Tales from the Arabic, vol 3 | Page 7

an end of her song, the Commander of the Faithful
said to her, "O damsel, thou art in love." "Yes," answered she. And he
said, "With whom?" Quoth she, "With my lord and my master, my love
for whom is as the love of the earth for rain, or as the love of the female
for the male; and indeed the love of him is mingled with my flesh and
my blood and hath entered into the channels of my bones. O
Commander of the Faithful, whenas I call him to mind, mine entrails
are consumed, for that I have not accomplished my desire of him, and
but that I fear to die, without seeing him, I would assuredly kill
myself." And he said, "Art thou in my presence and bespeakest me with
the like of these words? I will assuredly make thee forget thy lord."
Then he bade take her away; so she was carried to her chamber and he
sent her a black slave-girl, with a casket, wherein were three thousand
dinars and a carcanet of gold, set with pearls, great and small, and
jewels, worth other three thousand, saying to her, "The slave-girl and
that which is with her are a gift from me to thee." When she heard this,
she said, "God forbid that I should be consoled for the love of my lord
and my master, though with the earth full of gold!" And she improvised
and recited the following verses:
I swear by his life, yea, I swear by the life of my love without peer, To
please him or save him from hurt, I'd enter the fire without fear!
"Console thou thyself for his love," quoth they, "with another than he;"
But, "Nay, by his life," answered I, "I'll never forget him my dear!" A
moon is my love, in a robe of loveliness proudly arrayed, And the
splendours of new-broken day from his cheeks and his forehead shine

clear.
Then the Khalif summoned her to his presence a fourth time and said to
her, "O Sitt el Milah, sing." So she improvised and sang the following
verses:
To his beloved one the lover's heart's inclined; His soul's a captive
slave, in sickness' hands confined. "What is the taste of love?" quoth
one, and I replied, "Sweet water 'tis at first; but torment lurks behind."
Love's slave, I keep my troth with them; but, when they vowed, Fate
made itself Urcoub,[FN#16] whom never oath could bind. What is
there in the tents? Their burdens are become A lover's, whose belov'd is
in the litters' shrined. In every halting-place like Joseph[FN#17] she
appears And he in every stead with Jacob's grief[FN#18] is pined.
When she had made an end of her song, she threw the lute from her
hand and wept till she swooned away. So they sprinkled on her
rose-water, mingled with musk, and willow-flower water; and when she
came to herself, Er Reshid said to her, "O Sitt el Milah, this is not fair
dealing in thee. We love thee and thou lovest another." "O Commander
of the Faithful," answered she, "there is no help for it." Therewithal he
was wroth with her and said, "By the virtue of Hemzeh[FN#19] and
Akil[FN#20] and Mohammed, Prince of the Apostles, if thou name one
other than I in my presence, I will bid strike off thy head!" Then he
bade return her to her chamber, whilst she wept and recited the
following verses:
If I must die, then welcome death to heal My woes; 'twere lighter than
the pangs I feel. What if the sabre cut me limb from limb! No torment
'twere for lovers true and leal.
Then the Khalif went in to the Lady Zubeideh, pale with anger, and she
noted this in him and said to him, "How cometh it that I see the
Commander of the Faithful changed of colour?" "O daughter of my
uncle," answered he, "I have a beautiful slave-girl, who reciteth verses
and telleth stories, and she hath taken my whole heart; but she loveth
other than I and avoucheth that she loveth her [former] master;
wherefore I have sworn a great oath that, if she come again to my
sitting-chamber and sing for other than I, I will assuredly take a span
from her highest part."[FN#21]Quoth Zubeideh, "Let the Commander
of the Faithful favour me with her presence, so I may look on her and
hear her singing." So he bade fetch her and she came, whereupon the

Lady Zubeideh withdrew behind the curtain, whereas she saw her not,
and Er Reshid said to her, "Sing to us." So she took the lute and tuning
it, sang the following verses:
Lo, since the day I left you, O my masters, Life is not sweet, no aye my
heart