Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 7.djvu/233

211 Then wept Hassan and chanted the following couplet:

And this also:

Thereupon the old woman bowed her head awhile, then, raising it, said, ‘Glory be to God, the Mighty of Estate! Indeed I am afflicted with thee, O Hassan! Would I had never known thee! This woman, whom thou describest to me as thy very wife, I know by thy description to be none other than the eldest daughter of the Supreme King, she who ruleth over all the Wac Islands. So open thine eyes and consider thine affair; and if thou be asleep, awake; for, if this woman be indeed thy wife, it is impossible for thee ever to win to her, and though thou wonnest to her, yet couldst thou not avail to her possession, since the distance between thee and her is as that between earth and heaven. Wherefore, O my son, return presently and cast not thyself into destruction and me with thee; for meseemeth thou hast no lot in her; so return whence thou camest, lest our lives be lost.’ And she feared for herself and for him.