and that because of the good and pleasant savour. Thy name is sweet smelling ointment when it is shed forth; therefore do the maidens love thee.

Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest the sheep, where thou maketh the rest at the noon day: for why shall I be like him that goeth wrong about the flocks of thy companions?

As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. In his shadow was my desire to sit, for his fruit was sweet to my mouth.

He brought me into his wine cellar: and his behavior to me ward was lovely.

Behold, my beloved said to me: Up and haste my love, my dove, my beautiful, and come:

The flowers appear in our country and the time is come to cut the vines. The voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.

until the day break, and till the shadows be gone. Come again privily, O my beloved, like as a Roe or a young hart unto the mountains.

The watchmen that go about the city found me, to whom I said: Saw ye not him whom my soul loveth?

So when I was a little past them, I found him whom my soul loveth. I have gotten hold upon him, and will not let him go, until I bring him into my mother's house, and in to her chamber that bare me.

Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and behold king Solomon in the crown, wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his marriage, and in the day of the gladness of his heart.

Thy teeth are like sheep that be clipped, which go first up from the washing place: where every one beareth two twins, and not one unfruitful among them.

Thy two breasts are like two twins of young roes, which feed among the lilies.

O that I might go to the mountain of Myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense, till the day break, and till the shadows be past away.

Come to me from Lebanon, O my spouse, come to me from Lebanon: come soon the next way from the top of Amana, from the top of Senir and Hermon, from the lions' dens, and from the mountains of the leopards.

As I was asleep, and my heart waking, I heard the voice of my beloved, when he knocked. Open to me, said he, O my sister, my love, my darling, my dove: for my head is full of dew, and my locks of my hair are full of the night drops.

I have put off my coat: how can I do it on again? I have washed my feet, how shall I defile them again?

so that I stood up to open unto my beloved. My hands dropped with Myrrh, and the Myrrh ran down my fingers upon the lock.

Who is thy love above other lovers, O thou fairest among women? Or what can thy love do, more than other lovers, that thou chargest us so straightly?

Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep that be clipped, which go out of the washing place: where every one beareth two twins, and not one unfruitful among them.

I went down into the nut garden, to see what grew by the brooks, to look if the vineyard flourished, and if the pomegranates were shot forth.

Thy two breasts are like two twins of young roes.

I am the same that waked thee up among the apple trees, where thy mother bare thee, where thy mother brought thee in to the world.

so that many waters are not able to quench love, neither may the streams drown it. Yea, if a man would give all the good of his house for love, he should count it nothing.

Our sister is but young, and hath no breasts: what shall we do for our sister when she shall be spoken for?

But my vineyard, O Solomon, giveth thee a thousand, and two hundred to the keepers of the fruit.

Thou that dwellest in the gardens, O let me hear thy voice, that my companions may hearken to the same.