كانوا فاسدين بالطبع * قالت نعم هو عرق فساد كامن فيهم فاول ما يستنشقون رائحة بلاد الافرنج ينبض فيهم * ولذلك تراهم ابدا يتلمظون بذكر بلاد الافرنج وعاداتهم واحوالهم * مع انك اذا سالت احدا منهم عن طعامهم قال لا يستطيبه * او عن الحانهم قال لا تطربه * او عن كرمائهم قال لم تادبه * او عن حمّاماتهم قال لم تعجبه * او عن هوائهم قال لم يلائمه * او عن مائهم قال لم يسغ له * فيكون لهجهم بذكر بلادهم وتنويههم بمحاسنها انما سببه الفحش *
“She said, ‘I swear I don’t know what to do about men’ and I said, ‘And I swear I don’t know what to do about women, but let’s get back to saying farewell. I give you my word that I will never be unfaithful to you.’ ‘On the contrary, you will ever be unfaithful to me,’ she said. I said, ‘What reason do you have to be suspicious of me?’ She replied, ‘I observe that men who are in a country where they’re unknown perform the worst abominations. Just look at how the foreigners who come to this island give themselves over to whoring and depravity. The moment one of them sets foot on land, he asks where the brothel is, especially the Syrians,29 and amongst them especially the Christians, and amongst those especially the ones who have acquired a little knowledge of the ways of the Franks and their languages; they come off the ships like hornets, plunging their stingers here, there, and everywhere.’ ‘Perhaps they were like that in their home countries,’ I said. ‘They don’t have the means to behave abominably there,’ she returned. ‘Or perhaps they’re corrupt by nature,’ I said. ‘You’re right,’ she said. ‘They have a latent disposition to corruption and the moment they smell the Frankish air, it comes to life, which is why you will find that they always drool as they talk of the lands of the Franks and their customs and conditions. If you were to ask one of them about their food, though, he’d say he didn’t like it, or about their music, that it didn’t move him, or about their nobility, that they didn’t invite him to their banquets, or about their bathhouses, that they didn’t appeal to him, or about their weather, that it hadn’t suited him, or about their water, that he’d found it hard to swallow. The sole reason for their constant praise of those lands and for their lauding of the good things in them is abomination.
4.2.8
وانت من يضمن لى طبعك عن الفساد وقد اسمعك كل يوم تُهَيْنم بذكر الرجارجة والرضراضة والبضباضة والفضفاضة والرِبَحلة والرعبوب والعطبول * وهى لعمرى الفاظ تسيل لعاب الحصور وتشهّى الناسك * قلت ان هو الا كلام * قالت اول الحرب كلام * قلت اترين اعدّى عن هذه الصنعة الشائقة * والحرفة العائقة * قالت ان لم تتصور ذاتا بعينها عند الوصف فلا باس * قلت ان لم اتصور ذاتا لم يخطر ببالى شى * قالت اذن هو حرام * قلت ما كفّارته * قالت تصورك اياى لا غير * قلت ولكن انت خالية عن بعض الصفات التى لا بدّ من ذكرها * قالت اذا كان الرجل يحب امراته راى فيها الحسن كله ونظر من كل شعرة منها امراة جميلة * كما انه اذا احب امراة غيرها احبّ لاجلها بلادها وهوآها ومآها ولسان قومها وعاداتهم واطوارهم * قلت اوَ كذلك المراة اذا احبت رجلا * قالت هو فى النسآ اكثر لانهن اوفر حبا ووجدا * قلت ما سبب ذلك * قالت لان الرجال يتشاغلون بما ليس يعنيهم * فترى واحدا منهم يطلب الولاية وآخر السيادة وآخر البحث فى الاديان وفى ما غمض من السفليات والعلويات * والنسآ لا شى يشغلهن من ذلك * قلت ليتك تشاغلت مثلهم * قالت ليت لى قلبين فى شغلنا * قلت افتنظرين فىّ الحسن كله كما زعمت * قالت اُحْسِن فيك النظر * قلت فلنعد الى الوداع لا بل فلنعد الى التشاغل * فانى اريد ان انهى هذه المسالة قبل ان افصل من هنا والّا فتكون لى شاغل الطريق وربما افسدت شغلى عند القوم فارجع باللوم عليك وعلى سائر النسآء *
“‘And you—who can guarantee me that your nature is not corrupt, when every day I hear you muttering about women with quivering flesh, women with firm and swelling flesh, women with fleshy flesh, women with masses of plump flesh, women with pretty white flesh, and tall, full-fleshed women with long necks, all of them phrases that would, I swear, make the Baptist salivate and excite a hermit?’ I said, ‘They’re just words,’ to which she replied, ‘Every war begins with words.’ ‘Would you have me abandon this craft and its obsession, this all-consuming profession?’ I asked. ‘So long as you don’t visualize, while describing, a specific person, I have no objection,’ she answered. I responded, ‘If I don’t visualize a person, my mind will remain a blank.’ ‘In that case,’ she said, ‘it’s a sin.’ ‘And how,’ I asked, ‘may I expiate it?’ ‘By visualizing only me and no one else,’ she replied. ‘But you,’ I responded, ‘are devoid of some of the characteristics that have to be mentioned,’ to which she responded, ‘If a man truly loves his wife, he will find in her everything that is fair and see in each hair of hers a beautiful woman. By the same token, if he loves some other woman, he will, for her sake, love her country, its weather, its water, and the language, customs, and manners of its people.’ ‘Aren’t women the same,’ I asked, ‘when they love a man?’ ‘They’re worse,’ she answered, ‘because they have larger reserves of love and passion.’ ‘And why is that?’ I asked. ‘Because,’ she said, ‘men spend time on things that do not concern them. Thus you’ll find this one seeking position, that one power, and a third delving into religions and all that is obscure, be it profane or divine. Women pay no attention to any of that.’ ‘Would that you might busy yourself with the same concerns as men!’ I said. ‘Would that I had,’ she rejoined, ‘two hearts to devote to these concerns of ours.’30 ‘Do you, then,’ I asked, ‘see in me everything that is good, as you claim?’ ‘I hold you in high regard,’ she said. ‘In that case,’ said I, ‘let’s get back to saying good-bye—or maybe not: let us, in fact, get back to the matter at hand, for I’d like to settle it before I depart; otherwise, it will preoccupy me throughout my journey and may spoil my work for those I go to serve. If that happens, I shall pin the blame on you and on women in general.’
4.2.9
قالت اعلم ان المراة تعلم من نفسها انها زينة هذا الكون * كما ان جميع ما
