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said to her, “O my lady, I cannot prescribe for the girl, till I know what countrywoman she is, because of the difference of climate: so tell me where she was brought up and what is her age.” “She is fourteen years old,” replied the old woman, “and was brought up in Cufa of Irak.” “And how long,” asked he, “has she sojourned in this country?” “But a few months,” answered she. When Nimeh heard the old woman’s words and the name of his slave-girl, his heart fluttered and he was like to swoon. Then said the Persian to the old woman, “Such and such medicines will suit her case;” and she rejoined, “Then make them up and give them to me, with the blessing of God the Most High!” So saying, she threw him ten dinars, and he bade Nimeh prepare the necessary drugs; whereupon she looked at the youth and exclaimed, “God have thee in His holy keeping, O my son! Verily, she is like thee in age and favour.” Then said she to the physician, “O brother of the Persians, is this thy slave or thy son?” “He is my son,” answered he. So Nimeh made up the medicine and laying it in a little box, took a piece of paper and wrote thereon the following verses:
So Num but vouchsafe me a glance, to gladden my heart and my mind, Let Suada unfavouring prove and Juml, an’t please her, unkind.[1]
“Forget her,” quoth they unto me, “And thou shalt have twenty like her.” I will not forget her, I swear, for never her like should I find.
He put the paper in the box and sealing it up, wrote on the cover the following words in the Cufic character, “I am Nimeh ben er Rebya of Cufa.” Then he gave it to the old woman, who bade them farewell and returning to the Khalif’s palace, went in to Num, to whom she delivered
- ↑ This verse contains a series of jeux-de-mots, founded upon the collocation of the three proper names, Num, Suada and Juml, with the third person feminine singular, preterite-present, fourth conjugation, of their respective verb-roots, i.e. idka anamet Num, if Num vouchsafe, etc., etc.
