He replied, I hear and obey:—and he arose, and quitted the shop with 'Azeez, and they both, taking with them the old woman, repaired to their abode, and acquainted her with it; after which, Táj-el-Mulook said to 'Azeez, O my brother, I have no further want of the shop; for I have accomplished the purpose for which I took it; and I give it to thee, with all that it containeth, because thou hast come abroad with me, and absented thyself from thy country. And 'Azeez accepted his present, and they sat conversing together; Táj-el-Mulook asking him respecting his strange adventures, and 'Azeez relating what had happened to him. Then, addressing the Wezeer, they acquainted him with the purpose of Táj-el-Mulook, and asked him, What is to be done? He answered, Let us go to the garden. So each of them clad himself in the richest of his apparel, and they went forth, followed by three memlooks, and repaired to the garden. They beheld it abounding with trees, and with many rivulets, and saw the superintendent sitting at the gate. They saluted him, therefore, and he returned their salutation, and the Wezeer handed to him a hundred pieces of gold, saying to him, I beg thee to receive this money, and to buy for us something to eat; for we are strangers, and I have with me these children whom I wish to divert. So the gardener took the pieces of gold, and replied, Enter, and divert yourselves; for the whole of it is your property: and sit down until I return to you with something for you to eat. He then went to the market, and the Wezeer and Táj-el-Mulook and 'Azeez entered the garden after the gardener had departed to the market; and soon the latter returned, bringing a roasted lamb, which he placed before them. And they ate, and washed their hands, and sat conversing together; and the Wezeer said, Inform me respecting this garden: doth it belong to thee, or dost thou rent it? The sheykh replied, It is not mine, but belongeth to the King's daughter, the lady Dunyà.—And what, said the Wezeer, is thy monthly salary? He answered, One piece of gold, and no more. And the Wezeer, taking a view of the garden, beheld there a lofty but old pavilion; and he said, O sheykh, I desire to perform here a good work by which thou wilt be reminded of me.—And what good thing dost thou desire to do? asked the sheykh. The Wezeer said, Take these three hundred pieces of gold. And when the superintendent heard the mention of the gold, he replied, O my master, do whatsoever thou wilt. So he took the pieces of gold; and the Wezeer said to him, If it be the will of God (whose name be exalted!), we will execute in this place a good work.
They then went forth from him, and returned to their abode, and passed the next night; and on the morrow, the Wezeer caused a whitewasher to be brought, and a painter, and an excellent goldsmith; and, having provided them with all the implements that they required, introduced them into the garden, and ordered them to whitewash that pavilion and to decorate it with various kinds of paintings. After which he gave orders to bring the gold, and the ultramarine pigment, and said to the painter, Delineate, at the upper end of this saloon, the figure of a fowler, as though he had set his snare, and a female pigeon had fallen into it, and had become entangled in it by her bill. And when the painter had finished his picture on one portion, the Wezeer said to him, Now paint, on this other portion, as before, and represent the female pigeon in the snare, and shew that the fowler hath taken her, and put the knife to her neck; and on the other side paint the figure of a great bird of prey, that hath captured the male pigeon, and fixed his talons into him. So he did this; and when he had finished these designs which the Wezeer had described to him, they took leave of the gardener, and returned to their abode.
There they sat conversing together; and Táj-el-Mulook said to 'Azeez, O my brother, recite to me some verses: perhaps my heart may thereby be dilated, and these troubling reflections may be dispelled, and the flame that is in my heart be quenched. And upon this, 'Azeez, with charming modulations, chanted these verses:—
Ibn-Seenà[64] hath asserted that the lover's remedy consisteth in melodious sounds, And the company of one like his beloved, and the pleasures of a dessert and wine and a garden: But I have taken another in thy stead to cure myself, and fate and contingency aided me: Yet I found that love was a mortal disease, for which Ibn-Seenà's medicine was vain.
