Page:The Perfumed Garden - Burton - 1886.djvu/168

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152
The Perfumed Garden

means if the pail is without a handle to hang it up by it is good for nothing, the pail representing the vulva, and the handle the verge. The cords are undone and its centre is sinking in; that is to say, as the tent without a supporting pole caves in at the center, inferior in this respect to the vault which remains upright without support, so can the woman who has no husband not enjoy complete happiness. From the words. It forms a hollow like that of a kettle, you may judge how lascivious God has made that woman in her comparisons; she likens her vulva to a kettle, which serves to prepare the tserid.[1] Listen; if the tserid is placed in the kettle, to turn out well it must be stirred by means of a medeleuk[2] long and solid, whilst the kettle is steadied by the feet and hands. Only in that way can it be prepared properly. It cannot be done with a small spoon; the cook would burn her hands, owing to the shortness of the handle, and the dish would not be well prepared. This is the symbol of this woman's nature, O Djoaidi. If your member has not the dimensions of a respectable medeleuk, serviceable for the good preparation of the tserid, it will not give her satisfaction, and, moreover, if you do not hold her close to your chest, enlacing her with your hands and feet, it is useless to solicit her favours; finally if you let her consume herself by her own fire, like the bottom of the kettle which gets burnt if the medeleuk is not stirred upon it, you will not gratify her desire by the result.

You see now what prevented her from acceeding to

  1. The tserid, or more commonly tserida, is an Arabian dish.
  2. Note in the autograph edition.—Medeleuk, from deleuk, to pound, mash. This is a large wooden spoon, corresponding in shape and size to a pouch. This latter expression, however, being vulgar, has not been employed.