THE WOMAN WHO HAD A BOY AND THE OTHER
WHO HAD A MAN TO LOVER.
Quoth Abu al-Ayná, "There were in our street two women, one of
whom had for lover a man and the other a beardless youth, and
they foregathered one night on the terrace-roof of a house
adjoining mine, knowing not that I was near. Quoth the boy's
lover to the other, 'O my sister, how canst thou bear with
patience the harshness of thy lover's beard as it falleth on thy
breast, when he busseth thee and his mustachios rub thy cheek and
lips?' Replied the other, 'Silly that thou art, what decketh the
tree save its leaves and the cucumber but its warts?[FN#256]
Didst ever see in the world aught uglier than a scald-head bald
of his beard? Knowest thou not that the beard is to men as the
sidelocks to women; and what is the difference between chin and
cheek?[FN#257] Knowest thou not that Allah (extolled and exalted
be He!) hath created an angel in Heaven, who saith: 'Glory be to
Him who ornamenteth men with beards and women with long hair?'
So, were not the beard even as the tresses in comeliness, it had
not been coupled with them, O silly! How shall I spread-eagle
myself under a boy, who will emit long before I can go off and
forestall me in limpness of penis and clitoris; and leave a man
who, when he taketh breath clippeth close and when he entereth
goeth leisurely, and when he hath done, repeateth, and when he
pusheth poketh hard, and as often as he withdraweth, returneth?'
The boy's leman was edified by her speech and said, 'I forswear
my lover by the lord of the Ka'abah!'" And amongst tales is one
of
