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bring about his union with her. ‘O Huboub,’ said Zein el Mewasif, ‘indeed he tarrieth to come to us.’ And Huboub answered, ‘He will certainly come speedily.’ Hardly had she made an end of speaking when he knocked at the door, and she opened to him and brought him in to her mistress, who saluted him and bade him welcome and seated him by her side.
Then she said to Huboub, ‘Bring me a suit of the goodliest of apparel;’ so she brought a dress embroidered with gold and Zein el Mewasif threw it over him, whilst she herself donned one of the richest of dresses and covered her head with a net of pearls of the finest water. About this she bound a fillet of brocade, embroidered with pearls and rubies and other jewels, from beneath which fell down two tresses [of plaited silk], each looped with a pendant of ruby, charactered with glittering gold, and she let down her hair, as it were the sombre night. Moreover she incensed herself with aloes-wood and scented herself with musk and ambergris, and Huboub said to her, ‘God guard thee from the [evil] eye!’ Then she began to walk, with a graceful swimming gait, whilst Huboub, who excelled in verse-making, recited the following in her honour:
She shames the cassia-branches with every step she tries And sore besets her lovers with glances from her eyes.
A moon from out the darkness appearing of her hair, It is as from her browlocks the very sun did rise.
Happy by whom the night long with all her charms she lies And happy he who, swearing by her life, for her dies!
Zein el Mewasif thanked her and went up to Mesrour, as she were the full moon all displayed. When he saw her, he rose to his feet and exclaimed, ‘Except my thought deceive me, she is no mortal, but one of the brides of Paradise!’ Then she called for food and they
