The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Vol. 5

Now when it was the Three Hundred and Seventy-Third Night,

She said: It has reached me, O auspicious King, that the Wazir A high-ranking political advisor or minister., after recounting the affair of his daughter, asked his wife, “What do you think should be done?”

And she answered, “Have patience while I pray the prayer for right direction.” So she performed a two-bow prayer according to the prophetic tradition original: “Sunnat,” the practices and traditions of the Prophet Muhammad. This specific prayer, called Istikhara, is used by Muslims when seeking divine guidance on a difficult decision. for seeking divine guidance; after which she said to her husband, “In the midst of the Sea of Treasures original: “Bahr al-Kunúz.” This likely refers to the Upper Nile region near Aswan, where the local tribes were known as the Kunúz. stands a mountain named the Mount of the Bereaved Mother original: Jabal al-Saklá. A legendary location often associated with the island of Philae in the Nile. (the reason for it being called this will soon follow in its place, if God wills original: “Inshallah”); and no one can reach that place except with great pain, difficulty, and distress. Make that mountain her dwelling place.”

Accordingly, the Minister and his wife agreed to build a new castle original: "virgin castle" on that mountain and lodge their daughter there, with necessary provisions to be renewed year by year and attendants to cheer and serve her. So, he gathered carpenters, builders, and architects, and sent them to the mountain where they built her an impregnable castle; eyes never saw the like of it.

Then he prepared food original: "vivers" and transport for the journey. Going to his daughter by night, he ordered her to prepare to set out on a pleasure trip. At this, her heart sensed the sorrows of separation, and when she went out and saw the preparations for the journey, she wept with bitter weeping. She wrote a message upon the door to inform her lover of what had happened and of the overwhelming passion and grief she felt—emotions so intense they would make the flesh shiver and the hair stand on end original: "hair to stare", melt the hardest stone with sorrow, and draw a tear from every eye. These are the verses she wrote:

By God, O house, if my beloved passes by in the morning,
And greets you with the signs and signals a lover is always meant to send,