One day, as she sat
with her husband in the wine-chamber, she took the lute and
tuning it, sang the following verses:
Since thou'rt my lord, by whose good grace I live in fair estate,
A sword wherewith I smite in twain the neck of adverse fate,
No need is mine to have recourse to Amr[FN#76] or to Zeid,[FN#77]
Nor any but thyself, an if the ways on me grow strait.
Nimeh was charmed with these verses and said to her, "I conjure
thee, by my life, O Num, sing to us with the tambourine and other
instruments!" So she sang the following verses to a lively air:
By him whose hand possesses the reins of my affair, On passion's
score, I swear it, my enviers I'll dare.
Yea, I will vex my censors and thee alone obey And sleep and ease
and solace, for thy sweet sake, forswear
And dig midmost my entrails, to hold the love of thee, A grave,
of which not even my heart shall be aware.
And Nimeh exclaimed, "Gifted of God art thou, O Num!"
But whilst they led thus the most delightsome life, El Hejjaj,
[FN#78] [the governor of Cufa, heard of Num and] said in
himself, "Needs must I make shift to take this girl Num and send
her to the Commander of the Faithful Abdulmelik ben Merwan, for
he hath not in his palace her like for beauty and sweet singing.
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