The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Vol. 1

And behold, he was a Persian of whom there was left only what the years had spared; for he was as bald and scabby as a vulture, and like a wall trembling on the verge of collapse. Time had battered him with painful blows, yet he was not willing to depart from this world; just as the poet said:

Time has shattered my entire frame, * Oh! how time has shattered me.
Time, with its royal power, can tame * Manly strength and vigorous energy.
There was a time in my youth when none * Traveled more swiftly or fast:
Now time remains but my strength is gone, * Youth is finished, and my speed is past. The eight-line stanza occurs in Night 15. I quote Torrens (p. 360) for variety.

The Wazir asked him, “Are you content to sell this slave-girl to the Sultan for ten thousand dinars gold coins?” and the Persian answered, “By Allah, if I offered her to the King for nothing, it would only be my duty.” A polite way of accepting the offer. So the Minister ordered the money to be brought and watched as it was weighed out for the Persian. The merchant then stood before him and said, “With our lord the Wazir’s permission, I have something to say;” and the Wazir replied, “Speak whatever is on your mind!”

“It is my opinion,” continued the slave-dealer, “that you should not take the girl to the King today; for she has just finished a journey; the change of climate original: "water and air." To express our “change of climate,” Easterners say, “change of water and air,” putting water first. has affected her, and the exhaustion of travel has worn her down. Instead, keep her quietly in your palace for about ten days so that she may recover her looks and become herself again. Then send her to the Hammam public bathhouse, dress her in the finest clothing, and go with her to the Sultan: this will be more to your advantage.”

The Wazir considered the Persian’s words and approved of their wisdom; so he took her to his palace, where he assigned her private rooms and provided her every day with whatever she needed in the way of food, drink, and so on. In this way, she stayed there for a while. Now, the Wazir Al-Fazl had a son who was like the full moon when most beautifully arrayed—his face was radiant with light, his cheeks were a bright ruddy color, and he had a mole like a speck of ambergris a waxy substance used in perfume on his soft skin; as the poet said of him, and said quite rightly:

A moon which blights you “The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night” (Psalm 121:6). People in the East still believe in the harmful effects of the moon’s rays, which Northern Europeans, who see the moon under different conditions, choose to deny. I have seen a healthy Arab look like a man fresh from a sickbed after sitting in the moonlight for an hour; and I knew an Englishman in India whose face was temporarily paralyzed because he slept with it exposed to the moon. if you dare to look; * A branch which wraps you in its swaying embrace: