Now when the treasurer heard these words from Amjad, he wept till his beard was wet, whilst As'ad's eyes brimmed with tears and he in turn repeated these couplets, "Fate frights us when the thing is past and gone; * Weeping is not for form or face alone[FN#366]: What ails the Nights?[FN#367] Allah blot out our sin, * And be the Nights by other hand undone! Ere this Zubayr-son[FN#368] felt their spiteful hate, * Who fled for refuge to the House and Stone: Would that when Khárijah was for Amru slain[FN#369] * They had ransomed Ali with all men they own." Then, with cheeks stained by tears down railing he recited also these verses, "In sooth the Nights and Days are charactered * By traitor falsehood and as knaves they lie; The Desert-reek[FN#370] recalls their teeth that shine; * All horrid blackness is their K of eye: My sin anent the world which I abhor * Is sin of sword when sworders fighting hie." Then his sobs waxed louder and he said, "O thou who woo'st a World[FN#371] unworthy, learn * 'Tis house of evils, 'tis Perdition's net: A house where whoso laughs this day shall weep * The next: then perish house of fume and fret! Endless its frays and forays, and its thralls * Are ne'er redeemed, while endless risks beset. How many gloried in its pomps and pride, * Till proud and pompous did all bounds forget, Then showing back of shield she made them swill[FN#372] * Full draught, and claimed all her vengeance debt. For know her strokes fall swift and sure, altho' * Long bide she and forslow the course of Fate: So look thou to thy days lest life go by * Idly, and meet thou more than thou hast met; And cut all chains of world-love and desire * And save thy soul and rise to secrets higher." Now when As'ad made an end of these verses, he strained his brother Amjad in his arms, till they twain were one body, and the treasurer, drawing his sword, was about to strike them, when behold, his steed took fright at the wind of his upraised hand, and breaking its tether, fled into the desert. Now the horse had cost a thousand gold pieces and on its back was a splendid saddle worth much money; so the treasurer threw down his sword, and ran after his beast.—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say. When it was the Two Hundred and Twenty-third Night,