Love of thee makes me taste of death in bitterest pungency."

--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

When it was the Seven Hundred and Ninety-seventh Night,

She continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Hasan's mother bewept through the watches of the night and the whiles of the day her separation from her son and his wife and children. On this wise it fared with her; but as regards Hasan, when he came to the Princesses, they conjured him to tarry with them three months, after which long sojourn they gave him five loads of gold and the like of silver and one load of victual and accompanied him on his homeward way till he conjured them to return, whereupon they farewelled him with an embrace; but the youngest came up to him, to bid him adieu and clasping his neck wept till she fainted. Then she recited these two couplets,

"When shall the severance-fire be quenched by union, love, with you? * When shall I win my wish of you and days that were renew?

The parting-day affrighted me and wrought me dire dismay * And doubleth woe, O master mine, by the sad word 'Adieu.'"

Anon came forward the second Princess and embraced him and recited these two couplets,

"Farewelling thee indeed is like to bidding life farewell * And like the loss of Zephyr[FN#96] 'tis to lose thee far our sight: Thine absence is a flaming fire which burneth up my heart * And in thy presence I enjoy the Gardens of Delight."[FN#97]

Presently came forward the third and embraced him and recited these two couplets,

"We left not taking leave of thee (when bound to other goal) *

From aught of ill intention or from weariness and dole: Thou art my soul, my very soul, the only soul of me: * And how shall I farewell myself and say, 'Adieu my Soul?'"[FN#98]

After her came forward the fourth and embraced him and recited these two couplets,

"Nought garred me weep save where and when of severance spake he, * Persisting in his cruel will with sore persistency: Look at this pearl-like ornament I've hung upon mine ear: * 'Tis of the tears of me compact, this choicest jewelry!"

In her turn came forward the fifth and embraced him and recited these two couplets,

"Ah, fare thee not; for I've no force thy faring to endure, * Nor e'en to say the word farewell before my friend is sped: Nor any patience to support the days of severance, * Nor any tears on ruined house and wasted home to shed."

Next came the sixth and embraced him and recited these two couplets,

"I cried, as the camels went off with them, * And Love pained my vitals with sorest pain: Had I a King who would lend me rule * I'd seize every ship that dares sail the Main."

Lastly came forward the seventh and embraced him and recited these couplets,

"When thou seest parting, be patient still, * Nor let foreign parts deal thy soul affright: But abide, expecting a swift return, * For all hearts hold parting in sore despight."

And eke these two couplets,

"Indeed I'm heartbroken to see thee start, * Nor can I farewell thee ere thou depart; Allah wotteth I left not to say adieu * Save for fear that saying would melt your heart."

Hasan also wept for parting from them, till he swooned, and repeated these couplets,

"Indeed, ran my tears on the severance-day * Like pearls I threaded in necklace-way The cameleer drove his camels with song * But I lost heart, patience and strength and stay: I bade them farewell and retired in grief * From tryst-place and camp where my dearlings lay: I turned me unknowing the way nor joyed * My soul, but in hopes to return some day.

Oh listen, my friend, to the words of love * G.o.d forbid thy heart forget all I say!

O my soul when thou partest wi' them, part too * With all joys of life nor for living pray!"

Then he farewelled them and fared on diligently night and day, till he came to Baghdad, the House of Peace and Sanctuary of the Abbaside Caliphs, unknowing what had pa.s.sed during his wayfare.

At once entering his house he went in to his mother to salute her, but found her worn of body and wasted of bones, for excess of mourning and watching, weeping and wailing, till she was grown thin as a toothpick and could not answer him a word. So he dismissed the dromedaries then asked her of his wife and children and she wept till she fainted, and he seeing her in this state searched the house for them, but found no trace of them. Then he went to the store-closet and finding it open and the chest broken and the feather-dress missing, knew forthright that his wife had possessed herself thereof and flown away with her children. Then he returned to his mother and, finding her recovered from her fit, questioned her of his spouse and babes, whereupon she wept and said, "O my son, may Allah amply requite thee their loss!

These are their three tombs."[FN#99] When Hasan heard these words of his mother, he shrieked a loud shriek and fell down in a fainting-fit in which he lay from the first of the day till noon-tide; whereupon anguish was added to his mother's anguish and she despaired of his life. However, after a-while, he came to himself and wept and buffeted his face and rent his raiment and went about the house clean distraught, reciting these two couplets,[FN#100]

"Folk have made moan of pa.s.sion before me, of past years, * And live and dead for absence have suffered pains and fears; But that within my bosom I harbour, with mine eyes * I've never seen the like of nor heard with mine ears."

