Richard F. Burton - Arabian Nights, Vol. 5 (Chap. 12) lyrics

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Richard F. Burton - Arabian Nights, Vol. 5 (Chap. 12) lyrics

Abu Al-Aswad And His Slave-Girl Abu al-Aswad bought a native-born slave-girl, who was blind of an eye, and she pleased him; but his people decried her to him; whereat he wondered and, turning the palms of his hands upwards,[FN#114] recited these two couplets,   "They find me fault with her where I default ne'er find, *    Save haply that a speck in either eye may show:   But if her eyes have fault, of fault her form hath none, *    Slim-built above the waist and heavily made below." And this is also told of Footnotes: [ FN#114] When reciting the Fátihah (opening Koranic chapter), the hands are held in this position as if to receive a blessing falling from Heaven; after which both palms are pa**ed down the face to distribute it over the eyes and other organs of sense.