174
that they submitted themselves to him and did him loyal service; and he and his wife abode in the enjoyment of all delight and solace of life, till there came to them the Destroyer of Delights and Sunderer of Companies, He that layeth waste the palaces and peopleth the tombs; and glory be to the Living One who dieth not and in whose hand is the dominion of the Seen and the Unseen!
UNS EL WUJOUD AND THE VIZIER’S DAUGHTER ROSE-IN-BUD.
There was once, of old days and in bygone ages and times, a King of great power and glory and dominion, who had a Vizier named Ibrahim, and this Vizier had a daughter of extraordinary beauty and grace, gifted with surpassing brilliancy and all perfection, possessed of abundant wit and perfectly accomplished. She loved wine and good cheer and fair faces and choice verses and rare stories; and the delicacy of her charms invited all hearts to love, even as Saith the poet, describing her:
She shines out like the moon at full, that midst the stars doth fare, And for a wrapping-veil she hath the ringlets of her hair.
The Eastern zephyr gives her boughs to drink of all its sweets And like a jointed cane, she sways to every breath of air.
She smiles in passing by. O thou that dost alike accord With red and yellow and arrayed in each, alike art fair,
Thou sportest with my wit in love, so that indeed meseems As if a sparrow in the clutch of playful urchin ’twere.
Her name was Rose-in-bud and she was so named for the exceeding delicacy and perfection of her beauty; and the King loved to carouse with her, because of her wit and good breeding.
Now it was the King’s custom yearly to gather together all the nobles of his realm and play with the ball. So, when the day came round, on which the folk assembled
