Rudabeh's Secret Love

She had five Turkish maids who served her, devoted and loving slaves. She said to those wise servants: I mean to reveal what has been hidden. Each one of you, you keep my secrets; you serve me and share my sorrows. Know this, all five of you, and understand: may fortune be your companion always. I am in love, like a raging sea whose waves rise up to the sky. My bright heart is full of the son of Sam; even in sleep my thoughts of him never break. My heart lives always in the ache of loving him; night and day I dream of his face. Now what cure do you have for this? What will you say, what pledge will you make with me? A remedy must be found now to free my heart and soul from this torment. The maids were amazed that such helplessness came from the noblewoman's daughter. They readied their reply, and rose up as if the devil himself had stirred them. They said: You, crown of the world's ladies, held highest above the daughters of the great, praised from India to China, a shining jewel set among idols, no cypress in the meadow stands as tall as you; no star shines like your face, the very image of your face God sends eastward from Kanauj and Rai. Have you no shame in your eyes at all, no respect for your father? The one his own father cast aside, that is the one you want to hold in your arms, a man raised by a bird in the mountains, marked out as strange among all people. No child was ever born of an old mother, and from one who bears no child no line descends. You, with lips like two red corals still smelling of milk, it would be a wonder if you went chasing an old man. A whole world is filled with love for you; palace walls are painted with your face. With such a face, such stature, such hair, a husband should come to you from the fourth heaven itself. When Rudabeh heard their words, her heart flared up like fire before the wind. She cried out at them in anger, turned away her face and shut her eyes. Then, with a scowling face and gaze, she drew her brows into a frown of rage. She said: This clumsy quarrel of yours, your words were not worth hearing. I want neither the Caesar nor the emperor of China, nor any of the crowned kings of Iran. For my match is Zal, the son of Sam, with a lion's arm and a mighty frame. Call him old or call him young, he is to me my very body and soul. My heart chose to love him without ever seeing him; it chose this friendship from mere hearsay. I love him for his face and hair, and it was toward his worth that I turned in love. The maids grasped her secret when their wounded hearts heard her words. They said aloud: We are your servants, loving in heart and devoted to you. Just tell us now what you command; nothing but good can come of your command. One of them said: You, slender cypress, take care that no one learns of this, and if magic must be learned, if eyes must be sealed shut with spells and charms, we will fly with the birds and become sorceresses, we will race and turn into gazelles to find a way, so that we may bring the king to our moon and lift him up beside her. Rudabeh's red lips broke into a smile; she turned her saffron cheeks toward the maid. She said: If you carry out this plan, you will plant a tall and fruitful tree, a tree that bears rubies every day, laying its fruit into your open arms.