ألف ليلة وليلة (Thousand and One Nights — 14th-15th century MS)

... and what became of it remained in his heart. Then he sat with him alone one of the days and said to him, 'My brother, Shah Zaman, I want you to grant me a favor and relieve what is in my heart, and I ask you about something until you find its advice.' He said, 'What is it, my brother?' He said, 'I saw you when you first arrived at my place, and every day that passed by you, your body diminished until your face changed, your color grew pale, and your appearance altered, and you remained in this state. I thought that what afflicted you was due to the separation from your family and your kingdom, so I refrained from asking you until you left. Every time I saw you, you were in decline and changing more than that. But when I traveled to the hunt and saw that you had restored your condition and your color had returned to you, I desire that you inform me about this matter and tell me what was the reason for your change when you first came to me, and what is the reason for the return of your color to you. Do not hide anything of your affair from me.' He said, 'When Shah Zaman heard the words of King Shahryar, he hung his head toward the ground, then said to him, 'O King, as for the reason that restored my state, I cannot inform you of it, and I wish that you would exempt me from mentioning it.' The Sultan was greatly astonished by his brother’s words, and fires burned in his heart, and he said, 'You must tell me this, and do not make us hate [the situation] at this hour, and remove the first reason.' The author of the narrative said, 'So he told him what had happened to him with his wife on the night of his departure from the beginning to the end. That time lasted, and I remained with you. When I turned to what happened to me regarding the young man who was afflicted by the fever of obsession and thought, my state changed. This is the reason for that.' Then he fell silent. When the King heard this account from him, it horrified him, and he marveled with the utmost astonishment at the deceit of women and sought refuge from their evil. He said, 'My brother, by God, if it killed me, it would kill your soul, and the traveler is excused if anxiety and obsession reached you and your state changed. What happened to you, I do not think happened to anyone else but you. By God, if it were me, what would have befallen me would be less than what is in the hands of a woman, or a thousand women, and I would not have been amazed and gone out like a madman. But praise be to God who...'