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this prince was called alaodin and was mahometan. he had created,
in a lovely valley enclosed between two very high mountains, a very
beautiful garden full of every variety of fruit and trees that could
be obtained, and around these plantations, various palaces and
pavillions decorated with golden ornaments, paintings and furniture
all made of silk. he had brought young girls of perfect beauty and
full of charm to live here, and they were trained to sing, to play
all sorts of instruments, to dance, and above all, to make the most
seductive advances to men that can be imagined. this is the reason
why the old man had this place built: mahomet having said that those
who obeyed his will would go to paradise, where they would find all
the pleasures and delights of the world, beautiful women and rivers
of milk and honey, this man wanted to pretend that he could make
anyone he wished enter this very paradise. no one could penetrate
into the garden we described, for they had built, at the entrance to
the valley, a very fortified and impregnable castle; it would only be
entered by a secret road.

..then one day i reached those city gates where angels are
servants, where planets and stars are slaves, a garden of roses and
pines girded round with walls of emerald and jasper trees, set in a
desert of gold-embroidered silk, its springs sweet as honey, the
river of paradise: a city which only virtue can aspire to reach, a
city whose cypresses are like the blades of intellect, a city whose
sages wear brocaded robes woven of silk… and here, before these
gates, my reason spoke: ‘here, within these walls, find what you
seek and do not leave without it.’ so i approached the guardian of
the gate, and told him of my search. ‘rejoice’ he answered. ‘your
mine has produced a jewel, for beneath this land of truth there flows
a crystal ocean of precious pearls and pure water. this is the lofty
sphere of exalted stars; aye, it is paradise itself. the abode of
houris.