Page:Tales from the Arabic, Vol 3.djvu/26

10 forth from under a cloud.” And they said, “Do so.” So he unveiled the damsel’s face and behold, she was like the shining sun, with comely shape and day-bright face and slender [waist and heavy] hips; brief, she was endowed with elegance, the description whereof existeth not, [and was] even as saith of her the poet:

The dealer stood at her head and one of the merchants said, “I bid a thousand dinars for her.” Quoth another, “I bid eleven hundred dinars;” [and a third, “I bid twelve hundred”]. Then said a fourth merchant, “Be she mine for fourteen hundred dinars.” And the biddings stood still at that sum. Quoth her owner, “I will not sell her save with her consent. If she desire to be sold, I will sell her to whom she willeth.” And the slave-dealer said to him, “What is her name?” “Her name is Sitt el Milah,” answered the other; whereupon the dealer said to her, “By thy leave, I will sell thee to yonder merchant for this price of fourteen hundred dinars.” Quoth she, “Come hither to me.” So he came up to her and when he drew near, she gave him a kick with her foot and cast him to the ground, saying, “I will not have that old man.” The slave-dealer arose, shaking the dust from his clothes and head, and said, “Who biddeth more? Who is desirous [of buying?]”buying]?” [sic]