Page:The book of wonder voyages (1919).djvu/176

 passed." So he put up his sword and sat by her side while she recounted all that had happened from first to last. And when the story was ended Hasan fell down in a faint and remained thus to the close of day. And for five days he wept and wailed and bemoaned himself, and would take neither meat nor drink. And one night he dreamed that he saw his wife full of sorrow, repenting for what she had done. Thus he lived for a whole month, weeping and heavy hearted, wakeful by night and eating little. Then he thought he would repair to his sisters and take counsel with them in the matter, so he summoned his dromedaries, loading them with costly gifts, and bade his mother adieu.

And when he reached the Palace of the Mountain of Clouds, the Princesses rejoiced to see him, but said: "0 our brother, what can ail thee to come again so soon, seeing thou wast with us but two months since?" Then he fainted for grief and wept bitterly, and told them what had befallen him in his absence, and how his wife had taken flight with her children. So they grieved for him, and asked what she had said at leave-taking. And he repeated word for word what his wife had said to his mother: "Tell thy son, when he cometh to thee and the nights of severance shall be longsome to him, and he craveth reunion and meeting to see, and whenas the winds of love and longing shake him dolefully, let him fare to me in the Islands of Wak." When they heard his words they signed to one another with their eyes, and shook their heads, and considered deeply for