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Title: A plain and literal translation of the Arabian nights entertainments, now entituled The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 1 (of 17)
Author: Burton, Richard F.
Language: English
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*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "A plain and literal translation of the Arabian nights entertainments, now entituled The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 1 (of 17)" ***
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
"TO THE PURE ALL THINGS ARE PURE."
(Puris omnia para)
—_Arab Proverb._
"Niuna corrotta mente intese mai sanamente parole."
—"_Decameron_"—_conclusion_.
"Erubuit, posuitque meum Lucretia librum
Sed coram Bruto. Brute! recede, leget."
—_Martial._
"Mieulx est de ris que de larmes escripre,
Pour ce que rire est le propre des hommes."
—RABELAIS.
"The pleasure we derive from perusing the Thousand-and-One Stories makes
us regret that we possess only a comparatively small part of these truly
enchanting fictions."
—CRICHTON'S "_History of Arabia_."
[Illustration]
_A PLAIN AND LITERAL TRANSLATION OF THE ARABIAN NIGHTS ENTERTAINMENTS.
NOW ENTITULED_
_THE BOOK OF THE_
=Thousand Nights and a Night=
_WITH INTRODUCTION EXPLANATORY NOTES ON THE
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF MOSLEM MEN AND A
TERMINAL ESSAY UPON THE HISTORY OF THE
NIGHTS_
VOLUME I.
BY
RICHARD F. BURTON
[Illustration]
PRINTED BY THE BURTON CLUB FOR PRIVATE
SUBSCRIBERS ONLY
Shammar Edition
Limited to one thousand numbered sets, of which this is
Number _547_
PRINTED IN U. S. A.
=Inscribed to the Memory=
OF
MY LAMENTED FRIEND
=John Frederick Steinhaeuser,=
(CIVIL SURGEON, ADEN)
WHO
A QUARTER OF A CENTURY AGO
ASSISTED ME IN THIS TRANSLATION.
THE TRANSLATOR'S FOREWORD.
This work, laborious as it may appear, has been to me a labour of love,
an unfailing source of solace and satisfaction. During my long years of
official banishment to the luxuriant and deadly deserts of Western
Africa, and to the dull and dreary half-clearings of South America, it
proved itself a charm, a talisman against ennui and despondency.
Impossible even to open the pages without a vision starting into view;
without drawing a picture from the pinacothek of the brain; without
reviving a host of memories and reminiscences which are not the common
property of travellers, however widely they may have travelled. From my
dull and commonplace and "respectable" surroundings, the Jinn bore me at
once to the land of my predilection, Arabia, a region so familiar to my
mind that even at first sight, it seemed a reminiscence of some by-gone
metempsychic life in the distant Past. Again I stood under the
diaphanous skies, in air glorious as æther, whose every breath raises
men's spirits like sparkling wine. Once more I saw the evening star
hanging like a solitaire from the pure front of the western firmament;
and the after-glow transfiguring and transforming, as by magic, the
homely and rugged features of the scene into a fairy-land lit with a
light which never shines on other soils or seas. Then would appear the
woollen tents, low and black, of the true Badawin, mere dots in the
boundless waste of lion-tawny clays and gazelle-brown gravels, and the
camp-fire dotting like a glow-worm the village centre. Presently,
sweetened by distance, would be heard the wild weird song of lads and
lasses, driving or rather pelting, through the gloaming their sheep and
goats; and the measured chant of the spearsmen gravely stalking behind
their charge, the camels; mingled with the bleating of the flocks and
the bellowing of the humpy herds; while the rere-mouse flitted overhead
with his tiny shriek, and the rave of the jackal resounded through
deepening glooms, and—most musical of music—the palm-trees answered the
whispers of the night-breeze with the softest tones of falling water.
And then a shift of scene. The Shaykhs and "white-beards" of the tribe
gravely take their places, sitting with outspread skirts like hillocks
on the plain, as the Arabs say, around the camp-fire, whilst I reward
their hospitality and secure its continuance by reading or reciting a
few pages of their favourite tales. The women and children stand
motionless as silhouettes outside the ring; and all are breathless with
attention; they seem to drink in the words with eyes and mouths as well
as with ears. The most fantastic flights of fancy, the wildest
improbabilities, the most impossible of impossibilities, appear to them
utterly natural, mere matters of every-day occurrence. They enter
thoroughly into each phase of feeling touched upon by the author: they
take a personal pride in the chivalrous nature and knightly prowess of
Taj al-Mulúk; they are touched with tenderness by the self-sacrificing
love of Azízah; their mouths water as they hear of heaps of untold gold
given away in largesse like clay; they chuckle with delight every time a
Kázi or a Fakír—a judge or a reverend—is scurvily entreated by some
Pantagruelist of the Wilderness; and, despite their normal solemnity and
impassibility, all roar with laughter, sometimes rolling upon the ground
till the reader's gravity is sorely tried, at the tales of the garrulous
Barber and of Ali and the Kurdish Sharper. To this magnetising mood the
sole exception is when a Badawi of superior accomplishments, who
sometimes says his prayers, ejaculates a startling "Astaghfaru'llah"—I
pray Allah's pardon!—for listening, not to Carlyle's "downright lies,"
but to light mention of the sex whose name is never heard amongst the
nobility of the Desert.
Nor was it only in Arabia that the immortal Nights did me such notable
service: I found the wildlings of Somali-land equally amenable to its
discipline; no one was deaf to the charm and the two women-cooks of my
caravan, on its way to Harar, were incontinently dubbed by my men
"Shahrazad" and "Dinazad."
It may be permitted me also to note that this translation is a natural
outcome of my Pilgrimage to Al-Medinah and Meccah. Arriving at Aden in
the (so-called) winter of 1852, I put up with my old and dear friend,
Steinhaeuser, to whose memory this volume is inscribed; and, when
talking over Arabia and the Arabs, we at once came to the same
conclusion that, while the name of this wondrous treasury of Moslem
folk-lore is familiar to almost every English child, no general reader
is aware of the valuables it contains, nor indeed will the door open to
any but Arabists. Before parting we agreed to "collaborate" and produce
a full, complete, unvarnished, uncastrated copy of the great original,
my friend taking the prose and I the metrical part; and we corresponded
upon the subject for years. But whilst I was in the Brazil, Steinhaeuser
died suddenly of apoplexy at Berne in Switzerland and, after the fashion
of Anglo-India, his valuable MSS. left at Aden were dispersed, and very
little of his labours came into my hands.
Thus I was left alone to my work, which progressed fitfully amid a host
of obstructions. At length, in the spring of 1879, the tedious process
of copying began and the book commenced to take finished form. But,
during the winter of 1881-82, I saw in the literary journals a notice of
a new version by Mr. John Payne, well known to scholars for his prowess
in English verse, especially for his translation of "The Poems of Master
Francis Villon, of Paris." Being then engaged on an expedition to the
Gold Coast (for gold), which seemed likely to cover some months, I wrote
to the "Athenæum" (Nov. 13, 1881) and to Mr. Payne, who was wholly
unconscious that we were engaged on the same work, and freely offered
him precedence and possession of the field till no longer wanted. He
accepted my offer as frankly, and his priority entailed another delay
lasting till the spring of 1885. These details will partly account for
the lateness of my appearing, but there is yet another cause.
Professional ambition suggested that literary labours, unpopular with
the vulgar and the half-educated, are not likely to help a man up the
ladder of promotion. But common sense presently suggested to me that,
professionally speaking, I was not a success; and, at the same time,
that I had no cause to be ashamed of my failure. In our day, when we
live under a despotism of the lower "middle-class" Philister who can
pardon anything but superiority, the prizes of competitive services are
monopolised by certain "pets" of the _Médiocratie_, and prime favourites
of that jealous and potent majority—the Mediocrities who know "no
nonsense about merit." It is hard for an outsider to realise how perfect
is the monopoly of commonplace, and to comprehend how fatal a
stumbling-stone that man sets in the way of his own advancement who
dares to think for himself, or who knows more or who does more than the
mob of gentlemen-employés who know very little and who do even less.
Yet, however behindhand I may be, there is still ample room and verge
for an English version of the "Arabian Nights' Entertainments."
Our century of translations, popular and vernacular, from (Professor
Antoine) Galland's delightful abbreviation and adaptation (A.D. 1704),
in no wise represent the eastern original. The best and latest, the Rev.
Mr. Foster's, which is diffuse and verbose, and Mr. G. Moir Bussey's,
which is a re-correction, abound in gallicisms of style and idiom; and
one and all degrade a chef-d'œuvre of the highest anthropological and
ethnographical interest and importance to a mere fairy-book, a nice
present for little boys.
After nearly a century had elapsed, Dr. Jonathan Scott (LL.D. H.E.I.C.'s
S., Persian Secretary to the G. G. Bengal; Oriental Professor, etc.,
etc.), printed his "Tales, Anecdotes, and Letters, translated from the
Arabic and Persian," (Cadell and Davies, London, A.D. 1800); and
followed in 1811 with an edition of "The Arabian Nights' Entertainments"
from the MS. of Edward Wortley Montague (in 6 vols., small 8vo, London:
Longmans, etc.). This work he (and he only) describes as "Carefully
revised and occasionally corrected from the Arabic." The reading public
did not wholly reject it, sundry texts were founded upon the Scott
version and it has been imperfectly reprinted (4 vols., 8vo, Nimmo and
Bain, London, 1883). But most men, little recking what a small portion
of the original they were reading, satisfied themselves with the
Anglo-French epitome and metaphrase. At length in 1838, Mr. Henry
Torrens, B.A., Irishman, lawyer ("of the Inner Temple") and Bengal
Civilian, took a step in the right direction; and began to translate,
"The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night," (1 vol., 8vo, Calcutta:
W. Thacker and Co.) from the Arabic of the Ægyptian (!) MS. edited by
Mr. (afterwards Sir) William H. Macnaghten. The attempt, or rather the
intention, was highly creditable; the copy was carefully moulded upon
the model and offered the best example of the _verbatim et literatim_
style. But the plucky author knew little of Arabic, and least of what is
most wanted, the dialect of Egypt and Syria. His prose is so
conscientious as to offer up spirit at the shrine of letter; and his
verse, always whimsical, has at times a manner of Hibernian whoop which
is comical when it should be pathetic. Lastly he printed only one volume
of a series which completed would have contained nine or ten.
That amiable and devoted Arabist, the late Edward William Lane does not
score a success in his "New Translation of the Tales of a Thousand and
One Nights" (London: Charles Knight and Co., MDCCCXXXIX.) of which there
have been four English editions, besides American, two edited by E. S.
Poole. He chose the abbreviating Bulak Edition; and, of its two hundred
tales, he has omitted about half and by far the more characteristic
half: the work was intended for "the drawing-room table;" and,
consequently, the workman was compelled to avoid the "objectionable" and
aught "approaching to licentiousness." He converts the Arabian Nights
into the Arabian Chapters, arbitrarily changing the division and, worse
still, he converts some chapters into notes. He renders poetry by prose
and apologises for not omitting it altogether: he neglects assonance and
he is at once too Oriental and not Oriental enough. He had small store
of Arabic at the time—Lane of the Nights is not Lane of the
Dictionary—and his pages are disfigured by many childish mistakes. Worst
of all, the three handsome volumes are rendered unreadable as Sale's
Koran by their anglicised Latin, their sesquipedalian un-English words,
and the stiff and stilted style of half a century ago when our prose
was, perhaps, the worst in Europe. Their cargo of Moslem learning was
most valuable to the student, but utterly out of place for readers of
"The Nights;" re-published, as these notes have been separately (London,
Chatto, 1883), they are an ethnological text-book.
Mr. John Payne has printed, for the Villon Society and for private
circulation only, the first and sole complete translation of the great
compendium, "comprising about four times as much matter as that of
Galland, and three times as much as that of any other translator;" and
I cannot but feel proud that he has honoured me with the dedication of
"The Book of The Thousand Nights and One Night." His version is most
readable: his English, with a sub-flavour of the Mabinogionic
archaicism, is admirable; and his style gives life and light to the
nine volumes whose matter is frequently heavy enough. He succeeds
admirably in the most difficult passages and he often hits upon choice
and special terms and the exact vernacular equivalent of the foreign
word, so happily and so picturesquely that all future translators must
perforce use the same expression under pain of falling far short. But
the learned and versatile author bound himself to issue only five
hundred copies, and "not to reproduce the work in its complete and
uncastrated form." Consequently his excellent version is caviaire to
the general—practically unprocurable.
And here I hasten to confess that ample use has been made of the three
versions above noted, the whole being blended by a _callida junctura_
into a homogeneous mass. But in the presence of so many predecessors a
writer is bound to show some _raison d'être_ for making a fresh attempt
and this I proceed to do with due reserve.
Briefly, the object of this version is to show what "The Thousand Nights
and a Night" really is. Not, however, for reasons to be more fully
stated in the terminal Essay, by straining _verbum reddere verbo_, but
by writing as the Arab would have written in English. On this point I am
all with Saint Jerome (Pref. in Jobum) "Vel verbum e verbo, vel sensum e
sensu, vel ex utroque commixtum, et medie temperatum genus
translationis." My work claims to be a faithful copy of the great
Eastern Saga-book, by preserving intact, not only the spirit, but even
the _mécanique_, the manner and the matter. Hence, however prosy and
long-drawn out be the formula, it retains the scheme of the Nights
because they are a prime feature in the original. The Ráwí or reciter,
to whose wits the task of supplying details is left, well knows their
value: the openings carefully repeat the names of the _dramatis personæ_
and thus fix them in the hearer's memory. Without the Nights no Arabian
Nights! Moreover it is necessary to retain the whole apparatus: nothing
more ill-advised than Dr. Jonathan Scott's strange device of garnishing
The Nights with fancy head-pieces and tail-pieces or the splitting-up of
Galland's narrative by merely prefixing "Nuit," etc., ending moreover,
with the ccxxxiv^{th} Night: yet this has been done, apparently with the
consent of the great Arabist Sylvestre de Sacy (Paris, Ernest Bourdin).
Moreover, holding that the translator's glory is to add something to his
native tongue, while avoiding the hideous hag-like nakedness of Torrens
and the bald literalism of Lane, I have carefully Englished the
picturesque turns and novel expressions of the original in all their
outlandishness; for instance, when the dust-cloud raised by a tramping
host is described as "walling the horizon." Hence peculiar attention has
been paid to the tropes and figures which the Arabic language often
packs into a single term; and I have never hesitated to coin a word when
wanted, such as "she snorted and snarked," fully to represent the
original. These, like many in Rabelais, are mere barbarisms unless
generally adopted; in which case they become civilised and common
currency.
Despite objections manifold and manifest, I have preserved the balance
of sentences and the prose rhyme and rhythm which Easterns look upon as
mere music. This "Saj'a," or cadence of the cooing dove, has in Arabic
its special duties. It adds a sparkle to description and a point to
proverb, epigram and dialogue; it corresponds with our "artful
alliteration" (which in places I have substituted for it) and,
generally, it defines the boundaries between the classical and the
popular styles which jostle each other in The Nights. If at times it
appear strained and forced, after the wont of rhymed prose, the scholar
will observe that, despite the immense copiousness of assonants and
consonants in Arabic, the strain is often put upon it intentionally,
like the _Rims cars_ of Dante and the Troubadours. This rhymed prose may
be "un-English" and unpleasant, even irritating to the British ear;
still I look upon it as a _sine quâ non_ for a complete reproduction of
the original. In the terminal Essay I shall revert to the subject.
On the other hand when treating the versicle portion, which may
represent a total of ten thousand lines, I have not always bound myself
by the metrical bonds of the Arabic, which are artificial in the
extreme, and which in English can be made bearable only by a _tour de
force_. I allude especially to the monorhyme, _Rim continuat_ or _tirade
monorime_, whose monotonous simplicity was preferred by the Troubadours
for threnodies. It may serve well for three or four couplets but, when
it extends, as in the Ghazal-canzon, to eighteen, and in the Kasidah,
elegy or ode, to more, it must either satisfy itself with banal
rhyme-words, when the assonants should as a rule be expressive and
emphatic; or, it must display an ingenuity, a smell of the oil, which
assuredly does not add to the reader's pleasure. It can perhaps be done
and it should be done; but for me the task has no attractions: I can
fence better in shoes than in sabots. Finally I print the couplets in
Arab form separating the hemistichs by asterisks.
And now to consider one matter of special importance in the book—its
_turpiloquium_. This stumbling-block is of two kinds, completely
distinct. One is the simple, naïve and child-like indecency which, from
Tangiers to Japan, occurs throughout general conversation of high and
low in the present day. It uses, like the holy books of the Hebrews,
expressions "plainly descriptive of natural situations;" and it treats
in an unconventionally free and naked manner of subjects and matters
which are usually, by common consent, left undescribed. As Sir William
Jones observed long ago, "that anything natural can be offensively
obscene never seems to have occurred to the Indians or to their
legislators; a singularity (?) pervading their writings and
conversation, but no proof of moral depravity." Another justly observes,
_Les peuples primitifs n'y entendent pas malice: ils appellent les
choses par leurs noms et ne trouvent pas condamnable ce qui est
naturel._ And they are prying as children. For instance the European
novelist marries off his hero and heroine and leaves them to consummate
marriage in privacy; even Tom Jones has the decency to bolt the door.
But the Eastern story-teller, especially this unknown "prose
Shakespeare," must usher you, with a flourish, into the bridal chamber
and narrate to you, with infinite gusto, everything he sees and hears.
Again we must remember that grossness and indecency, in fact _les
turpitudes_, are matters of time and place; what is offensive in England
is not so in Egypt; what scandalises us now would have been a tame joke
_tempore Elisæ_. Withal The Nights will not be found in this matter
coarser than many passages of Shakspeare, Sterne, and Swift, and their
uncleanness rarely attains the perfection of Alcofribas Nasier, "divin
maître et atroce cochon." The other element is absolute obscenity,
sometimes, but not always, tempered by wit, humour and drollery; here we
have an exaggeration of Petronius Arbiter, the handiwork of writers
whose ancestry, the most religious and the most debauched of mankind,
practised every abomination before the shrine of the Canopic Gods.
In accordance with my purpose of reproducing the Nights, not _virginibus
puerisque_, but in as perfect a picture as my powers permit, I have
carefully sought out the English equivalent of every Arabic word,
however low it may be or "shocking" to ears polite; preserving, on the
other hand, all possible delicacy where the indecency is not
intentional; and, as a friend advises me to state, not exaggerating the
vulgarities and the indecencies which, indeed, can hardly be
exaggerated. For the coarseness and crassness are but the shades of a
picture which would otherwise be all lights. The general tone of The
Nights is exceptionally high and pure. The devotional fervour often
rises to the boiling-point of fanaticism. The pathos is sweet, deep and
genuine; tender, simple and true, utterly unlike much of our modern
tinsel. Its life, strong, splendid and multitudinous, is everywhere
flavoured with that unaffected pessimism and constitutional melancholy
which strike deepest root under the brightest skies and which sigh in
the face of heaven:—
Vita quid est hominis? Viridis floriscula mortis;
Sole Oriente oriens, sole cadente cadens.
Poetical justice is administered by the literary Kází with exemplary
impartiality and severity; "denouncing evil doers and eulogising deeds
admirably achieved." The morale is sound and healthy; and at times we
descry, through the voluptuous and libertine picture, vistas of a
transcendental morality, the morality of Socrates in Plato. Subtle
corruption and covert licentiousness are utterly absent; we find more
real "vice" in many a short French roman, say La Dame aux Camelias, and
in not a few English novels of our day than in the thousands of pages of
the Arab. Here we have nothing of that most immodest modern modesty
which sees covert implication where nothing is implied, and "improper"
allusion, when propriety is not outraged; nor do we meet with the
Nineteenth Century refinement; innocence of the word not of the thought;
morality of the tongue not of the heart, and the sincere homage paid to
virtue in guise of perfect hypocrisy. It is, indeed, this unique
contrast of a quaint element, childish crudities and nursery indecencies
and "vain and amatorious" phrase jostling the finest and highest views
of life and character, shown in the kaleidoscopic shiftings of the
marvellous picture with many a "rich truth in a tale's pretence";
pointed by a rough dry humour which compares well with "wut;" the
alternations of strength and weakness, of pathos and bathos, of the
boldest poetry (the diction of Job) and the baldest prose (the Egyptian
of to-day); the contact of religion and morality with the orgies of
African Apuleius and Petronius Arbiter—at times taking away the reader's
breath—and, finally, the whole dominated everywhere by that marvellous
Oriental fancy, wherein the spiritual and the supernatural are as common
as the material and the natural; it is this contrast, I say, which forms
the chiefest charm of The Nights, which gives it the most striking
originality and which makes it a perfect expositor of the medieval
Moslem mind.
Explanatory notes did not enter into Mr. Payne's plan. They do with
mine: I can hardly imagine The Nights being read to any profit by men of
the West without commentary. My annotations avoid only one subject,
parallels of European folk-lore and fabliaux which, however interesting,
would overswell the bulk of a book whose speciality is anthropology. The
accidents of my life, it may be said without undue presumption, my long
dealings with Arabs and other Mahommedans, and my familiarity not only
with their idiom but with their turn of thought, and with that racial
individuality which baffles description, have given me certain
advantages over the average student, however deeply he may have studied.
These volumes, moreover, afford me a long-sought opportunity of noticing
practices and customs which interest all mankind and which "Society"
will not hear mentioned. Grote, the historian, and Thackeray, the
novelist, both lamented that the _bégueulerie_ of their countrymen
condemned them to keep silence where publicity was required; and that
they could not even claim the partial licence of a Fielding and a
Smollett. Hence a score of years ago I lent my best help to the late Dr.
James Hunt in founding the Anthropological Society, whose presidential
chair I first occupied (pp. 2-4 Anthropologia; London, Balliere, vol.
i., No. 1, 1873). My motive was to supply travellers with an organ which
would rescue their observations from the outer darkness of manuscript,
and print their curious information on social and sexual matters out of
place in the popular book intended for the Nipptisch and indeed better
kept from public view. But, hardly had we begun when "Respectability,"
that whited sepulchre full of all uncleanness, rose up against us.
"Propriety" cried us down with her brazen blatant voice, and the
weak-kneed brethren fell away. Yet the organ was much wanted and is
wanted still. All now known barbarous tribes in Inner Africa, America
and Australia, whose instincts have not been overlaid by reason, have a
ceremony which they call "making men." As soon as the boy shows proofs
of puberty, he and his coevals are taken in hand by the mediciner and
the Fetisheer; and, under priestly tuition, they spend months in the
"bush," enduring hardships and tortures which impress the memory till
they have mastered the "theorick and practick" of social and sexual
relations. Amongst the civilised this fruit of the knowledge-tree must
be bought at the price of the bitterest experience, and the consequences
of ignorance are peculiarly cruel. Here, then, I find at last an
opportunity of noticing in explanatory notes many details of the text
which would escape the reader's observation, and I am confident that
they will form a repertory of Eastern knowledge in its esoteric phase.
The student who adds the notes of Lane ("Arabian Society," etc., before
quoted) to mine will know as much of the Moslem East and more than many
Europeans who have spent half their lives in Orient lands. For facility
of reference an index of anthropological notes is appended to each
volume.
The reader will kindly bear with the following technical details.
Steinhaeuser and I began and ended our work with the first Bulak
("Bul.") Edition printed at the port of Cairo in A.H. 1251=A.D. 1835.
But when preparing my MSS. for print I found the text incomplete, many
of the stories being given in epitome and not a few ruthlessly mutilated
with head or feet wanting. Like most Eastern scribes the Editor could
not refrain from "improvements," which only debased the book; and his
sole title to excuse is that the second Bulak Edition (4 vols. A.H.
1279=A.D. 1863), despite its being "revised and corrected by Sheik
Mahommed Qotch Al-Adewi," is even worse; and the same may be said of the
Cairo Edit. (4 vols. A.H. 1297=A.D. 1881). The Calcutta ("Calc.")
Edition, with ten lines of Persian preface by the Editor, Ahmed
al-Shirwani (A.D. 1814), was cut short at the end of the first two
hundred Nights, and thus made room for Sir William Hay Macnaghten's
Edition (4 vols, royal 4to) of 1839-42. This ("Mac."), as by far the
least corrupt and the most complete, has been assumed for my basis with
occasional reference to the Breslau Edition ("Bres.") wretchedly edited
from a hideous Egyptian MS. by Dr. Maximilian Habicht (1825-43). The
Bayrut Text "Alif-Leila we Leila" (4 vols. gt. 8vo, Beirut. 1881-83) is
a melancholy specimen of The Nights taken entirely from the Bulak
Edition by one Khalil Sarkis and converted to Christianity; beginning
without Bismillah, continued with scrupulous castration and ending in
ennui and disappointment. I have not used this missionary production.
As regards the transliteration of Arabic words I deliberately reject the
artful and complicated system, ugly and clumsy withal, affected by
scientific modern Orientalists. Nor is my sympathy with their prime
object, namely to fit the Roman alphabet for supplanting all others.
Those who learn languages, and many do so, by the eye as well as by the
ear, well know the advantages of a special character to distinguish, for
instance, Syriac from Arabic, Gujrati from Marathi. Again this Roman
hand bewitched may have its use in purely scientific and literary works;
but it would be wholly out of place in one whose purpose is that of the
novel, to amuse rather than to instruct. Moreover the devices perplex
the simple and teach nothing to the learned. Either the reader knows
Arabic, in which case Greek letters, italics and "upper case,"
diacritical points and similar typographic oddities are, as a rule with
some exceptions, unnecessary; or he does not know Arabic, when none of
these expedients will be of the least use to him. Indeed it is a matter
of secondary consideration what system we prefer, provided that we
mostly adhere to one and the same, for the sake of a consistency which
saves confusion to the reader. I have especially avoided that of Mr.
Lane, adopted by Mr. Payne for special reasons against which it was vain
to protest: it represents the debased brogue of Egypt or rather of
Cairo; and such a word as Kemer (ez-Zeman) would be utterly
unpronounceable to a Badawi. Nor have I followed the practice of my
learned friend, Reverend G. P. Badger, in mixing bars and acute accents;
the former unpleasantly remind man of those hateful dactyls and
spondees, and the latter should, in my humble opinion, be applied to
long vowels which in Arabic double, or should double, the length of the
shorts. Dr. Badger uses the acute symbol to denote accent or stress of
voice; but such appoggio is unknown to those who speak with purest
articulation; for instance whilst the European pronounces Mus-cat´, and
the Arab villager Mas´-kat; the Children of the Waste, "on whose tongues
Allah descended," articulate Mas-kat. I have therefore followed the
simple system adopted in my "Pilgrimage," and have accented Arabic words
only when first used, thinking it unnecessary to preserve throughout
what is an eyesore to the reader and a distress to the printer. In the
main I follow "Johnson on Richardson," a work known to every
Anglo-Orientalist as the old and trusty companion of his studies early
and late; but even here I have made sundry deviations for reasons which
will be explained in the terminal Essay. As words are the embodiment of
ideas and writing is of words, so the word is the spoken word; and we
should write it as pronounced. Strictly speaking, the _e_-sound and the
_o_-sound (viz. the Italian _o_-sound not the English which is peculiar
to us and unknown to any other tongue) are not found in Arabic, except
when the figure Imálah obliges: hence they are called "Yá al-Majhúl" and
"Waw al-Majhúl" the unknown y (í) and u. But in all tongues
vowel-sounds, the flesh which clothes the bones (consonants) of
language, are affected by the consonants which precede and more
especially which follow them, hardening and softening the articulation;
and deeper sounds accompany certain letters as the sád (ص) compared with
the sín (س). None save a defective ear would hold, as Lane does,
"Maulid" (=birth-festival) "more properly pronounced 'Molid.'" Yet I
prefer Khokh (peach) and Jokh (broad-cloth) to Khukh and Jukh; Ohod
(mount) to Uhud; Obayd (a little slave) to Ubayd; and Hosayn (a fortlet,
not the P. N. Al-Husayn) to Husayn. As for the short _e_ in such words
as "Memlúk" for "Mamlúk" (a white slave), "Eshe" for "Asha" (supper),
and "Yemen" for "Al-Yaman," I consider it a flat Egyptianism,
insufferable to an ear which admires the Badawi pronunciation. Yet I
prefer "Shelebi" (a dandy) from the Turkish Chelebi, to "Shalabi;"
"Zebdani" (the Syrian village) to "Zabdani," and "Fes and Miknes" (by
the figure Imálah) to "Fás and Miknás," our "Fez and Mequinez."
With respect to proper names and untranslated Arabic words I have
rejected all system in favour of common sense. When a term is
incorporated in our tongue, I refuse to follow the purist and mortify
the reader by startling innovation. For instance, Aleppo, Cairo and
Bassorah are preferred to Halab, Kahirah and Al-Basrah; when a word is
half-naturalised, like Alcoran or Koran, Bashaw or Pasha, which the
French write Pacha; and Mahomet or Mohammed (for Muhammad), the modern
form is adopted because the more familiar. But I see no advantage in
retaining, simply because they are the mistakes of a past generation,
such words as "Roc" (for Rukh), Khalif (a pretentious blunder for
Khalífah and better written Caliph) and "genie" (=Jinn) a mere Gallic
corruption not so terrible, however, as "a Bedouin" (=Badawi). As little
too would I follow Mr. Lane in foisting upon the public such Arabisms as
"Khuff" (a riding-boot), "Mikra'ah" (a palm-rod) and a host of others
for which we have good English equivalents. On the other hand I would
use, but use sparingly, certain Arabic exclamations, as "Bismillah" (=in
the name of Allah!) and "Inshallah" (=if Allah please!), which have
special applications and which have been made familiar to English ears
by the genius of Fraser and Morier.
I here end these desultory but necessary details to address the reader
in a few final words. He will not think lightly of my work when I repeat
to him that with the aid of my annotations supplementing Lane's, the
student will readily and pleasantly learn more of the Moslem's manners
and customs, laws and religion than is known to the average Orientalist;
and, if my labours induce him to attack the text of The Nights he will
become master of much more Arabic than the ordinary Arab owns. This book
is indeed a legacy which I bequeath to my fellow-countrymen in their
hour of need. Over devotion to Hindu, and especially to Sanskrit
literature, has led them astray from those (so-called) "Semitic"
studies, which are the more requisite for us as they teach us to deal
successfully with a race more powerful than any pagans—the Moslem.
Apparently England is ever forgetting that she is at present the
greatest Mohammedan empire in the world. Of late years she has
systematically neglected Arabism and, indeed, actively discouraged it in
examinations for the Indian Civil Service, where it is incomparably more
valuable than Greek and Latin. Hence, when suddenly compelled to assume
the reins of government in Moslem lands, as Afghanistan in times past
and Egypt at present, she fails after a fashion which scandalises her
few (very few) friends; and her crass ignorance concerning the Oriental
peoples which should most interest her, exposes her to the contempt of
Europe as well as of the Eastern world. When the regretable raids of
1883-84, culminating in the miserable affairs of Tokar, Teb and Tamasi,
were made upon the gallant Sudani Negroids, the Bisharin outlying
Sawakin, who were battling for the holy cause of liberty and religion
and for escape from Turkish task-masters and Egyptian tax-gatherers, not
an English official in camp, after the death of the gallant and lamented
Major Morice, was capable of speaking Arabic. Now Moslems are not to be
ruled by raw youths who should be at school and college instead of
holding positions of trust and emolument. He who would deal with them
successfully must be, firstly, honest and truthful and, secondly,
familiar with and favourably inclined to their manners and customs if
not to their law and religion. We may, perhaps, find it hard to restore
to England those pristine virtues, that tone and temper, which made her
what she is; but at any rate we (myself and a host of others) can offer
her the means of dispelling her ignorance concerning the Eastern races
with whom she is continually in contact.
In conclusion I must not forget to notice that the Arabic ornamentations
of these volumes were designed by my excellent friend Yacoub Artin
Pasha, of the Ministry of Instruction, Cairo, with the aid of the
well-known writing-artist, Shaykh Mohammed Muunis the Cairene. My name,
Al-Hajj Abdullah (=the Pilgrim Abdallah) was written by an English
calligrapher, the lamented Professor Palmer who found a premature death
almost within sight of Suez.
RICHARD F. BURTON.
WANDERERS' CLUB, _August 15, 1885_.
CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME.
PAGE
INTRODUCTION 1
STORY OF KING SHAHRYAR AND HIS BROTHER 2
_a._ TALE OF THE BULL AND THE ASS 16
(_Lane, vol. I._, 1-16.)
1. TALE OF THE TRADER AND THE JINNI 24
(_Chapt. I. Story of the Merchant and the Jinnee: p. 43._)
_a._ THE FIRST SHAYKH'S STORY 27
(_Story of the First Sheykh and the Gazelle: p. 48._)
_b._ THE SECOND SHAYKH'S STORY 32
(_Story of the Second Sheykh and the two Black Hounds: p. 52._)
_c._ THE THIRD SHAYKH'S STORY 36
(_Story of the Third Sheykh and the Mule: p. 56._)
2. THE FISHERMAN AND THE JINNI 38
(_Chapt. II. Story of the Fisherman: p. 78._)
_a._ TALE OF THE WAZIR AND THE SAGE DUBAN 45
(_Story of King Yoonan and the Sage Dooban: p. 84._)
_ab._ STORY OF KING SINDIBAD AND HIS FALCON 50
_ac._ TALE OF THE HUSBAND AND THE PARROT 52
(_Story of the Husband and the Parrot: p. 89._)
_ad._ TALE OF THE PRINCE AND THE OGRESS 54
(_Story of the Envious Wezeer and the Prince and the Ghoolah:
p. 91._)
_b._ TALE OF THE ENSORCELLED PRINCE 69
(_Story of the Young King of the Black Islands: p. 106._)
3. THE PORTER AND THE THREE LADIES OF BAGHDAD 82
(_Chapt. III. Story of the Porter and the Ladies of Baghdad,
and of the three Royal Mendicants, etc.: p. 136._)
_a._ THE FIRST KALANDAR'S TALE 104
(_Story of the First Royal Mendicant: p. 150._)
_b._ THE SECOND KALANDAR'S TALE 113
(_Story of the Second Royal Mendicant: p. 157._)
_ba._ TALE OF THE ENVIER AND THE ENVIED 123
(_Story of the Envier and the Envied: p. 166._)
_c._ THE THIRD KALANDAR'S TALE 139
(_Story of the Third Royal Mendicant: p. 178._)
_d._ THE ELDEST LADY'S TALE 162
_e._ TALE OF THE PORTRESS 173
CONCLUSION OF THE STORY OF THE PORTER AND THREE LADIES 184
4. TALE OF THE THREE APPLES 186
(_Chapt. IV. Story of the Three Apples, etc.: p. 250._)
5. TALE OF NUR AL-DIN ALI AND HIS SON BADR AL-DIN HASAN 195
(_Story of Noor ed-Deen and his Son, and of Shems ed-Deen and
his Daughter: p. 253._)
6. THE HUNCHBACK'S TALE 255
(_Chapt. V. Story of the Humpback: p. 238._)
_a._ THE NAZARENE BROKER'S STORY 262
(_Story told by the Christian Broker: p. 334._)
_b._ THE REEVE'S TALE 278
(_Story told by the Sultan's Steward: p. 348._)
_c._ TALE OF THE JEWISH DOCTOR 288
(_Story told by the Jewish Physician: p. 359._)
_d._ TALE OF THE TAILOR 300
(_Story told by the Tailor: p. 368._)
_e._ THE BARBER'S TALE OF HIMSELF 317
(_The Barber's Story of Himself: p. 383._)
_ea._ THE BARBER'S TALE OF HIS FIRST BROTHER 319
(_The Barber's Story of His First Brother: p. 385._)
_eb._ THE BARBER'S TALE OF HIS SECOND BROTHER 324
(_The Barber's Story of His Second Brother: p. 389._)
_ec._ THE BARBER'S TALE OF HIS THIRD BROTHER 328
(_The Barber's Story of His Third Brother: p. 392_)
_ed._ THE BARBER'S TALE OF HIS FOURTH BROTHER 331
(_The Barber's Story of His Fourth Brother: p. 396._)
_ee._ THE BARBER'S TALE OF HIS FIFTH BROTHER 335
(_The Barber's Story of His Fifth Brother: p. 400._)
_ef._ THE BARBER'S TALE OF HIS SIXTH BROTHER 343
(_The Barber's Story of His Sixth Brother._)
THE END OF THE TAILOR'S TALE 348
THE BOOK OF THE
THOUSAND NIGHTS AND A NIGHT.
(_ALF LAYLAH WA LAYLAH._)
In the Name of Allah,
the Compassionating, the Compassionate!
_PRAISE BE TO ALLAH ✿ THE BENEFICENT KING ✿ THE CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE
✿ LORD OF THE THREE WORLDS ✿ WHO SET UP THE FIRMAMENT WITHOUT PILLARS
IN ITS STEAD ✿ AND WHO STRETCHED OUT THE EARTH EVEN AS A BED ✿ AND
GRACE, AND PRAYER-BLESSING BE UPON OUR LORD MOHAMMED ✿ LORD OF
APOSTOLIC MEN ✿ AND UPON HIS FAMILY AND COMPANION-TRAIN ✿ PRAYER AND
BLESSINGS ENDURING AND GRACE WHICH UNTO THE DAY OF DOOM SHALL REMAIN ✿
AMEN! ✿ O THOU OF THE THREE WORLDS SOVEREIGN!_
* * * * *
And afterwards. Verily the works and words of those gone before us have
become instances and examples to men of our modern day, that folk may
view what admonishing chances befel other folk and may therefrom take
warning; and that they may peruse the annals of antique peoples and all
that hath betided them, and be thereby ruled and restrained:—Praise,
therefore, be to Him who hath made the histories of the Past an
admonition unto the Present! Now of such instances are the tales called
"A Thousand Nights and a Night," together with their far-famed legends
and wonders. Therein it is related (but Allah is All-knowing of His
hidden things and All-ruling and All-honoured and All-giving and
All-gracious and All-merciful![1]) that, in tide of yore and in time
long gone before, there was a King of the Kings of the Banu Sásán in
the Islands of India and China, a Lord of armies and guards and
servants and dependents.[2] He left only two sons, one in the prime of
manhood and the other yet a youth, while both were Knights and Braves,
albeit the elder was a doughtier horseman than the younger. So he
succeeded to the empire; when he ruled the land and lorded it over his
lieges with justice so exemplary that he was beloved by all the peoples
of his capital and of his kingdom. His name was King Shahryár,[3] and
he made his younger brother, Shah Zamán hight, King of Samarcand in
Barbarian-land. These two ceased not to abide in their several realms
and the law was ever carried out in their dominions; and each ruled his
own kingdom, with equity and fair-dealing to his subjects, in extreme
solace and enjoyment; and this condition continually endured for a
score of years. But at the end of the twentieth twelvemonth the elder
King yearned for a sight of his younger brother and felt that he must
look upon him once more. So he took counsel with his Wazir[4] about
visiting him, but the Minister, finding the project unadvisable,
recommended that a letter be written and a present be sent under his
charge to the younger brother with an invitation to visit the elder.
Having accepted this advice the King forthwith bade prepare handsome
gifts, such as horses with saddles of gem-encrusted gold; Mamelukes, or
white slaves; beautiful handmaids, high-breasted virgins, and splendid
stuffs and costly. He then wrote a letter to Shah Zaman expressing his
warm love and great wish to see him, ending with these words, "We
therefore hope of the favour and affection of the beloved brother that
he will condescend to bestir himself and turn his face us-wards.
Furthermore we have sent our Wazir to make all ordinance for the march,
and our one and only desire is to see thee ere we die; but if thou
delay or disappoint us we shall not survive the blow. Wherewith peace
be upon thee!" Then King Shahryar, having sealed the missive and given
it to the Wazir with the offerings aforementioned, commanded him to
shorten his skirts and strain his strength and make all expedition in
going and returning. "Harkening and obedience!" quoth the Minister, who
fell to making ready without stay and packed up his loads and prepared
all his requisites without delay. This occupied him three days, and on
the dawn of the fourth he took leave of his King and marched right
away, over desert and hill-way, stony waste and pleasant lea without
halting by night or by day. But whenever he entered a realm whose ruler
was subject to his Suzerain, where he was greeted with magnificent
gifts of gold and silver and all manner of presents fair and rare, he
would tarry there three days,[5] the term of the guest-rite; and, when
he left on the fourth, he would be honourably escorted for a whole
day's march. As soon as the Wazir drew near Shah Zaman's court in
Samarcand he despatched to report his arrival one of his high
officials, who presented himself before the King; and, kissing ground
between his hands, delivered his message. Hereupon the King commanded
sundry of his Grandees and Lords of his realm to fare forth and meet
his brother's Wazir at the distance of a full day's journey; which they
did, greeting him respectfully and wishing him all prosperity and
forming an escort and a procession. When he entered the city he
proceeded straightway to the palace, where he presented himself in the
royal presence; and, after kissing ground and praying for the King's
health and happiness and for victory over all his enemies, he informed
him that his brother was yearning to see him, and prayed for the
pleasure of a visit. He then delivered the letter which Shah Zaman took
from his hand and read: it contained sundry hints and allusions which
required thought; but, when the King had fully comprehended its import,
he said, "I hear and I obey the commands of the beloved brother!"
adding to the Wazir, "But we will not march till after the third day's
hospitality." He appointed for the Minister fitting quarters of the
palace; and, pitching tents for the troops, rationed them with whatever
they might require of meat and drink and other necessaries. On the
fourth day he made ready for wayfare and got together sumptuous
presents befitting his elder brother's majesty, and stablished his
chief Wazir viceroy of the land during his absence. Then he caused his
tents and camels and mules to be brought forth and encamped, with their
bales and loads, attendants and guards, within sight of the city, in
readiness to set out next morning for his brother's capital. But when
the night was half spent he bethought him that he had forgotten in his
palace somewhat which he should have brought with him, so he returned
privily and entered his apartments, where he found the Queen, his wife,
asleep on his own carpet-bed, embracing with both arms a black cook of
loathsome aspect and foul with kitchen grease and grime. When he saw
this the world waxed black before his sight and he said, "If such case
happen while I am yet within sight of the city what will be the doings
of this damned whore during my long absence at my brother's court?" So
he drew his scymitar and, cutting the two in four pieces with a single
blow, left them on the carpet and returned presently to his camp
without letting anyone know of what had happened. Then he gave orders
for immediate departure and set out at once and began his travel; but
he could not help thinking over his wife's treason and he kept ever
saying to himself, "How could she do this deed by me? How could she
work her own death?," till excessive grief seized him, his colour
changed to yellow, his body waxed weak and he was threatened with a
dangerous malady, such an one as bringeth men to die. So the Wazir
shortened his stages and tarried long at the watering-stations and did
his best to solace the King. Now when Shah Zaman drew near the capital
of his brother he despatched vaunt-couriers and messengers of glad
tidings to announce his arrival, and Shahryar came forth to meet him
with his Wazirs and Emirs and Lords and Grandees of his realm; and
saluted him and joyed with exceeding joy and caused the city to be
decorated in his honour. When, however, the brothers met, the elder
could not but see the change of complexion in the younger and
questioned him of his case whereto he replied, "'Tis caused by the
travails of wayfare and my case needs care, for I have suffered from
the change of water and air! but Allah be praised for reuniting me with
a brother so dear and so rare!" On this wise he dissembled and kept his
secret, adding, "O King of the time and Caliph of the tide, only toil
and moil have tinged my face yellow with bile and hath made my eyes
sink deep in my head." Then the two entered the capital in all honour;
and the elder brother lodged the younger in a palace overhanging the
pleasure garden; and, after a time, seeing his condition still
unchanged, he attributed it to his separation from his country and
kingdom. So he let him wend his own ways and asked no questions of him
till one day when he again said, "O my brother, I see that art grown
weaker of body and yellower of colour." "O my brother," replied Shah
Zaman "I have an internal wound:"[6] still he would not tell him what
he had witnessed in his wife. Thereupon Shahryar summoned doctors and
surgeons and bade them treat his brother according to the rules of art,
which they did for a whole month; but their sherbets and potions naught
availed, for he would dwell upon the deed of his wife, and despondency,
instead of diminishing, prevailed, and leechcraft treatment utterly
failed. One day his elder brother said to him, "I am going forth to
hunt and course and to take my pleasure and pastime; maybe this would
lighten thy heart." Shah Zaman, however, refused, saying, "O my
brother, my soul yearneth for naught of this sort and I entreat thy
favour to suffer me tarry quietly in this place, being wholly taken up
with my malady." So King Shah Zaman passed his night in the palace and,
next morning, when his brother had fared forth, he removed from his
room and sat him down at one of the lattice-windows overlooking the
pleasure grounds; and there he abode thinking with saddest thought over
his wife's betrayal and burning sighs issued from his tortured breast.
And as he continued in this case lo! a postern of the palace, which was
carefully kept private, swung open and out of it came twenty slave
girls surrounding his brother's wife who was wondrous fair, a model of
beauty and comeliness and symmetry and perfect loveliness and who paced
with the grace of a gazelle which panteth for the cooling stream.
