Now when it was the Hundred and Twenty-first Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the young merchant continued to Taj al-Muluk:—Then the young lady said to me, "I fear for thee lest thou fall into some disgrace and find none to deliver thee from it. Alas for thy cousin and ah, the pity of her! Would I had known her before her death, that I might have requited by waiting upon her the fair service she did me. The mercy of Allah Almighty be upon her, for she kept her secret and revealed not what she suffered, and but for her thou hadst never foregathered with me; no, never! But there is one thing I desire of thee." I asked, "What is it?"; and she answered, "It is that thou bring me to her grave, that I may visit her in the tomb wherein she is and write some couplets thereon." I rejoined, "To-morrow, if Allah please!"[520] I slept with her that night, and she ceased not saying after every hour, "Would thou hadst told me of thy cousin before her death!" And I asked her, "What is the meaning of the two saws she taught me? Faith is fair! Unfaith is foul?" But she made no answer. As soon as it was day she rose and, taking a purse of gold pieces, said to me, "Come, show me her tomb, that I may visit it and grave some verses thereon and build a dome over it and commend her to Allah's mercy and bestow these dinars in alms for her soul." I replied, "To hear is to obey!"; and walked on before her, whilst she followed me, giving alms as she went and saying to all upon whom she lavisht bounty, "This is an alms for the soul of Azizah, who kept her counsel till she drank the cup of death and never told the secret of her love." And she stinted not thus to give alms and say, "For Azizah's soul," till the purse was empty and we came to the grave. And when she looked at the tomb, she wept and threw herself on it; then, pulling out a chisel of steel and a light hammer, she graved therewith upon the head-stone in fine small characters these couplets:—
I past by a broken tomb amid a garth right sheen, ✿ Whereon seven blooms of Nu'uman[521] glowed with cramoisie; Quoth I, "Who sleepeth in this tomb?" Quoth answering Earth ✿ "Before a lover Hades-tombed[522] bend reverently!" Quoth I, "May Allah help thee, O thou slain of Love, ✿ And grant thee home in Heaven and Paradise-height to see!" Hapless are lovers all e'en tombèd in their tombs, ✿ Where amid living folk the dust weighs heavily! Fain would I plant a garden blooming round thy grave, ✿ And water every flower with tear-drops flowing free!