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[personal profile] timelets
I wonder if this is the origin of the Sleeping Beauty story:
The Emir Musa marvelled at her exceeding beauty and was confounded at the blackness of her hair and the redness of her cheeks, which made the beholder deem her alive and not dead, and said to her, “Peace be with thee, O damsel!”

But Talib ibn Sahl said to him, “Allah preserve thee, O Emir, verily this damsel is dead and there is no life in her; so how shall she return thy salam?”; adding, “Indeed, she is but a corpse embalmed with exceeding art; her eyes were taken out after her death and quicksilver set under them, after which they were restored to their sockets. Wherefore they glisten and when the air moveth the lashes, she seemeth to wink and it appeareth to the beholder as though she looked at him, for all she is dead.”

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/54525/54525-h/54525-h.htm#c83
The Thousand Nights and a Night, translated by R. Burton. Vol 6. (the 576th night).

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