95 They asked the Lover: ‘Whence art thou?’ He answered: ‘From love.’ ‘To whom dost thou belong?’ ‘I belong to love.’ ‘Who gave thee birth?’ ‘Love.’ ‘Where wast thou born?’ ‘In love.’ ‘Who brought thee up?’ ‘Love.’ ‘How dost thou live?’ ‘By love.’ ‘What is thy name?’ ‘Love.’ ‘Whence comest thou?’ ‘From love.’ ‘Whither goest thou?’ ‘To love.’ ‘Where dwelled thou?’ ‘In love.’ ‘Hast thou aught but love?’ ‘Yea,’ he answered, ‘I have faults; and I have sins against my Beloved.’ ‘Is there pardon in thy Beloved?’ ‘Yea,’ answered the Lover, ‘in my Beloved there is justice and mercy, and therefore am I lodged between fear and hope; for mercy causes me to hope and justice to fear.’ 96 The Beloved left the Lover, and the Lover sought Him in his thoughts, and inquired for Him of men in the language of love. The Lover found his Beloved, who was despised among the people, and he told the Beloved what great wrong was done to His Name. The Beloved answered him, and said: ‘Lo, I suffer these wrongs for want of fervent and devoted lovers.’ The Lover wept, and his sorrow was increased, but the Beloved comforted him, by revealing to him His Presence. 97 The light of the Beloved’s abode came to illumine the Lover’s dwelling, which was full of darkness, and to fill it with joy, with grief and with thoughts. And the Lover cast out all things from his dwelling, that the Beloved might be lodged there. 98 They asked the Lover what sign the Beloved bore upon His banner. He replied: ‘The sign of One dead.’ They asked him why He bore such a sign. He answered: ‘Because He was once crucified, and was dead, and because those who glory in being His lovers must follow His steps.’ 99 The Beloved came to lodge in the dwelling of His Lover, and the steward demanded of Him the reckoning. But the Lover said: ‘My Beloved is to be lodged freely,--yea, with a gift,--for long ago He paid the price of all men.’ 100 Memory and Will met together, and climbed into the mountain of the Beloved, that understanding might be exalted and love for the Beloved might be increased. 101 Every day sighs and tears are messengers between the Lover and the Beloved, that between them there may be solace and companionship, love and goodwill. 102 The Lover desired his Beloved, and sent to Him his thoughts, that they might bring him back from his Beloved the joys which for so long had been his. 103 The Beloved gave to His Lover the gift of tears, sighs, thoughts, weariness and grief, with which gift the Lover served his Beloved. 104 The Lover begged his Beloved to give him riches, peace and honour in this world; and the Beloved revealed His Countenance to the memory and understanding of the Lover, and gave Himself as the Supreme Aim to his will. 105 They asked the Lover: ‘In what consists honour?’ He answered: ‘In comprehending and loving my Beloved.’ And they asked him also: ‘In what consists dishonour?’ He answered: ‘In forgetting and ceasing to love Him.’