s of grace, even as
saith of her one in these couplets:--

She comes like fullest moon on happy night,
Taper of waist with shape of magic might;
She hath an eye whose glances quell mankind,
And ruby on her cheeks reflects his light;
Enveils her hips the blackness of her hair;
Beware of curls that bite with viper-bite!
Her sides are silken-soft, what while the heart
Mere rock behind that surface 'scapes our sight;
From the fringed curtains of her cyne she shoots
Shafts that at furthest range on mark alight.

Then they returned to Dunyazad and displayed her in the fifth dress and
in the sixth, which was green, when she surpassed with her loveliness
the fair of the four quarters of the world, and outvied, with the
brightness of her countenance, the full moon at rising tide; for she was
even as saith of her the poet in these couplets:--

A damsel 'twas the tirer's art had decked with snare and sleight,
And robed with rays as though the sun from her had borrowed
light;
She came before us wondrous clad in chemisette of green,
As veiled by his leafy screen Pomegranate hides from sight;
And when he said, "How callest thou the fashion of thy dress?"
She answered us in pleasant way, with double meaning dight,
"We call this garment _creve-coeur;_ and rightly is it hight,
For many a heart wi' this we brake and harried many a sprite."

Then they displayed Shahrazad in the sixth and seventh dresses and clad
her in youth's clothing, whereupon she came forward swaying from side to
side, and coquettishly moving, and indeed she ravished wits and hearts
and ensorcelled all eyes with her glances. She shook her sides and
swayed her haunches, then put her hair on sword-hilt and went up to King
Shahryar, who embraced her as hospitable host embraceth guest, and
threatened her in her ear with the taking of the sword; and she was even
as saith of her the poet in these words:--

Were not the Murk of gender male,
Than feminines surpassing fair,
Tire-women they had grudged the bride,
Who made her beard and whiskers wear!

Thus also they did with her sister Dunyazad; and when they had made an
end of the display, the King bestowed robes of honor on all who were
present, and sent the brides to their own apartments. Then Shahrazad
went in to King Shahryar and Duny