said: "The letter of the Commander of the Faithful [may God prolong his days to me], wherein he commands me to buy for him three full-grown foreign virgin slave-girls, and to write him a description of each one of them, and her value, has reached me. Concerning the first girl—may Allâh lengthen the days of the Commander of the Faithful! for her throat is slender, her back broad, her eyes black as antimony, her cheeks sweet; verily her bosom is rounded, and the flesh of her limbs is like gold mingled with silver, and she resembles that which is said:
The ornament of her who is fair is the blackness of her eye,
As if she were silver well mingled with gold.
And her price, O Commander of the Faithful! is thirty thousand dirhems. And with regard to the second girl. Verily she is superbly beautiful, of just stature and perfect proportion. So gentle is her speech, that hearing it, the sick would recover health. And her price, O Commander of the Faithful! is thirty thousand dirhems. And as to the third girl. Truly her glance is languishing, her hand exquisite, her form faultless; she is grateful for little, obedient to her friend; her elegance is astonishing, as though
