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secret, till I have proved her.’ Then said the nurse, ‘O my lady, I saw in my sleep as though one came to me and said, “Thy mistress and Uns el Wujoud love one another; so do thou serve their loves by carrying their messages and doing their need and keeping their secrets; and much good shall befall thee.” So now I have told thee my dream, and it is thine to decide.’ Night ccclxxii.‘O my nurse,’ quoth Rose-in-bud, ‘canst thou keep secrets?’ ‘And how should I not keep secrets,’ answered the nurse, ‘I that am of the flower of the free-born?’ Then Rose-in-bud pulled out the scroll, on which she had written the verses afore said, and said to her, ‘Carry this my letter to Uns el Wujoud and bring me his answer.’
So the nurse took the letter and repairing to Uns el Wujoud, kissed his hands and saluted him right courteously, then gave him the letter; and he read it and wrote on the back the following verses:
I temper my heart in passion and hide my case as I may; But my case interprets for me and doth my love bewray.
And whenas my lids brim over with tears,—lest the spy should see And come to fathom my secret,—“My eye is sore,” I say.
Of old I was empty-hearted and knew not what love was; But now I am passion’s bondman, my heart to love’s a prey.
To thee I prefer my petition, complaining of passion and pain, So haply thou mayst be softened and pity my dismay.
With the tears of my eye I have traced it, that so unto thee it may The tidings of what I suffer for thee to thee convey.
God watch o’er a visage, that veileth itself with beauty, a face That the full moon serves as a bondman and the stars as slaves obey!
Yea, Allah protect her beauty, whose like I ne’er beheld! The boughs from her graceful carriage, indeed, might learn to sway.
I beg thee to grant me a visit; algates, if it irk thee nought. An thou knewst how dearly I’d prize it, thou wouldst not say me nay.
I give thee my life, so haply thou mayst accept it: to me Thy presence is life eternal and hell thy turning away.
Then he folded the letter and kissing it, gave it to the nurse and said to her, ‘O nurse, incline thy lady’s heart to
