The prince of Persia was not satisfied with reading the letter once; he thought he had perused it with too little attention, and therefore read it again with more leisure; and while so doing, sometimes heaved deep sighs, sometimes shed tears, and sometimes broke out into transports of joy and tenderness as the contents affected him.  In short, he could not keep his eyes off those characters drawn by so beloved a hand, and was beginning to read it a third time, when Ebn Thaher observed to him that the confidant had no time to lose, and that he ought to think of giving an answer.  “Alas!” cried the prince, “how would you have me reply to so kind a letter!  In what terms shall I express myself in my present disturbed state!  My mind is tossed with a thousand tormenting thoughts, which are lost the moment they are conceived, to make way for others.  So long as my body is influenced by the impressions of my mind, how shall I be able to hold the paper, or guide a reed to write.”

So saying, he took out of a little desk which was near him, paper, a cane ready cut, and an inkhorn.

The prince of Persia, before he began to write, gave Schemselnihar’s letter to Ebn Thaher, and prayed him to hold it open while he wrote, that by casting his eyes upon it he might the better see what to answer.  He began to write; but the tears that fell from his eyes upon the paper obliged him several times to stop, that they might fall the more freely.  At last he finished his letter, and giving it to Ebn Thaher, “Read it, I pray,” said he, “and do me the favour to see if the disorder of my mind has allowed me to give a favourable answer.”  Ebn Thaher took it, and read as follows: 

The Prince of Persia’s Answer to Schemselnihar’s Letter.

“I was plunged in the deepest grief when I received your letter, but at the sight of it I was transported with unspeakable joy.  When I beheld the characters written by your fair hand, my eyes were enlightened by a stronger light than they lost, when yours were suddenly closed at the feet of my rival.  The words contained in your kind epistle are so many rays which have dispelled the darkness wherewith my soul was obscured; they shew me how much you suffer from your love of me, and that you are not ignorant of what I endure on your account.  Thus they comfort me in my afflictions.  On the one hand they cause me to shed tears in abundance; and on the other, inflame my heart with a fire which supports it, and prevents my dying of grief.  I have not had one moment’s rest since our cruel separation.  Your letter alone gave me some ease.  I kept a mournful silence till the moment I received it, and then recovered my speech.  I was buried in profound melancholy, but it inspired me with joy, which immediately appeared in my eyes and countenance.  But my surprise at receiving a favour which I had not yet deserved was so great, that I knew not how to begin to testify my thankfulness.  In a word, after having kissed