'
'To it, then,' replied she, 'and do thy best.' So they played,
and he lost and went away, jabbering in the Frank jargon and
saying, 'By the bounty of the Commander of the Faithful, there
is not her like in all the world!' Then the Khalif summoned
players on instruments of music and said to her, 'Dost thou
know aught of music?' 'Yes,' answered she. So he bade bring
a peeled and polished lute, whose owner [or maker] was ground
down by exile [or estrangement from the beloved] and of which
quoth one, describing it:
God watered a land and straight a tree sprang up on its root:
It cast forth branches and throve and flourished with many
a shoot.
The birds, when the wood was green, sang o'er it, and when it
was dry, Fair women sang to it in turn, for lo, 'twas a
minstrel's lute!
So they brought a bag of red satin, with tassels of
saffron-coloured silk: and she opened the bag, and took out a
lute, on which were graven the following verses:
Full many a tender branch a lute for singing-girl has grown,
Wherewith at banquets to her mates she makes melodious
moan.
She sings; it follows on her song, as 'twere to teach her how
Heart's troubles in clear perfect speech of music to make
known.
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