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الفصل السادس

ڡي محاورة

Chapter Six

A Discussion

4.6.1

وبعد ان فرغ الفارياق من عمله فى هذه المدينة الغاصة بالغوانى سافر الى باريس فاقام فيها ثلثة ايام لا تكفى لمعرفة وصفها * فلهذا نضرب هنا عن ذكره فان حق الوصف ان يكون مستوعبا * ثم سافر منها الى مرسيلية ومنها الى الجزيرة * واتاح له الله بفضله العميم ان راى زوجته فى نفس الدار التى غادرها فيها * وقد كان يظن انها طارت مع عنقآ مغرب او مع الغُنْجول وبَنَى بها هذه المرة السادسة * فان المرة الثانية كانت بعد قدومه من الشام والثالثة بعد رجوعه من تونس والرابعة بعد خروجه من المعتزل مع سامى باشا المفخم والخامسة بعد رجوعها من مصر *

When the Fāriyāq had finished his work in that city so crammed with beautiful women, he went to Paris, where he stayed for three days, which wasn’t enough to allow him to write a description of it. We therefore decline to provide one at this point, for a proper description should be comprehensive. From there he went on to Marseilles and then to the island, where God, of His all-encompassing bounty, granted him the boon of beholding his wife in the very house in which he’d left her, though he’d expected to find that she’d flown off with a phoenix or the chimera, and he re-consummated his marriage with her for this the sixth time (the second time having been after he arrived back from the Syrian lands, the third after his return from Tunis, the fourth after he emerged from quarantine quarters with the Honorable Sāmī Pasha, and the fifth after her return from Egypt).

4.6.2

ثم انشد

مَن يُرد فى زوجه ينكح ازواجا عديده
فليَغِب عنها زمانا	يلقها عِرْسا جديده

فقالت لكن المراة لا ترى من زوجها بعد ايابه عِرسا جيددا * قال فقلت انما هو من مخالفتهن الرجال فى كل شى * قالت نعم ولولا هذا الخلاف ما حصل الوفاق * قلت كيف يكون عن الخلاف وفاق * قالت كما ان المراة خُلقت مخالفة للرجل فى الخَلق كذلك كان خلافها له فى الخُلق * وكلٌ من هذين الخلافين باعث له على شدة الكلف بها والحرص عليها * اَلا ترى ان المراة اذا كانت تفعل كل ما يريد زوجها ان تفعله كانت كالآلة بين يديه فلا يكترث بها ولا يقبل عليها * لاعتقاد انها موقوفة على حركة يده او عينه او لسانه زيادة على حركة يده فى الآلة * بخلاف ما اذا عرف منها المخالفة والاستبداد بامرها فانه حٍ يعلق بها ويداريها * قلت هذا غير ما عُهد عند الناس * قالت بل هو معهود عند النسآ من القديم * ولذلك تراهن جميعهن متحليات بهذه الحلية *

Then he recited

He who’d like to keep wanting his wife

Should take many a woman to bed.

Then let him leave her for a little while—

And he’ll find her like a newlywed

to which she responded, “But the wife won’t find a new groom in her husband when he comes back!” The Fāriyāq continued, “I told her, ‘That’s because she’s the contrary of men in everything.’ ‘Right,’ she said, ‘and if it weren’t for that contrariness, there’d be no harmony.’ ‘How,’ I asked, ‘can harmony come from contrariness?’ ‘Just as woman is created contrary to man physically,’ she replied, ‘so she is contrary to him in disposition, and each of these contrarieties is an inducement to him to feel affection for her and take good care of her. Do you not observe how, when a wife does everything that her husband wants, she is like a tool in his hands, and he neither pays attention to nor approaches her because he believes her to be dependent on the movement of his hand, eye, or tongue, a mere adjunct to the movement of his hand on that tool? The opposite is true if all he meets with from her is contrariness and refusal to compromise; then, he clings to and humors her.’ ‘This,’ I said, ‘is not what people are used to thinking.’ ‘Not at all,’ she responded, ‘it’s what women have been used to thinking all along. It’s why you’ll find that they’re all tricked out with this trait.’⁸⁵

4.6.3

قلت ولكن اذا كثر الخلاف وطال * اورث التقاطع والملال * قالت ان عينى المراة لا تبرحان ناظرتين او حقهما ان تكونا ناظرتين الى موضعى القطع والوصل * والّا استطال احدهما على الآخر فوقع ما قلت * قلت بل فى دوام الوصل دوام الوفاق * قالت لا بل هو باعث على السآمة والضجر * فان الانسان مطبوع على ذلك * قلت اى سآمة من وصل الحبيب * قالت السآمة غالبة على الانسان فى كل شى بحيث يودّ تبديل حالته الحسنى بحالة سُوْأى * قلت اوَ قد سئمتِ من حالتك هذه * قالت ثم حُلت عن السآمة * قلت ما بال الناس كلهم يقولون ياقرة العين * قالت نعم ان العين تقرّ بشى ريثما يعنّ لها آخر فتُطرَف اليه * قلت وما شان القلب قالت هو متقلّب ومتحيّز معها * قلت فما شان العميان * قالت ان لهم فى بصائرهم عيونا اشد حملقة من العين الباصرة * قلت مَن اسرعُ الناسِ تقلّبَ قلبٍ * قالت اكثرهم فكرا فان العجماوات اثبت واصبر من الناس اذ ليس لها فكر *

“‘But,’ I said, ‘if disagreement multiplies and goes too long without settlement, the upshot will be mutual cutting of relations and disgruntlement.’ ‘A woman’s eyes,’ she declared, ‘are always trained, or ought to be trained, on the loci of cutting and connection. Otherwise, one of these will gain supremacy over the other and the situation I have described will come about.’⁸⁶ ‘I disagree,’ I said. ‘Constancy of connection leads to constancy of concord,’ to which she replied, ‘Not at all. It’s an inducement to discontent and restlessness, for that is how people are by nature.’ ‘What discontent can there be,’ I asked, ‘in connection with the beloved?’ ‘Discontent,’ she replied, ‘is the dominant emotion of humans in all things because of their desire to exchange good situations for worse.’ ‘Did you then,’ I asked her, ‘grow discontented with your present situation?’ ‘I did,’ she replied, ‘and then I found a way around being discontented.’ ‘How, then,’ I asked, ‘do you account for the fact that everyone says, “O delight of my eye!”?’⁸⁷ ‘The fact is,’ she replied, ‘that the eye finds delight in one thing only until another comes along and presents itself as something novel.’ ‘And what of the heart?’ I asked. ‘It is as fickle and as partial as the eye,’ she replied. ‘And what of the blind?’ I asked. ‘Their insights,’ she replied, ‘are keener than those of people who have eyes that see.’ ‘And whose hearts,’ I asked, ‘are the most fickle?’ ‘Those who think most,’ she answered. ‘Dumb beasts are steadier and more patient than people because they don’t think.’

4.6.4

قلت فاذًا ينشا عن النفع ضرّ * قالت نعم كما انه ينشا عن الضر نفع * قلت اى نفع فى المرض * قالت سكون العقل والدم والفكر عن الهوى والشهوات * قلت اى نفع فى الفقر * قالت الكفّ عن الشراهة والسرف المهلكين * فان الذين يموتون من زيادة الاكل والشرب اكثر من الذين يموتون لقلتهما * قلت اى نفع فى الزواج بامراة دميمة * قالت كفّ رجل جارك عن دارك وصرف عين اميرك عن مراقبة حالك * على انها لا تعدم طالبا مثلها ولكن بعض الشر اهون من بعض * قلت اى نفع فى دمامة الاولاد * قالت اذا علموا ذلك من انفسهم رغبوا عن اللهو الى العلم واقبلوا على تحسين خُلقهم ليشفع فى خَلقهم * قلت واى نفع من مشيب اعلى الانسان قبل اسفله مع ان شعر الاسفل ينبت قبل شعر الاعلى * قالت اشعاره بان الحيوانية المطلقة اقوى فيه من الحيوانية المقيّدة * ولذلك كان اول ما يشيب فيه راسه الذى هو محلّ الناطقية * واقوى ما يحسّ منه باللذة اسفله * قلت وما نتيجة ذلك قالت اقلاله من الفكر * قلت وما الفائدة فى كونه يعوز الى اوقية من اللحم يملأ بها وجهه فيجد رطلا فى عجزه * قالت هو من النوع الاول * قلت كانك تقولين ان الرجل لم يخلق الّا لاجل المراة * قالت نعم كما ان المراة لم تخلق الا للرجل *

