Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 6.djvu/352

322 the letter thou wrotest to that dog of a merchant.’ Quoth Heyat en Nufous, ‘Didst thou forbid him, as I told thee?’ ‘Yes,’ answered she; ‘and this is his answer.’ So the princess took the letter and read it; then turned to the old woman and said to her, ‘Where is the result thou didst promise me?’ ‘O my lady,’ replied she, ‘saith he not in his letter that he repenteth and will not again offend, excusing himself for the past?’ ‘Not so, by Allah!’ replied the princess. ‘On the contrary, he increases [his offending].’ ‘O my lady,’ rejoined the nurse, ‘write him a letter and thou shalt see what I will do with him.’ Quoth Heyat en Nufous, ‘There needs no letter nor answer.’ ‘I must have a letter,’ answered the nurse, ‘that I may rebuke him roundly and cut off his hopes.’ ‘Thou canst do that without a letter,’ rejoined the princess: but the old woman said, ‘I cannot do it without the letter.’ So Heyat en Nufous called for inkhorn and paper and wrote these verses:

When she had made an end of writing this, she cast the scroll angrily from her hand, and the old woman picked it up and carried it to Ardeshir. When he read it, he knew