Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 4.djvu/238

208 Then he drank off his cup, and when it came round to Him again, joyance got the mastery of him and he repeated the following verses:

Presently, the wine crept to his head, drunkenness mastered him and he knew not hand from head, so that he swayed about for mirth, inclining anon to this one, to kiss him, and anon to another. Then he fell to glorying in himself and his case and the goodliness of his entertainment and his companions, and recited these verses:

At this moment, there came a knocking at the door; so they bade him who knocked enter, and behold, it was the Khalif Haroun er Reshid. When they saw him, they all rose to him and kissed the ground before him; and the fumes of the wine forsook Abou Nuwas’s head for awe of the Khalif, who said to him, ‘Hallo, Abou Nuwas!’ ‘At thy service, O Commander of the Faithful,’ answered he, ‘may God preserve thee!’ ‘What state is this I find thee in?’ asked the Khalif; and the poet replied, ‘O Commander of the Faithful, methinks my state dispenses with question.’ Quoth the Khalif, ‘O Abou Nuwas, I