Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 3.djvu/260

236 And he went away, rejoicing in the damsel’s recovery, whilst the old woman betook herself to the physician, to whom she delivered the thousand dinars and a letter that Num had written, giving him to know that she was become the Khalif’s slave. He gave the letter to Nimeh, who knew her hand and fell down in a swoon. When he came to himself, he opened the letter and found these words written therein: “From the slave despoiled of her delight, her whose reason hath been beguiled and who is separated from the beloved of her heart. Thy letter hath reached me and hath dilated my bosom and rejoiced my heart, even as saith the poet:

When he read these verses, his eyes ran over with tears and the old woman said to him, “What ails thee to weep, O my son? May God never make thine eye to shed tears!” “O my lady,” answered the Persian, “how should my son not weep, seeing that this is his slave-girl and he her lord Nimeh ben er Rebya of Cufa? Indeed, her recovery depends on her seeing him, for nought ails her but the love of him. So, O my lady, take these thousand dinars to thyself (and thou shalt have of me yet more than this) and look on us with eyes of compassion; for we know not how to bring this affair to a happy issue but through thee.” Then she said to Nimeh, “Art thou indeed her lord?”