Page:The Celebrated Romance of the Stealing of the Mare.djvu/20

These be men of their word; asking thou shalt obtain it:
Ask thou all that thou wilt, even all thy soul desireth."
But she, "Nay, thou dost mock, thou slave and idle talker.
Not of these would I hear nor of other than Salame,
Salame Abu Zeyd, Chief of Helal ibn Amer.
Why art thou mute of him for whom my soul is enkindled?"
And I, "Myself am he, the Helali Salame,
Welcome to thee, and welcome as wide as thou hast wandered."
And she prayed, "O Abu Zeyd, behold me here thy stranger.
A boon I ask, O dark one, a mighty deed of daring.
Thy suppliant am I, thou son of Risk Salame,
From the distress of time behold my tears are flowing.
For this one boon behold me pleading here before thee.
I have tasted Fortune's change. I plead by the day of judgment."
And I, "What is thy want, O Lady, that I grant it—
All, to the cord, I give, so thy tears cease from flowing."
And she, "O man admired! A great one was my husband,
A knight, a prince of lineage, Abul Jud Dagher,
A man of mighty wealth, stored up in many houses,
Wealth whose sole catalogue were a library of volumes.
He dying left behind with me our one son Amer,
To me and to the hate of an ill-minded uncle
For when that Abul Jud was gathered to his fathers,