Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night - Volume 5.djvu/165

 came out to us and said, 'There are madmen in the monastery, [FN#200] and amongst them one who speaketh wisdom; if ye saw him, ye would marvel at his speech.' So we arose all and went into the monastery' where we saw a man seated on a skin mat in one of the cells, with bare head and eyes intently fixed upon the wall. We saluted him, and he returned our salaam, without looking at us, and one said to us, 'Repeat some verses to him; for, when he heareth verse, he speaketh.' So I repeated these two couplets,

'O best of race to whom gave Hawwa [FN#201] boon of birth, * Except for thee the world were neither sweet nor fair! Thou'rt he, whose face, by Allah shown to man, * Doth ward off death, decay and hoary hair.'

When he heard from me this praise of the Apostle he turned towards us and repeated these lines,

'Well Allah wotteth I am sorely plagued: * Nor can I show my pain to human sight. Two souls have I, one soul is here contained, * While other woneth in another site. Meseems the absent soul's like present soul, * And that she suffers what to me is dight.'

Then he asked us. 'Have I said well or said ill? And we answered, 'Thou hast said the clean contrary of ill, well and right well.' Then he put out his hand to a stone, that was by him and took it up; whereupon thinking he would throw it at us we fled from him; but he fell to beating upon his breast therewith violent blows and said to us, 'Fear not, but draw near and hear somewhat from me and receive it from me.' So we came back, and he repeated these couplets,