Brewer's: Zelica

was in love with Azim. Azim left his native Bokhara to join the Persian army, and was taken captive by the Greeks. Report said “he was dead;” Zelica lost her reason, joined the harem of the Veiled Prophet as “one of the elect of Paradise,” and became “priestess of the faith.” When Azim joined the prophet's band, Zelica was appointed to lure him to his destruction, both of body and soul. They meet- Azim tells her to fly with him, but she tells him she is the prophet's bride, and flees from his embrace. After the death of the prophet Zelica puts on his veil, and Azim, thinking he sees the prophet, rushes on her and kills her. (Thomas Moore. Vciled Prophet of Khorassan; Lalla Rookh.)

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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