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When the ladies saw Badr al-Din Hasan and noted his beauty and

loveliness and his face that shone like the new moon, their

hearts inclined to him and the singing-girls said to all that

were present, "Know that this beauty crossed our hands with

naught but red gold; so be not chary to do him womanly service

and comply with all he says, no matter what he ask. [FN#409] So

all the women crowded around Hasan with their torches and gazed

on his loveliness and envied him his beauty; and one and all

would gladly have lain on his bosom an hour or rather a year.