Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 4.djvu/244

214 Then passed with me the night, embracing, cheek to cheek, A loveling midst mankind unpeered and past compare. The full moon gazed on us all night; pray then to her, So to his brother she to tell of us forbear.

Now the Vizier was a merry man; so, when he heard this, he said, ‘By Allah, I will not betray you!’ And he went away and left them to their diversion. THE LOVES OF THE BOY AND GIRL AT SCHOOL.

A boy and a girl once learnt together in a school, and the boy fell passionately in love with the girl. So, one day, when the other boys were heedless, he took her tablet and wrote on it the following verses:

When the girl took her tablet, she read the verses and wept for pity of him; then wrote thereunder these others:

Now it chanced that the teacher came in on them and taking the tablet, unnoticed, read what was written thereon. So he was moved to pity of their case and wrote on the tablet the following verses, in reply to those of the girl: