with bliss.'

And she said, 'I will leave my name to other lips; surely I am the
daughter of the Vizier Feshnavat, betrothed to a wandering youth,--a
barber, who sickened at the betrothal, and consoled himself with a
proverb when he gave me the kiss of contract, and knew not how with truth
to pay me a compliment.'

Now, Shibli Bagarag saw this was indeed Noorna bin Noorka, his betrothed,
and he fell before her in love and astonishment; but she lifted him to
her neck, and embraced him, saying, 'Said I not truly when I said "I am
that I shall be"? My youth is not as that of Bhanavar the Beautiful,
gained at another's cost, but my own, and stolen from me by wicked
sorceries.' And he cried, 'Tell me, O Noorna, my betrothed, how this
matter came to pass?'

She said, 'On our way to Aklis.'

She bade him grasp the Lily, and follow her; and he followed her down the
rock and over the bright shells upon the sand, admiring her stateliness,
her willowy lightness, her slimness as of the palm-tree. Then she waded
in the water, and began to strike out with her arms, and swim boldly,--he
likewise; and presently they came to a current that hurried them off in
its course, and carried them as weeds, streaming rapidly. He was bearing
witness to his faith as a man that has lost hope of life, when a strong
eddy stayed him, and whirled him from the current into the calm water.
So he looked for Noorna, and saw her safe beside him flinging back the
wet tresses from her face, that was like the full moon growing radiant
behind a dispersing cloud. And she said, 'Ask not for the interpretation
of wonders in this sea, for they cluster like dates on a date branch.