But when this had gone on for seven days, he was burning and
melting with desire to know what good fortune this was that the
stars had showered down on him, and what ship freighted with the
graces of Love it was that had come to its moorings in his
chamber. So one night, when the fair maiden was fast asleep, he
tied one of her tresses to his arm, that she might not escape; then
he called a chamberlain, and bidding him light the candles, he saw
the flower of beauty, the miracle of women, the looking-glass and
painted egg of Venus, the fair bait of Love--he saw a little doll, a
beautiful dove, a Fata Morgana, a banner--he saw a golden trinket,
a hunter, a falcon's eye, a moon in her fifteenth day, a pigeon's
bill, a morsel for a king, a jewel--he saw, in short, a sight to amaze
one.

In astonishment he cried, "O sleep, sweet sleep! heap poppies on
the eyes of this lovely jewel; interrupt not my delight in viewing as
long as I desire this triumph of beauty. O lovely tress that binds
me! O lovely eyes that inflame me! O lovely lips that refresh me!
O lovely bosom that consoles me! Oh where, at what shop of the
wonders of Nature, was this living statue made? What India gave
the gold for these hairs? What Ethiopia the ivory to form these
brows? What seashore the carbuncles that compose these eyes?
What Tyre the purple to dye this face? What East the pearls to
string these teeth? And from what mountains was the snow taken
to sprinkle over this bosom--snow contrary to nature, that nurtures
the flowers and burns hearts?"

So saying he made a vine of his arms, and clasping her neck, she
awoke from her sleep and replied, with a gentle smile, to the sigh