"Ah! for lowe of love and longing suffer ye as suffer we? * Say,
as pine we and as yearn we for you are pining ye?
Allah do the death of Love, what a bitter draught is his! * Would
I wot of Love what plans and what projects nurseth he!
Your faces radiant-fair though afar from me they shine, * Are
mirrored in our eyes whatsoever the distance be;
My heart must ever dwell on the memories of your tribe; * And the
turtle-dove reneweth all as oft as moaneth she:
Ho thou dove, who passest night-tide in calling on thy fere, *
Thou doublest my repine, bringing grief for company;
And leavest thou mine eyelids with weeping unfulfilled * For the
dearlings who departed, whom we never more may see:
I melt for the thought of you at every time and hour, * And I
long for you when Night showeth cheek of blackest blee."
Now when his sister heard these words and saw his condition and how he lay fainting on the floor, she screamed and beat her face and the other Princesses hearing her scream came out and learning his misfortune and the transport of love and longing and the passion and distraction that possessed him they questioned him of his case. He wept and told them what had befallen in his absence and how his wife had taken flight with her children, wherefore they grieved for him and asked him what she said at leave-taking. Answered he, "O my sisters, she said to my mother, 'Tell thy son, whenas he cometh to thee and the nights of severance upon him longsome shall be and he craveth reunion and meeting to see, and whenas the winds of love and longing shake him dolefully, let him fare in the Islands of Wak to me." When they heard his words they signed one to other with their eyes and shook their heads, and each looked at her sister, whilst Hasan looked at them all. Then they bowed their heads groundwards and bethought themselves awhile; after which they raised their heads and said, "There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great!"; presently adding, "Put forth thy hand to heaven and when thou reach thither, then shalt thou win to thy wife.—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
When it was the Seven Hundred and Ninety-ninth Night,
She resumed, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Princesses said to Hasan, "Put forth thy hand to Heaven and when thou reach thither, then shalt thou win to wife and children," thereat the tears ran down his cheeks like rain and wet his clothes, and he recited these couplets,
"Pink cheeks and eyes enpupil'd black have dealt me sore
despight; * And whenas wake overpowered sleep my patience
fled in fright:
The fair and sleek-limbed maidens hard of heart withal laid waste
* My very bones till not a breath is left for man to sight:
Houris, who fare with gait of grace as roes o'er sandy-mound: *
Did Allah's saints behold their charms they'd doat thereon
forthright;
Faring as fares the garden breeze that bloweth in the dawn. * For
love of them a sore unrest and troubles rack my sprite:
I hung my hopes upon a maid, a loveling fair of them, * For whom
my heart still burns with lowe in Lazá-hell they light;—
A dearling soft of sides and haught and graceful in her gait, *
Her grace is white as morning, but her hair is black as
night:
She stirreth me! But ah, how many heroes have her cheeks *
Upstirred for love, and eke her eyes that mingle black and
white."
Then he wept, whilst the Princesses wept for his weeping, and they were moved to compassion and jealousy for him. So they fell to comforting him and exhorting him to patience and offering up prayers for his reunion with his wife; whilst his sister said to him, "O my brother, be of good cheer and keep thine eyes cool and clear and be patient; so shalt thou win thy will; for whoso hath patience and waiteth, that he seeketh attaineth. Patience holdeth the keys of relief and indeed the poet saith,
'Let destiny with slackened rein its course appointed fare! And
lie thou down to sleep by night, with heart devoid of care;
For 'twixt the closing of an eye and th' opening thereof, God
hath it in His power to change a case from foul to
fair."[FN#104]
So hearten thy heart and brace up thy resolve, for the son of ten years dieth not in the ninth.[FN#105] Weeping and grief and mourning gender sickness and disease; wherefore do thou abide with us till thou be rested, and I will devise some device for thy winning to thy wife and children, Inshallah—so it please Allah the Most High!" And he wept sore and recited these verses,
"An I be healed of disease in frame, * I'm unhealed of illness in
heart and sprite:
There is no healing disease of love, * Save lover and loved one
to re-unite."
Then he sat down beside her and she proceeded to talk with him and comfort him and question him of the cause and the manner of his wife's departure. So he told her and she said, "By Allah, O my brother, I was minded to bid thee burn the feather-dress, but Satan made me forget it." She ceased not to converse with him and caress him and company with him other ten days, whilst sleep visited him not and he delighted not in food; and when the case was longsome upon him and unrest waxed in him, he versified with these couplets,