Their lord rejoiced and emptying the cup, gave the girls to drink. Then he signed to the yellow girl and said to her, "O sun of the day, let us hear some pleasant verses." So she took the lute and preluding after the goodliest fashion, sang as follows:

I have a lover, whenas I draw him nigh, He bares upon me a sword from either eye.

May G.o.d avenge me some whit of him! For lo, He doth oppress me, whose heart in 's hand doth lie.

Oft though, "Renounce him, my heart," I say, yet it Will to none other than him itself apply.

He's all I ask for, of all created things; Yet jealous Fortune doth him to me deny.

The man rejoiced and drank and gave the girls to drink; then he filled the cup and taking it in his hand, signed to the black girl, saying, "O apple of the eye, let us have a taste of thy fashion, though it be but two words." So she took the lute and preluded in various modes, then returned to the first and sang the following verses to a lively air:

O eyes, be large with tears and pour them forth amain, For, lo, for very love my senses fail and wane.

All manner of desire I suffer for his sake I cherish, and my foes make merry at my pain.

My enviers me forbid the roses of a cheek; And yet I have a heart that is to roses fain.

Ay, once the cups went round with joyance and delight And to the smitten lutes, the goblets did we drain, What time my love kept troth and I was mad for him And in faith's heaven, the star of happiness did reign.

But lo, he turned away from me, sans fault of mine! Is there a bitterer thing than distance and disdain?

Upon his cheeks there bloom a pair of roses red, Blown ready to be plucked; ah G.o.d, those roses twain!

Were't lawful to prostrate oneself to any else Than G.o.d, I'd sure prostrate myself upon the swain.

Then rose the six girls and kissing the ground before their lord, said to him, "Judge thou between us, O our lord!" He looked at their beauty and grace and the difference of their colours and praised G.o.d the Most High and glorified Him: then said he, "There is none of you but has read the Koran and learnt to sing and is versed in the chronicles of the ancients and the doings of past peoples; so it is my desire that each of you rise and pointing to her opposite, praise herself and dispraise her rival; that is to say, let the blonde point to the black, the plump to the slender and the yellow to the brunette; and after, the latter shall, each in turn, do the like with the former; and be this ill.u.s.trated with citations from the Holy Koran and somewhat of anecdotes and verse, so as to show forth your culture and elegance of discourse." Quoth they, "We hear and obey."

So the blonde rose first and pointing at the black, said to her, "Out on thee, blackamoor! It is told that whiteness saith, 'I am the shining light, I am the rising full moon.' My colour is patent and my forehead is resplendent, and of my beauty quoth the poet:

A blonde with smooth and polished cheeks, right delicate and fair, As if a pearl in beauty hid, as in a sh.e.l.l, she were.

Her shape a splendid Alif[FN#36] is, her smile a medial Mim[FN#37] And over it her eyebrows make inverted Nouns,[FN#38] a pair.

Yes, and the glances of her eyes are arrows, and her brows A bow that therewithal is horned with death and with despair.

If to her cheeks and shape thou pa.s.s, her cheeks are roses red, Sweet basil, ay, and eglantine and myrtles rich and rare.

'Tis of the saplings' wont, to be implanted in the meads But, in the saplings of thy shape, how many meads are there!

My colour is like the wholesome day and the newly-gathered orange-blossom and the sparkling star; and indeed quoth G.o.d the Most High, in His precious book, to His prophet Moses (on whom be peace), 'Put thy hand into thy bosom and it shall come forth white without hurt.'[FN#39] And again He saith, 'As for those whose faces are made white, they are in the mercy of G.o.d and dwell for ever therein.'[FN#40] My colour is a miracle and my grace an extreme and my beauty a term. It is in the like of me that clothes show fair and to the like of me that hearts incline.

Moreover, in whiteness are many excellences; for instance, the snow falls white from heaven, and it is traditional that white is the most beautiful of colours. The Muslims also glory in white turbans; but I should be tedious, were I to repeat all that may be said in praise of white; little and enough is better than too much. So now I will begin with thy dispraise, O black, O colour of ink and blacksmith's dust, thou whose face is like the crow that brings about lovers' parting! Verily, the poet saith in praise of white and dispraise of black:

Seest not that for their milky hue white pearls in price excel And charcoal for a groat a load the folk do buy and sell?

And eke white faces, 'tis well known, do enter Paradise, Whilst faces black appointed are to fill the halls of h.e.l.l.

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 Ham and Shem seated at his head, when a wind sprang up and lifting his clothes, uncovered his nakedness; whereat Ham laughed and did not cover him; but Shem rose and covered him. Presently, Noah awoke and learning what had pa.s.sed, blessed Shem and cursed Ham. So Shem's face was whitened and from him sprang the prophets and the orthodox Khalifs and Kings; whilst Ham's face was blackened and he fled forth to the land of Ethiopia, and of his lineage came the blacks. All people are of a mind in affirming the lack of understanding of the blacks, even as saith the adage, 'How shall one find a black having understanding?'"

Quoth her master, "It sufficeth; sit down, thou hast been prodigal." And he signed to the negress, who rose, and pointing at the blonde, said, "Doth 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 veileth [the world with darkness], and by the day, when it appeareth in all its glory!'[FN#41] If the night were not more ill.u.s.trious than the day, why should G.o.d swear by it and give it precedence of the day? And indeed those of sense and understanding accept this.

