AND when day came he took his lost cause about the streets and the roads, and at last for very weariness lay down in the dust and slept. And in his dreams he, a helpless beggar, was set on the throne of Kings, and then he awoke and found his head pillowed on a stone. And all day long he waited for the night to come that unnoticed he might go again to the house of his belovcd: the world was dark for him until the sun was set and darkness came. Then when the world's night appeared his night became morning, and he was drawn on to Hadijeh's house by his secret longing; like an owl he loved the darkness and roamed about clothed in night. And he made himself a running noose and bound it round his waist, and he got store of nails and a hammer. And swift as the wind and like the wind unseen he sped to the house. Oh Valeh, why dost thou walk round that house as the pilgrims walk round the sacred stone of Mecca? That is no kaabe, it is a woman's dwelling. Then he undid the rope and threw it, and it caught on the roof, and he climbed to the roof as a lover's sighs fly upwards. And he stood on the roof of her house, trembling for fear and love. The dust of the roof was like medicine to the eyes:* it cured them of their blindness: it showed them how to find the loved one's chamber. And he stood at the door wild with longing. And he cast down his eyes and he saw on the threshold two little shoes, like bodies empty of their souls. And he stooped and took up the shoes and hid them in his bosom, rejoicing greatly. And then he kissed them, and then he set them on his head like a crown, and smiling went home; and he who had gone out like a thief came home as a king. He cried: “I am master of the two worlds; what can death and life do for me more than Hadijeh's two shoes? I am the lord of night and of day, of death and of life, for I own these two priceless treasures.”

And when morning came Hadijeh woke and dressed herself and called for her shoes. And her maid searched everywhere, but could not find them, and said: “Surely some thief has stolen them.” And she said: “I know what thief it was;” and she sent for Valeh and bade him come to her. And when he came she smiled to him and said: “Once you came as a beggar and now again as a thief. But what a thief you are! You have stolen my heart, and now you steal my shoes.”