Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 2.djvu/47

24 end of which was a great estrade, carpeted with various kinds of silk, and round it open lattices giving upon trees and streams. About the place were figures, so fashioned that the air entered them and set in motion instruments of music within them, and it seemed to the beholder as if they spoke. Here sat the young lady, looking on the figures; but when she saw Sherkan, she sprang to her feet and taking him by the hand, made him sit down by her and asked him how he had passed the night. He blessed her and they sat talking awhile, till she said to him, “Knowest thou aught touching lovers and slaves of passion?” “Yes,” replied he; “I know some verses on the subject.” “Let me hear them,” said she. So he repeated the following verses:

When she heard this, she said, “Verily Kutheiyir was a poet of renown and a master of chaste eloquence and attained rare perfection in praise of Azzeh, especially when he says: