None fairer I ever knew. And when it was morning,
the damsels carried me to the hammam bath and bathed me and robed me
in fairest apparel. Then they served up food, and we ate and drank and
the cup went round till nightfall, when I chose from among them one
fair of form and face, soft-sided and a model of grace, such a one
as the poet described when he said:
On her fair bosom caskets twain I scanned,
Sealed fast with musk seals lovers to withstand.
With arrowy glances stand on guard her eyes,
Whose shafts would shoot who dares put forth a hand.
With her I spent a most goodly night, and, to be brief, O my
mistress, I remained with them in all solace and delight of life,
eating and drinking, conversing and carousing, and every night lying
with one or other of them. But at the head of the New Year they came
to me in tears and bade me farewell, weeping and crying out and
clinging about me, whereat I wondered and said: "What may be the
matter? Verily you break my heart!" They exclaimed, "Would Heaven we
had never known thee, for though we have companied with many, yet
never saw we a pleasanter than thou or a more courteous.
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