Volume Seven-第96章

When it was the One Hundred and Ninetyfirst Night，She said，It hath reached me，O auspicious King，that Kamar al Zamar said to his sire，'I will give thee a selfevident proof that this happened to me when on wake. Now let me ask thee，did it ever befal any man to dream that he was battling a sore battle and after to awake from sleep and find in his hand a swordblade besmeared with blood？ Answered the King，'No，by Allah，O my son，this hath never been.'Rejoined Kamar alZaman，'I will tell thee what happened to me and it was this. Meseemed I awoke from sleep in the middle of the past night and found a girl lying by my side，whose form was like mine and whose favour was as mine. I embraced her and turned her about with my hand and took her seal ring，which I put on my finger，and she pulled off my ring and put it on hers. Then I went to sleep by her side，but refrained from her for shame of thee，deeming that thou hadst sent her to me，intending to tempt me with her and incline me to marriage，and suspecting thee to be hidden somewhere whence thou couldst see what I did with her. And I was ashamed even to kiss her on the mouth for thy account，thinking over this temptation to wedlock；and，when I awoke at point of day，I found no trace of her，nor could I come at any news of her，and there befel me what thou knowest of with the eunuch and with the Wazir. How then can this case have been a dream and a delusion，when the ring is a reality？ Save for her ring on my finger I should indeed have deemed it a dream；but here is the ring on my little finger：look at it，O King，and see what is its worth.'So saying he handed the ring to his father，who examined it and turned it over，then looked to his son and said，'Verily，there is in this ring some mighty mystery and some strange secret. What befel thee last night with the girl is indeed a hard nut to crack，and I know not how intruded upon us this intruder. None is the cause of all this posher save the Wazir；but，Allah upon thee，O my son，take patience，so haply the Lord may turn to gladness this thy grief and to thy sadness bring complete relief：as quoth one of the poets，'Haply shall Fortune draw her rein，and bring Fair chance，for she is changeful，jealous，vain：