The Caliph al-Maamun was sitting one day in his palace, surrounded by his Lords of the realm and Officers of state, and there were present also before him all his poets and cup companions, amongst the rest one named Mohammed of Bassorah. Presently, the Caliph turned and said to him, "O Mohammed, I wish you immediately to tell me something that I have never before heard." He replied, "O Commander of the Faithful, do you wish me to tell you a thing I have heard with my ears or a thing I have seen with my eyes?" Al-Maamun said, "Tell me whichever is the rarer;" so Mohammed al-Basri began: "Know, then, O Commander of the Faithful that there lived once upon a time a wealthy man, who was native of Al-Yaman;

but he emigrated from his native land and came to this city of Baghdad, whose sojourn so pleased him that he transported here his family and possessions. Now he had six slave girls, like moons one and all; the first white, the second brown, the third fat, the fourth lean, the fifth yellow and the sixth lamp black; and all six were comely of countenance and perfect in accomplishments and skilled in the arts of singing and playing upon musical instruments. Now it so chanced that, one day, he sent for the girls and called for meat and wine; and they ate and drank and were mirthful and made merry. Then he filled the cup and, taking it in his hand, said to the blonde girl, 'O new moon face, let us hear something of your pleasant songs.' So she took the lute and tuning it, made music thereon with such sweet melody that the place danced with glee; after which she played a lively measure and sang these couplets,

'I have a friend, whose form is fixed within my eyes, Whose name deep buried in my very vitals lies: Whenas remembers him my mind all heart am I, And when on him my gaze is turned I am all eyes. My censor says, 'Forswear, forget, the love of him,' 'whatever is not to be how shall't be?' My reply is. I said, 'O Censor mine, go forth from me, avaunt! And make not light of that on humans heavy lies.'

at this their master rejoiced and, drinking off his cup, gave the damsels to drink, after which he said to the berry brown girl, 'O brasier light and joy of the sprite, let us hear your lovely voice, by which all that hearken are ravished with delight.' So she took the lute and thereon made harmony till the place was moved to glee; then, captivating all hearts with her graceful swaying, she sang these couplets,

'I swear by that fair face's life, I'll love but you Till death us part; nor other love but yours I'll see: O full moon, with your loveliness mantilla'd over, The loveliest of our earth beneath your banner be: You, who surpassest all the fair in pleasantness May Allah, Lord of worlds, be everywhere with you!'

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The master rejoiced and drank off his cup and gave the girls to drink; after which he filled again; and, taking the goblet in his hand, signed to the fat girl and bade her sing and play a different motive. So she took the lute and striking a grief dispelling measure, sang these couplets,

'If you but deign consent, O wish to heart affied! I care not wrath and rage to all mankind happen. And if you show that fairest face which gives me life, I reck not an diminished heads the Kings go hide. I seek your favours only from this 'versal world: O you in whom all beauty does firm fixt abide!'

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 you 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 have death not dealt to me, Turning from me while I to you turn patiently: Say me, is there no judge of Love to judge us twain, And do me justice wronged, my enemy, by you?'

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 your 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 you, my eyes, let prodigal tears go free; This ecstasy would see my being unbe: All ecstasies I dree for sake of friend I fondle, maugre enviers' jealousy: Censors forbid me from his rosy cheek, Yet ever 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 anything more bitter be? Upon his cheek there grows and glows a rose, Nay two, whereof grant Allah one to me! An were prostration by our law allowed To anything but Allah, at his feet I had bowed.'

Thereupon rose the six girls and, kissing the ground before their lord, said to him, 'Do you 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 He said, 'There is none of you but has learnt the Koran by heart, and mastered the musical art and is versed in the chronicles of old 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 slender 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 illustrated with citations from Holy Writ and something 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!'"—

Man of Al-yaman and his Slave Girls. 249

When it was the Three Hundred and Thirty fifth night

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 has given me the precedence and honoured me, when He mentions me in His holy Book! The Most High said,

'And he brought a fatted calf' And he made me like unto a vergier full of peaches and pomegranates. In very truth 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 says the poet,

'Farewell your love, for see, the Cafilah's on the move: O man, can bear to say adieu and leave your love? 'Tis as her going were to seek her neighbour's tent, The gait of fat fair maid, whom hearts shall all approve.'

saw you 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.' As for you, O thin one, your calves are like the shanks of sparrows or the pokers of furnaces; and you are a cruciform plank of a piece of flesh poor and rank; there is nothing in you to gladden the heart; even as says the poet,

