Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 1.djvu/244

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Vizier, “This is thy son.” And Bedreddin threw himself on Agib and repeated the following verses:

Long time have I bewailed the sev’rance of our loves, With tears that from my lids streamed down like burning rain,
And vowed that, if the days should reunite us two, My lips should never speak of severance again.
Joy hath o’erwhelmed me so, that for the very stress Of that which gladdens me, to weeping I am fain.
Tears are become to you a habit, O my eyes! So that ye weep as well for gladness as for pain.

Presently, Bedreddin’s mother came in and fell on him, repeating the following verses:

When we met, to each other we both did complain Of the manifold things that we each had to say;
For the lover’s complaint of the anguish he feels The tongue of a messenger cannot convey.

Then she wept and related to him what had befallen her since his departure, and he told her what he had suffered and they thanked God the Most High for their reunion with one another. Two days after his arrival, the Vizier went in to the Sultan and kissing the earth before him, saluted him after the fashion of salutation to kings. The Sultan rejoiced at his return and received him with distinguished favour. Then he desired to hear what had befallen him in his travels; so the Vizier told him all that had passed, and the Sultan said, “Praised be God for that thou hast attained thy desire and returned in safety to thy kinsfolk and family! I must see thy brother’s son, so do thou bring him to the Divan to-morrow.” Shemseddin replied, “God willing, thy slave shall be present to-morrow.” Then he saluted him and returning to his own house, informed his nephew of the King’s wish to see him, to which Bedreddin replied, “The slave is obedient to his lord’s commands.” So next day he accompanied his uncle to the Divan and after saluting the Sultan in the most punctilious and elegant manner, repeated the following verses: