Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night - Volume 2.djvu/38

 eo Alf L'aylah wa Laylak. i " O Alam al-Din what cheer ? " asked Nur al-Din, and he answered, " Rise quickly and fly for thy life, thou and the damsel ; for Al-Mu'in hath set a snare for you both ; and, if you fall into his hands, he will slay you. The Sultan hath despatched forty sworders against you and I counsel you to flee ere harm can hurt you. Then Sanjar put his hand to his purse and finding there forty gold pieces took them and gave them to Nur al-Din, saying, " O my lord receive these and journey with them. Had I more l would give them to thee, but this is not the time to take ex- ception." Thereupon Nur al-Din went in to the damsel and tola her what had happened, at which she wrung her hands. Then they fared forth at once from the city, and Allah spread over them His veil of protection, so that they reached the river-bank where they found a vessel ready for sea. Her skipper was standing amidships and crying, " Whoso hath aught to do, whether in the way of pro- visioning or taking leave of his people ; or whoso hath forgotten any needful thing, let him do it at once and return, for we are about to sail " ; and all of them saying, " There is naught left to be done by us, O captain ! ", he cried to his crew, " Hallo there ! cast off the cable and pull up the mooring-pole ! " l Quoth Nur al-Din, " Whither bound, O captain ? " and quoth he, " To the House of Peace, Baghdad, "- And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say. Koto tofjen ft foas tfje She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the skipper answered, "To the House of Peace, Baghdad," Nur al-Din Ali and the damsel went on board, and they launched the craft and shook out the sails, and the ship sped forth as though she were a bird on wing ; even as said one of them and said right well : Watch some tall ship, she'll joy the sight of thee, o The breeze outstripping in her haste to flee ; As when a bird, with widely-spreading wings, o Leaveth the sky to settle on the sea. Still customary in Tigris-Euphrates land, where sea-craft has not changed since the days of Xisisthrus-Noah, and long before.