" So she gathered her skirts
and making a spring, landed on the other side of the river by
him; whereupon he drew near to her, wondering at her beauty and
grace, and saw a form that the hand of Omnipotence had tanned
with the leaves of the Jinn and which had been fostered by Divine
solicitude, a form on which the zephyrs of fair fortune had blown
and over whose creation favourable planets had presided. Then she
called out to him, saying, "O Muslim, come and wrestle before the
day break!" and tucked up her sleeves, showing a fore-arm like
fresh curd; the whole place was lighted up by its whiteness and
Sherkan was dazzled by it. Then he bent forward and clapped his
hands and she did the like, and they took hold and gripped each
other. He laid his hands on her slender waist, so that the tips
of his fingers sank into the folds of her belly, and his limbs
relaxed and he stood in the stead of desire, for there was
displayed to him a body, in which was languishment of hearts, and
he fell a-trembling like the Persian reed in the hurricane. So
she lifted him up and throwing him to the ground, sat down on his
breast with buttocks like a hill of sand, for he was not master
of his reason. Then she said to him, "O Muslim, it is lawful
among you to kill Christians; what sayst thou to my killing
thee?" "O my lady," replied he, "as for killing me, it is
unlawful; for our Prophet (whom God bless and preserve!) hath
forbidden the slaying of women and children and old men and
monks.
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