Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 4.djvu/65

43 these that are present, and point him out, that I may sell thee to him.’ So she looked round the ring of merchants, examining them one by one, till her eyes rested on Ali Shar. His sight cost her a thousand sighs and her heart was taken with him: for that he was passing fair of favour and more pleasant than the northern zephyr; and she said, ‘O broker, I will be sold to none but my lord there, he of the handsome face and slender shape, whom the poet describes in the following verses:

None shall possess me but he,’ added she; ‘for his cheek is smooth and the water of his mouth sweet as Selsebil; his sight is a cure for the sick and his charms confound poet and proser, even as saith one of him:

Him of the curling locks and rose-red cheeks and enchanting glances, of whom saith the poet:

And as saith another:

“The script of whiskers on his cheek,” quoth they, “is plain to see: How canst thou then enamoured be of him, and whiskered he?”