[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
quoth God the Most High (and He is the truest of all speakers),
As for poets (devils ensue them!) dost thou not see how they
run wild in each valley and say that they do not? [FN97] So
the Khalif forgave him and bestowed on him two myriads of gold.
MUSAB BEN EZ ZUBEIR AND AAISHEH
DAUGHTER OF TELHEH.
It is told of Musab ben ez Zubeir[FN98] that he met Izzeh, who
was one of the shrewdest of women, in Medina and said to her,
I have a mind to marry Aaisheh,[FN99] daughter of Telheh, and
I would have thee go to her and spy out for me how she is
made. So she went and returning to Musab, said, I have seen
her, and her face is more beautiful than health; she hath large
and well-opened eyes, an aquiline nose and smooth, oval cheeks
and a mouth like a cleft pomegranate, a neck like an ewer of
silver and a bosom with two breasts like twin pomegranates, a
slim waist and a slender belly, with a navel therein as it were
a casket of ivory, and backside like a hummock of sand.
Moreover, she hath plump thighs and legs like columns of
alabaster; but I saw her feet to be large, and thou wilt fall
short with her in time of amorous dalliance. Upon this report,
he married her and Izzeh invited Aaisheh and the women of the
tribe of Kureish to her house, when Aaisheh sang the following,
with Musab standing by:
The mouths of girls, with their odoriferous, Sweet breath and
their witching smiles, are sweet to buss;
Yet ne er have I tasted them, but in thought of him; And by
thought, indeed, the Ruler rules over us.
The night of his going in to her, he departed not from her,
till after seven courses; and on the morrow, a freed-woman of
his met him and said to him, May I be thy ransom! Thou art
perfect, even in this.
Quoth a certain woman, I was with Aaisheh, when her husband
came in to her, and she lusted to him; so he fell upon her and
she puffed and snorted and made use of all manner of rare
155
motions and strange inventions, and I the while within hearing.
So when he came out from her, I said to her, How canst thou,
with thy rank and nobility and condition, do thus, and I in thy
house? Quoth she, A woman should bring her husband all of
which she is mistress, by way of excitations and rare motions.
What mislikest thou of this? And I answered, I would have
this anights. Thus is it by day, rejoined she, and by night
I do more than this; for, when he sees me, desire stirs in him
and he falls on heat; so he puts out his hand to me and I obey
him, and it is as thou seest.
ABOUL ASWED AND HIS SQUINTING SLAVE-GIRL.
Aboul Aswed bought a native-born slave-girl, who was squint-
eyed, and she pleased him; but his people decried her to him;
whereat he wondered and spreading out his hands, recited the
following verses:
They run her down to me, and yet no fault in her find I, Except
perhaps it be a speck she hath in either eye.
To compensate this fault, if fault it be, o the upper parts
She s slim and heavy of the parts beneath the waist that
lie.
HAROUN ER RESHID AND THE TWO SLAVE-GIRLS.
The Khalif Haroun er Reshid lay one night between two slave-girls,
one from Medina and the other from Cufa, and the latter rubbed his
hands, whilst the former rubbed his feet and made his yard to
stand up. Quoth the Cufan girl, I see thou wouldst keep the whole
of the stock-in-trade to thyself; give me my share of it. And the
other answered, I have been told by Malik, on the authority of
Hisham ibn Orweh,[FN100] who had it of his [grand]father,[FN101]
that the Prophet said, Whoso bringeth the dead to life, it is
his. But the Cufan took her unawares and pushing her away, took
it all in her own hand and said, El Aamesh[FN102] tells us, on
the authority of Kheithemeh,[FN103] who had it of Abdallah ben
Mesoud,[FN104] that the Prophet said, Game belongeth to him who
taketh it, not to him who raiseth it.
THE KHALIF HAROUN ER RESHID AND THE THREE
SLAVE-GIRLS.
The Khalif Haroun er Reshid lay once with three slave-girls, a
Meccan, a Medinan and an Irakite. The Medina girl put her hand
to his yard and handled it, whereupon it rose and the Meccan
sprang up and drew it to herself. Quoth the other, What is
this unjust aggression? I have heard of Malik,[FN105] on the
authority of Ez Zuhri,[FN106] who had it of Abdallah ibn
Salim,[FN107] on the report of Said ben Zeid,[FN108] that the
156
Apostle (whom God bless and preserve) said, Whoso revivifies a
dead land, it is his. And the Meccan answered, Sufyan[FN109]
tells us, on the authority of Abou Zenad,[FN110] who had it of
El Aarej,[FN111] on the report of Abou Hureireh,[FN112] that
the Apostle of God said, The game is his who catches it, not
his who starts it. But the Irak girl pushed them both away and
taking it to herself, said, This is mine, till your contention
be decided.
THE MILLER AND HIS WIFE.
There was a miller, who had an ass to turn his mill; and he was
married to a wicked wife, whom he loved; but she hated him and
loved a neighbour of hers, who liked her not and held aloof
from her. One night, the miller saw, in his sleep, one who said
to him, Dig in such a spot of the ass s circuit in the mill,
and thou shalt find a treasure. When he awoke, he told his
wife the dream and charged her keep it secret; but she told her
neighbour, thinking to win his favour, and he appointed with
her to come to her by night. So he came and they dug in the
mill and found the treasure and took it forth. Then said he to
her, How shall we do with this? We will share it equally
between us, answered she; and do thou leave thy wife and I
will cast about to rid me of my husband. Then shalt thou marry
me, and when we are united, we will add the two halves of the
treasure, one to the other, and it will be [all] in our hands.
Quoth he, I fear lest Satan seduce thee and thou take some man
other than myself; for gold in the house is like the sun in the
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]