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when we would be rid of thee, we will send thee away.” So I sat with them till near daybreak, when she said to me, “O Ibn Mensour, go to yonder chamber; for we have furnished it for thee, and it is thy sleeping-place.” So I went thither and slept till morning, when a page brought me basin and ewer, and I made the ablution and prayed the morning-prayer. Then I sat down and presently, Jubeir and his mistress came out of the bath in the house, wringing their locks.
I wished them good morning and gave them joy of their safety and reunion, saying to Jubeir, “That which began with constraint hath ended in contentment.” “Thou sayst well,” replied he; “and indeed thou deservest largesse.” And he called his treasurer and bade him fetch three thousand dinars. So he brought a purse containing that sum, and Jubeir gave it to me, saying, “Favour us by accepting this.” “I will not take it,” answered I, “till thou tell me the manner of the transfer of love from her to thee, after so great an aversion.” “I hear and obey,” said he. “Know that we have a festival, called the festival of the New Year, when all the people use to take boat and go a-pleasuring on the river. So I went out, with my comrades, and saw a boat, wherein were half a score damsels like moons, and amongst them, the lady Budour, with her lute in her hand. She preluded in eleven modes, then returning to the first, sang the following verses:
Fire is not so fierce and so hot as the fires in my heart that glow, And granite itself is less hard than the heart of my lord, I trow.
Indeed, when I think on his make and his fashion, I marvel to see A heart that is harder than rock in a body that’s softer than snow.
Quoth I to her, ‘Repeat the verses and the air.’ Night cccxxxiv.But she would not; so I bade the boatmen pelt her with oranges, and they pelted her till we feared her boat would sink. Then she went her way, and this is how the love was transferred from her breast to mine.’ So I gave
