Whenas the couriers came with news of thee, how fair Thou wast
and sweet and how thy visage shone with light,
All, all, for thy sweet sake, I left; ay, I forsook Aziz, my
sire, and those akin to me that hight
And unto Irak fared, my way to thee to make, And crossed the
stony wastes i' the darkness of the night.
Then sent I speech to thee in verses such as burn The heart;
reproach therein was none nor yet unright;
Yet with perfidiousness (sure Fortune's self as thou Ne'er so
perfidious was) my love thou didst requite
And deemedst me a waif, a homeless good-for-nought, A
slave-begotten brat, a wanton, witless wight.

Then he folded the letter and committed it to the nurse and gave
her five hundred dinars, saying, "Accept this from me, for that
indeed thou hast wearied thyself between us." "By Allah, O my
lord," answered she, "my desire is to bring about union between
you, though I lose that which my right hand possesseth." And he
said, "May God the Most High requite thee with good!" Then she
carried the letter to Mariyeh and said to her, "Take this letter;
belike it may be the end of the correspondence." So she took it
and breaking it open, read it, and when she had made an end of
it, she turned to the nurse and said to her, "This fellow putteth
off lies upon me and avoucheth unto me that he hath cities and
horsemen and footmen at his command and submitting to his
allegiance; and he seeketh of me that which he shall not obtain;
for thou knowest, O nurse, that kings' sons have sought me in
marriage, with presents and rarities; but I have paid no heed
unto aught of this; so how shall I accept of this fellow, who is
the fool[FN#90] of his time and possesseth nought but two caskets