Vathek, absorbed in his reveries, was imperceptibly removed, and conveyed
back to the saloon that received him the evening before.
But let us leave the Caliph, immersed in his new passion, and attend
Nouronihar beyond the rocks, where she had again joined her beloved
Gulchenrouz. This Gulchenrouz was the son of Ali Hassan, brother to the
Emir, and the most delicate and lovely creature in the world. Ali
Hassan, who had been absent ten years on a voyage to the unknown seas,
committed at his departure this child, the only survivor of many, to the
care and protection of his brother. Gulchenrouz could write in various
characters with precision, and paint upon vellum the most elegant
arabesques that fancy could devise; his sweet voice accompanied the lute
in the most enchanting manner, and when he sang the loves of Megnoun and
Leileh, or some unfortunate lovers of ancient days, tears insensibly
overflowed the cheeks of his auditors; the verses he composed (for, like
Megnoun, he too was a poet) inspired that unresisting languor so
frequently fatal to the female heart; the women all doted upon him; for
though he had passed his thirteenth year, they still detained him in the
harem; his dancing was light as the gossamer waved by the zephyrs of
spring, but his arms, which twined so gracefully with those of the young
girls in the dance, could neither dart the lance in the chase, nor curb
the steeds that pastured his uncle's domains.
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