Presently, in came the Khalif and seeing her sitting eating,
rejoiced; and the old woman said to him, "O Commander of the
Faithful, I give thee joy of thy slave's recovery! Know that
there is lately come to our city a physician, than whom I never
saw a better versed in diseases and their cure. I fetched her
medicine from him and she has taken of it but once and is
restored to health." Quoth he, "Take a thousand dinars and
provide for her treatment, till she be completely recovered." And
he went away, rejoicing in the damsel's recovery, whilst the old
woman betook herself to the physician, to whom she delivered the
thousand dinars and a letter that Num had written, giving him to
know that she was become the Khalif's slave. He gave the letter
to Nimeh, who knew her hand and fell down in a swoon. When he
came to himself, he opened the letter and found these words
written therein: "From the slave despoiled of her delight,[FN#83]
her whose reason hath been beguiled and who is separated from the
beloved of her heart. Thy letter hath reached me and hath
dilated my bosom and rejoiced my heart, even as saith the poet:
The letter reached me, never may the fingers fail thee aught,
That traced its characters, until with sweetest scent
they're fraught!
'Twas as unto his mother's arms when Moses was restored Or as to
blind old Jacob's hands when Joseph's coat was
brought.
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