The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 08 (of 10)
General
The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 08 (of 10)
Fairy tales; Tales -- Arab countries
She laughed at his language and said, "O my lord, go to thy friend the
druggist and borrow other thirty dirhams of him, and to-morrow repay
him from the price of the girdle the thirty together with the fifty
already loaned to thee." So he rose and repaired to the druggist and
said to him, "O Uncle, lend me other thirty dirhams, and to-morrow,
Almighty Allah willing, I will repay thee the whole fourscore." The old
man weighed him out thirty dirhams, wherewith he went to the market and
buying meat and bread, dried fruits, and flowers as before, carried
them home to the damsel whose name was Miriam,[FN#486] the Girdle-girl.
She rose forthright and making ready rich meats, set them before her
lord Nur al-Din; after which she brought the wine-service and they
drank and plied each other with drink. When the wine began to play with
their wits, his pleasant address and inner grace pleased her, and she
recited these two couplets,
"Said I to Slim-waist who the wine engraced * Brought in
musk-scented bowl and a superfine,
'Was it prest from thy cheek?' He replied 'Nay, nay! * When did
man from Roses e'er press the Wine?'"
And the damsel ceased not to carouse with her lord and ply him with cup
and bowl and require him to fill for her and give her to drink of that
which sweeteneth the spirits, and whenever he put forth hand to her,
she drew back from him, out of coquetry. The wine added to her beauty
and loveliness, and Nur al-Din recited these two couplets,
"Slim-waist craved wine from her companeer; * Cried (in meeting
of friends when he feared for his fere,)
'An thou pass not the wine thou shalt pass the night, * A-banisht
my bed!' And he felt sore fear."
They ceased not drinking till drunkenness overpowered Nur al-Din and he
slept; whereupon she rose forthright and fell to work upon a zone, as
was her wont. When she had wrought it to end, she wrapped it in paper
and doffing her clothes, lay down by his side and enjoyed dalliance and
delight till morn appeared.—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
ceased to say her permitted say.
When it was the Eight Hundred and Seventy-sixth Night,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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