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Updated: June 20, 2025
But he knew not what to say next; so he sent for Abu Nowas and said to him, "Make me a piece of verse commencing with this line." "I hear and obey," replied the poet and in an eye- twinkling extemporised these couplets,
What an array of figures beautiful, revolting, sly, fatuous, witty, brave, pusillanimous, mean, generous meets the eye as we recall one by one these famous stories; beautiful and amorous, but mercurial ladies with henna scented feet and black eyes often with a suspicion of kohl and more than a suspicion of Abu Murreh in them peeping cautiously through the close jalousies of some lattice; love sick princes overcoming all obstacles; executioners with blood-dripping scimitars; princesses of blinding beauty and pensive tenderness, who playfully knock out the "jaw-teeth" of their eunuchs while "the thousand-voiced bird in the coppice sings clear;" hideous genii, whether of the amiable or the vindictive sort, making their appearance in unexpected moments; pious beasts nay, the very hills praising Allah and glorifying his vice-gerent; gullible saints, gifted scoundrels; learned men with camel loads of dictionaries and classics, thieves with camel loads of plunder; warriors, zanies, necromancers, masculine women, feminine men, ghouls, lutists, negroes, court poets, wags the central figure being the gorgeous, but truculent, Haroun Al Rashid, who is generally accompanied by Ja'afer and Masrur, and sometimes by the abandoned but irresistible Abu Nowas.
And when the verses came to an end, the beardless one doffed the red tunic and stood in the black; and, when Abu Nowas saw him, he redoubled in attention to him and versified in these couplets, "He came in sable-hued sacque * And shone in dark men's heart to rack: Quoth I, 'Doss pass and greet me not? * Joying the hateful envious pack?
She said, it hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Abu Nowas answered, "I hear and I obey, O Commander of the Faithful!" and forthwith he improvised these couplets,
Thy garment's like thy locks and like * My lot, three blacks on black on black." Seeing this state of things and understanding the case of Abu Nowas and his love-longing, the Chamberlain returned to the Caliph and acquainted him therewith; so he bade him pouch a thousand dirhams and go and take him out of pawn.
Then the Commander of the Faithful bade the girl take the cup from his grasp and hide it; so she took it and set it between her thighs, moreover he drew his scymitar and, standing at the head of Abu Nowas, pricked him with the point; whereupon he awoke and saw the drawn sword and the Caliph standing over him.
'I must get to the bottom of this before I sleep! Let my golden coach be brought round at once. The coach was before the door in another five minutes, and the Sultan and Sultana both got in. Abu Nowas had ceased being a dead man, and was looking into the street when he saw the coach coming. 'Quick! quick! he called to his wife.
On this occasion, however, there was a fourth masker, that hoary sinner and cynical humorist the poet Abu Nowas. One of the most curious features of the Nights is the promptitude with which everyone porters, fishermen, ladies, caliphs recites poetry.
Thereupon the Chamberlain returned to Abu Nowas and, paying his score, carried him to the Caliph, who said, "Make me some verses containing the words, O Trusted of Allah, what may this be?" Answered he, "I hear and I obey, O Commander of the Faithful." And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say. When it was the Three Hundred and Fortieth Night,
Oh, if they only knew, how angry they would be! As Abu Nowas had foreseen, the Sultan went, in the evening after his business was over, to pay his usual visit to the Sultana. 'Poor Abu Nowas is dead! said Subida when he entered the room. 'It is not Abu Nowas, but his wife who is dead, answered the Sultan. 'No; really you are quite wrong.
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