Meanwhile, the old woman remained alone in her house; and the lady Dunyà longed to divert herself in the garden; but she used not to go forth save with the old woman: so she sent to her, and conciliated her, and soothed her mind, and said to her, I desire to go out into the garden, to amuse myself with the sight of its trees and fruits, and that my heart may be dilated by its flowers. The old woman replied, I hear and obey; but I would first go to my house and dress myself, and I will be with thee again.—Go, then, to thy house, rejoined the lady Dunyà; but be not long absent from me. The old woman, therefore, went forth from her, and repaired to Táj-el-Mulook, and said to him, Make ready, and clothe thyself in the richest of thine apparel, and betake thyself to the garden, and go in to the gardener and salute him, and then conceal thyself in the garden. He replied, I hear and obey. And she agreed with him respecting a sign to be made; after which she returned to the lady Dunyà. And when she had gone, the Wezeer arose, and clad Táj-el-Mulook in a suit of the most magnificent of the apparel of Kings, worth five thousand pieces of gold, and girded him with a girdle of gold set with jewels, and repaired to the garden. On arriving at its gate, they found the superintendent sitting there; and when he saw Táj-el-Mulook, he rose to him, standing upon his feet, and, receiving him with reverence and honour, opened to him the gate, and said to him, Enter, and divert thyself in the garden. But the gardener knew not that the King's daughter would enter the garden that day. And when Táj-el-Mulook had gone in, he waited but a short time, and heard a noise; and before he knew the cause, the eunuchs and female slaves came forth from the private door; and as soon as the superintendent beheld them, he went and acquainted Táj-el-Mulook with their coming, saying to him, O my lord, what is to be done, now that the King's daughter, the lady Dunyà, hath come? He answered, No harm will befall thee; for I will conceal myself in some place in the garden. So
the gardener charged him to use the utmost caution in concealing himself, and left him, and departed.
And when the King's daughter, with her female slaves and the old woman, entered the garden, the old woman said within herself, If the eunuchs be with us, we shall not attain our wish. So she said to the King's daughter, O my mistress, I would propose to thee a thing productive of ease to thy heart. And the lady Dunyà replied, Propose what thou wilt. The old woman therefore said, O my mistress, thou hast no need of these eunuchs at the present time; nor will thy heart be dilated as long as they are with us: so dismiss them from us.—Thou hast spoken truly, replied the lady Dunyà:—and she dismissed them; and a little while after, as she was walking, Táj-el-Mulook beheld her, and gazed at her beauty and loveliness, while she knew it not; and every time that he looked at her he fainted, by reason of her surpassing beauty. The old woman in the meantime led her on by conversation to the pavilion which the Wezeer had ordered to be painted; and, entering this pavilion, the lady Dunyà took a view of its paintings, and saw the birds and the fowler and the pigeons; whereupon she exclaimed, Extolled be the perfection of God! Verily this is the representation of what I beheld in my dream!—And
she continued gazing at the figures of the birds and the fowler and the snare, full of wonder; and said, O my nurse, I used to censure men, and hate them; but see the fowler, how he hath killed the female bird, and the male hath escaped, and desired to return to the female to liberate her, but the bird of prey hath met him and captured him. The old woman, however, affected ignorance to her, and proceeded to divert her with talk until they both approached the place where Táj-el-Mulook was concealed; upon which she made a sign to him that he should walk beneath the windows of the pavilion; and while the lady Dunyà stood there, she looked aside, and saw him, and, observing the beauty of his face, and his elegant form, she said, O my nurse, whence is this handsome youth? The old woman answered, I know him not; but I imagine that he is the son of a great King; for he is of the utmost beauty and loveliness. And the lady Dunyà was enraptured with him. The spells that bound her were dissolved, her reason was overcome by his beauty and loveliness and his elegant person, and she was affected by violent love: so she said to the old woman, O my nurse, verily this young man is handsome. The old woman replied, Thou hast spoken truth, O my mistress. And she made a sign to the King's son to return to his house. The fire of desire flamed within him, and his rapture and distraction became excessive; but he went, and bade farewell to the superintendent, and departed to his abode, that he might not disobey the old woman, and acquainted the Wezeer and 'Azeez that she had made a sign to him to depart. And they both exhorted him to be patient, saying to him, If the old woman did not know that there was an object to be attained by thy return, she had not made a sign to thee to do so.