This reminds me of another story. Suleiman, son of Abdel Malik, was of an extremely jealous disposition, and sometimes put to death individuals whom he suspected of having cast an eye of covetousness on any of his women. Once he called a singer to him: it was daytime; he caused him to sit at the foot of his bed and to sing. Now, it happened that the weather was warm, and a young slave-girl was employed in fanning him, and the combined influence of the music and the cool air sent him to sleep. The singer, whose eyes had been downcast, suddenly looked up and saw the Kaliph slumbering, and the young girl still waving the fan. He fixed his looks upon her, and she seemed to him to be splendid as the sun at the fourth hour of the day. He became troubled, but he dared not speak, for the Kaliph was there. Tears of love gushed from beneath his eyelids, and passion burned within him. He took a piece of paper and wrote upon it these two verses,— “I have seen thee in a dream—I have seen thee beside me—I drank the cool dew of thy lips. “Yes, yes, we have passed the time together on the same couch!” He threw this paper to the young girl, who took it, and added three other verses,— “Thou hast seen aright: everything that thou darest to hope for thou shalt obtain, even if the jealous one has his face dragged in the dust. “Yes, thou shalt pass the time by my side, between the bracelets of my wrists: thou shalt come upon my lips and in my arms. “We shall be the first lovers who have been united in spite of fate and the jealous one.” She threw the paper to the singer, but the Kaliph stretched out his hand and caught it as it passed, and read it. His eyes flashed, and he exclaimed,— “What motive has guided you? Is this an old intrigue, or is it sudden love that has made you drunk?” “By the heaven above, it is the love of an instant. No word bound as together.” And tears of fear fell from their eyes. The Kaliph’s heart was softened, and, turning to the singer, he said,— “Take her, but never again appear in my sight.”