The man rejoiced and, emptying his cup, gave the girls to drink.

Then he signed to the thin girl and said to her, 'O Houri of Paradise, feed thou our ears with sweet words and sounds.' So she took the lute; and, tuning it, preluded and sang these two couplets,

'Say me, on Allah's path[FN#351] hast death not dealt to me, *

Turning from me while I to thee turn patiently: Say me, is there no judge of Love to judge us twain, * And do me justice wronged, mine enemy, by thee?'

Their lord rejoiced and, emptying the cup, gave the girls to drink. Then filling another he signed to the yellow girl and said to her, O sun of the day, let us hear some nice verses.' So she took the lute and, preluding after the goodliest fashion, sang these couplets,

'I have a lover and when drawing him, * He draws on me a sword- blade glancing grim: Allah avenge some little of his wrongs, * Who holds my heart yet wreaks o erbearing whim Oft though I say, 'Renounce him, heart!' yet heart * Will to none other turn excepting him.

He is my wish and will of all men, but * Fate's envious hand to me's aye grudging him.'

The master rejoiced and drank and gave the girls to drink; then he filled the cup and taking it in hand, signed to the black girl, saying, 'O pupil of the eye, let us have a taste of thy quality, though it be but two words.' So she took the lute and tuning it and tightening the strings, preluded in various modes, then returned to the first and sang to a lively air these couplets,

'Ho ye, mine eyes, let prodigal-tears go free; * This ecstasy would see my being unbe:[FN#352]

All ecstasies I dreefor sake of friend * I fondle, maugre enviers' jealousy: Censors forbid me from his rosy cheek, * Yet e'er inclines my heart to rosery: Cups of pure wine, time was, went circuiting * In joy, what time the lute sang melody, While kept his troth the friend who madded me, * Yet made me rising star of bliss to see: But--with Time, turned he not by sin of mine; * Than such a turn can aught more bitter be?

Upon his cheek there grows and glows a rose, * Nay two, whereof grant Allah one to me!

An were prostration[FN#353] by our law allowed * To aught but Allah, at his feet I had bowed.'

Thereupon rose the six girls and, kissing the ground before their lord, said to him, 'Do thou justice between us, O our lord!' So he looked at their beauty and loveliness and the contrast of their colours and praised Almighty Allah and glorified Him. Then said he, 'There is none of you but hath learnt the Koran by heart, and mastered the musical-art and is versed in the chronicles' of yore and the doings of peoples which have gone before; so it is my desire that each one of you rise and, pointing finger at her opposite, praise herself and dispraise her co-concubine; that is to: say, let the blonde point to the brunette, the plump to the slenderer and the yellow to the black girl; after which the rivals, each in her turn, shall do the like with the former; and be this ill.u.s.trated with citations from Holy Writ and somewhat of anecdotes and,; verse, so as to show forth your fine breeding and elegance of your pleading.' And they answered him, 'We hear and we obey!;"--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

When it was the Three Hundred and Thirty-fifth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the handmaids answered the man of Al-Yaman, "'We hear and we obey!'

Accordingly the blonde rose first and, pointing at the black girl, said to her: 'Out on thee, blackamoor! It is told by tradition that whiteness saith, 'I am the shining light, I am the rising moon of the fourteenth night. My hue is patent and my brow is resplendent and of my beauty quoth the poet,'

'White girl with softly rounded polished cheeks * As if a pearl concealed by Beauty's boon: Her stature Alif-like;[FN#354] her smile like Mim[FN#355] * And o'er her eyes two brows that bend like Nun.[FN#356]

'Tis as her glance were arrow, and her brows * Bows ever bent to shoot Death-dart eftsoon: If cheek and shape thou view, there shalt thou find * Rose, myrtle, basil and Narcissus wone.

Men wont in gardens plant and set the branch, * How many garths thy stature-branch cloth own!'

'So my colour is like the hale and healthy day and the newly culled orange spray and the star of sparkling ray;[FN#357] and indeed quoth Almighty Allah, in His precious Book, to his prophet Moses (on whom be peace!), Put thy hand into thy bosom; it shall come forth white, without hurt.'[FN#358] And again He saith, But they whose faces shall become white, shall be in the mercy of Allah; therein shall they remain forever.'[FN#359] My colour is a sign, a miracle, and my loveliness supreme and my beauty a term extreme. It is on the like of me that raiment showeth fair and fine and to the like of me that hearts incline. Moreover, in whiteness are many excellences; for instance, the snow falleth white from heaven, and it is traditional-that the beautifullest of a colours white. The Moslems also glory in white turbands, but I should be tedious, were I to tell all that may be told in praise of white; little and enough is better than too much of unfilling stuff. So now I will begin with thy dispraise, O black, O colour of ink and blacksmith's dust, thou whose face is like the raven which bringeth about the parting of lovers. Verily, the poet saith in praise of white and blame of black,

'Seest not that pearls are prized for milky hue, * But with a dirham buy we coals in load?

And while white faces enter Paradise, * Black faces crowd Gehenna's black abode.'

And indeed it is told in certain histories, related on the authority of devout men, that Noah (on whom be peace!) was sleeping one day, with his sons Cham and Shem seated at his head, when a wind sprang up and, lifting his clothes, uncovered his nakedness; whereat Cham looked and laughed and did not cover him: but Shem arose and covered him. Presently, their sire awoke and learning, what had been done by his sons, blessed Shem and cursed Cham. So Shem's face was whitened and from him sprang the prophets and the orthodox Caliphs and Kings; whilst Cham's face was blackened and he fled forth to the land of Abyssinia, and of his lineage came the blacks.[FN#360] All people are of one mind in affirming the lack of understanding of the blacks, even as saith the adage, 'How shall one find a black with a mind?' Quoth her master, 'Sit thee down, thou hast given us sufficient and even excess.' Thereupon he signed to the negress, who rose and, pointing her finger at the blonde, said: Dost thou not know that in the Koran sent down to His prophet and apostle, is transmitted the saying of G.o.d the Most High, 'By the night when it covereth all things with darkness; by the day when it shineth forth!'[FN#361] If the night were not the more ill.u.s.trious, verily Allah had not sworn by it nor had given it precedence of the day. And indeed all men of wit and wisdom accept this.

Knowest thou not that black is the ornament of youth and that, when h.o.a.riness descendeth upon the head, delights pa.s.s away and the hour of death draweth in sight? Were not black the most ill.u.s.trious of things, Allah had not set it in the core of the heart[FN#362] and the pupil of the eye; and how excellent is the saying of the poet,

'I love not black girls but because they show * Youth's colour, tinct of eye and heartcore's hue; Nor are in error who unlove the white, * And h.o.a.ry hairs and winding-sheet eschew.'

And that said of another,

'Black[FN#363] girls, not white, are they * All worthy love I see: Black girls wear dark-brown lips;[FN#364] * Whites, blotch of leprosy.'

And of a third,

'Black girls in acts are white, and 'tis as though * Like eyes, with purest shine and sheen they show; If I go daft for her, be not amazed; * Black bile[FN#365] drives melancholic-mad we know 'Tis as my colour were the noon of night; * For all no moon it be, its splendours glow.

Moreover, is the foregathering of lovers good but in the night?

Let this quality and profit suffice thee. What protecteth lovers from spies and censors like the blackness of night's darkness; and what causeth them to fear discovery like the whiteness of the dawn's brightness? So, how many claims to honour are there not in blackness and how excellent is the saying of the poet,

'I visit them, and night-black lendeth aid to me * Seconding love, but dawn-white is mine enemy.'

And that of another,

'How many a night I've pa.s.sed with the beloved of me, * While gloom with dusky tresses veiled our desires: But when the morn-light showed it caused me sad affright; * And I to Morning said, 'Who worship light are liars!'[FN#366]

And saith a third,

'He came to see me, hiding neath the skirt of night, * Hasting his steps as wended he in cautious plight.

I rose and spread my cheek upon his path like rug, * Abject, and trailed my skirt to hide it from his sight; But rose the crescent moon and strave its best to show * The world our loves like nail-slice raying radiant light:[FN#367]

Then what befel befel: I need not aught describe; * But think thy best, and ask me naught of wrong or right.

Meet not thy lover save at night for fear of slander * The Sun's a t.i.ttle-tattler and the Moon's a pander.'

And a fifth,

'I love not white girls blown with fat who puff and pant; * The maid for me is young brunette embonpoint-scant.

I'd rather ride a colt that's darn upon the day * Of race, and set my friends upon the elephant.'

And a sixth,

My lover came to me one night, * And clips we both with fond embrace; And lay together till we saw * The morning come with swiftest pace.

Now I pray Allah and my Lord * To reunite us of His grace And make night last me long as he * Lies in the arms that tightly lace.'

Were I to set forth all the praises of blackness, my tale would be tedious; but little and enough is better than too much of unfilling stuff. As for thee, O blonde, thy colour is that of leprosy and thine embrace is suffocation;[FN#368] and it is of report that h.o.a.r-frost and icy cold[FN#369] are in Gehenna for the torment of the wicked. Again, of things black and excellent is ink, wherewith is written Allah's word; and were it not for black ambergris and black musk, there would be no perfumes to carry to Kings. How many glories I may not mention dwell in blackness, and how well saith the poet,

'Seest not that musk, the nut brown musk, e'er claims the highest price * Whilst for a load of whitest lime none more than dirham bids?

