and found these words written therein: "From the slave despoiled
of her Ni'amah, her delight; her whose reason hath been beguiled
and who is parted from the core of her heart. But afterwards of a
truth thy letter hath reached me and hath broadened my breast,
and solaced my soul, even as saith the poet,

"Thy note came: long lost hungers wrote that note, * Till drop
they sweetest scents for what they wrote:
Twas Moses to his mother's arms restored; * 'Twas Jacob's eye-
sight cured by Joseph's coat!"[FN#16]

When Ni'amah read these verses, his eyes ran over with tears and
the old woman said to him, "What maketh thee to weep, O my son?
Allah never cause thine eye to shed tears!" Cried the Persian, "O
my lady, how should my son not weep, seeing that this is his
slave-girl and he her lord, Ni'amah son of al-Rabi'a of Cufa; and
her health dependeth on her seeing him, for naught aileth her but
loving him.--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased
to say her permitted say.

When it was the Two Hundred and Forty-third Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Persian
cried out to the old woman, "How shall my son not weep, seeing
that this is his slave-girl and he her lord, Ni'amah son of
al-Rabi'a of Cufa; and the health of this damsel dependeth on her
seeing him and naught aileth her but loving him. So, do thou, O
my lady, take these thousand dinars to thyself and thou shalt
have of me yet more than this; only look on us with eyes of rush;
for we know not how to bring this affair to a happy end save