Thousand & One Nights: 29th Night: A Porter & 3 Ladies

The porter stood at the door, behind the lady, marvelling at her beauty, her charm, her eloquence, and her liberal ways, the door was unlocked, and the two leaves swung open. A full bossomed girl appeared on the doorway. Five feet tall she was all charm, beauty, and grace. Like a new moon was her forehead; her eyes like those of deer, her eyebrows like crescent in the month of Sha'ban (8th month of Hijri ) cheeks like red anemones, mouth like the seal of Solomon, lips like red carnelian, teeth like a row of pearls set in coral, neck like a cake for a king, bosom like a fountain, breasts like a pair of pomegranates resembling a rabbit with uplifted ears, and belly with navel like a cup that holds a pound of benzoin ointment. She was like her of whom the poet aptly said:

The sun and moon cast your sight; 
Savour the flowers and lavenders.
Never seen such a white in black
Such radiant face, hair deep dark
And rosy cheeks her name is Beauty
To those who do not know her fame
Her swaying hips and slender waist
Brought to me her sweet memories.

The porter lost his senses and his wits, and the basket nearly fell from his head. "Never in my life have I seen a more blessed day than this!"
The girl in the doorway said to the girl who had done shopping, "Sister, what are you waiting for? Come in and relieve that poor man of his burden." 

The shopper and the porter went in, and the doorkeeper locked the door, and followed them until they came to a spacious and splendid hall. Inside the hall arched compartments and niches with carved wood works; a booth hung with drapes; closets and cupboards covered with curtains; in the middle, a large pool, with a fountain in its centre, and at the far end a couch of black janiper wood, covered with white silk and set with gems and pearls with a canopy like mosquito net of red silk  fastened with pearls as big as hazelnuts or bigger

The curtain was unfastened and a dazzling girl as radiant as a moon emerged. She had an elegant figure, sugared lips, Babylonian eyes with eye brows as arched as a pair of bent brows, and when she walked the scent of ambergris spread around her. She was like her of whom the poet said:

Her smile: twin rows of pearls
Or white daisies or pearly hills
Her forelock unfurls the night 
Before her the sunlight is pale.

She rose slowly from her couch, and moved towards her sisters in the middle of the hall, and said, "Why are you standing? Lift the load off this poor man." 

The doorkeeper stood in front of the porter and the shopper stood behind him, and with the help of the third girl they lifted the basket down and emptied its contents, stacking up the fruits and pickles on one side and the flowers and fresh herbs on the other. When everything was arranged, they gave the porter one dinner and said....

The daybreak and the story telling was interrupted.

End of the Night 








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