Page:The Perfumed Garden - Burton - 1886.djvu/192

176 to leave him. Her absence affected him to that degree that he fell ill, because he could not see her.

One day he went to see one of his friends, and said to him, "Oh, my brother! an ungovernable desire has seized me, and I can wait no more. Could you accompany me on a visit I am going to pay to Bahia, the well-beloved of my heart?" The friend declared himself willing.

The next day they mounted their horses; and after a journey of two days, they arrived near the place where Bahia dwelt. There they stopped. The lover said to his friend, "Go and see the people that live about here, and ask for their hospitality, but take good care not to divulge our intentions, and try in particular to find the servant-girl of Bahia, to whom you can say that I am here, and whom you will charge with the message to her mistress that I would like to see her." He then described the servant-maid to him.

The friend went, met the servant, and told her all that was necessary. She went at once to Bahia, and repeated to her what she had been told.

Bahia sent to the friend the message, "Inform him who sent you that the meeting will take place to-night, near such and such a tree, at such and such an hour."

Returning to the lover, the friend communicated to him the decision of Bahia about the rendezvous. At that hour that had been fixed, the two friends were near to the tree. They had not to wait long for Bahia. As soon as her lover saw her coming, he rushed to meet her, kissed her, pressed her to his heart, and they began to embrace and caress each other.

The lover said to her, "O Bahia, is there no way to enable us to pass the night together without rousing the