Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 8.djvu/78

66 And within the arbour were written the following verses:

So they entered and found within fruits of all kinds and birds of all sorts and colours, such as the ringdove and the nightingale and the curlew and the turtle and the cushat, carolling on the branches. Therein were streams that ran with limpid water and delightsome flowers, and it was even as saith of it the poet:

And again:

On the trees of the garden were all manner fruits, each in two kinds, and amongst them the pomegranate, as it were a ball of silver dross, whereof saith the poet and saith well:

And as quoth another:

To him, who seeks to come at its inside, there are displayed Rubies together pressed and clad in raiment of brocade. I liken the pomegranate, when I look on it, to domes Of alabaster or to breasts of unpolluted maid.