Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 4.djvu/236

206 desire to the graceful bending of their shapes, even to what saith the poet:

Now Abou Nuwas was on this wise given and loved to sport and make merry with the fair and cull the rose from every fresh-flowered cheek, even as saith the poet:

So he accosted them with the salutation, and they returned his greeting with all honour and civility and would have gone their way; but he stayed them, repeating these verses:

The boys were beguiled by his verses and consented to his wishes, saying, ‘We hear and obey.’ So he carried them to his lodging, where they found all ready that he had set forth in his verses. They sat down and ate and drank and made merry awhile, after which they appealed to Abou Nuwas to decide which was the handsomest and most shapely of them. So he pointed to one of them, after having kissed him twice, and recited the following verses: