Years passed and this half-dead body of Majnun was exposed to all things, cold and heat and rain, frost and storm. The hands that were holding the branches became branches themselves, his body became a part of the tree. Leila was as unhappy as before on her travels, and the parents lost hope of her life. She was living only in one hope, that she might once fulfil her promise given to Majnun at the moment of parting, saying, "I will come back." She wondered if he were alive or dead, or had gone away or whether the animals in the Sahara had carried him off.