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said to him, “Thou art a man of a generous mind, and it is just that thou be upheld in thy generosity.” Then he ordered him a hundred thousand dirhems and said to me, “O Isaac, bring me the damsel.” So I brought her to him, and she sang and delighted him. He was greatly gladdened by her and ordered her fifty thousand dirhems, saying to me, “I appoint her of service every Thursday, when she must come and sing to me from behind the curtain.” So, by Allah, this ride of mine was a source of profit both to me and to others.
THE THREE UNFORTUNATE LOVERS.
(Quoth El Utbi[1]), I was sitting one day with a company of men of culture, telling stories of the folk, when the talk turned upon anecdotes of lovers and each of us said his say thereon. Now there was in our company an old man, who remained silent, till we had all spoken and had no more to say, when he said, “Shall I tell you a thing, the like of which you never heard?” “Yes,” answered we; and he said, “Know, then, that I had a daughter, who loved a youth, but we knew it not. The youth in question loved a singing-girl, who, in her turn, was enamoured of my daughter. One day, I was present at an assembly, Night ccccx.where were also the young man and the girl; when the latter sang the following verses:
Tears are the token by which, for love, Abjection in lovers still is shown,
And more by token in one who finds No friend, to whom he may make his moan.
‘By Allah, thou hast said well, O my lady!’ exclaimed the youth. ‘Dost thou bid me die?’ ‘Yes,’ answered the girl from behind the curtain, ‘if thou be in love.’ So he laid his head on a cushion and closed his eyes; and when the cup came round to him, we shook him and
- ↑ A well-known poet, who flourished at Baghdad in the ninth century.
