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to succour her against that unbelieving miscreant and deliver her from the torment she suffered from him. Then she wrote a letter to Mesrour, setting forth to him all that the Jew had done with her from first to last and ending with the following verses:
Rain down tears, O mine eyes, as the deluge they were, So perchance in their flood may be quenched my despair.
Once I clad me in raiment of gold-wroughten silk: Now the raiment of monks and of friars I wear;
Yea, and sulphur’s the scent of my clothes; betwixt that And sweet basil and musk what a difference is there!
Thou wouldst never permit my abasement, Mesrour, Nor my bondage, if but of my case thou wert ware;
And Huboub too ’s in fetters with one who denies The One, the Requiter of foul and of fair.
Lo, the ways of the Jews and their faith I’ve renounced And my faith is the noblest of faiths hence fore’er.
To the Clement a Muslim’s prostration I make And to follow the law of Mohammed I swear.
Forget not our loves of old time, O Mesrour, And keep thou our vows and our troth plight with care.
My faith for thy love and thy sake I have changed And my secret for passion I’ll never declare;
So, if, like to the noble, our love thou’ve preserved, Be no laggard, but hasten to us to repair.
Then she folded the letter and gave it to her maid Huboub, saying, ‘Keep it in thy pocket, till we send it to Mesrour.’
Presently in came the Jew and seeing them joyous, said to them, ‘How comes it that I find you merry? Hath a letter reached you from your friend Mesrour?’ ‘We have no helper against thee save God, blessed and exalted be He!’ replied Zein el Mewasif. ‘He will deliver us from thy tyranny, and except thou restore to us our country and home, we will complain of thee to-morrow to the Cadi and governor of this town.’ Quoth
