to be equal to a washerman's son

One day Hazrat Nizamuddin Awlia was listening to
Qawwali and in ecstasy, waving his handkerchief, said:
"We regret, we have not become equal to the
washermans' son even." At that moment no one dared to
ask what he meant, but some days afterwards he was
asked about it by Hazrat Amir Khusru. The explanation of
Hazrat Nizamuddin Awlia was like this: "The son of the
washerman of the king, without seeing the princess, was
in love with her. He used to wash her clothes with utmost
care, and even mended and improved them by various
means. Without seeing her, he used to moan and weep in
the memory of her beauty. His parents became very
worried. To speak about it is a problem and not to speak
about it is a problem. We are washers and she is a
princess. How can the dust of the earth be compared with
the sky?
So they tricked him in order to try and change their
son's ideas. One day his mother came to him with a
grief-stricken face. He asked what was the matter with her.
Then she explained "Today was the soyam (the third day
after the death) of the princess whose clothes you used
to wash. The boy three times asked: "Has she died?" --
and then with a shriek died.
On the fourth day, the washerwoman brought the
clothes back to the princess. She asked: "Who has
washed these clothes today? They do not look as clean
as they used to be. Their neatness used to look as if love
has been involved." Hearing this, the washerwoman
became sad and started weeping. On being forced by the
princess, she explained everything. The princess then
wished to visit his grave. At once, when she was there,
the grave cracked and the princess said: "It cracked at
places. Ah! Whose grave is this? Probably a restless
heart is buried in it." Then the princess fell down and
expired.

http://muslim-canada.org/nizamuddin.pdf