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O wife of my brother, I bethought me of my country and my native place and of my late brother and longing waxed on me to see him and I fell a-weeping and lamenting over my strangerhood and distance from him. In fine, my yearning for him importuned me till I resolved to journey to this country, the which was the falling-place of my head[1] and my native land, that I might see my brother. And I said in myself, “O man, how long wilt thou be an exile[2] from thy country and thy native place, whenas thou hast an only brother and no more? Arise and journey and look upon him ere thou die. Who knoweth the calamities of fate and the vicissitudes of the days? Sore pity ’twere that thou shouldst die and not see thy brother. Moreover, Allah (praised be He) hath given thee abundant wealth and it may be thy brother is in poor case and straitened, and thou wilt help him, an[3] thou see him.’ So I arose forthright and equipped myself for travel; then, reciting the Fatiheh,[4] I took horse, after the Friday prayer, and came,
- ↑ i.e. birthplace, a child being born head-foremost.
- ↑ Burton, “wander like a wild Arab.”
- ↑ Lit. “and”; but this is the error of some copyist, who, by leaving out an initial l, has turned lau (if) into wa (and).
- ↑ The first chapter of the Koran; a common usage in anticipation of travel or indeed before commencing any enterprise of moment.
