r...."

For a minute they are silent, and intently, without smiling, gaze at
each other.... Birds loudly call one another among the trees. The
maiden's bosom quickly rises and falls under the worn linen.

"I do believe thee, beautiful one. Thou art so fair...."

"Thou dost mock me. Behold, how black I am...."

She lifts up her small, dark arms, and the broad sleeves lightly slide
down towards her shoulders, baring her elbows, that have such a slender
and rounded outline.

And she says plaintively:

"My brethren were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the
vineyard,--and now behold how the sun hath scorched me."

"O, nay, the sun hath made thee still more fair, thou fairest among
women. Lo, thou hast smiled,--and thy teeth are like white twin-lambs,
which come up from the washing, and none among them hath a blemish. Thy
cheeks are like the halves of a pomegranate within thy locks. Thy lips
are scarlet,--yea, pleasant to gaze upon. As for thy hair ... Dost know
what thy hair is like? Hast thou ever beheld a flock of sheep come down
from Mount Gilead at eve? It covers all the mountain, from summit to
foot, and from the light of the evening glow and from the dust it seems
even as ruddy and as wavy as thy locks. Thine eyes are as deep as the
two fishponds in Heshbon, by the gate of Bath-rabbim. O, how fair art
thou! Thy neck is straight and graceful, like the tower of David!..."

"Like the tower of David!" she repeats in rapture.

"Yea, yea, thou fairest among women. A thousand bucklers hang upon the
tower of David, all shields of vanquished chieftains. Lo, I hang my
shield also upon thy tower...."

"O, speak on, speak on...."

"And when thou didst turn around in answer to my call, and the wind
arose, I did see beneath thy raiment thy two nipples and methought:
Here be two young roes that are twins, which feed among the lilies. This
thy stature was like to a palm tree, and thy breasts to clusters of
grapes."

The girl cries out faintly, hides her face with her palms, and her bosom
with her elbows, and blushes so that even her ears and neck turn
crimson.

"And I saw thy hips. They are shapely, like a precious vase, the work of
the hands of a cunning workman. Take away thy hands, therefore, maiden.
Show me thy face."

She submissively let her hands drop. A deep, golden radiance glows from
the eyes of Solomon and casts a spell over her, makes her head dizzy,
and in a sweet, warm tremour streams over the