"
So he told her what the children and the monitor had said and
said to her, "Who is my father, O my mother?" "Thy father is the
Vizier of Egypt," answered she; but he said, "Do not lie to me.
The Vizier is thy father, not mine. Who then is my father? Except
thou tell me the truth, I will kill myself with this dagger."
When the Lady of Beauty heard him speak of his father, she wept,
as she thought of her cousin and her bridal-night, and repeated
the following verses:
Love in my breast, alas! they lit and went away; Far distant is
the camp that holds my soul's delight!
Patience and reason fled from me, when they withdrew; Sleep
failed me, and despair o'ercame me like a blight.
They left me, and with them departed all my joy; Tranquility and
peace with them have taken flight.
They made my lids run down with tears of love laid waste; My eyes
for lack of them brim over day and night.
When as my sad soul longs to see them once again And waiting and
desire are heavy on my spright;
Midmost my heart of hearts their images I trace, Love and
desireful pain and longing for their sight.
O ye, one thought of whom clings round me like a cloak, Whose
love it as a shirt about my body dight,
O my beloved ones, how long will ye delay? How long must I endure
estrangement and despite?
Then she wept and cried out and her son did the like, when in
came the Vizier, whose heart burned within him at the sight of
their weeping, and he said, "Why do ye weep?" The Lady of Beauty
told him what had happened to Agib, and the Vizier also wept and
called to mind his brother and all that had passed between them
and what had befallen his daughter, and knew not the secret of
the matter.
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