The King being curious to behold her beauty, that he might be able to judge of the form which had occasioned so much calamity, ordered her to be brought. They searched among the Arabian families, and having found her, brought her before the King in the court-yard of the palace. The King contemplated her appearance, and behold a person of dark complexion and weak form, insomuch that he thought her so contemptible that the meanest servant of his Harem surpassed her in beauty and elegance. Mujnoon having penetration enough to discover what was passing in the King’s mind, said, “0 King, the beauty of Leila must be seen with the eyes of Mujnoon. Thou hast no compassion on my disorder. My companion should be affected with the same malady, that I might sit all day repeating my tale to him; for two pieces of wood burn together with a brighter flame.
The discourse concerning the verdant plain, which has reached my ears; had the leaves on that plain heard it, they would have joined their complaints with mine. 0 my friends, say to them who are free from love,so we wish that you knew what passes in the heart of a lover.’ The pain of a wound affects not those who are in health. I will not disclose my grief, but to those who have tasted the same affliction. It were fruitless to talk of a hornet to them who never felt the sting. Whilst thy mind is not affected like mine, the relation of my sorrow seems only an idle tale. Compare not my anguish to the careB of another man; he only holds the salt in his hand, but it is I who bear the wound in my body.”
They tell a story of a Cazy of Hamadan, that he was enamoured with a farrier’s beautiful daughter to such a degree, that his heart was inflamed by his passion, like a horse-shoe red-hot in a forge. For a long time he suffered great inquietude, and was running about after her in the manner which has been described, ‘ That stately cypress coming into my sight has captivated my heart and deprived me of my strength, so that I lie prostrate at her feet. Those mischievous eyes drew my heart into the snare. If you wish to preserve your heart, shut your eyes. I cannot by any means get her out of my thought: I am the snake with a bruised head; I cannot turn myself.’ I have heard that she met the Cazy in the street, and something having reached her ears concerning him, she was displeased beyond measure, and abused and reproached him without mercy, flung a stone, and did every thing to disgrace him.
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