She returned his greeting and said to him, "O my
son, I have somewhat to say to thee, that I would fain leave
unsaid; yet must I tell it thee, in my own despite." "Speak,"
said he. "Know then," rejoined she, "that thine uncle the
Chamberlain, the father of Kuzia Fekan, has heard of thy love for
her and the verses thou madest of her and has ordered that she be
kept from thee; wherefore, if thou have occasion for aught from
us, I will send it to thee from behind the door, and thou shalt
not look upon Kuzia Fekan nor return hither from day forth." When
he heard this, he withdrew, without speaking a word, and betook
himself to his mother, to whom he related what his aunt had said
to him. Quoth she, "This all comes of thy much talk. Thou knowest
that the news of thy passion for Kuzia Fekan is noised abroad
everywhere and how thou eatest their victual and makest love to
their daughter." "And who should have her but I?" replied the
prince. "She is the daughter of my father's brother and I have
the best of rights to her." "These are idle words," rejoined his
mother. "Be silent, lest thy talk come to King Sasan's ears and
it prove the cause of thy losing her and of thy ruin and increase
of affliction. They have not sent us the evening meal to-night
and we shall die of want; and were we in any land other than
this, we were already dead of the pangs of hunger or the
humiliation of begging our bread.
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