[FN#16]
When the lady saw Sherkan, she came to meet him, and taking him
by the hand, said to him, "O son of King Omar ben Ennuman, hast
thou any skill in the game of chess?" "Yes," replied he; "but do
not thou be as says the poet." And he repeated the following
verses:
I speak, and passion, the while, folds and unfolds me aye; But a
draught of the honey of love my spirits thirst could stay.
I sit at the chess with her I love, and she plays with me, With
white and with black; but this contenteth me no way.
Meseemeth as if the king were set in the place of the rook And
sought with the rival queens a bout of the game to play.
And if I looked in her eyes, to spy the drift of her moves, The
amorous grace of her glance would doom me to death
straightaway.
Then she brought the chess-board and played with him; but instead
of looking at her moves, he looked at her face and set the knight
in the place of the elephant[FN#17] and the elephant in the place
of the knight. She laughed and said to him, "If this be thy play,
thou knowest nothing of the game." "This is only the first bout,"
replied he; "take no count of it." She beat him, and he replaced
the pieces and played again with her; but she beat him a second
time and a third and a fourth and a fifth. So she fumed to him
and said, "Thou art beaten in everything." "O my lady," answered
he, "how should one not be beaten, who plays with the like of
thee?" Then she called for food, and they ate and washed their
hands, after which the maids brought wine, and they drank.
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