When he had finished these verses he said, I have composed others on thine expression, and recited the following:—­

Dost thou see through her veil that face appearing how it shines, like the moon
     in the horizon? 
Its splendour enlightens the shade of her temples and the sun enters into
     obscurity by system;
Her forehead eclipses the rose and the apple, and her look and expression
     enchant the people;
It is she that if mortal should see her he’d become victim of love, of the fires
     of desire.

On hearing this recitation the young lady said to Ja’afar, Miserable fellow, what is this discourse which does not belong to the like of thee?  Get up and begone with the malediction of Allah and the protection of Satan.  Ja’afar arose, seized with a mighty rage in addition to his love; and in this love for her he departed and returned to the house of his friend Attaf and saluted him with a prepossessed heart.  As soon as Attaf saw him he cast himself on his breast and kissed him between the eyes, saying to him, O my lord, thou hast made me feel desolate to-day by thine absence.  Then Attaf, looking in the face of Ja’afar and reading in it many words, continued to him, O my lord, I find thy countenance changed and thy mind broken.  Ja’afar answered, O my lord, since I left thee up to the present time I have been suffering with a headache and a nervous attack for I was sleeping upon my ear.  The people in the mosk recited the afternoon prayer without my knowing it, and now I have a mind to get an hour’s sleep, probably I shall find repose for the body, and what I suffer will pass off.  Accordingly, Attaf went into the house and ordered cushions to be brought out and a bed to be made for him.  Ja’afar then stretched himself upon it depressed and out of spirits, and covering himself up began to think of the young lady and of the offensive words she gave him so contrary to usage.  Also he thoguht of her beauty and the elegance of her stature and perfect proportions and of what Allah (to whom be praise!) had granted her of magnificence.  He forgot all that happened to him in other days and also his affair with the Caliph and his people and his friends and his society.  Such was the burden of his thoughts until he was taken with monomania and his body wasted.  Hereupon Attaf sent for doctors, they surrounded him constantly, they employed all their talents for him, but they could find no remedy.  So he remained during a certain time without anyone being able to discover what was the matter with him.  The breast of Attaf became straitened, he renounced all diversions and pleasures, and Ja’afar getting worse and worse, his trouble augmented.  One day a new doctor arrived, a man of experience in the art of gallantry, whose name was Dabdihkan.  When he came to Ja’afar and looked at his face and felt his pulse and found everything in its place, no suffering, no pain, he comprehended that he was in love, so he took a paper and wrote a prescription and placed it beneath Ja’afar’s head.  He then said, Thy remedy is under thy head, I’ve prescribed a purge, if thou take it thou wilt get well, for he was ashamed to tell Attaf his love-sick condition.  Presently, the Doctor went away to other patients and Attaf arose and when about entering to see Ja’afar he heard him recite the following verses:—­