Thereupon Shah Zaman drew back from the window, but he kept the bevy in
sight espying them from a place whence he could not be espied. They
walked under the very lattice and advanced a little way into the garden
till they came to a jetting fountain amiddlemost a great basin of
water; then they stripped off their clothes and behold, ten of them
were women, concubines of the King, and the other ten were white
slaves. Then they all paired off, each with each: but the Queen, who
was left alone, presently cried out in a loud voice, "Here to me, O my
lord Saeed!" and then sprang with a drop-leap from one of the trees a
big slobbering blackamoor with rolling eyes which showed the whites, a
truly hideous sight.[7] He walked boldly up to her and threw his arms
round her neck while she embraced him as warmly; then he bussed her and
winding his legs round hers, as a button-loop clasps a button, he threw
her and enjoyed her. On like wise did the other slaves with the girls
till all had satisfied their passions, and they ceased not from kissing
and clipping, coupling and carousing till day began to wane; when the
Mamelukes rose from the damsels' bosoms and the blackamoor slave
dismounted from the Queen's breast; the men resumed their disguises and
all, except the negro who swarmed up the tree, entered the palace and
closed the postern-door as before. Now, when Shah Zaman saw this
conduct of his sister-in-law he said in himself, "By Allah, my calamity
is lighter than this! My brother is a greater King among the kings than
I am, yet this infamy goeth on in his very palace, and his wife is in
love with that filthiest of filthy slaves. But this only showeth that
they all do it[8] and that there is no woman but who cuckoldeth her
husband, then the curse of Allah upon one and all and upon the fools
who lean against them for support or who place the reins of conduct in
their hands. So he put away his melancholy and despondency, regret and
repine, and allayed his sorrow by constantly repeating those words,
adding "'Tis my conviction that no man in this world is safe from their
malice!" When supper-time came they brought him the trays and he ate
with voracious appetite, for he had long refrained from meat, feeling
unable to touch any dish however dainty. Then he returned grateful
thanks to Almighty Allah, praising Him and blessing Him, and he spent a
most restful night, it having been long since he had savoured the sweet
food of sleep. Next day he broke his fast heartily and began to recover
health and strength, and presently regained excellent condition. His
brother came back from the chase ten days after, when he rode out to
meet him and they saluted each other; and when King Shahryar looked at
King Shah Zaman he saw how the hue of health had returned to him, how
his face had waxed ruddy and how he ate with an appetite after his late
scanty diet. He wondered much and said, "O my brother, I was so anxious
that thou wouldst join me in hunting and chasing, and wouldst take thy
pleasure and pastime in my dominion!" He thanked him and excused
himself; then the two took horse and rode into the city and, when they
were seated at their ease in the palace, the food-trays were set before
them and they ate their sufficiency. After the meats were removed and
they had washed their hands, King Shahryar turned to his brother and
said, "My mind is overcome with wonderment at thy condition. I was
desirous to carry thee with me to the chase but I saw thee changed in
hue, pale and wan to view, and in sore trouble of mind too. But now
Alhamdolillah—glory be to God!—I see thy natural colour hath returned
to thy face and that thou art again in the best of case. It was my
belief that thy sickness came of severance from thy family and friends,
and absence from capital and country, so I refrained from troubling
thee with further questions. But now I beseech thee to expound to me
the cause of thy complaint and thy change of colour, and to explain the
reason of thy recovery and the return to the ruddy hue of health which
I am wont to view. So speak out and hide naught! When Shah Zaman heard
this he bowed ground-wards awhile his head, then raised it and said, "I
will tell thee what caused my complaint and my loss of colour; but
excuse my acquainting thee with the cause of its return to me and the
reason of my complete recovery: indeed I pray thee not to press me for
a reply." Said Shahryar, who was much surprised by these words, "Let me
hear first what produced thy pallor and thy poor condition." "Know,
then, O my brother," rejoined Shah Zaman, "that when thou sentest thy
Wazir with the invitation to place myself between thy hands, I made
ready and marched out of my city; but presently I minded me having left
behind me in the palace a string of jewels intended as a gift to thee.
I returned for it alone and found my wife on my carpet-bed and in the
arms of a hideous black cook. So I slew the twain and came to thee, yet
my thoughts brooded over this business and I lost my bloom and became
weak. But excuse me if I still refuse to tell thee what was the reason
of my complexion returning." Shahryar shook his head, marvelling with
extreme marvel, and with the fire of wrath flaming up from his heart,
he cried, "Indeed, the malice of woman is mighty!" Then he took refuge
from them with Allah and said, "In very sooth, O my brother, thou hast
escaped many an evil by putting thy wife to death,[9] and right
excusable were thy wrath and grief for such mishap which never yet
befel crowned King like thee. By Allah, had the case been mine, I would
not have been satisfied without slaying a thousand women and that way
madness lies! But now praise be to Allah who hath tempered to thee thy
tribulation, and needs must thou acquaint me with that which so
suddenly restored to thee complexion and health, and explain to me what
causeth this concealment." "O King of the Age, again I pray thee excuse
my so doing!" "Nay, but thou must." "I fear, O my brother, lest the
recital cause thee more anger and sorrow than afflicted me." "That were
but a better reason," quoth Shahryar, "for telling me the whole
history, and I conjure thee by Allah not to keep back aught from me."
Thereupon Shah Zaman told him all he had seen, from commencement to
conclusion, ending with these words, "When I beheld thy calamity and
the treason of thy wife, O my brother, and I reflected that thou art in
years my senior and in sovereignty my superior, mine own sorrow was
belittled by the comparison, and my mind recovered tone and temper: so
throwing off melancholy and despondency, I was able to eat and drink
and sleep, and thus I speedily regained health and strength. Such is
the truth and the whole truth." When King Shahryar heard this he waxed
wroth with exceeding wrath, and rage was like to strangle him; but
presently he recovered himself and said, "O my brother, I would not
give thee the lie in this matter, but I cannot credit it till I see it
with mine own eyes." "An thou wouldst look upon thy calamity," quoth
Shah Zaman, "rise at once and make ready again for hunting and
coursing,[10] and then hide thyself with me, so shalt thou witness it
and thine eyes shall verify it." "True," quoth the King; whereupon he
let make proclamation of his intent to travel, and the troops and tents
fared forth without the city, camping within sight, and Shahryar
sallied out with them and took seat amidmost his host, bidding the
slaves admit no man to him. When night came on he summoned his Wazir
and said to him, "Sit thou in my stead and let none wot of my absence
till the term of three days." Then the brothers disguised themselves
and returned by night with all secrecy to the palace, where they passed
the dark hours: and at dawn they seated themselves at the lattice
overlooking the pleasure grounds, when presently the Queen and her
handmaids came out as before, and passing under the windows made for
the fountain. Here they stripped, ten of them being men to ten women,
and the King's wife cried out, "Where art thou, O Saeed?" The hideous
blackamoor dropped from the tree straightway; and, rushing into her
arms without stay or delay, cried out, "I am Sa'ad al-Din Saood!"[11]
The lady laughed heartily, and all fell to satisfying their lusts, and
remained so occupied for a couple of hours, when the white slaves rose
up from the handmaidens' breasts and the blackamoor dismounted from the
Queen's bosom: then they went into the basin and, after performing the
Ghusl, or complete ablution, donned their dresses and retired as they
had done before. When King Shahryar saw this infamy of his wife and
concubines he became as one distraught and he cried out, "Only in utter
solitude can man be safe from the doings of this vile world! By Allah,
life is naught but one great wrong." Presently he added, "Do not thwart
me, O my brother, in what I propose;" and the other answered, "I will
not." So he said, "Let us up as we are and depart forthright hence, for
we have no concern with Kingship, and let us over-wander Allah's earth,
worshipping the Almighty till we find some one to whom the like
calamity hath happened; and if we find none then will death be more
welcome to us than life." So the two brothers issued from a second
private postern of the palace; and they never stinted wayfaring by day
and by night, until they reached a tree a-middle of a meadow hard by a
spring of sweet water on the shore of the salt sea. Both drank of it
and sat down to take their rest; and when an hour of the day had gone
by, lo! they heard a mighty roar and uproar in the middle of the main
as though the heavens were falling upon the earth; and the sea brake
with waves before them, and from it towered a black pillar, which grew
and grew till it rose sky-wards and began making for that meadow.
Seeing it, they waxed fearful exceedingly and climbed to the top of the
tree, which was a lofty; whence they gazed to see what might be the
matter. And behold, it was a Jinni,[12] huge of height and burly of
breast and bulk, broad of brow and black of blee, bearing on his head a
coffer of crystal. He strode to land, wading through the deep, and
coming to the tree whereupon were the two Kings, seated himself beneath
it. He then set down the coffer on its bottom and out of it drew a
casket, with seven padlocks of steel, which he unlocked with seven keys
of steel he took from beside his thigh, and out of it a young lady to
come was seen, white-skinned and of winsomest mien, of stature fine and
thin, and bright as though a moon of the fourteenth night she had been,
or the sun raining lively sheen. Even so the poet Utayyah hath
excellently said:—
She rose like the morn as she shone through the night ✿ And she gilded
the grove with her gracious sight:
From her radiance the sun taketh increase when ✿ She unveileth and
shameth the moonshine bright.
Bow down all beings between her hands ✿ As she showeth charms with her
veil undight.
And she floodeth cities[13] with torrent tears ✿ When she flasheth her
look of leven-light.
[Illustration]
The Jinni seated her under the tree by his side and looking at her
said, "O choicest love of this heart of mine! O dame of noblest line,
whom I snatched away on thy bride night that none might prevent me
taking thy maidenhead or tumble thee before I did, and whom none save
myself hath loved or hath enjoyed: O my sweetheart! I would lief sleep
a little while." He then laid his head upon the lady's thighs; and,
stretching out his legs which extended down to the sea, slept and
snored and snarked like the roll of thunder. Presently she raised her
head towards the tree-top and saw the two Kings perched near the
summit; then she softly lifted off her lap the Jinni's pate which she
was tired of supporting and placed it upon the ground; then standing
upright under the tree signed to the Kings, "Come ye down, ye two, and
fear naught from this Ifrít."[14] They were in a terrible fright when
they found that she had seen them and answered her in the same manner,
"Allah upon thee[15] and by thy modesty, O lady, excuse us from coming
down!" But she rejoined by saying, "Allah upon you both that ye come
down forthright, and if ye come not, I will rouse upon you my husband,
this Ifrit, and he shall do you to die by the illest of deaths;" and
she continued making signals to them. So, being afraid, they came down
to her and she rose before them and said, "Stroke me a strong stroke,
without stay or delay, otherwise will I arouse and set upon you this
Ifrit who shall slay you straightway." They said to her, "O our lady,
we conjure thee by Allah, let us off this work, for we are fugitives
from such and in extreme dread and terror of this thy husband. How then
can we do it in such a way as thou desirest?" "Leave this talk: it
needs must be so;" quoth she, and she swore them by Him[16] who raised
the skies on high, without prop or pillar, that, if they worked not her
will, she would cause them to be slain and cast into the sea. Whereupon
out of fear King Shahryar said to King Shah Zaman, "O my brother, do
thou what she biddeth thee do;" but he replied, "I will not do it till
thou do it before I do." And they began disputing about futtering her.
Then quoth she to the twain, "How is it I see you disputing and
demurring; if ye do not come forward like men and do the deed of kind
ye two, I will arouse upon you the Ifrit." At this, by reason of their
sore dread of the Jinni, both did by her what she bade them do; and,
when they had dismounted from her, she said, "Well done!" She then took
from her pocket a purse and drew out a knotted string, whereon were
strung five hundred and seventy[17] seal rings, and asked, "Know ye
what be these?" They answered her saying, "We know not!" Then quoth
she; "These be the signets of five hundred and seventy men who have all
futtered me upon the horns of this foul, this foolish, this filthy
Ifrit; so give me also your two seal rings, ye pair of brothers. When
they had drawn their two rings from their hands and given them to her,
she said to them, "Of a truth this Ifrit bore me off on my bride-night,
and put me into a casket and set the casket in a coffer and to the
coffer he affixed seven strong padlocks of steel and deposited me on
the deep bottom of the sea that raves, dashing and clashing with waves;
and guarded me so that I might remain chaste and honest, quotha! that
none save himself might have connexion with me. But I have lain under
as many of my kind as I please, and this wretched Jinni wotteth not
that Destiny may not be averted nor hindered by aught, and that whatso
woman willeth the same she fulfilleth however man nilleth. Even so
saith one of them:—
Rely not on women; ✿ Trust not to their hearts,
Whose joys and whose sorrows ✿ Are hung to their parts!
Lying love they will swear thee ✿ Whence guile ne'er departs:
Take Yusuf[18] for sample ✿ 'Ware sleights and 'ware smarts!
Iblis[19] ousted Adam ✿ (See ye not?) thro' their arts.
And another saith:—
"Stint thy blame, man! 'Twill drive to a passion without bound; ✿ My
fault is not so heavy as fault in it hast found.
If true lover I become, then to me there cometh not ✿ Save what
happened unto many in the by-gone stound.
For wonderful is he and right worthy of our praise ✿ Who from wiles of
female wits kept him safe and kept him sound."
Hearing these words they marvelled with exceeding marvel, and she went
from them to the Ifrit and, taking up his head on her thigh as before,
said to them softly, "Now wend your ways and bear yourselves beyond the
bounds of his malice." So they fared forth saying either to other,
"Allah! Allah!" and, "There be no Majesty and there be no Might save in
Allah, the Glorious, the Great; and with Him we seek refuge from
women's malice and sleight, for of a truth it hath no mate in might.
Consider, O my brother, the ways of this marvellous lady with an Ifrit
who is so much more powerful than we are. Now since there hath happened
to him a greater mishap than that which befel us and which should bear
us abundant consolation, so return we to our countries and capitals,
and let us decide never to intermarry with womankind and presently we
will show them what will be our action." Thereupon they rode back to
the tents of King Shahryar, which they reached on the morning of the
third day; and, having mustered the Wazirs and Emirs, the Chamberlains
and high officials, he gave a robe of honour to his Viceroy and issued
orders for an immediate return to the city. There he sat him upon his
throne and sending for the Chief Minister, the father of the two
damsels who (Inshallah!) will presently be mentioned, he said, "I
command thee to take my wife and smite her to death; for she hath
broken her plight and her faith." So he carried her to the place of
execution and did her die. Then King Shahryar took brand in hand and
repairing to the Serraglio slew all the concubines and their
Mamelukes.[20] He also sware himself by a binding oath that whatever
wife he married he would abate her maidenhead at night and slay her
next morning to make sure of his honour; "For," said he, "there never
was nor is there one chaste woman upon the face of earth." Then Shah
Zaman prayed for permission to fare homewards; and he went forth
equipped and escorted and travelled till he reached his own country.
Meanwhile Shahryar commanded his Wazir to bring him the bride of the
night that he might go in to her; so he produced a most beautiful girl,
the daughter of one of the Emirs and the King went in unto her at
eventide and when morning dawned he bade his Minister strike off her
head; and the Wazir did accordingly for fear of the Sultan. On this
wise he continued for the space of three years; marrying a maiden every
night and killing her the next morning, till folk raised an outcry
against him and cursed him, praying Allah utterly to destroy him and
his rule; and women made an uproar and mothers wept and parents fled
with their daughters till there remained not in the city a young person
fit for carnal copulation. Presently the King ordered his Chief Wazir,
the same who was charged with the executions, to bring him a virgin as
was his wont; and the Minister went forth and searched and found none;
so he returned home in sorrow and anxiety fearing for his life from the
King. Now he had two daughters, Shahrázád and Dunyázád hight,[21] of
whom the elder had perused the books, annals and legends of preceding
Kings, and the stories, examples and instances of by-gone men and
things; indeed it was said that she had collected a thousand books of
histories relating to antique races and departed rulers. She had
perused the works of the poets and knew them by heart; she had studied
philosophy and the sciences, arts and accomplishments; and she was
pleasant and polite, wise and witty, well read and well bred. Now on
that day she said to her father, "Why do I see thee thus changed and
laden with cark and care? Concerning this matter quoth one of the
poets:—
Tell whoso hath sorrow ✿ Grief never shall last:
E'en as joy hath no morrow ✿ So woe shall go past."
When the Wazir heard from his daughter these words he related to her,
from first to last, all that had happened between him and the King.
Thereupon said she, "By Allah, O my father, how long shall this
slaughter of women endure? Shall I tell thee what is in my mind in
order to save both sides from destruction?" "Say on, O my daughter,"
quoth he, and quoth she, "I wish thou wouldst give me in marriage to
this King Shahryar; either I shall live or I shall be a ransom for the
virgin daughters of Moslems and the cause of their deliverance from his
hands and thine."[22] "Allah upon thee!" cried he in wrath exceeding
that lacked no feeding, "O scanty of wit, expose not thy life to such
peril! How durst thou address me in words so wide from wisdom and
un-far from foolishness? Know that one who lacketh experience in
worldly matters readily falleth into misfortune; and whoso considereth
not the end keepeth not the world to friend, and the vulgar say:—I was
lying at mine ease: nought but my officiousness brought me unease."
"Needs must thou," she broke in, "make me a doer of this good deed, and
let him kill me an he will: I shall only die a ransom for others." "O
my daughter," asked he, "and how shall that profit thee when thou shalt
have thrown away thy life?" and she answered, "O my father it must be,
come of it what will!" The Wazir was again moved to fury and blamed and
reproached her, ending with, "In very deed I fear lest the same befal
thee which befel the Bull and the Ass with the Husbandman." "And what,"
asked she, "befel them, O my father?" Whereupon the Wazir began the
_TALE OF THE BULL[23] AND THE ASS._
Know, O my daughter, that there was once a merchant who owned much
money and many men, and who was rich in cattle and camels; he had also
a wife and family and he dwelt in the country, being experienced in
husbandry and devoted to agriculture. Now Allah Most High had endowed
him with understanding the tongues of beasts and birds of every kind,
but under pain of death if he divulged the gift to any. So he kept it
secret for very fear. He had in his cowhouse a Bull and an Ass each
tethered in his own stall one hard by the other. As the merchant was
sitting near hand one day with his servants and his children were
playing about him, he heard the Bull say to the Ass, "Hail and health
to thee O Father of Waking![24] for that thou enjoyest rest and good
ministering; all under thee is clean-swept and fresh-sprinkled; men
wait upon thee and feed thee, and thy provaunt is sifted barley and thy
drink pure spring-water, while I (unhappy creature!) am led forth in
the middle of the night, when they set on my neck the plough and a
something called Yoke; and I tire at cleaving the earth from dawn of
day till set of sun. I am forced to do more than I can and to bear all
manner of ill-treatment from night to night; after which they take me
back with my sides torn, my neck flayed, my legs aching and mine
eyelids sored with tears. Then they shut me up in the byre and throw me
beans and crushed-straw,[25] mixed with dirt and chaff; and I lie in
dung and filth and foul stinks through the livelong night. But thou art
ever in a place swept and sprinkled and cleansed, and thou art always
lying at ease, save when it happens (and seldom enough!) that the
master hath some business, when he mounts thee and rides thee to town
and returns with thee forthright. So it happens that I am toiling and
distrest while thou takest thine ease and thy rest; thou sleepest while
I am sleepless; I hunger still while thou eatest thy fill, and I win
contempt while thou winnest good will." When the Bull ceased speaking,
the Ass turned towards him and said, "O Broad-o'-Brow,[26] O thou lost
one! he lied not who dubbed thee Bull-head, for thou, O father of a
Bull, hast neither forethought nor contrivance; thou art the simplest
of simpletons,[27] and thou knowest naught of good advisers. Hast thou
not heard the saying of the wise:—
For others these hardships and labours I bear ✿ And theirs is the
pleasure and mine is the care;
As the bleacher who blacketh his brow in the sun ✿ To whiten the
raiment which other men wear."[28]
But thou, O fool, art full of zeal and thou toilest and molest before
the master; and thou tearest and wearest and slayest thyself for the
comfort of another. Hast thou never heard the saw that saith, None to
guide and from the way go wide? Thou wendest forth at the call to
dawn-prayer and thou returnest not till sundown; and through the
livelong day thou endurest all manner hardships; to wit, beating and
belabouring and bad language. Now hearken to me, Sir Bull! when they
tie thee to thy stinking manger, thou pawest the ground with thy
forehand and lashest out with thy hind hoofs and pushest with thy horns
and bellowest aloud, so they deem thee contented. And when they throw
thee thy fodder thou fallest on it with greed and hastenest to line thy
fair fat paunch. But if thou accept my advice it will be better for
thee and thou wilt lead an easier life even than mine. When thou goest
a-field and they lay the thing called Yoke on thy neck, lie down and
rise not again though haply they swinge thee; and, if thou rise, lie
down a second time; and when they bring thee home and offer thee thy
beans, fall backwards and only sniff at thy meat and withdraw thee and
taste it not, and be satisfied with thy crushed straw and chaff; and on
this wise feign thou art sick, and cease not doing thus for a day or
two days or even three days, so shalt thou have rest from toil and
moil." When the Bull heard these words he knew the Ass to be his friend
and thanked him, saying, "Right is thy rede;" and prayed that all
blessings might requite him, and cried, "O Father Wakener![29] thou
hast made up for my failings." (Now[30] the merchant, O my daughter,
understood all that passed between them.) Next day the driver took the
Bull, and settling the plough on his neck,[31] made him work as wont;
but the Bull began to shirk his ploughing, according to the advice of
the Ass, and the ploughman drubbed him till he broke the yoke and made
off; but the man caught him up and leathered him till he despaired of
his life. Not the less, however, would he do nothing but stand still
and drop down till the evening. Then the herd led him home and stabled
him in his stall: but he drew back from his manger and neither stamped
nor ramped nor butted nor bellowed as he was wont to do; whereat the
man wondered. He brought him the beans and husks, but he sniffed at
them and left them and lay down as far from them as he could and passed
the whole night fasting. The peasant came next morning; and, seeing the
manger full of beans, the crushed-straw untasted and the ox lying on
his back in sorriest plight, with legs outstretched and swollen belly,
he was concerned for him, and said to himself, "By Allah, he hath
assuredly sickened and this is the cause why he would not plough
yesterday." Then he went to the merchant and reported, "O my master,
the Bull is ailing; he refused his fodder last night; nay more, he hath
not tasted a scrap of it this morning." Now the merchant-farmer
understood what all this meant, because he had overheard the talk
between the Bull and the Ass, so quoth he, "Take that rascal donkey,
and set the yoke on his neck, and bind him to the plough and make him
do Bull's work." Thereupon the ploughman took the Ass, and worked him
through the livelong day at the Bull's task; and, when he failed for
weakness, he made him eat stick till his ribs were sore and his sides
were sunken and his neck was flayed by the yoke; and when he came home
in the evening he could hardly drag his limbs along, either forehand or
hind-legs. But as for the Bull, he had passed the day lying at full
length and had eaten his fodder with an excellent appetite, and he
ceased not calling down blessings on the Ass for his good advice,
unknowing what had come to him on his account. So when night set in and
the Ass returned to the byre the Bull rose up before him in honour, and
said, "May good tidings gladden thy heart, O Father Wakener! through
thee I have rested all this day and I have eaten my meat in peace and
quiet." But the Ass returned no reply, for wrath and heart-burning and
fatigue and the beating he had gotten; and he repented with the most
grievous of repentance; and quoth he to himself: "This cometh of my
folly in giving good counsel; as the saw saith, I was in joy and
gladness, nought save my officiousness brought me this sadness. But I
will bear in mind my innate worth and the nobility of my nature; for
what saith the poet?
Shall the beautiful hue of the Basil[32] fail ✿ Tho' the beetle's foot
o'er the Basil crawl?
And though spider and fly be its denizens ✿ Shall disgrace attach to
the royal hall?
The cowrie,[33] I ken, shall have currency ✿ But the pearl's clear
drop, shall its value fall?
And now I must take thought and put a trick upon him and return him to
his place, else I die." Then he went aweary to his manger, while the
Bull thanked him and blessed him. And even so, O my daughter, said the
Wazir, thou wilt die for lack of wits; therefore sit thee still and say
naught and expose not thy life to such stress; for, by Allah, I offer
thee the best advice, which cometh of my affection and kindly
solicitude for thee. "O my father," she answered, "needs must I go up
to this King and be married to him." Quoth he, "Do not this deed;" and
quoth she, "Of a truth I will:" whereat he rejoined, "If thou be not
silent and bide still, I will do with thee even what the merchant did
with his wife." "And what did he?" asked she. Know then, answered the
Wazir, that after the return of the Ass the merchant came out on the
terrace-roof with his wife and family, for it was a moonlit night and
the moon at its full. Now the terrace overlooked the cowhouse and
presently, as he sat there with his children playing about him, the
trader heard the Ass say to the Bull, "Tell me, O father Broad o' Brow,
what thou purposest to do to-morrow?" The Bull answered, "What but
continue to follow thy counsel, O Aliboron? Indeed it was as good as
good could be and it hath given me rest and repose; nor will I now
depart from it one tittle: so, when they bring me my meat, I will
refuse it and blow out my belly and counterfeit crank." The Ass shook
his head and said, "Beware of so doing, O Father of a Bull!" The Bull
asked, "Why," and the Ass answered, "Know that I am about to give thee
the best of counsel, for verily I heard our owner say to the herd, If
the Bull rise not from his place to do his work this morning and if he
retire from his fodder this day, make him over to the butcher that he
may slaughter him and give his flesh to the poor, and fashion a bit of
leather[34] from his hide. Now I fear for thee on account of this. So
take my advice ere a calamity befal thee; and when they bring thee thy
fodder eat it and rise up and bellow and paw the ground, or our master
will assuredly slay thee: and peace be with thee!" Thereupon the Bull
arose and lowed aloud and thanked the Ass, and said, "To-morrow I will
readily go forth with them;" and he at once ate up all his meat and
even licked the manger. (All this took place and the owner was
listening to their talk.) Next morning the trader and his wife went to
the Bull's crib and sat down, and the driver came and led forth the
Bull who, seeing his owner, whisked his tail and brake wind, and
frisked about so lustily that the merchant laughed a loud laugh and
kept laughing till he fell on his back. His wife asked him, "Whereat
laughest thou with such loud laughter as this?"; and he answered her,
"I laughed at a secret something which I have heard and seen but cannot
say lest I die my death." She returned, "Perforce thou must discover it
to me, and disclose the cause of thy laughing even if thou come by thy
death!" But he rejoined, "I cannot reveal what beasts and birds say in
their lingo for fear I die. Then quoth she, "By Allah, thou liest! this
is a mere pretext: thou laughest at none save me, and now thou wouldest
hide somewhat from me. But by the Lord of the Heavens! an thou disclose
not the cause I will no longer cohabit with thee: I will leave thee at
once." And she sat down and cried. Whereupon quoth the merchant, "Woe
betide thee! what means thy weeping? Fear Allah and leave these words
and query me no more questions." "Needs must thou tell me the cause of
that laugh," said she, and he replied, "Thou wottest that when I prayed
Allah to vouchsafe me understanding of the tongues of beasts and birds,
I made a vow never to disclose the secret to any Under pain of dying on
the spot." "No matter," cried she, "tell me what secret passed between
the Bull and the Ass and die this very hour an thou be so minded;" and
she ceased not to importune him till he was worn out and clean
distraught. So at last he said, "Summon thy father and thy mother and
our kith and kin and sundry of our neighbours," which she did; and he
sent for the Kazi[35] and his assessors, intending to make his will and
reveal to her his secret and die the death; for he loved her with love
exceeding because she was his cousin, the daughter of his father's
brother, and the mother of his children, and he had lived with her a
life of an hundred and twenty years. Then, having assembled all the
family and the folk of his neighbourhood, he said to them, "By me there
hangeth a strange story, and 'tis such that if I discover the secret to
any, I am a dead man." Therefore quoth every one of those present to
the woman, "Allah upon thee, leave this sinful obstinacy and recognise
the right of this matter, lest haply thy husband and the father of thy
children die." But she rejoined, "I will not turn from it till he tell
me, even though he come by his death." So they ceased to urge her; and
the trader rose from amongst them and repaired to an outhouse to
perform the Wuzu-ablution,[36] and he purposed thereafter to return and
to tell them his secret and to die. Now, daughter Shahrazad, that
merchant had in his out-houses some fifty hens under one cock, and
whilst making ready to farewell his folk he heard one of his many
farm-dogs thus address in his own tongue the Cock, who was flapping his
wings and crowing lustily and jumping from one hen's back to another
and treading all in turn, saying "O Chanticleer! how mean is thy wit
and how shameless is thy conduct! Be he disappointed who brought thee
up?[37] Art thou not ashamed of thy doings on such a day as this?" "And
what," asked the Rooster, "hath occurred this day?," when the Dog
answered, "Dost thou not know that our master is this day making ready
for his death? His wife is resolved that he shall disclose the secret
taught to him by Allah, and the moment he so doeth he shall surely die.
We dogs are all a-mourning; but thou clappest thy wings and clarionest
thy loudest and treadest hen after hen. Is this an hour for pastime and
pleasuring? Art thou not ashamed of thyself?"[38] "Then by Allah,"
quoth the Cock, "is our master a lack-wit and a man scanty of sense: if
he cannot manage matters with a single wife, his life is not worth
prolonging. Now I have some fifty Dame Partlets; and I please this and
provoke that and starve one and stuff another; and through my good
governance they are all well under my control. This our master
pretendeth to wit and wisdom, and he hath but one wife, and yet knoweth
not how to manage her." Asked the Dog, "What then, O Cock, should the
master do to win clear of his strait?" "He should arise forthright,"
answered the Cock, "and take some twigs from yon mulberry-tree and give
her a regular back-basting and rib-roasting till she cry:—I repent, O
my lord! I will never ask thee a question as long as I live! Then let
him beat her once more and soundly, and when he shall have done this he
shall sleep free from care and enjoy life. But this master of ours owns
neither sense nor judgment." "Now, daughter Shahrazad," continued the
Wazir, "I will do to thee as did that husband to that wife." Said
Shahrazad, "And what did he do?" He replied, "When the merchant heard
the wise words spoken by his Cock to his Dog, he arose in haste and
sought his wife's chamber, after cutting for her some mulberry-twigs
and hiding them there; and then he called to her, "Come into the closet
that I may tell thee the secret while no one seeth me and then die."
She entered with him and he locked the door and came down upon her with
so sound a beating of back and shoulders, ribs, arms and legs, saying
the while, "Wilt thou ever be asking questions about what concerneth
thee not?" that she was well nigh senseless. Presently she cried out,
"I am of the repentant! By Allah, I will ask thee no more questions,
and indeed I repent sincerely and wholesomely." Then she kissed his
hand and feet and he led her out of the room submissive as a wife
should be. Her parents and all the company rejoiced and sadness and
mourning were changed into joy and gladness. Thus the merchant learnt
family discipline from his Cock and he and his wife lived together the
happiest of lives until death. And thou also, O my daughter! continued
the Wazir, "Unless thou turn from this matter I will do by thee what
that trader did to his wife." But she answered him with much decision,
"I will never desist, O my father, nor shall this tale change my
purpose. Leave such talk and tattle. I will not listen to thy words
and, if thou deny me, I will marry myself to him despite the nose of
thee. And first I will go up to the King myself and alone and I will
say to him:—I prayed my father to wive me with thee, but he refused,
being resolved to disappoint his lord, grudging the like of me to the
like of thee." Her father asked, "Must this needs be?" and she
answered, "Even so." Hereupon the Wazir being weary of lamenting and
contending, persuading and dissuading her, all to no purpose, went up
to King Shahryar and, after blessing him and kissing the ground before
him, told him all about his dispute with his daughter from first to
last and how he designed to bring her to him that night. The King
wondered with exceeding wonder; for he had made an especial exception
of the Wazir's daughter, and said to him, "O most faithful of
Counsellors, how is this? Thou wottest that I have sworn by the Raiser
of the Heavens that after I have gone into her this night I shall say
to thee on the morrow's morning:—Take her and slay her! and, if thou
slay her not, I will slay thee in her stead without fail." "Allah guide
thee to glory and lengthen thy life, O King of the age," answered the
Wazir, "it is she that hath so determined: all this have I told her and
more; but she will not hearken to me and she persisteth in passing this
coming night with the King's Majesty." So Shahryar rejoiced greatly and
said, "'Tis well; go get her ready and this night bring her to me." The
Wazir returned to his daughter and reported to her the command saying,
"Allah make not thy father desolate by thy loss!" But Shahrazad
rejoiced with exceeding joy and gat ready all she required and said to
her younger sister, Dunyazad, "Note well what directions I entrust to
thee! When I have gone into the King I will send for thee and when thou
comest to me and seest that he hath had his carnal will of me, do thou
say to me:—O my sister, an thou be not sleepy, relate to me some new
story, delectable and delightsome, the better to speed our waking
hours;" and I will tell thee a tale which shall be our deliverance, if
so Allah please, and which shall turn the King from his blood-thirsty
custom." Dunyazad answered "With love and gladness." So when it was
night their father the Wazir carried Shahrazad to the King who was
gladdened at the sight and asked, "Hast thou brought me my need?" and
he answered, "I have." But when the King took her to his bed and fell
to toying with her and wished to go in to her she wept; which made him
ask, "What aileth thee?" She replied, "O King of the age, I have a
younger sister and lief would I take leave of her this night before I
see the dawn." So he sent at once for Dunyazad and she came and kissed
the ground between his hands, when he permitted her to take her seat
near the foot of the couch. Then the King arose and did away with his
bride's maidenhead and the three fell asleep. But when it was midnight
Shahrazad awoke and signalled to her sister Dunyazad who sat up and
said, "Allah upon thee, O my sister, recite to us some new story,
delightsome and delectable, wherewith to while away the waking hours of
our latter night."[39] "With joy and goodly gree," answered Shahrazad,
"if this pious and auspicious King permit me." "Tell on," quoth the
King who chanced to be sleepless and restless and therefore was pleased
with the prospect of hearing her story. So Shahrazad rejoiced; and
thus, on the first night of the Thousand Nights and a Night, she began
with the
-----
Footnote 1:
Ailaho A'alam, a deprecatory formula, used because the writer is
going to indulge in a series of what may possibly be untruths.
Footnote 2:
The "Sons of Sásán" are the famous Sassanides whose dynasty ended
with the Arabian Conquest (A.D. 641). "Island" (Jazírah) in Arabic
also means "Peninsula," and causes much confusion in geographical
matters.
Footnote 3:
Shahryár not Shahriyar (Persian)="City-friend." The Bulak edition
corrupts it to Shahrbáz (City-hawk), and the Breslau to Shahrbán or
"Defender of the City," like Marz-ban=Warden of the Marshes. Shah
Zamán (Persian)="King of the Age:" Galland prefers Shah Zenan, or
"King of women," and the Bul. edit. changes it to Shah Rummán,
"Pomegranate King." Al-Ajam denotes all regions not Arab (Gentiles
opposed to Jews, Mlechchhas to Hindus, Tajiks to Turks, etc., etc.),
and especially Persia; Ajami (a man of Ajam) being an equivalent of
the Gr. Βάρβαρος. See Vol. ii., p. 1.
Footnote 4:
Galland writes "Vizier," a wretched frenchification of a mincing
Turkish mispronunciation; Torrens, "Wuzeer" (Anglo-Indian and
Gilchristian); Lane, "Wezeer" (Egyptian or rather Cairene); Payne,
"Vizier," according to his system; Burckhardt (Proverbs), "Vizír;"
and Mr. Keith-Falconer, "Vizir." The root is popularly supposed to be
"wizr" (burden) and the meaning "Minister;" Wazír al-Wuzará being
"Premier." In the Koran (chapt. xx., 30) Moses says, "Give me a Wazir
of my family, Harun (Aaron) my brother." Sale, followed by the
excellent version of the Rev. J. M. Rodwell, translates a
"Counsellor," and explains by "One who has the chief administration
of affairs under a prince." But both learned Koranists learnt their
Orientalism in London, and, like such students generally, fail only
upon the easiest points, familiar to all old dwellers in the East.
Footnote 5:
This three-days term (rest-day, drest-day and departure day) seems to
be an instinct-made rule in hospitality. Among Moslems it is a Sunnat
or practice of the Prophet.
Footnote 6:
_i.e._, I am sick at heart.
Footnote 7:
Debauched women prefer negroes on account of the size of their parts.
I measured one man in Somali-land who, when quiescent, numbered
nearly six inches. This is a characteristic of the negro race and of
African animals: _e.g._ the horse; whereas the pure Arab, man and
beast, is below the average of Europe; one of the best proofs by the
by, that the Egyptian is not an Asiatic, but a negro partially
whitewashed. Moreover, these imposing parts do not increase
proportionally during erection; consequently, the "deed of kind"
takes a much longer time and adds greatly to the woman's enjoyment.
In my time no honest Hindi Moslem would take his womenfolk to
Zanzibar on account of the huge attractions and enormous temptations
there and thereby offered to them. Upon the subject of
Imsák=retention of semen and "prolongation of pleasure," I shall find
it necessary to say more.
Footnote 8:
The very same words were lately spoken in England proving the eternal
truth of The Nights which the ignorant call "downright lies."
Footnote 9:
The Arab's _Tue la!_
Footnote 10:
Arab. "Sayd wa kanas": the former usually applied to fishing; hence
Sayda (Sidon)=fish-town. But noble Arabs (except the Caliph Al-Amin)
do not fish; so here it means simply "sport," chasing, coursing,
birding (oiseler), and so forth.
Footnote 11:
In the Mac. Edit, the negro is called "Mas'úd"; here he utters a kind
of war-cry and plays upon the name, Sa'ád, Sa'íd, Sa'úd, and Mas'ud,
all being derived from one root, "Sa'ad"=auspiciousness, prosperity.
Footnote 12:
The Arab singular (whence the French "génie"); fem. Jinniyah; the Div
and Rakshah of old Guebre-land and the "Rakshasa," or "Yaksha," of
Hinduism. It would be interesting to trace the evident connection, by
no means "accidental," of "Jinn" with the "Genius" who came to the
Romans through the Asiatic Etruscans, and whose name I cannot derive
from "gignomai" or "genitus." He was unknown to the Greeks, who had
the Daimon (δαίμον), a family which separated, like the Jinn and the
Genius, into two categories, the good (Agatho-dæmons) and the bad
(Kako-dæmons). We know nothing concerning the status of the Jinn
amongst the pre-Moslemitic or pagan Arabs: the Moslems made him a
supernatural anthropoid being, created of subtile fire (Koran,
chapts. xv. 27; lv. 14), not of earth like man, propagating his kind,
ruled by mighty kings, the last being Ján bin Ján, missionarised by
Prophets and subject to death and Judgment. From the same root are
"Junún"=madness (_i.e._, possession or obsession by the Jinn) and
"Majnún"=a madman. According to R. Jeremiah bin Eliazar in Psalm xli.
5, Adam was excommunicated for one hundred and thirty years, during
which he begat children in his own image (Gen. v. 3) and these were
Mazikeen or Shedeem—Jinns. Further details anent the Jinn will
presently occur.
Footnote 13:
Arab "Amsár" (cities): in Bul. Edit. "Amtár" (rains), as in Mac.
Edit. So Mr. Payne (I., 5) translates:—
And when she flashes forth the lightning of her glance, She maketh
eyes to rain, like showers, with many a tear.
I would render it, "She makes whole cities shed tears;" and prefer it
for a reason which will generally influence me—its superior
exaggeration and impossibility.
Footnote 14:
Not "A-frit," pronounced Aye-frit, as our poets have it. This variety
of the Jinn, who, as will be shown, are divided into two races like
mankind, is generally, but not always, a malignant being, hostile and
injurious to mankind (Koran xxvii. 39).
Footnote 15:
_i.e._, "I conjure thee by Allah;" the formula is technically called
"Inshád."
Footnote 16:
This introducing the name of Allah into an indecent tale is
essentially Egyptian and Cairene. But see Boccacio ii. 6; and vii. 9.
Footnote 17:
So in the Mac. Edit.; in others "ninety." I prefer the greater number
as exaggeration is a part of the humour. In the Hindu "Kathá Sárit
Ságara" (Sea of the Streams of Story), the rings are one hundred and
the catastrophe is more moral; the good youth Yashodhara rejects the
wicked one's advances; she awakes the water-sprite, who is about to
slay him, but the rings are brought as testimony and the improper
young person's nose is duly cut off. (Chapt. lxiii.; p. 80, of the
excellent translation by Prof. C. H. Tawney: for the Bibliotheca
Indica: Calcutta, 1881.) The Kathá, etc., by Somadeva (century xi),
is a poetical version of the prose compendium, the "Vrihat Kathá"
(Great Story) by Gunadhya (cent. vi).
Footnote 18:
The Joseph of the Koran, very different from him of Genesis. We shall
meet him often enough in The Nights.
Footnote 19:
"Iblis," vulgarly written "Eblis," from a root meaning The Despairer,
with a suspicious likeness to Diabolos; possibly from "Balas," a
profligate. Some translate it The Calumniator, as Satan is the Hater.
Iblis (who appears in the Arab. version of the N. Testament)
succeeded another revolting angel Al-Haris; and his story of pride,
refusing to worship Adam, is told four times in the Koran from the
Talmud (Sanhedrim 29). He caused Adam and Eve to lose Paradise (ii.
34); he still betrays mankind (xxv. 31), and at the end of time he,
with the other devils, will be "gathered together on their knees
round Hell" (xix. 69). He has evidently had the worst of the game and
we wonder, with Origen, Tillotson, Burns and many others, that he
does not throw up the cards.
Footnote 20:
A similar tale is still told at Akká (St. John d'Acre) concerning the
terrible "butcher"—Jazzár (Djezzar) Pasha. One can·hardly pity women
who are fools enough to run such risks. According to Frizzi, Niccolò,
Marquis of Este, after beheading Parisina, ordered all the faithless
wives of Ferrara to be treated in like manner.
Footnote 21:
"Shahrázád (Persian)=City-freer; in the older version Scheherazade
(probably both from Shirzád=lion-born). "Dunyázád=World-freer. The
Bres. Edit. corrupts the former to Sháhrzád or Sháhrazád; and the
Mac. and Calc. to Shahrzád or Shehrzád. I have ventured to restore
the name as it should be. Galland for the second prefers Dinarzade
(?) and Richardson Dinazade (Dinázád=Religion-freer): here I have
followed Lane and Payne; though in "First Footsteps" I was misled by
Galland. See Vol. ii. p. 1.
Footnote 22:
Probably she proposed to "Judith" the King. These learned and clever
young ladies are very dangerous in the East.
Footnote 23:
In Egypt, etc., the bull takes the place of the Western ox. The Arab.
word is "Taur" (Thaur, Saur); in old Persian "Tora" and Lat.
"Taurus," a venerable remnant of the days before the "Semitic" and
"Aryan" families of speech had split into two distinct growths.
"Taur" ends in the Saxon "Steor" and the English "Steer."
Footnote 24:
Arab. "Abú Yakzán"=the Wakener; because the ass brays at dawn.
Footnote 25:
Arab. "Tibn"; straw crushed under the sledge: the hay of Egypt,
Arabia, Syria, etc. The old country custom is to pull up the corn by
handfuls from the roots, leaving the land perfectly bare: hence the
"plucking up" of Hebrew Holy Writ. The object is to preserve every
atom of "Tibn."
Footnote 26:
Arab. "Yá Aftah": Al-Aftah is an epithet of the bull, also of the
chameleon.
Footnote 27:
Arab. "Balid," a favourite Egyptianism often pleasantly confounded
with "Wali" (a Santon); hence the latter comes to mean "an innocent,"
a "ninny."
Footnote 28:
From the Calc. Edit., Vol. I., p. 29.
Footnote 29:
Arab. "Abu Yakzán" is hardly equivalent with "Père l'Eveillé."
Footnote 30:
In Arab. the wa (وَ) is the sign of parenthesis.
Footnote 31:
In the nearer East the light little plough is carried a-field by the
bull or ass.
Footnote 32:
Ocymum basilicum, the "royal herb," so much prized all over the East,
especially in India, where, under the name of "Tulsi," it is a shrub
sacred to the merry god Krishna. I found the verses in a MS. copy of
the Nights.
Footnote 33:
Arab. "Sadaf," the Kauri, or cowrie, brought from the Maldive and
Lakdive Archipelago. The Kámús describes this "Wada'" or Concha
Veneris as "a white shell [whence to "shell out"] which is taken out
of the sea, the fissure of which is white like that of the
date-stone. It is hung about the neck to avert the evil eye." The
pearl in Arab. is "Murwarid," hence evidently "Margarita" and
Margaris (woman's name).
Footnote 34:
Arab. "Kat'a" (bit of leather): some read "Nat'a," a leather used by
way of table-cloth, and forming a bag for victuals; but it is never
made of bull's hide.
Footnote 35:
The Older "Cadi," a judge in religious matters. The Shuhúd, or
Assessors, are officers of the Mahkamah or Kazi's Court.
Footnote 36:
Of which more in a future page. He thus purified himself ceremonially
before death.
Footnote 37:
This is Christian rather than Moslem: a favourite Maltese curse is
"Yahrak Kiddísak man rabba-k!"=burn the Saint who brought thee up!
Footnote 38:
A popular Egyptian phrase: the dog and the cock speak like Fellahs.
Footnote 39:
_i.e._ between the last sleep and dawn when they would rise to wash
and pray.
TALE OF THE TRADER AND THE JINNI.
It is related, O auspicious King, that there was a merchant of the
merchants who had much wealth, and business in various cities. Now on a
day he mounted horse and went forth to recover monies in certain towns,
and the heat sore oppressed him; so he sat beneath a tree and, putting
his hand into his saddle-bags, took thence some broken bread and dry
dates and began to break his fast. When he had ended eating the dates
he threw away the stones with force and lo! an Ifrit appeared, huge of
stature and brandishing a drawn sword, wherewith he approached the
merchant and said, "Stand up that I may slay thee, even as thou slewest
my son!" Asked the merchant, "How have I slain thy son?" and he
answered, "When thou atest dates and threwest away the stones they
struck my son full in the breast as he was walking by, so that he died
forthwith."[40] Quoth the merchant, "Verily from Allah we proceeded and
unto Allah are we returning. There is no Majesty, and there is no Might
save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great! If I slew thy son, I slew him
by chance medley. I pray thee now pardon me." Rejoined the Jinni,
"There is no help but I must slay thee." Then he seized him and dragged
him along and, casting him to the earth, raised the sword to strike
him; whereupon the merchant wept, and said, "I commit my case to
Allah," and began repeating these couplets:—
Containeth Time a twain of days, this of blessing that of bane ✿ And
holdeth Life a twain of halves, this of pleasure that of pain.
See'st not when blows the hurricane, sweeping stark and striking strong
✿ None save the forest giant feels the suffering of the strain?
How many trees earth nourisheth of the dry and of the green ✿ Yet none
but those which bear the fruits for cast of stone complain.
See'st not how corpses rise and float on the surface of the tide ✿
While pearls o' price lie hidden in the deepest of the main!
In Heaven are unnumberèd the many of the stars ✿ Yet ne'er a star but
Sun and Moon by eclipse is overta'en.
Well judgest thou the days that saw thy faring sound and well ✿ And
countedst not the pangs and pain whereof Fate is ever fain.
The nights have kept thee safe and the safety brought thee pride ✿ But
bliss and blessings of the night are 'genderers of bane!
When the merchant ceased repeating his verses the Jinni said to him,
"Cut thy words short, by Allah! needs must I slay thee." But the
merchant spake him thus, "Know, O thou Ifrit, that I have debts due to
me and much wealth and children and a wife and many pledges in hand; so
permit me to go home and discharge to every claimant his claim; and I
will come back to thee at the head of the new year. Allah be my
testimony and surety that I will return to thee; and then thou mayest
do with me as thou wilt and Allah is witness to what I say." The Jinni
took sure promise of him and let him go; so he returned to his own city
and transacted his business and rendered to all men their dues and
after informing his wife and children of what had betided him, he
appointed a guardian and dwelt with them for a full year. Then he
arose, and made the Wuzu-ablution to purify himself before death and
took his shroud under his arm and bade farewell to his people, his
neighbours and all his kith and kin, and went forth despite his own
nose.[41] They then began weeping and wailing and beating their breasts
over him; but he travelled until he arrived at the same garden, and the
day of his arrival was the head of the New Year. As he sat weeping over
what had befallen him, behold, a Shaykh,[42] a very ancient man, drew
near leading a chained gazelle; and he saluted that merchant and
wishing him long life said, "What is the cause of thy sitting in this
place and thou alone and this be a resort of evil spirits?" The
merchant related to him what had come to pass with the Ifrit, and the
old man, the owner of the gazelle, wondered and said, "By Allah, O
brother, thy faith is none other than exceeding faith and thy story
right strange; were it graven with gravers on the eye-corners, it were
a warner to whoso would be warned." Then seating himself near the
merchant he said, "By Allah, O my brother, I will not leave thee until
I see what may come to pass with thee and this Ifrit." And presently as
he sat and the two were at talk the merchant began to feel fear and
terror and exceeding grief and sorrow beyond relief and ever-growing
care and extreme despair. And the owner of the gazelle was hard by his
side; when behold, a second Shaykh approached them, and with him were
two dogs both of greyhound breed and both black. The second old man
after saluting them with the salam, also asked them of their tidings
and said "What causeth you to sit in this place, a dwelling of the
Jánn?"[43] So they told him the tale from beginning to end, and their
stay there had not lasted long before there came up a third Shaykh, and
with him a she-mule of bright bay coat; and he saluted them and asked
them why they were seated in that place. So they told him the story
from first to last: and of no avail, O my master, is a twice-told tale!
There he sat down with them, and lo! a dust-cloud advanced and a mighty
sand-devil appeared amidmost of the waste. Presently the cloud opened
and behold, within it was that Jinni hending in hand a drawn sword,
while his eyes were shooting fire-sparks of rage. He came up to them
and, haling away the merchant from among them, cried to him, "Arise
that I may slay thee, as thou slewest my son, the life-stuff of my
liver."[44] The merchant wailed and wept, and the three old men began
sighing and crying and weeping and wailing with their companion.
Presently the first old man (the owner of the gazelle) came out from
among them and kissed the hand of the Ifrit and said, "O Jinni, thou
Crown of the Kings of the Jann! were I to tell thee the story of me and
this gazelle and thou shouldst consider it wondrous wouldst thou give
me a third part of this merchant's blood?" Then quoth the Jinni "Even
so, O Shaykh! if thou tell me this tale, and I hold it a marvellous,
then will I give thee a third of his blood." Thereupon the old man
began to tell
_THE FIRST SHAYKH'S STORY._
Know O Jinni! that this gazelle is the daughter of my paternal uncle,
my own flesh and blood, and I married her when she was a young maid,
and I lived with her well-nigh thirty years, yet was I not blessed with
issue by her. So I took me a concubine,[45] who brought to me the boon
of a male child fair as the full moon, with eyes of lovely shine and
eyebrows which formed one line, and limbs of perfect design. Little by
little he grew in stature and waxed tall; and when he was a lad fifteen
years old, it became needful I should journey to certain cities and I
travelled with great store of goods. But the daughter of my uncle (this
gazelle) had learned gramarye and egromancy and clerkly craft[46] from
her childhood; so she bewitched that son of mine to a calf, and my
handmaid (his mother) to a heifer, and made them over to the herdsman's
care. Now when I returned after a long time from my journey and asked
for my son and his mother, she answered me, saying "Thy slave-girl is
dead, and thy son hath fled and I know not whither he is sped." So I
remained for a whole year with grieving heart, and streaming eyes until
the time came for the Great Festival of Allah.[47] Then sent I to my
herdsman bidding him choose for me a fat heifer; and he brought me one
which was the damsel, my handmaid, whom this gazelle had ensorcelled. I
tucked up my sleeves and skirt and, taking a knife, proceeded to cut
her throat, but she lowed aloud and wept bitter tears. Thereat I
marvelled and pity seized me and I held my hand, saying to the herd,
"Bring me other than this." Then cried my cousin, "Slay her, for I have
not a fatter nor a fairer!" Once more I went forward to sacrifice her,
but she again lowed aloud, upon which in ruth I refrained and commanded
the herdsmen to slay her and flay her. He killed her and skinned her
but found in her neither fat nor flesh, only hide and bone; and I
repented when penitence availed me naught. I gave her to the herdsman
and said to him, "Fetch me a fat calf;" so he brought my son
ensorcelled. When the calf saw me, he brake his tether and ran to me,
and fawned upon me and wailed and shed tears; so that I took pity on
him and said to the herdsman, "Bring me a heifer and let this calf go!"
Thereupon my cousin (this gazelle) called aloud at me, saying, "Needs
must thou kill this calf; this is a holy day and a blessed, whereon
naught is slain save what be perfect-pure; and we have not amongst our
calves any fatter or fairer than this!" Quoth I, "Look thou upon the
condition of the heifer which I slaughtered at thy bidding and how we
turn from her in disappointment and she profited us on no wise; and I
repent with an exceeding repentance of having killed her: so this time
I will not obey thy bidding for the sacrifice of this calf." Quoth she,
"By Allah the Most Great, the Compassionating, the Compassionate! there
is no help for it; thou must kill him on this holy day, and if thou
kill him not to me thou art no man and I to thee am no wife." Now when
I heard those hard words, not knowing her object I went up to the calf,
knife in hand——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to
say her permitted say.[48] Then quoth her sister to her, "How fair is
thy tale, and how grateful, and how sweet and how tasteful!" And
Shahrazad answered her, "What is this to that I could tell thee on the
coming night, were I to live and the King would spare me?" Then said
the King in himself, "By Allah, I will not slay her, until I shall have
heard the rest of her tale." So they slept the rest of that night in
mutual embrace till day fully brake. Then the King went forth to his
audience-hall[49] and the Wazir went up with his daughter's shroud
under his arm. The King issued his orders, and promoted this and
deposed that, until the end of the day; and he told the Wazir no whit
of what had happened. But the Minister wondered thereat with exceeding
wonder; and when the Court broke up King Shahryar entered his palace.
Now when it was the Second Night,
said Dunyazad to her sister Shahrazad, "O my sister, finish for us that
story of the Merchant and the Jinni;" and she answered, "With joy and
goodly gree, if the King permit me." Then quoth the King, "Tell thy
tale;" and Shahrazad began in these words: It hath reached me, O
auspicious King and Heaven-directed Ruler! that when the merchant
purposed the sacrifice of the calf but saw it weeping, his heart
relented and he said to the herdsman, "Keep the calf among my cattle."
All this the old Shaykh told the Jinni who marvelled much at these
strange words. Then the owner of the gazelle continued:—O Lord of the
Kings of the Jann, this much took place and my uncle's daughter, this
gazelle, looked on and saw it, and said, "Butcher me this calf, for
surely it is a fat one;" but I bade the herdsman take it away and he
took it and turned his face homewards. On the next day as I was sitting
in my own house, lo! the herdsman came and, standing before me said, "O
my master, I will tell thee a thing which shall gladden thy soul, and
shall gain me the gift of good tidings."[50] I answered, "Even so."
Then said he, "O merchant, I have a daughter, and she learned magic in
her childhood from an old woman who lived with us. Yesterday when thou
gavest me the calf, I went into the house to her, and she looked upon
it and veiled her face; then she wept and laughed alternately and at
last she said:—O my father, hath mine honour become so cheap to thee
that thou bringest in to me strange men? I asked her:—Where be these
strange men and why wast thou laughing, and crying?; and she answered,
Of a truth this calf which is with thee is the son of our master, the
merchant; but he is ensorcelled by his stepdame who bewitched both him
and his mother: such is the cause of my laughing; now the reason of his
weeping is his mother, for that his father slew her unawares. Then I
marvelled at this with exceeding marvel and hardly made sure that day
had dawned before I came to tell thee." When I heard, O Jinni, my
herdsman's words, I went out with him, and I was drunken without wine,
from the excess of joy and gladness which came upon me, until I reached
his house. There his daughter welcomed me and kissed my hand, and
forthwith the calf came and fawned upon me as before. Quoth I to the
herdsman's daughter, "Is this true that thou sayest of this calf?"
Quoth she, "Yea, O my master, he is thy son, the very core of thy
heart." I rejoiced and said to her, "O maiden, if thou wilt release him
thine shall be whatever cattle and property of mine are under thy
father's hand." She smiled and answered, "O my master, I have no greed
for the goods nor will I take them save on two conditions; the first
that thou marry me to thy son and the second that I may bewitch her who
bewitched him and imprison her, otherwise I cannot be safe from her
malice and malpractices." Now when I heard, O Jinni, these, the words
of the herdsman's daughter, I replied, "Beside what thou askest all the
cattle and the household stuff in thy father's charge are thine and, as
for the daughter of my uncle, her blood is lawful to thee." When I had
spoken, she took a cup and filled it with water: then she recited a
spell over it and sprinkled it upon the calf, saying, "If Almighty
Allah created thee a calf, remain so shaped, and change not; but if
thou be enchanted, return to thy whilom form, by command of Allah Most
Highest!" and lo! he trembled and became a man. Then I fell on his neck
and said, "Allah upon thee, tell me all that the daughter of my uncle
did by thee and by thy mother." And when he told me what had come to
pass between them I said, "O my son, Allah favoured thee with one to
restore thee, and thy right hath returned to thee." Then, O Jinni, I
married the herdsman's daughter to him, and she transformed my wife
into this gazelle, saying:—Her shape is a comely and by no means
loathsome. After this she abode with us night and day, day and night,
till the Almighty took her to Himself. When she deceased, my son fared
forth to the cities of Hind, even to the city of this man who hath done
to thee what hath been done;[51] and I also took this gazelle (my
cousin) and wandered with her from town to town seeking tidings of my
son, till Destiny drove me to this place where I saw the merchant
sitting in tears. Such is my tale! Quoth the Jinni, "This story is
indeed strange, and therefore I grant thee the third part of his
blood." Thereupon the second old man, who owned the two greyhounds,
came up and said, "O Jinni, if I recount to thee what befel me from my
brothers, these two hounds, and thou see that it is a tale even more
wondrous and marvellous than what thou hast heard, wilt thou grant to
me also the third of this man's blood?" Replied the Jinni, "Thou hast
my word for it, if thine adventures be more marvellous and wondrous."
Thereupon he thus began
_THE SECOND SHAYKH'S STORY._
Know, O lord of the Kings of the Jann! that these two dogs are my
brothers and I am the third. Now when our father died and left us a
capital of three thousand gold pieces,[52] I opened a shop with my
share, and bought and sold therein, and in like guise did my two
brothers, each setting up a shop. But I had been in business no long
while before the elder sold his stock for a thousand dinars, and after
buying outfit and merchandise, went his ways to foreign parts. He was
absent one whole year with the caravan; but one day as I sat in my
shop, behold, a beggar stood before me asking alms, and I said to him,
"Allah open thee another door!"[53] Whereupon he answered, weeping the
while, "Am I so changed that thou knowest me not?" Then I looked at him
narrowly, and lo! it was my brother, so I rose to him and welcomed him;
then I seated him in my shop and put questions concerning his case.
"Ask me not," answered he; "my wealth is awaste and my state hath waxed
un-stated!" So I took him to the Hammám-bath[54] and clad him in a suit
of my own and gave him lodging in my house. Moreover, after looking
over the accounts of my stock-in-trade and the profits of my business,
I found that industry had gained me one thousand dinars, while my
principal, the head of my wealth, amounted to two thousand. So I shared
the whole with him, saying, "Assume that thou hast made no journey
abroad but hast remained at home; and be not cast down by thine
ill-luck." He took the share in great glee and opened for himself a
shop; and matters went on quietly for a few nights and days. But
presently my second brother (yon other dog), also setting his heart
upon travel, sold off what goods and stock-in-trade he had, and albeit
we tried to stay him he would not be stayed: he laid in an outfit for
the journey, and fared forth with certain wayfarers. After an absence
of a whole year he came back to me, even as my elder brother had come
back; and when I said to him, "O my brother, did I not dissuade thee
from travel?" he shed tears and cried, "O my brother, this be destiny's
decree: here I am a mere beggar, penniless[55] and without a shirt to
my back." So I led him to the bath, O Jinni, and clothing him in new
clothes of my own wear, I went with him to my shop and served him with
meat and drink. Furthermore I said to him, "O my brother, I am wont to
cast up my shop-accounts at the head of every year, and whatso I shall
find of surplusage is between me and thee."[56] So I proceeded, O
Ifrit, to strike a balance and, finding two thousand dinars of profit,
I returned praises to the Creator (be He extolled and exalted!) and
made over one half to my brother, keeping the other to myself.
Thereupon he busied himself with opening a shop and on this wise we
abode many days. After a time my brothers began pressing me to travel
with them; but I refused, saying, "What gained ye by your voyage that I
should gain thereby?" As I would not give ear to them we went back each
to his own shop where we bought and sold as before. They kept urging me
to travel for a whole twelvemonth, but I refused to do so till full six
years were past and gone when I consented with these words, "O my
brothers, here am I, your companion of travel: now let me see what
monies you have by you." I found, however, that they had not a doit,
having squandered their substance in high diet and drinking and carnal
delights. Yet I spoke not a word of reproach; so far from it I looked
over my shop accounts once more, and sold what goods and stock-in trade
were mine; and, finding myself the owner of six thousand ducats, I
gladly proceeded to divide that sum into halves, saying to my brothers,
"These three thousand gold pieces are for me and for you to trade
withal," adding, "Let us bury the other moiety underground that it may
be of service in case any harm befal us, in which case each shall take
a thousand wherewith to open shops." Both replied, "Right is thy
recking;" and I gave to each one his thousand gold pieces, keeping the
same sum for myself, to wit, a thousand dinars. We then got ready
suitable goods and hired a ship and, having embarked our merchandise,
proceeded on our voyage, day following day, a full month, after which
we arrived at a city, where we sold our venture; and for every piece of
gold we gained ten. And as we turned again to our voyage we found on
the shore of the sea a maiden clad in worn and ragged gear, and she
kissed my hand and said, "O master, is there kindness in thee and
charity? I can make thee a fitting return for them." I answered, "Even
so; truly in me are benevolence and good works, even though thou render
me no return." Then she said, "Take me to wife, O my master, and carry
me to thy city, for I have given myself to thee; so do me a kindness
and I am of those who be meet for good works and charity: I will make
thee a fitting return for these and be thou not shamed by my
condition." When I heard her words, my heart yearned towards her, in
such sort as willed it Allah (be He extolled and exalted!); and took
her and clothed her and made ready for her a fair resting-place in the
vessel, and honourably entreated her. So we voyaged on, and my heart
became attached to her with exceeding attachment, and I was separated
from her neither night nor day, and I paid more regard to her than to
my brothers. Then they were estranged from me, and waxed jealous of my
wealth and the quantity of merchandise I had, and their eyes were
opened covetously upon all my property. So they took counsel to murder
me and seize my wealth, saying, "Let us slay our brother and all his
monies will be ours;" and Satan made this deed seem fair in their
sight; so when they found me in privacy (and I sleeping by my wife's
side) they took us both up and cast us into the sea. My wife awoke
startled from her sleep and, forthright becoming an Ifritah,[57] she
bore me up and carried me to an island and disappeared for a short
time; but she returned in the morning and said "Here am I, thy faithful
slave, who hath made thee due recompense; for I bore thee up in the
waters and saved thee from death by command of the Almighty. Know that
I am a Jinniyah, and as I saw thee my heart loved thee by will of the
Lord, for I am a believer in Allah and in His Apostle (whom Heaven
bless and preserve!). Thereupon I came to thee conditioned as thou
sawest me and thou didst marry me, and see now I have saved thee from
sinking. But I am angered against thy brothers and assuredly I must
slay them." When I heard her story I was surprised and, thanking her
for all she had done, I said, "But as to slaying my brothers this must
not be." Then I told her the tale of what had come to pass with them
from the beginning of our lives to the end, and on hearing it quoth
she, "This night will I fly as a bird over them and will sink their
ship and slay them." Quoth I, "Allah upon thee, do not thus, for the
proverb saith, O thou who doest good to him that doth evil, leave the
evil doer to his evil deeds. Moreover they are still my brothers." But
she rejoined, "By Allah, there is no help for it but I slay them." I
humbled myself before her for their pardon, whereupon she bore me up
and flew away with me till at last she set me down on the terrace-roof
of my own house. I opened the doors and took up what I had hidden in
the ground; and after I had saluted the folk I opened my shop and
bought me merchandise. Now when night came on I went home, and there I
saw these two hounds tied up; and, when they sighted me, they arose and
whined and fawned upon me; but ere I knew what happened my wife said,
"These two dogs be thy brothers!" I answered, "And who hath done this
thing by them?" and she rejoined, "I sent a message to my sister and
she entreated them on this wise, nor shall these two be released from
their present shape till ten years shall have passed." And now I have
arrived at this place on my way to my wife's sister that she may
deliver them from this condition, after their having endured it for
half a score of years. As I was wending onwards I saw this young man,
who acquainted me with what had befallen him, and I determined not to
fare hence until I should see what might occur between thee and him.
Such is my tale! Then said the Jinni, "Surely this is a strange story
and therefor I give thee the third portion of his blood and his crime."
Thereupon quoth the third Shaykh, the master of the mare-mule, to the
Jinni, "I can tell thee a tale more wondrous than these two, so thou
grant me the remainder of his blood and of his offence," and the Jinni
answered, "So be it!" Then the old man began
_THE THIRD SHAYKH'S STORY._
Know, O Sultan and head of the Jann, that this mule was my wife. Now it
so happened that I went forth and was absent one whole year; and when I
returned from my journey I came to her by night, and saw a black slave
lying with her on the carpet-bed, and they were talking, and dallying,
and laughing, and kissing and playing the close-buttock game. When she
saw me, she rose and came hurriedly at me with a gugglet[58] of water;
and, muttering spells over it, she besprinkled me and said, "Come forth
from this thy shape into the shape of a dog;" and I became on the
instant a dog. She drove me out of the house, and I ran through the
doorway nor ceased running until I came to a butcher's stall, where I
stopped and began to eat what bones were there. When the stall-owner
saw me, he took me and led me into his house, but as soon as his
daughter had sight of me she veiled her face from me, crying out, "Dost
thou bring men to me and dost thou come in with them to me?" Her father
asked, "Where is the man?"; and she answered, "This dog is a man whom
his wife hath ensorcelled and I am able to release him." When her
father heard her words, he said, "Allah upon thee, O my daughter,
release him." So she took a gugglet of water and, after uttering words
over it, sprinkled upon me a few drops, saying, "Come forth from that
form into thy former form." And I returned to my natural shape. Then I
kissed her hand and said, "I wish thou wouldest transform my wife even
as she transformed me." Thereupon she gave me some water, saying, "As
soon as thou see her asleep, sprinkle this liquid upon her and speak
what words thou heardest me utter, so shall she become whatsoever thou
desirest." I went to my wife and found her fast asleep; and, while
sprinkling the water upon her, I said, "Come forth from that form into
the form of a mare-mule." So she became on the instant a she-mule, and
she it is whom thou seest with thine eyes, O Sultan and head of the
Kings of the Jann! Then the Jinni turned towards her and said, "Is this
sooth?" And she nodded her head and replied by signs, "Indeed, 'tis the
truth: for such is my tale and this is what hath befallen me." Now when
the old man had ceased speaking the Jinni shook with pleasure and gave
him the third of the merchant's blood.——And Shahrazad perceived the
dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say. Then quoth Dunyazad,
"O, my sister, how pleasant is thy tale, and how tasteful; how sweet
and how grateful!" She replied, "And what is this compared with that I
could tell thee, the night to come, if I live and the King spare
me?"[59] Then thought the King, "By Allah, I will not slay her until I
hear the rest of her tale, for truly it is wondrous." So they rested
that night in mutual embrace until the dawn. After this the King went
forth to his Hall of Estate, and the Wazir and the troops came in and
the court was crowded, and the King gave orders and judged and
appointed and deposed, bidding and forbidding during the rest of the
day. Then the Divan broke up, and King Shahryar entered his palace.
Now when it was the Third Night,
And the King had had his will of the Wazir's daughter, Dunyazad, her
sister, said to her, "Finish for us that tale of thine;" and she
replied, "With joy and goodly gree! It hath reached me, O auspicious
King, that when the third old man told a tale to the Jinni more
wondrous than the two preceding, the Jinni marvelled with exceeding
marvel; and, shaking with delight, cried, "Lo! I have given thee the
remainder of the merchant's punishment and for thy sake have I released
him." Thereupon the merchant embraced the old men and thanked them, and
these Shaykhs wished him joy on being saved and fared forth each one
for his own city. Yet this tale is not more wondrous than the
fisherman's story." Asked the King, "What is the fisherman?s story?"
And she answered by relating the tale of
-----
Footnote 40:
Travellers tell of a peculiar knack of jerking the date-stone, which
makes it strike with great force: I never saw this "Inwá" practised,
but it reminds me of the water-splashing with one hand in the German
baths.
Footnote 41:
_i.e._, sorely against his will.
Footnote 42:
Arab. "Shaykh"=an old man (primarily), an elder, a chief (of the
tribe, guild, etc.); and honourably addressed to any man. Comp. among
the neo-Latins "Sieur," "Signore," "Señor," "Senhor," etc. from Lat.
"Senior," which gave our "Sire" and "Sir." Like many in Arabic the
word has a host of different meanings and most of them will occur in
the course of The Nights. Ibrahim (Abraham) was the first Shaykh or
man who became grey. Seeing his hairs whiten he cried, "O Allah what
is this?" and the answer came that it was a sign of dignified
gravity. Hereupon he exclaimed, "O Lord increase this to me!" and so
it happened till his locks waxed snowy white at the age of one
hundred and fifty. He was the first who parted his hair, trimmed his
mustachios, cleaned his teeth with the Miswák (tooth-stick), pared
his nails, shaved his pecten, snuffed up water, used ablution after
stool and wore a shirt (Tabari).
Footnote 43:
The word is mostly plural=Jinnís: it is also singular=a demon; and
Ján bin Ján has been noticed.
Footnote 44:
With us moderns "liver" suggests nothing but malady: in Arabic and
Persian as in the classic literature of Europe it is the seat of
passion, the heart being that of affection. Of this more presently.
Footnote 45:
Originally in Al-Islam the concubine (Surriyat, etc.) was a captive
taken in war and the Koran says nothing about buying slave-girls. But
if the captives were true believers the Moslem was ordered to marry
not to keep them. In modern days concubinage has become an extensive
subject. Practically the disadvantage is that the slave-girls,
knowing themselves to be the master's property, consider him bound to
sleep with them; which is by no means the mistress's view. Some
wives, however, when old and childless, insist, after the fashion of
Sarah, upon the husband taking a young concubine and treat her like a
daughter—which is rare. The Nights abound in tales of concubines, but
these are chiefly owned by the Caliphs and high officials who did
much as they pleased. The only redeeming point in the system is that
it obviated the necessity of prostitution which is, perhaps, the
greatest evil known to modern society.
Footnote 46:
Arab. "Al-Kahánah"=the craft of a "Káhin" (Heb. Cohen) a diviner,
soothsayer, etc.
Footnote 47:
Arab. "Id al-kabír"=The Great Festival; the Turkish Bayrám and Indian
Bakar-eed (Kine-fête), the pilgrimage-time, also termed "Festival of
the Kurbán" (sacrifice) because victims are slain; Al-Zuha (of Undurn
or forenoon), Al-Azhá (of serene night) and Al-Nahr (of
throat-cutting). For full details I must refer readers to my
"Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to El-Medinah and Meccah" (3
vols. 8vo. London, Longmans, 1855). I shall have often to refer to
it.
Footnote 48:
Arab. "Kalám al-mubáh," _i.e._, that allowed or permitted to her by
the King, her husband.
Footnote 49:
Moslem Kings are expected, like the old Guebre Monarchs, to hold
"Darbar" (_i.e._, give public audience) at least twice a day, morning
and evening. Neglect of this practice caused the ruin of the
Caliphate and of the Persian and Moghul Empires: the great lords were
left uncontrolled and the lieges revolted to obtain justice. The
Guebre Kings had two levée places, the Rozistan (day station) and the
Shabistan (night-station—istán or stán being a nominal form of
istádan, to stand, as Hindo-stán). Moreover one day in the week the
sovereign acted as "Mufti" or Supreme Judge.
Footnote 50:
Arab. "Al-Bashárah," the gift everywhere claimed in the East and in
Boccaccio's Italy by one who brings good news. Those who do the
reverse expose themselves to a sound strappado.
Footnote 51:
A euphemistic formula, to avoid mentioning unpleasant matters. I
shall note these for the benefit of students who would honestly
prepare for the public service in Moslem lands.
Footnote 52:
Arab. "Dinár," from the Latin denarius (a silver coin worth ten
ounces of brass) through the Greek δηνάριον: it is a Koranic word
(chapt. iii.) though its Arab equivalent is "Miskál." It also occurs
in the Kathá before quoted, clearly showing the derivation. In the
"Book of Kalilah and Dimnah" it is represented by the Daric or
Persian Dinár, δαρεικός, from Dárá=a King (whence Darius). The Dinar,
sequin or ducat, contained at different times from 10 and 12 (Abu
Hanifah's day) to 20 and even 25 dirhams or drachmas; and, as a
weight, represented a drachma and a half. Its value greatly varied,
but we may assume it here at nine shillings or ten francs to half a
sovereign. For an elaborate article on the Dinar see Yule's "Cathay
and the Way Thither" (ii., pp. 439-443).
Footnote 53:
The formula used in refusing alms to an "asker" or in rejecting an
insufficient offer: "Allah will open to thee!" (some door of gain—not
mine)! Another favourite ejaculation is "Allah Karim" (which Turks
pronounce "Kyereem")=Allah is All-beneficent: meaning Ask Him, not
me.
Footnote 54:
The public bath. London knows the word through "The Hummums."
Footnote 55:
Arab. "Dirham" (Plur. diráhim, also used in the sense of money,
"siller"), the Gr. δραχμή and the drachuma of Plautus (Trin. 2, 4,
23). The word occurs in the Panchatantra also showing the derivation;
and in the Syriac Kalilah wa Dimnah it is "Zúz." This silver piece
was=6 obols (9¾d.) and as a weight=66½ grains. The Dirham of The
Nights was worth six "Dánik," each of these being a fraction over a
penny. The modern Greek Drachma is=one franc.
Footnote 56:
In Arabic the speaker always puts himself first, even if he address
the King, without intending incivility.
Footnote 57:
A she-Ifrit, not necessarily an evil spirit.
Footnote 58:
Arab. "Kullah" (in Egypt pron. "gulleh"), the wide-mouthed jug,
called in the Hijaz "baradiyah;" "daurak" being the narrow. They are
used either for water or sherbet and, being made of porous clay,
"sweat," and keep the contents cool; hence all old Anglo-Egyptians
drink from them, not from bottles. Sometimes they are perfumed with
smoke of incense, mastich or Kafal (Amyris Kafal). For their graceful
shapes See Lane's "Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern
Egyptians" (chapt. v). I quote, here and elsewhere, from the fifth
edition, London, Murray, 1860.
Footnote 59:
"And what is?" etc. A popular way of expressing great difference. So
in India:—"Where is Rajah Bhoj (the great King) and where is Gangá
the oilman?"
THE FISHERMAN AND THE JINNI.
It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that there was a Fisherman well
stricken in years who had a wife and three children, and withal was of
poor condition. Now it was his custom to cast his net every day four
times, and no more. On a day he went forth about noontide to the sea
shore, where he laid down his basket; and, tucking up his shirt and
plunging into the water, made a cast with his net and waited till it
settled to the bottom. Then he gathered the cords together and haled
away at it, but found it weighty; and however much he drew it
landwards, he could not pull it up; so he carried the ends ashore and
drove a stake into the ground and made the net fast to it. Then he
stripped and dived into the water all about the net, and left not off
working hard until he had brought it up. He rejoiced thereat and,
donning his clothes, went to the net, when he found in it a dead
jackass which had torn the meshes. Now when he saw it, he exclaimed in
his grief, "There is no Majesty, and there is no Might save in Allah
the Glorious, the Great!" Then quoth he, "This is a strange manner of
daily bread;" and he began reciting in extempore verse:—
O toiler through the glooms of night in peril and in pain ✿ Thy toiling
stint for daily bread comes not by might and main!
Seest thou not the fisher seek afloat upon the sea ✿ His bread, while
glimmer stars of night as set in tangled skein.
Anon he plungeth in despite the buffet of the waves ✿ The while to
sight the bellying net his eager glances strain;
Till joying at the night's success, a fish he bringeth home ✿ Whose
gullet by the hook of Fate was caught and cut in twain.
When buys that fish of him a man who spent the hours of night ✿
Reckless of cold and wet and gloom in ease and comfort fain,
Laud to the Lord who gives to this, to that denies his wishes ✿ And
dooms one toil and catch the prey and other eat the fishes.[60]
Then quoth he, "Up and to it; I am sure of His beneficence, Inshallah!"
So he continued:—
When thou art seized of Evil Fate, assume ✿ The noble soul's
long-suffering: 'tis thy best:
Complain not to the creature; this be 'plaint ✿ From one most Ruthful
to the ruthlessest.
The Fisherman, when he had looked at the dead ass, got it free of the
toils and wrung out and spread his net; then he plunged into the sea,
saying, "In Allah's name!" and made a cast and pulled at it, but it
grew heavy and settled down more firmly than the first time. Now he
thought that there were fish in it, and he made it fast, and doffing
his clothes went into the water, and dived and haled until he drew it
up upon dry land. Then found he in it a large earthen pitcher which was
full of sand and mud; and seeing this he was greatly troubled and began
repeating these verses[61]:—
Forbear, O troubles of the world, ✿ And pardon an ye nill forbear:
I went to seek my daily bread ✿ I find that breadless I must fare:
For neither handcraft brings me aught ✿ Nor Fate allots to me a share:
How many fools the Pleiads reach ✿ While darkness whelms the wise and
ware.
So he prayed pardon of Allah and, throwing away the jar, wrung his net
and cleansed it and returned to the sea the third time to cast his net
and waited till it had sunk. Then he pulled at it and found therein
potsherds and broken glass; whereupon he began to speak these verses:—
He is to thee that daily bread thou canst nor loose nor bind ✿ Nor pen
nor writ avail thee aught thy daily bread to find:
For joy and daily bread are what Fate deigneth to allow; ✿ This soil is
sad and sterile ground, while that makes glad the hind.
The shafts of Time and Life bear down full many a man of worth ✿ While
bearing up to high degree wights of ignoble mind.
So come thou, Death! for verily life is not worth a straw ✿ When low
the falcon falls withal the mallard wings the wind:
No wonder 'tis thou seest how the great of soul and mind ✿ Are poor,
and many a losel carle to height of luck designed.
This bird shall overfly the world from east to furthest west ✿ And that
shall win her every wish though ne'er she leave the nest.
Then raising his eyes heavenwards he said, "O my God!"[62] verily Thou
wottest that I cast not my net each day save four times;[63] the third
is done and as yet Thou hast vouchsafed me nothing. So this time, O my
God, deign give me my daily bread. Then, having called on Allah's
name,[64] he again threw his net and waited its sinking and settling;
whereupon he haled at it but could not draw it in for that it was
entangled at the bottom. He cried out in his vexation "There is no
Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah!" and he began reciting:—
Fie on this wretched world, an so it be ✿ I must be whelmed by grief
and misery:
Tho' gladsome be man's lot when dawns the morn ✿ He drains the cup of
woe ere eve he see:
Yet was I one of whom the world when asked ✿ "Whose lot is happiest?"
oft would say "'Tis he!"
[Illustration]
Thereupon he stripped and, diving down to the net, busied himself with
it till it came to land. Then he opened the meshes and found therein a
cucumber-shaped jar of yellow copper,[65] evidently full of something,
whose mouth was made fast with a leaden cap, stamped with the seal-ring
of our Lord Sulayman son of David (Allah accept the twain!). Seeing
this the Fisherman rejoiced and said, "If I sell it in the brass-bazar
'tis worth ten golden dinars." He shook it and finding it heavy
continued, "Would to Heaven I knew what is herein. But I must and will
open it and look to its contents and store it in my bag and sell it in
the brass-market." And taking out a knife he worked at the lead till he
had loosened it from the jar; then he laid the cup on the ground and
shook the vase to pour out whatever might be inside. He found nothing
in it; whereat he marvelled with an exceeding marvel. But presently
there came forth from the jar a smoke which spired heavenwards into
æther (whereat he again marvelled with mighty marvel), and which
trailed along earth's surface till presently, having reached its full
height, the thick vapour condensed, and became an Ifrit, huge of bulk,
whose crest touched the clouds while his feet were on the ground. His
head was as a dome, his hands like pitchforks, his legs long as masts
and his mouth big as a cave; his teeth were like large stones, his
nostrils ewers, his eyes two lamps and his look was fierce and
lowering. Now when the fisherman saw the Ifrit his side muscles
quivered, his teeth chattered, his spittle dried up and he became blind
about what to do. Upon this the Ifrit looked at him and cried, "There
is no god but _the_ God, and Sulayman is the prophet of God;" presently
adding, "O Apostle of Allah, slay me not; never again will I gainsay
thee in word nor sin against thee in deed."[66] Quoth the Fisherman, "O
Márid,[67] diddest thou say, Sulayman the Apostle of Allah; and
Sulayman is dead some thousand and eight hundred years ago,[68] and we
are now in the last days of the world! What is thy story, and what is
thy account of thyself, and what is the cause of thy entering into this
cucurbit?" Now when the Evil Spirit heard the words of the Fisherman,
quoth he; "There is no god but _the_ God: be of good cheer, O
Fisherman!" Quoth the Fisherman, "Why biddest thou me to be of good
cheer?" and he replied, "Because of thy having to die an ill death in
this very hour." Said the Fisherman, "Thou deservest for thy good
tidings the withdrawal of Heaven's protection, O thou distant one![69]
Wherefore shouldest thou kill me and what thing have I done to deserve
death, I who freed thee from the jar, and saved thee from the depths of
the sea, and brought thee up on the dry land?" Replied the Ifrit, "Ask
of me only what mode of death thou wilt die, and by what manner of
slaughter shall I slay thee." Rejoined the Fisherman, "What is my crime
and wherefore such retribution?"
Quoth the Ifrit, "Hear my story, O Fisherman!" and he answered, "Say
on, and be brief in thy saying, for of very sooth my life-breath is in
my nostrils."[70] Thereupon quoth the Jinni, "Know, that I am one among
the heretical Jann and I sinned against Sulayman, David-son (on the
twain be peace!) I together with the famous Sakhr al-Jinni;[71]
whereupon the Prophet sent his minister, Asaf son of Barkhiyá, to seize
me; and this Wazir brought me against my will and led me in bonds to
him (I being downcast despite my nose) and he placed me standing before
him like a suppliant. When Sulayman saw me, he took refuge with Allah
and bade me embrace the True Faith and obey his behests; but I refused,
so sending for this cucurbit[72] he shut me up therein, and stopped it
over with lead whereon he impressed the Most High Name, and gave his
orders to the Jann who carried me off, and cast me into the midmost of
the ocean. There I abode an hundred years, during which I said in my
heart, "Whoso shall release me, him will I enrich for ever and ever."
But the full century went by and, when no one set me free, I entered
upon the second five score saying, "Whoso shall release me, for him I
will open the hoards of the earth." Still no one set me free and thus
four hundred years passed away. Then quoth I, "Whoso shall release me,
for him will I fulfil three wishes." Yet no one set me free. Thereupon
I waxed wroth with exceeding wrath and said to myself, "Whoso shall
release me from this time forth, him will I slay and I will give him
choice of what death he will die; and now, as thou hast released me, I
give thee full choice of deaths." The Fisherman, hearing the words of
the Ifrit, said, "O Allah! the wonder of it that I have not come to
free thee save in these days!" adding, "Spare my life, so Allah spare
thine; and slay me not, lest Allah set one to slay thee." Replied the
Contumacious One, "There is no help for it; die thou must; so ask me by
way of boon what manner of death thou wilt die." Albeit thus certified
the Fisherman again addressed the Ifrit saying, "Forgive me this my
death as a generous reward for having freed thee;" and the Ifrit,
"Surely I would not slay thee save on account of that same release." "O
Chief of the Ifrits," said the Fisherman, "I do thee good and thou
requitest me with evil! in very sooth the old saw lieth not when it
saith:—
We wrought them weal, they met our weal with ill; ✿ Such, by my life!
is every bad man's labour:
To him who benefits unworthy wights ✿ Shall hap what hapt to
Ummi-Amir's neighbour.[73]
Now when the Ifrit heard these words he answered, "No more of this
talk, needs must I kill thee." Upon this the Fisherman said to himself,
"This is a Jinni; and I am a man to whom Allah hath given a passably
cunning wit, so I will now cast about to compass his destruction by my
contrivance and by mine intelligence; even as he took counsel only of
his malice and his frowardness."[74] He began by asking the Ifrit,
"Hast thou indeed resolved to kill me?" and, receiving for all answer,
"Even so," he cried, "Now in the Most Great Name, graven on the
seal-ring of Sulayman the Son of David (peace be with the holy twain!),
an I question thee on a certain matter wilt thou give me a true
answer?" The Ifrit replied "Yea;" but, hearing mention of the Most
Great Name, his wits were troubled and he said with trembling, "Ask and
be brief." Quoth the Fisherman, "How didst thou fit into this bottle
which would not hold thy hand; no, nor even thy foot, and how came it
to be large enough to contain the whole of thee?" Replied the Ifrit,
"What! dost not believe that I was all there?" and the Fisherman
rejoined, "Nay! I will never believe it until I see thee inside with my
own eyes."—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say
her permitted say.
Now when it was the Fourth Night,
Her sister said to her, "Please finish us this tale, an thou be not
sleepy!" so she resumed:—It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that
when the Fisherman said to the Ifrit, "I will never and nowise believe
thee until I see thee inside it with mine own eyes;" the Evil Spirit on
the instant shook[75] and became a vapour, which condensed, and entered
the jar little and little, till all was well inside when lo! the
Fisherman in hot haste took the leaden cap with the seal and stoppered
therewith the mouth of the jar and called out to the Ifrit, saying,
"Ask me by way of boon what death thou wilt die! By Allah, I will throw
thee into the sea[76] before us and here will I build me a lodge; and
whoso cometh hither I will warn him against fishing and will say:—In
these waters abideth an Ifrit who giveth as a last favour a choice of
deaths and fashion of slaughter to the man who saveth him!" Now when
the Ifrit heard this from the Fisherman and saw himself in limbo, he
was minded to escape, but this was prevented by Solomon's seal; so he
knew that the Fisherman had cozened and outwitted him, and he waxed
lowly and submissive and began humbly to say, "I did but jest with
thee." But the other answered, "Thou liest, O vilest of the Ifrits, and
meanest and filthiest!" and he set off with the bottle for the sea
side; the Ifrit calling out "Nay! Nay!" and he calling out "Aye! Aye!"
Thereupon the Evil Spirit softened his voice and smoothed his speech
and abased himself, saying, "What wouldest thou do with me, O
Fisherman?" "I will throw thee back into the sea," he answered; "where
thou hast been housed and homed for a thousand and eight hundred years;
and now I will leave thee therein till Judgment-day: did I not say to
thee:—Spare me and Allah shall spare thee; and slay me not lest Allah
slay thee? yet thou spurnedst my supplication and hadst no intention
save to deal ungraciously by me, and Allah hath now thrown thee into my
hands and I am cunninger than thou." Quoth the Ifrit, "Open for me that
I may bring thee weal." Quoth the Fisherman, "Thou liest, thou
accursed! my case with thee is that of the Wazir of King Yúnán with the
sage Dúbán."[77] "And who was the Wazir of King Yunan and who was the
sage Duban; and what was the story about them?" quoth the Ifrit,
whereupon the Fisherman began to tell
_THE TALE OF THE WAZIR AND THE SAGE DUBAN._
"Know, O thou Ifrit, that in days of yore and in ages long gone before,
a King called Yunan reigned over the city of Fars of the land of the
Roum."[78] He was a powerful ruler and a wealthy, who had armies and
guards and allies of all nations of men; but his body was afflicted
with a leprosy which leaches and men of science failed to heal. He
drank potions and he swallowed powders and he used unguents, but naught
did him good and none among the host of physicians availed to procure
him a cure. At last there came to his city a mighty healer of men and
one well stricken in years, the sage Duban hight. This man was a reader
of books, Greek, Persian, Roman, Arabian, and Syrian; and he was
skilled in astronomy and in leechcraft, the theorick as well as the
practick; he was experienced in all that healeth and that hurteth the
body; conversant with the virtues of every plant, grass and herb, and
their benefit and bane; and he understood philosophy and had compassed
the whole range of medical science and other branches of the
knowledge-tree. Now this physician passed but few days in the city, ere
he heard of the King's malady and all his bodily sufferings through the
leprosy with which Allah had smitten him; and how all the doctors and
wise men had failed to heal him. Upon this he sat up through the night
in deep thought and, when broke the dawn and appeared the morn and
light was again born, and the Sun greeted the Good whose beauties the
world adorn,[79] he donned his handsomest dress and going in to King
Yunan, he kissed the ground before him: then he prayed for the
endurance of his honour and prosperity in fairest language and made
himself known saying, "O King, tidings have reached me of what befel
thee through that which is in thy person; and how the host of
physicians have proved themselves unavailing to abate it; and lo! I can
cure thee, O King; and yet will I not make thee drink of draught or
anoint thee with ointment." Now when King Yunan heard his words he said
in huge surprise, "How wilt thou do this? By Allah, if thou make me
whole I will enrich thee even to thy son's son and I will give thee
sumptuous gifts; and whatso thou wishest shall be thine and thou shalt
be to me a cup-companion[80] and a friend." The King then robed him
with a dress of honour and entreated him graciously and asked him,
"Canst thou indeed cure me of this complaint without drug and unguent?"
and he answered, "Yes! I will heal thee without the pains and penalties
of medicine." The King marvelled with exceeding marvel and said, "O
physician, when shall be this whereof thou speakest, and in how many
days shall it take place? Haste thee, O my son!" He replied, "I hear
and I obey; the cure shall begin to-morrow." So saying he went forth
from the presence, and hired himself a house in the city for the better
storage of his books and scrolls, his medicines and his aromatic roots.
Then he set to work at choosing the fittest drugs and simples and he
fashioned a bat hollow within, and furnished with a handle without, for
which he made a ball; the two being prepared with consummate art. On
the next day when both were ready for use and wanted nothing more, he
went up to the King; and, kissing the ground between his hands bade him
ride forth on the parade ground[81] there to play at pall and mall. He
was accompanied by his suite, Emirs and Chamberlains, Wazirs and Lords
of the realm and, ere he was seated, the sage Duban came up to him, and
handing him the bat said, "Take this mall and grip it as I do; so! and
now push for the plain and leaning well over thy horse drive the ball
with all thy might until thy palm be moist and thy body perspire: then
the medicine will penetrate through thy palm and will permeate thy
person. When thou hast done with playing and thou feelest the effects
of the medicine, return to thy palace, and make the Ghusl-ablution[82]
in the Hammam-bath, and lay thee down to sleep; so shalt thou become
whole; and now peace be with thee!" Thereupon King Yunan took the bat
from the Sage and grasped it firmly; then, mounting steed, he drove the
ball before him and gallopped after it till he reached it, when he
struck it with all his might, his palm gripping the bat handle the
while; and he ceased not malling the ball till his hand waxed moist and
his skin, perspiring, imbibed the medicine from the wood. Then the sage
Duban knew that the drugs had penetrated his person and bade him return
to the palace and enter the Hammam without stay or delay; so King Yunan
forthright returned and ordered them to clear for him the bath. They
did so, the carpet spreaders making all haste, and the slaves all hurry
and got ready a change of raiment for the King. He entered the bath and
made the total ablution long and thoroughly; then donned his clothes
within the Hammam and rode therefrom to his palace where he lay him
down and slept. Such was the case with King Yunan, but as regards the
sage Duban, he returned home and slept as usual and when morning dawned
he repaired to the palace and craved audience. The King ordered him to
be admitted; then, having kissed the ground between his hands, in
allusion to the King he recited these couplets with solemn intonation:—
Happy is Eloquence when thou art named her sire ✿ But mourns she whenas
other man the title claimed.
O Lord of fairest presence, whose illuming rays ✿ Clear off the fogs of
doubt aye veiling deeds high famed,
Ne'er cease thy face to shine like Dawn and rise of Morn ✿ And never
show Time's face with heat of ire inflamed!
Thy grace hath favoured us with gifts that worked such wise ✿ As
rain-clouds raining on the hills by wolds enframed:
Freely thou lavishedst thy wealth to rise on high ✿ Till won from Time
the heights whereat thy grandeur aimed.
[Illustration]
Now when the Sage ceased reciting, the King rose quickly to his feet
and fell on his neck; then, seating him by his side he bade dress him
in a sumptuous dress; for it had so happened that when the King left
the Hammam he looked on his body and saw no trace of leprosy: the skin
was all clean as virgin silver. He joyed thereat with exceeding joy,
his breast broadened[83] with delight and he felt thoroughly happy.
