meryl; and that we seem
indeed of one kin, make known unto me thine.'

She replied, 'Ill-omened is it, this name of Bhanavar!'

The youth among warriors gazed on her a moment with the fluttering eye of
bashfulness, and said, 'Can they that have marked thee call thee other
than Bhanavar the Beautiful?'

She remembered that Ruark had spoken in like manner, and the curse of her
beauty smote her, and she thought, 'This fair youth, he hath not a mother
to watch over him and ward off souls of evil. I dread there will come a
mishap to him through me; Allah shield him from it!' And she sought to
dissuade him from resting by her, but he cried, ''Tis but a choice to
dwell with thee or with the dogs in the street outside thy door, O
Bhanavar!'

Now, the ship sailed close up to the quay, and cast anchor there in the
midst of other ships of merchandise. Almeryl then threw a robe over his
mountain dress and spoke with the captain apart, and he and Bhanavar took
leave of the captain, and landed on the quay among the porters, and of
these one stepped forward to them and shouted cheerily, 'Where be the
burdens and the bales, O ye, fair couple fashioned in the eye of elegant
proportions? Ye twin palm-trees, male and female! Wullahy! broad is the
back of your servant.'

Almeryl beckoned to him that he should follow them, and he followed them,
blessing the wind that had brought them to that city and the day. So they
passed through the streets and lanes of the city, and the porter pointed
out this house and that house wanting an occupant, and Almeryl fixed on
one in an open thoroughfare that had before it a grass-plot, and behind a
garden with fountains and flowers, and grass-knolls shaded by trees; and
he paid down the half of its price, and had it furnished before nightfall
sumptuously, and women in it to wait on Bhanavar, and stuffs and goods,
and scents for the bath,--all luxuries whatsoever that tradesmen and
merchants there could give in exchange for gold. Then Almeryl dismissed
the porter in Allah's name, and gladdened his spirit with a gift over the
due of his hire that exalted him in the eyes of the porter, and the
porter went from him, exclaiming, 'In extremity Ukleet is thy slave!' and
he sang:

Shouldst thou see a slim youth with a damsel arriving,
Be sure 'tis the hour when thy fortune is thriving;
A generous fee makes the members so supple
That over the world they could carry this couple.

Now so it was th