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the letter thou wrotest to that dog of a merchant.’ Quoth Heyat en Nufous, ‘Didst thou forbid him, as I told thee?’ ‘Yes,’ answered she; ‘and this is his answer.’ So the princess took the letter and read it; then turned to the old woman and said to her, ‘Where is the result thou didst promise me?’ ‘O my lady,’ replied she, ‘saith he not in his letter that he repenteth and will not again offend, excusing himself for the past?’ ‘Not so, by Allah!’ replied the princess. ‘On the contrary, he increases [his offending].’ ‘O my lady,’ rejoined the nurse, ‘write him a letter and thou shalt see what I will do with him.’ Quoth Heyat en Nufous, ‘There needs no letter nor answer.’ ‘I must have a letter,’ answered the nurse, ‘that I may rebuke him roundly and cut off his hopes.’ ‘Thou canst do that without a letter,’ rejoined the princess: but the old woman said, ‘I cannot do it without the letter.’ So Heyat en Nufous called for inkhorn and paper and wrote these verses:
Again and again I chide thee; but chiding hinders thee ne’er: How many a time with my writing in verse have I bid thee forbear!
Conceal thy passion, I rede thee, nor ever reveal it to men; For, if thou gainsay me, no mercy I’ll show thee henceforward nor spare;
Yea, if, in despite of my warning, to this that thou sayst thou return, The herald of death[1] shall go calling for thee and thy death shall declare;
Ere long, on thy body the breezes shall blow, as the hurricane blows, And eke on thy flesh in the desert shall batten the fowls of the air.
Return to fair fashion and comely; ’twill profit thee, trust me; but, if Thou purpose ill-dealing and lewdness, for sure I’ll destroy thee, I swear.
When she had made an end of writing this, she cast the scroll angrily from her hand, and the old woman picked it up and carried it to Ardeshir. When he read it, he knew
- ↑ Naaï el maut, the person who announces any one’s death to the friends and relations of the deceased and invites them to the funeral.
