' Thou knowest, O my son, that those who love are prone to
imagine evil: so do me the favour to go with me and read the
letter, standing without the door, whilst I call his sister to
listen behind the curtain, so shalt thou dispel our anxiety and
fulfil our need. Quoth the Prophet (whom God bless and preserve),
'He who eases an afflicted one of one of the troubles of this
world, God will ease him of a hundred troubles;' and according to
another tradition, 'Whoso relieves his brother of one of the
troubles of this world, God will relieve him of two-and-seventy
troubles of the Day of Resurrection.' And I have betaken myself
to thee; so do not disappoint me." "I hear and obey," replied I.
"Do thou go before me." So she went on and I followed her a
little way, till she came to the gate of a large handsome house,
whose door was plated with copper. I stood without the door,
whilst the old woman cried out in Persian, and before I could
think, a damsel ran up, with a nimble and agile step. She had
tucked up her trousers to her knees, so that I saw a pair of legs
that confounded mind and eye, for they were like columns of
alabaster, adorned with anklets of gold, set with jewels. As says
the poet, describing her:
O thou who barest thy leg for lovers to look upon, That by the
sight of the leg the rest they may infer,
Who passest the cup around midst thy gallants, brisk and free,
Nought seduces the folk but the cup[FN#136] and the
cup-bearer.
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