Then she filled again and gave it
to one of her sisters, who drank and filled another cup and gave
it to her other sister: then she filled a fourth time and gave it
to the porter, saying:
Drink and fare well and health attend thee still. This drink
indeed's a cure for every ill.
He took the cup in his hand and bowed and returned thanks,
reciting the following verses:
Quaff not the cup except with one who is of trusty stuff, One who
is true of thought and deed and eke of good descent.
Wine's like the wind, that, if it breathe on perfume, smells as
sweet, But, if o'er carrion it pass, imbibes its evil scent.
And again:
Drink not of wine except at the hands of a maiden fair, Who, like
unto thee and it, is joyous and debonair.
Then he kissed their hands and drank and was merry with wine and
swayed from side to side and recited the following verses:
Hither, by Allah, I conjure thee! Goblets that full of the grape
juice be!
And brim up, I prithee, a cup for me, For this is the water of
life, perdie!
Then the cateress filled the cup and gave it to the portress, who
took it from her hand and thanked her and drank. Then she filled
again and gave it to the eldest, who filled another cup and
handed it to the porter. He gave thanks and drank and recited the
following verses:
It is forbidden us to drink of any blood Except it be of that
which gushes from the vine.
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