Thousand & One Nights: 187th Night: The Wealthy Man & The Slave Girl -17

The following night Shahrazad said:
I heard, O happy King, that the jeweler said, "I bade him farewell and went out, not knowing where to go, what to do, or how to manage to let the girl know that I was in on the secret of two lovers.  As I went along, pondering the matter, I saw a letter lying on the road.  I picked it up, opening it, found the following:

In the name of God, the compassionate, the Merciful:
My envoy came bringing me hope and joy, but I surmised that he misunderstood.  Therefore, instead of joy, my grief increased, knowing that he mistook bad news for good.

O my lord ---may God preserve you --- You yourself may know the cause of breaking the bonds of trust between us and interpreting our correspondence.  If the fault is yours, I will remain faithful, and if you are inconstant, I will forbear, forgive and remain constant.  If you succeed in instigating our friend to depart, then you have succeeded in winning a loving companion, a confidant and a loyal bosom-friend.  Indeed, I am not the first one to lose her way and suffer weariness or to desire something and be doomed to failure. May the Almighty God grant me a quick remedy and speedy relief.  Peace be with you.

The Jeweler continued:

While I read the letter in astonishment, wondering who could have dropped it, the maid approached, looking right and left in perplexity and alarm and, seeing the letter in my hand, came up to me and said, "O my lord, this is the letter I dropped.  Be kind and give it back to me."

I did not answer her, but walked on, and she followed me until I came to my house and entered, and she entered behind me.  When I was seated, she approached me and said, "Listen!  This letter is of no use to you, since you do not know from whom it came or to whom it is goig.  Why do you hang on to it and refuse to give it back to me?"

I replied, "Calm down, sit quietly, and listen!" 
She sat down.  I asked her, "Is this letter not in the handwriting of your mistress, Shams al-Nahar, and is it not for Ali ibn Bakkar?"  Her face turned ashen, and she burst out in alarm, "He has exposed us and exposed himself.  His feverish passion must have made him delirious, and he must have talked about his love to his friends and companions, without being careful about whom to trust with the truth and without thinking about the consequences.

She rose to go, but on second thought, she stopped; her departure might bring injury and harm to Ali ibn Bakkar.

I said to her, "Listen!  The heart bears witness that one must and can conceal, disavow, or deny even secret, save for love, for one feels most pressed to reveal it and seek advice from others, in order to relieve its torments; besides love has its telltale signs that make it hard to conceal.  You have wrongfully accused him of an offence of which he is innocent.  As for Ali ibn Bakkar, he never betrayed your confidence, revealed your secret, or behaved ungraciously.  Yet you reward him with accusations and distrust.  I will acquaint you with something that justify his behaviour, relieve your anxiety, but you must give me a firm pledge that you will hide nothing of your lady's affair from me.  I always keep my promise, stand firm under any stress, and fulfill my obligations and follow the rules of the game.  She remained silent for a while, and said, "Proceed with your explanation, I trust you, and if you tell me the truth ...... .

But morning overtook and Shahrazad lapsed into silence 



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