Page:The book of wonder voyages (1919).djvu/160

 the brilliancy of the moon. And they doffed their clothes and plunged into the basin and fell to playing with one another. And when Hasan beheld the most beautiful maid he fell passionately in love with her, and he knew well why the Princesses had forbidden him to open the door. And he sat and gazed, and wept for longing because of the beauty of the chief damsel, but all the while he remained hidden from them. Presently they came out of the water and donned their raiment and their ornaments. And the chief maiden donned a green gown, wherein she surpassed in loveliness all the fair ones of the world; she excelled a palm branch in the grace of her bending gait.

And when the maidens were dressed they sat and talked and laughed amongst themselves, but Hasan still stood gazing, drowned in the sea of his love. And he said to himself: "My sister forbade me open the door, for she feared lest I should fall in love with one of these damsels. Now, Hasan, how shalt thou woo and win her? Thou hast cast thyself into a bottomless sea, and snared thyself in a net whence there is no escape! I shall die desolate, and none shall know of my death." And ever he gazed on the chief damsel, for she surpassed all human beings in beauty. Her mouth was magical as Solomon's seal, her hair blacker than the night, her brow bright as the full moon of the Feast of Ramazan, her eyes like unto those of a gazelle, her nose straight as a cane, her cheeks like blood-red anemones of Nu'uman, her lips like coralline, her teeth