me." He did so and followed until she stood before the greengrocer's, of whom she bought pickled safflower and olives, in brine and in oil; with tarragon and cream cheese and hard
Syrian cheese; and she stowed them away in the crate saying to
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the Porter, "Take up thy basket and follow me." He did so and went after her till she came to a fair mansion fronted by a spacious court, a tall, fine place to which columns gave strength and grace: and the gate thereof had two leaves of ebony inlaid with plates of red gold. The lady stopped at the door and, turning her face veil sideways, knocked softly with her knuckles whilst the Porter stood behind her, thinking of naught save her beauty and loveliness. Presently the door swung back and both
leaves were opened, whereupon he looked to see who had opened it;
and behold, it was a lady of tall figure, some five feet high; a model of beauty and loveliness, brilliance and symmetry and perfect grace. Her forehead was flower white; her cheeks like the anemone ruddy bright; her eyes were those of the wild heifer or the gazelle, with eyebrows like the crescent moon which ends
Sha'aban and begins Ramazan;[FN#144] her mouth was the ring of
Sulayman,[FN#145] her lips coral red, and her teeth like a line of strung pearls or of camomile petals. Her throat recalled the antelope's, and her breasts, like two pomegranates of even size, stood at bay as it were,[FN#146] her body rose and fell in waves below her dress like the rolls of a piece of brocade, and her navel[FN#147] would hold an ounce of benzoin ointment. In fine she was like her of whom the poet said:--
On Sun and Moon of palace cast thy sight * Enjoy her flower like
face, her fragrant light:
Thine eyes shall never see in hair so black * Beauty encase a brow so purely white:
The ruddy rosy cheek proclaims her claim * Though fail her name
whose beauties we indite:
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As sways her gait I smile at hips so big * And weep to see the waist they bear so slight.
When the Porter looked upon her his wits were waylaid, and his senses were stormed so that his crate went nigh to fall from his head, and he said to himself, "Never have I in my life seen a day more blessed than this day!" Then quoth the lady portress to the lady cateress, "Come in from the gate and relieve this poor man of his load." So the provisioner went in followed by the portress and the Porter and went on till they reached a spacious ground floor hall,[FN#148] built with admirable skill and beautified
with all manner colours and carvings; with upper balconies and groined arches and galleries and cupboards and recesses whose curtains hung before them. In the midst stood a great basin full
of water surrounding a fine fountain, and at the upper end on the raised dais was a couch of juniper wood set with gems and pearls, with a canopy like mosquito curtains of red satin silk looped up with pearls as big as filberts and bigger. Thereupon sat a lady bright of blee, with brow beaming brilliancy, the dream of
philosophy, whose eyes were fraught with Babel's gramarye[FN#149] and her eye brows were arched as for archery; her breath breathed ambergris and perfumery and her lips were sugar to taste and carnelian to see. Her stature was straight as the letter
I[FN#150] and her face shamed the noon sun's radiancy; and she was even as a galaxy, or a dome with golden marquetry or a bride displayed in choicest finery or a noble maid of Araby.[FN#151] Right well of her sang the bard when he said:--
Her smiles twin rows of pearls display * Chamomile-buds or rimey
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spray
Her tresses stray as night let down * And shames her light the dawn o' day.
[FN#152]The third lady rising from the couch stepped forward with grace ful swaying gait till she reached the middle of the saloon,
when she said to her sisters, "Why stand ye here? take it down from this poor man's head!" Then the cateress went and stood before him, and the portress behind him while the third helped them, and they lifted the load from the Porter's head; and, emptying it of all that was therein, set everything in its place. Lastly they gave him two gold pieces, saying, "Wend thy ways, O Porter." But he went not, for he stood looking at the ladies and admiring what uncommon beauty was theirs, and their pleasant manners and kindly dispositions (never had he seen goodlier); and he gazed wistfully at that good store of wines and sweet scented flowers and fruits and other matters. Also he marvelled with exceeding marvel, especially to see no man in the place and delayed his going; whereupon quoth the eldest lady, "What aileth thee that goest not; haply thy wage be too little?" And, turning
to her sister the cateress, she said, "Give him another diner!" But the Porter answered, "By Allah, my lady, it is not for the wage; my hire is never more than two dirhams; but in very sooth
my heart and my soul are taken up with you and your condition. I wonder to see you single with ne'er a man about you and not a soul to bear you company; and well you wot that the minaret toppleth o'er unless it stand upon four, and you want this same fourth; and women's pleasure without man is short of measure,
even as the poet said:--
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Seest not we want for joy four things all told * The harp and
lute, the flute and flageolet;
And be they companied with scents four fold * Rose, myrtle, anemone and violet
Nor please all eight an four thou wouldst withold * Good wine and youth and gold and pretty pet.
You be there and want a fourth who shall be a person of good sense and prudence; smart witted, and one apt to keep careful counsel." His words pleased and amused them much; and they laughed at him and said, "And who is to assure us of that? We are maidens and we fear to entrust our secret where it may not be kept, for we have read in a certain chronicle the lines of one
Ibn al-Sumam:-
Hold fast thy secret and to none unfold * Lost is a secret when that secret's told
An fail thy breast thy secret to conceal * How canst thou hope another's breast shall hold?
And Abu Nowas[FN#153] said well on the same subject:--
Who trusteth secret to another's hand * Upon his brow deserveth burn of brand!"
When the Porter heard their words he rejoined, "By your lives! I
am a man of sense and a discreet, who hath read books and perused chronicles; I reveal the fair and conceal the foul and I act as
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the poet adviseth:--
None but the good a secret keep * And good men keep it unrevealed:
It is to me a well shut house * With keyless locks and door ensealed"[FN#154]
When the maidens heard his verse and its poetical application addressed to them they said, "Thou knowest that we have laid out all our monies on this place. Now say, hast thou aught to offer
us in return for entertainment? For surely we will not suf fer thee to sit in our company and be our cup companion, and gaze upon our faces so fair and so rare without paying a round sum.[FN#155] Wottest thou not the saying:--
Sans hope of gain
Love's not worth a grain?"
Whereto the lady portress added, "If thou bring anything thou art a something; if no thing, be off with thee, thou art a nothing;"
but the procuratrix interposed, saying, "Nay, O my sisters, leave teasing him for by Allah he hath not failed us this day, and had
he been other he never had kept patience with me, so whatever be his shot and scot I will take it upon myself." The Porter, over joyed, kissed the ground before her and thanked her saying, "By Allah, these monies are the first fruits this day