“‘So bad comes of good?’ I said. ‘Indeed,’ she replied, ‘just as good comes of bad.’ ‘What good,’ I asked, ‘comes of sickness?’ ‘Relief for mind, blood, and thought from the pain of love and lust,’ she replied. ‘And what good,’ I asked, ‘comes of poverty?’ ‘Abstention from the gluttony and intemperance that lead to perdition,’ she said, ‘for more people die of too much food and drink than of too little.’ ‘And what good,’ I asked, ‘comes of marriage to an ugly woman?’ ‘Prevention of your neighbor from visiting your house,⁸⁸ and abstention of your emir from following your every move, though she will not lack for a suitor of her own type (some evils, however, are lesser than others).’ ‘What good comes of ugly children?’ ‘If they discover their situation on their own,’ she said, ‘they will give up play in favor of study and strive to improve their inner makeup and so compensate for their outer.’ ‘What good comes of a person’s upper parts graying before his lower, when the hair on the lower sprouts before the hair on the upper?’⁸⁹ ‘It makes him realize that an animal’s absolute nature is more powerful than its contingent nature, which is why the first part of him to turn grey is his head, which is the seat of the rational faculty, while the place where he feels the most powerful pleasure is the lower,’ she replied. ‘And what does it lead to?’ I asked. ‘A reduction in the capacity to think,’ she replied. ‘And what is the point of his needing an ounce of meat to fill his face, and finding it’s turned into a pound on his buttocks?’ ‘That,’ she said, ‘belongs to the first category.’⁹⁰ ‘You seem to be saying,’ I said, ‘that men were created to serve the needs of women.’ ‘Quite so,’ she responded, ‘just as women were to serve the needs of men.’

4.6.5

قلت اى نفع فى تحتّت الاسنان * قالت الاكل على هيْنة فيمرؤ الطعام * قلت اى نفع فى تعميش العينين * قالت عدم روية الحسان ليلًا فانهن اروع فيه وافتن * قلت اى نفع فى العَرَج * قالت الراحة من الجرى ورآ القِرصافة الزقزاقة * قلت اى نفع فى السدّة * قالت الذهول عن العَبِقة * قلت وفى الصمم * قالت عن الرُمُم * قلت وفى الجهل * قالت توفر الصحة للبدن والراحة للبال * فان الجاهل لا يفكر فى الامور الدقيقة المتعبة * فاذا نام اهنأه النوم واذا طَعِم شيا امرأه * لا كدابك فى الهينمة انآ الليل واطراف النهار فما اسمع منك الا تعديد قوافى * وذكر نؤْىٍ واثافى * ودوارس عوافى * وظعائن خوافى * واذا جلست للطعام اتيت بالكتاب معك فجعلت الصفحة تلو الصحفة * فتاكل لقمة * وتقرا فقرة * وتكرع من الشراب كرعة وتتلو اُسطورة * ولذلك — قلت قد فهمت من هذا الاكتفآ عدم الاكتفآ * ولكن كثرة القرآة ينشا عنها كثرة التصوّر الباعثة على كثرة التشوّق * قالت ولكن كثرة التشوق ينشا عنها الترويلية او الزمالقية والمقصود الجحّادية اللَحِكية * وقد طالما احوج وجود الاولى الى البحث عن وجود الثانية * ولكن دعنا من هذه الملاحك والمغامس * كيف وجدت مدينة لندن *

“‘And what good,’ I asked, ‘comes of the crumbling of the teeth?’ ‘Slow eating,’ she replied, ‘so that the food is well digested.’ ‘And what good,’ I asked, ‘comes of the dimming of the eyes?’ ‘Inability to see the ladies at night,’ she replied, ‘for that is when they are at their most delightful and captivating.’ ‘And what good comes,’ I asked, ‘of being lame?’ ‘Relief,’ she replied, ‘from running after quickly tripping women who bowl along like a ball.’ ‘What good comes,’ I asked, ‘of a stuffed-up nose?’ ‘Indifference to sweet-smelling women,’ she replied. ‘Of deafness?’ I asked. ‘To smart-talking girls,’ she replied. ‘And of ignorance?’ I asked. ‘Abundance of health for the body and rest for the mind,’ she replied, ‘for the ignorant man gives no thought to minute and tiresome matters. When he sleeps, his slumber makes him happy and when he eats something, it does him good—unlike your habit of muttering day and night, so that all I hear from you is your voice as on it drones, counting off rhymes and speaking of trenches and firestones,⁹¹ campsites half-erased and concealed women in camel litters raised; and when you sit down to eat, you bring your book with you and for every plate you consume a page, then eat a morsel and read a paragraph, or drink, belch, and recite a line. That is why . . .’ ‘I gather from this excellent sufficiency that I stand accused of insufficiency, but much reading leads to much visualizing, which gives rise to much desire,’ I said. ‘But much desire,’ she answered, ‘gives rise to a state of semi-erection and premature ejaculation, when what’s called for is piercing procrastination, and how often has the presence of the first required a search for the second! But enough of piercing-places and plunging-places. How did you find London?’

