Pagina 600 di 1116

No sooner had Shams al-Din read this than he cried out with a

loud cry and fell to the ground fainting; and as soon as he

revived and understood the gist of the matter he marvelled and

said, "There is no God, but the God, whose All-might is over all

things! Knowest thou, O my daughter, who it was that became the

husband of thy virginity?" "No," answered she, and he said,

"Verily he is the son of my brother, thy cousin, and this

thousand dinars is thy dowry. Praise be to Allah! and would I wot

how this matter came about!" then opened he the amulet which was

sewn up and found therein a paper in the handwriting of his

deceased brother, Nur al-Din the Egyptian, father of Badr al-Din

Hasan; and, when he saw the hand-writing, he kissed it again and

again; and he wept and wailed over his dead brother and

improvised this lines:-