Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night - Volume 5.djvu/164



She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that "the young man and the maid met between the two parties and embraced and both fell dead upon the ground; whereat came there out an old man from one of the tents and stood over them exclaiming, 'Verily, we are Allah's and unto Him we are returning!' Then weeping sore he said, 'Allah have ruth on you both! by the Almighty, though you were not united in your lives, I will at least unite you after your deaths.' And he bade lay them out: so they washed them and shrouded them in one shroud and dug for them one grave and prayed one prayer over them both and buried them in one tomb; nor was there man or woman in the two parties but I saw weeping over them and buffeting their faces. Then I questioned the Shaykh of them, and he said, 'She was my daughter and he my brother's son; and love brought them to the pass thou seest.' I exclaimed, 'Allah amend thee! but why didst thou not marry them to each other?' Quoth he, 'I feared shame [FN#197] and dishonour; and now I am fallen into both.' " And they tell a tale of

THE MAD LOVER.

Quoth Abu 'l-Abbás al-Mubarrad, [FN#198] "I set out one day with a company to Al-Bárid on an occasion and, coming to the monastery of Hirakl, [FN#199] we alighted in its shade. Presently a man