4.6.6

قلت رايت فيها النسآ اكثر من الرجال واجمل * قالت لو ذهبت اليها امراة لرأت بعكس ذلك فان نسآ الانكليز فى هذه الجزيرة لسن حسانا والحسن كله فى الرجال * قلت هولا نخبة البلاد انتقتهم الدولة حسانا ليخيفوا العدو فى الحرب * قالت بل الامر بالعكس فان الجميل لا يخيف وان يكن عدوا وانما القبيح هو الذى يخيف * اَلا ترى انهم يقولون رجل باسل ومتبسّل اى شجاع وهو فى الاصل الكريه المنظر * قلت وقد قالوا ايضا راعه بمعنى اعجبه واخافه * قالت المعنى واحد فانه ماخوذ من الرُوع^١ اى القلب فروية الجميل تصيب القلب بل وسائر الجوارح * ثم قالت وكيف رايت دكاكينها واسواقها * قلت اما الدكاكين فملآنة من الخز والحرير والتحف البديعة * قالت هل مَن هو فيها كما هو فيها * قلت فيها نسآ بيض حسان * قال انا اسالك عن شى وانت تخبرنى عن غيره * قد عرفت انك زائغ البصر فلن اسالك بعدُ عن الناس وما اسال الّا عينى * هذه خصلة فيكم معاشر الرجال انكم لا ترون فى جنسكم حسنا * قلت هى مثل خصلتكن معاشر النسآ فى انكن لا ترين فى جنسكن جمالا قد تكافأنا * قالت كيف تكافأنا وبيننا خلآ * قلت كل آت قريب * قالت وكل قريب آت * قلت لا ارضى بهذه الكلية بل قولى بعض القريب * قالت اذا ساغ البعض لم يُغَصّ بالكل * ثم قالت اخبرنى عن الاسواق * فقلت طويلة عريضة واسعة نظيفة كثيرة الانوار بحيث لا يمكن للرجل ان ينفرد بامراة اصلا * حتى كانّ الضباب ينجلى بها فى الليل ايضا * قالت هو من بعض المنافع الضارّة * اَلا ليت لى جَدّا فانظر مرة محاسن هذا المصر من قبل ان اقضى * قلت لا تقنطى فانى ارجو ان نسافر اليها جميعا بعد مدة * قالت حقّق الله لنا هذه الامنية *

١ كذا بهذا المعنى في القاموس وفي ١٨٥٥: رَوع‏.

“I replied, ‘I found the women there outnumbered the men and were better-looking.’ ‘If a woman were to go there,’ she said, ‘she’d find the opposite. The English women on this island are not beautiful, and the men have all the looks.’ ‘These,’ I said, ‘are the cream of the country, chosen by the state for their good looks, so that they may scare the enemy in battle.’ ‘Not so,’ she said, ‘it’s the other way around. The beautiful man can never scare, even if he’s an enemy. It’s only the ugly that are scary. Do you not observe that they speak of a man being bāsil or mutabassil when they mean “courageous,” even though in origin they mean “of unpleasant appearance”?’⁹² I responded, ‘And they also say rāʿahu, meaning both “he delighted him” and “he scared him.”’ ‘The meaning’s the same,’ she responded. ‘It is taken from rūʿ, meaning “heart,” for the sight of beauty falls on the heart, and indeed all the other organs of the body, like a bolt from above.’ Then ‘And how did you find its shops and markets?’ she went on. ‘The shops,’ I replied, ‘were full of silk-wool, silk, and amazing trinkets.’ ‘Are the people inside them like the things inside them?’ she asked. ‘There are beautiful, white women,’ I replied. ‘I ask you about one thing and you tell me about another!’ she responded. ‘I knew you had a wandering eye, so I will never ask you again about the people, I will simply consult my own eye. This is one of your traits, you men: you see no comeliness in your own sex.’ ‘And it’s just like your trait, O women, of not seeing any beauty in your own. We go together.’ ‘How can we go together when there’s a gap between us?’ she asked. ‘All good things come to those who wait,’ I said. ‘And every good thing should make love,’⁹³ she answered. ‘I cannot accept such a “universal” statement,’⁹⁴ I replied—‘You should say “some good things,”’ to which she countered, ‘If some goes down easily, the whole will not be choked on.’ Then she said, ‘Tell me about the markets,’ to which I replied, ‘They are high-ceilinged, wide, spacious, clean, and so well-lit that it’s impossible for a man to be on his own with a woman under any circumstances. So bright are they they even light up the fog at night.’ ‘Then they belong to the category of the Harmful Public Service,’ she said. ‘Ah, if only I might have the good fortune to see the attractions of that cosmopolis just once before I die!’ ‘Don’t despair!’ I said. ‘I hope we shall all⁹⁵ be able to go there together in a while.’ ‘God grant our wish!’ she replied.”

