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‘I sell myself to this handsome young man for a thousand dinars.’ Quoth one, ‘We sell to him;’ and another, ‘He deserves her;’ and a third, ‘Accursed, son of accursed, is he who bids and does not buy!’ and a fourth, ‘By Allah, they befit one another!’ Then, before Noureddin could think, the broker fetched cadis and witnesses, who drew up a contract of sale and purchase, which the broker handed to Noureddin, saying, ‘Take thy slave-girl and may God make her a blessing to thee, for she beseemeth none but thee and none but thou beseemeth her.’ And he recited the following verses:
Unto him fair fortune all unbidden hies, Drags her skirts[1] to-him-ward on obsequious wise.
None but she befitteth him and none but he Of the maid is worthy, underneath the skies.
Noureddin was abashed before the merchants; so he paid down the thousand dinars, that he had left with his friend the druggist, and taking the girl, carried her to the house in which the latter had lodged him. When she entered and saw nothing but patched carpets and worn-out rugs, she said to him, ‘O my lord, have I no value in thine eyes and am I not worthy that thou shouldst carry me to thine own house wherein are thy goods, that thou bringest me into thy servant’s lodging? Why dost thou not carry me to thy father’s dwelling?’ ‘By Allah, O princess of fair ones,’ answered he, ‘this is my house wherein I dwell; but it belongs to an old man, a druggist of this city, who hath set it apart for me and lodged me therein. I told thee that I was a stranger and that I am of the people of Cairo.’ ‘O my lord,’ rejoined she, ‘the least of houses will serve till thy return to thy native place; but, God on thee, O my lord, go now and fetch
- ↑ i.e. in the dejected humble manner of a slave. “To drag the skirts” is an Arab phrase practically equivalent to our “to hang the head.”
