Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern — Volume 02
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Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern — Volume 02
Literature -- Collections
Then the eunuchs went forth that they might perfume the Hammam for the
brides; so they scented it with rosewater and willow-flower water and
pods of musk, and fumigated it with Kákilí eaglewood and ambergris. Then
Shahrazad entered, she and her sister Dunyazad, and they cleansed their
heads and clipped their hair. When they came forth of the Hammam-bath,
they donned raiment and ornaments, such as men were wont prepare for the
Kings of the Chosroës; and among Shahrazad's apparel was a dress purfled
with red gold and wrought with counterfeit presentments of birds and
beasts. And the two sisters encircled their necks with necklaces of
jewels of price, in the like whereof Iskander rejoiced not, for therein
were great jewels such as amazed the wit and dazzled the eye; and the
imagination was bewildered at their charms, for indeed each of them was
brighter than the sun and the moon. Before them they lighted brilliant
flambeaux of wax in candelabra of gold, but their faces outshone the
flambeaux, for that they had eyes sharper than unsheathed swords and the
lashes of their eyelids bewitched all hearts. Their cheeks were rosy
red, and their necks and shapes gracefully swayed, and their eyes
wantoned like the gazelle's; and the slave-girls came to meet them with
instruments of music.
Then the two Kings entered the Hammam-bath, and when they came forth
they sat down on a couch set with pearls and gems, whereupon the two
sisters came up to them and stood between their hands, as they were
moons, bending and leaning from side to side in their beauty and
loveliness. Presently they brought forward Shahrazad and displayed her,
for the first dress, in a red suit; whereupon King Shahryar rose to look
upon her, and the wits of all present, men and women, were bewitched for
that she was even as saith of her one of her describers:--
A sun on wand in knoll of sand she showed,
Clad in her cramoisy-hued chemisette:
Of her lips' honey-dew she gave me drink
And with her rosy cheeks quencht fire she set.
Then they attired Dunyazad in a dress of blue brocade, and she became as
she were the full moon when it shineth forth. So they displayed her in
this, for the first dress, before King Shah Zaman, who rejoiced in her
and well-nigh swooned away for love-longing and amorous desire; yea, he
was distraught with passion for her, whenas he saw her, because she was
as saith of her one of her describers in these couplets:--
She comes appareled in an azure vest
Ultramarine as skies are deckt and dight:
I view'd th' unparall'd sight, which showed my eyes
A Summer-moon upon a Winter-night.
Then they returned to Shahrazad and displayed her in the second dress, a
suit of surpassing goodliness, and veiled her face with her hair like a
chin-veil. Moreover, they let down her side-locks, and she was even as
saith of her one of her describers in these couplets:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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