Page:Tales from the Arabic, Vol 3.djvu/64

46 this plight!” So she drank it off before him and taking the lute, swept the strings and sang the following verses:

When she had made an end of her song, she wept and Noureddin wept also. Then she took the lute and improvised and sang the following verses:

When Noureddin heard these his slave-girl’s verses, he fell a-weeping, what while she strained him to her bosom and wiped away his tears with her sleeve and questioned him and comforted his mind. Then she took the lute and sweeping its strings, played thereon, after such a wise as would move the phlegmatic to delight, and sang the following verses: