Then Mohammed Ibn Ibrahim took the paper and Al-Hayfa said to him, “Ho thou!  Inform none that thou wast sitting beside me on that night.”  Then he went forth until he drew near his folk and there he mounted a she-dromedary and pushed her pace until he arrived at the capital of Sind.  He asked for the son of the King; and when they had directed him thereto he entered and found the Prince in privacy; so he kissed hands and gave him the writ which he took and opened and read.  But when he had comprehended its object and purport, he turned and re-turned it with stern regards until he had well nigh torn it to tatters.  Then he threw it to Ibn Ibrahim who said to him, “O lord of the Time and the Tide, ’tis not on this wise that the sons of the Kings cast away an address without returning aught of reply.”  Quoth he, “There is no response from me,” and quoth Ibn Ibrahim, “O King of the Age, pity that thou mayest be pitied!"[FN#241] Hereupon the Prince called for pen-case and paper of note and pen of brass wrought[FN#242] and wrote in reply to her poetry the following couplets,

“Al-Hayfa with verses a-tip of tongue * Comes suing mercy for
     love so strong: 
She hath no mercy fro’ me, but still * She pleadeth a plea that
     our love was long: 
She falsed, turned face, doubted, recked her naught * And her
     hard false heart wrought me traitor’s wrong: 
Were my heart now changed her love to woo * She with quick
     despisal my heart had stung: 
Were my eyne to eye her, she’d pluck them out * With tip of
     fingers before the throng: 
Soft and tranquil life for her term she seeks * While with
     hardness and harshness our souls are wrung.

Then Yusuf folded the paper and handed it to Ibn Ibrahim and ordered him a robe of honour and an hundred dinars.  So he took them and rode forth until he drew near the Palace of Al-Hayfa, when he tethered his dromedary and hid her in a cave whose mouth he walled with stones.  Then he went down to the river and swam it till he reached the other side; and entering into the presence of Al-Hayfa he drew forth the paper and committed it to her.  But she, after perusing it, wept with sore weeping and groaned until she swooned away for excess of tears and for the stress of what had befallen her.  Such was the effect of what she had read in the letter, and she knew not what might be the issue of all this affair and she was perplext as one drunken without wine.  But when she recovered she called for pen-case and paper, and she wrote these improvised couplets,

“O Lord of folk, in our age alone * And O Raper of hearts from
     the bonny and boon: 
I have sent to thee ’plaining of Love’s hard works * And my
     plaint had softened the hardest stone: 
Thou art silent all of my need in love * And with shafts of
     contempt left me prone and strown.”