Band books

"You be three and want a fourth who shall be a person of good
sense and prudence, smart-witted, and one apt to keep careful
counsel." His words pleased and amused them much, and they laughed
at him and said: "And who is to assure us of that? We are maidens, and
we fear to entrust our secret where it may not be kept, for we have
read in a certain chronicle the lines of one Ibn al-Sumam:
"Hold fast thy secret and to none unfold,
Lost is a secret when that secret's told.
An fail thy breast thy secret to conceal,
How canst thou hope another's breast shall hold?"
When the porter heard their words, he rejoined: "By your lives! I am a
man of sense and a discreet, who hath read books and perused
chronicles. I reveal the fair and conceal the foul and I act as the
poet adviseth:
"None but the good a secret keep,
And good men keep it unrevealed.
It is to me a well-shut house
With keyless locks and door ensealed."
When the maidens heard his verse and its poetical application
addressed to them, they said: "Thou knowest that we have laid out
all our moneys on this place.


Pages:
78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102