What is thy will?" Quoth she, "Arise and bring me him who recited verses but now." Replied he, "Of a truth I did not hear him"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
When it was the Seventy-second Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Nuzhat Al-Zaman heard her brother reciting, she called the Chief Eunuch and said to him, "Go, fetch me the man who is repeating this poetry!" Replied he, "Of a truth I heard him not and I wot him not and folks are all sleeping." But she said, "Whomsoever thou seest awake, he is the reciter." So he went, yet found none on wake save the Stoker; for Zau al-Makan was still insensible, and when his companion saw the Eunuch standing by his head he was afraid of him. Then said the Eunuch, "Art thou he who repeated poetry but now and my lady heard him?" The Stoker fancied that the dame was wroth with the reciter; and, being afraid, he replied, "By Allah, 'twas not I!" Rejoined the Eunuch, "Who then was the reciter?: point him out to me. Thou must know who it was, seeing that thou art awake." The Fireman feared for Zau al- Makan and said in himself, "Haply the Eunuch will do him some hurt"; so he answered, "By Allah, I know not who it was." Said the Eunuch, "By Allah, thou liest, for there is none on wake here but thou! So needs must thou know him." "By Allah," replied the Fireman, "I tell thee the truth!: some passer by, some wayfarer must have recited the verses and disturbed me and kept me awake; Allah requite him!" Quoth the Eunuch, "If thou happen upon him, point him out to me and I will lay hands on him and bring him to the door of our lady's litter[FN#309] or do thou take him with thine own hand." Said the Fireman, "Go thou back and I will bring him to thee." So the Eunuch left him and went his ways; and, going in to his mistress, told her all this and said to her, "None knoweth who it was; it must have been some passer by, some wayfarer." And she was silent. Meanwhile, Zau al-Makan came to himself and saw that the moon had reached the middle Heavens; the breath of the dawn breeze[FN#310] breathed upon him and his heart was moved to longing and sadness; so he cleared his throat and was about to recite verses, when the Fire man asked him, "What wilt thou do?" Answered Zau al-Makan, "I have a mind to repeat somewhat of poetry, that I may quench therewith the fire of my heart." Quoth the other, "Thou knowest not what befel me whilst thou wast a faint, and how I escaped death only by beguiling the Eunuch." "Tell me what happened," quoth Zau al-Makan. Replied the Stoker, "Whilst thou wast aswoon there came up to me but now an Eunuch, with a long staff of almond tree wood in his hand, who took to looking in all the people's faces, as they lay asleep, and asked me who it was recited the verses, finding none awake but myself. I told him in reply it was some passerby, some wayfarer; so he went away and Allah delivered me from him; else had he killed me. But first he said to me, 'If thou hear him again, bring him to us.'" When Zau al-Makan heard this he wept and said, "Who is it would forbid me to recite? I will surely recite, befal me what may; for I am near mine own land and care for none." Rejoined the Fireman, "Thy design is naught save to lose thy life;" and Zau al-Makan retorted, "Needs must I recite verses." "Verily," said the Stoker, "needs must there be a parting between me and thee in this place, albeit;I had intended not to leave thee, till I had brought thee to thy native city and reunited thee with thy mother and father. Thou hast now tarried with me a year and a half and I have never harmed thee in aught. What ails thee, then, that thou must needs recite verses, seeing that we are tired out with walking and watching and all the folk are asleep, for they require sleep to rest them of their fatigue?" But Zau al-Makan answered, "I will not be turned away from my purpose."[FN#311] Then grief moved him and he threw off concealment and began repeating these couplets,
"Stand thou by the homes and hail the lords of the ruined stead; * Cry thou for an answer, belike reply to thee shall be sped:
If the night and absence irk thy spirit kindle a torch * Wi' repine; and illuminate the gloom with a gleaming greed:
If the snake of the sand dunes hiss, I shall marvel not at all! * Let him bite so I bite those beauteous lips of the luscious red:
O Eden, my soul hath fled in despite of the maid I love: * Had I lost hope of Heaven my heart in despair were dead."
And he also improvised the two following distichs,
"We were and were the days enthralled to all our wills, * Dwelling in union sweet and homed in fairest site:
Who shall restore the home of the beloved, where showed * Light of the Place for aye conjoined with Time's Delight?''[FN#312]