Presently, when it was full day he entered his audience-hall and sat
upon the throne of his kingship whereupon his Chamberlains and Grandees
flocked to the presence and with them the sage Duban. Seeing the leach
the King rose to him in honour and seated him by his side; then the
food trays furnished with the daintiest viands were brought and the
physician ate with the King, nor did he cease companying him all that
day. Moreover, at nightfall he gave the physician Duban two thousand
gold pieces, besides the usual dress of honour and other gifts galore,
and sent him home on his own steed. After the Sage had fared forth King
Yunan again expressed his amazement at the leach's art, saying, "This
man medicined my body from without nor anointed me with aught of
ointments: by Allah, surely this is none other than consummate skill! I
am bound to honour such a man with rewards and distinction, and take
him to my companion and my friend during the remainder of my days." So
King Yunan passed the night in joy and gladness for that his body had
been made whole and had thrown off so pernicious a malady. On the
morrow the King went forth from his Serraglio and sat upon his throne,
and the Lords of Estate stood about him, and the Emirs and Wazirs sat
as was their wont on his right hand and on his left. Then he asked for
the Sage Duban, who came in and kissed the ground before him, when the
King rose to greet him and, seating him by his side, ate with him and
wished him long life. Moreover he robed him and gave him gifts, and
ceased not conversing with him until night approached. Then the King
ordered him, by way of salary, five dresses of honour and a thousand
dinars.[84] The physician returned to his own house full of gratitude
to the King. Now when next morning dawned the King repaired to his
audience-hall, and his Lords and nobles surrounded him and his
Chamberlains and his Ministers, as the white encloseth the black of the
eye.[85] Now the King had a Wazir among his Wazirs, unsightly to look
upon, an ill-omened spectacle; sordid, ungenerous, full of envy and
evil will. When this Minister saw the King place the physician near him
and give him all these gifts, he jaloused him and planned to do him a
harm, as in the saying on such subject, "Envy lurks in every body;" and
the saying, "Oppression hideth in every heart: power revealeth it and
weakness concealeth it." Then the Minister came before the King and,
kissing the ground between his hands, said, "O King of the age and of
all time, thou in whose benefits I have grown to manhood, I have
weighty advice to offer thee, and if I withhold it I were a son of
adultery and no true-born man; wherefore an thou order me to disclose
it I will so do forthwith." Quoth the King (and he was troubled at the
words of the Minister), "And what is this counsel of thine?" Quoth he,
"O glorious monarch, the wise of old have said:—Whoso regardeth not the
end, hath not Fortune to friend; and indeed I have lately seen the King
on far other than the right way; for he lavisheth largesse on his
enemy, on one whose object is the decline and fall of his kingship: to
this man he hath shown favour, honouring him with over honour and
making of him an intimate. Wherefore I fear for the King's life." The
King, who was much troubled and changed colour, asked, "Whom dost thou
suspect and anent whom doest thou hint?" and the Minister answered, "O
King, an thou be asleep, wake up! I point to the physician Duban."
Rejoined the King, "Fie upon thee! This is a true friend who is
favoured by me above all men, because he cured me with something which
I held in my hand, and he healed my leprosy which had baffled all
physicians; indeed he is one whose like may not be found in these
days—no, not in the whole world from furthest east to utmost west! And
it is of such a man thou sayest such hard sayings. Now from this day
forward I allot him a settled solde and allowances, every month a
thousand gold pieces; and, were I to share with him my realm 'twere but
a little matter. Perforce I must suspect that thou speakest on this
wise from mere envy and jealousy as they relate of the King
Sindibad."——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day, and ceased saying
her permitted say.
Then quoth Dunyazad, "O my sister, how pleasant is thy tale, and how
tasteful, how sweet, and how grateful!" She replied, "And where is this
compared with what I could tell thee on the coming night if the King
deign spare my life?" Then said the King in himself, "By Allah, I will
not slay her until I hear the rest of her tale, for truly it is
wondrous." So they rested that night in mutual embrace until the dawn.
Then the King went forth to his Hall of Rule, and the Wazir and the
troops came in, and the audience-chamber was thronged; and the King
gave orders and judged and appointed and deposed and bade and forbade
during the rest of that day till the Court broke up, and King Shahryar
returned to his palace.
Now when it was the Fifth Night,
Her sister said, "Do finish for us thy story if thou be not sleepy,"
and she resumed:—It hath reached me, O auspicious King and mighty
Monarch, that King Yunan said to his Minister, "O Wazir, thou art one
whom the evil spirit of envy hath possessed because of this physician,
and thou plottest for my putting him to death, after which I should
repent me full sorely, even as repented King Sindibad for killing his
falcon." Quoth the Wazir, "Pardon me, O King of the age, how was that?"
So the King began the story of
_KING SINDIBAD AND HIS FALCON._
It is said (but Allah is All-knowing![86]) that there was a King of the
Kings of Fars, who was fond of pleasuring and diversion, especially
coursing and hunting. He had reared a falcon which he carried all night
on his fist, and whenever he went a-chasing he took with him this bird;
and he bade make for her a golden cup-let hung round her neck to give
her drink therefrom. One day as the King was sitting quietly in his
palace, behold, the high falconer of the household suddenly addressed
him, "O King of the age, this is indeed a day fit for birding." The
King gave orders accordingly and set out taking the hawk on fist; and
they fared merrily forwards till they made a Wady[87] where they
planted a circle of nets for the chase; when lo! a gazelle came within
the toils and the King cried, "Whoso alloweth yon gazelle to spring
over his head and loseth her, that man will I surely slay." They
narrowed the nets about the gazelle when she drew near the King's
station; and, planting herself on her hind quarter, crossed her
forehand over her breast, as if about to kiss the earth before the
King. He bowed his brow low in acknowledgment to the beast; when she
bounded high over his head and took the way of the waste. Thereupon the
King turned towards his troops and, seeing them winking and pointing at
him, he asked, "O Wazir, what are my men saying?" and the Minister
answered, "They say thou didst proclaim that whoso alloweth the gazelle
to spring over his head, that man shall be put to death." Quoth the
King, "Now, by the life of my head! I will follow her up till I bring
her back." So he set off gallopping on the gazelle's trail and gave not
over tracking till he reached the foot-hills of a mountain-chain where
the quarry made for a cave. Then the King cast off at it the falcon
which presently caught it up and, swooping down, drove her talons into
its eyes, bewildering and blinding it;[88] and the King drew his mace
and struck a blow which rolled the game over. He then dismounted; and,
after cutting the antelope's throat and flaying the body, hung it to
the pommel of his saddle. Now the time was that of the siesta[89] and
the wold was parched and dry, nor was any water to be found anywhere;
and the King thirsted and his horse also; so he went about searching
till he saw a tree dropping water, as it were melted butter, from its
boughs. Thereupon the King who wore gauntlets of skin to guard him
against poisons took the cup from the hawk's neck, and filling it with
the water set it before the bird, and lo! the falcon struck it with her
pounces and upset the liquid. The King filled it a second time with the
dripping drops, thinking his hawk was thirsty; but the bird again
struck at the cup with her talons and overturned it. Then the King
waxed wroth with the hawk and filling the cup a third time offered it
to his horse: but the hawk upset it with a flirt of wings. Quoth the
King, "Allah confound thee, thou unluckiest of flying things! thou
keepest me from drinking, and thou deprivest thyself also, and the
horse." So he struck the falcon with his sword and cut off her wing;
but the bird raised her head and said by signs, "Look at that which
hangeth on the tree!" The King lifted up his eyes accordingly and
caught sight of a brood of vipers, whose poison-drops he mistook for
water; thereupon he repented him of having struck off his falcon's
wing, and mounting horse, fared on with the dead gazelle, till he
arrived at the camp, his starting place. He threw the quarry to the
cook saying, "Take and broil it," and sat down on his chair, the falcon
being still on his fist when suddenly the bird gasped and died;
whereupon the King cried out in sorrow and remorse for having slain
that falcon which had saved his life. Now this is what occurred in the
case of King Sindibad; and I am assured that were I to do as thou
desirest I should repent even as the man who killed his parrot. Quoth
the Wazir, "And how was that?" And the King began to tell
_THE TALE OF THE HUSBAND AND THE PARROT._[90]
A certain man and a merchant to boot had married a fair wife, a woman
of perfect beauty and grace, symmetry and loveliness, of whom he was
mad-jealous, and who contrived successfully to keep him from travel. At
last an occasion compelling him to leave her, he went to the
bird-market and bought him for one hundred gold pieces a she-parrot
which he set in his house to act as duenna, expecting her to acquaint
him on his return with what had passed during the whole time of his
absence; for the bird was kenning and cunning and never forgot what she
had seen and heard. Now his fair wife had fallen in love with a young
Turk,[91] who used to visit her, and she feasted him by day and lay
with him by night. When the man had made his journey and won his wish
he came home; and, at once causing the Parrot be brought to him,
questioned her concerning the conduct of his consort whilst he was in
foreign parts. Quoth she, "Thy wife hath a man-friend who passed every
night with her during thine absence." Thereupon the husband went to his
wife in a violent rage and bashed her with a bashing severe enough to
satisfy any body. The woman, suspecting that one of the slave-girls had
been tattling to the master, called them together and questioned them
upon their oaths, when all swore that they had kept the secret, but
that the Parrot had not, adding, "And we heard her with our own ears."
Upon this the woman bade one of the girls to set a hand-mill under the
cage and grind therewith and a second to sprinkle water through the
cage-roof and a third to run about, right and left, flashing a mirror
of bright steel through the livelong night. Next morning when the
husband returned home after being entertained by one of his friends, he
bade bring the Parrot before him and asked what had taken place whilst
he was away. "Pardon me, O my master," quoth the bird, "I could neither
hear nor see aught by reason of the exceeding murk and the thunder and
lightning which lasted throughout the night." As it happened to be the
summer-tide the master was astounded and cried, "But we are now in mid
Tammúz,[92] and this is not the time for rains and storms." "Ay, by
Allah," rejoined the bird, "I saw with these eyes what my tongue hath
told thee." Upon this the man, not knowing the case nor smoking the
plot, waxed exceeding wroth; and, holding that his wife had been
wrongously accused, put forth his hand and pulling the Parrot from her
cage dashed her upon the ground with such force that he killed her on
the spot. Some days afterwards one of his slave-girls confessed to him
the whole truth,[93] yet would he not believe it till he saw the young
Turk, his wife's lover, coming out of her chamber, when he bared his
blade[94] and slew him by a blow on the back of the neck; and he did
the same by the adulteress; and thus the twain, laden with mortal sin,
went straightways to Eternal Fire. Then the merchant knew that the
Parrot had told him the truth anent all she had seen and he mourned
grievously for her loss, when mourning availed him not. The Minister,
hearing the words of King Yunan, rejoined, "O Monarch, high in dignity,
and what harm have I done him, or what evil have I seen from him that I
should compass his death? I would not do this thing, save to serve
thee, and soon shalt thou sight that it is right; and if thou accept my
advice thou shalt be saved, otherwise thou shalt be destroyed even as a
certain Wazir who acted treacherously by the young Prince." Asked the
King, "How was that?" and the Minister thus began
_THE TALE OF THE PRINCE AND THE OGRESS._
A certain King, who had a son over much given to hunting and coursing,
ordered one of his Wazirs to be in attendance upon him whithersoever he
might wend. One day the youth set out for the chase accompanied by his
father's Minister; and, as they jogged on together, a big wild beast
came in sight. Cried the Wazir to the King's son, "Up and at yon noble
quarry!" So the Prince followed it until he was lost to every eye and
the chase got away from him in the waste; whereby he was confused and
he knew not which way to turn, when lo! a damsel appeared ahead and she
was in tears. The King's son asked, "Who art thou?" and she answered,
"I am daughter to a King among the Kings of Hind, and I was travelling
with a caravan in the desert when drowsiness overcame me, and I fell
from my beast unwittingly; whereby I am cut off from my people and sore
bewildered." The Prince, hearing these words, pitied her case and,
mounting her on his horse's crupper, travelled until he passed by an
old ruin,[95] when the damsel said to him, "O my master, I wish to obey
a call of nature": he therefore set her down at the ruin where she
delayed so long that the King's son thought that she was only wasting
time; so he followed her without her knowledge and behold, she was a
Ghúlah,[96] a wicked Ogress, who was saying to her brood, "O my
children, this day I bring you a fine fat youth[97] for dinner;"
whereto they answered, "Bring him quick to us, O our mother, that we
may browse upon him our bellies full." The Prince hearing their talk,
made sure of death and his side-muscles quivered in fear for his life,
so he turned away and was about to fly. The Ghulah came out and seeing
him in sore affright (for he was trembling in every limb) cried,
"Wherefore art thou afraid?" and he replied, "I have hit upon an enemy
whom I greatly fear." Asked the Ghulah, "Diddest thou not say:—I am a
King's son?" and he answered, "Even so." Then quoth she, "Why dost not
give thine enemy something of money and so satisfy him?" Quoth he, "He
will not be satisfied with my purse but only with my life, and I
mortally fear him and am a man under oppression." She replied, "If thou
be so distressed, as thou deemest, ask aid against him from Allah, who
will surely protect thee from his ill-doing and from the evil whereof
thou art afraid." Then the Prince raised his eyes heavenwards and
cried, "O Thou who answerest the necessitous when he calleth upon Thee
and dispellest his distress; O my God! grant me victory over my foe and
turn him from me, for Thou over all things art Almighty." The Ghulah,
hearing his prayer, turned away from him, and the Prince returned to
his father, and told him the tale of the Wazir; whereupon the King
summoned the Minister to his presence and then and there slew him.
"Thou likewise, O King, if thou continue to trust this leach, shalt be
made to die the worst of deaths. He verily thou madest much of and whom
thou entreatedest as an intimate, will work thy destruction. Seest thou
not how he healed the disease from outside thy body by something
grasped in thy hand? Be not assured that he will not destroy thee by
something held in like manner!" Replied King Yunan, "Thou hast spoken
sooth, O Wazir, it may well be as thou hintest O my well-advising
Minister; and belike this Sage hath come as a spy searching to put me
to death; for assuredly if he cured me by a something held in my hand,
he can kill me by a something given me to smell." Then asked King
Yunan, "O Minister, what must be done with him?" and the Wazir
answered, "Send after him this very instant and summon him to thy
presence; and when he shall come strike him across the neck; and thus
shalt thou rid thyself of him and his wickedness, and deceive him ere
he can deceive thee." "Thou hast again spoken sooth, O Wazir," said the
King and sent one to call the Sage who came in joyful mood for he knew
not what had appointed for him the Compassionate; as a certain poet
saith by way of illustration:—
O Thou who fearest Fate, confiding fare, ✿ Trust all to Him who built
the world, and wait:
What Fate saith "Be" perforce must be, my lord! ✿ And safe art thou
from th' undecreed of Fate.
As Duban the physician entered he addressed the King in these lines:—
An fail I of my thanks to thee nor thank thee day by day ✿ For whom
composed I prose and verse, for whom my say and lay?
Thou lavishedst thy generous gifts ere they were craved by me ✿ Thou
lavishedst thy boons unsought sans pretext or delay
How shall I stint my praise of thee, how shall I cease to laud ✿ The
grace of thee in secresy and patentest display?
Nay; I will thank thy benefits, for aye thy favours lie ✿ Light on my
thought and tongue, though heavy on my back they weigh.
And he said further on the same theme:—
Turn thee from grief nor care a jot! ✿ Commit thy needs to Fate and
Lot!
Enjoy the Present passing well ✿ And let the Past be clean forgot;
For whatso haply seemeth worse ✿ Shall work thy weal as Allah wot:
Allah shall do whate'er He wills ✿ And in His will oppose Him not.
And further still:—
To th' All-wise Subtle One trust worldly things ✿ Rest thee from all
whereto the worldling clings:
Learn wisely well naught cometh by thy will ✿ But e'en as willeth
Allah, King of Kings.
And lastly:—
Gladsome and gay forget thine every grief ✿ Full often grief the wisest
hearts outwore:
Thought is but folly in the feeble slave ✿ Shun it and so be savèd
evermore.
Said the King for sole return, "Knowest thou why I have summoned thee?"
and the Sage replied, "Allah Most Highest alone kenneth hidden things!"
But the King rejoined, "I summoned thee only to take thy life and
utterly to destroy thee." Duban the Wise wondered at this strange
address with exceeding wonder and asked, "O King, and wherefore
wouldest thou slay me, and what ill have I done thee?" and the King
answered, "Men tell me thou art a spy sent hither with intent to slay
me; and lo! I will kill thee ere I be killed by thee;" then he called
to his Sworder, and said, "Strike me off the head of this traitor and
deliver us from his evil practices." Quoth the Sage, "Spare me and
Allah will spare thee; slay me not or Allah shall slay thee." And he
repeated to him these very words, even as I to thee, O Ifrit, and yet
thou wouldst not let me go, being bent upon my death. King Yunan only
rejoined, "I shall not be safe without slaying thee; for, as thou
healedst me by something held in hand, so am I not secure against thy
killing me by something given me to smell or otherwise." Said the
physician, "This then, O King, is thy requital and reward; thou
returnest only evil for good." The King replied, "There is no help for
it; die thou must and without delay." Now when the physician was
certified that the King would slay him without waiting, he wept and
regretted the good he had done to other than the good. As one hath said
on this subject:—
Of wit and wisdom is Maymúnah[98] bare ✿ Whose sire in wisdom all the
wits outstrippeth:
Man may not tread on mud or dust or clay ✿ Save by good sense, else
trippeth he and slippeth.
Hereupon the Sworder stepped forward and bound the Sage Duban's eyes
and bared his blade, saying to the King, "By thy leave;" while the
physician wept and cried, "Spare me and Allah will spare thee, and slay
me not or Allah shall slay thee," and began repeating:—
I was kind and 'scapèd not, they were cruel and escaped; ✿ And my
kindness only led me to Ruination Hall;
If I live I'll ne'er be kind; if I die, then all be damned ✿ Who follow
me, and curses their kindliness befal.
"Is this," continued Duban, "the return I meet from thee? Thou givest
me, meseems, but crocodile-boon." Quoth the King, "What is the tale of
the crocodile?", and quoth the physician, "Impossible for me to tell it
in this my state; Allah upon thee, spare me, as thou hopest Allah shall
spare thee." And he wept with exceeding weeping. Then one of the King's
favourites stood up and said, "O King! grant me the blood of this
physician; we have never seen him sin against thee, or doing aught save
healing thee from a disease which baffled every leach and man of
science." Said the King, "Ye wot not the cause of my putting to death
this physician, and this it is. If I spare him, I doom myself to
certain death; for one who healed me of such a malady by something held
in my hand, surely can slay me by something held to my nose; and I fear
lest he kill me for a price, since haply he is some spy whose sole
purpose in coming hither was to compass my destruction. So there is no
help for it; die he must, and then only shall I be sure of my own
life." Again cried Duban, "Spare me and Allah shall spare thee; and
slay me not or Allah shall slay thee." But it was in vain. Now when the
physician, O Ifrit, knew for certain that the King would kill him, he
said, "O King, if there be no help but I must die, grant me some little
delay that I may go down to my house and release myself from mine
obligations and direct my folk and my neighbours where to bury me and
distribute my books of medicine. Amongst these I have one, the rarest
of rarities, which I would present to thee as an offering: keep it as a
treasure in thy treasury." "And what is in the book?" asked the King
and the Sage answered, "Things beyond compt; and the least of secrets
is that if, directly after thou hast cut off my head, thou open three
leaves and read three lines of the page to thy left hand, my head shall
speak and answer every question thou deignest ask of it." The King
wondered with exceeding wonder and shaking[99] with delight at the
novelty, said, "O physician, dost thou really tell me that when I cut
off thy head it will speak to me?" He replied, "Yes, O King!" Quoth the
King, "This is indeed a strange matter!" and forthwith sent him closely
guarded to his house, and Duban then and there settled all his
obligations. Next day he went up to the King's audience hall, where
Emirs and Wazirs, Chamberlains and Nabobs, Grandees and Lords of Estate
were gathered together, making the presence-chamber gay as a garden of
flower-beds. And lo! the physician came up and stood before the King,
bearing a worn old volume and a little étui of metal full of powder,
like that used for the eyes.[100] Then he sat down and said, "Give me a
tray." So they brought him one and he poured the powder upon it and
levelled it and lastly spake as follows: "O King, take this book but do
not open it till my head falls; then set it upon this tray, and bid
press it down upon the powder, when forthright the blood will cease
flowing. That is the time to open the book." The King thereupon took
the book and made a sign to the Sworder, who arose and struck off the
physician's head, and placing it on the middle of the tray, pressed it
down upon the powder. The blood stopped flowing, and the Sage Duban
unclosed his eyes and said, "Now open the book, O King!" The King
opened the book, and found the leaves stuck together; so he put his
finger to his mouth and, by moistening it, he easily turned over the
first leaf, and in like way the second, and the third, each leaf
opening with much trouble; and when he had unstuck six leaves he looked
over them and, finding nothing written thereon, said, "O physician,
there is no writing here!" Duban replied, "Turn over yet more;" and he
turned over three others in the same way. Now the book was poisoned;
and before long the venom penetrated his system, and he fell into
strong convulsions and he cried out, "The poison hath done its work!"
Whereupon the Sage Duban's head began to improvise:—
There be rulers who have ruled with a foul tyrannic sway ✿ But they
soon became as though they had never, never been:
Just, they had won justice: they oppressed and were opprest ✿ By
Fortune, who requited them with ban and bane and teen:
So they faded like the morn, and the tongue of things repeats ✿ "Take
this for that, nor vent upon Fortune's ways thy spleen."
No sooner had the head ceased speaking than the King rolled over dead.
Now I would have thee know, O Ifrit, that if King Yunan had spared the
Sage Duban, Allah would have spared him; but he refused so to do and
decreed to do him dead, wherefore Allah slew him; and thou too, O
Ifrit, if thou hadst spared me, Allah would have spared thee.——And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted
say: then quoth Dunyazad, "O my sister, how pleasant is thy tale and
how tasteful; how sweet, and how grateful!" She replied, "And where is
this compared with what I could tell thee this coming night, if I live
and the King spare me?" Said the King in himself, "By Allah, I will not
slay her until I hear the rest of her story, for truly it is wondrous."
They rested that night in mutual embrace until dawn: then the King went
forth to his Darbar; the Wazirs and troops came in and the
audience-hall was crowded; so the King gave orders and judged and
appointed and deposed and bade and forbade the rest of that day, when
the court broke up, and King Shahryar entered his palace.
Now when it was the Sixth Night,
Her sister, Dunyazad, said to her. "Pray finish for us thy story;" and
she answered, "I will if the King give me leave." "Say on," quoth the
King. And she continued:—It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that
when the Fisherman said to the Ifrit, "If thou hadst spared me I would
have spared thee, but nothing would satisfy thee save my death; so now
I will do thee die by jailing thee in this jar, and I will hurl thee
into this sea." Then the Marid roared aloud and cried, "Allah upon
thee, O Fisherman don't! Spare me, and pardon my past doings; and, as I
have been tyrannous, so be thou generous, for it is said among sayings
that go current:—O thou who doest good to him who hath done thee evil,
suffice for the ill-doer his ill-deeds, and do not deal with me as did
Umamah to 'Atikah."[101] Asked the Fisherman, "And what was their
case?" and the Ifrit answered, "This is not the time for story-telling
and I in this prison; but set me free and I will tell thee the tale."
Quoth the Fisherman, "Leave this language: there is no help but that
thou be thrown back into the sea nor is there any way for thy getting
out of it for ever and ever. Vainly I placed myself under thy
protection,[102] and I humbled myself to thee with weeping, while thou
soughtest only to slay me, who had done thee no injury deserving this
at thy hands; nay, so far from injuring thee by any evil act, I worked
thee nought but weal in releasing thee from that jail of thine. Now I
knew thee to be an evil-doer when thou diddest to me what thou didst,
and know, that when I have cast thee back into this sea, I will warn
whomsoever may fish thee up of what hath befallen me with thee, and I
will advise him to toss thee back again; so shalt thou abide here under
these waters till the End of Time shall make an end of thee." But the
Ifrit cried aloud, "Set me free; this is a noble occasion for
generosity and I make covenant with thee and vow never to do thee hurt
and harm; nay, I will help thee to what shall put thee out of want."
The Fisherman accepted his promises on both conditions, not to trouble
him as before, but on the contrary to do him service; and, after making
firm the plight and swearing him a solemn oath by Allah Most Highest he
opened the cucurbit. Thereupon the pillar of smoke rose up till all of
it was fully out; then it thickened and once more became an Ifrit of
hideous presence, who forthright administered a kick to the bottle and
sent it flying into the sea. The Fisherman, seeing how the cucurbit was
treated and making sure of his own death, piddled in his clothes and
said to himself, "This promiseth badly;" but he fortified his heart,
and cried, "O Ifrit, Allah hath said"[103]:—Perform your covenant; for
the performance of your covenant shall be inquired into hereafter. Thou
hast made a vow to me and hast sworn an oath not to play me false lest
Allah play thee false, for verily he is a jealous God who respiteth the
sinner, but letteth him not escape. I say to thee as said the Sage
Duban to King Yunan, "Spare me so Allah may spare thee!" The Ifrit
burst into laughter and stalked away, saying to the Fisherman, "Follow
me;" and the man paced after him at a safe distance (for he was not
assured of escape) till they had passed round the suburbs of the city.
Thence they struck into the uncultivated grounds, and crossing them
descended into a broad wilderness, and lo! in the midst of it stood a
mountain-tarn. The Ifrit waded in to the middle and again cried,
"Follow me;" and when this was done he took his stand in the centre and
bade the man cast his net and catch his fish. The Fisherman looked into
the water and was much astonished to see therein vari-coloured fishes,
white and red, blue and yellow; however he cast his net and, hauling it
in, saw that he had netted four fishes, one of each colour. Thereat he
rejoiced greatly and more when the Ifrit said to him, "Carry these to
the Sultan and set them in his presence; then he will give thee what
shall make thee a wealthy man; and now accept my excuse, for by Allah
at this time I wot none other way of benefiting thee, inasmuch I have
lain in this sea eighteen hundred years and have not seen the face of
the world save within this hour. But I would not have thee fish here
save once a day." The Ifrit then gave him Godspeed, saying, "Allah
grant we meet again;"[104] and struck the earth with one foot,
whereupon the ground clove asunder and swallowed him up. The Fisherman,
much marvelling at what had happened to him with the Ifrit, took the
fish and made for the city; and as soon as he reached home he filled an
earthen bowl with water and therein threw the fish which began to
struggle and wriggle about. Then he bore off the bowl upon his head
and, repairing to the King's palace (even as the Ifrit had bidden him)
laid the fish before the presence; and the King wondered with exceeding
wonder at the sight, for never in his lifetime had he seen fishes like
these in quality or in conformation. So he said, "Give those fish to
the stranger slave-girl who now cooketh for us," meaning the
bond-maiden whom the King of Roum had sent to him only three days
before, so that he had not yet made trial of her talents in the
dressing of meat. Thereupon the Wazir carried the fish to the cook and
bade her fry them,[105] saying, "O damsel, the King sendeth this say to
thee:—I have not treasured thee, O tear o' me! save for stress-time of
me; approve, then, to us this day thy delicate handiwork and thy
savoury cooking; for this dish of fish is a present sent to the Sultan
and evidently a rarity." The Wazir, after he had carefully charged her,
returned to the King, who commanded him to give the Fisherman four
hundred dinars: he gave them accordingly, and the man took them to his
bosom and ran off home stumbling and falling and rising again and
deeming the whole thing to be a dream. However, he bought for his
family all they wanted and lastly he went to his wife in huge joy and
gladness. So far concerning him; but as regards the cookmaid, she took
the fish and cleansed them and set them in the frying-pan, basting them
with oil till one side was dressed. Then she turned them over and,
behold, the kitchen wall clave asunder, and therefrom came a young
lady, fair of form, oval of face, perfect in grace, with eyelids which
Kohl-lines enchase.[106] Her dress was a silken head-kerchief fringed
and tasseled with blue: a large ring hung from either ear; a pair of
bracelets adorned her wrists; rings with bezels of priceless gems were
on her fingers; and she hent in hand a long rod of rattan-cane which
she thrust into the frying-pan, saying, "O fish! O fish! be ye constant
to your covenant?" When the cook-maiden saw this apparition she swooned
away. The young lady repeated her words a second time and a third time,
and at last the fishes raised their heads from the pan, and saying in
articulate speech "Yes! Yes!" began with one voice to recite:—
Come back and so will I! Keep faith and so will I! ✿ And if ye fain
forsake, I'll requite till quits we cry!
After this the young lady upset the frying-pan and went forth by the
way she came in and the kitchen wall closed upon her. When the
cook-maiden recovered from her fainting-fit, she saw the four fishes
charred black as charcoal, and crying out, "His staff brake in his
first bout,"[107] she again fell swooning to the ground. Whilst she was
in this case the Wazir came for the fish, and looking upon her as
insensible she lay, not knowing Sunday from Thursday, shoved her with
his foot and said, "Bring the fish for the Sultan!" Thereupon
recovering from her fainting-fit she wept and informed him of her case
and all that had befallen her. The Wazir marvelled greatly and
exclaiming, "This is none other than a right strange matter!", he sent
after the Fisherman and said to him, "Thou, O Fisherman, must needs
fetch us four fishes like those thou broughtest before." Thereupon the
man repaired to the tarn and cast his net; and when he landed it, lo!
four fishes were therein exactly like the first. These he at once
carried to the Wazir, who went in with them to the cook-maiden and
said, "Up with thee and fry these in my presence, that I may see this
business." The damsel arose and cleansed the fish, and set them in the
frying-pan over the fire; however they remained there but a little
while ere the wall clave asunder and the young lady appeared, clad as
before and holding in hand the wand which she again thrust into the
frying-pan, saying, "O fish! O fish! be ye constant to your olden
covenant?" And behold, the fish lifted their heads, and repeated "Yes!
Yes!" and recited this couplet:
Come back and so will I! Keep faith and so will I! ✿ But if ye fain
forsake, I'll requite till quits we cry!
And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted
say.
Now when it was the Seventh Night,
She continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the
fishes spoke, and the young lady upset the frying-pan with her rod, and
went forth by the way she came and the wall closed up, the Wazir cried
out, "This is a thing not to be hidden from the King," So he went and
told him what had happened, whereupon quoth the King, "There is no help
for it but that I see this with mine own eyes." Then he sent for the
Fisherman and commanded him to bring four other fish like the first and
to take with him three men as witnesses. The Fisherman at once brought
the fish: and the King, after ordering them to give him four hundred
gold pieces, turned to the Wazir and said, "Up and fry me the fishes
here before me!" The Minister, replying "To hear is to obey," bade
bring the frying-pan, threw therein the cleansed fish and set it over
the fire; when lo! the wall clave asunder, and out burst a black slave
like a huge rock or a remnant of the tribe Ad[108] bearing in hand a
branch of a green tree; and he cried in loud and terrible tones, "O
fish! O fish! be ye all constant to your antique covenant?" whereupon
the fishes lifted their heads from the frying-pan and said, "Yes! Yes!
we be true to our vow;" and they again recited the couplet:
Come back and so will I! Keep faith and so will I! ✿ But if ye fain
forsake, I'll requite till quits we cry!
Then the huge blackamoor approached the frying-pan and upset it with
the branch and went forth by the way he came in. When he vanished from
their sight the King inspected the fish; and, finding them all charred
black as charcoal, was utterly bewildered and said to the Wazir,
"Verily this is a matter whereanent silence cannot be kept, and as for
the fishes, assuredly some marvellous adventure connects with them." So
he bade bring the Fisherman and asked him, saying "Fie on thee, fellow!
whence come these fishes?" and he answered, "From a tarn between four
heights lying behind this mountain which is in sight of thy city."
Quoth the King, "How many days' march?" Quoth he, "O our lord the
Sultan, a walk of half hour." The King wondered and, straightway
ordering his men to march and horsemen to mount, led off the Fisherman
who went before as guide, privily damning the Ifrit. They fared on till
they had climbed the mountain and descended unto a great desert which
they had never seen during all their lives; and the Sultan and his
merry men marvelled much at the wold set in the midst of four
mountains, and the tarn and its fishes of four colours, red and white,
yellow and blue. The King stood fixed to the spot in wonderment and
asked his troops and all present, "Hath any one among you ever seen
this piece of water before now?" and all made answer, "O King of the
age, never did we set eyes upon it during all our days." They also
questioned the oldest inhabitants they met, men well stricken in years,
but they replied, each and every, "A lakelet like this we never saw in
this place." Thereupon quoth the King, "By Allah I will neither return
to my capital nor sit upon the throne of my forbears till I learn the
truth about this tarn and the fish therein." He then ordered his men to
dismount and bivouac all around the mountain; which they did; and
summoning his Wazir, a Minister of much experience, sagacious, of
penetrating wit and well versed in affairs, said to him, "'Tis in my
mind to do a certain thing, whereof I will inform thee; my heart
telleth me to fare forth alone this night and root out the mystery of
this tarn and its fishes. Do thou take thy seat at my tent-door, and
say to the Emirs and Wazirs, the Nabobs and the Chamberlains, in fine
to all who ask thee:—The Sultan is ill at ease, and he hath ordered me
to refuse all admittance;[109] and be careful thou let none know my
design." And the Wazir could not oppose him. Then the King changed his
dress and ornaments and, slinging his sword over his shoulder, took a
path which led up one of the mountains and marched for the rest of the
night till morning dawned; nor did he cease wayfaring till the heat was
too much for him. After his long walk he rested for a while, and then
resumed his march and fared on through the second night till dawn, when
suddenly there appeared a black point in the far distance. Hereat he
rejoiced and said to himself, "Haply some one here shall acquaint me
with the mystery of the tarn and its fishes." Presently, drawing near
the dark object he found it a palace built of swart stone plated with
iron; and, while one leaf of the gate stood wide open, the other was
shut. The King's spirits rose high as he stood before the gate and
rapped a light rap; but hearing no answer he knocked a second knock and
a third; yet there came no sign. Then he knocked his loudest but still
no answer, so he said, "Doubtless 'tis empty." Thereupon he mustered up
resolution, and boldly walked through the main gate into the great hall
and there cried out aloud, "Holla, ye people of the palace! I am a
stranger and a wayfarer; have you aught here of victual?" He repeated
his cry a second time and a third but still there came no reply; so
strengthening his heart and making up his mind he stalked through the
vestibule into the very middle of the palace and found no man in it.
Yet it was furnished with silken stuffs gold-starred; and the hangings
were let down over the door-ways. In the midst was a spacious court off
which set four open saloons each with its raised daïs, saloon, facing
saloon; a canopy shaded the court and in the centre was a jetting fount
with four figures of lions made of red gold, spouting from their mouths
water clear as pearls and diaphanous gems. Round about the palace birds
were let loose and over it stretched a net of golden wire, hindering
them from flying off; in brief there was everything but human beings.
The King marvelled mightily thereat, yet felt he sad at heart for that
he saw no one to give him an account of the waste and its tarn, the
fishes, the mountains and the palace itself. Presently as he sat
between the doors in deep thought behold, there came a voice of lament,
as from a heart grief-spent and he heard the voice chanting these
verses:—
I hid what I endured of him[110] and yet it came to light, ✿ And
nightly sleep mine eyelids fled and changed to sleepless night:
Oh world! Oh Fate! withhold thy hand and cease thy hurt and harm ✿ Look
and behold my hapless sprite in dolour and affright:
Wilt ne'er show ruth to highborn youth who lost him on the way ✿ Of
Love, and fell from wealth and fame to lowest basest wight.
Jealous of Zephyr's breath was I as on your form he breathed ✿ But
whenas Destiny descends she blindeth human sight,[111]
What shall the hapless archer do who when he fronts his foe ✿ And bends
his bow to shoot the shaft shall find his string undight?
When cark and care so heavy bear on youth[112] of generous soul ✿ How
shall he 'scape his lot and where from Fate his place of flight?
Now when the Sultan heard the mournful voice he sprang to his feet;
and, following the sound, found a curtain let down over a chamber-door.
He raised it and saw behind it a young man sitting upon a couch about a
cubit above the ground; and he fair to the sight, a well shaped wight,
with eloquence dight; his forehead was flower-white, his cheek rosy
bright, and a mole on his cheek-breadth like an ambergris-mite; even as
the poet doth indite:—
A youth slim-waisted from whose locks and brow ✿ The world in blackness
and in light is set.
Throughout Creation's round no fairer show ✿ No rarer sight thine eye
hath ever met:
A nut-brown mole sits throned upon a cheek ✿ Of rosiest red beneath an
eye of jet.[113]
The King rejoiced and saluted him, but he remained sitting in his
caftan of silken stuff purfled with Egyptian gold and his crown studded
with gems of sorts; but his face was sad with the traces of sorrow. He
returned the royal salute in most courteous wise adding, "O my lord,
thy dignity demandeth my rising to thee; and my sole excuse is to crave
thy pardon."[114] Quoth the King, "Thou art excused, O youth; so look
upon me as thy guest come hither on an especial object. I would thou
acquaint me with the secrets of this tarn and its fishes and of this
palace and thy loneliness therein and the cause of thy groaning and
wailing." When the young man heard these words he wept with sore
weeping;[115] till his bosom was drenched with tears and began
reciting:—
Say him who careless sleeps what while the shaft of Fortune flies ✿ How
many doth this shifting world lay low and raise to rise?
Although thine eye be sealed in sleep, sleep not th' Almighty's eyes ✿
And who hath found Time ever fair, or Fate in constant guise?
Then he sighed a long-fetched sigh and recited:—
Confide thy case to Him, the Lord who made mankind; ✿ Quit cark and
care and cultivate content of mind;
Ask not the Past or how or why it came to pass: ✿ All human things by
Fate and Destiny were designed!
The King marvelled and asked him, "What maketh thee weep, O young man?"
and he answered, "How should I not weep, when this is my case!"
Thereupon he put out his hand and raised the skirt of his garment, when
lo! the lower half of him appeared stone down to his feet while from
his navel to the hair of his head he was man. The King, seeing this his
plight, grieved with sore grief and of his compassion cried, "Alack and
well-away! in very sooth, O youth, thou heapest sorrow upon my sorrow.
I was minded to ask thee the mystery of the fishes only: whereas now I
am concerned to learn thy story as well as theirs. But there is no
Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the
Great.[116] Lose no time, O youth, but tell me forthright thy whole
tale." Quoth he, "Lend me thine ears, thy sight and thine insight;" and
quoth the King, "All are at thy service!" Thereupon the youth began,
"Right wondrous and marvellous is my case and that of these fishes; and
were it graven with gravers upon the eye-corners it were a warner to
whoso would be warned." "How is that?" asked the King, and the young
man began to tell
_THE TALE OF THE ENSORCELLED PRINCE._
Know then, O my lord, that whilome my sire was King of this city, and
his name was Mahmúd, entitled Lord of the Black Islands, and owner of
what are now these four mountains. He ruled threescore and ten years,
after which he went to the mercy of the Lord and I reigned as Sultan in
his stead. I took to wife my cousin, the daughter of my paternal
uncle,[117] and she loved me with such abounding love that whenever I
was absent she ate not and she drank not until she saw me again. She
cohabited with me for five years till a certain day when she went forth
to the Hammam bath; and I bade the cook hasten to get ready all
requisites for our supper. And I entered this palace and lay down on
the bed where I was wont to sleep and bade two damsels to fan my face,
one sitting by my head and the other at my feet. But I was troubled and
made restless by my wife's absence and could not sleep; for although my
eyes were closed my mind and thoughts were wide awake. Presently I
heard the slave-girl at my head say to her at my feet, "O Mas'údah, how
miserable is our master and how wasted in his youth and oh! the pity of
his being so betrayed by our mistress, the accursed whore!"[118] The
other replied, "Yes indeed: Allah curse all faithless women and
adulterous; but the like of our master, with his fair gifts, deserveth
something better than this harlot who lieth abroad every night." Then
quoth she who sat by my head, "Is our lord dumb or fit only for
bubbling that he questioneth her not!" and quoth the other, "Fie on
thee! doth our lord know her ways or doth she allow him his choice?
Nay, more, doth she not drug every night the cup she giveth him to
drink before sleep-time, and put Bhang[119] into it? So he sleepeth and
wotteth not whither she goeth, nor what she doeth; but we know that,
after giving him the drugged wine, she donneth her richest raiment and
perfumeth herself and then she fareth out from him to be away till
break of day; then she cometh to him, and burneth a pastile under his
nose and he awaketh from his deathlike sleep." When I heard the
slave-girls' words, the light became black before my sight and I
thought night would never fall. Presently the daughter of my uncle came
from the baths; and they set the table for us and we ate and sat
together a fair half-hour quaffing our wine as was ever our wont. Then
she called for the particular wine I used to drink before sleeping and
reached me the cup; but, seeming to drink it according to my wont, I
poured the contents into my bosom; and, lying down, let her hear that I
was asleep. Then, behold, she cried, "Sleep out the night, and never
wake again: by Allah, I loathe thee and I loathe thy whole body, and my
soul turneth in disgust from cohabiting with thee; and I see not the
moment when Allah shall snatch away thy life!" Then she rose and donned
her fairest dress and perfumed her person and slung my sword over her
shoulder; and, opening the gates of the palace, went her ill way. I
rose and followed her as she left the palace and she threaded the
streets until she came to the city gate, where she spoke words I
understood not, and the padlocks dropped of themselves as if broken and
the gate-leaves opened. She went forth (and I after her without her
noticing aught) till she came at last to the outlying mounds[120] and a
reed fence built about a round-roofed hut of mud-bricks. As she entered
the door, I climbed upon the roof which commanded a view of the
interior. And lo! my fair cousin had gone in to a hideous negro slave
with his upper lip like the cover of a pot, and his lower like an open
pot; lips which might sweep up sand from the gravel-floor of the cot.
He was to boot a leper and a paralytic, lying upon a strew of
sugar-cane trash and wrapped, in an old blanket and the foulest rags
and tatters. She kissed the earth before him, and he raised his head so
as to see her and said, "Woe to thee! what call hadst thou to stay away
all this time? Here have been with me sundry of the black brethren, who
drank their wine and each had his young lady, and I was not content to
drink because of thine absence." Then she, "O my lord, my heart's love
and coolth of my eyes,[121] knowest thou not that I am married to my
cousin whose very look I loathe, and hate myself when in his company?
And did not I fear for thy sake, I would not let a single sun arise
before making his city a ruined heap wherein raven should croak and
howlet hoot, and jackal and wolf harbour and loot; nay I had removed
its very stones to the back side of Mount Káf."[122] Rejoined the
slave, "Thou liest, damn thee! Now I swear an oath by the valour and
honour of blackamoor men (and deem not our manliness to be the poor
manliness of white men), from to-day forth if thou stay away till this
hour, I will not keep company with thee nor will I glue my body with
thy body and strum and belly-bump. Dost play fast and loose with us,
thou cracked pot, that we may satisfy thy dirty lusts? stinkard! bitch!
vilest of the vile whites!" When I heard his words, and saw with my own
eyes what passed between these two wretches, the world waxed dark
before my face and my soul knew not in what place it was. But my wife
humbly stood up weeping before and wheedling the slave, and saying, "O
my beloved, and very fruit of my heart, there is none left to cheer me
but thy dear self; and, if thou cast me off who shall take me in, O my
beloved, O light of my eyes?" And she ceased not weeping and abasing
herself to him until he deigned be reconciled with her. Then was she
right glad and stood up and doffed her clothes, even to her
petticoat-trousers, and said, "O my master what hast thou here for thy
handmaiden to eat?" "Uncover the basin," he grumbled, "and thou shalt
find at the bottom the broiled bones of some rats we dined on; pick at
them, and then go to that slop-pot where thou shalt find some leavings
of beer[123] which thou mayest drink." So she ate and drank and washed
her hands, and went and lay down by the side of the slave, upon the
cane-trash and, stripping herself stark naked, she crept in with him
under his foul coverlet and his rags and tatters. When I saw my wife,
my cousin, the daughter of my uncle, do this deed[124] "I clean lost my
wits, and climbing down from the roof, I entered and took the sword
which she had with her and drew it, determined to cut down the twain. I
first struck at the slave's neck and thought that the death decree had
fallen on him:"——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to
say her permitted say.
[Illustration]
Now when it was the Eighth Night,
She continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the young
ensorcelled Prince said to the King, "When I smote the slave with
intent to strike off his head, I thought that I had slain him; for he
groaned a loud hissing groan, but I had cut only the skin and flesh of
the gullet and the two arteries! It awoke the daughter of my uncle, so
I sheathed the sword and fared forth for the city; and, entering the
palace, lay upon my bed and slept till morning when my wife aroused me
and I saw that she had cut off her hair and had donned mourning
garments. Quoth she:—O son of my uncle, blame me not for what I do; it
hath just reached me that my mother is dead, and my father hath been
killed in holy war, and of my brothers one hath lost his life by a
snake-sting and the other by falling down some precipice; and I can and
should do naught save weep and lament. When I heard her words I
refrained from all reproach and said only:—Do as thou list; I certainly
will not thwart thee. She continued sorrowing, weeping and wailing one
whole year from the beginning of its circle to the end, and when it was
finished she said to me:—I wish to build me in thy palace a tomb with a
cupola, which I will set apart for my mourning and will name the House
of Lamentations."[125] Quoth I again:—Do as thou list! Then she builded
for herself a cenotaph wherein to mourn, and set on its centre a dome
under which showed a tomb like a Santon's sepulchre. Thither she
carried the slave and lodged him; but he was exceeding weak by reason
of his wound, and unable to do her love-service; he could only drink
wine and from the day of his hurt he spake not a word, yet he lived on
because his appointed hour[126] was not come. Every day, morning and
evening, my wife went to him and wept and wailed over him and gave him
wine and strong soups, and left not off doing after this manner a
second year; and I bore with her patiently and paid no heed to her. One
day, however, I went in to her unawares; and I found her weeping and
beating her face and crying:—Why art thou absent from my sight, O my
heart's delight? Speak to me, O my life; talk with me, O my love? Then
she recited these verses:—
For your love my patience fails and albeit you forget ✿ I may not; nor
to other love my heart can make reply:
Bear my body, bear my soul wheresoever you may fare ✿ And where you
pitch the camp let my body buried lie:
Cry my name above my grave, and an answer shall return ✿ The moaning of
my bones responsive to your cry.[127]
Then she recited, weeping bitterly the while:—
The day of my delight is the day when draw you near ✿ And the day of
mine affright is the day you turn away:
Though I tremble through the night in my bitter dread of death ✿ When I
hold you in my arms I am free from all affray.
Once more she began reciting:—
Though a-morn I may awake with all happiness in hand ✿ Though the world
all be mine and like Kisra-kings[128] I reign;
To me they had the worth of the winglet of the gnat ✿ When I fail to
see thy form, when I look for thee in vain.
