Page:Tales from the Gulistan (1928).pdf/219

Story CXLVI the King, and led into the courtyard of the palace. The King looked at her outward form for some time, and she appeared despicable in his sight, because the meanest handmaids of his harem excelled her in beauty and attractions.

Mejnûn, who shrewdly understood [the thoughts of the King], said: "It would have been necessary to look from the window of Mejnûn's eye at the beauty of Laila, when the mystery of her aspect would have been revealed to thee."