refrain not from me, I will summon
thy sire and tell him of thy doings.” Quoth the lad, “My father knoweth
my turn for this and it may not be that he will hinder me: so heal thou
my heart. Why dost thou hold off from me? Do I not please thee?”
Answered the Dervish, “By Allah, O my son, I will not do this, though I
be hewn in pieces with sharp-edged swords!”; and he repeated the saying
of the poet:—

 Indeed my heart loves all the lovely boys ✿ As girls; nor am I slow to
    such delight,
 But, though I sight them every night and morn, ✿ I’m neither of Lot’s
    folk[388] nor wencher-wight.

Then he shed tears and said, “Arise, open the door, that I may wend my
way, for I will lie no longer in this lodging.” Therewith he rose to his
feet; but the boy caught hold of him, saying, “Look at the fairness of
my face and the cramoisy of my cheeks and the softness of my sides and
the lusciousness of my lips.” Moreover he discovered to him calves that
would shame wine and cup-carrier[389] and gazed on him with fixed glance
that would baffle enchanter and enchantments; for he was passing of
loveliness and full of blandishment, even as saith of him one of the
poets who sang:—

 I can’t forget him, since he rose and showed with fair design ✿ Those
    calves of legs whose pearly shine make light in nightly gloom:
 Wonder not an my flesh uprise as though ’twere Judgment-day ✿ When every
    shank shall barèd be and that is Day of Doom.[390]

Then the boy displayed to him his bosom, saying, “Look at my breasts
which be goodlier than the breasts of maidens and my lip-dews are
sweeter than sugar-candy. So quit scruple and asceticism and cast off
devoutness and abstinence and take thy fill of my possession and enjoy
my loveliness. Fear naught, for thou art safe from hurt, and leave this
hebetude for ’tis a bad habit.” And he went on to discover to him his
hidden beauties, striving to turn the reins of his reason with his
bendings in graceful guise, whilst the Dervish turned away his fac