Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 7.djvu/203

181 saw her weep to go to the bath and feared that she would complain to thee, on thy return, and thou wouldst be wroth with me, I had not carried her thither; nor had I brought out the feather-dress, though I died for it, were it not that the princess Zubeideh was wroth with me and took the key from me by force: and thou knowest, O my son, that no hand may measure length with that of the Khalifate. When they brought her the dress, she took it and turned it over, fearing lest somewhat might be lost thereof, but found it whole, wherefore she rejoiced and making her children fast to her middle, donned the feather-vest, after the lady Zubeideh had pulled off to her all that was upon her and clad her therein, in honour of her and because of her beauty. No sooner had she done this than she shook and becoming a bird, walked about the palace, whilst all who were present gazed at her and marvelled at her beauty and grace. Then she flew up to the roof and perching on the cornice, looked at me and said, “When thy son cometh and the nights of separation are long on him and he craveth reunion with me and meeting and the winds of love and longing agitate him, let him leave his native land and journey to the Islands of Wac.” This, then, is her story and what befell in thine absence.’

When she had made an end of her story, Hassan gave a great cry and fell down in a swoon, from which he ceased not till nightfall, when he revived and fell to buffeting his face and writhing on the floor like a wounded snake. His mother sat by his head, weeping, till midnight, when he came to himself and wept sore and recited the following verses:

Pause and behold his sorry state whom ye have left to mourn, So haply you will pity him, after despite and scorn. For, if ye look on him, ’fore God, the man you will deny, As ’twere you knew him not, so sick he is and passion-worn.