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[other] merchants, Night dccclxxii.and by Allah, I fear to bring her to thee, lest she do with thee like as she did with thy neighbours and so I fall into disgrace with thee: but, if thou bid me bring her to thee, I will do so.’ Quoth the merchant, ‘Bring her to me.’ ‘I hear and obey,’ answered the broker and fetched the damsel, who looked at him and said, ‘O my lord Shihabeddin, hast thou in thy house cushions stuffed with minever parings?’ ‘Yes, O princess of fair ones,’ replied Shihabeddin, ‘I have half a score such cushions at home; but I conjure thee by Allah, tell me, what wilt thou do with them?’ Quoth she, ‘I will wait till thou be asleep, when I will lay them on thy mouth and nose [and press on them] till thou die.’
Then she turned to the broker and said to him, ‘O filthiest of brokers, meseemeth thou art mad, for that, this hour past, thou showest me, first to a pair of graybeards, in each of whom are two faults, and then to my lord Shihabeddin here, in whom are three defects; first, he is short of stature; secondly, he hath a big nose, and thirdly, he hath a long beard. Of him quoth one of the poets:
Ne’er saw we in our lives nor heard of such a wight, Of all that live and be beneath the sun his light:
A beard a cubit long and nose a span he hath, Whilst he himself is but a finger’s breadth in height.
And quoth another poet:
The mosque’s minaret from his visage doth spring, As the ring-finger juts from the round of the ring.
If all it could house were to enter his nose, The world were soon void of each creature and thing.’
When Shihabeddin heard this, he came down from his shop and seized the broker by the collar, saying, ‘O scurviest of brokers, what ails thee to bring us a damsel to flout and make mock of us, one after other, with idle talk and verses?’ So the broker took her and carried
