" Quoth I, "Assuredly I will not open it if it contain the
cause of severance from you." Then one among them came up to me and
falling on my neck wept and recited these verses:
"If Time unite us after absent-while,
The world harsh-frowning on our lot shall smile,
And if thy semblance deign adorn mine eyes,
I'll pardon Time past wrongs and bygone guile."
And I recited the following:
"When drew she near to bid adieu with her heart unstrung,
While care and longing on that day her bosom wrung,
Wet pearls she wept and mine like red camelians rolled
And, joined in sad riviere, around her neck they hung."
When I saw her weeping I said, "By Allah, I will never open that
fortieth door, never and nowise!" and I bade her farewell. Thereupon
all departed flying away like birds, signaling with their hands
farewells as they went and leaving me alone in the palace. When
evening drew near I opened the door of the first chamber and
entering it found myself in a place like one of the pleasaunces of
Paradise. It was a garden with trees of freshest green and ripe fruits
of yellow sheen, and its birds were singing clear and keen and rills
ran wimpling through the fair terrene.
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