"Dark falls the night and Passion comes sore pains to gar me dree, * And pine upstirs those ceaseless pangs which work my tormentry, And cease not separation flames my vitals to consume, * And drives me on destruction way this sorrow's ecstacy And longing breeds me restlessness; desire for ever fires, * And tears to all proclaim what I would keep in secrecy No cunning shift is known to me a meeting to secure, * That I may quit this sickly state, may cure my malady: The love which blazeth in my heart is fed with fancy fuel, * The lover from its hell of fire must bear Hell's agony![FN#240] O thou who blamest me for all befel me, 'tis enough, * Patient I bear what ever wrote the Reed of Doom for me: By Love I swear I'll never be consoled, no, never more; * I swear the oath of Love's own slaves who know no perjury: O Night, to chroniclers of Love the news of me declare; * That sleep hath fed mine eyelids of thy knowledge witness bear!" Then she walked on, weeping and turning right and left as she went, when behold, there espied her an old Badawi[FN#241] who had come into the town from the desert with wild Arabs other five. The old man took note of her and saw that she was lovely, but she had nothing on her head save a piece of camlet, and, marvelling at her beauty, he said to himself, "This charmer dazzleth men's wits but she is in squalid condition, and whether she be of the people of this city or she be a stranger, I needs must have her." So he followed her, little by little, till he met her face to face and stopped the way before her in a narrow lane, and called out to her, asking her case, and said, "Tell me, O my little daughter! art thou a free woman or a slave?" When she heard this, she said to him, "By thy life, do not add to my sorrows!" Quoth he, "Allah hath blessed me with six daughters, of whom five died and only one is left me, the youngest of all; and I came to ask thee if thou be of the folk of this city or a stranger; that I might take thee and carry thee to her, to bear her company so as to divert her from pining for her sisters. If thou have no kith and kin, I will make thee as one of them; and thou and she shall be as my two children." Nuzhat al-Zaman bowed her head in bashfulness when she heard what he said and communed with herself, "Haply I may trust myself to this old man." Then she said to him, "O nuncle, I am a maiden of the Arabs and a stranger and I have a sick brother; but I will go with thee to thy daughter on one condition, which is, that I may spend only the day with her and at night may return to my brother. If thou strike this bargain I will fare with thee, for I am a stranger and I was high in honour among my tribe, and I awoke one morning to find myself vile and abject. I came with my brother from the land of Al-Hijaz and I fearless he know not where I am." When the Badawi heard this, he said to himself, "By Allah, I have got my desire!" Then he turned to her and replied,