When she had ended for a time her words and her weeping I said to
her:—O my cousin, let this thy mourning suffice, for in pouring forth
tears there is little profit! Thwart me not, answered she, in aught I
do, or I will lay violent hands on myself! So I held my peace and left
her to go her own way; and she ceased not to cry and keen and indulge
her affliction for yet another year. At the end of the third year I
waxed aweary of this longsome mourning, and one day I happened to enter
the cenotaph when vexed and angry with some matter which had thwarted
me, and suddenly I heard her say:—O my lord, I never hear thee
vouchsafe a single word to me! Why dost thou not answer me, O my
master? and she began reciting:—
O thou tomb! O thou tomb! be his beauty set in shade ✿ Hast thou
darkened that countenance all-sheeny as the noon?
O thou tomb! neither earth nor yet heaven art to me ✿ Then how cometh
it in thee are conjoined my sun and moon?
When I heard such verses as these rage was heaped upon my rage; I cried
out:—Well-away! how long is this sorrow to last? and I began
repeating:—
O thou tomb! O thou tomb! be his horrors set in blight? ✿ Hast thou
darkenèd his countenance that sickeneth the soul?
O thou tomb! neither cess-pool nor pipkin art to me ✿ Then how cometh
it in thee are conjoinèd soil and coal?
When she heard my words she sprang to her feet crying:—Fie upon thee,
thou cur! all this is of thy doings; thou hast wounded my heart's
darling and thereby worked me sore woe and thou hast wasted his youth
so that these three years he hath lain abed more dead than alive! In my
wrath I cried:—O thou foulest of harlots and filthiest of whores ever
futtered by negro slaves who are hired to have at thee![129] Yes indeed
it was I who did this good deed; and snatching up my sword I drew it
and made at her to cut her down. But she laughed my words and mine
intent to scorn crying: To heel, hound that thou art! Alas[130] for the
past which shall no more come to pass nor shall any one avail the dead
to raise. Allah hath indeed now given into my hand him who did to me
this thing, a deed that hath burned my heart with a fire which died not
and a flame which might not be quenched! Then she stood up; and,
pronouncing some words to me unintelligible, she said:—By virtue of my
egromancy become thou half stone and half man; whereupon I became what
thou seest, unable to rise or to sit, and neither dead nor alive.
Moreover she ensorcelled the city with all its streets and garths, and
she turned by her gramarye the four islands into four mountains around
the tarn whereof thou questionest me; and the citizens, who were of
four different faiths, Moslem, Nazarene, Jew and Magian, she
transformed by her enchantments into fishes; the Moslems are the white,
the Magians red, the Christians blue and the Jews yellow.[131] "And
every day she tortureth me and scourgeth me with an hundred stripes,
each of which draweth floods of blood and cutteth the skin of my
shoulders to strips; and lastly she clotheth my upper half with a
hair-cloth and then throweth over them these robes." Hereupon the young
man again shed tears and began reciting:—
In patience, O my God, I endure my lot and fate; ✿ I will bear at will
of Thee whatsoever be my state:
They oppress me; they torture me; they make my life a woe ✿ Yet haply
Heaven's happiness shall compensate my strait:
Yea, straitened is my life by the bane and hate o' foes ✿ But Mustapha
and Murtazá[132] shall ope me Heaven's gate.
After this the Sultan turned towards the young Prince and said, "O
youth, thou hast removed one grief only to add another grief; but now,
O my friend, where is she; and where is the mausoleum wherein lieth the
wounded slave?" "The slave lieth under yon dome," quoth the young man,
"and she sitteth in the chamber fronting yonder door. And every day at
sunrise she cometh forth, and first strippeth me, and whippeth me with
an hundred strokes of the leathern scourge, and I weep and shriek; but
there is no power of motion in my lower limbs to keep her off me. After
ending her tormenting me she visiteth the slave, bringing him wine and
boiled meats. And to-morrow at an early hour she will be here." Quoth
the King, "By Allah, O youth, I will assuredly do thee a good deed
which the world shall not willingly let die, and an act of derring-do
which shall be chronicled long after I am dead and gone by." Then the
King sat him by the side of the young Prince and talked till nightfall,
when he lay down and slept; but, as soon as the false dawn[133] showed,
he arose and doffing his outer garments[134] bared his blade and
hastened to the place wherein lay the slave. Then was he ware of
lighted candles and lamps, and the perfume of incenses and unguents;
and, directed by these, he made for the slave and struck him one stroke
killing him on the spot: after which he lifted him on his back and
threw him into a well that was in the palace. Presently he returned
and, donning the slave's gear, lay down at length within the mausoleum
with the drawn sword laid close to and along his side. After an hour or
so the accursed witch came; and, first going to her husband, she
stripped off his clothes and, taking a whip, flogged him cruelly while
he cried out, "Ah! enough for me the case I am in! take pity on me, O
my cousin!" But she replied, "Didst thou take pity on me and spare the
life of my true love on whom I doated?" Then she drew the cilice over
his raw and bleeding skin and threw the robe upon all and went down to
the slave with a goblet of wine and a bowl of meat-broth in her hands.
She entered under the dome weeping and wailing, "Well-away!" and
crying, "O my lord! speak a word to me! O my master! talk awhile with
me!" and began to recite these couplets:—
How long this harshness, this unlove, shall bide? ✿ Suffice thee not
tear-floods thou hast espied?
Thou dost prolong our parting purposely ✿ And if wouldst please my foe,
thou'rt satisfied!
Then she wept again and said, "O my lord! speak to me, talk with me!"
The King lowered his voice and, twisting his tongue, spoke after the
fashion of the blackamoors and said "'lack! 'lack! there be no Ma'esty
and there be no Might save in Allauh, the Gloriose, the Greät!" Now
when she heard these words she shouted for joy, and fell to the ground
fainting; and when her senses returned she asked, "O my lord, can it be
true that thou hast power of speech?" and the King making his voice
small and faint answered, "O my cuss! dost thou deserve that I talk to
thee and speak with thee?" "Why and wherefore?" rejoined she; and he
replied "The why is that all the livelong day thou tormentest thy
hubby; and he keeps calling on 'eaven for aid until sleep is strange to
me even from evenin' till mawnin', and he prays and damns, cussing us
two, me and thee, causing me disquiet and much bother: were this not
so, I should long ago have got my health; and it is this which prevents
my answering thee." Quoth she, "With thy leave I will release him from
what spell is on him;" and quoth the King, "Release him and let's have
some rest!" She cried, "To hear is to obey;" and, going from the
cenotaph to the palace, she took a metal bowl and filled it with water
and spake over it certain words which made the contents bubble and boil
as a cauldron seetheth over the fire. With this she sprinkled her
husband saying, "By virtue of the dread words I have spoken, if thou
becamest thus by my spells, come forth out of that form into thine own
former form." And lo and behold! the young man shook and trembled; then
he rose to his feet and, rejoicing at his deliverance, cried aloud, "I
testify that there is no god but _the_ God, and in very truth Mohammed
is His Apostle, whom Allah bless and keep!" Then she said to him, "Go
forth and return not hither, for if thou do I will surely slay thee;"
screaming these words in his face. So he went from between her hands;
and she returned to the dome and, going down to the sepulchre, she
said, "O my lord, come forth to me that I may look upon thee and thy
goodliness!" The King replied in faint low words, "What[135] thing hast
thou done? Thou hast rid me of the branch but not of the root." She
asked, "O my darling! O my negroling! what is the root?" And he
answered, "Fie on thee, O my cuss! The people of this city and of the
four islands every night when it's half passed lift their heads from
the tank in which thou hast turned them to fishes and cry to Heaven and
call down its anger on me and thee; and this is the reason why my
body's baulked from health. Go at once and set them free; then come to
me and take my hand, and raise me up, for a little strength is already
back in me." When she heard the King's words (and she still supposed
him to be the slave) she cried joyously, "O my master, on my head and
on my eyes be thy command, Bismillah[136]!" So she sprang to her feet
and, full of joy and gladness, ran down to the tarn and look a little
of its water In the palm of her hand—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn
of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Ninth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the young
woman, the sorceress, took in hand some of the tarn-water and spake
over it words not to be understood, the fishes lifted their heads and
stood up on the instant like men, the spell on the people of the city
having been removed. What was the lake again became a crowded capital;
the bazars were thronged with folk who bought and sold; each citizen
was occupied with his own calling and the four hills became islands as
they were whilome. Then the young woman, that wicked sorceress,
returned to the King and (still thinking he was the negro) said to him,
"O my love! stretch forth thy honoured hand that I may assist thee to
rise." "Nearer to me," quoth the King in a faint and feigned tone. She
came close as to embrace him when he took up the sword lying hid by his
side and smote her across the breast, so that the point showed gleaming
behind her back. Then he smote her a second time and cut her in twain
and cast her to the ground in two halves. After which he fared forth
and found the young man, now freed from the spell, awaiting him and
gave him joy of his happy release while the Prince kissed his hand with
abundant thanks. Quoth the King, "Wilt thou abide in this city or go
with me to my capital?" Quoth the youth, "O King of the age, wottest
thou not what journey is between thee and thy city?" "Two days and a
half," answered he; whereupon said the other, "An thou be sleeping, O
King, awake! Between thee and thy city is a year's march for a
well-girt walker, and thou haddest not come hither in two days and a
half save that the city was under enchantment. And I, O King, will
never part from thee; no, not even for the twinkling of an eye." The
King rejoiced at his words and said, "Thanks be to Allah who hath
bestowed thee upon me! From this hour thou art my son and my only son,
for that in all my life I have never been blessed with issue."
Thereupon they embraced and joyed with exceeding great joy; and,
reaching the palace, the Prince who had been spell-bound informed his
lords and his grandees that he was about to visit the Holy Places as a
pilgrim, and bade them get ready all things necessary for the occasion.
The preparations lasted ten days, after which he set out with the
Sultan, whose heart burned in yearning for his city whence he had been
absent a whole twelvemonth. They journeyed with an escort of
Mamelukes[137] carrying all manners of precious gifts and rarities, nor
stinted they wayfaring day and night for a full year until they
approached the Sultan's capital, and sent on messengers to announce
their coming. Then the Wazir and the whole army came out to meet him in
joy and gladness, for they had given up all hope of ever seeing their
King; and the troops kissed the ground before him and wished him joy of
his safety. He entered and took seat upon his throne and the Minister
came before him and, when acquainted with all that had befallen the
young Prince, he congratulated him on his narrow escape. When order was
restored throughout the land the King gave largesse to many of his
people, and said to the Wazir, "Hither the Fisherman who brought us the
fishes!" So he sent for the man who had been the first cause of the
city and the citizens being delivered from enchantment and, when he
came into the presence, the Sultan bestowed upon him a dress of honour,
and questioned him of his condition and whether he had children. The
Fisherman gave him to know that he had two daughters and a son, so the
King sent for them and, taking one daughter to wife, gave the other to
the young Prince and made the son his head-treasurer. Furthermore he
invested his Wazir with the Sultanate of the City in the Black Islands
whilome belonging to the young Prince, and dispatched with him the
escort of fifty armed slaves together with dresses of honour for all
the Emirs and Grandees. The Wazir kissed hands and fared forth on his
way; while the Sultan and the Prince abode at home in all the solace
and the delight of life; and the Fisherman became the richest man of
his age, and his daughters wived with the Kings, until death came to
them. And yet, O King! this is not more wondrous than the story of
-----
Footnote 60:
Here, as in other places, I have not preserved the monorhyme, but
have ended like the English sonnet with a couplet; as a rule the last
two lines contain a "Husn makta'" or climax.
Footnote 61:
Lit. "he began to say (or speak) poetry," such improvising being
still common amongst the Badawin as I shall afterwards note. And
although Mohammed severely censured profane poets, who "rove as
bereft of their senses through every valley" and were directly
inspired by devils (Koran xxvi.), it is not a little curious to note
that he himself spoke in "Rajaz" (which see) and that the four first
Caliphs all "spoke poetry." In early ages the verse would not be
written, if written at all, till after the maker's death. I translate
"inshád" by "versifying" or "repeating" or "reciting," leaving it
doubtful if the composition be or be not original. In places,
however, it is clearly improvised and then as a rule it is model
doggrel.
Footnote 62:
Arab. "Allahumma"=Yá Allah (O Allah) but with emphasis; the Fath
being a substitute for the voc. part. Some connect it with the Heb.
"Alihím," but that fancy is not Arab. In Al-Hariri and the
rhetoricians it sometimes means to be sure; of course; unless indeed;
unless possibly=Greek νὴ δἰα.
Footnote 63:
Probably in consequence of a vow. These superstitious practices,
which have many a parallel amongst ourselves, are not confined to the
lower orders in the East.
Footnote 64:
_i.e._, saying "Bismillah!" the pious ejaculation which should
precede every act. In Boccaccio (viii., 9) it is "remembering Iddio
e' Santí."
Footnote 65:
Arab. Nahás asfar=brass, opposed to "Nahás" and "Nahás
ahmar,"=copper.
Footnote 66:
This alludes to the legend of Sakhr al-Jinni, a famous fiend cast by
Solomon David-son into Lake Tiberias whose storms make it a suitable
place. Hence the "Bottle imp," a world-wide fiction of folk-lore: we
shall find it in the "Book of Sindibad," and I need hardly remind the
reader of Le Sage's "Diable Boiteux," borrowed from "El Diablo
Cojuelo," the Spanish novel by Luiz Velez de Guevara.
Footnote 67:
Márid (lit. "contumacious" from the Heb. root Marad to rebel, whence
"Nimrod" in late Semitic) is one of the tribes of the Jinn, generally
but not always hostile to man. His female is "Máridah."
Footnote 68:
As Solomon began to reign (according to vulgar chronometry) in B.C.
1015, the text would place the tale circ. A.D. 785,=A.H. 169. But we
can lay no stress on this date which may be merely fanciful.
Professor Tawney very justly compares this Moslem Solomon with the
Hindu King, Vikramáditya, who ruled over the seven divisions of the
world and who had as many devils to serve him as he wanted.
Footnote 69:
Arab. "Yá Ba'íd" a euphemism here adopted to prevent using grossly
abusive language. Others will occur in the course of these pages.
Footnote 70:
_i.e._ about to fly out; "My heart is in my mouth." The Fisherman
speaks with the dry humour of a Fellah.
Footnote 71:
"Sulayman," when going out to ease himself, entrusted his seal-ring
upon which his kingdom depended to a concubine "Amínah" (the
"Faithful"), when Sakhr, transformed to the King's likeness, came in
and took it. The prophet was reduced to beggary, but after forty days
the demon fled throwing into the sea the ring which was swallowed by
a fish and eventually returned to Sulayman. This Talmudic fable is
hinted at in the Koran (chapt. xxxviii.), and commentators have
extensively embroidered it. Asaf, son of Barkhiya, was Wazir to
Sulayman and is supposed to be the "one with whom was the knowledge
of the Scriptures" (Koran, chapt. xxxvii.), _i.e._ who knew the
Ineffable Name of Allah. See the manifest descendant of the
Talmudic-Koranic fiction in the "Tale of the Emperor Jovinian" (No.
lix.) of the Gesta Romanorum, the most popular book of mediæval
Europe composed in England (or Germany) about the end of the
thirteenth century.
Footnote 72:
Arab. "Kumkum," a gourd-shaped bottle, of metal, china or glass,
still used for sprinkling scents. Lane gives an illustration (chapt.
viii., Mod. Egypt.).
Footnote 73:
Arab. meaning "the Mother of Amir," a nickname for the hyena, which
bites the hand that feeds it.
Footnote 74:
The intellect of man is stronger than that of the Jinni; the Ifrit,
however, enters the jar because he has been adjured by the Most Great
Name and not from mere stupidity. The seal-ring of Solomon according
to the Rabbis contained a chased stone which told him everything he
wanted to know.
Footnote 75:
The Mesmerist will notice this shudder which is familiar to him as
preceding the "magnetic" trance.
Footnote 76:
Arab. "Bahr" which means a sea, a large river, a sheet of water,
etc., lit. water cut or trenched in the earth. Bahri in Egypt means
Northern; so Yamm (Sea, Mediterranean) in Hebrew is West.
Footnote 77:
In the Bul. Edit. "Ruyán," evidently a clerical error. The name is
fanciful not significant.
Footnote 78:
The geography is ultra-Shakspearean. "Fars" (whence "Persia") is the
central Province of the grand old Empire now a mere wreck; "Rúm"
(which I write Roum, in order to avoid Jamaica) is the neo-Roman or
Byzantine Empire; while "Yunan" is the classical Arab term for Greece
(Ionia) which unlearned Moslems believe to be now under water.
Footnote 79:
The Sun greets Mohammed every morning even as it dances on Easter-Day
for Christendom. Risum teneatis?
Footnote 80:
Arab. "Nadím," a term often occurring. It denotes one who was
intimate enough to drink with the Caliph, a very high honour and a
dangerous. The last who sat with "Nudamá" was Al-Razi bi'llah A.H.
329=940. See Al-Siyuti's famous "History of the Caliphs" translated
and admirably annotated by Major H. S. Jarrett, for the Bibliotheca
Indica, Calcutta, 1880.
Footnote 81:
Arab. Maydán (from Persian); Lane generally translates it
"horse-course," and Payne "tilting-yard." It is both and something
more; an open space, in or near the city, used for reviewing troops,
races, playing the Jeríd (cane-spear) and other sports and exercises:
thus Al-Maydan=Gr. hippodrome. The game here alluded to is our
"polo," or hockey on horseback, a favourite with the Persian Kings,
as all old illustrations of the Shahnamah show. Maydan is also a
natural plain for which copious Arabic has many terms; Fayhah or Sath
(a plain generally), Khabt (a low lying plain), Bat'há (a low sandy
flat), Mahattah (a plain fit for halting) and so forth. (Pilgrimage
iii., 11.)
Footnote 82:
For details concerning the "Ghusl" see Night xliv.
Footnote 83:
A popular idiom and highly expressive, contrasting the upright
bearing of the self-satisfied man with the slouch of the miserable
and the skirt-trailing of the woman in grief. I do not see the
necessity of such Latinisms as "dilated" or "expanded."
Footnote 84:
All these highest signs of favour foreshow, in Eastern tales and in
Eastern life, an approaching downfall of the heaviest; they are so
great that they arouse general jealousy. Many of us have seen this at
native courts.
Footnote 85:
This phrase is contained in the word "ihdák"=encompassing, as the
conjunctiva does the pupil.
Footnote 86:
I have noted this formula, which is used even in conversation when
about to relate some great unfact.
Footnote 87:
We are obliged to English the word by "valley," which is about as
correct as the "brook Kedron," applied to the grisliest of ravines.
The Wady (in old Coptic wah, oah, whence "Oasis") is the bed of a
watercourse which flows only after rains. I have rendered it by
"Fiumara" (Pilgrimage i., 5, and ii., 196, etc.), an Italian or
rather a Sicilian word which exactly describes the "wady."
Footnote 88:
I have described this scene which Mr. T. Wolf illustrated by an
excellent lithograph in "Falconry, etc." (London, Van Voorst,
MDCCCLII.).
Footnote 89:
Arab. "Kaylúlah," midday sleep; called siesta from the sixth
canonical hour.
Footnote 90:
This parrot-story is world-wide in folk-lore and the belief in
metempsychosis, which prevails more or less over all the East, there
lends it probability. The "Book of Sindibad" (see Night dlxxix. and
"The Academy," Sept. 20, 1884, No. 646) converts it into the "Story
of the Confectioner, his Wife and the Parrot;" and it is the base of
the Hindostani text-book, "Tota-Kaháni" (Parrot-chat), an abridgement
of the Tutinámah (Parrot-book) of Nakhshabi (circ. A.D. 1300), a
congener of the Sanskrit "Suka Saptati," or Seventy Parrot-stories.
The tale is not in the Bul. or Mac. Edit. but occurs in the Bresl.
(i., pp. 90, 91) much mutilated; and better in the Calc. Edit. I
cannot here refrain from noticing how vilely the twelve vols. of the
Breslau Edit. have been edited; even a table of contents being absent
from the first four volumes.
Footnote 91:
The young "Turk" is probably a late addition, as it does not appear
in many of the MSS., _e.g._ the Bresl. Edit. The wife usually spreads
a cloth over the cage; this in the Turkish translation becomes a
piece of leather.
Footnote 92:
The Hebrew-Syrian month July used to express the height of summer. As
Herodotus tells us (ii. 4) the Egyptians claimed to be the
discoverers of the solar year and the portioners of its course into
twelve parts.
Footnote 93:
This proceeding is thoroughly characteristic of the servile class;
they conscientiously conceal everything from the master till he finds
a clew; after which they tell him everything and something more.
Footnote 94:
Until late years, merchants and shopkeepers in the nearer East all
carried swords, and held it a disgrace to leave the house unarmed.
Footnote 95:
The Bresl. Edit. absurdly has Jazírah (an island).
Footnote 96:
The Ghúlah (fem. of Ghúl) is the Heb. Lilith or Lilis; the classical
Lamia; the Hindu Yogini and Dakini; the Chaldean Utug and Gigim
(desert-demons) as opposed to the Mas (hill-demon) and Telal (who
steal into towns); the Ogress of our tales and the Bala yaga
(Granny-witch) of Russian folk-lore. Etymologically "Ghul" is a
calamity, a panic fear; and the monster is evidently the embodied
horror of the grave and the grave-yard.
Footnote 97:
Arab. "Shább" (Lat. juvenis) between puberty and forty or according
to some fifty; when the patient becomes a "Rajul ikhtiyár" (man of
free will) politely termed, and then a Shaykh or Shaybah (grey-beard,
oldster).
Footnote 98:
Some proverbial name now forgotten. Torrens (p. 48) translates it
"the giglot" (Fortune?) but "cannot discover the drift."
Footnote 99:
Arab. "Ihtizáz," that natural and instinctive movement caused by good
news suddenly given, etc.
Footnote 100:
Arab "Kohl," in India, Surmah, not a "collyrium," but powdered
antimony for the eyelids. That sold in the bazars is not the real
grey ore of antimony but a galena or sulphuret of lead. Its use arose
as follows. When Allah showed Himself to Moses on Sinai through an
opening the size of a needle, the Prophet fainted and the Mount took
fire: thereupon Allah said, "Henceforth shalt thou and thy seed grind
the earth of this mountain and apply it to your eyes!" The powder is
kept in an étui called Makhalah and applied with a thick blunt needle
to the inside of the eyelid, drawing it along the rim; hence etui and
probe denote the sexual _rem in re_ and in cases of adultery the
question will be asked, "Didst thou see the needle in the Kohl-pot?"
Women mostly use a preparation of soot or lamp-black (Hind. Kajala,
Kajjal) whose colour is easily distinguished from that of Kohl. The
latter word, with the article (Al-Kohl) is the origin of our
"alcohol;" though even M. Littré fails to show how "fine powder"
became "spirits of wine." I found this powder (wherewith Jezebel
"painted" her eyes) a great preservative from ophthalmia in
desert-travelling: the use in India was universal, but now European
example is gradually abolishing it.
Footnote 101:
The tale of these two women is now forgotten.
Footnote 102:
Arab. "Atadakhkhal". When danger threatens it is customary to seize a
man's skirt and cry "Dakhíl-ak!" (=under thy protection). Among noble
tribes the Badawi thus invoked will defend the stranger with his
life. Foreigners have brought themselves into contempt by thus
applying to women or to mere youths.
Footnote 103:
The formula of quoting from the Koran.
Footnote 104:
Lit. "Allah not desolate me" (by thine absence). This is still a
popular phrase—Lá tawáhishná=Do not make me desolate, _i.e._ by
staying away too long; and friends meeting after a term of days
exclaim "Auhashtani!"=thou hast made me desolate, _Je suis désolé_.
Footnote 105:
Charming simplicity of manners when the Prime Minister carries the
fish (shade of Vattel!) to the cookmaid. The "Gesta Romanorum" is
nowhere more naive.
Footnote 106:
Arab. "Kahílat al-taraf"=lit. eyelids lined with Kohl; and
figuratively "with black lashes and languorous look." This is a
phrase which frequently occurs in The Nights and which, as will
appear, applies to the "lower animals" as well as to men. Moslems In
Central Africa apply Kohl not to the thickness of the eyelid but upon
both outer lids, fixing it with some greasy substance. The peculiar
Egyptian (and Syrian) eye with its thick fringes of jet-black lashes,
looking like lines of black drawn with soot, easily suggests the
simile. In England I have seen the same appearance amongst miners
fresh from the colliery.
Footnote 107:
Of course applying to her own case.
Footnote 108:
Prehistoric Arabs who measured from 60 to 100 cubits high: Koran,
chapt. xxvi., etc. They will often be mentioned in The Nights.
Footnote 109:
Arab. "Dastúr" (from Persian)=leave, permission. The word has two
meanings (see Burckhardt, Arab. Prov. No. 609) and is much used,
_e.g._ before walking up stairs or entering a room where strange
women might be met. So "Tarík"=Clear the way (Pilgrimage, iii., 319).
The old Persian occupation of Egypt, not to speak of the
Persian-speaking Circassians and other rulers has left many such
traces in popular language. One of them is that horror of
travellers—"Bakhshísh" pron. bakh-sheesh and shortened to shísh from
the Pers. "baksheesh." Our "Christmas _box_" has been most
unnecessarily derived from the same, despite our reading:—
Gladly the boy, with Christmas box in hand.
And, as will be seen, Persians have bequeathed to the outer world
worse things than bad language, _e.g._ heresy and sodomy.
Footnote 110:
He speaks of his wife, but euphemistically in the masculine.
Footnote 111:
A popular saying throughout Al-Islam.
Footnote 112:
Arab. "Fata": lit=a youth; a generous man, one of noble mind (as
youth-tide should be). It corresponds with the Lat. "vir," and has
much the meaning of the Ital. "Giovane," the Germ. "Junker" and our
"gentleman."
Footnote 113:
From the Bul. Edit.
Footnote 114:
The vagueness of his statement is euphemistic.
Footnote 115:
This readiness of shedding tears contrasts strongly with the external
stoicism of modern civilization; but it is true to Arab character;
and Easterns, like the heroes of Homer and Italians of Boccaccio, are
not ashamed of what we look upon as the result of feminine
hysteria—"a good cry."
Footnote 116:
The formula (constantly used by Moslems) here denotes displeasure,
doubt how to act and so forth. Pronounce, "Lá haula wa lá kuwwata
illá bi 'lláhi 'l-Aliyyi 'l-Azim." As a rule mistakes are marvellous:
Mandeville (chapt. xii.) for "Lá iláha illa 'lláhu wa Muhammadun
Rasúlu 'llah" writes "La ellec sila, Machomete rores alla." The
former (lá haula, etc.), on account of the four peculiar Arabic
letters, is everywhere pronounced differently; and the exclamation is
called "Haulak" or "Haukal."
Footnote 117:
An Arab holds that he has a right to marry his first cousin, the
daughter of his father's brother, and if any win her from him a death
and a blood-feud may result. It was the same in a modified form
amongst the Jews and in both races the consanguineous marriage was
not attended by the evil results (idiotcy, congenital deafness, etc.)
observed in mixed races like the English and the Anglo-American. When
a Badawi speaks of "the daughter of my uncle" he means wife; and the
former is the dearer title, as a wife can be divorced, but blood is
thicker than water.
Footnote 118:
Arab. "Kahbah;" the coarsest possible term. Hence the unhappy "Cava"
of Don Roderick the Goth, which simply means The Whore.
Footnote 119:
The Arab "Banj" and Hindú "Bhang" (which I use as most familiar) both
derive from the old Coptic "Nibanj" meaning a preparation of hemp
(_Cannabis sativa_ seu _Indica_); and here it is easy to recognise
the Homeric "Nepenthe." Al-Kazwini explains the term by "garden hemp"
(Kinnab bostáni or Sháhdánaj). On the other hand not a few apply the
word to the henbane (_hyoscyamus niger_) so much used in mediæval
Europe. The Kámús evidently means henbane distinguishing it from
"Hashish al haráfísh"=rascals' grass, _i.e._ the herb Pantagruelion.
The "Alfáz Adwiya" (French translation) explains "Tabannuj" by
"Endormir quelqu'un en lui faisant avaler de la jusquiame." In modern
parlance Tabannuj is=our anæsthetic administered before an operation,
a deadener of pain like myrrh and a number of other drugs. For this
purpose hemp is always used (at least I never heard of henbane); and
various preparations of the drug are sold at an especial bazar in
Cairo. See the "powder of marvellous virtue" in Boccaccio, iii., 8;
and iv., 10. Of these intoxicants, properly so termed, I shall have
something to say in a future page.
The use of Bhang doubtless dates from the dawn of civilisation, whose
earliest social pleasures would be inebriants. Herodotus (iv. c. 75)
shows the Scythians burning the seeds (leaves and capsules) in
worship and becoming drunken with the fumes, as do the S. African
Bushmen of the present day. This would be the earliest form of
smoking: it is still doubtful whether the pipe was used or not. Galen
also mentions intoxication by hemp. Amongst Moslems, the Persians
adopted the drink as an ecstatic, and about our thirteenth century
Egypt, which began the practice, introduced a number of preparations
to be noticed in the course of The Nights.
Footnote 120:
The rubbish heaps which outlie Eastern cities, some (near Cairo) are
over a hundred feet high.
Footnote 121:
Arab. "Kurrat al-ayn;" coolness of eyes as opposed to a hot eye
("sakhin") _i.e._ one red with tears. The term is true and
picturesque so I translate it literally. All coolness is pleasant to
dwellers in burning lands: thus in Al-Hariri Abu Zayd says of
Bassorah, "I found there whatever could fill the eye with coolness."
And a "cool booty" (or prize) is one which has been secured without
plunging into the flames of war, or simply a pleasant prize.
Footnote 122:
Popularly rendered Caucasus (see Night cdxcvi): it corresponds so far
with the Hindu "Udaya" that the sun rises behind it; and the "false
dawn" is caused by a hole or gap. It is also the Persian Alborz, the
Indian Meru (Sumeru), the Greek Olympus, and the Rhiphæan Range
(Veliki Camenypoys) or great starry girdle of the world, etc.
Footnote 123:
Arab. "Mizr" or "Mizar;" vulg. Búzah; hence the medical Lat. Buza,
the Russian Buza (millet beer), our "booze," the O. Dutch "buyzen"
and the German "busen." This is the old ποθὸς θεῖος of negro and
negroid Africa; the beer of Osiris, of which dried remains have been
found in jars amongst Egyptian tombs. In Equatorial Africa it is
known as "Pombe;" on the Upper Nile "Merissa" or "Mirisi" and amongst
the Kafirs (Caffers) "Tshuala," "Oala" or "Boyala:" I have also heard
of "Buswa" in Central Africa which may be the origin of "Buzah." In
the West it became ζῦθος, (Romaic πίῤῥα), Xythum and cerevisia or
cervisia, the humor ex hordeo, long before the days of King
Gambrinus. Central Africans drink it in immense quantities: in
Unyamwezi the standing bedsteads, covered with bark-slabs, are all
made sloping so as to drain off the liquor. A chief lives wholly on
beef and Pombe which is thick as gruel below. Hops are unknown: the
grain, mostly Holcus, is made to germinate, then pounded, boiled and
left to ferment. In Egypt the drink is affected chiefly by Berbers,
Nubians and slaves from the Upper Nile; but it is a superior article
and more like that of Europe than the "Pombe." I have given an
account of the manufacture in The Lake Regions of Central Africa,
vol. ii., p. 286. There are other preparations, Umm-bulbul (mother
nightingale), Dinzáyah and Súbiyah, for which I must refer to the
Shaykh El-Tounsy.
Footnote 124:
There is a terrible truth in this satire, which reminds us of the
noble dame who preferred to her handsome husband the palefrenier
laid, ord et infâme of Queen Margaret of Navarre (Heptameron No. xx.)
We have all known women who sacrificed everything despite themselves,
as it were, for the most worthless of men. The world stares and
scoffs and blames and understands nothing. There is for every woman
one man and one only in whose slavery she is "ready to sweep the
floor." Fate is mostly opposed to her meeting him but, when she does,
adieu husband and children, honour and religion, life and "soul."
Moreover Nature (human) commands the union of contrasts, such as fair
and foul, dark and light, tall and short; otherwise mankind would be
like the canines, a race of extremes, dwarf as toy-terriers, giants
like mastiffs, bald as Chinese "remedy dogs," or hairy as
Newfoundlands. The famous Wilkes said only a half-truth when he
backed himself, with an hour's start, against the handsomest man in
England; his uncommon and remarkable ugliness (he was, as the
Italians say, _un bel brutto_), was the highest recommendation in the
eyes of very beautiful women.
Footnote 125:
Every Moslem burial-ground has a place of the kind where honourable
women may sit and weep unseen by the multitude. These visits are
enjoined by the Apostle:—Frequent the cemetery, 'twill make you think
of futurity! Also:—Whoever visiteth the graves of his parents (or one
of them) every Friday, he shall be written a pious son, even though
he might have been in the world, before that, a disobedient.
(Pilgrimage ii., 71.) The buildings resemble our European "mortuary
chapels." Saíd, Pasha of Egypt, was kind enough to erect one on the
island off Suez, for the "use of English ladies who would like
shelter whilst weeping and wailing for their dead." But I never heard
that any of the ladies went there.
Footnote 126:
Arab. "Ajal"=the period of life, the appointed time of death: the
word is of constant recurrence and is also applied to sudden death.
See Lane's Dictionary, s.v.
Footnote 127:
"The dying Badawi to his tribe" (and lover) appears to me highly
pathetic. The wild people love to be buried upon hill-slopes whence
they can look down upon the camp; and they still call out the names
of kinsmen and friends as they pass by the grave-yards. A similar
piece occurs in Wetzstein (p. 27, "Reisebericht ueber Hauran,"
etc.):—
O bear with you my bones where the camel bears his load ✿ And bury me
before you, if buried I must be;
And let me not be buried 'neath the burden of the vine ✿ But high
upon the hill whence your sight I ever see!
As you pass along my grave cry aloud and name your names ✿ The crying
of your names shall revive the bones of me:
I have fasted through my life with my friends, and in my death, ✿ I
will feast when we meet, on that day of joy and glee.
Footnote 128:
The Akásirah (plur. of Kasrá=Chosroës) is here a title of the four
great dynasties of Persian Kings. 1. The Peshdadian or Assyrian race,
proto-historics for whom dates fail; 2. The Káyánián (Medes and
Persians) who ended with the Alexandrian invasion in B.C. 331; 3. The
Ashkánián (Parthenians or Arsacides) who ruled till A.D. 202; and 4.
The Sassanides which have already been mentioned. But strictly
speaking "Kisri" and "Kasra" are titles applied only to the latter
dynasty and especially to the great King Anushirwan. They must not be
confounded with "Khusrau" (P.N. Cyrus, Ahasuerus? Chosroës?); and yet
the three seem to have combined in "Cæsar," Kaysar and Czar. For
details especially connected with Zoroaster see vol. I, p. 380 of the
Dabistan or School of Manners, translated by David Shea and Anthony
Troyer, Paris, 1843. The book is most valuable, but the proper names
are so carelessly and incorrectly printed that the student is led
into perpetual error.
Footnote 129:
The words are the very lowest and coarsest; but the scene is true to
Arab life.
Footnote 130:
Arab. "Hayhát:" the word, written in a variety of ways is
onomatopoetic, like our "heigh-ho!" it sometimes means "far from me
(or you) be it!" but in popular usage it is simply "Alas."
Footnote 131:
Lane (i., 134) finds a date for the book in this passage. The Soldan
of Egypt, Mohammed ibn Kala'ún, in the early eighth century
(Hijrah=our fourteenth), issued a sumptuary law compelling Christians
and Jews to wear indigo-blue and saffron-yellow turbans, the white
being reserved for Moslems. But the custom was much older and
Mandeville (chapt. ix.) describes it in A.D. 1322 when it had become
the rule. And it still endures; although abolished in the cities it
is the rule for Christians, at least in the country parts of Egypt
and Syria. I may here remark that such detached passages as these are
absolutely useless for chronology: they may be simply the additions
of editors or mere copyists.
Footnote 132:
The ancient "Mustapha"=the Chosen (prophet, _i.e._ Mohammed), also
titled Al-Mujtabá, the Accepted (Pilgrimage, ii., 309). "Murtazá"=the
Elect, _i.e._ the Caliph Ali is the older "Mortada" or "Mortadi" of
Ockley and his day, meaning "one pleasing to (or acceptable to)
Allah." Still older writers corrupted it to "Mortis Ali" and readers
supposed this to be the Caliph's name.
Footnote 133:
The gleam (zodiacal light) preceding the true dawn; the Persians call
the former Subh-i-kázib (false or lying dawn) opposed to Subh-i-sádik
(true dawn) and suppose that it is caused by the sun shining through
a hole in the world-encircling Mount Kaf.
Footnote 134:
So the Heb. "Arún"=naked, means wearing the lower robe only;=our "in
his shirt."
Footnote 135:
Here we have the vulgar Egyptian colloquialism "Aysh" (= Ayyu
shayyin) for the classical "Má" = what.
Footnote 136:
"In the name of Allah!" here said before taking action.
Footnote 137:
Arab. "Mamlúk" (plur. Mamálik) lit. a chattel; and in The Nights a
white slave trained to arms. The "Mameluke Beys" of Egypt were
locally called the "Ghuzz." I use the convenient word in its old
popular sense;
'Tis sung, there's a valiant Mameluke
In foreign lands ycleped (_Sir Luke_)—
HUDIBRAS.
And hence, probably, Molière's "Mamamouchi"; and the modern French
use "Mamaluc." See Savary's Letters, No. xl.
THE PORTER AND THE THREE LADIES OF BAGHDAD.
Once upon a time there was a Porter in Baghdad, who was a bachelor and
who would remain unmarried. It came to pass on a certain day, as he
stood about the street leaning idly upon his crate, behold, there stood
before him an honourable woman in a mantilla of Mosul[138] silk,
broidered with gold and bordered with brocade; her walking-shoes were
also purfled with gold and her hair floated in long plaits. She raised
her face-veil[139] and, showing two black eyes fringed with jetty
lashes, whose glances were soft and languishing and whose perfect
beauty was ever blandishing, she accosted the Porter and said in the
suavest tones and choicest language, "Take up thy crate and follow me."
The Porter was so dazzled he could hardly believe that he heard her
aright, but he shouldered his basket in hot haste saying in himself, "O
day of good luck! O day of Allah's grace!" and walked after her till
she stopped at the door of a house. There she rapped, and presently
came out to her an old man, a Nazarene, to whom she gave a gold piece,
receiving from him in return what she required of strained wine clear
as olive oil; and she set it safely in the hamper, saying, "Lift and
follow." Quoth the Porter, "This, by Allah, is indeed an auspicious
day, a day propitious for the granting of all a man wisheth." He again
hoisted up the crate and followed her; till she stopped at a
fruiterer's shop and bought from him Shámi[140] apples and Osmáni
quinces and Omani[141] peaches, and cucumbers of Nile growth, and
Egyptian limes and Sultáni oranges and citrons; besides Aleppine
jasmine, scented myrtle berries, Damascene nenuphars, flower of
privet[142] and camomile, blood-red anemones, violets, and
pomegranate-bloom, eglantine and narcissus, and set the whole in the
Porter's crate, saying, "Up with it." So he lifted and followed her
till she stopped at a butcher's booth and said, "Cut me off ten pounds
of mutton." She paid him his price and he wrapped it in a banana-leaf,
whereupon she laid it in the crate and said "Hoist, O Porter." He
hoisted accordingly, and followed her as she walked on till she stopped
at a grocer's, where she bought dry fruits and pistachio-kernels,
Tihámah raisins, shelled almonds and all wanted for dessert, and said
to the Porter, "Lift and follow me." So he up with his hamper and after
her till she stayed at the confectioner's, and she bought an earthen
platter, and piled it with all kinds of sweetmeats in his shop,
open-worked tarts and fritters scented with musk and "soap-cakes," and
lemon-loaves and melon-preserves,[143] and "Zaynab's combs," and
"ladies' fingers," and "Kazi's tit-bits" and goodies of every
description; and placed the platter in the Porter's crate. Thereupon
quoth he (being a merry man), "Thou shouldest have told me, and I would
have brought with me a pony or a she-camel to carry all this
market-stuff." She smiled and gave him a little cuff on the nape
saying, "Step out and exceed not in words for (Allah willing!) thy wage
will not be wanting." Then she stopped at a perfumer's and took from
him ten sorts of waters, rose scented with musk, orange-flower,
water-lily, willow flower, violet and five others; and she also bought
two loaves of sugar, a bottle for perfume-spraying, a lump of male
incense, aloe-wood, ambergris and musk, with candles of Alexandria wax;
and she put the whole into the basket, saying, "Up with thy crate and
after me." He did so and followed until she stood before the
greengrocer's, of whom she bought pickled safflower and olives, in
brine and in oil; with tarragon and cream-cheese and hard Syrian
cheese; and she stowed them away in the crate saying to the Porter,
"Take up thy basket and follow me." He did so and went after her till
she came to a fair mansion fronted by a spacious court, a tall, fine
place to which columns gave strength and grace: and the gate thereof
had two leaves of ebony inlaid with plates of red gold. The lady
stopped at the door and, turning her face-veil sideways, knocked softly
with her knuckles whilst the Porter stood behind her, thinking of
naught save her beauty and loveliness. Presently the door swung back
and both leaves were opened, whereupon he looked to see who had opened
it; and behold, it was a lady of tall figure, some five feet high; a
model of beauty and loveliness, brilliance and symmetry and perfect
grace. Her forehead was flower-white; her cheeks like the anemone ruddy
bright; her eyes were those of the wild heifer or the gazelle, with
eyebrows like the crescent-moon which ends Sha'abán and begins
Ramazán;[144] her mouth was the ring of Sulayman,[145] her lips
coral-red, and her teeth like a line of strung pearls or of camomile
petals. Her throat recalled the antelope's, and her breasts, like two
pomegranates of even size, stood at bay as it were;[146] her body rose
and fell in waves below her dress like the rolls of a piece of brocade,
and her navel[147] would hold an ounce of benzoin ointment. In fine she
was like her of whom the poet said:—
On Sun and Moon of palace cast thy sight ✿ Enjoy her flower-like face,
her fragrant light:
Thine eyes shall never see in hair so black ✿ Beauty encase a brow so
purely white:
The ruddy rosy cheek proclaims her claim ✿ Though fail her name whose
beauties we indite:
As sways her gait I smile at hips so big ✿ And weep to see the waist
they bear so slight.
When the Porter looked upon her his wits were waylaid, and his senses
were stormed so that his crate went nigh to fall from his head, and he
said to himself, "Never have I in my life seen a day more blessed than
this day!" Then quoth the lady-portress to the lady-cateress, "Come in
from the gate and relieve this poor man of his load." So the
provisioner went in followed by the portress and the Porter and went on
till they reached a spacious ground-floor hall,[148] built with
admirable skill and beautified with all manner colours and carvings;
with upper balconies and groined arches and galleries and cupboards and
recesses whose curtains hung before them. In the midst stood a great
basin full of water surrounding a fine fountain, and at the upper end
on the raised dais was a couch of juniper-wood set with gems and
pearls, with a canopy like mosquito-curtains of red satin-silk looped
up with pearls as big as filberts and bigger. Thereupon sat a lady
bright of blee, with brow beaming brilliancy, the dream of philosophy,
whose eyes were fraught with Babel's gramarye[149] and her eyebrows
were arched as for archery; her breath breathed ambergris and perfumery
and her lips were sugar to taste and carnelian to see. Her stature was
straight as the letter ا[150] and her face shamed the noon-sun's
radiancy; and she was even as a galaxy, or a dome with golden marquetry
or a bride displayed in choicest finery or a noble maid of Araby.[151]
Right well of her sang the bard when he said:—
Her smiles twin rows of pearls display ✿ Chamomile-buds or rimey spray
Her tresses stray as night let down ✿ And shames her light the dawn o'
day.
[152] The third lady rising from the couch stepped forward with
graceful swaying gait till she reached the middle of the saloon, when
she said to her sisters, "Why stand ye here? take it down from this
poor man's head!" Then the cateress went and stood before him, and the
portress behind him while the third helped them, and they lifted the
load from the Porter's head; and, emptying it of all that was therein,
set everything in its place. Lastly they gave him two gold pieces,
saying, "Wend thy ways, O Porter." But he went not, for he stood
looking at the ladies and admiring what uncommon beauty was theirs, and
their pleasant manners and kindly dispositions (never had he seen
goodlier); and he gazed wistfully at that good store of wines and
sweet-scented flowers and fruits and other matters. Also he marvelled
with exceeding marvel, especially to see no man in the place and
delayed his going; whereupon quoth the eldest lady, "What aileth thee
that goest not; haply thy wage be too little?" And, turning to her
sister the cateress, she said, "Give him another dinar!" But the Porter
answered, "By Allah, my lady, it is not for the wage; my hire is never
more than two dirhams; but in very sooth my heart and my soul are taken
up with you and your condition. I wonder to see you single with ne'er a
man about you and not a soul to bear you company; and well you wot that
the minaret toppleth o'er unless it stand upon four, and you want this
same fourth; and women's pleasure without man is short of measure, even
as the poet said:—
Seest not we want for joy four things all told ✿ The harp and lute, the
flute and flageolet;
And be they companied with scents four-fold ✿ Rose, myrtle, anemone and
violet;
Nor please all eight an four thou wouldst withhold ✿ Good wine and
youth and gold and pretty pet.
You be three and want a fourth who shall be a person of good sense and
prudence; smart witted, and one apt to keep careful counsel." His words
pleased and amused them much; and they laughed at him and said, "And
who is to assure us of that? We are maidens and we fear to entrust our
secret where it may not be kept, for we have read in a certain
chronicle the lines of one Ibn al-Sumam:—
Hold fast thy secret and to none unfold ✿ Lost is a secret when that
secret's told:
An fail thy breast thy secret to conceal ✿ How canst thou hope
another's breast shall hold?
And Abu Nowás[153] said well on the same subject:—
Who trusteth secret to another's hand ✿ Upon his brow deserveth burn of
brand!"
