The Scented Garden

66 The Pangs of Repentance. XIII THE BLIND BEGGAR Thou hast come back to me, Habib ! but in sooth thou art a sorry sight ! Fifteen1 years since thy birth in Iran ; yet thy flesh hangs on thee like his old clothes on Abdullah2 the blind beg- gar. Seven days did the barber and the druggist toil upon thee ; but thy foulness clings like musk. Also I have been put to great charges for thee, having shut thee up to purge and salivate.3 But oh ! how that droopeth that was straighter than a young palm ! Furthermore thou poutest, bemoan- ing thy Nubian that I have not his vigour. Thou whose podex has become like the twat of one sixty years an whore !4 Therefore, I will put thee in my harem for the fil- thy slut thou art ; the eunuchs shall beat thee soundly before the women ; and this night I will go in to Laila,5 whom most thou hatest of all my con- cubines. While thou wast away, I wooed thee with soft words and lamentations ; now I have my will of thee, I will treat thee with great severity. So also doth Allah entreat kindly the wicked ; and upon the just raineth plagues. For thy desertion, Habib, and this thy ingratitude doth El Qahar give praise to the beloved One. 1. Again a long explanation from Mahbub. The soul (he says) falls from 66 [Persian text] to 45 ([Persian text] Adam, man). Then the twofold head