had made her sleep heavy; so he shook her and moved her, saying, “O my beloved, awake and look on me; I am Kamar al-Zaman.”  But she awoke not, neither moved her head; where-upon he considered her case for a long hour and said to himself, “If I guess aright, this is the damsel to whom my father would have married me and these three years past I have refused her; but Inshallah!—­God willing—­as soon as it is dawn, I will say to him, ‘Marry me to her, that I may enjoy her.’”—­And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

      When it was the One Hundred and Eighty-fourth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Kamar al-Zaman said to himself, “By Allah, when I see dawn I will say to my sire, ‘Marry me to her that I may enjoy her’; nor will I let half the day pass ere I possess her and take my fill of her beauty and loveliness.”  Then he bent over Budur to buss her, whereat the Jinniyah Maymunah trembled and was abashed and Dahnash, the Ifrit, was like to fly for joy.  But, as Kamar al-Zaman was about to kiss her upon the mouth, he was ashamed before Allah and turned away his head and averted his face, saying to his heart, “Have patience.”  Then he took thought awhile and said, “I will be patient; haply my father when he was wroth with me and sent me to this jail, may have brought my young lady and made her lie by my side to try me with her, and may have charged her not to be readily awakened when I would arouse her, and may have said to her, ’Whatever thing Kamar al-Zaman do to thee, make me ware thereof’; or belike my sire standeth hidden in some stead whence (being himself unseen) he can see all I do with this young lady; and to morrow he will scold me and cry, ’How cometh it that thou sayest, I have no mind to marry; and yet thou didst kiss and embrace yonder damsel?’ So I will withhold myself lest I be ashamed before my sire; and the right and proper thing to do is not to touch her at this present, nor even to look upon her, except to take from her somewhat which shall serve as a token to me and a memorial of her; that some sign endure between me and her.”  Then Kamar al-Zaman raised the young lady’s hand and took from her little finger a seal-ring worth an immense amount of money, for that its bezel was a precious jewel and around it were graven these couplets,

“Count not that I your promises forgot, *
     Despite the length of your delinquencies
Be generous, O my lord, to me inclining; *
     Haply your mouth and cheeks these lips may kiss: 
By Allah, ne’er will I relinquish you *
     Albe you will transgress love’s boundaries.”