riddle; what is at the bottom of it, and why does she do it?'
Then Dil-aram answered: ' If you will promise to marry me and to
keep me always amongst those you favour, I will tell you all I
know, and I will keep watch about the riddle.'

'O lovely girl,' rejoined he, 'if I accomplish my purpose, so
that I need no longer strive for it, I will keep my compact with
you. When I have this woman in my power and have avenged my
brothers, I will make you my solace.'

'O wealth of my life and source of my joy!' responded Dil-aram,
'I do not know what the rose did to the cypress; but so much I
know that the person who told Mihr-afruz about it is a negro whom
she hides under her throne. He fled here from Waq of the
Caucasus--it is there you must make inquiry; there is no other
way of getting at the truth.'On hearing these words, the prince
said to his heart, 'O my heart! your task will yet wear away much
of your life.'

He fell into long and far thought, and Dil-aram looked at him and
said: 'O my life and my soul! do not be sad. If you would like
this woman killed, I will put poison into her cup so that she
will never lift her head from her drugged sleep again.'

'O Dil-aram! such a vengeance is not manly. I shall not rest
till I have gone to Waq of the Caucasus and have cleared up the
matter.' Then they repeated the agreement about their marriage,
and bade one another goodbye.

The prince now went back to the village, and told the old man