Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 6.djvu/247

219 Why styl’st thou me adulterer and traitor? If she pleased My fancy, ’twas in me no sin, as eke thou wilt concede; For lo, there comes to thee a sun; amongst all folk that be, Mortals or Jinn, there’s none may match with her in very deed.

So the messengers returned with Suad to Damascus and delivered to Muawiyeh the letter, which when he had read, he said, ‘Verily, he hath obeyed handsomely, but he is extravagant in his praise of the woman.’ Then he called for her and found her such a beauty as he had never seen, for grace and elegance and symmetry; moreover, he talked with her and found her fluent of speech and happy in diction and expression. Quoth he, ‘Bring me the Arab.’ So they fetched the man, who came, sore disordered for the evil dealing of fortune, and Muawiyeh said to him, ‘O Arab, if thou wilt give her up to me, I will give thee in her stead three slave-girls, high-bosomed maids like moons, and a thousand dinars with each. Moreover, I will assign thee on the treasury such an annual sum as shall content and enrich thee.’ When the Arab heard this, he gave a groan [and swooned away], so that Muawiyeh thought he was dead. When he revived, the Khalif said to him, ‘What ails thee?’ And the Arab answered, ‘With heavy heart and in sore need, I appeal to thee from the injustice of Merwan ben el Hekem; but to whom shall I appeal from thine injustice?’ And he recited the following verses:

Then said he, ‘O Commander of the Faithful, wert thou to give me all the riches of the Khalifate, yet would I not take them without Suad.’ And he recited this verse: