And indeed it is told in certain histories, related on the authority of devout men, that Noah (on whom be peace!) was sleeping one day, with his sons Cham and Shem seated at his head, when a wind sprang up and, lifting his clothes, uncovered his nakedness; whereat Cham looked and laughed and did not cover him: but Shem arose and covered him. Presently, their sire awoke and learning, what had been done by his sons, blessed Shem and cursed Cham. So Shem’s face was whitened and from him sprang the prophets and the orthodox Caliphs and Kings; whilst Cham’s face was blackened and he fled forth to the land of Abyssinia, and of his lineage came the blacks.[[359]] All people are of one mind in affirming the lack of understanding of the blacks, even as saith the adage, “How shall one find a black with a mind?” Quoth her master, “Sit thee down, thou hast given us sufficient and even excess.” Thereupon he signed to the negress, who rose and, pointing her finger at the blonde, said:—Dost thou not know that in the Koran sent down to His prophet and apostle, is transmitted the saying of God the Most High, “By the night when it covereth all things with darkness; by the day when it shineth forth!”[[360]] If the night were not the more illustrious, verily Allah had not sworn by it nor had given it precedence of the day. And indeed all men of wit and wisdom accept this. Knowest thou not that black is the ornament of youth and that, when hoariness descendeth upon the head, delights pass away and the hour of death draweth in sight? Were not black the most illustrious of things, Allah had not set it in the core of the heart[[361]] and the pupil of the eye; and how excellent is the saying of the poet:—
I love not black girls but because they show ✿ Youth’s colour, tinct of eye and heart-core’s hue;
Nor are in error who unlove the white, ✿ And hoary hairs and winding-sheet eschew.
And that said of another:—
Black[[362]] girls, not white, are they ✿ All worthy love I see:
Black girls wear dark-brown lips;[[363]] ✿ Whites, blotch of leprosy.
And of a third:—
Black girls in acts are white, and ‘tis as though ✿ Like eyes, with purest shine and sheen they show;
If I go daft for her, be not amazed; ✿ Black bile[[364]] drives melancholic-mad we know:
‘Tis as my colour were the noon of night; ✿ For all no moon it be, its splendours glow.