Then she filled the cup and gave it to Naomi, who drank it off
and taking the lute, sang these two couplets,

"O to whom I gave soul which thou tortures", * And in vain I'd
recover from fair Unfaith
Do grant thy favours my care to cure * Ere I die, for this be my
latest breath."

And they ceased not to sing verses and drink to the sweet sound
of the strings, full of mirth and merriment and joy and jollity
till behold! in came the Commander of the Faithful. Now when they
saw him, they rose and kissed the ground before him; and he,
seeing Naomi with the lute in her hand, said to her, "O Naomi,
praised be Allah who hath done away from thee sickness and
suffering!" Then he looked at Ni'amah (who was still disguised as
a woman), and said to the Princess, "O my sister, what damsel is
this by Naomi's side?" She replied, "O Commander of the Faithful,
thou hast here a handmaid, one of thy concubines and the bosom
friend of Naomi who will neither eat nor drink without her." And
she repeated the words of the poet,

"Two contraries, and both concur in opposite charms, * And charms
so contraried by contrast lovelier show."

Quoth the Caliph, "By Allah Omnipotent, verily she is as handsome
as Naomi, and to-morrow I will appoint her a separate chamber
beside that of her friend and send her furniture and stuffs and
all that befitteth her, in honour of Naomi." Then the Princess
called for food and set it before her brother, who ate and made