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Now the Khalif's sole desire in all this was to hear the damsel sing; so he said to Noureddin, 'O my lord, thou hast rewarded me munificently, but I beg of thy great bounty that thou wilt let this damsel sing an air, that I may hear her. So Noureddin said, 'O Enis el Jelis! 'Yes, replied she.
Thou knowest that thy father bought me for ten thousand dinars; perhaps God may help thee to near that price, and if it be His will that we be reunited, we shall meet again. 'O Enis el Jelis, replied Noureddin, 'by Allah, I cannot endure to be parted from thee for a single hour! 'By Allah, O my lord, rejoined she, 'nor is it easy to me; but necessity compels, as says the poet: Necessity in life oft drives one into ways That to the courteous mind are foreign and abhorred.
How didst thou find the bath? 'O my lady, answered she, 'I lacked but thy presence there. Thereupon said the mistress to her waiting-women, 'Come with me to the bath, for it is some days since I went thither. 'We hear and obey, answered they; and rose and accompanied her to the bath, after Enis el Jelis had retired to her own chamber and the lady had set two little slave-girls to keep the door, charging them to let none go in to the damsel.
Noureddin rose and kissed the hand of his father, who said to him, 'If I knew that thou wouldst deal fairly by Enis el Jelis, I would give her to thee. 'O my father, replied Noureddin, 'how should I not deal fairly by her? Quoth the Vizier, 'O my son, I charge thee not to take another wife nor concubine to share with her nor sell her. 'O my father, answered Noureddin, 'I swear to thee that I will do none of these things. Then he went in to the damsel and abode with her a whole year, whilst God caused the King to forget the affair.
'O my lady, answered she, 'as I was sitting here, there came in a handsome young man, who said to me, "Art thou she whom my father bought for me?" 'Yes, replied Enis el Jelis: 'he took of me three kisses. 'He did not leave thee without deflowering thee! cried the Vizier's wife, and fell to weeping and buffeting her face, she and her women, fearing that Noureddin's father would kill him.
Some days after this it chanced, as Fate would have it, that the damsel went to the bath in the house, where some of the serving-women washed her, after which she arrayed herself in rich apparel, and her beauty and grace redoubled. Then she went in to the Vizier's wife and kissed her hand; and the lady said to her, 'May it profit thee, O Enis el Jelis!
'By Allah, replied Enis el Jelis, 'if we had but some musical instrument, our joy would be complete! When the old man heard what she said, he rose to his feet, and the Khalif said to Jaafer, 'I wonder what he is going to do. 'I know not, replied Jaafer. Then Ibrahim went out and returned with a lute; and the Khalif looked at it and knew it for that of Isaac the boon-companion.
Has this gallows-bird aught left to buy girls withal? Then he looked round and seeing the broker crying out and the merchants round him, said to himself, 'Doubtless he is ruined and has brought the damsel Enis el Jelis hither to sell her!
The Khalif passed thirty days without calling to mind the affair of Noureddin Ali ben Khacan, and none reminded him of it, till one night, as he passed by the apartment of Enis el Jelis, he heard her weeping and reciting the following verse, in a low and sweet voice: Thine image is ever before me, though thou art far away, Nor doth my tongue give over the naming of thee aye!
When the Vizier's wife heard the slaves' cries, she sprang up and came out of the bath, with the sweat dripping from her, saying, 'What is this clamour in the house? Then she came up to the two little slaves, and said to them, 'Out on you! what is the matter? 'Our lord Noureddin came in and beat us, answered they: 'so we fled and he went in to the damsel and embraced her, and we know not what he did after this: but when we cried out to thee, he fled. Thereupon, the mistress went in to Enis el Jelis and enquired what had happened.
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