than thou, until Allah (extolled and exalted be He!) vouchsafed me my desire of thy presence; whereupon I came out to thee, as soon as I heard of thy coming, and besought thee to buy me. Thou heartenedst my heart and boughtest me; and since I entered thy house, O my lord, I have not taken up the lute till now; but to-day, when I was left private by the slave-girls, I took it; and my purpose in this was that I might see if my hand were changed[152] or not. As I was singing, I heard a footfall in the vestibule; so springing up, I laid the lute from my hand and going forth to see what was to do, found thee, O my lord, after this fashion.” Quoth Ishak, “Indeed, this was of thy fair fortune. By Allah, I know not that which thou knowest in this art!” Then he arose and opening a chest, brought out therefrom striped clothes[153], netted with jewels and great pearls and other costly gems and said to her, “In the name of Allah, don these, O my lady Tohfah.” So she arose and donned that dress and veiled herself and went up with Ishak to the palace of the Caliphate, where he made her stand without, whilst he himself went in to the Prince of True Believers (with whom was Ja’afar the Barmaki) and kissing the ground before him, said to him, “O Commander of the Faithful, I have brought thee a damsel, never saw eyes of seer her like for excellence in singing and touching the lute; and her name is Tohfah.” Al-Rashid asked “And where be this Tohfah[154] who hath not her like in the world?” Answered Ishak, “Yonder she standeth, O Commander of the Faithful;” and he acquainted the Caliph with her case from first to last. Then said Al-Rashid, “’Tis a marvel to hear thee praise a slave-girl after this fashion. Admit her that we may look upon her, for verily the morning may not be hidden.” Accordingly, Ishak bade admit her; so she entered, and when her eyes fell upon the Prince of True Believers, she kissed ground before him and said, “The Peace be upon thee, O Commander of the faithful Fold and Asylum of all who the true Creed hold and Quickener of justice in the Worlds threefold! Allah make thy feet tread on safest wise and give thee joy of what He gave thee in generous guise and make thy harbourage Paradise and Hell-fire that of thine enemies!” Quoth Al-Rashid, “And on thee be the Peace, O damsel! Sit.” So she sat down and he bade her sing; whereupon she took the lute and tightening its strings, played thereon in many modes, so that the Prince of True Believers and Ja’afar were confounded in sprite and like to fly for delight. Then she returned to the first mode and improvised these couplets:— O mine eyes! I swear by him I adore, ✿ Whom pilgrims seek thronging Arafát; An thou call my name on the grave of me, ✿ I’ll reply to thy call tho’ my bones go rot: I crave none for friend of my heart save thee; ✿ So believe me, for true are the well-begot.