Pagina 752 di 1116

So I rose and brought a tray of the most delicate eatables and

fruits and whatso befitted the occasion, and we ate and played

and after that we drank till the wine turned our heads. Then I

lay with her the sweetest of nights and in the morning I offered

her ten gold pieces; when her face lowered and her eye brows

wrinkled and shaking with wrath she cried, "Fie upon thee, O my

sweet companion! dost thou deem that I covet thy money?" Then she

took out from the bosom of her shift[FN#587] fifteen dinars and,

laying them before me, said, "By Allah! unless thou take them I

will never come back to thee." So I accepted them and she said to

me, "O my beloved! expect me again in three days' time, when I

will be with thee between sunset and supper tide; and do thou

prepare for us with these dinars the same entertainment as

yesternight." So saying, she took leave of me and went away and

all my senses went with her.