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which by its swiftness and simplicity corresponds to our 

 eyes, that no conceivable malversation by a translator 

 can matter much. They are proof against it, just as 

 our tables and chairs and walking-sticks are proof against 

 the man who tears our books and cracks our glass cases 

 of artificial grapes or stuffed kingfishers when we move 

 to a new house. This group of women is beyond the 

 reach of time or an indifferent style — 



Ten female slaves approached with a graceful and 

 conceited gait, resembling moons, dazzling the sight, and 

 confounding the imagination. They stood in ranks, 

 looking like the black-eyed damsels of Paradise; and after 

 them came ten other female slaves, with lutes in their 

 hands, and other instruments of diversion and mirth; and 

 they saluted the two guests, and played upon the lutes, 

 and sang verses; and every one of them was a temptation 

 to the servants of God. . . . 



A hundred others flock to my mind, competing for 

 mention like a company of doves for a mere pinch of 

 seed — Rose-in-Bloom sitting at a lattice to watch the 

 young men playing at ball, and throwing an apple to 

 Ansal Wajoud, " bright in countenance, with laughing 

 teeth, generous, wide-shouldered "; or that same girl let- 

 ting herself down from her prison and escaping over the 

 desert in her most magnificent apparel and a necklace of 

 jewels on her neck; Sindbad returning home rich from 

 every voyage, and as often, in the midst of the luxuries 

 of his rest, going down to the river by Bagdad and seeing 

 a fair new ship and embarking for the sake of profit and 

 of beholding the countries and islands of the world. 



These clear appeals come into the tales like white 