When the Porter heard their words he rejoined, "By your lives! I am a
man of sense and a discreet, who hath read books and perused
chronicles; I reveal the fair and conceal the foul and I act as the
poet adviseth:—
None but the good a secret keep ✿ And good men keep it unrevealed:
It is to me a well-shut house ✿ With keyless locks and door
ensealed."[154]
When the maidens heard his verse and its poetical application addressed
to them they said, "Thou knowest that we have laid out all our monies
on this place. Now say, hast thou aught to offer us in return for
entertainment? For surely we will not suffer thee to sit in our company
and be our cup-companion, and gaze upon our faces so fair and so rare
without paying a round sum.[155] Wottest thou not the saying:—
Sans hope of gain
Love's not worth a grain?"
Whereto the lady-portress added, "If thou bring anything thou art a
something; if no thing, be off with thee, thou art a nothing;" but the
procuratrix interposed, saying, "Nay, O my sisters, leave teasing him,
for by Allah he hath not failed us this day, and had he been other he
never had kept patience with me, so whatever be his shot and scot I
will take it upon myself." The Porter, overjoyed, kissed the ground
before her and thanked her saying, "By Allah, these monies are the
first fruits this day hath given me." Hearing this they said, "Sit thee
down and welcome to thee," and the eldest lady added, "By Allah, we may
not suffer thee to join us save on one condition, and this it is, that
no questions be asked as to what concerneth thee not, and frowardness
shall be soundly flogged." Answered the Porter, "I agree to this, O my
lady, on my head and my eyes be it! Lookye, I am dumb, I have no
tongue." Then arose the provisioneress and tightening her girdle set
the table by the fountain and put the flowers and sweet herbs in their
jars, and strained the wine and ranged the flasks in row and made ready
every requisite. Then sat she down, she and her sisters, placing amidst
them the Porter who kept deeming himself in a dream; and she took up
the wine flagon, and poured out the first cup and drank it off, and
likewise a second and a third.[156] After this she filled a fourth cup
which she handed to one of her sisters; and, lastly, she crowned a
goblet and passed it to the Porter, saying:—
Drink the dear draught, drink free and fain ✿ What healeth every grief
and pain.
He took the cup in his hand and, louting low, returned his best thanks
and improvised:—
Drain not the bowl save with a trusty friend ✿ A man of worth whose
good old blood all know:
For wine, like wind, sucks sweetness from the sweet ✿ And stinks when
over stench it haply blow:
Adding:—
Drain not the bowl, save from dear hand like thine ✿ The cup recalls
thy gifts; thou, gifts of wine.
After repeating this couplet he kissed their hands and drank and was
drunk and sat swaying from side to side and pursued:—
All drinks wherein is blood the Law unclean ✿ Doth hold save one, the
bloodshed of the vine:
Fill! fill! take all my wealth bequeathed or won ✿ Thou fawn! a willing
ransom for those eyne.
Then the cateress crowned a cup and gave it to the portress, who took
it from her hand and thanked her and drank. Thereupon she poured again
and passed to the eldest lady who sat on the couch, and filled yet
another and handed it to the Porter. He kissed the ground before them;
and, after drinking and thanking them, he again began to recite:—
Here! Here! by Allah, here! ✿ Cups of the sweet, the dear!
Fill me a brimming bowl ✿ The Fount o' Life I speer
Then the Porter stood up before the mistress of the house and said, "O
lady, I am thy slave, thy Mameluke, thy white thrall, thy very
bondsman;" and he began reciting:—
A slave of slaves there standeth at thy door ✿ Lauding thy generous
boons and gifts galore:
Beauty! may he come in awhile to 'joy ✿ Thy charms? for Love and I part
nevermore!
She said to him, "Drink; and health and happiness attend thy drink." So
he took the cup and kissed her hand and recited these lines in
sing-song:—
I gave her brave old wine that like her cheeks ✿ Blushed red or flame
from furnace flaring up:
She bussed the brim and said with many a smile ✿ How durst thou deal
folk's cheek for folk to sup?
"Drink!" (said I) "these are tears of mine whose tinct ✿ Is heart-blood
sighs have boilèd in the cup."
She answered him in the following couplet:—
"An tears of blood for me, friend, thou hast shed ✿ Suffer me sup them,
by thy head and eyes!"
[Illustration]
Then the lady took the cup, and drank it off to her sisters' health,
and they ceased not drinking (the Porter being in the midst of them),
and dancing and laughing and reciting verses and singing ballads and
ritornellos. All this time the Porter was carrying on with them,
kissing, toying, biting, handling, groping, fingering; whilst one
thrust a dainty morsel in his mouth, and another slapped him; and this
cuffed his cheeks, and that threw sweet flowers at him; and he was in
the very paradise of pleasure, as though he were sitting in the seventh
sphere among the Houris[157] of Heaven. They ceased not doing after
this fashion until the wine played tricks in their heads and worsted
their wits; and, when the drink got the better of them, the portress
stood up and doffed her clothes till she was mother-naked. However, she
let down her hair about her body by way of shift, and throwing herself
into the basin disported herself and dived like a duck and swam up and
down, and took water in her mouth, and spurted it all over the Porter,
and washed her limbs, and between her breasts, and inside her thighs
and all around her navel. Then she came up out of the cistern and
throwing herself on the Porter's lap said, "O my lord, O my love, what
callest thou this article?" pointing to her slit, her solution of
continuity. "I call that thy cleft," quoth the Porter, and she
rejoined, "Wah! wah! art thou not ashamed to use such a word?" and she
caught him by the collar and soundly cuffed him. Said he again, "Thy
womb, thy vulva;" and she struck him a second slap crying, "O fie, O
fie, this is another ugly word; is there no shame in thee?" Quoth he,
"Thy coynte;" and she cried, "O thou! art wholly destitute of modesty?"
and thumped him and bashed him. Then cried the Porter, "Thy
clitoris,"[158] whereat the eldest lady came down upon him with a yet
sorer beating, and said, "No;" and he said, "'Tis so," and the Porter
went on calling the same commodity by sundry other names, but whatever
he said they beat him more and more till his neck ached and swelled
with the blows he had gotten; and on this wise they made him a butt and
a laughing-stock. At last he turned upon them asking, "And what do you
women call this article?" Whereto the damsel made answer, "The basil of
the bridges."[159] Cried the Porter, "Thank Allah for my safety: aid me
and be thou propitious, O basil of the bridges!" They passed round the
cup and tossed off the bowl again, when the second lady stood up; and,
stripping off all her clothes, cast herself into the cistern and did as
the first had done; then she came out of the water and throwing her
naked form on the Porter's lap pointed to her machine and said, "O
light of mine eyes, do tell me what is the name of this concern?" He
replied as before, "Thy slit;" and she rejoined, "Hath such term no
shame for thee?" and cuffed him and buffeted him till the saloon rang
with the blows. Then quoth she, "O fie! O fie! how canst thou say this
without blushing?" He suggested, "The basil of the bridges;" but she
would not have it and she said, "No! no!" and struck him and slapped
him on the back of the neck. Then he began calling out all the names he
knew, "Thy slit, thy womb, thy coynte, thy clitoris;" and the girls
kept on saying, "No! no!" So he said, "I stick to the basil of the
bridges;" and all the three laughed till they fell on their backs and
laid slaps on his neck and said, "No! no! that's not its proper name."
Thereupon he cried, "O my sisters, what _is_ its name?" and they
replied, "What sayest thou to the husked sesame-seed?" Then the
cateress donned her clothes and they fell again to carousing, but the
Porter kept moaning, "Oh! and Oh!" for his neck and shoulders, and the
cup passed merrily round and round again for a full hour. After that
time the eldest and handsomest lady stood up and stripped off her
garments, whereupon the Porter took his neck in hand, and rubbed and
shampoo'd it, saying, "My neck and shoulders are on the way of
Allah!"[160] Then she threw herself into the basin, and swam and dived,
sported and washed; and the Porter looked at her naked figure as though
she had been a slice of the moon[161] and at her face with the sheen of
Luna when at full, or like the dawn when it brighteneth, and he noted
her noble stature and shape, and those glorious forms that quivered as
she went; for she was naked as the Lord made her. Then he cried "Alack!
Alack!" and began to address her, versifying in these couplets:—
"If I liken thy shape to the bough when green ✿ My likeness errs and I
sore mistake it;
For the bough is fairest when clad the most ✿ And thou art fairest when
mother-naked."
When the lady heard his verses she came up out of the basin and,
seating herself upon his lap and knees, pointed to her genitory and
said, "O my lordling, what be the name of this?" Quoth he, "The basil
of the bridges;" but she said, "Bah, bah!" Quoth he, "The husked
sesame;" quoth she, "Pooh, pooh!" Then said he, "Thy womb;" and she
cried, "Fie, Fie! art thou not ashamed of thyself?" and cuffed him on
the nape of the neck. And whatever name he gave declaring "'Tis so,"
she beat him and cried "No! no!" till at last he said, "O my sisters,
and what _is_ its name?" She replied, "It is entitled the Khan[162] of
Abu Mansur;" whereupon the Porter replied, "Ha! ha! O Allah be praised
for safe deliverance! O Khan of Abu Mansur!" Then she came forth and
dressed and the cup went round a full hour. At last the Porter rose up,
and stripping off all his clothes, jumped into the tank and swam about
and washed under his bearded chin and armpits, even as they had done.
Then he came out and threw himself into the first lady's lap and rested
his arms upon the lap of the portress, and reposed his legs in the lap
of the cateress and pointed to his prickle[163] and said, "O my
mistresses, what is the name of this article?" All laughed at his words
till they fell on their backs, and one said, "Thy pintle!" But he
replied, "No!" and gave each one of them a bite by way of forfeit. Then
said they, "Thy pizzle!" but he cried "No," and gave each of them a
hug;——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
permitted say.
Now when it was the Tenth Night,
Quoth her sister Dunyazad, "Finish for us thy story;" and she answered,
"With joy and goodly gree." It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that
the damsels stinted not saying to the Porter "Thy prickle, thy pintle,
thy pizzle," and he ceased not kissing and biting and hugging until his
heart was satisfied, and they laughed on till they could no more. At
last one said, "O our brother, what, then, is it called?" Quoth he,
"Know ye not?" Quoth they, "No!" "Its veritable name," said he, "is
mule Burst-all, which browseth on the basil of the bridges, and
muncheth the husked sesame, and nighteth in the Khan of Abu Mansur."
Then laughed they till they fell on their backs, and returned to their
carousal, and ceased not to be after this fashion till night began to
fall. Thereupon said they to the Porter, "Bismillah,[164] O our master,
up and on with those sorry old shoes of thine and turn thy face and
show us the breadth of thy shoulders!" Said he, "By Allah, to part with
my soul would be easier for me than departing from you: come let us
join night to day, and to-morrow morning we will each wend our own
way." "My life on you," said the procuratrix, "suffer him to tarry with
us, that we may laugh at him: we may live out our lives and never meet
with his like, for surely he is a right merry rogue and a witty."[165]
So they said, "Thou must not remain with us this night save on
condition that thou submit to our commands, and that whatso thou seest,
thou ask no questions thereanent, nor enquire of its cause." "All
right," rejoined he, and they said, "Go read the writing over the
door." So he rose and went to the entrance and there found written in
letters of gold wash; "WHOSO SPEAKETH OF WHAT CONCERNETH HIM NOT, SHALL
HEAR WHAT PLEASETH HIM NOT!"[166] The Porter said, "Be ye witnesses
against me that I will not speak on whatso concerneth me not." Then the
cateress arose, and set food before them and they ate; after which they
changed their drinking-place for another, and she lighted the lamps and
candles and burned ambergris and aloes-wood, and set on fresh fruit and
the wine service, when they fell to carousing and talking of their
lovers. And they ceased not to eat and drink and chat, nibbling dry
fruits and laughing and playing tricks for the space of a full hour
when lo! a knock was heard at the gate. The knocking in no wise
disturbed the seance, but one of them rose and went to see what it was
and presently returned, saying, "Truly our pleasure for this night is
to be perfect." "How is that?" asked they; and she answered, "At the
gate be three Persian Kalandars[167] with their beards and heads and
eyebrows shaven; and all three blind of the left eye—which is surely a
strange chance. They are foreigners from Roum-land with the mark of
travel plain upon them; they have just entered Baghdad, this being
their first visit to our city; and the cause of their knocking at our
door is simply because they cannot find a lodging. Indeed one of them
said to me:—Haply the owner of this mansion will let us have the key of
his stable or some old outhouse wherein we may pass this night; for
evening had surprised them and, being strangers in the land, they knew
none who would give them shelter. And, O my sisters, each of them is a
figure o' fun after his own fashion; and if we let them in we shall
have matter to make sport of." She gave not over persuading them till
they said to her, "Let them in, and make thou the usual condition with
them that they speak not of what concerneth them not, lest they hear
what pleaseth them not." So she rejoiced and going to the door
presently returned with the three monoculars whose beards and
mustachios were clean shaven.[168] They salam'd and stood afar off by
way of respect; but the three ladies rose up to them and welcomed them
and wished them joy of their safe arrival and made them sit down. The
Kalandars looked at the room and saw that it was a pleasant place,
clean swept and garnished with flowers; and the lamps were burning and
the smoke of perfumes was spiring in air; and beside the dessert and
fruits and wine, there were three fair girls who might be maidens; so
they exclaimed with one voice, "By Allah, 'tis good!" Then they turned
to the Porter and saw that he was a merry-faced wight, albeit he was by
no means sober and was sore after his slappings. So they thought that
he was one of themselves and said, "A mendicant like us! whether Arab
or foreigner."[169] But when the Porter heard these words, he rose up,
and fixing his eyes fiercely upon them, said, "Sit ye here without
exceeding in talk! Have you not read what is writ over the door? surely
it befitteth not fellows who come to us like paupers to wag your
tongues at us." "We crave thy pardon, O Fakír,"[170] rejoined they,
"and our heads are between thy hands." The ladies laughed consumedly at
the squabble; and, making peace between the Kalandars and the Porter,
seated the new guests before meat and they ate. Then they sat together,
and the portress served them with drink; and, as the cup went round
merrily, quoth the Porter to the askers, "And you, O brothers mine,
have ye no story or rare adventure to amuse us withal?" Now the warmth
of wine having mounted to their heads they called for musical
instruments; and the portress brought them a tambourine of Mosul, and a
lute of Irák, and a Persian harp; and each mendicant took one and tuned
it; this the tambourine and those the lute and the harp, and struck up
a merry tune while the ladies sang so lustily that there was a great
noise.[171] And whilst they were carrying on, behold, some one knocked
at the gate, and the portress went to see what was the matter there.
Now the cause of that knocking, O King (quoth Shahrazad) was this, the
Caliph, Hárún al-Rashíd, had gone forth from the palace, as was his
wont now and then, to solace himself in the city that night, and to see
and hear what new thing was stirring; he was in merchant's gear, and he
was attended by Ja'afar, his Wazir, and by Masrúr his Sworder of
Vengeance.[172] As they walked about the city, their way led them
towards the house of the three ladies; where they heard the loud noise
of musical instruments and singing and merriment; so quoth the Caliph
to Ja'afar, "I long to enter this house and hear those songs and see
who sing them." Quoth Ja'afar, "O Prince of the Faithful; these folk
are surely drunken with wine, and I fear some mischief betide us if we
get amongst them." "There is no help but that I go in there," replied
the Caliph, "and I desire thee to contrive some pretext for our
appearing among them." Ja'afar replied, "I hear and I obey;"[173] and
knocked at the door, whereupon the portress came out and opened. Then
Ja'afar came forward and kissing the ground before her said, "O my
lady, we be merchants from Tiberias-town: we arrived at Baghdad ten
days ago; and, alighting at the merchants' caravanserai, we sold all
our merchandise. Now a certain trader invited us to an entertainment
this night; so we went to his house and he set food before us and we
ate: then we sat at wine and wassail with him for an hour or so when he
gave us leave to depart; and we went out from him in the shadow of the
night and, being strangers, we could not find our way back to our Khan.
So haply of your kindness and courtesy you will suffer us to tarry with
you this night, and Heaven will reward you!"[174] The portress looked
upon them and seeing them dressed like merchants and men of grave looks
and solid, she returned to her sisters and repeated to them Ja'afar's
story; and they took compassion upon the strangers and said to her,
"Let them enter." She opened the door to them, when said they to her,
"Have we thy leave to come in?" "Come in," quoth she; and the Caliph
entered followed by Ja'afar and Masrur; and when the girls saw them
they stood up to them in respect and made them sit down and looked to
their wants, saying, "Welcome, and well come and good cheer to the
guests, but with one condition!" "What is that?" asked they, and one of
the ladies answered, "Speak not of what concerneth you not, lest ye
hear what pleaseth you not." "Even so," said they; and sat down to
their wine and drank deep. Presently the Caliph looked on the three
Kalandars and, seeing them each and every blind of the left eye,
wondered at the sight; then he gazed upon the girls and he was startled
and he marvelled with exceeding marvel at their beauty and loveliness.
They continued to carouse and to converse and said to the Caliph,
"Drink!" but he replied, "I am vowed to Pilgrimage;"[175] and drew back
from the wine. Thereupon the portress rose and spreading before him a
table-cloth worked with gold, set thereon a porcelain bowl into which
she poured willow flower water with a lump of snow and a spoonful of
sugar-candy. The Caliph thanked her and said in himself, "By Allah, I
will recompense her to-morrow for the kind deed she hath done." The
others again addressed themselves to conversing and carousing; and,
when the wine gat the better of them, the eldest lady who ruled the
house rose and making obeisance to them took the cateress by the hand,
and said, "Rise, O my sister and let us do what is our devoir." Both
answered "Even so!" Then the portress stood up and proceeded to remove
the table-service and the remnants of the banquet; and renewed the
pastiles and cleared the middle of the saloon. Then she made the
Kalandars sit upon a sofa at the side of the estrade, and seated the
Caliph and Ja'afar and Masrur on the other side of the saloon; after
which she called the Porter, and said, "How scant is thy courtesy! now
thou art no stranger; nay, thou art one of the household." So he stood
up and, tightening his waist-cloth, asked, "What would ye I do?" and
she answered, "Stand in thy place." Then the procuratrix rose and set
in the midst of the saloon a low chair and, opening a closet, cried to
the Porter, "Come help me," So he went to help her and saw two black
bitches with chains round their necks; and she said to him, "Take hold
of them;" and he took them and led them into the middle of the saloon.
Then the lady of the house arose and tucked up her sleeves above her
wrists and, seizing a scourge, said to the Porter, "Bring forward one
of the bitches." He brought, her forward, dragging her by the chain,
while the bitch wept, and shook her head at the lady who, however, came
down upon her with blows on the sconce; and the bitch howled and the
lady ceased not beating her till her forearm failed her. Then, casting
the scourge from her hand, she pressed the bitch to her bosom and,
wiping away her tears with her hands, kissed her head. Then said she to
the Porter, "Take her away and bring the second;" and, when he brought
her, she did with her as she had done with the first. Now the heart of
the Caliph was touched at these cruel doings; his chest straitened and
he lost all patience in his desire to know why the two bitches were so
beaten. He threw a wink at Ja'afar wishing him to ask, but the Minister
turning towards him said by signs, "Be silent!" Then quoth the portress
to the mistress of the house, "O my lady, arise and go to thy place
that I in turn may do my devoir."[176] She answered, "Even so"; and,
taking her seat upon the couch of juniper-wood, pargetted with, gold
and silver, said to the portress and cateress, "Now do ye what ye have
to do." Thereupon the portress sat upon a low seat by the couch side;
but the procuratrix, entering a closet, brought out of it a bag of
satin with green fringes and two tassels of gold. She stood up before
the lady of the house and shaking the bag drew out from it a lute which
she tuned by tightening its pegs; and when it was in perfect order, she
began to sing these quatrains:—
Ye are the wish, the aim of me ✿ And when, O love, thy sight I see[177]
The heavenly mansion openeth;[178] ✿ But Hell I see when lost thy
sight.
From thee comes madness; nor the less ✿ Comes highest joy, comes
ecstasy:
Nor in my love for thee I fear ✿ Or shame and blame, or hate and spite.
When Love was throned within my heart ✿ I rent the veil of modesty;
And stints not Love to rend that veil ✿ Garring disgrace on grace to
alight;
The robe of sickness then I donned ✿ But rent to rags was secrecy:
Wherefore my love and longing heart ✿ Proclaim your high supremest
might;
The tear-drop railing adown my cheek ✿ Telleth my tale of ignomy:
And all the hid was seen by all ✿ And all my riddle ree'd aright.
Heal then my malady, for thou ✿ Art malady and remedy!
But she whose cure is in thy hand ✿ Shall ne'er be free of bane and
blight;
Burn me those eyne that radiance rain ✿ Slay me the swords of phantasy;
How many hath the sword of Love ✿ Laid low, their high degree despite?
Yet will I never cease to pine ✿ Nor to oblivion will I flee.
Love is my health, my faith, my joy ✿ Public and private, wrong or
right.
O happy eyes that sight thy charms ✿ That gaze upon thee at their gree!
Yea, of my purest wish and will ✿ The slave of Love I'll aye be hight.
When the damsel heard this elegy in quatrains she cried out "Alas!
Alas!" and rent her raiment, and fell to the ground fainting; and the
Caliph saw scars of the palm-rod[179] on her back and welts of the
whip; and marvelled with exceeding wonder. Then the portress arose and
sprinkled water on her and brought her a fresh and very fine dress and
put it on her. But when the company beheld these doings their minds
were troubled, for they had no inkling of the case nor knew the story
thereof; so the Caliph said to Ja'afar, "Didst thou not see the scars
upon the damsel's body? I cannot keep silence or be at rest till I
learn the truth of her condition and the story of this other maiden and
the secret of the two black bitches." But Ja'afar answered, "O our
lord, they made it a condition with us that we speak not of what
concerneth us not, lest we come to hear what pleaseth us not." Then
said the portress, "By Allah, O my sister, come to me and complete this
service for me." Replied the procuratrix, "With joy and goodly gree;"
so she took the lute; and leaned it against her breasts and swept the
strings with her finger-tips, and began singing:—
Give back mine eyes their sleep long ravishèd ✿ And say me whither be
my reason fled:
I learnt that lending to thy love a place ✿ Sleep to mine eyelids
mortal foe was made.
They said, "We held thee righteous, who waylaid ✿ Thy soul?" "Go ask
his glorious eyes," I said.
I pardon all my blood he pleased to spill ✿ Owning his troubles drove
him blood to shed.
On my mind's mirror sun-like sheen he cast ✿ Whose keen reflection fire
in vitals bred
Waters of Life let Allah waste at will ✿ Suffice my wage those lips of
dewy red:
An thou address my love thou'lt find a cause ✿ For plaint and tears or
ruth or lustihed.
In water pure his form shall greet your eyne ✿ When fails the bowl nor
need ye drink of wine.[180]
Then she quoted from the same ode:—
I drank, but the draught of his glance, not wine; ✿ And his swaying
gait swayed to sleep these eyne:
'Twas not grape-juice gript me but grasp of Past ✿ 'Twas not bowl
o'erbowled me but gifts divine:
His coiling curl-lets my soul ennetted ✿ And his cruel will all my wits
outwitted.[181]
After a pause she resumed:—
If we 'plain of absence what shall we say? ✿ Or if pain afflict us
where wend our way?
An I hire a truchman[182] to tell my tale ✿ The lovers' plaint is not
told for pay:
If I put on patience, a lover's life ✿ After loss of love will not last
a day:
Naught is left me now but regret, repine ✿ And tears flooding cheeks
for ever and aye:
O thou who the babes of these eyes[183] hast fled ✿ Thou art homed in
heart that shall never stray;
Would heaven I wot hast thou kept our pact ✿ Long as stream shall flow,
to have firmest fay?
Or hast forgotten the weeping slave ✿ Whom groans afflict and whom
griefs waylay?
Ah, when severance ends and we side by side ✿ Couch, I'll blame thy
rigours and chide thy pride!
Now when the portress heard her second ode she shrieked aloud and said,
"By Allah! 'tis right good!"; and laying hands on her garments tore
them, as she did the first time, and fell to the ground fainting.
Thereupon the procuratrix rose and brought her a second change of
clothes after she had sprinkled water on her. She recovered and sat
upright and said to her sister the cateress, "Onwards, and help me in
my duty, for there remains but this one song." So the provisioneress
again brought out the lute and began to sing these verses:—
How long shall last, how long this rigour rife of woe ✿ May not suffice
thee all these tears thou seest flow?
Our parting thus with purpose fell thou dost prolong ✿ Is't not enough
to glad the heart of envious foe?
Were but this lying world once true to lover-heart ✿ He had not watched
the weary night in tears of woe:
Oh pity me whom overwhelmed thy cruel will ✿ My lord, my king, 'tis
time some ruth to me thou show:
To whom reveal my wrongs, O thou who murdered me? ✿ Sad, who of broken
troth the pangs must undergo!
Increase wild love for thee and phrenzy hour by hour ✿ And days of
exile minute by so long, so slow;
O Moslems, claim _vendetta_[184] for this slave of Love ✿ Whose sleep
Love ever wastes, whose patience Love lays low:
Doth law of Love allow thee, O my wish! to lie ✿ Lapt in another's arms
and unto me cry "Go!"?
Yet in thy presence, say, what joys shall I enjoy ✿ When he I love but
works my love to overthrow?
When the portress heard the third song she cried aloud; and, laying
hands on her garments, rent them down to the very skirt and fell to the
ground fainting a third time, again showing the scars of the scourge.
Then said the three Kalandars, "Would Heaven we had never entered this
house, but had rather nighted on the mounds and heaps outside the city!
for verily our visit hath been troubled by sights which cut to the
heart." The Caliph turned to them and asked, "Why so?" and they made
answer, "Our minds are sore troubled by this matter." Quoth the Caliph,
"Are ye not of the household?" and quoth they, "No; nor indeed did we
ever set eyes on the place till within this hour." Hereat the Caliph
marvelled and rejoined, "This man who sitteth by you, would he not know
the secret of the matter?" and so saying he winked and made signs at
the Porter. So they questioned the man but he replied, "By the
All-might of Allah, in love all are alike![185] I am the growth of
Baghdad, yet never in my born days did I darken these doors till to-day
and my companying with them was a curious matter." "By Allah," they
rejoined, "we took thee for one of them and now we see thou art one
like ourselves." Then said the Caliph, "We be seven men, and they only
three women without even a fourth to help them; so let us question them
of their case; and, if they answer us not, fain we will be answered by
force." All of them agreed to this except Ja'afar who said,[186] "This
is not my recking; let them be; for we are their guests and, as ye
know, they made a compact and condition with us which we accepted and
promised to keep: wherefore it is better that we be silent concerning
this matter; and, as but little of the night remaineth, let each and
every of us gang his own gait." Then he winked at the Caliph and
whispered to him, "There is but one hour of darkness left and I can
bring them before thee to-morrow, when thou canst freely question them
all concerning their story." But the Caliph raised his head haughtily
and cried out at him in wrath, saying, "I have no patience left for my
longing to hear of them: let the Kalandars question them forthright."
Quoth Ja'afar, "This is not my rede." Then words ran high and talk
answered talk; and they disputed as to who should first put the
question, but at last all fixed upon the Porter. And as the jangle
increased the house-mistress could not but notice it and asked them, "O
ye folk! on what matter are ye talking so loudly?" Then the Porter
stood up respectfully before her and said, "O my lady, this company
earnestly desire that thou acquaint them with the story of the two
bitches and what maketh thee punish them so cruelly; and then thou
fallest to weeping over them and kissing them; and lastly they want to
hear the tale of thy sister and why she hath been bastinado'd with
palm-sticks like a man. These are the questions they charge me to put,
and peace be with thee."[187] Thereupon quoth she who was the lady of
the house to the guests, "Is this true that he saith on your part?" and
all replied, "Yes!" save Ja'afar who kept silence. When she heard these
words she cried, "By Allah, ye have wronged us, O our guests, with
grievous wronging; for when you came before us we made compact and
condition with you, that whoso should speak of what concerneth him not
should hear what pleaseth him not. Sufficeth ye not that we took you
into our house and fed you with our best food? But the fault is not so
much yours as hers who let you in." Then she tucked up her sleeves from
her wrists and struck the floor thrice with her hand crying, "Come ye
quickly;" and lo! a closet door opened and out of it came seven negro
slaves with drawn swords in hand to whom she said, "Pinion me those
praters' elbows and bind them each to each." They did her bidding and
asked her, "O veiled and virtuous! is it thy high command that we
strike off their heads?"; but she answered, "Leave them awhile that I
question them of their condition, before their necks feel the sword."
"By Allah, O my lady!" cried the Porter, "slay me not for other's sin;
all these men offended and deserve the penalty of crime save myself.
Now by Allah, our night had been charming had we escaped the
mortification of those monocular Kalandars whose entrance into a
populous city would convert it into a howling wilderness." Then he
repeated these verses:—
How fair is ruth the strong man deigns not smother! ✿ And fairest fair
when shown to weakest brother:
By Love's own holy tie between us twain, ✿ Let one not suffer for the
sin of other.
When the Porter ended his verse the lady laughed——And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Eleventh Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the lady, after
laughing at the Porter despite her wrath, came up to the party and
spake thus, "Tell me who ye be, for ye have but an hour of life; and
were ye not men of rank and, perhaps, notables of your tribes, you had
not been so froward and I had hastened your doom." Then said the
Caliph, "Woe to thee, O Ja'afar, tell her who we are lest we be slain
by mistake; and speak her fair before some horror befal us." "'Tis part
of thy deserts," replied he; whereupon the Caliph cried out at him
saying, "There is a time for witty words and there is a time for
serious work." Then the lady accosted the three Kalandars and asked
them, "Are ye brothers?"; when they answered, "No, by Allah, we be
naught but Fakirs and foreigners." Then quoth she to one among them,
"Wast thou born blind of one eye?"; and quoth he, "No, by Allah, 'twas
a marvellous matter and a wondrous mischance which caused my eye to be
torn out, and mine is a tale which, if it were written upon the
eye-corners with needle-gravers, were a warner to whoso would be
warned."[188] She questioned the second and third Kalandar; but all
replied like the first, "By Allah, O our mistress, each one of us
cometh from a different country, and we are all three the sons of
Kings, sovereign Princes ruling over suzerains and capital cities."
Thereupon she turned towards them and said, "Let each and every of you
tell me his tale in due order and explain the cause of his coming to
our place; and if his story please us let him stroke his head[189] and
wend his way." The first to come forward was the Hammál, the Porter,
who said, "O my lady, I am a man and a porter. This dame, the cateress,
hired me to carry a load and took me first to the shop of a vintner;
then to the booth of a butcher; thence to the stall of a fruiterer;
thence to a grocer who also sold dry fruits; thence to a confectioner
and a perfumer-cum-druggist and from him to this place where there
happened to me with you what happened. Such is my story and peace be on
us all!" At this the lady laughed and said, "Rub thy head and wend thy
ways!"; but he cried, "By Allah, I will not stump it till I hear the
stories of my companions." Then came forward one of the Monoculars and
began to tell her
_THE FIRST KALANDAR'S TALE._
Know, O my lady, that the cause of my beard being shorn and my eye
being out-torn was as follows. My father was a King and he had a
brother who was a King over another city; and it came to pass that I
and my cousin, the son of my paternal uncle, were· both born on one and
the same day. And years and days rolled on; and, as we grew up, I used
to visit my uncle every now and then and to spend a certain number of
months with him. Now my cousin and I were sworn friends; for he ever
entreated me with exceeding kindness; he killed for me the fattest
sheep and strained the best of his wines, and we enjoyed long
conversing and carousing. One day when the wine had gotten the better
of us, the son of my uncle said to me, "O my cousin, I have a great
service to ask of thee; and I desire that thou stay me not in whatso I
desire to do!" And I replied, "With joy and goodly will." Then he made
me swear the most binding oaths and left me; but after a little while
he returned leading a lady veiled and richly apparelled with ornaments
worth a large sum of money. Presently he turned to me (the woman being
still behind him) and said, "Take this lady with thee and go before me
to such a burial ground" (describing it, so that I knew the place),
"and enter with her into such a sepulchre[190] and there await my
coming." The oaths I swore to him made me keep silence and suffered me
not to oppose him; so I led the woman to the cemetery and both I and
she took our seats in the sepulchre; and hardly had we sat down when in
came my uncle's son, with a bowl of water, a bag of mortar and an adze
somewhat like a hoe. He went straight to the tomb in the midst of the
sepulchre and, breaking it open with the adze set the stones on one
side; then he fell to digging into the earth of the tomb till he came
upon a large iron plate, the size of a wicket-door; and on raising it
there appeared below it a staircase vaulted and winding. Then he turned
to the lady and said to her, "Come now and take thy final choice!" She
at once went down by the staircase and disappeared; then quoth he to
me, "O son of my uncle, by way of completing thy kindness, when I shall
have descended into this place, restore the trap-door to where it was,
and heap back the earth upon it as it lay before; and then of thy great
goodness mix this unslaked lime which is in the bag with this water
which is in the bowl and, after building up the stones, plaster the
outside so that none looking upon it shall say:—This is a new opening
in an old tomb. For a whole year have I worked at this place whereof
none knoweth but Allah, and this is the need I have of thee;" presently
adding, "May Allah never bereave thy friends of thee nor make them
desolate by thine absence, O son of my uncle, O my dear cousin!" And he
went down the stairs and disappeared for ever. When he was lost to
sight I replaced the iron plate and did all his bidding till the tomb
became as it was before; and I worked almost unconsciously for my head
was heated with wine. Returning to the palace of my uncle, I was told
that he had gone forth a-sporting and hunting; so I slept that night
without seeing him; and, when the morning dawned, I remembered the
scenes of the past evening and what happened between me and my cousin;
I repented of having obeyed him when penitence was of no avail, I still
thought, however, that it was a dream. So I fell to asking for the son
of my uncle; but there was none to answer me concerning him; and I went
out to the grave-yard and the sepulchres, and sought for the tomb under
which he was, but could not find it; and I ceased not wandering about
from sepulchre to sepulchre, and tomb to tomb, all without success,
till night set in. So I returned to the city, yet I could neither eat
nor drink; my thoughts being engrossed with my cousin, for that I knew
not what was become of him; and I grieved with exceeding grief and
passed another sorrowful night, watching until the morning. Then went I
a second time to the cemetery, pondering over what the son of mine
uncle had done; and, sorely repenting my hearkening to him, went round
among all the tombs, but could not find the tomb I sought. I mourned
over the past, and remained in my mourning seven days, seeking the
place and ever missing the path. Then my torture of scruples[191] grew
upon me till I well nigh went mad, and I found no way to dispel my
grief save travel and return to my father. So I set out and journeyed
homeward; but as I was entering my father's capital a crowd of rioters
sprang upon me and pinioned me.[192] I wondered thereat with all
wonderment, seeing that I was the son of the Sultan, and these men were
my father's subjects and amongst them were some of my own slaves. A
great fear fell upon me, and I said to my soul,[193] "Would heaven I
knew what hath happened to my father!" I questioned those that bound me
of the cause of their so doing, but they returned me no answer.
However, after a while one of them said to me (and he had been a hired
servant of our house), "Fortune hath been false to thy father; his
troops betrayed him and the Wazir who slew him now reigneth in his
stead and we lay in wait to seize thee by the bidding of him." I was
well-nigh distraught and felt ready to faint on hearing of my father's
death; when they carried me off and placed me in presence of the
usurper. Now between me and him there was an olden grudge, the cause of
which was this. I was fond of shooting with the stone-bow,[194] and it
befel one day, as I was standing on the terrace-roof of the palace,
that a bird lighted on the top of the Wazir's house when he happened to
be there. I shot at the bird and missed the mark; but I hit the Wazir's
eye and knocked it out as fate and fortune decreed. Even so saith the
poet:—
We tread the path where Fate hath led ✿ The path Fate writ we fain must
tread:
And man in one land doomed to die ✿ Death no where else shall do him
dead.
And on like wise saith another:—
Let Fortune have her wanton way ✿ Take heart and all her words obey:
Nor joy nor mourn at anything ✿ For all things pass and no things stay.
Now when I knocked out the Wazir's eye he could not say a single word,
for that my father was King of the city; but he hated me ever after and
dire was the grudge thus caused between us twain. So when I was set
before him hand-bound and pinioned, he straightway gave orders for me
to be beheaded. I asked, "For what crime wilt thou put me to death?";
whereupon he answered, "What crime is greater than this?" pointing the
while to the place where his eye had been. Quoth I, "This I did by
accident not of malice prepense;" and quoth he, "If thou didst it by
accident, I will do the like by thee with intention."[195] Then cried
he, "Bring him forward," and they brought me up to him, when he thrust
his finger into my left eye and gouged it out; whereupon I became
one-eyed as ye see me. Then he bade bind me hand and foot, and put me
into a chest and said to the sworder, "Take charge of this fellow, and
go off with him to the waste lands about the city; then draw thy
scymitar and slay him, and leave him to feed the beasts and birds." So
the headsman fared forth with me and when he was in the midst of the
desert, he took me out of the chest (and I with both hands pinioned and
both feet fettered) and was about to bandage my eyes before striking
off my head. But I wept with exceeding weeping until I made him weep
with me and, looking at him I began to recite these couplets:—
I deemed you coat-o'-mail that should withstand ✿ The foeman's shafts;
and you proved foeman's brand;
I hoped your aidance in mine every chance ✿ Though fail my left to aid
my dexter hand:
Aloof you stand and hear the railer's gibe ✿ While rain their shafts on
me the giber-band:
But an ye will not guard me from my foes ✿ Stand clear, and succour
neither these nor those!
And I also quoted:—
I deemed my brethren mail of strongest steel ✿ And so they were—from
foes to fend my dart!
I deemed their arrows surest of their aim; ✿ And so they were—when
aiming at my heart!
When the headsman heard my lines (he had been sworder to my sire and he
owed me a debt of gratitude) he cried, "O my lord, what can I do, being
but a slave under orders?" presently adding, "Fly for thy life and
nevermore return to this land, or they will slay thee and slay me with
thee, even as the poet said:—
Take thy life and fly whenas evils threat; ✿ Let the ruined house tell
its owner's fate:
New land for the old thou shalt seek and find ✿ But to find new life
thou must not await.
Strange that men should sit in the stead of shame, ✿ When Allah's world
is so wide and great!
And trust not other, in matters grave ✿ Life itself must act for a life
beset:
Ne'er would prowl the lion with maned neck, ✿ Did he reckon on aid or
of others reck."
Hardly believing in my escape, I kissed his hand and thought the loss
of my eye a light matter in consideration of my escaping from being
slain. I arrived at my uncle's capital; and, going in to him, told him
of what had befallen my father and myself; whereat he wept with sore
weeping and said, "Verily thou addest grief to my grief, and woe to my
woe; for thy cousin hath been missing these many days; I wot not what
hath happened to him, and none can give me news of him." And he wept
till he fainted. I sorrowed and condoled with him; and he would have
applied certain medicaments to my eye, but he saw that it was become as
a walnut with the shell empty. Then said he, "O my son, better to lose
eye and keep life!" After that I could no longer remain silent about my
cousin, who was his only son and one dearly loved, so I told him all
that had happened. He rejoiced with extreme joyance to hear news of his
son and said, "Come now and show me the tomb;" but I replied, "By
Allah, O my uncle, I know not its place, though I sought it carefully
full many times, yet could not find the site." However, I and my uncle
went to the grave-yard and looked right and left, till at last I
recognised the tomb and we both rejoiced with exceeding joy. We entered
the sepulchre and loosened the earth about the grave; then, upraising
the trap-door, descended some fifty steps till we came to the foot of
the staircase when lo! we were stopped by a blinding smoke. Thereupon
said my uncle that saying whose sayer shall never come to shame, "There
is no Majesty and there is no Might, save in Allah, the Glorious, the
Great!" and we advanced till we suddenly came upon a saloon, whose
floor was strewed with flour and grain and provisions and all manner
necessaries; and in the midst of it stood a canopy sheltering a couch.
Thereupon my uncle went up to the couch and inspecting it found his son
and the lady who had gone down with him into the tomb, lying in each
other's embrace; but the twain had become black as charred wood; it was
as if they had been cast into a pit of fire. When my uncle saw this
spectacle, he spat in his son's face and said, "Thou hast thy deserts,
O thou hog![196] this is thy judgment in the transitory world, and yet
remaineth the judgment in the world to come, a durer and a more
enduring."——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying
her permitted say.
Now when it was the Twelfth Night,
She continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Kalandar
thus went on with his story before the lady and the Caliph and
Ja'afar:—My uncle struck his son with his slipper[197] as he lay there
a black heap of coal. I marvelled at his hardness of heart, and
grieving for my cousin and the lady, said, "By Allah, O my uncle, calm
thy wrath: dost thou not see that all my thoughts are occupied with
this misfortune, and how sorrowful I am for what hath befallen thy son,
and how horrible it is that naught of him remaineth but a black heap of
charcoal? And is not that enough, but thou must smite him with thy
slipper?" Answered he, "O son of my brother, this youth from his
boyhood was madly in love with his own sister;[198] and often and often
I forbade him from her, saying to myself:—They are but little ones.
However, when they grew up sin befel between them; and, although I
could hardly believe it, I confined him and chided him and threatened
him with the severest threats; and the eunuchs and servants said to
him:—Beware of so foul a thing which none before thee ever did, and
which none after thee will ever do; and have a care lest thou be
dishonoured and disgraced among the Kings of the day, even to the end
of time. And I added:—Such a report as this will be spread abroad by
caravans, and take heed not to give them cause to talk or I will
assuredly curse thee and do thee to death. After that I lodged them
apart and shut her up; but the accursed girl loved him with passionate
love, for Satan had got the mastery of her as well as of him and made
their foul sin seem fair in their sight. Now when my son saw that I
separated them, he secretly built this souterrain and furnished it and
transported to it victuals, even as thou seest; and, when I had gone
out a-sporting, came here with his sister and hid from me. Then His
righteous judgment fell upon the twain and consumed them with fire from
Heaven; and verily the last judgment will deal them durer pains and
more enduring!" Then he wept and I wept with him; and he looked at me
and said, "Thou art my son in his stead." And I bethought me awhile of
the world and of its chances, how the Wazir had slain my father and had
taken his place and had put out my eye; and how my cousin had come to
his death by the strangest chance: and I wept again and my uncle wept
with me. Then we mounted the steps and let down the iron plate and
heaped up the earth over it; and, after restoring the tomb to its
former condition, we returned to the palace. But hardly had we sat down
ere we heard the tom-toming of the kettle-drum and tantara of trumpets
and clash of cymbals; and the rattling of war-men's lances; and the
clamours of assailants and the clanking of bits and the neighing of
steeds; while the world was canopied with dense dust and sand-clouds
raised by the horses' hoofs.[199] We were amazed at sight and sound,
knowing not what could be the matter; so we asked and were told us that
the Wazir who had usurped my father's kingdom had marched his men; and
that after levying his soldiery and taking a host of wild Arabs[200]
into service, he had come down upon us with armies like the sands of
the sea; their number none could tell and against them none could
prevail. They attacked the city unawares; and the citizens, being
powerless to oppose them, surrendered the place: my uncle was slain and
I made for the suburbs saying to myself, "If thou fall into this
villain's hands he will assuredly kill thee." On this wise all my
troubles were renewed; and I pondered all that had betided my father
and my uncle and I knew not what to do; for if the city people or my
father's troops had recognised me they would have done their best to
win favour by destroying me; and I could think of no way to escape save
by shaving off my beard and my eyebrows. So I shore them off and,
changing my fine clothes for a Kalandar's rags, I fared forth from my
uncle's capital and made for this city; hoping that peradventure some
one would assist me to the presence of the Prince of the Faithful,[201]
and the Caliph who is the Viceregent of Allah upon earth. Thus have I
come hither that I might tell him my tale and lay my case before him. I
arrived here this very night, and was standing in doubt whither I
should go, when suddenly I saw this second Kalandar; so I salam'd to
him, saying:—I am a stranger! and he answered:—I too am a stranger! And
as we were conversing behold, up came our companion, this third
Kalandar, and saluted us saying:—I am a stranger! And we answered:—We
too be strangers! Then we three walked on and together till darkness
overtook us and Destiny drave us to your house. Such, then, is the
cause of the shaving of my beard and mustachios and eyebrows; and the
manner of my losing my right eye. They marvelled much at this tale and
the Caliph said to Ja'afar, "By Allah, I have not seen nor have I heard
the like of what hath happened to this Kalandar!" Quoth the lady of the
house, "Rub thy head and wend thy ways;" but he replied, "I will not
go, till I hear the history of the two others." Thereupon the second
Kalandar came forward; and, kissing the ground, began to tell
_THE SECOND KALANDAR'S TALE._
Know, O my lady, that I was not born one-eyed and mine is a strange
story; an it were graven with needle-graver on the eye-corners, it were
a warner to whoso would be warned. I am a King, son of a King, and was
brought up like a Prince. I learned intoning the Koran according the
seven schools;[202] and I read all manner books, and held disputations
on their contents with the doctors and men of science; moreover I
studied star-lore and the fair sayings of poets and I exercised myself
in all branches of learning until I surpassed the people of my time; my
skill in calligraphy exceeded that of all the scribes; and my fame was
bruited abroad over all climes and cities, and all the kings learned to
know my name. Amongst others the King of Hind heard of me and sent to
my father to invite me to his court, with offerings and presents and
rarities such as befit royalties. So my father fitted out six ships for
me and my people; and we put to sea and sailed for the space of a full
month till we made the land. Then we brought out the horses that were
with us in the ships; and, after loading the camels with our presents
for the Prince, we set forth inland. But we had marched only a little
way, when behold, a dust-cloud up-flew, and grew until it walled[203]
the horizon from view. After an hour or so the veil lifted and
discovered beneath it fifty horsemen, ravening lions to the sight, in
steel armour dight. We observed them straightly and lo! they were
cutters-off of the highway, wild as wild Arabs. When they saw that we
were only four and had with us but the ten camels carrying the
presents, they dashed down upon us with lances at rest. We signed to
them, with our fingers, as it were saying, "We be messengers of the
great King of Hind, so harm us not!" but they answered on like wise,
"We are not in his dominions to obey nor are we subject to his sway."
