第81章 KEMEREZZEMAN AND BUDOUR.(43)

Quoth he，'I bought her for the sake of the little one on her arm，for know that，when she grows up，there will not be her like for beauty，either in the land of the Arabs or elsewhere.'It was well seen of thee，'answered his wife.Then said she to the woman，'What is thy name？'O my lady，'replied she，'my name is Taufic.'And what is thy daughters name？'asked she.

'Saad，'[74] answered the slave.'Thou sayst sooth，'rejoined her mistress.'Thou art indeed happy，and happy is he who hath bought thee.'Then said she to her husband，'O my cousin，what wilt thou call her？'What thou choosest，'answered he.'Then let us call her Num，'[75] quoth she，and he said，'Good.'The little Num was reared with Er Rebyas son Nimeh in one cradle and each grew up handsomer than the other.They were wont to call each other brother and sister，till they came to the age of ten，when Er Rebya said to Nimeh，'O my son，Num is not thy sister，but thy slave.I bought her in thy name，whilst thou wast yet in the cradle；so call her no more sister from this day forth.'

'If that be so，'quoth Nimeh，'I will take her to wife.'Then he went to his mother and told her of this，and she said to him，'O my son，she is thy handmaid.'So he went in to Num and loved her and two years passed over them，whilst Num grew up，nor was there in all Cufa a fairer or sweeter or more graceful girl than she.

She learnt the Koran and all manner of knowledge and excelled in music and singing and playing upon all kinds of instruments，so that she surpassed all the folk of her time.One day，as she sat with her husband in the wine-chamber，she took the lute and tuning it，sang the following verses：

Since thourt my lord，by whose good grace I live in fair estate，A sword wherewith I smite in twain the neck of adverse fate，No need is mine to have recourse to Amr[76] or to Zeid，[77]Nor any but thyself，an if the ways on me grow strait.

Nimeh was charmed with these verses and said to her，'I conjure thee，by my life，O Num，sing to us with the tambourine and other instruments！'So she sang the following verses to a lively air：

By him whose hand possesses the reins of my affair，On passions score，I swear it，my enviers Ill dare.

Yea，I will vex my censors and thee alone obey And sleep and ease and solace，for thy sweet sake，forswear And dig midmost my entrails，to hold the love of thee，A grave，of which not even my heart shall be aware.

And Nimeh exclaimed，'Gifted of God art thou，O Num！'

But whilst they led thus the most delightsome life，El Hejjaj，[78] [the governor of Cufa，heard of Num and] said in himself，'Needs must I make shift to take this girl Num and send her to the Commander of the Faithful Abdulmelik ben Merwan，for he hath not in his palace her like for beauty and sweet singing.'