The bow, however, he drew
with a certain aim, and would have excelled his competitors in the race,
could he have broken the ties that bound him to Nouronihar.
The two brothers had mutually engaged their children to each other, and
Nouronihar loved her cousin more than her eyes; both had the same tastes
and amusements, the same long, languishing looks, the same tresses, the
same fair complexions, and when Gulchenrouz appeared in the dress of his
cousin he seemed to be more feminine than even herself. If at any time
he left the harem to visit Fakreddin, it was with all the bashfulness of
a fawn, that consciously ventures from the lair of its dam; he was
however, wanton enough to mock the solemn old grey-beards to whom he was
subject, though sure to be rated without mercy in return; whenever this
happened he would plunge into the recesses of the harem, and sobbing,
take refuge in the arms of Nouronihar, who loved even his faults beyond
the virtues of others.
It fell out this evening that, after leaving the Caliph in the meadow,
she ran with Gulchenrouz over the green sward of the mountain that
sheltered the vale where Fakreddin had chosen to reside.
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