Then they set upon us and slew some of my slaves and put the lave to
flight; and I also fled after I had gotten a wound, a grievous hurt,
whilst the Arabs were taken up with the money and the presents which
were with us. I went forth unknowing whither I went, having become mean
as I was mighty; and I fared on until I came to the crest of a mountain
where I took shelter for the night in a cave. When day arose I set out
again, nor ceased after this fashion till I arrived at a fair city and
a well-filled. Now it was the season when Winter was turning away with
his rime and to greet the world with his flowers came Prime, and the
young blooms were springing and the streams flowed ringing, and the
birds were sweetly singing, as saith the poet concerning a certain city
when describing it:—
A place secure from every thought of fear ✿ Safety and peace for ever
lord it here:
Its beauties seem to beautify its sons ✿ And as in Heaven its happy
folk appear.
I was glad of my arrival for I was wearied with the way, and yellow of
face for weakness and want; but my plight was pitiable and I knew not
whither to betake me. So I accosted a Tailor sitting in his little shop
and saluted him; he returned my salam, and bade me kindly welcome and
wished me well and entreated me gently and asked me of the cause of my
strangerhood. I told him all my past from first to last; and he was
concerned on my account and said, "O youth, disclose not thy secret to
any: the King of this city is the greatest enemy thy father hath, and
there is blood-wit[204] between them and thou hast cause to fear for
thy life." Then he set meat and drink before me; and I ate and drank
and he with me; and we conversed freely till nightfall, when he cleared
me a place in a corner of his shop and brought me a carpet and a
coverlet. I tarried with him three days; at the end of which time he
said to me, "Knowest thou no calling whereby to win thy living, O my
son?" "I am learned in the law," I replied, "and a doctor of doctrine;
an adept in art and science, a mathematician and a notable penman." He
rejoined, "Thy calling is of no account in our city, where not a soul
understandeth science or even writing or aught save money-making." Then
said I, "By Allah, I know nothing but what I have mentioned;" and he
answered, "Gird thy middle and take thee a hatchet and a cord, and go
and hew wood in the wold for thy daily bread, till Allah send thee
relief; and tell none who thou art lest they slay thee." Then he bought
me an axe and a rope and gave me in charge to certain woodcutters; and
with these guardians I went forth into the forest, where I cut
fuel-wood the whole of my day and came back in the evening bearing my
bundle on my head. I sold it for half a dinar, with part of which I
bought provision and laid by the rest. In such work I spent a whole
year and when this was ended I went out one day, as was my wont, into
the wilderness; and, wandering away from my companions, I chanced on a
thickly grown lowland[205] in which there was an abundance of wood. So
I entered and I found the gnarled stump of a great tree and loosened
the ground about it and shovelled away the earth. Presently my hatchet
rang upon a copper ring; so I cleared away the soil and behold, the
ring was attached to a wooden trap-door. This I raised and there
appeared beneath it a staircase. I descended the steps to the bottom
and came to a door, which I opened and found myself in a noble hall
strong of structure and beautifully built, where was a damsel like a
pearl of great price, whose favour banished from my heart all grief and
cark and care; and whose soft speech healed the soul in despair and
captivated the wise and ware. Her figure measured five feet in height;
her breasts were firm and upright; her cheek a very garden of delight;
her colour lively bright; her face gleamed like dawn through curly
tresses which gloomed like night, and above the snows of her bosom
glittered teeth of a pearly white.[206] As the poet said of one like
her:—
Slim-waisted loveling, jetty hair-encrowned ✿ A wand of willow on a
sandy mound:
And as saith another:—
Four things that meet not, save they here unite ✿ To shed my
heart-blood and to rape my sprite:
Brilliantest forehead; tresses jetty bright; ✿ Cheeks rosy red and
stature beauty-dight.
When I looked upon her I prostrated myself before Him who had created
her, for the beauty and loveliness He had shaped in her, and she looked
at me and said, "Art thou man or Jinni?" "I am a man," answered I, and
she, "Now who brought thee to this place where I have abided
five-and-twenty years without even yet seeing man in it." Quoth I (and
indeed I found her words wonder-sweet, and my heart was melted to the
core by them), "O my lady, my good fortune led me hither for the
dispelling of my cark and care." Then I related to her all my mishap
from first to last, and my case appeared to her exceeding grievous; so
she wept and said, "I will tell thee my story in my turn. I am the
daughter of the King Ifitamus, lord of the Islands of Abnús,[207] who
married me to my cousin, the son of my paternal uncle; but on my
wedding night an Ifrit named Jirjís[208] bin Rajmús, first cousin that
is, mother's sister's son, of Iblís, the Foul Fiend, snatched me up
and, flying away with me like a bird, set me down in this place,
whither he conveyed all I needed of fine stuffs, raiment and jewels and
furniture, and meat and drink and other else. Once in every ten days he
comes here and lies a single night with me, and then wends his way, for
he took me without the consent of his family; and he hath agreed with
me that if ever I need him by night or by day, I have only to pass my
hand over yonder two lines engraved upon the alcove, and he will appear
to me before my fingers cease touching. Four days have now passed since
he was here; and, as there remain six days before he come again, say
me, wilt thou abide with me five days, and go hence the day before his
coming?" I replied "Yes, and yes again! O rare, if all this be not a
dream!" Hereat she was glad and, springing to her feet, seized my hand
and carried me through an arched doorway to a Hammam-bath, a fair hall
and richly decorate. I doffed my clothes, and she doffed hers; then we
bathed and she washed me; and when this was done we left the bath, and
she seated me by her side upon a high divan, and brought me sherbet
scented with musk. When we felt cool after the bath, she set food
before me and we ate and fell to talking; but presently she said to me,
"Lay thee down and take thy rest, for surely thou must be weary." So I
thanked her, my lady, and lay down and slept soundly, forgetting all
that had happened to me. When I awoke I found her rubbing and
shampooing my feet;[209] so I again thanked her and blessed her and we
sat for a while talking. Said she, "By Allah, I was sad at heart, for
that I have dwelt alone underground for these five-and-twenty years;
and praise be to Allah, who hath sent me some one with whom I can
converse!" Then she asked, "O youth, what sayest thou to wine?" and I
answered, "Do as thou wilt." Whereupon she went to a cupboard and took
out a sealed flask of right old wine and set off the table with flowers
and scented herbs and began to sing these lines:—
Had we known of thy coming we fain had dispread ✿ The cores of our
hearts or the balls of our eyes;
Our cheeks as a carpet to greet thee had thrown ✿ And our eyelids had
strown for thy feet to betread.
Now when she finished her verse I thanked her, for indeed love of her
had gotten hold of my heart and my grief and anguish were gone. We sat
at converse and carousal till nightfall, and with her I spent the
night—such night never spent I in all my life! On the morrow delight
followed delight till midday, by which time I had drunken wine so
freely that I had lost my wits, and stood up, staggering to the right
and to the left, and said "Come, O my charmer, and I will carry thee up
from this underground vault and deliver thee from the spell of thy
Jinni." She laughed and replied "Content thee and hold thy peace: of
every ten days one is for the Ifrit and the other nine are thine."
Quoth I (and in good sooth drink had got the better of me), "This very
instant will I break down the alcove whereon is graven the talisman and
summon the Ifrit that I may slay him, for it is a practise of mine to
slay Ifrits!" When she heard my words her colour waxed wan and she
said, "By Allah, do not!" and she began repeating:—
This is a thing wherein destruction lies ✿ I rede thee shun it an thy
wits be wise.
And these also:—
O thou who seekest severance, draw the rein ✿ Of thy swift steed nor
seek o'ermuch t' advance;
Ah stay! for treachery is the rule of life, ✿ And sweets of meeting end
in severance.
I heard her verse but paid no heed to her words, nay, I raised my foot
and administered to the alcove a mighty kick——And Shahrazad perceived
the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Thirteenth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the second
Kalandar thus continued his tale to the lady:—But when, O my mistress,
I kicked that alcove with a mighty kick, behold, the air starkened and
darkened and thundered and lightened; the earth trembled and quaked and
the world became invisible. At once the fumes of wine left my head: I
cried to her, "What is the matter?" and she replied, "The Ifrit is upon
us! did I not warn thee of this? By Allah, thou hast brought ruin upon
me; but fly for thy life and go up by the way thou camest down!" So I
fled up the staircase; but, in the excess of my fear, I forgot sandals
and hatchet. And when I had mounted two steps I turned to look for
them, and lo! I saw the earth cleave asunder, and there arose from it
an Ifrit, a monster of hideousness, who said to the damsel, "What
trouble and pother be this wherewith thou disturbest me? What mishap
hath betided thee?" "No mishap hath befallen me" she answered, "save
that my breast was straitened[210] and my heart heavy with sadness: so
I drank a little wine to broaden it and to hearten myself; then I rose
to obey a call of Nature, but the wine had gotten into my head and I
fell against the alcove." "Thou liest, like the whore thou art!"
shrieked the Ifrit; and he looked around the hall right and left till
he caught sight of my axe and sandals and said to her, "What be these
but the belongings of some mortal who hath been in thy society?" She
answered, "I never set eyes upon them till this moment: they must have
been brought by thee hither cleaving to thy garments." Quoth the Ifrit,
"These words are absurd; thou harlot! thou strumpet!" Then he stripped
her stark naked and, stretching her upon the floor, bound her hands and
feet to four stakes, like one crucified;[211] and set about torturing
and trying to make her confess. I could not bear to stand listening to
her cries and groans; so I climbed the stair on the quake with fear;
and when I reached the top I replaced the trap-door and covered it with
earth. Then repented I of what I had done with penitence exceeding; and
thought of the lady and her beauty and loveliness, and the tortures she
was suffering at the hands of the accursed Ifrit, after her quiet life
of five-and-twenty years; and how all that had happened to her was for
cause of me. I bethought me of my father and his kingly estate and how
I had become a woodcutter; and how, after my time had been awhile
serene, the world had again waxed turbid and troubled to me. So I wept
bitterly and repeated this couplet:—
What time Fate's tyranny shall most oppress thee ✿ Perpend! one day
shall joy thee, one distress thee!
Then I walked till I reached the home of my friend, the Tailor, whom I
found most anxiously expecting me; indeed he was, as the saying goes,
on coals of fire for my account. And when he saw me he said, "All night
long my heart hath been heavy, fearing for thee from wild beasts or
other mischances. Now praise be to Allah for thy safety!" I thanked him
for his friendly solicitude and, retiring to my corner, sat pondering
and musing on what had befallen me; and I blamed and chided myself for
my meddlesome folly and my frowardness in kicking the alcove. I was
calling myself to account when behold, my friend, the Tailor, came to
me and said, "O youth, in the shop there is an old man, a Persian,[212]
who seeketh thee: he hath thy hatchet and thy sandals which he had
taken to the woodcutters,[213] saying, I was going out at what time the
Mu'azzin began the call to dawn-prayer, when I chanced upon these
things and know not whose they are; so direct me to their owner. The
woodcutters recognised thy hatchet and directed him to thee: he is
sitting in my shop, so fare forth to him and thank him and take thine
axe and sandals." When I heard these words I turned yellow with fear
and felt stunned as by a blow; and, before I could recover myself, lo!
the floor of my private room clove asunder, and out of it rose the
Persian who was the Ifrit. He had tortured the lady with exceeding
tortures, natheless she would not confess to him aught; so he took the
hatchet and sandals and said to her, "As surely as I am Jirjis of the
seed of Iblis, I will bring thee back the owner of this and
these!"[214] Then he went to the woodcutters with the pretence
aforesaid and, being directed to me, after waiting a while in the shop
till the fact was confirmed, he suddenly snatched me up as a hawk
snatcheth a mouse and flew high in air; but presently descended and
plunged with me under the earth (I being aswoon the while), and lastly
set me down in the subterranean palace wherein I had passed that
blissful night. And there I saw the lady stripped to the skin, her
limbs bound to four stakes and blood welling from her sides. At the
sight my eyes ran over with tears; but the Ifrit covered her person and
said, "O wanton, is not this man thy lover?" She looked upon me and
replied, "I wot him not nor have I ever seen him before this hour!"
Quoth the Ifrit, "What! this torture and yet no confessing;" and quoth
she, "I never saw this man in my born days, and it is not lawful in
Allah's sight to tell lies on him." "If thou know him not," said the
Ifrit to her, "take this sword and strike off his head."[215] She hent
the sword in hand and came close up to me; and I signalled to her with
my eyebrows, my tears the while flowing adown my cheeks. She understood
me and made answer, also by signs, "How couldest thou bring all this
evil upon me?" and I rejoined after the same fashion, "This is the time
for mercy and forgiveness." And the mute tongue of my case[216] spake
aloud saying:—
Mine eyes were dragomans for my tongue betied ✿ And told full clear the
love I fain would hide:
When last we met and tears in torrents railed ✿ For tongue struck dumb
my glances testified:
She signed with eye-glance while her lips were mute ✿ I signed with
fingers and she kenned th' implied:
Our eyebrows did all duty 'twixt us twain; ✿ And we being speechless
Love spake loud and plain.
Then, O my mistress, the lady threw away the sword and said, "How shall
I strike the neck of one I wot not, and who hath done me no evil? Such
deed were not lawful in my law!" and she held her hand. Said the Ifrit,
"'Tis grievous to thee to slay thy lover; and, because he hath lain
with thee, thou endurest these torments and obstinately refusest to
confess. After this it is clear to me that only like loveth and pitieth
like." Then he turned to me and asked me, "O man, haply thou also dost
not know this woman;" whereto I answered, "And pray who may she be?
assuredly I never saw her till this instant." "Then take the sword,"
said he "and strike off her head and I will believe that, thou wottest
her not and will leave thee free to go, and will not deal hardly with
thee." I replied, "That will I do;" and, taking the sword went forward
sharply and raised my hand to smite. But she signed to me with her
eyebrows, "Have I failed thee in aught of love; and is it thus that
thou requitest me?" I understood what her looks implied and answered
her with an eye-glance, "I will sacrifice my soul for thee." And the
tongue of the case wrote in our hearts these lines:—
How many a lover with his eyebrows speaketh ✿ To his beloved, as his
passion pleadeth:
With flashing eyne his passion he inspireth ✿ And well she seeth what
his pleading needeth.
How sweet the look when each on other gazeth; ✿ And with what swiftness
and how sure it speedeth:
And this with eyebrows all his passion writeth; ✿ And that with
eyeballs all his passion readeth.
Then my eyes filled with tears to overflowing and I cast the sword from
my hand saying, "O mighty Ifrit and hero, if a woman lacking wits and
faith deem it unlawful to strike off my head, how can it be lawful for
me, a man, to smite her neck whom I never saw in my whole life. I
cannot do such misdeed though thou cause me drink the cup of death and
perdition." Then said the Ifrit, "Ye twain show the good understanding
between you; but I will let you see how such doings end." He took the
sword, and struck off the lady's hands first, with four strokes, and
then her feet; whilst I looked on and made sure of death and she
farewelled me with her dying eyes. So the Ifrit cried at her, "Thou
whorest and makest me a wittol with thine eyes;" and struck her so that
her head went flying. Then turned he to me and said, "O mortal, we have
it in our law that, when the wife committeth advowtry it is lawful for
us to slay her. As for this damsel I snatched her away on her
bride-night when she was a girl of twelve and she knew no one but
myself. I used to come to her once in every ten days and lie with her
the night, under the semblance of a man, a Persian; and when I was well
assured that she had cuckolded me, I slew her. But as for thee I am not
well satisfied that thou hast wronged me in her; nevertheless I must
not let thee go unharmed; so ask a boon of me and I will grant it."
Then I rejoiced, O my lady, with exceeding joy and said, "What boon
shall I crave of thee?" He replied, "Ask me this boon; into what shape
I shall bewitch thee; wilt thou be a dog, or an ass or an ape?" I
rejoined (and indeed I had hoped that mercy might be shown me), "By
Allah, spare me, that Allah spare thee for sparing a Moslem and a man
who never wronged thee." And I humbled myself before him with exceeding
humility, and remained standing in his presence, saying, "I am sore
oppressed by circumstance." He replied "Talk me no long talk, it is in
my power to slay thee; but I give thee instead thy choice." Quoth I, "O
thou Ifrit, it would besit thee to pardon me even as the Envied
pardoned the Envier." Quoth he, "And how was that?" and I began to tell
him
_THE TALE OF THE ENVIER AND THE ENVIED._
They relate, O Ifrit, that in a certain city were two men who dwelt in
adjoining houses, having a common party-wall; and one of them envied
the other and looked on him with an evil eye,[217] and did his utmost
endeavour to injure him; and, albeit at all times he was jealous of his
neighbour, his malice at last grew on him till he could hardly eat or
enjoy the sweet pleasures of sleep. But the Envied did nothing save
prosper; and the more the other strove to injure him, the more he got
and gained and throve. At last the malice of his neighbour and the
man's constant endeavour to work him a harm came to his knowledge; so
he said, "By Allah! God's earth is wide enough for its people;" and,
leaving the neighbourhood, he repaired to another city where he bought
himself a piece of land in which was a dried up draw-well,[218] old and
in ruinous condition. Here he built him an oratory and, furnishing it
with a few necessaries, took up his abode therein, and devoted himself
to prayer and worshipping Allah Almighty; and Fakirs and holy
mendicants flocked to him from all quarters; and his fame went abroad
through the city and that country side. Presently the news reached his
envious neighbour, of what good fortune had befallen him and how the
city notables had become his disciples; so he travelled to the place
and presented himself at the holy man's hermitage, and was met by the
Envied with welcome and greeting and all honour. Then quoth the Envier,
"I have a word to say to thee; and this is the cause of my faring
hither, and I wish to give thee a piece of good news; so come with me
to thy cell." Thereupon the Envied arose and took the Envier by the
hand, and they went in to the inmost part of the hermitage; but the
Envier said, "Bid thy Fakirs retire to their cells, for I will not tell
thee what I have to say, save in secret where none may hear us."
Accordingly the Envied said to his Fakirs, "Retire to your private
cells;" and, when all had done as he bade them, he set out with his
visitor and walked a little way until the twain reached the ruinous old
well. And as they stood upon the brink the Envier gave the Envied a
push which tumbled him headlong into it, unseen of any; whereupon he
fared forth, and went his ways, thinking to have had slain him. Now
this well happened to be haunted by the Jann who, seeing the case, bore
him up and let him down little by little, till he reached the bottom,
when they seated him upon a large stone. Then one of them asked his
fellows, "Wot ye who be this man?" and they answered, "Nay." "This
man," continued the speaker, "is the Envied hight who, flying from the
Envier, came to dwell in our city, and here founded this holy house,
and he hath edified us by his litanies[219] and his lections of the
Koran; but the Envier set out and journeyed till he rejoined him, and
cunningly contrived to deceive him and cast him into the well where we
now are. But the fame of this good man hath this very night come to the
Sultan of our city who designeth to visit him on the morrow on account
of his daughter." "What aileth his daughter?" asked one, and another
answered "She is possessed of a spirit; for Maymun, son of Damdam, is
madly in love with her; but, if this pious man knew the remedy, her
cure would be as easy as could be." Hereupon one of them inquired, "And
what is the medicine?" and he replied, "The black tom-cat which is with
him in the oratory hath, on the end of his tail, a white spot, the size
of a dirham; let him pluck seven white hairs from the spot, then let
him fumigate her therewith and the Marid will flee from her and not
return; so she shall be sane for the rest of her life. All this took
place, O Ifrit, within earshot of the Envied who listened readily. When
dawn broke and morn arose in sheen and shone, the Fakirs went to seek
the Shaykh and found him climbing up the wall of the well; whereby he
was magnified in their eyes.[220] Then, knowing that naught save the
black tom-cat could supply him with the remedy required, he plucked the
seven tail-hairs from the white spot and laid them by him; and hardly
had the sun risen ere the Sultan entered the hermitage, with the great
lords of his estate, bidding the rest of his retinue to remain standing
outside. The Envied gave him a hearty welcome, and seating him by his
side asked him, "Shall I tell thee the cause of thy coming?" The King
answered "Yes." He continued, "Thou hast come upon pretext of a
visitation;[221] but it is in thy heart to question me of thy
daughter." Replied the King, "'Tis even so, O thou holy Shaykh;" and
the Envied continued, "Send and fetch her, and I trust to heal her
forthright (an such it be the will of Allah!). The King in great joy
sent for his daughter, and they brought her pinioned and fettered. The
Envied made her sit down behind a curtain and taking out the hairs
fumigated her therewith; whereupon that which was in her head cried out
and departed from her. The girl was at once restored to her right mind
and veiling her face, said, "What hath happened and who brought me
hither?" The Sultan rejoiced with a joy which nothing could exceed, and
kissed his daughter's eyes,[222] and the holy man's hand; then, turning
to his great lords, he asked, "How say ye! What fee deserveth he who
hath made my daughter whole?" and all answered "He deserveth her to
wife;" and the King said, "Ye speak sooth!" So he married him to her
and the Envied thus became son-in-law to the King. And after a little
the Wazir died and the King said, "Whom can I make Minister in his
stead?" "Thy son-in-law," replied the courtiers. So the Envied became a
Wazir; and after a while the Sultan also died and the lieges said,
"Whom shall we make King?" and all cried, "The Wazir." So the Wazir was
forthright made Sultan, and he became King regnant, a true ruler of
men. One day as he had mounted his horse; and, in the eminence of his
kinglihood, was riding amidst his Emirs and Wazirs and the Grandees of
his realm his eye fell upon his old neighbour, the Envier, who stood
afoot on his path; so he turned to one of his Ministers, and said,
"Bring hither that man and cause him no affright." The Wazir brought
him and the King said, "Give him a thousand miskáls[223] of gold from
the treasury, and load him ten camels with goods for trade, and send
him under escort to his own town." Then he bade his enemy farewell and
sent him away and forbore to punish him for the many and great evils he
had done. See, O Ifrit, the mercy of the Envied to the Envier, who had
hated him from the beginning and had borne him such bitter malice and
never met him without causing him trouble; and had driven him from
house and home, and then had journeyed for the sole purpose of taking
his life by throwing him into the well. Yet he did not requite his
injurious dealing, but forgave him and was bountiful to him.[224] Then
I wept before him, O my lady, with sore weeping, never was there sorer,
and I recited:—
Pardon my fault, for 'tis the wise man's wont ✿ All faults to pardon
and revenge forgo:
In sooth all manner faults in me contain ✿ Then deign of goodness
mercy-grace to show:
Whoso imploreth pardon from on High ✿ Should hold his hand from sinners
here below.
Said the Ifrit, "Lengthen not thy words! As to my slaying thee fear it
not, and as to my pardoning thee hope it not; but from my bewitching
thee there is no escape." Then he tore me from the ground which closed
under my feet and flew with me into the firmament till I saw the earth
as a large white cloud or a saucer[225] in the midst of the waters.
Presently he set me down on a mountain, and taking a little dust, over
which he muttered some magical words, sprinkled me therewith, saying,
"Quit that shape and take thou the shape of an ape!" And on the instant
I became an ape, a tail-less baboon, the son of a century[226]. Now
when he had left me and I saw myself in this ugly and hateful shape, I
wept for myself, but resigned my soul to the tyranny of Time and
Circumstance, well weeting that Fortune is fair and constant to no man.
I descended the mountain and found at the foot a desert plain, long and
broad, over which I travelled for the space of a month till my course
brought me to the brink of the briny sea.[227] After standing there
awhile, I was ware of a ship in the offing which ran before a fair wind
making for the shore: I hid myself behind a rock on the beach and
waited till the ship drew near, when I leaped on board. I found her
full of merchants and passengers and one of them cried, "O Captain,
this ill-omened brute will bring us ill-luck!" and another said, "Turn
this ill-omened beast out from among us;" the Captain said, "Let us
kill it!" another said, "Slay it with the sword;" a third, "Drown it;"
and a fourth, "Shoot it with an arrow." But I sprang up and laid hold
of the Rais's[228] skirt, and shed tears which poured down my chops.
The Captain took pity on me, and said, "O merchants! this ape hath
appealed to me for protection and I will protect him; henceforth he is
under my charge: so let none do him aught hurt or harm, otherwise there
will be bad blood between us." Then he entreated me kindly and
whatsoever he said I understood and ministered to his every want and
served him as a servant, albeit my tongue would not obey my wishes; so
that he came to love me. The vessel sailed on, the wind being fair, for
the space of fifty days; at the end of which we cast anchor under the
walls of a great city wherein was a world of people, especially learned
men, none could tell their number save Allah. No sooner had we arrived
than we were visited by certain Mameluke-officials from the King of
that city; who, after boarding us, greeted the merchants and giving
them joy of safe arrival said, "Our King welcometh you, and sendeth you
this roll of paper, whereupon each and every of you must write a line.
For ye shall know that the King's Minister, a calligrapher of renown,
is dead, and the King hath sworn a solemn oath that he will make none
Wazir in his stead who cannot write as well as he could." He then gave
us the scroll which measured ten cubits long by a breadth of one, and
each of the merchants who knew how to write wrote a line thereon, even
to the last of them; after which I stood up (still in the shape of an
ape) and snatched the roll out of their hands. They feared lest I
should tear it or throw it overboard; so they tried to stay me and
scare me, but I signed to them that I could write, whereat all
marvelled, saying, "We never yet saw an ape write." And the Captain
cried, "Let him write; and if he scribble and scrabble we will kick him
out and kill him; but if he write fair and scholarly I will adopt him
as my son; for surely I never yet saw a more intelligent and
well-mannered monkey than he. Would Heaven my real son were his match
in morals and manners." I took the reed, and stretching out my paw,
dipped it in ink and wrote, in the hand used for letters,[229] these
two couplets:—
Time hath recorded gifts she gave the great; ✿ But none recorded thine
which be far higher;
Allah ne'er orphan men by loss of thee ✿ Who be of Goodness mother,
Bounty's sire.
And I wrote in Rayháni or larger letters elegantly curved:—[230]
Thou hast a reed[231] of rede to every land, ✿ Whose driving causeth
all the world to thrive;
Nil is the Nile of Misraim by thy boons ✿ Who makest misery smile with
fingers five.
Then I wrote in the Suls[232] character:—
There be no writer who from Death shall fleet, ✿ But what his hand hath
writ men shall repeat:
Write, therefore, naught save what shall serve thee when ✿ Thou see't
on Judgment-Day an so thou see't!
Then I wrote in the character Naskh:—[233]
When to sore parting Fate our love shall doom, ✿ To distant life by
Destiny decreed,
We cause the inkhorn's lips to 'plain our pains, ✿ And tongue our
utterance with the talking reed.
And I wrote in the Túmár character[234]:—
Kingdom with none endures; if thou deny ✿ This truth, where be the
Kings of earlier earth?
Set trees of goodliness while rule endures, ✿ And when thou art fallen
they shall tell thy worth.
And I wrote in the character Muhakkak[235]:—
When oped the inkhorn of thy wealth and fame ✿ Take ink of generous
heart and gracious hand;
Write brave and noble deeds while write thou can ✿ And win thee praise
from point of pen and brand.
Then I gave the scroll to the officials and, after we all had written
our line, they carried it before the King. When he saw the paper no
writing pleased him save my writing; and he said to the assembled
courtiers, "Go seek the writer of these lines and dress him in a
splendid robe of honour; then mount him on a she-mule,[236] let a band
of music precede him and bring him to the presence." At these words
they smiled and the King was wroth with them and cried "O accursed! I
give you an order and you laugh at me?" "O King," replied they, "if we
laugh 'tis not at thee and not without a cause." "And what is it?"
asked he; and they answered, "O King, thou orderest us to bring to thy
presence the man who wrote these lines; now the truth is that he who
wrote them is not of the sons of Adam,[237] but an ape, a tail-less
baboon, belonging to the ship-Captain." Quoth he, "Is this true that
you say?" Quoth they "Yea! by the rights of thy munificence!" The King
marvelled at their words and shook with mirth and said, "I am minded to
buy this ape of the Captain." Then he sent messengers to the ship with
the mule, the dress, the guard and the state-drums, saying, "Not the
less do you clothe him in the robe of honour and mount him on the mule
and let him be surrounded by the guards and preceded by the band of
music." They came to the ship and took me from the Captain and robed me
in the robe of honour and, mounting me on the she-mule, carried me in
state-procession through the streets; whilst the people were amazed and
amused. And folk said to one another "Halloo! is our Sultan about to
make an ape his Minister?"; and came all agog crowding to gaze at me,
and the town was astir and turned topsy-turvy on my account. When they
brought me up to the King and set me in his presence, I kissed the
ground before him three times, and once before the High Chamberlain and
great officers, and he bade me be seated, and I sat respectfully on
shins and knees,[238] and all who were present marvelled at my fine
manners, and the King most of all. Thereupon he ordered the lieges to
retire; and, when none remained save the King's majesty, the Eunuch on
duty and a little white slave, he bade them set before me the table of
food, containing all manner of birds, whatever hoppeth and flieth and
treadeth in nest, such as quail and sand-grouse. Then he signed to me
to eat with him; so I rose and kissed ground before him, then sat me
down and ate with him. And when the table was removed I washed my hands
in seven waters and took the reed-case and reed; and wrote instead of
speaking these couplets:—
Wail for the little partridges on porringer and plate; ✿ Cry for the
ruin of the fries and stews well marinate:
Keen as I keen for loved, lost daughters of the Katá-grouse,[239] ✿ And
omelette round the fair enbrownèd fowls agglomerate:
O fire in heart of me for fish, those _deux poissons_ I saw, ✿ Bedded
on new made scones[240] and cakes in piles to laniate.
For thee, O vermicelli! aches my very maw! I hold ✿ Without thee every
taste and joy are clean annihilate.
Those eggs have rolled their yellow eyes in torturing pains of fire ✿
Ere served with hash and fritters hot, that delicatest cate,
Praisèd be Allah for His baked and roast and ah! how good ✿ This pulse,
these pot-herbs steeped in oil with eysill combinate!
When hunger sated was, I elbow-propt fell back upon ✿ Meat-pudding[241]
wherein gleamed the bangles that my wits amate.
Then woke I sleeping appetite to eat as though in sport ✿ Sweets from
brocaded trays and kickshaws most elaborate.
Be patient, soul of me! Time is a haughty, jealous wight; ✿ To-day he
seems dark-lowering and to-morrow fair to sight.[242]
Then I rose and seated myself at a respectful distance while the King
read what I had written, and marvelled, exclaiming, "O the miracle,
that an ape should be gifted with this graceful style and this power of
penmanship! By Allah, 'tis a wonder of wonders!"
Presently they set before the King choice wines in flagons of glass and
he drank: then he passed on the cup to me; and I kissed the ground and
drank and wrote on it:—
With fire they boilèd me to loose my tongue,[243] ✿ And pain and
patience gave for fellowship:
Hence comes it hands of men upbear me high ✿ And honey-dew from lips of
maid I sip!
And these also:—
Morn saith to Night, "withdraw and let me shine;" ✿ So drain we
draughts that dull all pain and pine:[244]
I doubt, so fine the glass, the wine so clear, ✿ If 'tis the wine in
glass or glass in wine.
The King read my verse and said with a sigh, "Were these gifts[245] in
a man, he would excel all the folk of his time and age!" Then he called
for the chess-board, and said, "Say, wilt thou play with me?"; and I
signed with my head, "Yes." Then I came forward and ordered the pieces
and played with him two games, both of which I won. He was speechless
with surprise; so I took the pen-case and, drawing forth a reed, wrote
on the board these two couplets:—
Two hosts fare fighting thro' the livelong day ✿ Nor is their battling
ever finishèd,
Until, when darkness girdeth them about, ✿ The twain go sleeping in a
single bed.[246]
The King read these lines with wonder and delight and said to his
Eunuch,[247] "O Mukbil, go to thy mistress, Sitt al-Husn,[248] and say
her, Come, speak the King who biddeth thee hither to take thy solace in
seeing this right wondrous ape!" So the Eunuch went out and presently
returned with the lady who, when she saw me veiled her face and said,
"O my father! hast thou lost all sense of honour? How cometh it thou
art pleased to send for me and show me to strange men?" "O Sitt
al-Husn," said he, "no man is here save this little foot-page and the
Eunuch who reared thee and I, thy father. From whom, then, dost thou
veil thy face?" She answered, "This whom thou deemest an ape is a young
man, a clever and polite, a wise and learned and the son of a King; but
he is ensorcelled and the Ifrit Jirjaris, who is of the seed of Iblis,
cast a spell upon him, after putting to death his own wife the daughter
of King Ifitamus lord of the Islands of Abnus." The King marvelled at
his daughter's words and, turning to me, said, "Is this true that she
saith of thee?"; and I signed by a nod of my head the answer "Yea,
verily;" and wept sore. Then he asked his daughter "Whence knewest thou
that he is ensorcelled?"; and she answered "O my dear papa, there was
with me in my childhood an old woman, a wily one and a wise and a witch
to boot, and she taught me the theory of magic and its practice; and I
took notes in writing and therein waxed perfect, and have committed to
memory an hundred and seventy chapters of egromantic formulas, by the
least of which I could transport the stones of thy city behind the
Mountain Kaf and the Circumambient Main,[249] or make its site an abyss
of the sea and its people fishes swimming in the midst of it." "O my
daughter," said her father, "I conjure thee, by my life, disenchant
this young man, that I may make him my Wazir and marry thee to him, for
indeed he is an ingenious youth and a deeply learned." "With joy and
goodly gree," she replied and, hending in hand an iron knife whereon
was inscribed the name of Allah in Hebrew characters, she described a
wide circle——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying
her permitted say.
Now when it was the Fourteenth Night,
[Illustration]
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Kalandar
continued his tale thus:—O my lady, the King's daughter hent in hand a
knife whereon were inscribed Hebrew characters and described a wide
circle in the midst of the palace-hall, and therein wrote in Cufic
letters mysterious names and talismans; and she uttered words and
muttered charms, some of which we understood and others we understood
not. Presently the world waxed dark before our sight till we thought
that the sky was falling upon our heads, and lo! the Ifrit presented
himself in his own shape and aspect. His hands were like many-pronged
pitchforks, his legs like the masts of great ships, and his eyes like
cressets of gleaming fire. We were in terrible fear of him but the
King's daughter cried at him, "No welcome to thee and no greeting, O
dog!" whereupon he changed to the form of a lion and said, "O
traitress, how is it thou hast broken the oath we sware that neither
should contraire other!" "O accursed one," answered she, "how could
there be a compact between me and the like of thee?" Then said he,
"Take what thou has brought on thyself;" and the lion opened his jaws
and rushed upon her; but she was too quick for him; and, plucking a
hair from her head, waved it in the air muttering over it the while;
and the hair straightway became a trenchant sword-blade, wherewith she
smote the lion and cut him in twain. Then the two halves flew away in
air and the head changed to a scorpion and the Princess became a huge
serpent and set upon the accursed scorpion, and the two fought, coiling
and uncoiling, a stiff fight for an hour at least. Then the scorpion
changed to a vulture and the serpent became an eagle which set upon the
vulture, and hunted him for an hour's time, till he became a black
tom-cat, which miauled and grinned and spat. Thereupon the eagle
changed into a piebald wolf and these two battled in the palace for a
long time, when the cat, seeing himself overcome, changed into a worm
and crept into a huge red pomegranate,[250] which lay beside the
jetting fountain in the midst of the palace hall. Whereupon the
pomegranate swelled to the size of a water-melon in air; and, falling
upon the marble pavement of the palace, broke to pieces, and all the
grains fell out and were scattered about till they covered the whole
floor. Then the wolf shook himself and became a snow-white cock, which
fell to picking up the grains purposing not to leave one; but by doom
of destiny one seed rolled to the fountain-edge and there lay hid. The
cock fell to crowing and clapping his wings and signing to us with his
beak as if to ask, "Are any grains left?" But we understood not what he
meant, and he cried to us with so loud a cry that we thought the palace
would fall upon us. Then he ran over all the floor till he saw the
grain which had rolled to the fountain edge, and rushed eagerly to pick
it up when behold, it sprang into the midst of the water and became a
fish and dived to the bottom of the basin. Thereupon the cock changed
to a big fish, and plunged in after the other, and the two disappeared
for a while and lo! we heard loud shrieks and cries of pain which made
us tremble. After this the Ifrit rose out of the water, and he was as a
burning flame; casting fire and smoke from his mouth and eyes and
nostrils. And immediately the Princess likewise came forth from the
basin and she was one live coal of flaming lowe; and these two, she and
he, battled for the space of an hour, until their fires entirely
compassed them about and their thick smoke filled the palace. As for us
we panted for breath, being well-nigh suffocated, and we longed to
plunge into the water fearing lest we be burnt up and utterly
destroyed; and the King said, "There is no Majesty and there is no
Might save in Allah the Glorious, the Great! Verily we are Allah's and
unto Him are we returning! Would Heaven I had not urged my daughter to
attempt the disenchantment of this ape-fellow, whereby I have imposed
upon her the terrible task of fighting yon accursed Ifrit against whom
all the Ifrits in the world could not prevail. And would Heaven we had
never seen this ape, Allah never assain nor bless the day of his
coming! We thought to do a good deed by him before the face of
Allah,[251] and to release him from enchantment, and now we have
brought this trouble and travail upon our heart." But I, O my lady, was
tongue-tied and powerless to say a word to him. Suddenly, ere we were
ware of aught, the Ifrit yelled out from under the flames and, coming
up to us as we stood on the estrade, blew fire in our faces. The damsel
overtook him and breathed blasts of fire at his face and the sparks
from her and from him rained down upon us, and her sparks did us no
harm, but one of his sparks alighted upon my eye and destroyed it
making me a monocular ape; and another fell on the King's face
scorching the lower half, burning off his beard and mustachios and
causing his under teeth to fall out; while a third alighted on the
Castrato's breast, killing him on the spot. So we despaired of life and
made sure of death when lo! a voice repeated the saying, "Allah is most
Highest! Allah is most Highest! Aidance and victory to all who the
Truth believe; and disappointment and disgrace to all who the religion
of Mohammed, the Moon of Faith, unbelieve," The speaker was the
Princess who had burnt the Ifrit, and he was become a heap of ashes.
Then she came up to us and said, "Reach me a cup of water." They
brought it to her and she spoke over it words we understood not, and
sprinkling me with it cried, "By virtue of the Truth, and by the Most
Great name of Allah, I charge thee return to thy former shape." And
behold, I shook and became a man as before, save that I had utterly
lost an eye. Then she cried out, "The fire! The fire! O my dear papa an
arrow from the accursed hath wounded me to the death, for I am not used
to fight with the Jann; had he been a man I had slain him in the
beginning. I had no trouble till the time when the pomegranate burst
and the grains scattered, but I overlooked the seed wherein was the
very life of the Jinni. Had I picked it up he had died on the spot, but
as Fate and Fortune decreed, I saw it not; so he came upon me all
unawares and there befel between him and me a sore struggle under the
earth and high in air and in the water; and, as often as I opened on
him a gate,[252] he opened on me another gate and a stronger, till at
last he opened on me the gate of fire, and few are saved upon whom the
door of fire openeth. But Destiny willed that my cunning prevail over
his cunning; and I burned him to death after I vainly exhorted him to
embrace the religion of Al-Islam. As for me I am a dead woman; Allah
supply my place to you!" Then she called upon Heaven for help and
ceased not to implore relief from the fire; when lo! a black spark shot
up from her robed feet to her thighs; then it flew to her bosom and
thence to her face. When it reached her face she wept and said, "I
testify that there is no god but _the_ God and that Mahommed is the
Apostle of God!" And we looked at her and saw naught but a heap of
ashes by the side of the heap that had been the Ifrit. We mourned for
her and I wished I had been in her place, so had I not seen her lovely
face who had worked me such weal become ashes; but there is no
gainsaying the will of Allah. When the King saw his daughter's terrible
death, he plucked out what was left of his beard and beat his face and
rent his raiment; and I did as he did and we both wept over her. Then
came in the Chamberlains and Grandees and were amazed to find two heaps
of ashes and the Sultan in a fainting fit; so they stood round him till
he revived and told them what had befallen his daughter from the Ifrit;
whereat their grief was right grievous and the women and the
slave-girls shrieked and keened,[253] and they continued their
lamentations for the space of seven days. Moreover the King bade build
over his daughter's ashes a vast vaulted tomb, and burn therein wax
tapers and sepulchral lamps: but as for the Ifrit's ashes they
scattered them on the winds, speeding them to the curse of Allah. Then
the Sultan fell sick of a sickness that well nigh brought him to his
death for a month's space; and, when health returned to him and his
beard grew again and he had been converted by the mercy of Allah to
Al-Islam, he sent for me and said, "O youth, Fate had decreed for us
the happiest of lives, safe from all the chances and changes of Time,
till thou camest to us, when troubles fell upon us. Would to Heaven we
had never seen thee and the foul face of thee! For we took pity on thee
and thereby we have lost our all. I have on thy account first lost my
daughter who to me was well worth an hundred men; secondly I have
suffered that which befel me by reason of the fire and the loss of my
teeth, and my Eunuch also was slain. I blame thee not, for it was out
of thy power to prevent this: the doom of Allah was on thee as well as
on us and thanks be to the Almighty for that my daughter delivered
thee, albeit thereby she lost her own life! Go forth now, O my son,
from this my city, and suffice thee what hath befallen us through thee,
even although 'twas decreed for us. Go forth in peace; and if I ever
see thee again I will surely slay thee." And he cried out at me. So I
went forth from his presence, O my lady, weeping bitterly and hardly
believing in my escape and knowing not whither I should wend. And I
recalled all that had befallen me, my meeting the tailor, my love for
the damsel in the palace beneath the earth, and my narrow escape from
the Ifrit, even after he had determined to do me die; and how I had
entered the city as an ape and was now leaving it a man once more. Then
I gave thanks to Allah and said, "My eye and not my life!" and before
leaving the place I entered the bath and shaved my poll and beard and
mustachios and eyebrows; and cast ashes on my head and donned the
coarse black woollen robe of a Kalandar. Then I fared forth, O my lady,
and every day I pondered all the calamities which had betided me, and I
wept and repeated these couplets:—
"I am distraught, yet verily His ruth abides with me, ✿ Tho' round me
gather hosts of ills, whence come I cannot see:
Patient I'll be till Patience self with me impatient wax; ✿ Patient for
ever till the Lord fulfil my destiny:
Patient I'll bide without complaint, a wronged and vanquisht man; ✿
Patient as sunparcht wight that spans the desert's sandy sea:
Patient I'll be till Aloe's[254] self unwittingly allow ✿ I'm patient
under bitterer things than bitterest aloë:
No bitterer things than aloes or than patience for mankind; ✿ Yet
bitterer than the twain to me were Patience' treachery:
My sere and seamed and seared brow would dragoman my sore ✿ If soul
could search my sprite and there unsecret secrecy:
Were hills to bear the load I bear they'd crumble 'neath the weight; ✿
'Twould still the roaring wind, 'twould quench the flame-tongue's
flagrancy,
And whoso saith the world is sweet certès a day he'll see ✿ With more
than aloes' bitterness and aloes' pungency."
Then I journeyed through many regions and saw many a city intending for
Baghdad, that I might seek audience, in the House of Peace,[255] with
the Commander of the Faithful and tell him all that had befallen me. I
arrived here this very night and found my brother in Allah, this first
Kalandar, standing about as one perplexed; so I saluted him with "Peace
be upon thee," and entered into discourse with him. Presently up came
our brother, this third Kalandar, and said to us, "Peace be with you! I
am a stranger;" whereto we replied, "And we too be strangers, who have
come hither this blessed night." So we all three walked on together,
none of us knowing the other's history, till Destiny drave us to this
door and we came in to you. Such then is my story and my reason for
shaving my beard and mustachios, and this is what caused the loss of my
eye. Said the house-mistress "Thy tale is indeed a rare; so rub thy
head and wend thy ways;" but he replied, "I will not budge till I hear
my companions' stories." Then came forward the third Kalandar, and
said, "O illustrious lady! my history is not like that of these my
comrades, but more wondrous and far more marvellous. In their case Fate
and Fortune came down on them unawares; but I drew down destiny upon my
own head and brought sorrow on mine own soul, and shaved my own beard
and lost my own eye. Hear then"
_THE THIRD KALANDAR'S TALE._
Know, O my lady, that I also am a King and the Son of a King and my
name is Ajíb son of Khazíb. When my father died I succeeded him; and I
ruled and did justice and dealt fairly by all my lieges. I delighted in
sea trips, for my capital stood on the shore, before which the ocean
stretched far and wide; and nearhand were many great islands with
sconces and garrisons in the midst of the main. My fleet numbered fifty
merchantmen, and as many yachts for pleasance, and an hundred and fifty
sail ready fitted for holy war with the Unbelievers. It fortuned that I
had a mind to enjoy myself on the islands aforesaid, so I took ship
with my people in ten keel; and, carrying with me a month's victual, I
set out on a twenty days voyage. But one night a head wind struck us,
and the sea rose against us with huge waves; the billows sorely
buffetted us and a dense darkness settled round us. We gave ourselves
up for lost and I said, "Whoso endangereth his days, e'en an he 'scape
deserveth no praise." Then we prayed to Allah and besought Him; but the
storm-blasts ceased not to blow against us nor the surges to strike us
till morning broke, when the gale fell, the seas sank to mirrory
stillness and the sun shone upon us kindly clear. Presently we made an
island where we landed and cooked somewhat of food, and ate heartily
and took our rest for a couple of days. Then we set out again and
sailed other twenty days, the seas broadening and the land shrinking.
Presently the current ran counter to us, and we found ourselves in
strange waters, where the Captain had lost his reckoning, and was
wholly bewildered in this sea; so said we to the look-out man,[256]
"Get thee to the mast-head and keep thine eyes open." He swarmed up the
mast and looked out and cried aloud, "O Rais, I espy to starboard
something dark, very like a fish floating on the face of the sea, and
to larboard there is a loom in the midst of the main, now black and now
bright." When the Captain heard the look-out's words he dashed his
turband on the deck and plucked out his beard and beat his face saying,
"Good news indeed! we be all dead men; not one of us can be saved." And
he fell to weeping and all of us wept for his weeping and also for our
lives; and I said, "O Captain, tell us what it is the look-out saw." "O
my Prince," answered he, "know that we lost our course on the night of
the storm, which was followed on the morrow by a two-days' calm during
which we made no way; and we have gone astray eleven days reckoning
from that night, with ne'er a wind to bring us back to our true course.
