Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night - Volume 2.djvu/55

 Nur at- Din AH and the Damsel Anis al-Jalis. 35 O thou, who in my heart infusedst thy love, e As water mingles in the cup with wine, This was the fear I feared, this parting blow, o O thou whose love my heart-core ne'er shall tyne ! O Bin Khikin ! my sought, my hope, my will, o O thou whose love this breast made wholly thine ! Against thy lord the King thou sinn'dst for me, o And winnedst exile in lands peregrine : Allah ne'er make my lord repent my loss o To cream 1 o' men thou gavest me, one right digne, When she had ended her verses, Nur al-Dm answered her with these lines : She bade me farewell on our parting day, o And she wept in the fire of our bane and pains : "What wilt thou do when fro' thee I'm gone?" o Quoth I, "say this to whom life remains ! " When the Caliph heard her saying in her verse: To Karim, the cream of men thou gavest me ; his inclination for her redoubled and it seemed a hard matter and grievous to part them ; so quoth he to the youth, " O my lord, truly the damsel said in her verses that thou didst transgress against her master and him who owned her ; so tell me, against whom didst thou transgress and who is it hath a claim on thee ? " " By Allah, O fisherman," replied Nur al-Din, " there befel me and this damsel a wondrous tale and a marvellous matter : an 't were graven with needle-gravers on the eye-corners it would be a warner to whoso would be warned." Cried the Caliph, " Wilt thou not tell me thy story and acquaint me with thy case ? Haply it may bring thee relief, for Allah's aid is ever nearhand." " O fisherman/' said Nur al-Din, " wilt thou hear our history in verse or in prose ? " " Prose is a wordy thing, but verses," rejoined the Caliph, " are pearls on string/' Then Nur al-Din bowed his head, and made these couplets : O my friend ! reft of rest no repose I command, o And my grief is redoubled in this far land : Erst I had a father, a kinder ne'er was ; o But he died and to Death paid the deodand : The pretended fisherman's name Karim = the Generous.