' 'Write him a letter,' rejoined the
old woman; 'it may be he will desist.' So she called for pen and
ink and paper and wrote the following verses:
Again and again I chide thee, yet folly ever again Lures thee:
how long, with my writing, in verse shall I bid thee
refrain,
Whilst thou but growest in boldness for all forbidding? But I No
grace save to keep thy secret, unto thy prayers may deign.
Conceal thy passion nor ever reveal it; for, an thou speak, I
will surely show thee no mercy nor yet my wrath contain.
If to thy foolish daring thou turn thee anew, for sure, The raven
of evil omen shall croak for thee death and bane;
And slaughter shall come upon thee ere long, and under the earth
To seek for a place of abiding, God wot, thou shalt be fain.
Thy people, O self-deluder, thou'lt leave in mourning for thee;
Ay, all their lives they shall sorrow for thee, fordone and
slain.
Then she folded the letter and committed it to the old woman, who
took it and returning to Taj el Mulouk, gave it to him. When he
read it, he knew that the princess was hard-hearted and that he
should not win to her; so he complained to the Vizier and
besought his advice. Quoth he, 'Nothing will profit thee save
that thou write to her and invoke the wrath of God upon her.' And
he said to Aziz, 'O my brother, do thou write to her in my name,
according to thy knowledge.
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