messages and doing their desires and keeping their secrets; and much good shall befal thee.' So now I have told thee my vision and it is thine to decide." Quoth Rose-in-Hood, after she heard of the dream, -- And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
When it was the Three Hundred and Seventy-second Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Rose-in-Hood asked her nurse after hearing of the dream, "Tell me, canst thou keep a secret, O my nurse?"; whereto she answered, "And how should I not keep secrecy, I that am of the flower of the free?" [FN#38] Then the maiden pulled out the scroll, whereon she had written the verses and said, "Carry me this my letter to Uns al-Wujud and bring me his reply." The nurse took the letter and, repairing to Uns al-Wujud, kissed his hands and greeted him right courteously, then gave him the paper; and he read it and, comprehending the contents, wrote on the back these couplets,
"I soothe my heart and my love repel; * But my state interprets my love too well: When tears flow I tell them mine eyes are ill, * Lest the censor see and my case fortell, I was fancy-free and unknew I Love; * But I fell in love and in madness fell. I show you my case and complain of pain, * Pine and ecstasy that your ruth compel: I write you with tears of eyes, so belike * They explain the love come my heart to quell; Allah guard a face that is veiled with charms, * Whose thrall is Moon and the Stars as well: In her beauty I never beheld the like; * From her sway the branches learn sway and swell: I beg you, an 'tis not too much of pains, * To call; [FN#39] 'twere boon without parallel. I give you a soul you will haply take. * To which Union is Heaven, Disunion Hell."
Then he folded the letter and kissing it, gave it to the go-between
