The pleasant hour of morning is also most delightful. Its grandeur is of the highest order. What a jest it is, that when it takes command, there is always a commotion, and news of its arrival spreads two hours in advance. Look there—the twinkling stars in the sky gaze down at the earth with such restlessness and longing, their faces and the anxiety of their departure so evident that even the beautiful buds in the gardens have begun to smile. If this continues, by morning they will surely burst out laughing.

Now, see how the scene has changed. Some unknown force of nature has washed away the darkness of the sky, and as the night of its reign passes, it has ordered the sorrowful stars to take their leave. On one side, seeing the anxiety of the restless stars, the buds—so lost in their own beauty and laughter—are now being thoroughly chastised by the cool morning breeze, which has begun to ruin the adornments that some handmaiden of nature had so carefully arranged just two hours before.

The sparkling dewdrops, more lustrous than pearls, are being scattered, and the laughing buds—

Seeing their adornment being ruined, their ally, the fragrance, could not bear it any longer. She swiftly parted from the flowers and, entangling herself with the cool morning breeze, began to spread everywhere, causing a commotion. She started to slip into the minds of those young men, who, having stayed awake all night, now lay languid on their beautiful beds, trying to rouse them so they might hear her complaint. But when they heard nothing and merely turned over to the other side, she went after the gardeners instead. They immediately sprang up, girded their waists, and hurried to the spot where the flowers and the spirited gusts of wind were quarreling. But what could these simple folk understand of such matters? Instead, they began plucking the flowers, filling their baskets. Well, that settled it—no more bamboo, no more flute. What a fine way to end a quarrel! In return, the tall trees, pleased, bent low with the help of the wind to salute the gardeners, though not a single flower remained on their branches. Why shouldn't they be happy? What did they have to give fragrance to others? Their own appearance delighted all, and seeing others become like themselves made everyone glad.

Now, those perfumed ones, too, abandoned their beds and, upon rising, sat before their mirrors, whose beauty had been disheveled by admirers throughout the night. Quickly, they untangled their musky tresses, cleansed their moonlike faces with rosewater, and, frolicking with a coquettish gait, adjusting their pale yellow veils, began to promenade along the paths. Pausing now and then beside the flowers, they would ask, "Tell me, are you fairer, or am I?" When they received no reply, they simply reached out, plucked a flower, and, placing it in their earrings in place of a pendant, moved on. When they reached the rose beds, the thorns caught