They lied to me and told me that you loved another and Najeebee deceived me when she told me that you had fallen in love with her, and did so in order to induce me to accept her cousin as my bridegroom, as the family had long planned. I am married now but you are the only one I love and you are my bridegroom. Now that the veil has been removed from my eyes and truth is near, I came here to follow you to the end of life, and I will never go back to the man whom falsehood and narrow custom have selected for me as a husband. Let us hurry, my beloved, and leave this place under the protection of night. Let us go to the seacoast and embark upon a ship that will take us to a distant land where we will live together unmolested. Let us start now so when dawn comes we will be safe from the grip of the enemy; I have enough jewelry to take care of us for the rest of our lives … Why do you not talk, Saleem? Why do you not look at me? Why do you not kiss me? Are you listening to the wailing of my soul and the crying of my heart? Speak, and let us make haste to leave this place! The minutes we are losing are more precious than diamonds, and dearer than the crowns of the kings.”

Her voice was more soothing than Life’s whispering, and more anguished than the moaning call of Death, and softer than the rustling of wings, and deeper than the message of the waves … it was a voice that vibrated with hope and despair, with pleasure and pain, with happiness and misery, with need for life and desire for death. The youth was listening, but within him Love and Honour fought each other … Honour that confronts the spirit, and Love that God places in the human heart … After a long silence, the youth raised his head and turned his eyes away from the bride who was quivering with anxiety and he quietly protested, “Return to your destiny, for it is now too late. Sobriety has effaced what intoxication had painted. Go back before the guests see you here and say that you betrayed your husband on the wedding night just as you betrayed me during my absence.” When she heard these words, she trembled like a withering flower before a tempest and she said painfully, “I shall never go back to that house which I have left forever. I feel now like a prisoner who leaves his exile … do not cast me from you, saying that I betrayed you. The hands that joined your heart and mine are stronger than the Emir’s and the priest’s hands which committed my body to my revolting bridegroom. There is no power that can take you from me … not even Death can separate our souls, for as Heaven has willed it, only Heaven can alter it.”

Feigning disinterest and trying to free himself from the grip of her arms around him, Saleem retorted, “Depart from me! I love another with an intensity that causes me to forget you exist in this world. Najeebee was right when she told you that I loved her. Go back to your husband and be a faithful wife to him as the law commands.”

The bride desperately protested, “No, no! I do not believe you, Saleem! I know that you love me, and I can read it in your eyes; I sense your love when I am close to you; I shall never leave you for my husband’s home as long as my heart beats; I came here to follow you to the end of the world. Lead the way, Saleem, or shed my blood and take my life now.” With a voice no stronger than before, Saleem returned, “Leave me, or I will shout and gather the people in this garden and disgrace you before God and man and let my beloved Najeebee laugh at you and be proud of her triumph.”

As Saleem was endeavouring to unclasp her arms, she turned from a hopeful, kind, and pleading woman into a furious lioness who had lost her cubs, and she cried out saying, “No one shall ever triumph over me and take my love from me!” Having uttered these words, she drew a dagger from beneath her wedding gown, and swift as lightning, she sheathed it in the youth’s heart. He fell upon the ground like a tender branch broken by the storms and she bent over him, holding the blood-stained dagger in her hand. He opened his eyes and his lips vibrated when he faltered, “Come now, my beloved; come, Lyla, and do not leave me. Life is weaker than Death, and Death is weaker than Love. Listen to the cruel laughter of the feasters inside the house, and hear the tinkling and breaking of the drinking cups, my beloved. Lyla, you have rescued me from Life’s suffering. Let me kiss the hand that broke the chains and let me free. Kiss me and forgive me, for I have not been truthful.

“Place your blood-cleansed hands upon my withering heart, and when my soul ascends into the spacious sky, place the dagger in my right hand and say that I took my own life.” He choked for breath and whispered, “I love you, Lyla, and never loved another. Self-sacrifice is nobler than fleeing with you. Kiss me, oh beloved sweetheart of my soul. Kiss me, oh Lyla …” And he placed his hand upon his wounded heart and breathed his last. The bride looked toward the house and cried in piercing agony, “Emerge from your stupor, for here is the wedding! The bride and the bridegroom are awaiting you! Come and see our soft bed! Wake up, you madmen and drunkards; hurry to this place so we can reveal to you the truth of Love, Death and Life!” Her hysterical voice rang through every corner of the house, echoing into the guests’ ears. As if in a trance, they were drawn to the door and they walked out, looking in every direction. As they approached the scene of tragic beauty, and saw the bride weeping over Saleem, they retreated in fright and none dared come close by. It seemed that the stream of blood from the youth’s heart, and the dagger in the bride’s hand, had fascinated them and frozen the blood in their bodies. The bride looked at him and moaned bitterly, “Come, you cowards! Fear not the spectre of Death whose greatness will refuse to approach your littleness, and dread not this dagger, for it is a divine instrument which declines to touch your filthy bodies and empty hearts.