Knowst now that black [hair] is the ornament of youth and that, when whiteness descends upon the head, delights pa.s.s away and the hour of death draws nigh? Were not black the most ill.u.s.trious of things, G.o.d had not set it in the kernel of the heart and the apple of the eye; and how excellent is the saying of the poet:

An if I cherish the dusky maids, this is the reason why; They have the hue of the core of the heart and the apple of the eye And youth; nor in error I eschew the whiteness of the blondes; For 'tis the colour of h.o.a.ry hair and shrouds in them shun I.

And that of another:

The brown, not the white, are first in my love And worthiest eke to be loved of me, For the colour of damask lips have they, Whilst the white have the hue of leprosy.

And of a third:

Black women, white of deeds, are like indeed to eyne That, though jet-black they be, with peerless splendours shine.

If I go mad for her, be not amazed; for black The source of madness is, when in the feminine.[FN#42]

'Tis as my colour were the middle dark of night; For all no moon it be, yet brings it light, in fine.

Moreover, is the companying together of lovers good but in the night? Let this quality and excellence suffice thee. What protects lovers from spies and censors like the blackness of the shadows? And nought gives them cause to fear discovery like the whiteness of the dawn. So, how many claims to honour are there not in blackness and how excellent is the saying of the poet:

I visit them, and the mirk of night doth help me to my will And seconds me, but the white of dawn is hostile to me still.

And that of another:

How many a night in joy I've pa.s.sed with the beloved one, What while the darkness curtained us about with tresses dun!

Whenas the light of morn appeared, it struck me with affright, And I to him, 'The Magians lie, who worship fire and sun.'

And saith a third:

He came forth to visit me, shrouding himself in the cloak of the night, And hastened his steps, as he wended, for caution and fear and affright.

Then rose I and laid in his pathway my cheek, as a carpet it were, For abjection, and trailed o'er my traces my skirts, to efface them from sight.

But lo, the new moon rose and shone, like a nail-paring cleft from the nail, And all but discovered our loves with the gleam of her meddlesome light.

And then there betided between us what I'll not discover, i'

faith: So question no more of the matter and deem not of ill or unright.

And a fourth:

Foregather with thy lover, whilst night your loves may screen; For that the sun's a telltale, the moon a go-between.

And a fifth:

I love not white women, with fat blown out and overlaid; The girl of all girls for me is the slender dusky maid.

Let others the elephant mount, if it like them; as for me, I'll ride but the fine-trained colt on the day of the cavalcade.

And a sixth:

My loved one came to me by night And we did clip and interlace And lay together through the dark; But, lo, the morning broke apace.

To G.o.d, my Lord, I pray that He Will reunite us of His grace And make night last to me, what while I hold my love in my embrace.

Were I to set forth all the praise of blackness, I should be tedious; but little and enough is better than great plenty and too much. As for thee, O blonde, thy colour is that of leprosy and thine embrace is suffocation; and it is of report that frost and intense cold[FN#43] are in h.e.l.l for the torment of the wicked. Again, of black things is ink, wherewith is written the word of G.o.d; and were is not for black ambergris and black musk, there would be no perfumes to carry to kings. How many glories are there not in blackness and how well saith the poet:

Dost thou not see that musk, indeed, is worth its weight in gold, Whilst for a dirhem and no more a load of lime is sold?

Black eyes cast arrows at men's hearts; but whiteness of the eyes, In man, is judged of all to be unsightly to behold."

"It sufficeth," said her master. "Sit down." So she sat down and he signed to the fat girl, who rose and pointing at the slim girl, uncovered her arms and legs and bared her stomach, showing its creases and the roundness of her navel. Then she donned a shift of fine stuff, that showed her whole body, and said, "Praised be G.o.d who created me, for that He beautified my face and made me fat and fair 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 speaks of me in His holy book! Quoth the Most High, 'And he brought a fat calf.'[FN#44] And indeed He hath made me like unto an orchard, full of peaches and pomegranates.

Verily, 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 precious attributes are there not in fatness, and how well saith the poet:

Take leave of thy love, for the caravan, indeed, is on the start. O man, canst thou bear to say farewell and thus from her to part?

'Tis as her going were, I trow, but to her neighbour's house, The faultless gait of a fat fair maid, that never tires the heart.

Sawst thou ever one stop at a butcher's stall, but sought fat meat of him? The wise say, 'Pleasure is in three things, eating flesh and riding on flesh and the thrusting of flesh into flesh.' As for thee, O thin one, thy legs are like sparrow's legs or pokers, and thou art like a cruciform plank or a piece of poor meat; there is nought in thee to gladden the heart; even as saith of thee the poet:

Now G.o.d forfend that aught enforce me take for bedfellow A woman like a foot-rasp, wrapt in palm-fibres and tow!

In every limb she has a horn, that b.u.t.ts me in my sleep, So that at day-break, bruised and sore, I rise from her and go."

"It is enough," quoth her master. "Sit down." So she sat down and he signed to the slender girl, who rose, as she were a willow-wand or a bamboo-shoot or a plant of sweet basil, and said, "Praised be G.o.d who created me and beautified me and made my embraces the end of all desire and likened me to the branch, to which all hearts incline. If I rise, I rise lightly; if I sit, I sit with grace; I am nimble-witted at a jest and sweeter-souled than cheerfulness [itself]. Never heard I one describe his mistress, saying, 'My beloved is the bigness of an elephant or like a long wide mountain;' but rather, 'My lady hath a slender waist and a slim shape.'