22.  At length Helim bethought himself, that the first day of the full moon of the month Tizpa was near at hand.  Now it is a received tradition among the Persians, that the souls of those of the royal family, who are in a state of bliss, do, on the first full moon after their decease, pass through the eastern gate of the black palace, which is therefore called the Gate of Paradise, in order to take their flight for that happy place.

23.  Helim, therefore, having made due preparation for this night, dressed each of the lovers in a robe of azure silk, wrought in the finest looms of Persia, with a long train of linen whiter than snow, that flowed on the ground behind them.  Upon Abdallah’s head he fixed a wreath of the greenest myrtle, and on Balsora’s a garland of the freshest roses.  Their garments were scented with the richest perfumes of Arabia.

24.  Having thus prepared every thing, the full moon was no sooner up, and shining in all its brightness, but he privately opened the Gate of Paradise, and shut it after the same manner, as soon as they had passed through it.

25.  The band of negroes who were posted at a little distance from the gate, seeing two such beautiful apparitions, that shewed themselves to’aclvantage by the light of the full moon, and being ravished with the odour that flowed from their garments, immediately concluded them to be the ghosts of the two persons lately deceased.

26.  They fell upon their faces as they passed through the midst of them, and continued prostrate on the earth until such time as they were out of sight.  They reported the next day what they had seen, but this was looked upon by the king himself and most others, as the compliment that was usually paid to any of the deceased of his family.

27.  Helim had placed two of his own mules about a mile’s distance from the black temple, on the spot which they had agreed upon for their rendezvous.  Here he met them, and conducted them to one of his own houses, which was situated on mount Khacan.

28.  The air of this mountain was so very healthful, that Helim had formerly transported the king thither, in order to recover him out of a long fit of sickness, which succeeded so well, that the king made him a present of the whole mountain, with a beautiful house and garden that were on the top of it.

29.  In this retirement lived Abdallah and Balsora.  They were both so fraught with all kinds of knowledge, and possessed with so constant and mutual a passion for each other, that their solitude never lay heavy on them.

30.  Abdallah applied himself to those arts Which were agreeable to his manner of living, and the situation of the place; insomuch that in a few years he converted the whole mountain into a kind of garden, and covered every part of it with plantations or spots of flowers.

Helim was too good a father to let him want any thing that might conduce to make his retirement pleasant.