O lovely girl ! I want to know what the rose did to the cypress . Your mistress cuts off men 's heads because of this riddle ; what is at the bottom of it , and why does she do it ? ' Then Dil-aram answered : ` If you will promise to marry me and to keep me always amongst those you favour , I will tell you all I know , and I will keep watch about the riddle . ' ' O lovely girl , ' rejoined he , ` if I accomplish my purpose , so that I need no longer strive for it , I will keep my compact with you . When I have this woman in my power and have avenged my brothers , I will make you my solace . ' ' O wealth of my life and source of my joy ! ' responded Dil-aram , ' I do not know what the rose did to the cypress ; but so much I know that the person who told Mihr-afruz about it is a negro whom she hides under her throne . He fled here from Waq of the Caucasus -- it is there you must make inquiry ; there is no other way of getting at the truth . ` On hearing these words , the prince said to his heart , ' O my heart ! your task will yet wear away much of your life . ' He fell into long and far thought , and Dil-aram looked at him and said : ' O my life and my soul ! do not be sad . If you would like this woman killed , I will put poison into her cup so that she will never lift her head from her drugged sleep again . ' ' O Dil-aram ! such a vengeance is not manly . I shall not rest till I have gone to Waq of the Caucasus and have cleared up the matter . ' Then they repeated the agreement about their marriage , and bade one another goodbye . The prince now went back to the village , and told the old man that he was setting out on a long journey , and begged him not to be anxious , and to keep safe the goods which had been entrusted to him . The prince had not the least knowledge of the way to Waq of the Caucasus , and was cast down by the sense of his helplessness .
He was walking along by his horse 's side when there appeared before him an old man of serene countenance , dressed XXXXX green and carrying a staff , who resembled Khizr .
If at for in into of on that till to