union or utter severance." Replied she, "O my son, by Allah, I
desire nought but thy weal; and it is my object that she be
thine, for indeed thou art the shining moon, and she the rising
sun.[FN#37] If I do not bring you together, there is no profit in
my existence; and I have lived my life till I have reached the
age of ninety years in the practice of wile and intrigue; so how
should I fail to unite two lovers, though in defiance of right
and law?" Then she took leave of him having comforted his heart,
and ceased not walking till she went in to the Lady Dunya. Now
she had hidden the letter in her hair: so when she sat down by
the Princess she rubbed her head and said, "O my lady, maybe thou
wilt untwist my hair knot, for it is a time since I went to the
Hammam." The King's daughter bared her arms to the elbows and,
letting down the old woman's locks, began to loose the knot of
back hair; when out dropped the letter and the Lady Dunya seeing
it, asked, "What is this paper?" Quoth the nurse, "As I sat in
the merchant's shop, this paper must have stuck to me: give it to
me that I may return it to him; possibly it containeth some
account whereof he hath need." But the Princess opened it and
read it and, when she understood it, she cried out, "This is one
of thy manifold tricks, and hadst thou not reared me, I would lay
violent hands on thee this moment! Verily Allah hath afflicted
me with this merchant: but all that hath befallen me with him is
on thy head. I know not from what country this one can have
come: no man but he would venture to affront me thus, and I fear
lest this my case get abroad, more by token as it concerneth one
who is neither of my kin nor of my peers." Rejoined the old woman
"None would dare speak of this for fear of thy wrath and for awe
of thy sire; so there can be no harm in sending him an answer."
Quoth the Princess, "O my nurse, verily this one is a perfect