书城公版Volume Six
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第125章

And now Allah transporteth me from the house of the world which is perishable to the house of the other world which is eternal.'Said I,'O my daughter,Allah preserve thee and preserve thy youth!'And as I questioned her of the cause of her illness,she made me no answer;but she smiled and said,'O wife of my uncle,bid thy son,whenever he would go whither he goeth every day,repeat these two saws at his going away;'Faith is fair!Unfaith is foul!'For this is of my tender affection to him,that I am solicitous concerning him during my lifetime and after my death.'

Then she gave me somewhat for thee and sware me that I would not give it until I see thee weeping for her and lamenting her death.

The thing is with me;and,when I have seen thy case as I have said,I will make it over to thee.''Show it me,'cried I:but she would not.Then I gave myself up to love delights and thought no more of my cousin's death:for my mind was unsettled and fain would I have been with my lover the livelong day and night.[519]So hardly had I perceived the darkness fall when I betook myself to the garden,where I found the young lady sitting on coals of fire for much impatience.As soon as she was sure that she saw me,she ran to me and throwing her arms about my neck,enquired of the daughter of my uncle.I replied,'Sooth to say she is dead,and we have caused Zikr- litanies and recitations of the Koran to be performed for her;and it is now four nights and this be the fifth since she is gone.'When she heard that,she shrieked aloud and wept and said,'Did I not tell thee that thou hast slain her?Hadst thou let me know of her before her death,I would have requited her the kindness she did me,in that she served me and united thee to me;for without her,we had never foregathered,we twain,and I fear lest some calamity befal thee because of thy sin against her.'Quoth I,'She acquitted me of offence ere she died;'and I repeated to her what my mother had told me.Quoth she,'Allah upon thee!when thou returnest to thy mother,learn what thing she keepeth for thee.'I rejoined,'My mother also said to me;'Before the daughter of thy uncle died,she laid a charge upon me,saying,Whenever thy son would go whither he is wont to go,teach him these two saws,'Faith is fair;Unfaith is foul!''When my lady heard this she exclaimed,'The mercy of Almighty Allah be upon her!Indeed,she hath delivered thee from me,for I minded to do thee a mischief,but now I will not harm thee nor trouble thee.'

I wondered at this and asked her,'What then west thou minded to do with me in time past and we two being in bond of love?'

Answered she,'Thou art infatuated with me;for thou art young in life and a raw laddie;thy heart is void of guile and thou weetest not our malice and deceit.Were she yet alive,she would protect thee;for she is the cause of thy preservation and she hath delivered thee from destruction.And now I charge thee speak not with any woman,neither accost one of our sex,be she young or be she old;and again I say Beware!for thou art simple and raw and knowest not the wiles of women and their malice,and she who interpreted the signs to thee is dead.And indeed I fear for thee,lest thou fall into some disgrace and find none to deliver thee from it,now that the daughter of thy uncle is no more.'--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

When it was the One Hundred and Twenty-first Night,She said,It hath reached me,O auspicious King,that the young merchant continued to Taj al-Muluk:'Then the young lady said to me,'I fear for thee lest thou fall into some disgrace and find none to deliver thee from it.Alas for thy cousin and ah,the pity of her!Would I had known her before her death,that I might have requited by waiting upon her the fair service she did me.The mercy of Allah Almighty be upon her,for she kept her secret and revealed not what she suffered,and but for her thou hadst never foregathered with me;no,never!But there is one thing I desire of thee.'I asked,'What is it?'and she answered,'It is that thou bring me to her grave,that I may visit her in the tomb wherein she is and write some couplets thereon.'I rejoined,'To morrow,if Allah please!'[520]I slept with her that night,and she ceased not saying after every hour,'Would thou hadst told me of thy cousin before her death!'

And I asked her,'What is the meaning of the two saws she taught me?'Faith is fair!Unfaith is foul!''But she made no answer.

As soon as it was day she rose and,taking a purse of gold pieces,said to me,'Come,show me her tomb,that I may visit it and grave some verses thereon and build a dome over it and commend her to Allah's mercy and bestow these diners in alms for her soul.'I replied,'To hear is to obey!'and walked on before her,whilst she followed me,giving alms as she went and saying to all upon whom she lavisht bounty,'This is an alms for the soul of Azizah,who kept her counsel till she drank the cup of death and never told the secret of her love.'And she stinted not thus to give alms and say,'for Azizah's soul,'till the purse was empty and we came to the grave.And when she looked at the tomb,she wept and threw herself on it;then,pulling out a chisel of steel and a light hammer,she graved therewith upon the head stone in fine small characters these couplets,'I past by a broken tomb amid a garth right sheen,Whereon seven blooms of Nu'uman[521] glowed with cramoisie;Quoth I,'Who sleepeth in this tomb?'Quoth answering Earth'Before a lover Hades-tombed[522] bend reverently!'

Quoth I,'May Allah help thee,O thou slain of Love,And grant thee home in Heaven and Paradise height to see!'

Hapless are lovers all e'en tombed in their tombs,Where amid living folk the dust weighs heavily!

Pain would I plant a garden blooming round thy grave,And water every flower with tear drops flowing free!'