Nur al- Din Ali and the Damsel Ants *Jalis. 29 tali walnut-tree, said to Ja'afar, " I will climb tis tree, for its branches are near the lattices and so look in upon lem." There- upon he mounted the tree and ceased not climbingrom branch to ich, till he reached a bough which was right pposite one of windows, and here he took seat and looked in:de the palace. saw a damsel and a youth as they were two moos (glory be to id them and fashioned them !),and bthem Shaykh ip in hand and saying, " O Princes of fair ones, music is nothing worth ; indeed have heard a the bowl and cup, o Take either tat moon ' in his for oft I've seen, o The horse dnk best to the this, the vein of wrath stand up between i down and said to the Wa;r, " O Ja'afar, en of piety in such case ; so o thou mount i them, lest the blessings c the blest be ig the words of the Conmander of the bunded by them, climbed 3 the tree-top ,1-Din and the damsel, andShaykh Ibra-
- brimming bowl. At his sight he
scending, stood before tb Commander > him, " O Ja'afar, praie be to Allah e that observe external ordinances of rom us the sin of disgiuing ourselves " 2 But Ja'afar couk not speak a
- so the Caliph looke at him and
ame hither, and who Emitted them t like the beauty of tls youth and t saw ! " " Thou sayestsooth, O our .'afar (and he hoped to >ropitiate the ^hen quoth the Caliph, '0 Ja'afar, let ch opposite the window, hat we may boy or cup-bearer. " Moon-faced," as I have sbvn elsewhere, is ment in English, but it is in Persian and Arabic. leans we are " Zahiri," plain honest Moslems, not " Bdtini gnostics (g& bates) and so forth, who disregard all appearances and external dinances. Tte as opinion of Shaykh Ibrahim and possibly refers to Jafar's suspected
