Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night - Volume 5.djvu/158



She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ishak of Mosul thus continued: "Now when I had finished my verse, there was not one of the company but sprang from his place and sat down like schoolboys before me, saying, 'Allah upon thee, O our lord, sing us another song.' 'With pleasure,' said I, and playing another measure in masterly fashion, sang thereto these couplets,

'Ho thou whose heart is melted down by force of Amor's fire, * And griefs from every side against thy happiness conspire: Unlawful is that he who pierced my vitals with his shaft, * My blood between my midriff and my breast bone [FN#189] he desire, 'Twas plain, upon our severance day, that he had set his mind * On an eternal parting, moved by tongue of envious liar: He sheds my blood he ne'er had shed except by wound of love, * Will none demand my blood of him, my wreck of him require?'

When I had made an end of this song, there was not one of them but rose to his feet and threw himself upon the ground for excess of delight. Then I cast the lute from my hand, but they said, 'Allah upon thee, do not on this wise, but let us hear another song, so Allah Almighty increase thee of His bounty!' Replied I, 'O folk, I will sing you another song and another and another and will tell you who I am. I am Ishak bin Ibrahim al Mausili, and by Allah, I bear myself proudly to the Caliph when he seeketh me. Ye have today made me hear abuse from an unmannerly carle such as I loathe; and by Allah, I will not speak a word nor sit with you, till ye put yonder quarrelsome churl out from among you!' Quoth the fellow's companion to him, 'This is what I warned thee against, fearing for thy good name.' So they hent him by the hand and thrust him out; and I took the lute and sang over again the songs of my own composing which the damsel had sung. Then I whispered the host that she had taken my heart and that I had no patience to abstain from her. Quoth he 'She is thine on one condition.' I asked, 'What is that?' and he answered, 'It is that thou abide with me a month, when