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prohibition suffice thee in the Book of God the Most High,
where He saith,  Verily, wine and casting lots and idols and
divining arrows are an abomination of the fashion of the Devil:
shun them, so surely shall ye thrive. [FN315] And again,  If
they ask thee of wine and casting lots, say,  In them are great
sin and advantages to mankind, but the sin of them is greater
than the advantage.  [FN316] Quoth the poet:
O wine-bibber, art not ashamed and afraid To drink of a thing
that thy Maker forbade?
Come, put the cup from thee and mell with it not, For wine and
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its drinker God still doth upbraid.
And quoth another:
I drank the sweet sin till my wit went astray:  Tis ill
drinking of that which doth reason away.
As for the useful qualities that are therein, it disperses
gravel from the kidneys and strengthens the bowels, banishes
care, moves to generosity and preserves health and digestion.
It assains the body, expels disease from the joints, purifies
the frame of corrupt humours, engenders cheerfulness and
gladdens and keeps up the natural heat. It contracts the
bladder, strengthens the liver and removes obstructions,
reddens the face, clears away cobwebs from the brain and defers
gray hairs. In short, had not God (to whom belong might and
majesty) forbidden it, there were not on the face of the earth
aught fit to stand in its place. As for drawing lots, it is a
game of hazard. [FN317] (Q.)  What wine is the best? (A.)
 That which is pressed from white grapes and ferments fourscore
days or more: it resembleth not water and indeed there is
nothing on the surface of the earth like unto it. (Q.)  What
of cupping? (A.)  It is for him who is [over] full of blood
and has no defect therein. Whoso will be cupped, let it be at
the wane of the moon, on a day without cloud or wind or rain
and the seventeenth of the month. If it fall on a Tuesday, it
will be the more efficacious, and nothing is more salutary for
the brain and eyes and for clearing the memory than cupping.
(Q.)  What is the best time for cupping? (A.)  One should be
cupped fasting, for this fortifies the wit and the memory. It
is reported of the Prophet that, when any one complained to him
of a pain in the head or legs, he would bid him be cupped and
not eat salt [meat] fasting, for it engendered scurvy, neither
eat sour milk immediately after [cupping]. (Q.)  When is
cupping to be avoided? (A.)  On Wednesdays and Saturdays, and
let him who is cupped on these days blame none but himself.
Moreover, one should not be cupped in very hot nor in very cold
weather; and the best season for cupping is Spring. (Q.)  Tell
me of copulation.
At this Taweddud hung her head, for shame and confusion before
the Khalif; then said,  By Allah, O Commander of the Faithful,
it is not that I am at fault, but that I am ashamed, though,
indeed, the answer is on the tip of my tongue.  Speak, O
damsel, said the Khalif; whereupon quoth she,  Copulation hath
in it many and exceeding virtues and praiseworthy qualities,
amongst which are, that it lightens a body full of black bile
and calms the heat of love and engenders affection and dilates
the heart and dispels sadness; and the excess of it is more
harmful in summer and autumn than in spring and winter. (Q.)
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 What are its good effects? (A.)  It doth away trouble and
disquiet, calms love and chagrin and is good for ulcers in a
cold and dry humour; but excess of it weakens the sight and
engenders pains in the legs and head and back: and beware,
beware of having to do with old women, for they are deadly.
Quoth the Imam Ali,[FN318] (whose face God honour),  Four
things kill and ruin the body: bathing on a full stomach,
eating salt meat, copulation on a plethora [of blood] and lying
with an ailing woman; for she will weaken thy strength and
infect thy body with sickness; and an old woman is deadly
poison. And quoth one of them,  Beware of taking an old woman
to wife, though she be richer in goods than Caroun.  [FN319]
(Q.)  What is the best copulation? (A.)  If the woman be
young, well-shaped, fair of face, swelling-breasted and of
honourable extraction, she will add to thee strength and health
of body; and let her be even as saith the poet, describing her:
Even by thy looks, I trow, she knows what thou desir st, By
instinct, without sign or setting forth of sense;
And when thou dost behold her all-surpassing grace, Her charms
enable thee with gardens to dispense.
(Q.)  At what time is copulation good? (A.)  If by day, after
the morning-meal, and if by night, after food digested. (Q.)
 What are the most excellent fruits? (A.)  The pomegranate and
the citron. (Q.)  Which is the most excellent of vegetables?
(A.)  The endive. (Q.)  Which of sweet-scented flowers?
(A.)  The rose and the violet. (Q.)  How is sperma hominis
secreted? (A.)  There is in man a vein that feeds all the
other veins. Water [or blood] is collected from the three
hundred and threescore veins and enters, in the form of red
blood, the left testicle, where it is decocted, by the heat of
man s temperament, into a thick, white liquid, whose odour is
as that of the palm-spathe. (Q.)  What bird [or flying thing]
is it that emits seed and menstruates? (A.)  The bat, that is,
the rere-mouse. (Q.)  What is that which, when it is shut out
[from the air], lives, and when it smells the air, dies? (A.)
 The fish. (Q.)  What serpent lays eggs? (A.)  The dragon.
With this the physician was silent, being weary with much
questioning, and Taweddud said to the Khalif,  O Commander of
the Faithful, he hath questioned me till he is weary, and now I
will ask him one question, which if he answer not, I will take
his clothes as lawful prize.  Ask on, quoth the Khalif. So
she said to the physician,  What is that which resembles the
earth in [plane] roundness, whose resting-place and spine are [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]