' 'By thy
youth,' answered she, 'I will not suffer him to approach her!'
Then she went to Alaeddin and said to him, 'O my son, I have a
warning to give thee, for the love of God the Most High, and do
thou follow my advice, for I fear for thee from this damsel: let
her lie alone and handle her not nor draw near to her.' 'Why
so?' asked he, and she answered, 'Because her body is full of
elephantiasis and I fear lest she infect thy fair youth.' Quoth
he, 'I have no need of her.' Moreover, she went to the lady and
said the like to her of Alaeddin; and she replied, 'I have no
need of him, but will let him lie alone, and on the morrow he
shall go his way.' Then she called a slave-girl and said to her,
'Take him the tray of food, that he may sup.' So the maid carried
him the tray of food and set it before him, and he ate his fill;
after which he sat down and fell to reciting the chapter called
Ya-sin[FN#97] in a sweet voice. The lady listened to him and
found his voice as melodious as the psalms of David, which when
she heard, she exclaimed, 'Beshrew the old hag that told me that
he was affected with leprosy! Surely, that is a lie against him,
for this is not the voice of one who hath such a disease.' Then
she took a lute of Indian workmanship and tuning it, sang the
following verses, in a voice, whose music would stay the birds in
mid-heaven:
I am enamoured of a fawn with black and languorous eyes; The
willow-branches, as he goes, are jealous of him still.
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