midnight
the hawk was fluttering without ; so he let it in , and caressed it , and the hawk bade him put on his silken dress and carry forth his China jar , and go the round of the palace , and offer drink to the sentinels and the slaves . So he did as the hawk directed , and the sentinels and slaves were aware of a China jar brimmed with wine that was lifted to their lips , but him that lifted it they saw not : surely , they drank deep of the draught of astonishment . Then the hawk flew before him , and he followed it to a chamber lit with golden lamps , gorgeously hung , and full of a dusky splendour and the faint sparkle of gems , ruby , amethyst , topaz , and beryl ; in it there was the hush of sleep , and the heart of Shibli Bagarag told him that one beautiful was near . So he approached on tiptoe a couch of blue silk , bordered with gold-wire , and inwoven with stars of blue turquoise stones , as it had been the heavens of midnight . On the couch lay one , a woman , pure in loveliness ; the dark fringes of her closed lids like living flashes of darkness , her mouth like an unstrung bow and as a double rosebud , even as two isles of coral between which in the clear transparent watery beds the pearls shine freshly . And the hawk said to Shibli Bagarag , ` This is the Princess Goorelka , the daughter of the King of Oolb , a sorceress , the Guardian of the Lily of the Enchanted Sea . Beneath her pillow is the cockle-shell ; grasp it , but gaze not upon her . '