Quoth she，'I fear disgrace，'quoth I，'Cut short * This talk，no shift of days thy thoughts affray.'
Whereat she raised her veil from fairest face * And crystal spray on gems began to stray：
And I forsooth was fain to kiss her cheek，* Lest she complain of me on Judgment-Day.
And at such tide before the Lord on High * We first of lovers were redress to pray：
So'Lord，prolong this reckoning and review'* （Prayed I）'that longer I may sight my may.'
Then said the young gardener to her，'Know thou，O lady of the fair，brighter than any constellation which illumineth air we sought，in bringing thee hither naught but that thou shouldst entertain with converse this comely youth，my lord Nur al-Din；for he hath come to this place only this day.'And the girl replied，'Would thou hadst told me，that I might have brought what I have with me！'Rejoined the gardener，'O my lady，I will go and fetch it to thee.'As thou wilt，'said she： and he，'Give me a token.'So she gave him a kerchief and he fared forth in haste and returned after awhile，bearing a green satin bag with slings of gold.The girl took the bag from him and opening it shook it，whereupon there fell thereout two-and-thirty pieces of wood，which she fitted one into other，male into female and female into male[428] till they became a polished lute of Indian workmanship.Then she uncovered her wrists and laying the lute in her lap，bent over it with the bending of mother over babe，and swept the strings with her finger-tips；whereupon it moaned and resounded and after its olden home yearned；and it remembered the waters that gave it drink and the earth whence it sprang and wherein it grew and it minded the carpenters who made it their merchandise and the ships that shipped it；and it cried and called aloud and moaned and groaned；and it was as if she asked it of all these things and it answered her with the tongue of the case，reciting these couplets，[429]
'A tree whilere was I the Bulbul's home * To whom for love I bowed my grass-green head：