'With Allah take I refuge from whatever drivs me To bed with one like footrasp or the roughest ropery: In every limb she has a horn that butts me whene'er I Gladly would rest, so morn and eve I go me wearily.'

her master said, 'Sit you down: this much suffics.' 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;'

Man of Al-yaman and his Slave Girls. 255 but rather, 'My lady has a slender waist and a slim shape.' Furthermore a little food fills me and a little water quenches 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 or the stalk of the basil plant; nor is there any can compare with me in loveliness, even as says one of me,

'Your shape with willow branch I dare compare, And hold your figure as my fortunes fair: I wake each morn distraught, and follow you, 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 grow 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 you, O fat of body, yours eating is the feeding of an elephant, and neither much nor little fills you. When you lie with a man who is lean, he has no ease of you; nor can he anyways take his pleasure of you; for the bigness of your belly holds him off from going in unto you and the fatness of your thighs hinders him from coming at your slit. What goodness is there in your grossness, and what courtesy or pleasantness in your coarseness? Fat flesh is fit for nothing but the flesher, nor is there one point within it that pleads for praise. If one joke with you, you are angry; if one sport with you, you are sulky; if you sleep, you snorest if you walk, you lollest out your tongue! If you eat, you are never filled. You are heavier than mountains and fouler than corruption and crime. You have in you nor agility nor benedicite nor think you of anything save meat and sleep. When you pissest you swishest; if you turd you gruntest like a bursten wine skin or an elephant transmogrified. If you go to the water closet, you need one to wash your gap and pluck out the hairs which overgrow it;

and this is the extreme of sluggishness and the sign, outward and visible, of stupidity. In short, there is no good thing about you, and indeed the poet says of you,

'Heavy and swollen like an urine bladder blown, With hips and thighs like mountain propping piles of stone; Whene'er she walks in Western hemisphere, her tread makes the far Eastern world with weight to moan and groan.'

her master said, 'Sit you down, this suffics;' so she sat down and he signed to the yellow girl, who rose to her feet and praised Allah Almighty and magnified His name, calling down peace and blessing on Mohammed the best of His creatures, after which she pointed her finger at the brunette and said to her,"—

When it was the Three Hundred and Thirty seventh night

when the yellow girl ended her recitation, her master said, 'Sit you down; this much suffics!' Then he made peace between them and clad them all in sumptuous robes of honour and hanselled them with precious jewels of land and sea. And never have I seen, O Commander of the Faithful, any when or any where, anything fairer than these six damsels fair."

Now when al-Maamun heard this story from Mohammed of Bassorah, he turned to him and said,

"O Mohammed, know you the abiding place of these damsels and their master, and can you contrive to buy them of him for us?" He answered, "O Commander of the Faithful, indeed I have heard that their lord is wrapped up in them and cannot bear to be parted from them." Rejoined the Caliph, "Take you ten thousand gold pieces for each girl, that is sixty thousand for the whole purchase; and carry the coin to his house and buy them of him." So Mohammed of Bassorah took the money and, betaking himself to the Man of al-Yaman, acquainted him with the wish of the Prince of True Believers. He consented to part with them at that price to pleasure the Caliph; and despatched them to al-Maamun, who assigned them an elegant abode and within it used to sit with them as cup companions; marvelling at their beauty and loveliness, at their varied colours and at the excellence of their conversation. Thus matters stood for many a day, but, after awhile, when their former owner could no longer bear to be parted from them, he sent a letter to the Commander of the Faithful complaining to him of his own ardent love longing for them and containing, amongst other contents, these couplets,

"Captured me six, all bright with youthful blee; Then on all six be best salams from me! They are my hearing, seeing, very life; My meat, my drink, my joy, my jollity: I'll never forget the favours erst so charmed Whose loss has turned my sleep to insomny: Alack, O longsome pining and O tears! Would I had farewelled all humanity: Those eyes, with bowed and well arched eyebrows dressed, Like bows have struck me with their archery."

Now when the letter came to the hands of al-Maamun, he robed the six damsels in rich raiment; and, giving them three score thousand dinars, sent them back to their lord who joyed in them with exceeding joy (more especially for the monies they brought him), and abode with them in all the comfort and pleasance of life, till there came to them the Destroyer of delights and the Severer of societies. And men also recount the tale of

Harun Al-Rashid and the Damsel. 261