When the banquet was ended and the folk had dispersed, the king said to El Abbas, “I would fain have thee [abide] with me and I will buy thee a house, so haply we may requite thee the high services for which we are beholden to thee; for indeed thy due is imperative [upon us] and thy worth is magnified in our eyes; and indeed we have fallen short of thy due in the matter of distance."[FN#83] When the prince heard the king’s speech, he rose and sat down[FN#84] and kissing the earth, returned thanks for his bounty and said, “I am the king’s servant, wheresoever I may be, and under his eye.”  Then he recounted to him the story of the merchant and the manner of the buying of the house, and the king said, “Indeed, I would fain have had thee with me and in my neighbourhood.”

Then El Abbas took leave of the king and went away to his own house.  Now it befell that he passed under the palace of Mariyeh the king’s daughter, and she was sitting at a window.  He chanced to look round and his eyes met those of the princess, whereupon his wit departed and he was like to swoon away, whilst his colour changed and he said, “Verily, we are God’s and to Him we return!” But he feared for himself lest estrangement betide him; so he concealed his secret and discovered not his case to any of the creatures of God the Most High.  When he reached his house, his servant Aamir said to him, “O my lord, I seek refuge for thee with God from change of colour!  Hath there betided thee a pain from God the Most High or hath aught of vexation befallen thee?  Verily, sickness hath an end and patience doth away vexation.”  But the prince returned him no answer.  Then he brought out inkhorn [and pen] and paper and wrote the following verses: 

Quoth I (and mine a body is of passion all forslain, Ay, and a
     heart that’s all athirst for love and longing pain
And eye that knoweth not the sweet of sleep; yet she, who caused
     My dole, may Fortune’s perfidies for aye from her abstain! 
Yea, for the perfidies of Fate and sev’rance I’m become Even as
     was Bishr[FN#85] of old time with Hind,[FN#86] a fearful
     swain;
A talking-stock among the folk for ever I abide; Life and the
     days pass by, yet ne’er my wishes I attain),
“Knoweth my loved one when I see her at the lattice high Shine as
     the sun that flameth forth in heaven’s blue demesne?”
Her eye is sharper than a sword; the soul with ecstasy It takes
     and longing leaves behind, that nothing may assain. 
As at the casement high she sat, her charms I might espy, For
     from her cheeks the envious veil that hid them she had
     ta’en. 
She shot at me a shaft that reached my heart and I became The
     bond- man of despair, worn out with effort all in vain. 
Fawn of the palace, knowst thou not that I, to look on thee, The
     world have traversed, far and wide, o’er many a hill and
     plain? 
Read then my writ and pity thou the blackness of my fate, Sick,
     love- distraught, without a friend to whom I may complain.