The Knight in the Tiger's Skin, 1938

1058. "Tell me all in detail," quoth the knight to that man; "what stuff is dearer, or what is bought up cheap?" He said: "I see, thy face seems to me like the face of the sun. Whatever I know I will tell thee truly; I will by no means inform thee crookedly.

1059. "The Sea Realm is this, ten months’ (travel) in extent, this is the city of Gulansharo , full of much loveliness. Hither everything fair cometh by ships sailing from sea to sea. Melik Surkhavi rules, perfect in good fortune and wealth.

1060. "Even if he be old, a man is rejuvenated by coming hither; drinking, rejoicing, tilting and songs are unceasing; summer and winter alike we have many-hued flowers; whoever knoweth us envieth us, even they who are our foes.

1061. "Great merchants can find nought more profitable than this: They buy, they sell, they gain, they lose; a poor man will be enriched in a month; from all quarters they gather merchandise; the penniless by the end of the year have money laid by.

1062. "I am gardener to Usen, chief of the merchants. I shall tell thee somewhat of the manner of his ordinance: This is his garden, your resting-place for the day; first it is necessary to show him all the fairest of your goods

1063. "When great merchants arrive they see him and give him gifts, they show him what they have, elsewhere they cannot unpack their goods; for the king they set aside the best, they straightway count out the price; thereupon he frees them to sell as they please.

1064. "His duty it is to receive such honourable folk as you, he orders the caterers how to entertain them fitly; he is not now here, what avails it me to speak of him To meet you and carry you away with him, pressing you politely, is the way he should treat you.

1065. "P’hatman Khat’hun, the lady, his wife, is at home, a hospitable hostess, amiable, not rough. I shall inform her of your arrival, she will take you in as one of her own folk, she will send a man to meet you, you shall enter the city by daylight."

1066. Avt’handil said: "Go, do whatever thou desirest. " The gardener runs, he rejoices, sweat pours down to his breast. He tells his tidings to the lady: "I boast of this: a youth comes, to them that look on him his rays seem like the sun.

1067. "He is some merchant, chief of a great caravan, well-grown like a cypress, a moon of seven days, his coat and the fold of his coral-hued turban become him; he called me, asked me tidings and the tariff for the purchase of goods."

1068. Dame P’hatman rejoiced; she sent ten slaves to meet him; they prepared the caravanserais, she stored their wares. The rose-cheeked, crystal and ruby, glass, jet, entered; they who looked on him compared his feet to the panther's, his palms to the lion's (paws).

1069. There was a hubbub, the hosts of the town all assembled; they pressed on this side and on that, saying: "We will gaze on him till sleeptime." Some were carried away by desire, some had their souls reft from them; their wives grew weary of them, their husbands were left contemned.

AVT’HANDIL'S ARRIVAL AT P’HATMAN'S; HER RECEPTION OF HIM AND HER JOY

1070. P’hatman, Usen's wife, met him in front of the door, joyful she saluted him, she showed her pleasure; they greeted each other, they went in and seated themselves. As I have observed, his coming annoyed not Dame P’hatman.

1071. Dame P’hatman was attractive to the eye, not young but brisk, of a good figure, dark in complexion, plump-faced, not wizened, a lover of (female) minstrels and singers, a wine-drinker; she had abundance of elegant gowns and head-dresses.

1072. That night Dame P’hatman entertained him right well. The knight presented beautiful gifts; they that received them said: "They are worthy!" P’hatman's entertainment of him was worth while; by God! she lost not. When they had drunken and eaten, the knight went outs to sleep.

1073. In the morning he showed all his wares, he had them all unpacked; the fairest were laid aside for the king, he had the price counted out; he said to the merchants: "Take them away!" He loaded them, (and) had them carried away. He said: "Sell as ye will; reveal not who I am!"

1074. The knight was clad as a merchant; he was by no means dressed in his proper raiment. Sometimes P’hatman calls on him, sometimes he visits P’hatman. They sat together; they conversed with refined discourse. Absence from him was death to P’hatman, as Ramin's was

P’HATMAN BECOMES ENAMOURED OF AVT’HANDIL; WRITES HIM A LETTER AND SENDS IT

1075. Better, for him who can bear it, is aloofness from woman; she plays with thee and pleases thee, she wins thee over and trusts thee; but in a trice she betrays thee, she cuts whatever pierces; so a secret should never be told to a woman.