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turbans and sat down. Presently, in came a damsel with a tray of food and set it before us, saying, ‘Eat.’ We ate a little and she took away the tray; after which we abode with our host till nightfall, when Ali ben Bekkar sighed and said to me, ‘Know, O my brother, that I am a dead man and I have a charge to give thee: it is that, when thou seest me dead, thou go to my mother and tell her and bid her come hither, that she may be present at the washing of my body and take order for my funeral; and do thou exhort her to bear my loss with patience.’ Then he fell down in a swoon and when he revived, he heard a damsel singing afar off and addressed himself to give ear to her and hearken to her voice; and now he was absent from the world and now came to himself, and anon he wept for grief and mourning at what had befallen him. Presently, he heard the damsel sing the following verses:
Parting hath wrought in haste our union to undo After the straitest loves and concord ’twixt us two.
The shifts of night and day have torn our lives apart. When shall we meet again? Ah, would to God I knew!
After conjoined delight, how bitter sev’rance is! Would God it had no power to baffle lovers true!
Death’s anguish hath its hour, then endeth; but the pain Of sev’rance from the loved at heart is ever new.
Could we but find a way to come at parting’s self, We’d surely make it taste of parting’s cup of rue.
When he heard this, he gave one sob and his soul quitted his body. As soon as I saw that he was dead, I committed his body to the care of the master of the house and said to him, ‘I go to Baghdad, to tell his mother and kinsfolk, that they may come hither and take order for his burial.’ So I betook myself to Baghdad and going to my house, changed my clothes, after which I repaired to Ali ben Bekkar’s lodging. When his servants saw me, they came to me and questioned me of him, and I bade them ask leave for me to go in to his mother. She bade admit me;
