his wakefulness redoubled, for he pined after his people and his homestead. He ate of the herbs of the earth and drank of its flowing waters and siesta'd under its trees at hours of noontide heats, till he turned from that road to another way and, following it other three days, came on the fourth to a land of green leas, dyed with the hues of plants and trees and with sloping valley sides made to please, abounding with the fruits of the earth. It had drunken of the cups of the cloud, to the sound of thunders rolling loud and the song of the turtle-dove gently sough'd, till its hill slopes were brightly verdant and its fields were sweetly fragrant. Then Kanmakan recalled his father's city Baghdad, and for excess of emotion he broke out into verse, "I roam, and roaming hope I to return; * Yet of returning see not how or when: I went for love of one I could not win, * Nor way of 'scaping ills that pressed could ken." When he ended his recital he wept, but presently he wiped away his tears and ate of the fruits of the earth enough for his present need. Then he made the Wuzu-ablution and prayed the ordained prayers which he had neglected all this time; and he sat resting in that place through the livelong day. When night came he slept and ceased not sleeping till midnight, when he awoke and heard a human voice declaiming these couplets, "What's life to me, unless I see the pearly sheen * Of teeth I love, and sight that glorious mien? Pray for her Bishops who in convents reign, * Vying to bow before that heavenly queen. And Death is lighter than the loved one's wrath, * Whose phantom haunts me seen in every scene: O joy of cup companions, when they meet, * And loved and lover o'er each other lean! E'en more in time of spring, the lord of flowers, * When fragrant is the world with bloom and green: Drainer of vine-juice! up wi' thee, for now * Earth is a Heaven where sweet waters flow.[FN#76]" When Kanmakan heard these distichs his sorrows surged up; his tears ran down his cheeks like freshets and flames of fire darted into his heart. So he rose to see who it was that spake these words, but saw none for the thickness of the gloom; whereupon passion increased on him and he was frightened and restlessness possessed him. He descended from his place to the sole of the valley and walked along the banks of the stream, till he heard the same voice sighing heavy sighs and reciting these couplets,