Page:The Perfumed Garden - Burton - 1886.djvu/167

Rh last I heard of a savant named Abou Nouass who lived in a far-off country, and who, I was told, was the only man capable of solving the enigma. I betook myself to him, apprised him of the discourses I had with the woman, and recited to him the above-mentioned verses.

Abou Nouass said to me, "This woman loves you to the exclusion of every other man. She is very corpulent and plump." I answered, "It is exactly as you say. You have given her likeness as if she were before you, excepting what you say in respect of her love for me, for, until now, she has never given me any proof of it." "She has no husband." "This is so," I said. Then added, "I have reason to believe that your member is of small dimensions, and such a member cannot give her pleasure nor quench her fire; for what she wants is a lover with a member like that of an ass. Perhaps it may not be so. Tell me the truth about this!" When I had reassured him on that point, affirming that my member, which began to rise at the expression of his doubtings, was full-sized, he told me that in that case all difficulties would disappear, and explained to me the sense of the verses as follows:

The tent, firmly planted, represents the vulva of grand dimension and placed well forward, the mountains, between which it rises, are the thighs. The stake which supported its centre and has been torn up, means that she has no husband, comparing the stake or pole that supports the tent to the virile member holding up the lips of the vulva. She is like a vase without handle; this