Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 4.djvu/320

290 Now the physician Youhenna was with the Khalif, when the damsel entered; and when he read the above verses, he smiled and said, ‘By Allah, O Commander of the Faithful, Feth is better versed than I in the art of medicine: so let not the Commander of the Faithful gainsay his prescription.’ Accordingly, the Khalif followed El Feth’s prescription and was made whole by the blessing of God. THE MAN’S DISPUTE WITH THE LEARNED WOMAN OF THE RELATIVE EXCELLENCE OF THE MALE AND THE FEMALE.

(Quoth a certain man of learning), I never saw a woman sharper-witted, more intelligent, better furnished in learning, more excellent of faculties or more pleasant of ingredients than a female preacher of the people of Baghdad, by name Sitt el Meshayikh. It chanced that she came to the city of Hemah in the year [of the Hegira] 561 and there delivered salutary exhortations to the folk from the pulpits. Now there used to visit her house a number of students of divinity and [other] persons of learning and culture, who would argue with her upon questions of theology and discuss controversial points with her. I went to her one day, with a friend of mine, a man of education; and when we had taken our seats, she set before us a dish of fruit and seated herself behind a curtain. Now she had a [young] brother, a handsome youth, who stood by us, to serve us.

When we had eaten, we fell to disputing upon points of divinity, and I propounded to her a theological question,