pounds of his finest meat to be weighed, which was also put into the porter’s basket.
At another shop she bought capers, small cucumbers, parsley, and other herbs; at another, some pistachios, walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds, kernels of the pine, and other similar fruits; at a third, she purchased all sorts of almond patties. The porter, in putting all these things into his basket, said, “My good lady, you should have told me that you intended buying so many things, and I would have provided a camel, for if you buy ever so little more, I shall not be able to carry it.” The lady laughed and ordered him to follow her home. They walked till they came to a magnificent house, whose front was adorned with fine columns, and had a gate of ivory. There they stopped and the lady knocked softly. Another lady soon came to open the gate, and the three, after passing through a handsome vestibule, entered a spacious court, surrounded by an open gallery, which communicated with many magnificent apartments, all on the same floor. At the end of this court there was a dais richly furnished, with a couch in the middle, supported by four columns of ebony, enriched with diamonds and pearls of an extraordinary size, and covered with red satin, relieved by a bordering of Indian gold. In the middle of the court was a large basin lined with white marble, and full of the clearest water, which rushed from the mouth of a lion of gilt bronze.
But what principally attracted the attention of the porter,
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