That is Priceless by Steve Melcher for September 28, 2022

Starting Ishmael would have to wait for another night.

The Salton pays a lot of money for a snuggle.

So much for Netflix and chill…

/// Sultan sleeps on a large leopard pelt.

Hugs his concubine, silk-clad and svelte.

To the girl’s knees he clings,

but what are those strange things

that are tucked in his wide leather belt?

Helen didn’t dare move for fear of waking Hal, but her leg was in excruciating pain from holding the same pose for the past hour. But such was the dangers of being the favorite harem girl.

Whenever the sultan came to visit, Fido had to sleep on the rug.

My first thought was Judith and Holofernes. But I’m weird.

It’s Scheherazade, I assume. A clever girl can keep her head about her:

.

Night after night, she told a cliffhanger story

About adventurous heroes and Arabia’s glory

She did not do it lightly, she had a plan

To outlast the vengeance of the jealous sultan

That toward women angrily swore he.

.

The stories as translated by Sir Richard Burton

(Not Elizabeth T’s husband, that is for certain)

Come in three volumes, unexpurgated

As Scherzi herself at the time related

To read through them all is somewhat a burden.

.

Well, Scherzi’s plan worked, it was clever,

And the sultan kept her as wife forever and ever.

But to tell the truth, it was not love that clinched it

It was to at last shut her up that finally cinched it.

And her head was too much trouble to severe.

Reminds me of a Moody Blues lyric:

Between the silence of the mountains

And the crashing of the sea

There lies a land I once lived in

And she’s waiting there for me

That is a very dark painting.

Say- who is this bald headed chap/

With his head in the young lady’s lap ?

Believe it or not/

It’s the Sultan of Squat -/

And he’s taking a much-needed nap …///

Favorite concubine? She may as well be his wife of 15 years if he’s going to fall asleep on the couch like this every night after dinner.

The Sultan is “hors de combat”/

He ends every evening like that/

Not with one concubine/

But with eight- even nine !/

Before he’s removed his hat..///

It’s good to be Sultan! 8^ )

Some Sultans are prematurely grey. This one appears to be, sadly, premature.

What are those two things in his belt ?*/

Are they used to compel her to melt ?/

Are they one “double-header”/

That works even better/

Than the natural “cards” he was dealt?

*danged if I know!

“So, enough about me, honey. Tell me about your day.”

“Well, I-”

“Zzzzzzzzz….”

Not exactly the Energizer Bunny, is he?

Portia when I lie on your lap for some reason I think of a fish market?

I need a better monitor. It’s just a dark mess of a painting to me.

(Interior Scene with Sultan and Concubine): 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thomas_Buchanan_Read_-_(Interior_Scene_with_Sultan_and_Concubine)_-_1976.36_-_Smithsonian_American_Art_Museum.jpg 

has info and links that point to more info about this painting. The parentheses used in the title are what its museum included.

Again, a larger strip image is shown by (Ctrl- or right-) clicking the image in Mr. Melcher’s MASTERPIECE #3002 (September 28, 2022) blog entry, accessible by the Check out the blog! box after the last comment, and using the dropdown menu (even larger if you trim what’s after .png from the URL). I have added a comment there (awaiting Mr. Melcher’s approval) pointing to info about this artist I used to point to here. First work by him used here.

With the pain in her legs, his exposed neck was getting very tempting.

This certainly NOT the Sultan of Swing.

The Sultan fails again at his Guinness world record attempt. but he still enjoys trying.

the two ducks in the basket did help count Herin Finnish off Gertrude but it took so doing.

Whoever said Old Men finish last didn’t know what they were saying…..

Scheherazade was the master at verbally counting sheep jumping over a fence.

Foot tomorrow:

“ Well, I guess it’s good enough to hang on the refrigerator.”