Page:The Perfumed Garden - Burton - 1886.djvu/190

174 do with his wife. The woman, on her part, found that she had never received such a benefit from her husband.

The man quite surprised. He worked his will upon her a second and third time, but his astonishment only increased. At last he got off her, and stretched himself along side her.

As soon as the woman found that he was asleep, she slipped out, left the chamber, and returned to her own.

In the morning, the husband, on rising, said to his wife, "Your embraces have never seemed so sweet to me as last night, and I never breathed such sweet perfumes as those you exhaled." "What embraces and what perfumes are you speaking of? asked the wife. "I have not a particle of perfume in the house." She called him storyteller, and assured him that he must have been dreaming. He then began to consider whether he might not have deceived himself, and agreed with his wife that he must actually have dreamed it all.

Appreciate, after this, the deceitfulness of women, and what they are capable of.

It is related that a man, after having lived for some time in a country to which he had gone, became desirous of getting married. He addressed himself to an old woman who had experience in such matters, asking her whether she could find him a wife, and who replied, "I can find you a girl gifted with great beauty and perfect in shape and comeliness. She will surely suit you, for, besides having these qualities, she is virtuous and pure. Only mark, her business occupies her all the day, but during the night she will be yours completely. It is for this reason she keeps herself reserved, as she apprehends that a husband might not agree to this."