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Thereupon the old man called out to his eunuchs and women, saying, ‘Throw her down!’ So they threw her down and he beat her grievously, whilst she cried in vain for help, but presently stinted and fell to saying, ‘God is my sufficiency, and He is indeed sufficient!’ till her breath failed her and she swooned away. When he had taken his fill of beating her, he said to the eunuchs, ‘Drag her forth by the feet and cast her down in the kitchen, and give her nothing to eat.’ They did his bidding, and on the morrow the accursed old man sent for her and beat her again, after which he bade return her to her place. When the pain of the blows had subsided, she said, ‘There is no god but God and Mohammed is His Apostle! God is my sufficiency and excellent is He in whom I put my trust!’ And she called upon our lord Mohammed (whom God Night cccxv.bless and preserve) for succour.
Meanwhile, Ali Shar slept on till next day, when the fumes of the henbane quitted his brain and he awoke and cried out, ‘O Zumurrud!’ But none answered him. So he entered the saloon and found ‘the air empty and the place of visitation distant;’[1] whereby he knew that it was the Nazarene, who had played him this trick. And he wept and groaned and lamented and repeated the following verses:
O Fate, thou sparest not nor dost desist from me: Lo, for my soul is racked with dolour and despite!
Have pity, O my lords, upon a slave laid low, Upon the rich made poor by love and its unright.
What boots the archer’s skill, if, when the foe draw near, His bowstring snap and leave him helpless in the fight?
And when afflictions press and multiply on man, Ah, whither then shall he from destiny take flight?
How straitly did I guard ’gainst severance of our loves! But, when as Fate descends, it blinds the keenest sight.
- ↑ These words are a quotation from a well-known piece of verse.
