They abode thus three whole months, and
whenever she made advances to him, he held aloof from her,
saying, 'Whatever belongs to the master is forbidden to the
slave.' Then, when this was prolonged upon her and affliction and
anguish grew on her, for the weariness of her heart she recited
the following verses:
O marvel of beauty, how long this disdain? And who hath provoked
thee to turn from my pain?
All manner of elegance in thee is found And all fashions of
fairness thy form doth contain.
The hearts of all mortals thou stir'st with desire And on
everyone's lids thou mak'st sleeplessness reign.
I know that the branch has been plucked before thee; So, O
capparis-branch, thou dost wrong, it is plain.
I used erst to capture myself the wild deer. How comes it the
chase doth the hunter enchain?
But the strangest of all that is told of thee is, I was snared,
and thou heard'st not the voice of my pain.
Yet grant not my prayer. If I'm jealous for thee Of thyself how
much more of myself? Nor again,
As long as life lasteth in me, will I say, "O marvel of beauty,
how long this disdain?"'
Meanwhile, the Lady Zubeideh, when, in the absence of the Khalif,
she had done this thing with Cout el Culoub, abode perplexed and
said to herself, 'What answer shall I make the Khalif, when he
comes back and asks for her?' Then she called an old woman, who
was with her, and discovered her secret to her, saying, 'What
shall I do, seeing that Cout el Culoub is no more?' 'O my lady,'
replied the old woman, 'the time of the Khalif's return is at
hand; but do thou send for a carpenter and bid him make a figure
of wood in the shape of a corpse.
Pages:
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507
508