"It behoveth folk who rule in our time, * And 'tis one of the duties of magistrateship, To hand up the Wali above his door * And beat with a whip the Mohtasib!" Adding, "By Allah, O my lord, I will not be sold to yonder old man; so sell me to other than him, for haply he will be abashed at me and vend me again and I shall become a mere servant[FN#460] and it beseemeth not that I sully myself with menial service; and indeed thou knowest that the matter of my sale is committed to myself." He replied, "I hear and I obey," and carried her to a man which was one of the chief merchants. And when standing hard by him the broker asked, "How sayst thou, O my lady? Shall I sell thee to my lord Sharíf al-Dín here for nine hundred and fifty gold pieces?" She looked at him and, seeing him to be an old man with a dyed beard, said to the broker, "Art thou silly, that thou wouldst sell me to this worn out Father Antic? Am I cotton refuse or threadbare rags that thou marchest me about from greybeard to greybeard, each like a wall ready to fall or an Ifrit smitten down of a fire-ball? As for the first, the poet had him in mind when he said,[FN#461] 'I sought of a fair maid to kiss her lips of coral red, But, 'No, by Him who fashioned things from nothingness!' she said. Unto the white of hoary hairs I never had a mind, And shall my mouth be stuffed, forsooth, with cotton, ere I'm dead?' And how goodly is the saying of the poet, 'The wise have said that white of hair is light that shines and robes * The face of man with majesty and light that awes the sight; Yet until hoary seal shall stamp my parting-place of hair * I hope and pray that same may be black as the blackest night. Albe Time-whitened beard of man be like the book he bears[FN#462] * When to his Lord he must return, I'd rather 'twere not white,' And yet goodlier is the saying of another, 'A guest hath stolen on my head and honour may he lack! * The sword a milder deed hath done that dared these locks to hack. Avaunt, O Whiteness,[FN#463] wherein naught of brightness gladdens sight * Thou 'rt blacker in the eyes of me than very blackest black!' As for the other, he is a model of wantonness and scurrilousness and a blackener of the face of hoariness; his dye acteth the foulest of lies: and the tongue of his case reciteth these lines,[FN#464] 'Quoth she to me, 'I see thou dy'st thy hoariness;' and I, 'I do but hide it from thy sight, O thou mine ear and eye!' She laughed out mockingly and said, 'A wonder 'tis indeed! Thou so aboundest in deceit that even thy hair's a lie.' And how excellent is the saying of the poet, 'O thou who dyest hoariness with black, * That youth wi' thee abide, at least in show; Look ye, my lot was dyčd black whilome * And (take my word!) none other hue 'twill grow.'"