Leg over Leg. Ahmad Faris al-Shidyaq
امراته ويشاعرها فلا تحلم له ولا يحلم لها *
| When he leaves his house and then returns and doesn’t find his wife, or knocks on the door and she doesn’t open it right away. | When he sees that whenever his neighbor returns to his house he finds his wife about her work and barely has time to knock on the door before it is opened to him. |
| When she hears musical instruments and starts swaying and undulating and saying, “Ah! Ooh! Aiee!” | When he hears a woman saying, after hearing musical instruments, that her little boy’s voice is sweeter. |
| When she talks and laughs with the young men at such length that in the end she gives a belly laugh, her eyes being at that moment flirtatious, her cheeks flushed. | When he sees a woman talking with each of those present according to his standing and doesn’t hear any belly laughs from her and her face is neither flushed nor pale. |
| When she writes on her shift letters that mean nothing to him or he sees the traces of bites or devouring kisses on her lips or cheeks. | When he hears that a woman has written the letters of her husband’s name on her shift and there is no trace of anything to be seen on her lips or cheeks. |
| When he hears her saying men’s names while she’s dreaming or when she pretends to dream just so as to be able to mention things that would please him or give him satisfaction. | When he hears that his neighbor devours his wife’s lips and lies with her under her shift, so she neither dreams of him nor he of her.106 |
4.7.8
| اذا رآها تكره ولدها وتلهى عنه وعن امور البيت بزينتها وتبرجها * | اذا راى امراة تحب ولدها وتحمله ولا تلهى عنه ولا عن بيتها * |
| اذا قعدت بالشباك لتخيط شيا فجعلت تدرز درزة وتنظر منه نظرة حتى جآ عملها فاسدا فاضطرت الى فتقه واصلاحه * | اذا راى امراة تخيط لزوجها او لولدها شيا من غير ان تتخلل الدرزات نظرات وزفرات فجآ عملها محكما من اول وهلة * |
| اذا وضعت القدر على النار لتطبخ شيا ثم شرعت فى الغنآ حتى تهوست فنسيت القدر والطبيخ فتشيّط * | اذا راى امراة تضع القدر على النار ولا تلهى عنها فياتى الطعام قديا مشهّيا معينا على الباه والرقاد * |
| اذا تمنّت ان تكون فى المواضع التى يكثر فيها تردد الرجال كفندق وخان ونحوهما * | اذا كانت تبتعد عن المثابة ولا تشتهى ان تدخل فى زحام ليقرصها واحد ويغمزها آخر * |
| اذا كانت تصرّح او تعرّض لزوجها بانها تحب السمان الطوال من الرجال مثلا وهو ليس منهم * | اذا كانت المراة تقول امام زوجها او غيره بانها لا تحب الطوال من الرجال حالة كون زوجها قصيرا * |
| When he sees that she hates her children and pays more attention to her finery and toilette than she does to them or to the housekeeping. | When he sees a woman who loves her children and carries them about and lets nothing distract her from them or her house. |
| When she sits at the window sewing something and looks up after every stitch she makes and her work turns out poorly and she’s obliged to unpick it and repair it. | When he sees a woman sewing something for her husband or her children without interspersing the stitches with looks and sighs, and her work turns out well-done from the first moment. |
| When she puts the cooking pot on the fire to cook something and then starts singing and gets so caught up in the song that she forgets about the pot and the cooking and it burns. | When he sees a woman put the cooking pot on the fire and allow nothing to distract her from it, and the food turns out tasty, stimulating of the appetites, and conducive to intercourse and sleep. |
| When she wants to be in the places where lots of men go, such as a hotel or an inn or the like. | When she stays away from meeting places and has no desire to enter crowds lest some man pinch her or wink at her. |
| When she states or hints to her husband that she likes, for example, tall, well-fleshed men and he isn’t one of them. | When the wife says in front of her husband or anyone else that she doesn’t like tall men, because her husband is short. |
4.7.9
| اذا كانت تعيب على زوجها انه غير متصف بالمِلْثية ولا بالقُمُدّية * | اذا كانت امراة مفسّلة تعفّفا وشكت من ملثية زوجها وقمدّيته١ * |
| اذا وافى منزله وقت الغدا او العشآ ساغبا لاغبا فلم يجد شيا ياكله لان زوجته لهيت عن الغدآ بتصليح ثيابها وتغيير زيّها وعن العشآ بلبسها وجلوسها بالشباك لتنظر وينظرها المارّون * ما اشبه وذلك * | اذا وافى منزله وقت الغدآ او العشآ فوجد على مائدته كل ما تشتهيه النفس فاكل وشرب وطابت نفسه ثم راى من شباكه جارته تلبس ثيابها وتنظر الى ما ورائها لتعلم هل الثوب والعجيزة هما كشنّ وطبقة او لا * وما اشبه ذلك * |
١ ١٨٥٥: وقمديّته.
| When she rebukes her husband for being characterized neither by insatiability nor continence. | When the wife holds herself aloof from her husband out of modesty when having her period and complains of both her husband’s insatiability and his continence. |
| When he turns up at his house at lunch or dinnertime tired and hungry and finds nothing to eat because his wife has been too busy mending her clothes and trying on her dresses to prepare lunch and too busy getting dressed and sitting at the window to see and be seen by the passers-by to prepare dinner. And so on and so forth. |
When he turns up at his house at lunch or dinnertime |