Then the gardener filled and drank and the cup went round，till it came to Nur al-Din's turn，whereupon the man filled and handed it to him；but he said，'This thing I wot it not nor have I ever drunken thereof，for therein is great offence and the Lord of All-might hath forbidden it in His Book.'Answered the gardener；'O my Lord Nur al-Din，an thou forbear to drink only by reason of the sin，verily Allah （extolled and exalted be He！） is bountiful；of sufferance great，forgiving and compassionate and pardoneth the mortalest sins： His mercy embraceth all things，Allah's ruth be upon the poet who saith；'Be as thou，wilt，for Allah is bountiful * And when thou sinnest feel thou naught alarm：
But'ware of twofold sins nor ever dare * To give God partner or mankind to harm.'
Then quoth one of the sons of the merchants，'My life on thee，O my lord Nur al-Din，drink of this cup！'And another conjured him by the oath of divorce and yet another stood up persistently before him，till he was ashamed and taking the cup from the gardener，drank a draught，but spat it out again，crying，'Tis bitter.'Said the young gardener，'O my lord Nur al-Din，knowest thou not that sweets taken by way of medicine are bitter？ Were this not bitter，'twould lack of the manifold virtues it possesseth；amongst which are that it digesteth food and disperseth cark and care and dispelleth flatulence and clarifieth the blood and cleareth the complexion and quickeneth the body and hearteneth the hen-hearted and fortifieth the sexual power in man；but to name all its virtues would be tedious.Quoth one of the poets；'We'll drink and Allah pardon sinners all * And cure of ills by sucking cups I'll find：
Nor aught the sin deceives me；yet said He *'In it there be advantage[419] to mankind.'
Then he sprang up without stay or delay and opened one of the cupboards in the pavilion and taking out a loaf of refined sugar；broke off a great slice which he put into Nur al-Din's cup；saying，'O my lord，an thou fear to drink wine，because of its bitterness，drink now，for'tis sweet.'So he took the cup and emptied it： whereupon one of his comrades filled him another；saying，'O my lord Nur al-Din，I am thy slave，'and another did the like，saying，'I am one of thy servants，'and a third said；'For my sake！'and a fourth，'Allah upon thee，O my lord Nur al-Din，heal my heart！'And so they ceased not plying him with wine，each and every of the ten sons of merchants till they had made him drink a total of ten cups.Now Nur al-Din's body was virgin of wine-bibbing，or never in all his life had he drunken vine-juice till that hour，wherefore its fumes wrought in his brain and drunkenness was stark upon him and he stood up （and indeed his tongue was thick and his speech stammering） and said；'O company，by Allah，ye are fair and your speech is goodly and your place pleasant；but there needeth hearing of sweet music；