O thou that turnest away from me，in default of sinRather to turn towards than away should gazelles be fain！
Aversion and distance eternal and rigour and disdain；How can youthful lover these hardships all sustain？
Thereupon Ghanim wept and she wept because he didand they ceased not to drink till nightfallwhen he rose and spread two bedseach in its place. 'For whom is the second bed？'asked she.
'One is for me and the other for thee，'answered he. 'Henceforth we must lie apartfor that which is the master's is forbidden to the slave.'O my lord，'exclaimed she，'let us leave thisfor all things happen according to fate and predestination.'But be refused，and the fire was loosed in her heart and she clung to him and said，'By Allah，we will not sleep but together！'God forbid！'answered he，and he prevailed against her and lay apart till the morning，whilst love and longing and distraction redoubled on her. They abode thus three whole months，and whenever she made advances to him，he held aloof from her，saying，'Whatever belongs to the master is forbidden to the slave.'Then，when this was prolonged upon her and affliction and anguish grew on herfor the weariness of her heart she recited the following verses：
O marvel of beauty，how long this disdain？ And who hath provoked thee to turn from my pain？
All manner of elegance in thee is found And all fashions of fairness thy form doth contain.
The hearts of all mortals thou stir'st with desire And on everyone's lids thou mak'st sleeplessness reign.
I know that the branch has been plucked before thee；So，O capparis-branch，thou dost wrong，it is plain.
I used erst to capture myself the wild deer. How comes it the chase doth the hunter enchain？
But the strangest of all that is told of thee is，I was snared，and thou heard'st not the voice of my pain.
Yet grant not my prayer. If I'm jealous for thee Of thyself how much more of myself？ Nor again，As long as life lasteth in me，will I say，'O marvel of beauty，how long this disdain？'
Meanwhilethe Lady Zubeidehwhenin the absence of the Khalif，she had done this thing with Cout el Culoubabode perplexed and said to herself，'What answer shall I make the Khalifwhen he comes back and asks for her？'Then she called an old woman，who was with her，and discovered her secret to hersaying'What shall I doseeing that Cout el Culoub is no more？'O my lady，'
replied the old woman，'the time of the Khalif's return is at hand；but do thou send for a carpenter and bid him make a figure of wood in the shape of a corpse. We will dig a grave for it and bury it in the middle of the palace： then do thou build an oratory over it and set therein lighted lamps and candles and command all in the palace to put on mourning. Moreover，do thou bid thy slave-girls and eunuchs，as soon as they know of the Khalif's approach，spread straw in the vestibules，and when the Khalif enters and asks what is the matter，let them say，'Cout el Culoub is dead，may God abundantly replace her to thee！and for the honour in which she was held of our mistressshe hath buried her in her own palace.'When the Khalif hears thisit will be grievous to him and he will weep： then will he cause recitations of the Koran to be made over her and will watch by night over her tomb. If he should say to himself'My cousin Zubeideh has compassed the death of Cout el Culoub out of jealousy，'or if love-longing should master him and he order to take her forth of the tombfear thou not；for when they dig and come to the figurehe will see it as it were a human bodyshrouded in costly grave-clothes；and if he desire to take off the swathings，do thou forbid him and say to him'It is unlawful to look upon her nakedness.'The fear of the world to come will restrain him and he will believe that she is dead and will cause the image to be restored to its place and thank thee for what thou hast done：
and so，if it please Godthou shalt be delivered from this strait.'Her advice commended itself to Zubeideh，who bestowed on her a dress of honour and a sum of money，bidding her do as she had said. So she at once ordered a carpenter to make the aforesaid figure，and as soon as it was finishedshe brought it to Zubeidehwho shrouded it and buried it and built a pavilion over itin which she set lighted lamps and candles and spread carpets round the tomb. Moreovershe put on black and ordered her household to do the same，and the news was spread abroad in the palace that Cout el Culoub was dead. After awhile，the Khalif returned from his journey and entered the palacethinking only of Cout el Culoub. He saw all the pages and damsels and eunuchs in mourningat which his heart quaked；and when he went in to the Lady Zubeidehhe found her also clad in black. So he asked the cause of this and was told that Cout el Culoub was dead，whereupon he fell down in a swoon. As soon as he came to himself，he enquired of her tomband Zubeideh said to him'Know，O Commander of the Faithful，that for the honour in which I held her，I have buried her in my own palace.'Then he repaired to her tomb，in his travelling dressand found the place spread with carpets and lit with lamps. When he saw this，he thanked Zubeldeh for what she had done and abode perplexed，halting between belief and distrust，till at last suspicion got the better of him and he ordered the grave to be opened and the body exhumed. When he saw the figure and would have taken off the swathings to look upon the bodythe fear of God the Most High restrained him，and the old woman （taking advantage of his hesitation） said，'Restore her to her place.'Then he sent at once for readers and doctors of the Law and caused recitations of the Koran to be made over her grave and sat by it，weeping，till he lost his senses. He continued to frequent the tomb for a whole monthat the end of which timehe chanced one dayafter the Divan had broken up and his Amirs and Viziers had gone away to their housesto enter the haremwhere he laid down and slept awhilewhilst one damsel sat at his head，fanning himand another at his feetrubbing them.
