'With Allah take I refuge from whatever driveth me * To bed with one like footrasp[FN#373] or the roughest ropery: In every limb she hath a horn that butteth me whene'er * I fain would rest, so morn and eve I wend me wearily.'
Quoth her master, 'Sit thee down: this much sufficeth.' So she sat down and he signed to the slender girl, who rose, as she were a willow-wand, or a rattan-frond or a stalk of sweet basil, and said: 'Praised be Allah who created me and beautified me and made my embraces the end of all desire and likened me to the branch, whereto all hearts incline. If I rise, I rise lightly; if I sit, I sit prettily; I am nimble-witted at a jest and merrier-souled than mirth itself. Never heard I one describe his mistress, saying, 'My beloved is the bigness of an elephant or like a
