Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 4.djvu/132

108 him. So he told him what had befallen him with the boy and how he had spent a thousand dirhems upon him; whereupon quoth the chamberlain, ‘Show him to me; and if he be worth this, thou art excused.’ ‘Wait awhile,’ replied the poet, ‘and thou shalt see him presently.’ As they were talking, up came the boy, clad in a white tunic, under which was another of red and yet another of black. When Abou Nuwas saw him, he sighed and repeated the following verses:

When the boy heard this, he put off the white tunic and appeared in the red one; whereupon Abou Nuwas redoubled in expressions of admiration and repeated the following verses:

Then the boy doffed the red tunic and abode in the black; whereupon Abou Nuwas redoubled in attention to him and repeated the following verses: