ten?"--"An old trot and remnant of men." "And one who reacheth
four score?"--"Unfit for the world and for the faith forlore."
"And one of ninety?"--"Ask not of whoso in Jahim be."[FN#94] "And
a woman who to an hundredth hath owned?"--"I take refuge with
Allah from Satan the Stoned." Then Al-Hajjaj laughed aloud and
said, "O young man, I desire of thee even as thou describest
womankind in prose so thou show me their conditions in verse;"
and the Sayyid, having answered, "Hearkening and obedience, O
Hajjaj," fell to improvising these couplets,[FN#95]

"When a maid owns to ten her new breasts arise * And like diver's
pearl with fair neck she hies:
The damsel of twenty defies compare * 'Tis she whose disport we
desire and prize:
She of thirty hath healing on cheeks of her; * She's a pleasure,
a plant whose sap never dries:
If on her in the forties thou happily hap * She's best of her
sex, hail to him with her lies!
She of fifty (pray Allah be copious to her!) * With wit, craft
and wisdom her children supplies.
The dame of sixty hath lost some force * Whose remnants are easy
to ravenous eyes:
At three score ten few shall seek her house * Age-threadbare made
till afresh she rise:
The fourscore dame hath a bunchy back * From mischievous eld whom
perforce Love flies:
And the crone of ninety hath palsied head * And lies wakeful o'
nights and in watchful guise;
And with ten years added would Heaven she bide * Shrouded in sea
with a shark for guide!"