My soul and my folk I engage for the youth * Musk-scented I see in my
bed every night!
Quoth I, “An she be fair as her verse hath grace, the thing is complete
in every case.” Then I came down from my bench[FN#115] and was about to
go away, when behold, the door opened and out came a slave-girl, who
said to me, “Sit, O Shaykh!” So I climbed up and sat down again when
she gave me a scroll, wherein was written, in characters of the utmost
beauty, with straight Alifs,[FN#116] big-bellied Hás and rounded Waws,
the following:—We would have the Shaykh (Allah lengthen his days!) to
know that we are three maidens, sisters, sitting in friendly converse,
who have laid down each an hundred dinars, conditioning that whoso
recite the goodliest and sweetest couplet shall have the whole three
hundred dinars; and we appoint thee umpire between us: so decide as
thou seest best, and the Peace be on thee! Quoth I to the girl, Here
to me inkcase and paper. So she went in and, returning after a little,
brought me a silvered inkcase and gilded pens[FN#117] with which I
wrote these couplets:—
They talked of three beauties whose converse was quite * Like the
talk of a man with experience dight:
Three maidens who borrowed the bloom of the dawn * Making
hearts of their lovers in sorriest plight.
They were hidden from eyes of the prier and spy * Who
slept and their modesty mote not affright;
So they opened whatever lay hid in their hearts * And in
frolicsome fun began verse to indite.
Quoth one fair coquette with her amorous grace * Whose
teeth for the sweet of her speech flashèd bright:—
Would he come to my bed during sleep ’twere delight * But a
visit on wake were delightsomer sight!
When she ended, her verse by her smiling was gilt: * Then
the second ‘gan singing as nightingale might:—
Naught came to salute me in sleep save his shade * But
‘welcome, fair welcome,’ I cried to the spright!
But the third I preferred for she said in reply, * With
expression most apposite, exquisite:—
My soul and my folk I engage for the youth * Musk-scented
I see in my bed every night!
So when I considered their words to decide, * And not
make me the mock of the cynical wight;
I pronounced for the youngest, declaring her verse * Of all
verses be that which is nearest the right.’
Then I gave the scroll to the slave-girl, who went upstairs with it, and
behold, I heard a noise of dancing and clapping of hands and Doomsday
astir. Quoth I to myself, “’Tis no time of me to stay here.” So I came
down from the platform and was about to go away, when the damsel cried
out to me, ‘Sit down, O Asma’i!’ Asked I, ‘Who gave thee to know that I
was Al-Asma’i?’ and she answered, ‘O Shaykh, an thy name be unknown to
us, thy poetry is not!’ So I sat down again and suddently the door
opened and out came the first damsel, with a dish of fruits and another
of sweetmeats. I ate of both and praised their fashion and would have
ganged my gait; but she cried out, ‘Sit down, O Asma’i!’ Wherewith I
raised my eyes to her and saw a rosy palm in a saffron sleeve, meseemed
it was the full moon rising splendid in the cloudy East. Then she threw
me a purse containing three hundred dinars and said to me, “This is
mine and I give it to thee by way of douceur in requital of thy
judgment.” Quoth the Caliph, “Why didst thou decide for the youngest?”
and quoth Al-Asma’i, “O Commander of the Faithful, whose life Allah
prolong! the eldest said, ‘I should delight in him, if he visited my
couch in sleep.’ Now this is restricted and dependent upon a condition
which may befal or may not befal; whilst, for the second, an image of
dreams came to her in sleep, and she saluted it; but the youngest’s
couplet said that she actually lay with her lover and smelt his breath
sweeter than musk and she engaged her soul and her folk for him, which
she had not done, were he not dearer to her than her sprite.” Said the
Caliph, “Thou didst well, O Asma’i.” and gave him other three hundred
ducats in payment of his story. And I have heard a tale concerning