Loveliness itself enamoured of her lovely aspect is; Coyness
decks her and upon her, pride and pudour sweetly show.
In her face the full moon glitters and the branch is as her
shape; Musk her breath is, nor midst mortals is her equal,
high or low.
'Tis as if she had been moulded out of water of pure pearls; In
each member of her beauty is a very moon, I trow.
And her name was Zumurrud.
When Ali Shar saw her, he marvelled at her beauty and grace and
said, 'By Allah, I will not stir hence till I see what price this
girl fetches and know who buys her!' So he stood with the rest of
the merchants, and they thought he had a mind to buy her, knowing
the wealth he had inherited from his parents. Then the broker
stood at the damsel's head and said, 'Ho, merchants! Ho, men of
wealth! Who will open the biddings for this damsel, the mistress
of moons, the splendid pearl, Zumurrud the Curtain-maker, the aim
of the seeker and the delight of the desirous? Open the biddings,
and on the opener be nor blame nor reproach.'
So one merchant said, 'I bid five hundred dinars for her.' 'And
ten,' said another.
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