Page:Princess Badoura, a tale from the Arabian nights.djvu/47

33 below, where Camaralzaman lay sleeping. There by the bedside Meymooneh put forth her hand and drew back the sheet; and Dahnash gazed with awe and remained silent, for doubt swayed him. Nevertheless after a while he said, 'O Meymooneh, though my word may seem hard to believe, yet do I still say that she whom I saw is fairer than this youth; and needs must it be so, since the fairest woman is by her sex made fairer than the fairest man. But for that, these two whom we contend over might be twin flowers from the same stem, so like are they.'

When Meymooneh heard that she struck him a hard blow over the head with her wing, crying, 'Go, accursed one, fly back to China, lift up thy beloved and bring her quickly to this place; so when we see them side by side shall it be manifest which one is the more beautiful. Then if I am right thou shalt pay forfeit to me, and if thou art right I will pay.'