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added, O old man, thou hast talked long enough; go thy ways.
Needs must I go, replied I; but I see thou art out of health.
Tell me thy case; it may be God will give thee solace at
my hands. O old man, rejoined she, if thou be a man of
discretion, I will discover to thee my secret; but first
tell me who thou art, that I may know whether thou art worthy
of confidence or not; for the poet saith:
None keepeth secrets but the man who s trusty and discreet: A
secret s ever safely placed with honest fold and leal;
For me, my secrets I preserve within a locked-up house, Whose
key is lost and on whose door is set the Cadi s seal.
O my lady, answered I, an thou wouldst know who I am, I am
Ali ben Mensour of Damascus, the Wag, boon-companion to the
Khalif Haroun er Reshid. When she heard my name she came down
from her seat and saluting me, said, Welcome, O Ibn Mensour!
Now will I tell thee my case and entrust thee with my secret.
Know that I am a lover separated from her beloved. O my
lady, rejoined I, thou art fair and shouldst love none but
the fair. Whom then dost thou love? Quoth she, I love Jubeir
ben Umeir es Sheibani, Prince of the Benou Sheiban; [FN30] and
she described to me a young man than whom there was none
handsomer in Bassora. O my lady, asked I, have letters or
interviews passed between you? Yes, answered she; but his
love for me was of the tongue, not of the heart; for he kept
not his covenant nor was faithful to his troth. And what was
the cause of your separation? asked I.
I was sitting one day, replied she, whilst my maid here
combed my hair. When she had made an end of combing it, she
plaited my tresses, and my beauty and grace pleased her; so she
bent down to me and kissed my cheek. At that moment, he came
in, unawares, and seeing her kiss my cheek, turned away in
anger, vowing eternal separation and repeating the following
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verses:
If any share with me in her I love, incontinent, I ll cast her
off from me and be to live alone content.
A mistress, sure, is nothing worth, if, in the way of love, She
wish for aught but that to which the lover doth consent.
And from that time to this, O Ibn Mensour, continued she, he
hath neither written to me nor answered my letters. And what
thinkest thou to do? asked I. Quoth she, I have a mind to send
him a letter by thee. If thou bring me back an answer, thou shalt
have of me five hundred dinars; and if not, then a hundred for
thy pains. Do what seemeth good to thee, answered I. So she
called for inkhorn and paper and wrote the following verses:
Whence this estrangement and despite, beloved of my soul?
Whither have kindliness and love between us taken flight?
What makes thee with aversion turn from me? Indeed, thy face Is
not the face I used to know, when we our troth did plight.
Belike, the slanderers have made a false report of me, And thou
inclin dst to them, and they redoubled in despite.
If thou believedst their report, far, far it should have been
From thee, that art too whole of wit at such a bait to
bite!
Yea, I conjure thee by thy life, tell me what thou hast heard:
For lo! thou knowest what was said and wilt not do
unright.
If aught I ve said that angered thee, a speech of change
admits; Ay, and interpreting, I trow, may change its
meaning quite,
Were it a word sent down from God; for even the Pentateuch Hath
falsified and garbled been of this and th other
wight.[FN31]
Whilst, as for lies, how many were of folk before us told!
Joseph to Jacob was traduced and blackened in his sight.
Yea, for the slanderer and myself and thee, an awful day Of
standing up shall come, when God to judgment all shall
cite.
Then she sealed the letter and gave it to me. I took it and
carried it to the house of Jubeir ben Umeir, whom I found
absent hunting. So I sat down, to wait for him, and presently
he returned; and when I saw him come riding up, my wit was
confounded by his beauty ands grace. As soon as he saw me
sitting at the door, he dismounted and coming up to me, saluted
and embraced me; and meseemed I embraced the world and all that
therein is. Then he carried me into his house and seating me on
his own couch, called for food. So they brought a table of
khelenj[FN32] wood of Khorassan, with feet of gold, whereon
were all manner of meats, fried and roasted and the like. So I
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seated myself at the table and examining it, found the following
verses engraved upon it:
Weep for the cranes that erst within the porringers did lie And
for the stews and partridges evanished heave a sigh!
Mourn for the younglings of the grouse; lament unceasingly, As,
for the omelettes and the fowls browned in the pan, do I.
How my heart yearneth for the fish that, in its different
kinds, Upon a paste of wheaten flour, lay hidden in the
pie!
Praised be God for the roast meat, as in the dish it lay, With
pot-herbs, soaked in vinegar, in porringers hard by,
And eke the rice with buffaloes milk dressed and made savoury,
Wherein the hands were plunged and arms were buried
bracelet high!
O soul, I rede thee patient be, for God is bountiful: What
though thy fortunes straitened be, His succour s ever
nigh.
Then said Jubeir, Put thy hand to our food and ease our heart
by eating of our victual. By Allah, answered I, I will not
eat a mouthful, till thou grant me my desire. What is thy
desire? asked he. So I brought out the letter and gave it to
him; but, when he had read it, he tore it into pieces and
throwing it on the floor, said to me, O Ibn Mensour, I will
grant thee whatever thou askest, save this that concerns the
writer of this letter, for I have no answer to make to her. At
this, I rose in anger; but he caught hold of my skirts, saying,
O Ibn Mensour, I will tell thee what she said to thee, for all
I was not present with you. And what did she say to me?
asked I. Did she not say to thee, rejoined he, If thou bring
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