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Quoth I, "'Tis unlawful;" but he, "It is lawful with me;" So to it I fell, supporting myself by his rede. When Kemerezzeman heard these words, the light in his eyes became darkness and he said, 'O King, thou hast in thy palace women and female slaves, that have not their like in this age: may not these suffice thee without me?
Then do thou give her to eat and drink, and her father, rejoicing in her recovery, will marry thee to her and share his kingdom with thee, according to the condition he hath imposed on himself: and so peace be on thee. 'May I never lack thine excellence! replied Kemerezzeman, and taking the instruments aforesaid, sallied forth of the khan and took up his station before King Ghaiour's palace, where he began to cry out, saying, 'I am the scribe, I am the mathematician, he that knows the Sought and the Seeker, I am he who makes calculations for marriage contracts, who draws horoscopes, interprets dreams and traces the magical characters by which hidden treasures are discovered!
Round the vault stood many brazen vessels of the bigness of a great oil-jar, into one of which he put his hand and found it full of red and shining gold; whereupon he said to himself, 'Verily, the days of weariness are past and joy and solace are come! Then he returned to the garden and replacing the trap-door, busied himself in tending the trees till nightfall, when the gardener came back and said to him, 'O my son, rejoice in a speedy return to thy native land, for the merchants are ready for the voyage and in three days' time the ship will set sail for the City of Ebony, which is the first of the cities of the Muslims; and thence thou must travel by land six months' journey till thou come to the Islands of Khalidan, the dominions of King Shehriman. At this Kemerezzeman rejoiced and repeated the following verses: Forsake not a lover unused aversion from thee, Nor punish the guiltless with rigour and cruelty.
So Kemerezzeman abode with him, watering the trees and hoeing up the weeds and weeping floods of tears; for he had no rest day or night, by reason of his strangerhood and separation from his beloved, and he ceased not to repeat verses upon her, amongst others the following: Ye made us a promise of yore; will ye not to your promise be true?
The eunuch stationed Kemerezzeman behind the curtain of the princess's door and the prince said to him, 'Whether of the two wilt thou liefer have me do, cure thy lady from here or go in and cure her within the curtain? The eunuch marvelled at his words and answered, 'It were more to thine honour to cure her from here. So Kemerezzeman sat down behind the curtain and taking out pen and inkhorn and paper, wrote the following: 'This is the letter of one whom passion torments and whom desire consumes and sorrow and misery destroy; one who despairs of life and looks for nothing but death, whose mourning heart has neither comforter nor helper, whose sleepless eyes have none to succour them against affliction, whose day is passed in fire and his night in torment, whose body is wasted for much emaciation and there comes to him no messenger from his beloved: I write with a heart devoted to thee and the thought of thee And an eyelid, wounded for weeping tears of the blood of me.
The gardener awoke sick and abode thus two days; but on the third day, his sickness increased on him, till they despaired of his life and Kemerezzeman grieved sore for him. Meanwhile, the captain and sailors came and enquired for the gardener.
If love be my crime For thee, my offence, of a truth, is not light. Doth passion blaze up in thy heart like to mine? I suffer the torments of hell day and night. 'O my father, answered Kemerezzeman, 'God willing, I will lie but one night abroad. Then he took leave of him, and he and Merzewan mounted and taking with them the dromedary and camel, rode out into the open country.
At the end of this time, he came in sight of an inhabited city, whereupon the bird darted off like the glance of the eye and entering the town, was lost to view: and Kemerezzeman marvelled at this and exclaimed, 'Praised be God, who hath brought me hither in safety! Then he sat down by a stream and washed his hands and feet and face and rested awhile: and recalling his late easy and pleasant life of union with his beloved and contrasting it with his present plight of trouble and weariness and hunger and strangerhood and severance, the tears streamed from his eyes and he repeated the following cinquains: I strove to hide the load that love on me did lay; In vain, and sleep for me is changed to wake alway.
When Kemerezzeman heard these verses and was certified that there was no escaping compliance with her will, he said, 'O King, if thou must needs have it so, swear to me that thou wilt use me thus but once, though it avail not to stay thy debauched appetite; and that thou wilt never again require me of this to the end of time; so it may be God will purge me of the sin. 'I promise thee that, replied she, 'hoping that God of His favour will relent towards us and blot out our mortal sins; for the compass of the Divine forgiveness is not indeed so strait, but it may altogether embrace us and absolve us of the excess of our transgressions and bring us to the light of righteousness out of the darkness of error.
I have an eye, whose pupil, for love of them, rejects Sleep and whose tears flow ever, unceasing and unstayed. My foes would have me patient for him; but God forbid That ever of my hearing should heed to them be paid! I baulked their expectation. Of Kemerezzeman Sometime I did accomplish the joys for which I prayed.
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