Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 2.djvu/308

273 out, and the Vizier said to the overseer, ‘O my lord, verily the bath is the Paradise of this world.’ ‘May God vouchsafe it to thee,’ replied the overseer, ‘and health to thy sons and guard them from the evil eye! Do you remember aught that the poets have said in praise of the bath?’ ‘Yes,’ said Taj el Mulouk and repeated the following verses:

‘And I also,’ said Aziz, ‘remember some verses in praise of the bath.’ Quoth the overseer, ‘Let us hear them.’ So he repeated the following:

His verses pleased the overseer and he wondered at their grace and eloquence and said, ‘By Allah, ye possess both beauty and eloquence! But now listen to me.’ And he chanted the following verses:

Then he fed his eyes on the gardens of their beauty and repeated the following verses:

VOL. II.