The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 03 (of 10)
General
The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 03 (of 10)
Fairy tales; Tales -- Arab countries
And having finished her verse, the Lady Budur stood up forthwith and,
firmly setting her feet to the wall, strained with all her might upon
the collar of iron, till she brake it from her neck and snapped the
chains. Then going forth from behind the curtain she threw herself on
Kamar al-Zaman and kissed him on the mouth, like a pigeon feeding its
young.[FN#302] And she embraced him with all the stress of her love and
longing and said to him, "O my lord do I wake or sleep and hath the
Almighty indeed vouchsafe] us reunion after disunion? Laud be to Allah
who hath our loves repaired, even after we despaired!" Now when the
eunuch saw her in this case, he went off running to King Ghayur and,
kissing the ground before him, said, "O my lord, know that this
Astrologer is indeed the Shaykh of all astrologers, who are fools to
him, all of them; for verily he hath cured thy daughter while standing
behind the curtain and without going in to her." Quoth the King, "Look
well to it, is this news true?" Answered the eunuch, "O my lord, rise
and come and see for thyself how she hath found strength to break the
iron chains and is come forth to the Astrologer, kissing and embracing
him." Thereupon the King arose and went in to his daughter who, when
she saw him, stood up in haste and covered her head,[FN#303] and
recited these two couplets,
"The toothstick love I not; for when I say, *
'Siwák,'[FN#304] I miss thee, for it sounds 'Siwá-ka'.
The caper-tree I love; for when I say, *
'Arák'[FN#305] it sounds I look on thee, 'Ará-ka.'"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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