" Then he hailed the speaker and cried out
to him, saying "O thou that goest in the sombre night, draw near
to me and tell me thy history. Haply thou shalt find in me one
who will succour thee in shine affliction." "O thou that
answerest my complaint and wouldst know my history," rejoined the
other, "who art thou amongst the cavaliers? Art thou a man or a
genie? Answer me speedily ere thy death draw near, for these
twenty days have I wandered in this desert and have seen no one
nor heard any voice but thine." When Kanmakan heard this, he said
to himself, "His case is like unto mine, for I also have wandered
twenty days in the desert and have seen none nor heard any voice:
but I will make him no answer till the day." So he was silent and
the other called out to him, saying, "O thou that callest, if
thou be of the Jinn, go in peace, and if thou be a man, stay
awhile, till the day break and the night flee with the dark." So
they abode each in his own place, reciting verses and weeping
with abundant tears, till the light of day appeared and the night
departed with the darkness. Then Kanmakan looked at the other and
found him a youth of the Bedouin Arabs, clad in worn clothes and
girt-with a rusty sword, and the signs of passion were apparent
on him. So he went up to him and accosting him, saluted him. The
Bedouin returned the salute and greeted him courteously, but made
little account of him, for what he saw of his tender years and
his condition, which was that of a poor man.
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