When it was the Two Hundred and Nineteenth Night，She said，It hath reached me，O auspicious King，that she gave her missive to the eunuch in waiting and bade him bear it to Prince Amjad. And that eunuch went forth ignoring what the future hid for him （for the Omniscient ordereth events even as He willeth）；and，going in to the Prince，kissed the ground between his hands and handed to him the letter. On receiving the kerchief he opened it and，reading the epistle and recognizing its gist he was ware that his father's wife was essentially an adulteress and a traitress at heart to her husband，King Kamar alZaman. So he waxed wroth with exceeding wrath and railed at women and their works，saying，'Allah curse women，the traitresses，the imperfect in reason and religion！'[359] Then he drew his sword and said to the eunuch，'Out on thee，thou wicked slave！ Dost thou carry messages of disloyalty for thy lord's wife？ By Allah，there is no good in thee，O black of hue and heart，O foul of face and Nature's forming！'So he smote him on the neck and severed his head from his body；then，folding the kerchief over its contents he thrust it into his breast pocket and went in to his own mother and told her what had passed，reviling and reproaching her，and saying，'Each one of you is viler than the other；and，by Allah the Great and Glorious，did I not fear illmanneredly to transgress against the rights of my father，Kamar alZaman，and my brother，Prince As'ad，I would assuredly go in to her and cut off her head，even as I cut off that of her eunuch！'Then he went forth from his mother in a mighty rage；and when the news reached Queen Hayat alNufus of what he had done with her eunuch，she abused him[360] and cursed him and plotted perfidy against him. He passed the night，sick with rage，wrath and concern；nor found he pleasure in meat，drink or sleep. And when the next morning dawned Prince As'ad fared forth in his turn to rule the folk in his father's stead，whilst his mother，Hayat alNufus，awoke in feeble plight because of what she had heard from Prince Amjad concerning the slaughter of her eunuch. So Prince As'ad sat in the audiencechamber that day，judging and administering justice，appointing and deposing，bidding and forbidding，giving and bestowing. And he ceased not thus till near the time of afternoonprayer，when Queen Budur sent for a crafty old woman and，discovering to her what was in her heart，wrote a letter to Prince As'ad，complaining of the excess of her affection and desire for him in these cadenced lines，'From her who perisheth for passion and loveforlorn to him who in nature and culture is goodliest born to him who is conceited of his own loveliness and glories in his amorous grace who from those that seek to enjoy him averteth his face and refuseth to show favour unto the self abasing and base him who is cruel and of disdainful mood from the lover despairing of good to Prince As'ad with passing beauty endowed and of excelling grace proud of the face moon bright and the brow flowerwhite and dazzling splendid light This is my letter to him whose love melteth my body and rendeth my skin and bones！ Know that my patience faileth me quite and I am perplexed in my plight longing and restlessness weary me and sleep and patience deny themselves to me but mourning and watching stick fast to me and desire and passion torment me and the extremes of languor and sickness have sheet me Yet may my life be a ransom for thee albeit thy pleasure be to slay her who loveth thee and Allah prolong the life of thee and preserve thee from all infirmity！'
And after these cadences she wrote these couplets，'Fate hath commanded I become thy fere，O shining like full moon when clearest clear！
All beauty dost embrace，all eloquence；
Brighter than aught within our worldly sphere：
Content am I my torturer thou be：
Haply shalt alms me with one lovely leer！
Happy her death who dieth for thy love！
No good in her who holdeth thee unclear！'
And also the following couplets，'Unto thee，As'ad！ I of passionpangs complain；
Have ruth on slave of love so burnt with flaming pain：
How long，I ask，shall hands of Love disport with me，
With longings，dolour，sleepliness and bale and bane？
Anon I 'plain of sea in heart，anon of fire
In vitals，O strange case，dear wish，my fairest fain！
O blamer，cease thy blame，and seek thyself to fly
From love，which makes these eyne a rill of tears to rain.
How oft I cry for absence and desire，Ah grief！
But all my crying naught of gain for me shall gain：
Thy rigours dealt me sickness passing power to bear，
Thou art my only leach，assain me an thou deign！
O chider，chide me not in caution，for I doubt
That plaguey Love to thee shall also deal a bout.'
Then Queen Budur perfumed the letterpaper with a profusion of odoriferous musk and，winding it in her hairstrings which were of Iraki silk，with pendants of oblong emeralds，set with pearls and stones of price，delivered it to the old woman，bidding her carry it to Prince As'ad.[361] She did so in order to pleasure her，and going in to the Prince，straightway and without stay，found him in his own rooms and delivered to him the letter in privacy；after which she stood waiting an hour or so for the answer.
