This I raised, and there appeared beneath it a staircase.
I descended the steps to the bottom and came to a door, which I
opened and found myself in a noble hall strong of structure and
beautifully built, where was a damsel like a pearl of great price,
whose favor banished from my heart an grief and cark and care, and
whose soft speech healed the soul in despair and captivated the wise
and ware. Her figure measured five feet in height, her breasts were
firm and upright, her cheek a very garden of delight, her color lively
bright, her face gleamed like dawn through curly tresses which gloomed
like night, and above the snows of her bosom glittered teeth of a
pearly white. When I looked upon her I prostrated myself before Him
who had created her, for the beauty and loveliness He had shaped in
her, and she looked at me and said, "Art thou man or Jinni?" "I am a
man," answered I, and she, "Now who brought thee to this place where I
have abided five-and-twenty years without even yet seeing man in
it?" Quoth I (and indeed I found her words wondersweet, and my heart
was melted to the core by them), "O my lady, my good fortune led me
hither for the dispelling of my cark and care.
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