Pagina 279 di 1116

Presently the Caliph looked on the three Kalandars and, seeing

them each and every blind of the left eye, wondered at the sight;

then he gazed upon the girls and he was startled and he marvelled

with exceeding marvel at their beauty and loveliness. They

continued to carouse and to converse and said to the Caliph,

"Drink!" but he replied, "I am vowed to Pilgrimage;"[FN#175] and

drew back from the wine. Thereupon the portress rose and

spreading before him a table cloth worked with gold, set thereon

a porcelain bowl into which she poured willow flower water with a

lump of snow and a spoonful of sugar candy.