So we went thither, and sat down until we had performed our midday devotions—when, behold! of a truth the women approached, but the girl was not with them. And they cried, "O ʾUtbah! what thinkest thou hast become of her who sought union with thee, and revealed to thee the love that was in thee?"
"What has happened to her?" he asked.
"Her father," they replied, "has taken her and packed her off to es-Samâwah."[1]
Then I questioned them concerning the girl, and they told me, "She is Riyâ, the daughter of el-Ghatrîf, es-Sálamy." And the young man raised his head, and composed, saying:
My friend! verily Riyâ has sped away with the dawn,
And her camel has borne her to the land of es-Samâwah.
My friend! verily I swooned through weeping,
But were another possessed of tears I would borrow from him.
Then I addressed him: "O ʾUtbah! I brought here with me much wealth lest worthy persons should stand in need of it; and verily I make a free gift of it to thee, until thou shalt have attained thy desire,
- ↑ es-Samâwah lies between Sûk-esh-Shiyukh and Hillah, on the right bank of the Euphrates.
