Name then, the flower, and he who first shall name it, let
him be proclaimed the lawful king of Souffra. Take then, your
instruments, noble rayahs, and to their sounds, in measured verse, pour
out the name of the hidden flower, and the reason for my choice. Thus
shall fate decide the question, and no one say that his merits have been
slighted."
Having finished her address, the beauteous princess let fall her veil,
and was silent. A shout of applause was followed by wild strummings and
tunings of mandolins, and occasional scratching of heads or turbans, to
remember all that Hafiz had ever written, or to aid their attempts at
improviso versification. Time flew on, and no one of the young rayahs
appeared inclined to begin. At last one stepped forward, and named the
rose, in a borrowed couplet. He was dismissed with a graceful wave of
the hand by the princess, and broke his mandolin in his vexation, as he
quitted the hall of audience. And thus did they continue, one after
another, to name flower after flower, and quit the hall of audience in
despair. Then might these beautiful youths, as they all stood before the
princess, be compared, themselves, to the most beauteous flowers, strong
rooted in their hopes, and basking in the sun of her presence; and, as
their hopes were cut off, what were they but the same flowers severed
from their stalks, and drooping before the sunny beams, now too powerful
to be borne, or loaded with the dew of tears, removed to fade away
unheeded? There were but few left, when Mezrimbi, who had, as he
thought, hit upon the right name, and who, watching the countenance of
Acota, which had an air of impatient indifference upon it, which induced
Mezrimbi to suppose that he had lighted upon the same idea, and might
forestall him, stepped forward with his mandolin.
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