Tales from the Arabic, vol 3 | Page 8

is light. Yea, in the night the thought of you still slays me; Hidden
are my traces from the wise men's sight, All for a wild deer's love,
whose looks have snared me And on whose brows the morning glitters
bright I am become, for severance from my loved one, Like a left hand,
forsaken of the right. Beauty on his cheek hath written, "Blest be Allah,
He who created this enchanting wight!" Him I beseech our loves who
hath dissevered, Us of his grace once more to reunite.
When Er Reshid heard this, he waxed exceeding wroth and said, "May
God not reunite you twain in gladness!" Then he summoned the
headsman, and when he presented himself, he said to him, "Strike off
the head of this accursed slave-girl." So Mesrour took her by the hand
and [led her away; but], when she came to the door, she turned and said
to the Khalif, "O Commander of the Faithful, I conjure thee, by thy
fathers and forefathers, give ear unto that I shall say!" Then she
improvised and recited the following verses:
O Amir of justice, be kind to thy subjects; For justice, indeed, of thy
nature's a trait. O thou my inclining to love him that blamest, Shall
lovers be blamed for the errors of Fate? Then spare me, by Him who
vouchsafed thee the kingship; For a gift in this world is the regal estate.
Then Mesrour carried her to the other end of the sitting-chamber and
bound her eyes and making her sit, stood awaiting a second
commandment; whereupon quoth the Lady Zubeideh, "O Commander
of the Faithful, with thy permission, wilt thou not vouchsafe this
damsel a share of thy clemency? Indeed, if thou slay her, it were
injustice." Quoth he, "What is to be done with her?" And she said,
"Forbear to slay her and send for her lord. If he be as she describeth
him in grace and goodliness, she is excused, and if he be not on this
wise, then slay her, and this shall be thy justification against
her."[FN#22]
"Be it as thou deemest," answered Er Reshid and caused return the
damsel to her chamber, saying to her, "The Lady Zubeideh saith thus
and thus." Quoth she, "God requite her for me with good! Indeed, thou
dealest equitably, O Commander of the Faithful, in this judgment." And

he answered, "Go now to thy place, and to-morrow we will let bring
thy lord." So she kissed the earth and recited the following verses:
I am content, for him I love, to all abide; So, who will, let him blame,
and who will, let him chide. At their appointed terms souls die; but for
despair My soul is like to die, or ere its term betide. O thou with love of
whom I'm smitten, yet content, I prithee come to me and hasten to my
side.
Then she arose and returned to her chamber.
On the morrow, the Commander of the Faithful sat [in his hall of
audience] and his Vizier Jaafer ben Yehya the Barmecide came in to
him; whereupon he called to him, saying, "I would have thee bring me
a youth who is lately come to Baghdad, hight [Sidi Noureddin Ali] the
Damascene." Quoth Jaafer, "Hearkening and obedience," and going
forth in quest of the youth, sent to the markets and khans and
caravanserais three days' space, but found no trace of him, neither lit
upon tidings of him. So on the fourth day he presented himself before
the Khalif and said to him, "O our lord, I have sought him these three
days, but have not found him." Quoth Er Reshid, "Make ready letters to
Damascus. Belike he hath returned to his own land." So Jaafer wrote a
letter and despatched it by a dromedary-courier to the city of Damascus;
and they sought him there and found him not.
Meanwhile, news was brought that Khorassan had been
conquered;[FN#23] whereupon Er Reshid rejoiced and bade decorate
Baghdad and release all who were in the prisons, giving each of them a
dinar and a dress. So Jaafer addressed himself to the decoration of the
city and bade his brother El Fezl ride to the prison and clothe and
release the prisoners. El Fezl did his brother's bidding and released all
but the young Damascene, who abode still in the Prison of Blood,
saying, "There is no power and no virtue save in God the Most High,
the Sublime! Verily, we are God's and to Him we return." Then said El
Fezl to the gaoler, "Is there any prisoner left in the prison?" "No,"
answered he, and El Fezl was about to depart, when Noureddin called
out to him from within the prison, saying, "O my lord, tarry, for there
remaineth none in