Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night - Volume 5.djvu/140

 me in the dust, go to Baghdad and watch for the Caliph Harun al-Rashid, till he come forth, when do thou give him what thou shalt find in the breast of my gown and bear him my salutation.  Then he ejaculated the profession of the Faith and glorified his God in the most eloquent of words, reciting these couplets,

Carry the trust of him whom death awaits * To Al-Rashid and God reward thy care! And say An exile who desired thy sight * Long loving, from afar sends greeting fair. Nor hate nor irk (No!) him from thee withdrew, * Kissing thy right to Heaven brought him near. [FN#165] But what estranged his soul, O sire, from thee * Is that thy worldly joys it would not share!

Then he betook himself to prayer, asking pardon of Allah -- And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

When it was the Four Hundred and Second Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the youth then betook himself to asking pardon of Allah and to invoking prayer and praise upon the Apostle and the Lord of the Just and repeating verses of the Koran; after which he recited these couplets,

O sire, be not deceived by worldly joys; * For life must pass, and joy must learn to mourn; When thou art told of folk in evil plight, * Think thou must answer for all hearts forlorn; And when thou bear thy dead towards the tombs, * Know thou wilt likewise on that way be bourne.

Continued Abu the Basri, Now when the youth had ended his charge and his verses I left him and went home. On the morrow, I returned, at the appointed hour, and found him indeed dead, the mercy of Allah be upon him! So I washed him and, unsewing his gown, found in the bosom a ruby worth thousands of gold pieces and said to myself, By Allah, this youth was indeed weaned