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is as thou sayest,’ rejoined Gherib; ‘but abide thou here till I return to thee.’ And the Ghoul answered, ‘I hear and obey.’ Then Sehim departed with his comrades of the Benou Kehtan for the dwelling-places of their tribe, and Gherib set out with Fekhr Taj and her company, intending for the cities of Sabour, King of the Persians.
Meanwhile, King Sabour abode awaiting his daughter’s return from the Monastery of the Fire, and when the appointed time passed by and she came not, fires raged in his heart. Now he had forty viziers, whereof the wisest and chiefest was called Daidan: so he said to him, ‘O vizier, the day of my daughter’s return is past and I have no news of her; so do thou send a courier to the Monastery of the Fire to learn what is come of her.’ ‘I hear and obey,’ replied Daidan, and summoning the chief of the couriers, despatched him forthright to the Monastery. When he reached it, he asked the monks of the princess, and they said, ‘We have not seen her this year.’ So the Courier returned to the city of Ishanir[1] and told the vizier, who went in to the king and told him. When Sabour heard this, he was sore concerned and casting his crown on the ground, tore his beard and fell down in a swoon. They sprinkled water upon him, and presently he came to himself, weeping-eyed and mournful-hearted and repeated the words of the poet:
When in thine absence to mine aid patience and tears I call, Tears come obedient to my word, but patience not at all.
What if the days have parted us? Indeed, ’tis of their wont; For unto Fortune perfidy, alas! is natural.
Then he called ten of his captains and bade them take
- ↑ Apparently Ctesiphon, the ancient dual capital of the Chosroës, situate on the Tigris below Baghdad. The place is elsewhere spoken of as “The Cities,” a circumstance which confirms this supposition, Medaïn or Medaïn Kisra (the cities of Chosroës) being the Arabic name of Ctesiphon.
