And lightens forked tongues on a mission of menace to bat or to eagle!
There comes to your portal a vision whose light shall make Israel wonder.
Immortal her beauty and mortal her glance that is soft as a seagull.'"
And the Wazir cried, "Hey!" to the rhymes.
"But Suleiman, sated with women and governance, lifted his beak
From his beard. Naught escaped the magician, not a thought, not a tone. Ah, he knew
All! He said: 'I have measured your mind as my pity has measured my people.
We shall speak of reward when she comes; I may live to regret it—and you!
"'Lo, I am the servant of God, whom I serve as you serve me, not asking
For pay by each day or each act, but just for the general sum.