to take my leave; for your good sake I have utterly neglected my affairs these three days, and have attended you.  Pray do you also sit near me for a moment, and rejoice my heart,” I in my own heart imagined that “if I do not comply with his request at this moment, then he will be grieved; and it is necessary I should please my new friend and guest;” on which account I replied, “it is a pleasure to me to obey the command of your honour;” for “a command is paramount to ceremony” [154].  On hearing this, the young merchant presented me a cup of wine, and I drank it off; then the cup moved in such quick successive rounds, that in a short time all the guests in the assembly became inebriated and stupefied; I also became senseless.

When the morning came, and the sun had risen the height of two spears, [155] my eyes opened, but I saw nothing of the preparations, the assembly, or the beautiful lady—­only the empty house remained—­but in a corner [of the hall] something lay folded up in a blanket; I unfolded it, and saw the corpses of the young merchant and of his [black] woman, with their heads severed from their bodies.  On seeing this sight, my senses forsook me, and my judgment was of no avail [in explaining to me] what this was and what had happened.  I was staring about me, in every direction with amazement, when I perceived a eunuch (whom I had seen in the preparations of the entertainment).  I was somewhat comforted on seeing him, and asked him an explanation of these strange events.  He replied briefly, “What good will it do thee to hear an explanation of what has happened, that thou askest it?”

I also reflected in my mind, that what he said was true; however, after a short pause, I said to the eunuch, well, do not tell it to me; but inform me in what apartment is the beloved lady.  He answered, “Certainly; whatever I know I will relate to thee; but [I am surprised] that a man like thee, possessed of understanding, should, without her ladyship’s permission, and without fear or ceremony, have indulged in a wine-drinking party after an intimacy of only a few days. [156] What does all this mean?”

I became much ashamed of my folly [and felt the justice] of the eunuch’s reprobation.  I could make no other reply than to say, “indeed I have been guilty, pardon me.”  At last the eunuch, becoming gracious, pointed out the beloved lady’s abode, and took his leave; he himself went to bury the two beheaded bodies.  I was free from any participation in that crime, and was anxious to meet the beautiful lady.  After a painful and difficult search, I arrived at eventide in that street, [where she then was] according to (the eunuch’s) direction; and in a corner near the door I passed the whole night in a state of agitation.  I did not hear the sound of any person’s footsteps, nor did any bne ask me about my affairs.  In this forlorn state the morning came; when the sun rose, the lovely fair one looked at me from a window in the balcony of the house.  My heart only knows the state of joy I felt at that moment.  I praised the goodness of God.