4.6.7

فلما امسى المسآ وبات كل منهما ثملا بذكر لندن على ما مال اليه خاطره قامت فى الغداة تقول * قد رايت لندن فى المنام واذا برجالها اكثر من نسآئها * وطرقها واسعة كما قلت كثيرة الانوار* ولكن يمكن للرجل فيها ان ينفرد بامراة * وكانك انما تقوّلت هذا لكيلا اسيٓئ فيك الظن * ولكن ما كنت لاصدقك من بعد ان تحققت انك غير امين فى الرواية الاولى * ثم بعد محاورة طويلة باتا تلك الليلة على اسم لندن * فاصبحت تقول * قد حلمت انى اشتريت من احسن دكاكينها ثوب ديباج احمر احمر احمر * قال انك لا تزالين لاهجة بهذا اللون واهل لندن لا يحبّونه لا فى الحرير ولا فى الآدميين * قالت ما سبب ذلك * قلت لان الحمرة فى الناس تكون عن كثرة الدم * وكثرة الدم مظنة بكثرة الاكل والشرب * وهى دليل على الرُعْب والنَّهَم * وانما يحبون اليلق الامهق * وكذلك العرب يحبون هذا اللون فقد قال اعظم شعرائهم

كبكر المقاناة البياض بصفرة

غذاها نمير الحىّ غير مجلَّل

فقالت ان كان هذا الاستكراه من طرف الرجال فهو لخشية عزة النسآ عليهم^١ باللون الاحمر الدال على القوة والنشاط والاشر والبَتَع والكَرَع * فيوهمهم ذلك عجزهم عن كفايتهن * وان يكن من النسآ وقد نطقن به فما هو الا مواربة ومغالطة * فان الانسان بالطبع يحب اللون الاحمر كما يشاهد ذلك فى الاطفال * وناهيك ان الدم الذى هو عنصر الحياة احمر * قال فقلت ولكن خلاصة الدم وصفوته هو فى ذلك اللون الذى يرغب فيه اهل لندن * قالت فهذا هو السبب اذًا * الان قد حصحص الحق وبان * اما انا فعلى مذهبى لن احول عنه * وللناس فيما يعشقون مذاهب *

١ ١٨٥٥: عليهن.

Then evening came and each spent the night drunk on such thoughts of London as accorded with his personal wishes and the next morning she got out of bed and said, “I saw London in a dream, and its men outnumbered its women and its streets were wide and full, as you said, of lights (though it would be possible for a woman to be on her own in them with a man and I think you only alleged what you did so that I wouldn’t harbor any suspicions about you, and I will never believe you again if I find out for sure that you were deceitful in the first telling).” Then again, after a long discussion, they went to bed the next night with the name of London on their lips and in the morning she said, “I dreamed that I bought a dress of red red red brocade from one of its best shops.” “You’re still mad about that color,” he said, “but the people of London don’t like it, either for silk or for humans.” “Why is that?” she asked. “Because red in people comes from too much blood, and too much blood implies too much eating and drinking and is a sign of greed and gluttony. What they like is dull white, a color beloved of the Arabs too, for the greatest of their poets has said,⁹⁶

Like the first egg of the ostrich—its white mingled with yellow—

Nurtured on water pure, unsullied by many paddlers.”

She said, “If we’re talking about men’s dislike of that color, it’s due to their fear that women will lord it over them in the color red, which indicates strength, energy, liveliness, headstrongness, and love of intercourse. This deludes them into thinking that they are incapable of satisfying them. If, however, it’s women’s dislike of it that we’re talking about (should they in fact ever express such an opinion), it must be simply equivocation and deception, for humans love the color red by nature, as one may observe in children; not to mention that blood, which is the essence of life, is red.” The Fāriyāq continued, “Then I said, ‘But the quintessence and best part of blood is of that color⁹⁷ that the people of London crave.’ ‘So that’s the reason!’⁹⁸ she said. ‘“Now the truth has come to light”⁹⁹ and is made plain. As far as I’m concerned, I’ll never abandon my position, and “one man’s meat is another’s poison.”’

