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：
Still I may woo my want and wishes win，
And see on heels of care unfair，the fain.'
And now，O my son，I am certified at this hour that thou art not mad；but thy case is a strange one which none can clear up for thee save the Almighty.'Cried the Prince，'By Allah，O my father，deal kindly with me and seek out this young lady and hasten her coming to me；else I shall die of woe and of my death shall no one know.'Then he betrayed the ardour of his passion；
and turned towards his father and repeated these two couplets，'If your promise of personal call prove untrue，Deign in vision to grant me an interview：
Quoth they，'How can phantom[277] appear to the sight
Of a youth，whose sight is fordone，perdue？'
Then，after ending his poetry，Kamar alZaman again turned to his father，with submission and despondency，and shedding tears in flood，began repeating these lines.And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
When it was the One Hundred and Ninetysecond Night，She said，It hath reached me，O auspicious King，that when Kamar alZaman had repeated to his father these verses，he wept and complained and groaned from a wounded heart；and added these lines，'Beware that eye glance which hath magic might；Wherever turn those orbs it bars our flight：
Nor be deceived by low sweet voice，that breeds
A fever festering in the heart and sprite：
So soft that silky skin，were rose to touch it
She'd cry and teardrops rain for pain and fright：
Did Zephyr e'en in sleep pass o'er her land，
Scented he'd choose to dwell in scented site：
Her necklets vie with tinkling of her belt；
Her wrists strike either wristlet dumb with spite：
When would her bangles buss those rings in ear，
Upon the lover's eyne high mysteries 'light：
I'm blamed for love of her，nor pardon claim；
Eyes are not profiting which lack foresight：
Heaven strip thee，blamer mine！unjust art thou；
Before this fawn must every eye low bow.'[278]
After which he said，'By Allah，O my father，I cannot endure to be parted from her even for an hour.'The King smote hand upon hand and exclaimed，'There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah，the Glorious，the Great！No cunning contrivance can profit us in this affair.'Then he took his son by the hand and carried him to the palace，where Kamar alZaman lay down on the bed of languor and the King sat at his head，weeping and mourning over him and leaving him not，night or day，till at last the Wazir came in to him and said，'O King of the age and the time，how long wilt thou remain shut up with thy son and hide thyself from thy troops. Haply，the order of thy realm may be deranged，by reason of shine absence from thy Grandees and Officers of State. It behoveth the man of understanding，if he have various wounds in his body，to apply him first to medicine the most dangerous；so it is my counsel to thee that thou remove thy son from this place to the pavilion which is in the palace overlooking the sea；and shut thyself up with him there，setting apart in every week two days，Thursday and Monday，for state receptions and progresses and reviews. On these days let shine Emirs and Wazirs and Chamberlains and Viceroys and high Officials and Grandees of the realm and the rest of the levies and the lieges have access to thee and submit their affairs to thee；and do thou their needs and judge among them and give and take with them and bid and forbid. And the rest of the week thou shalt pass with thy son，Kamar alZaman，and cease not thus doing till Allah shall vouchsafe relief to you twain. Think not，O King，that thou art safe from the shifts of Time and the strokes of Change which come like a traveller in the night；for the wise man is ever on his guard and how well saith the poet，'Thou deemedst well of Time when days went well，And fearedst not what ills might bring thee Fate：
