Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 5.djvu/68

50 niche! So I threw myself upon him and kissing his feet, said, ‘O my lord, I crave thy company.’ But he said, ‘This may nowise be.’ Whereupon I fell a-weeping and lamenting, and he said, ‘Peace: weeping will avail thee nothing.’ And he recited the following verses:

So I left him and continued my journey; and every stage I came to, I found him before me, till I came to Medina, where I lost sight of him and could hear no news of him. Here I met Abou Yezid el Bustani and Abou Bekr es Shibli and a number of other doctors, to whom I told my case and they said, ‘God forbid that thou shouldst gain his company after this! This was Abou Jaafer the leper, in whose name, at all tides, the folk pray for rain and by whose blessing prayers are answered.’ When I heard this, my longing for his company redoubled and I implored God to reunite me with him. Whilst I was standing on Arafat, one plucked me from behind, so I turned and behold it was Abou Jaafer. At this sight, I gave a loud cry and fell down in a swoon; but, when I came to myself, he was gone.

This increased my yearning for him and the ways were straitened upon me and I prayed God to give me sight of