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replied Salih, ‘know that I have bethought me of a girl of the girls of the sea who befitteth thy son; but I fear to name her, lest he be awake and his heart be taken with her love and maybe we shall not avail to win to her; so should he and we and the grandees of the realm be wearied [in vain] and trouble betide us through this; for, as saith the poet:
Love, at the first, is as a drip of water, verily; But, when the mastery it gains, ’tis as a spreading sea.’
‘Tell me the name and condition of this girl,’ rejoined Julnar; ‘for I know all the damsels of the sea, kings’ daughters and others; and if I judge her worthy of him, I will demand her in marriage for him of her father, though I spend on her all that my hand possesseth. So tell me who and what she is and fear nought, for my son is asleep.’ Quoth Salih, ‘I fear lest he be awake; and the poet says:
I fell in love with him, what time his charms described heard I; For whiles it chances that the ear doth love before the eye.’
But Julnar said, ‘Speak and be brief and fear nothing, O my brother.’ So he said, ‘O my sister, none is worthy of thy son save the princess Jauhereh, daughter of King Es Semendel, for that she is like unto him in beauty and grace and brightness and perfection; nor is there, in the sea or on the land, a sweeter or pleasanter of parts than she; for she is fair and graceful and shapely, with red cheeks and flower-white brows, teeth like jewels and great black eyes, heavy buttocks and slender waist and a lovely face. When she turns, she shames the wild cattle and the gazelles, and when she walks, the willow branch is jealous of her. When she unveils, her face outshines the sun and the moon and she enslaves all that look on her; and she is sweet-lipped and soft-sided.’
