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ready the sitting-chamber and ranged the lamps and lighted candles of wax in chandeliers of gold and silver and spread the divans and estrades with carpets and cushions. Moreover, she had set on food and fruits and confections and perfumed the place with musk and aloes-wood and ambergris. She was seated among the candles and the lamps, and the light of her face outshone the lustre of them all. When she saw the old woman, she said to her, ‘O nurse, where is the beloved of my heart?’ ‘O my lady,’ answered she, ‘I cannot find him; but I have brought thee his own sister; and here she is.’ ‘Art thou mad?’ exclaimed the princess. ‘What need have I of his sister? If a man’s head irk him, doth he bind up his hand?’ ‘No, by Allah, O my lady!’ replied the old woman. ‘But look on her, and if she please thee, let her be with thee.’ So saying, she uncovered the prince’s face, whereupon Heyat en Nufous knew him and running to him, pressed him to her bosom, and he pressed her to his. Then they both fell down in a swoon and lay without sense a long while. The old woman sprinkled rose-water upon them, till they came to themselves, when she kissed him on the mouth more than a thousand times and recited these verses:
My heart’s belov’d in the darkness visited me; I rose in honour of him, till down sat he.
“O thou my only desire,” quoth I, “by night Thou dost me visit nor fearest the guards should see!”
“I feared,” he answered, “but love hath captive ta’en My soul and spirit and will not set me free.”
We clipped with kisses and clung together awhile; For here was safety; nor guards nor spies feared we;
Then rose, undoubting, and shook out skirts, wherein Nowise uncleanness nor aught impure might be.
Night dccxxxiv.Quoth she, ‘Is it indeed true that I see thee in my abode and that thou art my house-mate and my cup-companion?’ Then passion redoubled on her and love
