I confess that you surpass all women." To which she haughtily replied, "Not the less do I surpass all men." The following are among the famous lines of El Khunsa, which gave her the title of princess of Arab poetesses.

The translation I have made quite literal.
"Ah time has its wonders; its changes amaze, It leaves us the tail while the head it slays; It leaves us the low while the highest decays; It leaves the obscure, the despised, and the slave, But of honored and loved ones, the true and the brave It leaves us to mourn o'er the untimely grave.
The two new creations, the day and the night, Though ceaselessly changing, are pure as the light: But man changes to error, corruption and blight." The most ancient Arab poetess, Zarifeh, is supposed to have lived as long ago as the Second Century, in the time of the bursting of the famous dyke of Mareb, which devastated the land of Saba.

Another poetess, Rakash, sister of the king of Hira, was given in marriage, by the king when intoxicated, to a man named Adi.
Alas, in these days the Moslem Arabs do not wait until blinded by wine, to give their daughters in marriage to strangers.

I once overheard two Moslem young men converging in a shop, one of whom was about to be married.

His companion said to him, "have you heard anything about the looks of your betrothed ?" "Not much," said he, "only I am assured that she is _white_." In a book written by Mirai ibn Yusef el Hanbali, are the names of twenty Arab women who improvised poetry.