'Go，visit her thou lovest，and regard not The words detractors utter；envious churls Can never favour love.Oh！ sure the merciful Ne'er make a thing more fair to look upon；Than two fond lovers in each other's arms；Speaking their passion in a mute embrace.
When heart has turned to heart，the fools would part them Strike idly on cold steel.So when thou'st found One purely，wholly thine，accept her true heart；And live for her alone.Oh！ thou that blamest The love-struck for their love，give o'er thy talk How canst thou minister to a mind diseased？'
When the morning morrowed in sheen and shone，Nur al-Din awoke from deep sleep and found that she had brought water：[484] so they made the Ghusl-ablution，he and she，and he performed that which behoved him of prayer to his Lord，after which she set before him meat and drink，and he ate and drank.Then the damsel put her hand under her pillow and pulling out the girdle which she had knitted during the night，gave it to Nur al-Din，who asked，'Whence cometh this girdle？'[485] Answered she，'O my lord，'tis the silk thou boughtest yesterday for twenty dirhams.
Rise now and go to the Persian bazar and give it to the broker；to cry for sale，and sell it not for less than twenty gold pieces in ready money.'Quoth Nur al-Din，'O Princess of fair ones how can a thing，that cost twenty dirhams and will sell for as many dinars，be made in a single night？'；and quoth she，'O my lord；thou knowest not the value of this thing；but go to the market therewith and give it to the broker，and when he shall cry it；its worth will be made manifest to thee.'Herewith he carried the zone to the market and gave it to the broker，bidding him cry it；whilst he himself sat down on a masonry bench before a shop.The broker fared forth and returning after a while said to him，'O my lord，rise take the price of thy zone，for it hath fetched twenty dinars money down.'When Nur al-Din heard this，he marvelled with exceeding marvel and shook with delight.Then he rose，between belief and misbelief，to take the money and when he had received it，he went forthright and spent it all on silk of various colours and returning home，gave his purchase to the damsel；saying，'Make this all into girdles and teach me likewise how to make them，that I may work with thee；for never in the length of my life saw I a fairer craft than this craft nor a more abounding in gain and profit.By Allah，'tis better than the trade of a merchant a thousand times！'She laughed at his language and said；'O my lord，go to thy friend the druggist and borrow other thirty dirhams of him，and to-morrow repay him from the price of the girdle the thirty together with the fifty already loaned to thee.'So he rose and repaired to the druggist and said to him；'O Uncle，lend me other thirty dirhams，and to-morrow，Almighty Allah willing，I will repay thee the whole fourscore.'The old man weighed him out thirty dirhams，wherewith he went to the market and buying meat and bread，dried fruits，and flowers as before，carried them home to the damsel whose name was Miriam，[486] the Girdle-girl.She rose forthright and making ready rich meats，set them before her lord Nur al-Din；after which she brought the wine-service and they drank and plied each other with drink.When the wine began to play with their wits；his pleasant address and inner grace pleased her，and she recited these two couplets；'Said I to Slim-waist who the wine engraced * Brought in musk-scented bowl and a superfine；'Was it prest from thy cheek？' He replied'Nay，nay！ * When did man from Roses e'er press the Wine？'