Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 9.djvu/56

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Then said the old woman to the girls, ‘Let ten of you arise and dance and sing.’ And Ibrahim said in himself, ‘I wish the lady Jemileh would dance.’ When the damsels had made an end of their dance, they came round the princess and said to her, ‘O my lady, we would have thee dance amongst us, so the measure of our joy may be filled, for never saw we a more delightful day than this.’ Quoth Ibrahim to himself, ‘Doubtless the gates of heaven are open and God hath granted my prayer.’

Then the damsels kissed her feet and said to her, ‘By Allah, we never saw thee light of heart as to-day!’ Nor did they cease to importune her, till she put off her [outer] clothes and abode in a shift of cloth of gold, broidered with various jewels, discovering breasts that stood out like pomegranates and unveiling a face as it were the moon on the night of its full. Then she began to dance, and Ibrahim beheld motions whose like he had never in his life seen, for she showed such rare skill and wonderful invention, that she made men forget the dancing of the bubbles in the wine-cups and called to mind the inclining of the turbans from the heads; even as saith of her the poet: