For Adults Only

Reading the Thousand and One Nights (or Arabian Nights), I was struck by the comical and frank depictions of sex, especially in the tale of "Ma'aruf the Cobbler." One part of this tale is particularly colourful in its sexual metaphors ("threading a needle," for instance). I believe, though, that this takes the biscuit: the act of coitus is referred to as "that hour when men forget their mothers." I think I'll use that from now on.