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that he might see her face, as she entered. Accordingly he betook himself to the bath, awhile in advance, and posted himself behind the door, whereas none of the folk might see him.
Presently, the Sultan’s daughter came forth and went round about the city and its thoroughfares and diverted herself by viewing it; then she repaired to the bath and when she came thither, she lifted her face-veil, as she entered; whereupon her face shone out, as it were the resplendent sun or a precious pearl, and she was as saith of her one of her describers:
Who sprinkled the kohl of enchantment upon her eyes And gathered the bloom of the rose from her cheeks, fruit-wise?
And who was it let down the curtained night of her hair And eke through its glooms made the light of her forehead rise?
When she raised the veil from her face and Alaeddin saw her, he said, “Verily, her fashion glorifieth the Great Creator and extolled be the perfection of Him who made her and graced her with this beauty and goodliness!” And his back was cloven in sunder,[1] when he saw her; his thought was confounded and his understanding[2]
