"Give me the Fig sweet-flavoured, beauty-clad, * Whose inner
beauties rival outer sheen:
And when it fruits thou tastest it to find * Chamomile's scent
and Sugar's saccharine:
And eke it favoureth on platters poured * Puff-balls of silken
thread and sendal green."
And how excellent is the saying of one of them,
"Quoth they (and I had trained my taste thereto * Nor cared for
other fruits whereby they swore),
'Why lovest so the Fig?' whereto quoth I * 'Some men love Fig and
others Sycamore.[FN#394]'"
And are yet goodlier those of another,
"Pleaseth me more the fig than every fruit * When ripe and
hanging from the sheeny bough;
Like Devotee who, when the clouds pour rain, * Sheds tears and
Allah's power doth avow."
And in that garth were also pears of various kinds Sinaďtic,[FN#395] Aleppine and Grecian growing in clusters and alone, parcel green and parcel golden.—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
When it was the Eight Hundred and Sixty-fifth Night,
She pursued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the merchants' sons went down into the garth they saw therein all the fruits we mentioned and found pears Sinaďtic, Aleppine and Grecian of every hue, which here clustering there single grew, parcel green and parcel yellow to the gazer a marvel-view, as saith of them the poet,
"With thee that Pear agree, whose hue a-morn * Is hue of hapless
lover yellow pale;
Like virgin cloistered strait in strong Harím * Whose face like
racing steed outstrips the veil."
And Sultani[FN#396] peaches of shades varied, yellow and red, whereof saith the poet,