Then I questioned the old man of them, and he said, "She was my
daughter and he my brother's son; and love brought them to this
pass." "May God amend thee!" exclaimed I. "But why didst thou
not marry them to one another?" Quoth he, "I feared reproach
and dishonour; and now I am fallen upon both."
THE MAD LOVER.
(Quoth Aboulabbas el Muberred[FN#150]), I set out one day with
a company to El Berid on an occasion, and coming to the
monastery of Heraclius,[FN#151] we alighted in its shade.
Presently a man came out to us and said, "There are madmen in
the monastery, and amongst them one who speaketh wisdom; if ye
saw him, ye would marvel at his speech." So we arose all and
went into the monastery, where we saw a man seated on a leather
mat in one of the cells, with bare head and eyes fixed upon the
wall. We saluted him, and he returned our greeting, without
looking at us; and one said to us, "Repeat some verses to him;
for, when he hears verses, he speaks." So I repeated the
following verses:
O best of all the race whom Eve gave birth unto, Except for
thee the world were neither sweet nor bright:
Thou'rt he, whose face if God unveil to any man, Eternity is
his; his head shall ne'er grow white.
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