199
claiming, ‘There is no resource against the ordinance of God neither is there any escape from that which He hath decreed!’ Then he went up to the roof and finding the strips of Baalbek stuff tied to the battlements and hanging down to the ground, knew that she had descended thence and had fled forth, as one distracted and mad with passion. Presently, he turned and seeing there two birds, an owl and a raven, deemed this an ill omen; so he groaned and recited these verses:
Unto the loved ones’ stead I came, as hoping, by their sight, To quench the fire that burnt in me of love-longing and woe;
But no belovéd found I there, nor aught, indeed, I found, Save two ill-omened ones, an owl and eke a corby-crow.
And quoth the tongue o’ the case to me, “Thou hast been tyrannous And hast two longing lovers torn, the one the other fro!
Taste of the anguish, then, of love what thou hast made them taste And live, ’twixt agony and tears, in sorrow evermo.”
Then he descended, weeping, and bade the servants go forth and search the island for their mistress; so they sought for her, but found her not.
As for Uns el Wujoud, when he was certified that Rose-in-bud was indeed gone, he gave a great cry and fell down in a swoon, nor came to himself for a long time, whilst the folk deemed that a ravishment from the Merciful One had taken him and that he was absorbed in contemplation of the splendour of the majesty of the Requiter of good and evil. Then, despairing of finding Uns el Wujoud and seeing that Ibrahim was distracted for the loss of his daughter, King Dirbas’s Vizier addressed himself to return to his own country, for all he had not attained the object of his journey, and said to Ibrahim? ‘I have a mind to take yonder fakir with me; it may be God, for his sake, will incline the King’s heart to me, for that he is a holy man; and after, I will send him to Ispahan, which is near our country.’ ‘Do as thou wilt,’ answered Ibrahim.
