Every created being has its mate;
the most insignificant bird sings to its paramour; the very beetle
woos its lady-beetle in the dust, and yon butterflies which you see
fluttering high above the tower, and toying in the air, are happy in
each other's loves. Alas, my prince hast thou spent so many of the
precious days of youth without knowing any thing of love? Is there
no gentle being of another sex- no beautiful princess nor lovely
damsel who has ensnared your heart, and filled your bosom with a
soft tumult of pleasing pains and tender wishes?"
"I begin to understand," said the prince, sighing; "such a tumult
I have more than once experienced, without knowing the cause; and
where should I seek for an object such as you describe, in this dismal
solitude?"
A little further conversation ensued, and the first amatory lesson
of the prince was complete.
"Alas!" said he, "if love be indeed such a delight, and its
interruption such a misery, Allah forbid that I should mar the joy
of any of its votaries." He opened the cage, took out the dove, and
having fondly kissed it, carried it to the window. "Go, happy bird,"
said he, "rejoice with the partner of thy heart in the days of youth
and spring-time. Why should I make thee a fellow-prisoner in this
dreary tower, where love can never enter?"
The dove flapped its wings in rapture, gave one vault into the
air, and then swooped downward on whistling wings to the blooming
bowers of the Darro.
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