Byzun therefore proceeded unobserved to the tent of the princess, who on
meeting and receiving him, pressed him to her bosom; and taking off his
Kaiáni girdle, that he might be more at his ease, asked him to sit down
and relate the particulars of his enterprise among the wild boars of the
forest. Having done so, he added that he had left Girgín behind him.

"Enraptured, and impatient to survey
Thy charms, I brook'd no pause upon the way."

He was immediately perfumed with musk and rose-water, and refreshments
of every kind were set before him; musicians played their sweetest airs,
and dark-eyed damsels waited upon him. The walls of the tent were
gorgeously adorned with amber, and gold, and rubies; and the sparkling
old wine was drunk out of crystal goblets. The feast of joy lasted three
nights and three days, Byzun and Maníjeh enjoying the precious moments
with unspeakable rapture. Overcome with wine and the felicity of the
scene, he at length sunk into repose, and on the fourth day came the
time of departure; but the princess, unable to relinquish the society of
her lover, ordered a narcotic draught to be administered to him, and
whilst he continued in a state of slumber and insensibility, he was
conveyed secretly and in disguise into Túrán. He was taken even to the
palace of Afrásiyáb, unknown to all but to the emissaries and domestics
of the princess, and there he awoke from the trance into which he had
been thrown, and found himself clasped in the arms of his idol.
Considering, on coming to his senses, that he had been betrayed by some
witchery, he made an attempt to get out of the seclusion: above all, he
was apprehensive of a fatal termination to the adventure; but Maníjeh's
blandishments induced him to remain, and for some time he was contented
to be immersed in continual enjoyment--such pleasure as arises from the