Then said the broker, pointing to another bidder, “Wilt thou be sold to this man?” She looked at him and seeing that he was short of stature[[271]] and had a beard that reached to his navel, cried, “This is he of whom the poet speaketh:—
I have a friend who hath a beard ✿ Allah to useless length unroll’d:
‘Tis like a certain[[272]] winter night, ✿ Longsome and darksome, drear and cold.”
Said the broker, “O my lady, look who pleaseth thee of these that are present, and point him out, that I may sell thee to him.” So she looked round the ring of merchants, examining one by one their physiognomies, till her glance fell on Ali Shar,——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Three Hundred and Eleventh Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the girl’s glance fell on Ali Shar, she cast at him a look with longing eyes, which cost her a thousand sighs, and her heart was taken with him; for that he was of favour passing fair and pleasanter than zephyr or northern air; and she said, “O broker, I will be sold to none but to this my lord, owner of the handsome face and slender form whom the poet thus describeth:—
Displaying that fair face ✿ The tempted they assailed;
Who, had they wished me safe ✿ That lovely face had veiled!”
For none shall own me but he, because his cheek is smooth and the water of his mouth sweet as Salsabil;[[273]] his spittle is a cure for the sick and his charms daze and dazzle poet and proser, even as saith one of him:—
His honey-dew of lips is wine; his breath ✿ Musk and those teeth, smile shown, are camphor’s hue: