hath not our Lord promised us wine in Paradise?” He answered, “Yes! The Most High saith:—And rivers of wine, delicious to the drinkers.[327] And we will drink it in this world and in the next world.” She laughed and emptying the cup, gave him to drink, and he said, “O Princess of the Fair, indeed thou art excusable in thy love for this.” Then he hent in hand from her another and another, till he became drunken and his talk waxed great and his prattle. The folk of the quarter heard him and assembled under the window; and when the Shaykh was ware of them, he opened the window and said to them, “Are ye not ashamed, O pimps? Every one in his own house doth whatso he willeth and none hindereth him; but we drink one single day and ye assemble and come, panders that ye are! To-day, wine, and to-morrow business;[328] and from hour to hour cometh relief.” So they laughed together and dispersed. Then the girl drank till she was drunken, when she called to mind her lord and wept, and the Shaykh said to her, “What maketh thee weep, O my lady?” Said she, “O elder, I am a lover and a separated.” He cried, “O my lady, what is this love?” Cried she, “And thou, hast thou never been in love?” He replied, “By Allah, O my lady, never in all my life heard I of this thing, nor have I ever known it! Is it of the sons of Adam or of the Jinn?” She laughed and said, “Verily, thou art even as those of whom the poet speaketh, in these couplets:— How oft shall they admonish and ye shun this nourishment; ✿ When e’en the shepherd’s bidding is obeyèd by his flocks? I see you like in shape and form to creatures whom we term ✿ Mankind, but in your acts and deeds you are a sort of ox.”[329] The Shaykh laughed at her speech and her verses pleased him. Then cried she to him, “I desire of thee a lute.” So he arose and brought her a bit of fuel.[330] Quoth she, “What is that?” and quoth he “Didst thou not say: Bring me fuel?” Said she, “I do not want this,” and said he, “What then is it that is hight fuel, other than this?” She laughed and replied, “The lute is an instrument of music, whereunto I sing.” Asked he, “Where is this thing found and of whom shall I get it for thee?” and answered she, “Of him who gave thee the wine.” So he arose and betaking himself to his neighbour the Jew, said to him “Thou favouredst us before with the wine; so now complete thy favours and look me out a thing hight lute, which be an instrument for singing; for she seeketh this of me and I know it not.” Replied the Jew, “Hearkening and obedience,” and going into his house, brought him a lute. The old man carried it to Sitt al-Milah, whilst the Jew took his drink and sat by a window adjoining the Shaykh’s house, so he might hear the singing. The damsel rejoiced, when the old man returned to her with the lute, and taking it from him, tuned its strings and sang these couplets:—