Then finishing his verses he bared his brand and coming up to his mother, said to her, "Except thou tell me the truth of the case, I will strike off thy head and kill myself." She replied, "O my son, do not such deed: put up thy sword and sit down, till I tell thee what hath pa.s.sed." So he sheathed his scymitar and sat by her side, whilst she recounted to him all that had happened in his absence from first to last, adding, "O my son, but that I saw her weep in her longing for the bath and feared that she would go and complain to thee on thy return, and thou wouldst be wroth with me. I had never carried her thither; and were it not that the Lady Zubaydah was wroth with me and took the key from me by force, I had never brought out the feather-dress, though I died for it. But thou knowest, O my son, that no hand may measure length with that of the Caliphate. When they brought her the dress, she took it and turned it over, fancying that somewhat might be lost thereof, but she found it uninjured; wherefore she rejoiced and making her children fast to her waist, donned the feather-vest, after the Lady Zubaydah had pulled off to her all that was upon herself and clad her therein, in honour of her and because of her beauty. No sooner had she donned the dress than she shook and becoming a bird, promenaded about the palace, whilst all who were present gazed at her and marvelled at her beauty and loveliness. Then she flew up to the palace roof and perching thereon, looked at me and said: 'Whenas thy son cometh to thee and the nights of separation upon him longsome shall be and he craveth reunion and meeting to see and whenas the breezes of love and longing shake him dolefully let him leave his native land and journey to the Islands of Wak and seek me.' This, then, is her story and what befel in thine absence."--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

When it was the Seven Hundred and Ninety-eighth Night,

She pursued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that as soon as Hasan's mother had made an end of her story, he gave a great cry and fell down in a fainting fit which continued till the end of day, when he revived and fell to buffeting his face and writhing on the floor like a scotched snake. His mother sat weeping by his head until midnight, when he came to himself and wept sore and recited these couplets',[FN#101]

"Pause ye and see his sorry state since when ye fain withdrew; *

Haply, when wrought your cruelty, you'll have the grace to rue: For an ye look on him, you'll doubt of him by sickness-stress *

As though, by Allah, he were one before ye never knew.

He dies for nothing save for love of you, and he would be *

Numbered amid the dead did not he moan and groan for you.

And deem not pangs of severance sit all lightly on his soul; *

'Tis heavy load on lover-wight; 'twere lighter an ye slew."

Then having ended his verse he rose and went round about the house, weeping and wailing, groaning and bemoaning himself, five days, during which he tasted nor meat nor drink. His mother came to him and conjured him, till he broke his fast, and besought him to leave weeping; but he hearkened not to her and continued to shed tears and lament, whilst she strove to comfort him and he heeded her not. Then he recited these couplets,[FN#102]

"Beareth for love a burden sore this soul of me, * Could break a mortal's back however strong that be; I am distraught to see my case and languor grows * Making my day and night indifferent in degree: I own to having dreaded Death before this day: * This day I hold my death mine only remedy."

And Hasan ceased not to do thus till daybreak, when his eyes closed and he saw in a dream his wife grief-full and repentant for that which she had done. So he started up from sleep crying out and reciting these two couplets,

"Their image bides with me, ne'er quits me, ne'er shall fly; *

But holds within my heart most honourable stead; But for reunion-hope, I'd see me die forthright, * And but for phantom-form of thee my sleep had fled."

And as morning morrowed he redoubled his lamentations. He abode weeping-eyed and heavy-hearted, wakeful by night and eating little, for a whole month, at the end of which he bethought him to repair to his sisters and take counsel with them in the matter of his wife, so haply they might help him to regain her.

Accordingly he summoned the dromedaries and loading fifty of them with rarities of Al-Irak, committed the house to his mother's care and deposited all his goods in safe keeping, except some few he left at home. Then he mounted one of the beasts and set out on his journey single handed, intent upon obtaining aidance from the Princesses, and he stayed not till he reached the Palace of the Mountain of Clouds, when he went in to the damsels and gave them the presents in which they rejoiced. Then they wished him joy of his safety and said to him, "O our brother, what can ail thee to come again so soon, seeing thou wast with us but two months since?" Whereupon he wept and improvised these couplets,

"My soul for loss of lover sped I sight; * Nor life enjoying neither life's delight: My case is one whose cure is all unknown; * Can any cure the sick but doctor wight?

O who hast reft my sleep-joys, leaving me * To ask the breeze that blew from that fair site,-- Blew from my lover's land (the land that owns * Those charms so sore a grief in soul excite), 'O breeze, that visitest her land, perhaps * Breathing her scent, thou mayst revive my sprite!'"

And when he ended his verse he gave a great cry and fell down in a fainting-fit. The Princesses sat round him, weeping over him, till he recovered and repeated these two couplets,

"Haply and happily may Fortune bend her rein * Bringing my love, for Time's a freke of jealous strain;[FN#103]

Fortune may prosper me, supply mine every want, * And bring a blessing where before were ban and bane."

Then he wept till he fainted again, and presently coming to himself recited the two following couplets,

"My wish, mine illness, mine unease! by Allah, own * Art thou content? then I in love contented wone!

Dost thou forsake me thus sans crime or sin * Meet me in ruth, I pray, and be our parting gone."

Then he wept till he swooned away once more and when he revived he repeated these couplets,

"Sleep fled me, by my side wake ever shows * And h.o.a.rd of tear-drops from these eyne aye flows; For love they weep with beads cornelian-like * And growth of distance greater dolence grows: Lit up my longing, O my love, in me * Flames burning 'neath my ribs with fiery throes!

Remembering thee a tear I never shed * But in it thunder roars and leven glows."

Then he wept till he fainted away a fourth time, and presently recovering, recited these couplets,

"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!