صفحة 695 من 1116

Then I knocked at the door and out came two white slave girls,

both young; high-bosomed virgins, as they were moons, and said to

me, "Enter, for our mistress is expecting thee and she hath not

slept the night long for her delight in thee." I passed through

the vestibule into a saloon with seven doors, floored with

parti-coloured marbles and furnished with curtains and hangings

of coloured silks: the ceiling was cloisonne with gold and

corniced with inscriptions[FN#531] emblazoned in lapis lazuli;

and the walls were stuccoed with Sultani gypsum[FN#532] which

mirrored the beholder's face. Around the saloon were latticed

windows overlooking a garden full of all manner of fruits; whose

streams were railing and rilling and whose birds were trilling

and shrilling; and in the heart of the hall was a jetting

fountain at whose corners stood birds fashioned in red gold

crusted with pearls and gems and spouting water crystal clear.