“O night! O night! O night! my love is far away,
O night! O night! O night! her form’s a willow spray;[[33]]
O night! O night! O night! my heart is fallen a prey
To Damanhour eyes, like those of fawn at play.
Chorus.
Oh the girls of Damanhour, like young gazelles at play;
The girls of Damanhour, none half so fair as they.”
“Are the ladies of Damanhour so fair as they are described?” inquired Emily.
“I know not,” replied Hassan, smiling, “for I was never there excepting once or twice, and then only for a day or two; but I doubt their beauty, lady, for what are they but fellahs? Doubtless the song was written by some Damanhour rhymer, and we have a proverb in Arabic, ‘My children are fairer than yours,’ said the crow to the parrot.”
“Do you despise the fellahs, Hassan?” said Mr Thorpe.