'I speak and longing love upties me and unties me; * Till with her honey-dew of inner lip she plies me: I brought the chess-board and my liefest lover plays me * With white and black,[FN#197] but black-cum-white ne'er satisfies me: 'Twas as if King for Castle I were fain to place me * Till wilful loss of game atwixt two queens surprise me: And if I seek to read intent in eyes that eye me * Oh man! that glance askance with hint of wish defies me.'" Then she brought the chess-board and played with him; but Sharrkan, instead of looking at her moves, kept gazing at her fair mouth, and putting knight in place of elephant and elephant[FN#198] in stead of knight. She laughed and said to him, "If thy play be after this fashion, thou knowest naught of the game." "This is only our first," replied he, "judge not by this bout." When she beat him he replaced the pieces in position and played again with her; but she beat him a second time, a third, a fourth and a fifth. So she turned to him and said, "Thou art beaten in everything;" and he replied, "O my lady, how should one playing with the like of thee avoid being beaten?" Then she bade bring food, and they ate and washed their hands; after which the wine was set before them; and they drank. Presently, she took the dulcimer, for her hand was cunning in smiting it, and she began repeating to an accompaniment these couplets, "Twixt the close-tied and open-wide no medium Fortune knoweth, * Now ebb and flow then flow and ebb this wise her likeness showeth. Then drink her wine the syne she's thine and smiling thou dost find her * Anon she'll fall and fare away when all thy good forth goeth." They ceased not to carouse till nightfall and this day was pleasanter even than the first. When darkness set in, the lady betook her to her dormitory, leaving him alone with the handmaids; so he threw himself on the ground and slept till dawn, when the damsels came to him with tambourines and other instruments according to custom. Seeing them he roused him hastily and sat up; and they carried him to their mistress, who came to meet him and, taking him by the hand, seated him by her side. Then she asked him how he had passed his night, whereat he prayed that her life be prolonged; and she took the lute and sang to it these verses which she improvised, "Ne'er incline thee to part * Which embitters the heart; E'en the sun when he sets * Shall in pallor depart."