Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night - Volume 4.djvu/161

 me what aileth you and hide from me nothing of your case." Answered the Wazir "O my lord, verily this one here saw on thy sides the marks of beating with whips and palm-fronds and marvelled thereat with exceeding marvel, saying, 'How came the Caliph to be beaten?'; and he would fain know the cause of this." Now when the youth heard this, he smiled and said, "Know ye that my story is wondrous and my case marvellous; were it graven with needles on the eye corners, it would serve as a warner to whoso would be warned." And he sighed and repeated these couplets,

"Strange is my story, passing prodigy; * By Love I swear, my ways     wax strait on me! An ye desire to hear me, listen, and * Let all in this assembly     silent be. Heed ye my words which are of meaning deep, * Nor lies my speech;     'tis truest verity. I'm slain by longing and by ardent love; * My slayer's     the pearl of fair virginity. She hath a jet black eye like Hindi blade, * And bowèd eyebrows     shoot her archery My heart assures me our Imam is here, * This age's Caliph, old     nobility: Your second, Ja'afar highs, is his Wazir; * A Sahib,      Sahib-son of high degree: The third is called Masrur who wields the sword: * Now, if in     words of mine some truth you see I have won every wish by this event * Which fills my heart with     joy and gladdest greet"

When they heard these words Ja'afar swore to him an ambiguous oath that they were not those he named, whereupon he laughed and said: "Know, O my lords, that I am not the Commander of the Faithful and that I do but style myself thus, to win my will of the sons of the city. My true name is Mohammed Ali, son of Ali the Jeweller, and my father was one of the notables of Baghdad, who left me great store of gold and silver and pearls and coral and rubies and chrysolites and other jewels, besides messuages and lands, Hammam-baths and brickeries, orchards and flower- gardens. Now as I sat in my shop one day surrounded by my eunuchs and dependents, behold, there came up a young lady, mounted on a she-