On this wise they passed days and nights,
what while Zoulmekan was weighed down with grief and concern,
till at last he said to the Vizier, "I have a mind to hear
stories of adventures and chronicles of kings and tales of folk
oppressed of love, so haply God may make this to solace the heavy
anxiety that is on my heart and do away from me weeping and
lamentation." "O King," replied Dendan, "if nought but hearing
pleasant tales of bygone kings and peoples and stories of folk
oppressed of love and so forth can dispel thy trouble, the thing
is easy, for I had no other business, in the lifetime of thy late
father, than to tell him stories and repeat verses to him; so,
this very night, I will tell thee a story of a lover and his
beloved, which shall lighten thy heart." When Zoulmekan heard
this, his heart yearned after that which the Vizier promised him
and he did nothing but watch for the coming of the night, that he
might hear what he had to tell. So, no sooner had the night
closed in, than he bade light the lamps and the candles and bring
all that was needful of meat and drink and perfumes and what not
and sending for Dendan, Rustem, Behram, Terkash and the Grand
Chamberlain, turned to the Vizier and said, "O Vizier, behold,
the night is come and hath let down its veils over us, and we
desire that thou tell us that which thou didst promise us." "With
all my heart," replied the Vizier "Know, O august King, that I
have heard tell a story of a lover and a loved one and of the
discourse between them and of the rare and pleasant things that
befell them, a story such as does away care from the heart and
dispels sorrow like unto that of the patriarch Jacob: and it is
as follows:
Story of Taj El Mulouk and the Princess Dunya.
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