I looked through the chink of the door and saw an
oratory, wherein was a prayer-niche[FN#51], with candles burning
and lamps hanging from the ceiling. In the midst was spread a
prayer-carpet, on which sat a handsome youth, with a copy of the
Koran open before him, from which he was reading. I wondered to
see him alone alive of all the people of the city and entered and
saluted him; whereupon he raised his eyes and returned my
salutation. Then said I, "I implore thee, by the truth of that
thou readest from the book of God, to answer me my questions." He
looked at me with a smile and said, "O handmaid of God, tell me
first how thou camest hither, and I will tell thee what has
befallen me and the people of this city and the manner of my
preservation." So I told him my story, at which he marvelled, and
questioned him of the people of the city. Quoth he, "Have
patience with me a little, O my sister!" and shutting the Koran,
laid it in a bag of satin. Then he made me sit down by his side,
and I looked at him and behold, he was like the moon at its full,
bright-faced, soft-sided, well-shaped and fair to look upon, as
he were a figure of sugar,[FN#52] even as says the poet of the
like of him:
A seer of the stars one night was reading the book of the skies,
When lo, in his scroll he saw a lovely youth arise.
Saturn had dyed his hair the hue of the raven's wing And
sprinkled upon his face the musk of Paradise[FN#53]:
The rose of his cheeks from Mars its ruddy colour drew, And the
Archer winged the shafts that darted from his eyes.
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