12 illustration(s) from this book
Never trust in women; nor rely upon their vows;
For their pleasure and displeasure depend upon their passions.
They offer a false affection; for perfidy lurks within their clothing.
By the tale of Yoosuf[i_26] be admonished, and guard against their
stratagems.
Dost thou not consider that Iblees ejected Adam by means of woman?
And another poet says:--
Abstain from censure; for it will strengthen the censured, and increase
desire into violent passion.
If I suffer such passion, my case is but the same as that of many a man
before me:
For greatly indeed to be wondered at is he who hath kept himself safe
from women's artifice.[i_27]
When the two Kings heard these words from her lips, they were struck
with the utmost astonishment, and said, one to the other, If this is an
'Efreet, and a greater calamity hath happened unto him than that which
hath befallen us, this is a circumstance that should console us:--and
immediately they departed, and returned to the city.
As soon as they had entered the palace, Shahriyár caused his wife to be
beheaded, and in like manner the women and black slaves; and
thenceforth he made it his regular custom, every time that he took a
virgin to his bed, to kill her at the expiration of the night. Thus he
continued to do during a period of three years; and the people raised an
outcry against him, and fled with their daughters, and there remained
not a virgin in the city of a sufficient age for marriage.[i_28]
Such was the case when the King ordered the Wezeer to bring him a virgin
according to his custom; and the Wezeer went forth and searched, and
found none; and he went back to his house enraged and vexed, fearing
what the King might do to him.