4.6.8

فقلت بودى لو كنت احمر احمر احمر حتى تحبينى وان كنت احمق احمق احمق * قالت وما انتفاعك بالمحبة اذا كنت احمق* وانما يعود النفع لى فى تركك اياى مع الاحمر * قلت اتزعمين ان العلم يمنع المراة عن اجرآ ما تضمره وان الحمق يمكّنها منه * قالت لا والله بل ربما كان فى الحمق لها اكثر * فان الاحمق يلازم امراته ويظل محملقا فيها والعالم يحملق فى كراريسه * وكيفما كان فلم ارَ اسفه ممّن يحرّج على امراته ويلازمها * فان الرجل كلما اعنت المراة ونكنك عليها بالملازمة والكنكنة زادت هى فى تماديها فلا يردها شى عما ارادته سوى حشمتها وحيائها *

“I said, ‘I wish I were red red red that you might love me, even if I were dumb dumb dumb.’ ‘And what good would love do you if you were dumb?’ she asked. ‘Any good would redound to my benefit, from your leaving me alone with “the red.”’¹⁰⁰ ‘Are you claiming,’ I asked, ‘that scholarship in men prevents women from carrying out what they have in mind to do, while stupidity makes it possible for them?’ ‘Certainly not,’ she replied. ‘In fact, a woman may get more out of stupidity, for the stupid husband stays close to his wife and never stops staring at her, while the scholar stares at his notebooks. Be that as it may, I know of nothing more idiotic than the man who keeps his wife on a tight leash and sticks close to her, for the more a man angers his wife and annoys her by staying next to her and never leaving the house, the more she will persist in her excesses, for nothing can keep her from doing what she wants to except her own sense of decency and her modesty.

4.6.9

واكثر الرجال حمقا وسخافة من اذا اوجس من زوجته الميل الى شخص قال لها تزهيدا فيه * ان فلانا متهتّك مستهتر فاحش لا يبالى بما يقول ويفعل * فاذا حضر مجلس ذوى الادب فاول ما يفوه به قوله قد راودت فلانة وخلبتها وفتنتها * وقد عشقتنى وعشقتها * كانه اى الزوج يحذّرها من الاسترسال الى هواه مخافة ان تنفضح بين الناس * او ان يقول لها ان فلانا ورع تقىّ يتقى مغازلة النسآ اتقآ الافاعى * كانه يقول لها انك ان تعرّضت له فى الهوى جبهك وندهك وفضحك * فقد تقرر فى عقول الرجال ان كل امر من امور الدنيا والآخرة يشين عرض المراة ويهتك حجابها * مع انه لا شى يدغدغها مثل سماعها عن رجل انه مسرف مشط فى حال من الاحوال بحيث لا يلحقها منه اذى * فهى والحالة هذه تزيد حرصا على فتنته لتصرفه عن تلك الحال اليها فيرجع

اسرافه فى محبتها * قال فقلت نعم ان كيد النسآ كان عظيما *

“‘The stupidest and most ridiculous of men is the one who, if he harbors doubts that his wife may have taken a liking to a certain person, tells her, to arouse dislike for him in her, “So-and-so is without honor, irresponsible, a lecher who doesn’t care what he says or does. If he attends a gathering of litterateurs, the first thing to come out of his mouth will be, ‘I made a pass at (such and such a woman) and beguiled her and charmed her, and she became my mistress and I became her lover’”—as though he (meaning the husband) were warning her against yielding to his advances and scared she might make a scandal of herself in front of everyone; or the one who tells her, “So-and-so is God-fearing and pious. He is as scared of flirting with women as he is of vipers”—as though he were telling her, “If you declare your love to him, he will repulse you, drive you away, and make a scandal of you.” Men have got it fixed in their minds that any matter, whether to do with this world or the next, can mar a woman’s honor and violate her sanctity, but in fact nothing tickles her imagination so much as hearing it said of a man that he is so excessively far gone in some way or other that he can do her no harm. In such a case, she will go out of her way to make a conquest of him so that she can dissuade him from whatever he is up to in favor of herself and redirect his excesses into love for her.’”

The Fāriyāq went on, “And I said,

‘Quite right. Great indeed

is women's guile.’”¹⁰¹