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She came down from the dais and said to me, “Welcome, a thousand times welcome to the dear and illustrious sister!” and she recited the following verses:
If the house knew who visits it, it would indeed rejoice And stoop to kiss the happy place whereon her feet have stood;
And in the voice with which the case, though mute, yet speaks, exclaim, “Welcome and many a welcome to the generous and good!”
Then she sat down and said to me, “O my sister, I have a brother, who is handsomer than I; and he saw thee at certain festivals and assemblies and fell passionately in love with thee, for that thou art possessed of beauty and grace beyond thy share. He heard that thou wast thine own mistress, even as he also is the head of his family, and wished to make thine acquaintance; wherefore he used this device to bring thee in company with me; for he desires to marry thee according to the law of God and His prophet, and there is no shame in what is lawful.” When I heard what she said, I bethought me that I was fairly entrapped and answered, “I hear and obey.” At this she was glad and clapped her hands, whereupon a door opened and out came the handsomest of young men, elegantly dressed and perfect in beauty and symmetry and winning grace, with eyebrows like a bended bow and eyes that ravished hearts with lawful enchantments, even as says a poet, describing the like of him:
His face is like unto the new moon’s face With signs,[1] like pearls, of fortune and of grace.
And God bless him who said:
He hath indeed been blest with beauty and with grace, And blest be He who shaped and fashioned forth his face!
All rarest charms that be unite to make him fair, His witching loveliness distracts the human race.
Beauty itself hath set these words upon his brow, “Except this youth there’s none that’s fair in any place.”
- ↑ Moles?
