The old man laughed at her speech and her verses pleased him.
Then said she to him, "I desire of thee a lute."[FN#38] So he
arose and brought her a piece of firewood. Quoth she, "What is
that?" And he said, "Didst thou not bid me bring thee wood?" "I
do not want this," answered she, and he rejoined, "What then is
it that is called wood, other than this?" She laughed and said,
"The lute is an instrument of music, whereunto I sing." Quoth he,
"Where is this thing found and of whom shall I get it for thee?"
And she said, "Of him who gave thee the wine." So he arose and
betaking himself to his neighbour the Jew, said to him, "Thou
favouredst us aforetime with the wine; so now complete thy
favours and look me out a thing called a lute, to wit, an
instrument for singing; for that she seeketh this of me and I
know it not" "Hearkening and obedience," replied the Jew and
going into his house, brought him a lute. [The old man took it
and carried it to Sitt el Milah,] whilst the Jew took his drink
and sat by a window adjoining the other's house, so he might hear
the singing.

The damsel rejoiced, when the old man returned to her with the
lute, and taking it from him, tuned its strings and sang the
following verses:

After your loss, nor trace of me nor vestige would remain, Did
not the hope of union some whit my strength sustain.
Ye're gone and desolated by your absence is the world: Requital,
ay, or substitute to seek for you 'twere vain.
Ye, of your strength, have burdened me, upon my weakliness, With
burdens not to be endured of mountain nor of plain.
When from your land the breeze I scent that cometh, as I were A