And while white speck upon the eye deforms the loveliest youth, *

Black eyes discharge the sharpest shafts in lashes from their lids.'

Quoth her master, 'Sit thee down: this much sufficeth.' So she sat down and he signed to the fat girl, who rose"--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

When it was the Three Hundred and Thirty-sixth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that "the man of Al-Yaman, the master of the handmaids, signed to the fat girl who rose and, pointing her finger at the slim girl, bared her calves and wrists and uncovered her stomach, showing its dimples and the plump rondure of her navel. Then she donned a shift of fine stuff, that exposed her whole body, and said: 'Praised be Allah who created me, for that He beautified my face and made me fat and fair of the fattest and fairest; and likened me to branches laden with fruit, and bestowed upon me abounding beauty and brightness: and praised be He no less, for that He hath given me the precedence and honoured me, when He mentioneth me in His holy Book! Quoth the Most High, 'And he brought a fatted calf.'[FN#370] And He hath made me like unto a vergier full of peaches and pomegranates. In very sooth even as the townsfolk long for fat birds and eat of them and love not lean birds, so do the sons of Adam desire fat meat and eat of it. How many vauntful attributes are there not in fatness, and how well saith the poet,

'Farewell thy love, for see, the Cafilah's[FN#371] on the move: *

O man, canst bear to say adieu and leave thy love?

'Tis as her going were to seek her neighbour's tent, * The gait of fat fair maid, whom hearts shall all approve.'

Sawest thou ever one stand before a flesher's stall but sought of him fat flesh? The wise say, 'Joyance is in three things, eating meat and riding meat and putting meat into meat.'[FN#372] As for thee, O thin one, thy calves are like the shanks of sparrows or the pokers of furnaces; and thou art a cruciform plank of a piece of flesh poor and rank; there is naught in thee to gladden the heart; even as saith the poet,

'With Allah take I refuge from whatever driveth me * To bed with one like footrasp[FN#373] or the roughest ropery: In every limb she hath a horn that b.u.t.teth me whene'er * I fain would rest, so morn and eve I wend me wearily.'

Quoth her master, 'Sit thee down: this much sufficeth.' So she sat down and he signed to the slender girl, who rose, as she were a willow-wand, or a rattan-frond or a stalk of sweet basil, and said: 'Praised be Allah who created me and beautified me and made my embraces the end of all desire and likened me to the branch, whereto all hearts incline. If I rise, I rise lightly; if I sit, I sit prettily; I am nimble-witted at a jest and merrier-souled than mirth itself. Never heard I one describe his mistress, saying, 'My beloved is the bigness of an elephant or like a mountain long and broad;' but rather, 'My lady hath a slender waist and a slim shape.'[FN#374] Furthermore a little food filleth me and a little water quencheth my thirst; my sport is agile and my habit active; for I am sprightlier than the sparrow and lighter-skipping than the starling. My favours are the longing of the lover and the delight of the desirer; for I am goodly of shape, sweet of smile and graceful as the bending willow-wand or the rattan-cane[FN#375] or the stalk of the basil- plant; nor is there any can compare with me in loveliness, even as saith one of me,

'Thy shape with willow branch I dare compare, * And hold thy figure as my fortunes fair: I wake each morn distraught, and follow thee, * And from the rival's eye in fear I fare.'

It is for the like of me that amourists run mad and that those who desire me wax distracted. If my lover would draw me to him, I am drawn to him; and if he would have me incline to him, I incline to him and not against him. But now, as for thee, O fat of body, thine eating is the feeding of an elephant, and neither much nor little filleth thee. When thou liest with a man who is lean, he hath no ease of thee; nor can he anyways take his pleasure of thee; for the bigness of thy belly holdeth him off from going in unto thee and the fatness of thy thighs hindereth him from coming at thy slit. What goodness is there in thy grossness, and what courtesy or pleasantness in thy coa.r.s.eness?

Fat flesh is fit for naught but the flasher, nor is there one point therein that pleadeth for praise. If one joke with thee, thou art angry; if one sport with thee, thou art sulky; if thou sleep, thou snorest if thou walk, thou lollest out thy tongue! if thou eat, thou art never filled. Thou art heavier than mountains and fouler than corruption and crime. Thou hast in thee nor agility nor benedicite nor thinkest thou of aught save meat and sleep. When thou p.i.s.sest thou swishes"; if thou t.u.r.d thou gruntest like a bursten wine skin or an elephant transmogrified.