A flower in a garden she isa pearl in an ouch of gold Or an image in chapel set for worship of high and low.
Slender and shapely she is；vivacity bids her ariseBut the weight of her hips says'Sitor softly and slowly go.'
Whenas her favours I seek and sue for my heart's desire'Be gracious，'her beauty says；but her coquetry answers，'No.'
Glory to Him who made beauty her portionand that Of her lover to be the prate of the censurersheigho！
Indeedshe captivated all who saw herwith the excellence of her beauty and the sweetness of her smileand transpierced them with the arrows she launched from her eyes；and withal she was eloquent of speech and excellently skilled in poetry.
When Aboulhusn had squandered all his wealth and there remained to him nought but this slave-girlwhen [I say] the wretchedness of his plight became manifest to himhe abode three days without tasting food or taking rest in sleepand Taweddud said to him'O my lordcarry me to the Khalif Haroun er Reshidfifth of the sons of Abbasand seek of him ten thousand dinars to my price. If he deem me dear at this pricesay to him'O Commander of the Faithfulmy slave is worth more than this： do but prove herand her value will be magnified in thine eyesfor she hath not her equaland it were unfit that any but thou should possess her.'And bewareO my lord，of selling me for less than the sum I have namedfor it is but little for the like of me.'（Now Aboulhusn knew not her worth nor that she had no equal in her day.）So he carried her to the Khalifto whom he repeated what she had bidden him sayand the Khalif said to her'What is thy name？'
'Taweddud，'answered she. 'O Taweddud，'asked he'in what branches of knowledge dost thou excel？'O my lord，'answered she'I am versed in syntax and poetry and jurisprudence and exegesis and lexicography and music and the knowledge of the Divine ordinances and in arithmetic and geodesy and the fables of the ancients. I know the sublime Koran [by heart] and have read it according to the seven and the ten and the fourteen[modes]. I know the number of its chapters and verses and sections and words and letters and its halves and fourths and eighths and tenthsthe number of acts of adoration，that occur in itand what there is in it of cancelling and cancelled；also what parts of it were revealed at Medina and what at Mecca and the manner of the different revelations. I know the Holy Traditionstheir history and variants and the manner of their recitation and interpretation，together with those of them whose chain of descent is unbroken and those for which it is broken；and I have studied the exact sciencesgeometry and philosophy and medicine and logic and rhetoric and composition；and I know many things and am passionately fond of poetry. I can play the lute and know its gamut and notation and so forth. If I sing and danceI ravish，and if I adorn and perfume myselfI slay. In fineI have reached a pitch of perfection such as can only be estimated by those who are stablished in knowledge.'