in thy house?” “Because,” answered he, “it is unlawful.”  “O elder,” rejoined she, “God hath forbidden [the eating of] blood and carrion and hog’s flesh.  Tell me, are grapes and honey lawful or unlawful?” Quoth he, “They are lawful;” and she said, “This is the juice of grapes and the water of honey.”  But he answered, “Leave this thy talk, for thou shall never drink wine in my house.”  “O Sheikh,” rejoined she, “folk eat and drink and enjoy themselves and we are of the number of the folk and God is very forgiving, clement."[FN#33] Quoth he, “This is a thing that may not be.”  And she said, “Hast thou not heard what the poet saith ... ?” And she recited the following verses: 

O son of Simeon, give no ear to other than my say.  How bitter
     from the convent ’twas to part and fare away! 
Ay, and the monks, for on the Day of Palms a fawn there was Among
     the servants of the church, a loveling blithe and gay. 
By God, how pleasant was the night we passed, with him for third! 
     Muslim and Jew and Nazarene, we sported till the day. 
The wine was sweet to us to drink in pleasance and repose, And in
     a garden of the garths of Paradise we lay,
Whose streams beneath the myrtle’s shade and cassia’s welled
     amain And birds made carol jubilant from every blossomed
     spray. 
Quoth he, what while from out his hair the morning glimmered
     white, “This, this is life indeed, except, alas! it doth not
     stay.”

“O elder,” added she, “if Muslims and Jews and Nazarenes drink wine, who are we [that we should abstain from it]?” “By Allah, O my lady,” answered he, “spare thine endeavour, for this is a thing to which I will not hearken.”  When she knew that he would not consent to her desire, she said to him, “O elder, I am of the slave-girls of the Commander of the Faithful and the food waxeth on me[FN#34] and if I drink not, I shall perish,[FN#35] nor wilt thou be assured against the issue of my affair.  As for me, I am quit of blame towards thee, for that I have made myself known to thee and have bidden thee beware of the wrath of the Commander of the Faithful.”

When the old man heard her words and that wherewith she menaced him, he arose and went out, perplexed and knowing not what he should do, and there met him a Jew, who was his neighbour, and said to him, “O Sheikh, how cometh it that I see thee strait of breast?  Moreover, I hear in thy house a noise of talk, such as I use not to hear with thee.”  Quoth the Muezzin, “Yonder is a damsel who avoucheth that she is of the slave-girls of the Commander of the Faithful Haroun er Reshid; and she hath eaten food and now would fain drink wine in my house, but I forbade her.  However she avoucheth that except she drink thereof, she will perish, and indeed I am bewildered concerning my affair.”  “Know, O my neighbour,” answered the Jew, “that the slave-girls of the Commander of the Faithful are used to drink wine, and whenas they eat and drink