her house. I beseeched her to hear me, but she disregarded what I
said. Having no resource, I likewise left the place, sad and hopeless.

In short, for forty days this same state of things continued. When I
was tired of pacing the lanes of the city, I wandered into the woods,
and when I became restless there, I returned to the lanes of the
city like a lunatic. I thought not of nourishment during the day,
or sleep at night; like a washerman's dog, that belongs neither to
the house nor the _ghat_ [159] The existence of man depends on eating
and drinking; he is the worm of the grain. Not the least strength
remained in my body. Becoming feeble, I went and lay down under the
wall of the same mosque; when one day the eunuch aforementioned came
there to say his Friday prayers, and passed near me; I was repeating
at the time, slow from weakness, this verse:


"Give me strength of mind to bear these pangs of the heart, or
give me death;
Whatever may have been written in my destiny, O God! let it come
soon."


Though in appearance my looks were greatly altered, and my face was
such that whoever had seen me formerly would not have recognised me
to be the same person; yet the eunuch, hearing the sounds of grief,
looked at me, and regarding me with attention, pitied me, and with
much kindness addressed me, saying, "At last to this State thou hast
brought thyself." I replied, what was to occur has now happened;
I devoted my property to her welfare, and I have sacrificed my life
likewise; such has been her pleasure; then what shall I do?