To-morrow by the end of the day we shall come to a mountain of black
stone, hight the Magnet Mountain;[257] for thither the currents carry
us willy-nilly. As soon as we are under its lea, the ship's sides will
open and every nail in plank will fly out and cleave fast to the
mountain; for that Almighty Allah hath gifted the loadstone with a
mysterious virtue and a love for iron, by reason whereof all which is
iron travelleth towards it; and on this mountain is much iron, how much
none knoweth save the Most High, from the many vessels which have been
lost there since the days of yore. The bright spot upon its summit is a
dome of yellow laton from Andalusia, vaulted upon ten columns; and on
its crown is a horseman who rideth a horse of brass and holdeth in hand
a lance of laton; and there hangeth on his bosom a tablet of lead
graven with names and talismans." And he presently added, "And, O King,
none destroyeth folk save the rider on that steed, nor will the
egromancy be dispelled till he fall from his horse."[258] Then, O my
lady, the Captain wept with exceeding weeping and we all made sure of
death-doom and each and every one of us farewelled his friend and
charged him with his last will and testament in case he might be saved.
We slept not that night and in the morning we found ourselves much
nearer the Loadstone Mountain, whither the waters drave us with a
violent send. When the ships were close under its lea they opened and
the nails flew out and all the iron in them sought the Magnet Mountain
and clove to it like a network; so that by the end of the day we were
all struggling in the waves round about the mountain. Some of us were
saved, but more were drowned and even those who had escaped knew not
one another, so stupefied were they by the beating of the billows and
the raving of the winds. As for me, O my lady, Allah (be His name
exalted!) preserved my life that I might suffer whatso He willed to me
of hardship, misfortune and calamity; for I scrambled upon a plank from
one of the ships, and the wind and waters threw it at the feet of the
Mountain. There I found a practicable path leading by steps carven out
of the rock to the summit, and I called on the name of Allah
Almighty[259]——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to
say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Fifteenth Night,
She continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the third
Kalandar said to the lady (the rest of the party sitting fast bound and
the slaves standing with swords drawn over their heads):—And after
calling on the name of Almighty Allah and passionately beseeching Him,
I breasted the ascent, clinging to the steps and notches hewn in the
stone, and mounted little by little. And the Lord stilled the wind and
aided me in the ascent, so that I succeeded in reaching the summit.
There I found no resting-place save the dome, which I entered, joying
with exceeding joy at my escape; and made the Wuzu-ablution[260] and
prayed a two-bow prayer[261] a thanksgiving to God for my preservation.
Then I fell asleep under the dome, and heard in my dream a mysterious
Voice[262] saying, "O son of Khazib! when thou wakest from thy sleep
dig under thy feet and thou shalt find a bow of brass and three leaden
arrows, inscribed with talismans and characts. Take the bow and shoot
the arrows at the horseman on the dome-top and free mankind from this
sore calamity. When thou hast shot him he shall fall into the sea, and
the horse will also drop at thy feet: then bury it in the place of the
bow. This done, the main will swell and rise till it is level with the
mountain-head, and there will appear on it a skiff carrying a man of
laton (other than he thou shalt have shot) holding in his hand a pair
of paddles. He will come to thee and do thou embark with him but beware
of saying Bismillah or of otherwise naming Allah Almighty. He will row
thee for a space of ten days, till he bring thee to certain Islands
called the Islands of Safety, and thence thou shalt easily reach a port
and find those who will convey thee to thy native land; and all this
shall be fulfilled to thee so thou call not on the name of Allah." Then
I started up from my sleep in joy and gladness and, hastening to do the
bidding of the mysterious Voice, found the bow and arrows and shot at
the horseman and tumbled him into the main, whilst the horse dropped at
my feet; so I took it and buried it. Presently the sea surged up and
rose till it reached the top of the mountain; nor had I long to wait
ere I saw a skiff in the offing coming towards me. I gave thanks to
Allah; and, when the skiff came up to me, I saw therein a man of brass
with a tablet of lead on his breast inscribed with talismans and
characts; and I embarked without uttering a word. The boatman rowed on
with me through the first day and the second and the third, in all ten
whole days, till I caught sight of the Islands of Safety; whereat I
joyed with exceeding joy and for stress of gladness exclaimed, "Allah!
Allah! In the name of Allah! There is no god but _the_ God and Allah is
Almighty."[263] Thereupon the skiff forthwith upset and cast me upon
the sea; then it righted and sank deep into the depths. Now I am a fair
swimmer, so I swam the whole day till nightfall, when my forearms and
shoulders were numbed with fatigue and I felt like to die; so I
testified to my Faith, expecting naught but death. The sea was still
surging under the violence of the winds, and presently there came a
billow like a hillock; and, bearing me up high in air, threw me with a
long cast on dry land, that His will might be fulfilled. I crawled up
the beach and doffing my raiment wrung it out to dry and spread it in
the sunshine: then I lay me down and slept the whole night. As soon as
it was day, I donned my clothes and rose to look whither I should walk.
Presently I came to a thicket of low trees; and, making a cast round
it, found that the spot whereon I stood was an islet, a mere holm, girt
on all sides by the ocean; whereupon I said to myself, "Whatso freeth
me from one great calamity casteth me into a greater!" But while I was
pondering my case and longing for death behold, I saw afar off a ship
making for the island; so I clomb a tree and hid myself among the
branches. Presently the ship anchored and landed ten slaves,
blackamoors, bearing iron hoes and baskets, who walked on till they
reached the middle of the island. Here they dug deep into the ground,
until they uncovered a plate of metal which they lifted, thereby
opening a trap-door. After this they returned to the ship and thence
brought bread and flour, honey and fruits, clarified butter,[264]
leather bottles containing liquors and many household stuffs; also
furniture, table-service and mirrors; rugs, carpets and in fact all
needed to furnish a dwelling; and they kept going to and fro, and
descending by the trap-door, till they had transported into the
dwelling all that was in the ship. After this the slaves again went on
board and brought back with them garments as rich as may be, and in the
midst of them came an old old man, of whom very little was left, for
Time had dealt hardly and harshly with him, and all that remained of
him was a bone wrapped in a rag of blue stuff, through which the winds
whistled west and east. As saith the poet of him:—
Time gars me tremble Ah, how sore the baulk! ✿ While Time in pride of
strength doth ever stalk:
Time was I walked nor ever felt I tired, ✿ Now am I tired albe I never
walk!
And the Shaykh held by the hand a youth cast in beauty's mould, all
elegance and perfect grace; so fair that his comeliness deserved to be
proverbial; for he was as a green bough or the tender young of the roe,
ravishing every heart with his loveliness and subduing every soul with
his coquetry and amorous ways.[265] It was of him the poet spake when
he said:—
Beauty they brought with him to make compare; ✿ But Beauty hung her
head in shame and care:
Quoth they, "O Beauty, hast thou seen his like?" ✿ And Beauty cried,
"His like? not anywhere!"
They stinted not their going, O my lady, till all went down by the
trap-door and did not reappear for an hour, or rather more; at the end
of which time the slaves and the old man came up without the youth and,
replacing the iron plate and carefully closing the door-slab, as it was
before, they returned to the ship and made sail and were lost to my
sight. When they turned away to depart, I came down from the tree and,
going to the place I had seen them fill up, scraped off and removed the
earth; and in patience possessed my soul till I had cleared the whole
of it away. Then appeared the trap-door which was of wood, in shape and
size like a millstone; and when I lifted it up it disclosed a winding
staircase of stone. At this I marvelled and, descending the steps till
I reached the last, found a fair hall, spread with various kinds of
carpets and silk stuffs, wherein was a youth sitting upon a raised
couch and leaning back on a round cushion with a fan in his hand and
nosegays and posies of sweet scented herbs and flowers before him;[266]
but he was alone and not a soul near him in the great vault. When he
saw me he turned pale; but I saluted him courteously and said, "Set thy
mind at ease and calm thy fears; no harm shall come near thee; I am a
man like thyself and the son of a King to boot; whom the decrees of
Destiny have sent to bear thee company and cheer thee in thy
loneliness. But now tell me, what is thy story and what causeth thee to
dwell thus in solitude under the ground?" When he was assured that I
was of his kind and no Jinni, he rejoiced and his fine colour returned;
and, making me draw near to him he said, "O my brother, my story is a
strange story and 'tis this. My father is a merchant-jeweller possessed
of great wealth, who hath white and black slaves travelling and trading
on his account in ships and on camels, and trafficking with the most
distant cities; but he was not blessed with a child, not even one. Now
on a certain night he dreamed a dream that he should be favoured with a
son, who would be short lived; so the morning dawned on my father
bringing him woe and weeping. On the following night my mother
conceived and my father noted down the date of her becoming
pregnant.[267] Her time being fulfilled she bare me; whereat my father
rejoiced and made banquets and called together the neighbours and fed
the Fakirs and the poor, for that he had been blessed with issue near
the end of his days. Then he assembled the astrologers and astronomers
who knew the places of the planets, and the wizards and wise ones of
the time, and men learned in horoscopes and nativities;[268] and they
drew out my birth scheme and said to my father:—Thy son shall live to
fifteen years, but in his fifteenth there is a sinister aspect; an he
safely tide it over he shall attain a great age. And the cause that
threateneth him with death is this. In the Sea of Peril standeth the
Mountain Magnet hight; on whose summit is a horseman of yellow laton
seated on a horse also of brass and bearing on his breast a tablet of
lead. Fifty days after this rider shall fall from his steed thy son
will die and his slayer will be he who shoots down the horseman, a
Prince named Ajib son of King Khazib. My father grieved with exceeding
grief to hear these words; but reared me in tenderest fashion and
educated me excellently well till my fifteenth year was told. Ten days
ago news came to him that the horseman had fallen into the sea and he
who shot him down was named Ajib son of King Khazib. My father
thereupon wept bitter tears at the need of parting with me and became
like one possessed of a Jinni. However, being in mortal fear for me, he
built me this place under the earth; and, stocking it with all required
for the few days still remaining, he brought me hither in a ship and
left me here. Ten are already past and, when the forty shall have gone
by without danger to me, he will come and take me away; for he hath
done all this only in fear of Prince Ajib. Such, then, is my story and
the cause of my loneliness." When I heard his history I marvelled and
said in my mind, "I am the Prince Ajib who hath done all this; but as
Allah is with me I will surely not slay him!" So said I to him, O my
lord, far from thee be this hurt and harm and then, please Allah, thou
shalt not suffer cark nor care nor aught disquietude, for I will tarry
with thee and serve thee as a servant, and then wend my ways; and,
after having borne thee company during the forty days, I will go with
thee to thy home where thou shalt give me an escort of some of thy
Mamelukes with whom I may journey back to my own city; and the Almighty
shall requite thee for me. He was glad to hear these words, when I rose
and lighted a large wax-candle and trimmed the lamps and the three
lanterns; and I set on meat and drink and sweetmeats. We ate and drank
and sat talking over various matters till the greater part of the night
was gone; when he lay down to rest and I covered him up and went to
sleep myself. Next morning I arose and warmed a little water, then
lifted him gently so as to awake him and brought him the warm water
wherewith he washed his face[269] and said to me, "Heaven requite thee
for me with every blessing, O youth! By Allah, if I get quit of this
danger and am saved from him whose name is Ajib bin Khazib, I will make
my father reward thee and send thee home healthy and wealthy; and, if I
die, then my blessing be upon thee." I answered, "May the day never
dawn on which evil shall betide thee; and may Allah make my last day
before thy last day!" Then I set before him somewhat of food and we
ate; and I got ready perfumes for fumigating the hall, wherewith he was
pleased. Moreover I made him a Mankalah-cloth;[270] and we played and
ate sweetmeats and we played again and took our pleasure till
nightfall, when I rose and lighted the lamps, and set before him
somewhat to eat, and sat telling him stories till the hours of darkness
were far spent. Then he lay down to rest and I covered him up and
rested also. And thus I continued to do, O my lady for days and nights,
and affection for him took root in my heart and my sorrow was eased,
and I said to myself, The astrologers lied[271] when they predicted
that he should be slain by Ajib bin Khazib: by Allah, I will not slay
him. I ceased not ministering to him and conversing and carousing with
him and telling him all manner tales for thirty-nine days. On the
fortieth night[272] the youth rejoiced and said, "O my brother,
Alhamdolillah!—praise be to Allah—who hath preserved me from death and
this is by thy blessing and the blessing of thy coming to me; and I
pray God that He restore thee to thy native land. But now, O my
brother, I would thou warm me some water for the Ghusl-ablution and do
thou kindly bathe me and change my clothes." I replied, "With love and
gladness;" and I heated water in plenty and carrying it in to him
washed his body all over, the washing of health,[273] with meal of
lupins[274] and rubbed him well and changed his clothes and spread him
a high bed whereon he lay down to rest, being drowsy after bathing.
Then said he, "O my brother, cut me up a water-melon, and sweeten it
with a little sugar-candy."[275] So I went to the store-room and
bringing out a fine water-melon I found there, set it on a platter and
laid it before him saying, "O my master hast thou not a knife?" "Here
it is," answered he, "over my head upon the high shelf." So I got up in
haste and taking the knife drew it from its sheath; but my foot slipped
in stepping down and I fell heavily upon the youth holding in my hand
the knife which hastened to fulfil what had been written on the Day
that decided the destinies of man, and buried itself, as if planted, in
the youth's heart. He died on the instant. When I saw that he was slain
and knew that I had slain him, maugre myself, I cried out with an
exceeding loud and bitter cry and beat my face and rent my raiment and
said, "Verily we be Allah's and unto Him we be returning, O Moslems! O
folk fain of Allah! there remained for this youth but one day of the
forty dangerous days which the astrologers and the learned had foretold
for him; and the predestined death of this beautiful one was to be at
my hand. Would Heaven I had not tried to cut the water-melon. What dire
misfortune is this I must bear lief or loath? What a disaster! What an
affliction! O Allah mine, I implore thy pardon and declare to Thee my
innocence of his death. But what God willeth let that come to
pass."[276]——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say
her permitted say.
Now when it was the Sixteenth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ajib thus
continued his tale to the lady:—When I was certified that I had slain
him, I arose and ascending the stairs replaced the trap-door and
covered it with earth as before. Then I looked out seawards and saw the
ship cleaving the waters and making for the island, wherefore I was
afeard and said, "The moment they come and see the youth done to death,
they will know 'twas I who slew him and will slay me without respite."
So I climbed up into a high tree and concealed myself among its leaves;
and hardly had I done so when the ship anchored and the slaves landed
with the ancient man, the youth's father, and made direct for the place
and when they removed the earth they were surprised to see it
soft.[277] Then they raised the trap-door and went down and found the
youth lying at full length, clothed in fair new garments with a face
beaming after the bath, and the knife deep in his heart. At the sight
they shrieked and wept and beat their faces, loudly cursing the
murderer; whilst a swoon came over the Shaykh so that the slaves deemed
him dead, unable to survive his son. At last they wrapped the slain
youth in his clothes and carried him up and laid him on the ground
covering him with a shroud of silk. Whilst they were making for the
ship the old man revived; and, gazing on his son who was stretched out,
fell on the ground and strewed dust over his head and smote his face
and plucked out his beard; and his weeping redoubled as he thought of
his murdered son and he swooned away once more. After awhile a slave
went and fetched a strip of silk whereupon they lay the old man and sat
down at his head. All this took place and I was on the tree above them
watching everything that came to pass; and my heart became hoary before
my head waxed grey, for the hard lot which was mine, and for the
distress and anguish I had undergone, and I fell to reciting:—
"How many a joy by Allah's will hath fled ✿ With flight escaping sight
of wisest head!
How many a sadness shall begin the day, ✿ Yet grow right gladsome ere
the day is sped!
How many a weal trips on the heels of ill, ✿ Causing the mourner's
heart with joy to thrill!"[278]
But the old man, O my lady, ceased not from his swoon till near sunset,
when he came to himself and, looking upon his dead son, he recalled
what had happened, and how what he had dreaded had come to pass; and he
beat his face and head and recited these couplets:—
"Racked is my heart by parting fro' my friends ✿ And two rills ever
fro' my eyelids flow:
With them[279] went forth my hopes, Ah, well away! ✿ What shift
remaineth me to say or do?
Would I had never looked upon their sight, ✿ What shift, fair sirs,
when paths e'er straiter grow?
What charm shall calm my pangs when this wise burn ✿ Longings of love
which in my vitals glow?
Would I had trod with them the road of Death! ✿ Ne'er had befel us
twain this parting-blow:
Allah: I pray the Ruthful show me ruth ✿ And mix our lives nor part
them evermo'e!
How blest were we as 'neath one roof we dwelt ✿ Conjoined in joys nor
recking aught of woe;
Till Fortune shot us with the severance shaft; ✿ Ah who shall patient
bear such parting throe?
And dart of Death struck down amid the tribe ✿ The age's pearl that
Morn saw brightest show:
I cried the while his case took speech and said:—✿ Would Heaven, my
son, Death mote his doom foreslow!
Which be the readiest road wi' thee to meet ✿ My Son! for whom I would
my soul bestow?
If sun I call him no! the sun doth set; ✿ If moon I call him, wane the
moons; Ah no!
O sad mischance o' thee, O doom of days, ✿ Thy place none other love
shall ever know:
Thy sire distracted sees thee, but despairs ✿ By wit or wisdom Fate to
overthrow:
Some evil eye this day hath cast its spell ✿ And foul befal him as it
foul befel!"
Then he sobbed a single sob and his soul fled his flesh. The slaves
shrieked aloud "Alas, our lord!" and showered dust on their heads and
redoubled their weeping and wailing. Presently they carried their dead
master to the ship side by side with his dead son and, having
transported all the stuff from the dwelling to the vessel, set sail and
disappeared from mine eyes. I descended from the tree and, raising the
trap-door, went down into the underground dwelling where everything
reminded me of the youth; and I looked upon the poor remains of him and
began repeating these verses:—
Their tracks I see, and pine with pain and pang ✿ And on deserted
hearths I weep and yearn:
And Him I pray who doomèd them depart ✿ Some day vouchsafe the boon of
safe return.[280]
Then, O my lady, I went up again by the trap-door, and every day I used
to wander round about the island and every night I returned to the
underground hall. Thus I lived for a month, till at last, looking at
the western side of the island, I observed that every day the tide
ebbed, leaving shallow water for which the flow did not compensate; and
by the end of the month the sea showed dry land in that direction. At
this I rejoiced making certain of my safety; so I arose and fording
what little was left of the water got me to the main land, where I fell
in with great heaps of loose sand in which even a camel's hoof would
sink up to the knee.[281] However I emboldened my soul and wading
through the sand behold, a fire shone from afar burning with a blazing
light.[282] So I made for it hoping haply to find succour and broke out
into these verses:—
"Belike my Fortune may her bridle turn ✿ And Time bring weal although
he's jealous hight;
Forward my hopes, and further all my needs, ✿ And passèd ills with
present weals requite."
And when I drew near the fire aforesaid lo! it was a palace with gates
of copper burnished red which, when the rising sun shone thereon,
gleamed and glistened from afar showing what had seemed to me a fire. I
rejoiced in the sight, and sat down over against the gate, but I was
hardly settled in my seat before there met me ten young men clothed in
sumptuous gear and all were blind of the left eye which appeared as
plucked out. They were accompanied by a Shaykh, an old, old man, and
much I marvelled at their appearance, and their all being blind of the
same eye. When they saw me, they saluted me with the Salam and asked me
of my case and my history; whereupon I related to them all what had
befallen me, and what full measure of misfortune was mine. Marvelling
at my tale they took me to the mansion, where I saw ranged round the
hall ten couches each with its blue bedding and coverlet of blue
stuff[283] and amiddlemost stood a smaller couch furnished like them
with blue and nothing else. As we entered each of the youths took his
seat on his own couch and the old man seated himself upon the smaller
one in the middle saying to me, "O youth, sit thee down on the floor
and ask not of our case nor of the loss of our eyes." Presently he rose
up and set before each young man some meat in a charger and drink in a
large mazer, treating me in like manner; and after that they sat
questioning me concerning my adventures and what had betided me: and I
kept telling them my tale till the night was far spent. Then said the
young men, "O our Shaykh, wilt not thou set before us our ordinary? The
time is come." He replied, "With love and gladness," and rose and
entering a closet disappeared, but presently returned bearing on his
head ten trays each covered with a strip of blue stuff. He set a tray
before each, youth and, lighting ten wax candles, he stuck one upon
each tray, and drew off the covers and lo! under them was naught but
ashes and powdered charcoal and kettle soot. Then all the young men
tucked up their sleeves to the elbows and fell a-weeping and wailing
and they blackened their faces and smeared their clothes and buffetted
their brows and beat their breasts, continually exclaiming, "We were
sitting at our ease but our frowardness brought us unease!" They ceased
not to do thus till dawn drew nigh, when the old man rose and heated
water for them; and they washed their faces, and donned other and clean
clothes. Now when I saw this, O my lady, for very wonderment my senses
left me and my wits went wild and heart and head were full of thought,
till I forgot what had betided me and I could not keep silence feeling
I fain must speak out and question them of these strangenesses; so I
said to them, "How come ye to do this after we have been so
open-hearted and frolicksome? Thanks be to Allah ye be all sound and
sane, yet actions such as these befit none but mad men or those
possessed of an evil spirit. I conjure you by all that is dearest to
you, why stint ye to tell me your history, and the cause of your losing
your eyes and your blackening your faces with ashes and soot?" Hereupon
they turned to me and said, "O young man, hearken not to thy
youthtide's suggestions and question us no questions." Then they slept
and I with them and when they awoke the old man brought us somewhat of
food; and, after we had eaten and the plates and goblets had been
removed, they sat conversing till nightfall when the old man rose and
lit the wax candles and lamps and set meat and drink before us. After
we had eaten and drunken we sat conversing and carousing in
companionage till the noon of night, when they said to the old man,
"Bring us our ordinary, for the hour of sleep is at hand!" So he rose
and brought them the trays of soot and ashes; and they did as they had
done on the preceding night, nor more, nor less. I abode with them
after this fashion for the space of a month during which time they used
to blacken their faces with ashes every night, and to wash and change
their raiment when the morn was young; and I but marvelled the more and
my scruples and curiosity increased to such a point that I had to
forego even food and drink. At last, I lost command of myself, for my
heart was aflame with fire unquenchable and lowe unconcealable and I
said, "O young men, will ye not relieve my trouble and acquaint me with
the reason of thus blackening your faces and the meaning of your
words:—We were sitting at our ease but our frowardness brought us
unease?" Quoth they "'Twere better to keep these things secret." Still
I was bewildered by their doings to the point of abstaining from eating
and drinking and, at last wholly losing patience, quoth I to them,
"There is no help for it: ye must acquaint me with what is the reason
of these doings." They replied, "We kept our secret only for thy good:
to gratify thee will bring down evil upon thee and thou wilt become a
monocular even as we are." I repeated, "There is no help for it and, if
ye will not, let me leave you and return to mine own people and be at
rest from seeing these things, for the proverb saith:—
Better ye 'bide and I take my leave: ✿ For what eye sees not heart
shall never grieve."
Thereupon they said to me, "Remember, O youth, that should ill befal
thee we will not again harbour thee nor suffer thee to abide amongst
us;" and bringing a ram they slaughtered it and skinned it. Lastly they
gave me a knife saying, "Take this skin and stretch thyself upon it and
we will sew it around thee; presently there shall come to thee a
certain bird, hight Rukh,[284] that will catch thee up in his pounces
and tower high in air and then set thee down on a mountain. When thou
feelest he is no longer flying, rip open the pelt with this blade and
come out of it; the bird will be scared and will fly away and leave
thee free. After this fare for half a day, and the march will place
thee at a palace wondrous fair to behold, towering high in air and
builded of Khalanj,[285] lign-aloes and sandal-wood, plated with red
gold, and studded with all manner emeralds and costly gems fit for
seal-rings. Enter it and thou shalt win to thy wish for we have all
entered that palace; and such is the cause of our losing our eyes and
of our blackening our faces. Were we now to tell thee our stories it
would take too long a time; for each and every of us lost his left eye
by an adventure of his own." I rejoiced at their words and they did
with me as they said; and the bird Rukh bore me off and set me down on
the mountain. Then I came out of the skin and walked on till I reached
the palace. The door stood open as I entered and found myself in a
spacious and goodly hall, wide exceedingly, even as a horse-course; and
around it were an hundred chambers with doors of sandal and aloes woods
plated with red gold and furnished with silver rings by way of
knockers.[286] At the head or upper end[287] of the hall I saw forty
damsels, sumptuously dressed and ornamented and one and all bright as
moons; none could ever tire of gazing upon them and all so lovely that
the most ascetic devotee on seeing them would become their slave and
obey their will. When they saw me the whole bevy came up to me and said
"Welcome and well come and good cheer[288] to thee, O our lord! This
whole month have we been expecting thee. Praised be Allah who hath sent
us one who is worthy of us, even as we are worthy of him!" Then they
made me sit down upon a high divan and said to me, "This day thou art
our lord and master, and we are thy servants and thy handmaids, so
order us as thou wilt." And I marvelled at their case. Presently one of
them arose and set meat before me and I ate and they ate with me;
whilst others warmed water and washed my hands and feet and changed my
clothes, and others made ready sherbets and gave us to drink; and all
gathered around me being full of joy and gladness at my coming. Then
they sat down and conversed with me till nightfall, when five of them
arose and laid the trays and spread them with flowers and fragrant
herbs and fruits, fresh and dried, and confections in profusion. At
last they brought out a fine wine-service with rich old wine; and we
sat down to drink and some sang songs and others played the lute and
psaltery and recorders and other instruments, and the bowl went merrily
round. Hereupon such gladness possessed me that I forgot the sorrows of
the world one and all and said, "This is indeed life; O sad that 'tis
fleeting!" I enjoyed their company till the time came for rest; and our
heads were all warm with wine, when they said, "O our lord, choose from
amongst us her who shall be thy bed-fellow this night and not lie with
thee again till forty days be past." So I chose a girl fair of face and
perfect in shape, with eyes Kohl-edged by nature's hand;[289] hair long
and jet black with slightly parted teeth[290] and joining brows: 'twas
as if she were some limber graceful branchlet or the slender stalk of
sweet basil to amaze and to bewilder man's fancy; even as the poet said
of such an one:—
To even her with greeny bough were vain ✿ Fool he who finds her
beauties in the roe:
When hath the roe those lively lovely limbs ✿ Or honey dews those lips
alone bestow?
Those eyne, soul-piercing eyne, which slay with love, ✿ Which bind the
victim by their shafts laid low?
My heart to second childhood they beguiled ✿ No wonder: love-sick man
again is child!
And I repeated to her the maker's words who said:—
None other charms but thine shall greet mine eyes, ✿ Nor other image
can my heart surprize:
Thy love, my lady, captives all my thoughts ✿ And on that love I'll die
and I'll arise.
So I lay with her that night; none fairer I ever knew; and, when it was
morning, the damsels carried me to the Hammam-bath and bathed me and
robed me in fairest apparel. Then they served up food, and we ate and
drank and the cup went round till nightfall when I chose from among
them one fair of form and face, soft-sided and a model of grace, such
an one as the poet described when he said:—
On her fair bosom caskets twain I scanned, ✿ Sealed fast with
musk-seals lovers to withstand;
With arrowy glances stand on guard her eyes, ✿ Whose shafts would shoot
who dares put forth a hand.
With her I spent a most goodly night; and, to be brief, O my mistress,
I remained with them in all solace and delight of life, eating and
drinking, conversing and carousing and every night lying with one or
other of them. But at the head of the new year they came to me in tears
and bade me farewell, weeping and crying out and clinging about me;
whereat I wondered and said, "What may be the matter? verily you break
my heart!" They exclaimed, "Would Heaven we had never known thee; for,
though we have companied with many, yet never saw we a pleasanter than
thou or a more courteous." And they wept again. "But tell me more
clearly," asked I, "what causeth this weeping which maketh my
gall-bladder[291] like to burst;" and they answered, "O our lord and
master, it is severance which maketh us weep; and thou, and thou only,
art the cause of our tears. If thou hearken to us we need never be
parted and if thou hearken not we part for ever; but our hearts tell us
that thou wilt not listen to our words and this is the cause of our
tears and cries." "Tell me how the case standeth?" "Know, O our lord,
that we are the daughters of Kings who have met here and have lived
together for years; and once in every year we are perforce absent for
forty days and afterwards we return and abide here for the rest of the
twelvemonth eating and drinking and taking our pleasure and enjoying
delights: we are about to depart according to our custom; and we fear
lest after we be gone thou contraire our charge and disobey our
injunctions. Here now we commit to thee the keys of the palace which
containeth forty chambers and thou mayest open of these thirty and
nine, but beware (and we conjure thee by Allah and by the lives of us!)
lest thou open the fortieth door, for therein is that which shall
separate us for ever."[292] Quoth I, "Assuredly I will not open it, if
it contain the cause of severance from you." Then one among them came
up to me and falling on my neck wept and recited these verses:—
"If Time unite us after absent-while, ✿ The world harsh frowning on our
lot shall smile;
And if thy semblance deign adorn mine eyes,[293] ✿ I'll pardon Time
past wrongs and by-gone guile."
And I recited the following:—
"When drew she near to bid adieu with heart unstrung, ✿ While care and
longing on that day her bosom wrung;
Wet pearls she wept and mine like red carnelians rolled ✿ And, joined
in sad _rivière_, around her neck they hung."
When I saw her weeping I said, "By Allah I will never open that
fortieth door, never and no wise!" and I bade her farewell. Thereupon
all departed flying away like birds; signalling with their hands
farewells as they went and leaving me alone in the palace. When evening
drew near I opened the door of the first chamber and entering it found
myself in a place like one of the pleasaunces of Paradise. It was a
garden with trees of freshest green and ripe fruits of yellow sheen;
and its birds were singing clear and keen and rills ran wimpling
through the fair terrene. The sight and sounds brought solace to my
sprite; and I walked among the trees, and I smelt the breath of the
flowers on the breeze; and heard the birdies sing their melodies
hymning the One, the Almighty in sweetest litanies; and I looked upon
the apple whose hue is parcel red and parcel yellow; as said the poet:—
Apple whose hue combines in union mellow ✿ My fair's red cheek, her
hapless lover's yellow.
Then I looked upon the quince, and inhaled its fragrance which putteth
to shame musk and ambergris, even as the poet hath said:—
Quince every taste conjoins; in her are found ✿ Gifts which for queen
of fruits the Quince have crowned;
Her taste is wine, her scent the waft of musk; ✿ Pure gold her hue, her
shape the Moon's fair round.
Then I looked upon the pear whose taste surpasseth sherbet and sugar;
and the apricot[294] whose beauty striketh the eye with admiration, as
if she were a polished ruby. Then I went out of the place and locked
the door as it was before. When it was the morrow I opened the second
door; and entering found myself in a spacious plain set with tall
date-palms and watered by a running stream whose banks were shrubbed
with bushes of rose and jasmine, while privet and eglantine, oxe-eye,
violet and lily, narcissus, origane and the winter gilliflower carpeted
the borders; and the breath of the breeze swept over these
sweet-smelling growths diffusing their delicious odours right and left,
perfuming the world and filling my soul with delight. After taking my
pleasure there awhile I went from it and, having closed the door as it
was before, opened the third door wherein I saw a high open hall
pargetted with particoloured marbles and _pietra dura_ of price and
other precious stones, and hung with cages of sandal-wood and
eagle-wood; full of birds which made sweet music, such as the
"Thousand-voiced,"[295] and the cushat, the merle, the turtle-dove and
the Nubian ring-dove. My heart was filled with pleasure thereby; my
grief was dispelled and I slept in that aviary till dawn. Then I
unlocked the door of the fourth chamber and therein found a grand
saloon with forty smaller chambers giving upon it. All their doors
stood open: so I entered and found them full of pearls and jacinths and
beryls and emeralds and corals and carbuncles, and all manner precious
gems and jewels, such as tongue of man may not describe. My thought was
stunned at the sight and I said to myself, "These be things methinks
united which could not be found save in the treasuries of a King of
Kings, nor could the monarchs of the world have collected the like of
these!" And my heart dilated and my sorrows ceased, "For," quoth I,
"now verily am I the monarch of the age, since by Allah's grace this
enormous wealth is mine; and I have forty damsels under my hand nor is
there any to claim them save myself." Then I gave not over opening
place after place until nine and thirty days were passed and in that
time I had entered every chamber except that one whose door the
Princesses had charged me not to open. But my thoughts, O my mistress,
ever ran on that forbidden fortieth[296] and Satan urged me to open it
for my own undoing; nor had I patience to forbear, albeit there wanted
of the trysting time but a single day. So I stood before the chamber
aforesaid and, after a moment's hesitation, opened the door which was
plated with red gold, and entered. I was met by a perfume whose like I
had never before smelt; and so sharp and subtle was the odour that it
made my senses drunken as with strong wine, and I fell to the ground in
a fainting fit which lasted a full hour. When I came to myself I
strengthened my heart and, entering, found myself in a chamber whose
floor was bespread with saffron and blazing with light from branched
candelabra of gold and lamps fed with costly oils, which diffused the
scent of musk and ambergris. I saw there also two great censers each
big as a mazer-bowl,[297] flaming with lign-aloes, nadd-perfume,[298]
ambergris and honied scents; and the place was full of their fragrance.
Presently, O my lady, I espied a noble steed, black as the murks of
night when murkiest, standing, ready saddled and bridled (and his
saddle was of red gold) before two mangers, one of clear crystal
wherein was husked sesame, and the other also of crystal containing
water of the rose scented with musk. When I saw this I marvelled and
said to myself, "Doubtless in this animal must be some wondrous
mystery;" and Satan cozened me, so I led him without the palace and
mounted him; but he would not stir from his place. So I hammered his
sides with my heels, but he moved not, and then I took the
rein-whip[299] and struck him withal. When he felt the blow, he neighed
a neigh with a sound like deafening thunder and, opening a pair of
wings[300] flew up with me in the firmament of heaven far beyond the
eyesight of man. After a full hour of flight he descended and alighted
on a terrace roof and shaking me off his back lashed me on the face
with his tail and gouged out my left eye causing it roll along my
cheek. Then he flew away. I went down from the terrace and found myself
again amongst the ten one-eyed youths sitting upon their ten couches
with blue covers; and they cried out when they saw me, "No welcome to
thee, nor aught of good cheer! We all lived of lives the happiest and
we ate and drank of the best; upon brocades and cloths of gold we took
our rest, and we slept with our heads on beauty's breast, but we could
not await one day to gain the delights of a year!" Quoth I, "Behold I
have become one like unto you and now I would have you bring me a tray
full of blackness, wherewith to blacken my face, and receive me into
your society." "No, by Allah," quoth they, "thou shalt not sojourn with
us and now get thee hence!" So they drove me away. Finding them reject
me thus I foresaw that matters would go hard with me, and I remembered
the many miseries which Destiny had written upon my forehead; and I
fared forth from among them heavy-hearted and tearful-eyed, repeating
to myself these words, "I was sitting at mine ease but my frowardness
brought me to unease." Then I shaved beard and mustachios and eyebrows,
renouncing the world, and wandered in Kalandar-garb about Allah's
earth; and the Almighty decreed safety for me till I arrived at
Baghdad, which was on the evening of this very night. Here I met these
two other Kalandars standing bewildered; so I saluted them saying, "I
am a stranger!" and they answered, "And we likewise be strangers!" By
the freak of Fortune we were like to like, three Kalandars and three
monoculars all blind of the left eye. Such, O my lady, is the cause of
the shearing of my beard and the manner of my losing an eye. Said the
lady to him, "Rub thy head and wend thy ways;" but he answered, "By
Allah, I will not go until I hear the stories of these others." Then
the lady, turning towards the Caliph and Ja'afar and Masrur, said to
them, "Do ye also give an account of yourselves, you men!" Whereupon
Ja'afar stood forth and told her what he had told the portress as they
were entering the house; and when she heard his story of their being
merchants and Mosul-men who had outrun the watch, she said, "I grant
you your lives each for each sake, and now away with you all." So they
all went out and when they were in the street, quoth the Caliph to the
Kalandars, "O company, whither go ye now, seeing that the morning hath
not yet dawned?" Quoth they, "By Allah, O our lord, we know not where
to go." "Come and pass the rest of the night with us," said the Caliph
and, turning to Ja'afar, "Take them home with thee and to-morrow bring
them to my presence that we may chronicle their adventures." Ja'afar
did as the Caliph bade him and the Commander of the Faithful returned
to his palace; but sleep gave no sign of visiting him that night and he
lay awake pondering the mishaps of the three Kalandar-princes and
impatient to know the history of the ladies and the two black bitches.
No sooner had morning dawned than he went forth and sat upon the throne
of his sovereignty; and, turning to Ja'afar, after all his Grandees and
Officers of state were gathered together, he said, "Bring me the three
ladies and the two bitches and the three Kalandars." So Ja'afar fared
forth and brought them all before him (and the ladies were veiled);
then the Minister turned to them and said in the Caliph's name, "We
pardon you your maltreatment of us and your want of courtesy, in
consideration of the kindness which forewent it, and for that ye knew
us not: now however I would have you to know that ye stand in presence
of the fifth[301] of the sons of Abbas, Harun al-Rashid, brother of
Caliph Músá al-Hádi, son of Al-Mansúr; son of Mohammed the brother of
Al-Saffáh bin Mohammed who was first of the royal house. Speak ye
therefore before him the truth and the whole truth!" When the ladies
heard Ja'afar's words touching the Commander of the Faithful, the
eldest came forward and said, "O Prince of True Believers, my story is
one which, were it graven with needle-gravers upon the eye-corners were
a warner for whoso would be warned and an example for whoso can take
profit from example."——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Seventeenth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that she stood forth
before the Commander of the Faithful and began to tell
_THE ELDEST LADY'S TALE._
Verily a strange tale is mine and 'tis this:—Yon two black bitches are
my eldest sisters by one mother and father; and these two others, she
who beareth upon her the signs of stripes and the third our procuratrix
are my sisters by another mother. When my father died, each took her
share of the heritage and, after a while my mother also deceased,
leaving me and my sisters-german three thousand dinars; so each
daughter received her portion of a thousand dinars and I the same, albe
the youngest. In due course of time my sisters married with the usual
festivities and lived with their husbands, who bought merchandise with
their wives' monies and set out on their travels together. Thus they
threw me off. My brothers-in-law were absent with their wives five
years, during which period they spent all the money they had and,
becoming bankrupt, deserted my sisters in foreign parts amid stranger
folk. After five years my eldest sister returned to me in beggar's gear
with her clothes in rags and tatters[302] and a dirty old
mantilla;[303] and truly she was in the foulest and sorriest plight. At
first sight I did not know my own sister; but presently I recognised
her and said "What state is this?" "O our sister," she replied, "Words
cannot undo the done; and the reed of Destiny hath run through what
Allah decreed." Then I sent her to the bath and dressed her in a suit
of mine own, and boiled for her a bouillon and brought her some good
wine and said to her, "O my sister, thou art the eldest, who still
standest to us in the stead of father and mother; and, as for the
inheritance which came to me as to you twain, Allah hath blessed it and
prospered it to me with increase; and my circumstances are easy, for I
have made much money by spinning and cleaning silk; and I and you will
share my wealth alike." I entreated her with all kindliness and she
abode with me a whole year, during which our thoughts and fancies were
always full of our other sister. Shortly after she too came home in yet
fouler and sorrier plight than that of my eldest sister; and I dealt by
her still more honorably than I had done by the first, and each of them
had a share of my substance. After a time they said to me, "O our
sister, we desire to marry again, for indeed we have not patience to
drag on our days without husbands and to lead the lives of widows
bewitched;" and I replied, "O eyes of me![304] ye have hitherto seen
scanty weal in wedlock, for now-a-days good men and true are become
rareties and curiosities; nor do I deem your projects advisable, as ye
have already made trial of matrimony and have failed." But they would
not accept my advice and married without my consent: nevertheless I
gave them outfit and dowries out of my money; and they fared forth with
their mates. In a mighty little time their husbands played them false
and, taking whatever they could lay hands upon, levanted and left them
in the lurch. Thereupon they came to me ashamed and in abject case and
made their excuses to me, saying, "Pardon our fault and be not wroth
with us;[305] for although thou art younger in years yet art thou older
in wit; henceforth we will never make mention of marriage; so take us
back as thy handmaidens that we may eat our mouthful." Quoth I,
"Welcome to you, O my sisters, there is naught dearer to me than you."
And I took them in and redoubled my kindness to them. We ceased not to
live after this loving fashion for a full year, when I resolved to sell
my wares abroad and first to fit me a conveyance for Bassorah; so I
equipped a large ship, and loaded her with merchandise and valuable
goods for traffic, and with provaunt and all needful for a voyage, and
said to my sisters, "Will ye abide at home whilst I travel, or would ye
prefer to accompany me on the voyage?" "We will travel with thee,"
answered they, "for we cannot bear to be parted from thee." So I
divided my monies into two parts, one to accompany me and the other to
be left in charge of a trusty person, for, as I said to myself, "Haply
some accident may happen to the ship and yet we remain alive; in which
case we shall find on our return what may stand us in good stead." I
took my two sisters and we went a-voyaging some days and nights; but
the master was careless enough to miss his course, and the ship went
astray with us and entered a sea other than the sea we sought. For a
time we knew naught of this; and the wind blew fair for us ten days,
after which the look-out man went aloft to see about him and cried,
"Good news!" Then he came down rejoicing and said, "I have seen what
seemeth to be a city as 'twere a pigeon." Hereat we rejoiced and, ere
an hour of the day had passed, the buildings showed plain in the offing
and we asked the Captain, "What is the name of yonder city?" and he
answered, "By Allah I wot not, for I never saw it before and never
sailed these seas in my life: but, since our troubles have ended in
safety, remains for you only to land there with your merchandise and,
if you find selling profitable, sell and make your market of what is
there; and if not, we will rest here two days and provision ourselves
and fare away." So we entered the port and the Captain went up town and
was absent awhile, after which he returned to us and said, "Arise; go
up into the city and marvel at the works of Allah with His creatures
and pray to be preserved from His righteous wrath!" So we landed and
going up into the city, saw at the gate men hending staves in hand; but
when we drew near them, behold, they had been translated[306] by the
anger of Allah and had become stones. Then we entered the city and
found all who therein woned into black stones enstoned: not an
inhabited house appeared to the espier, nor was there a blower of
fire.[307] We were awe struck at the sight and threaded the market
streets where we found the goods and gold and silver left lying in
their places; and we were glad and said, "Doubtless there is some
mystery in all this." Then we dispersed about the thoroughfares and
each busied himself with collecting the wealth and money and rich
stuffs, taking scanty heed of friend or comrade. As for myself I went
up to the castle which was strongly fortified; and, entering the King's
palace by its gate of red gold, found all the vaiselle of gold and
silver, and the King himself seated in the midst of his Chamberlains
and Nabobs and Emirs and Wazirs; all clad in raiment which confounded
man's art. I drew nearer and saw him sitting on a throne incrusted and
inlaid with pearls and gems; and his robes were of gold-cloth adorned
with jewels of every kind, each one flashing like a star. Around him
stood fifty Mamelukes, white slaves, clothed in silks of divers sorts
holding their drawn swords in their hands; but when I drew near to them
lo! all were black stones. My understanding was confounded at the
sight, but I walked on and entered the great hall of the Harím,[308]
whose walls I found hung with tapestries of gold-striped silk and
spread with silken carpets embroidered with golden flowers. Here I saw
the Queen lying at full length arrayed in robes purfled with fresh
young[309] pearls; on her head was a diadem set with many sorts of gems
each fit for a ring[310] and around her neck hung collars and
necklaces. All her raiment and her ornaments were in natural state but
she had been turned into a black stone by Allah's wrath. Presently I
espied an open door for which I made straight and found leading to it a
flight of seven steps. So I walked up and came upon a place pargetted
with marble and spread and hung with gold-worked carpets and tapestry,
amiddlemost of which stood a throne of juniper-wood inlaid with pearls
and precious stones and set with bosses of emeralds. In the further
wall was an alcove whose curtains, bestrung with pearls, were let down
and I saw a light issuing therefrom; so I drew near and perceived that
the light came from a precious stone as big as an ostrich-egg, set at
the upper end of the alcove upon a little chryselephantine couch of
ivory and gold; and this jewel, blazing like the sun, cast its rays
wide and side. The couch also was spread with all manner of silken
stuffs amazing the gazer with their richness and beauty. I marvelled
much at all this, especially when seeing in that place candles ready
lighted; and I said in my mind, "Needs must some one have lighted these
candles." Then I went forth and came to the kitchen and thence to the
buttery and the King's treasure-chambers; and continued to explore the
palace and to pace from place to place; I forgot myself in my awe and
marvel at these matters and I was drowned in thought till the night
came on. Then I would have gone forth, but knowing not the gate I lost
my way, so I returned to the alcove whither the lighted candles
directed me and sat down upon the couch; and wrapping myself in a
coverlet, after I had repeated somewhat from the Koran, I would have
slept but could not, for restlessness possessed me. When night was at
its noon I heard a voice chanting the Koran in sweetest accents; but
the tone thereof was weak; so I rose, glad to hear the silence broken,
and followed the sound until I reached a closet whose door stood ajar.
Then peeping through a chink I considered the place and lo! it was an
oratory wherein was a prayer-niche[311] with two wax candles burning
and lamps hanging from the ceiling. In it too was spread a
prayer-carpet whereupon sat a youth fair to see; and before him on its
stand[312] was a copy of the Koran, from which he was reading. I
marvelled to see him alone alive amongst the people of the city and
entering saluted him; whereupon he raised his eyes and returned my
salam. Quoth I, "Now by the Truth of what thou readest in Allah's Holy
Book, I conjure thee to answer my question." He looked upon me with a
smile and said, "O handmaid of Allah, first tell me the cause of thy
coming hither, and I in turn will tell what hath befallen both me and
the people of this city, and what was the reason of my escaping their
doom." So I told him my story whereat he wondered; and I questioned him
of the people of the city, when he replied, "Have patience with me for
awhile, O my sister!" and, reverently closing the Holy Book, he laid it
up in a satin bag. Then he seated me by his side; and I looked at him
and behold, he was as the moon at its full, fair of face and rare of
form, soft-sided and slight, of well-proportioned height, and cheek
smoothly bright and diffusing light; in brief a sweet, a
sugar-stick,[313] even as saith the poet of the like of him in these
couplets:—
That night th' astrologer a scheme of planets drew, ✿ And lo! a
graceful shape of youth appeared in view:
Saturn had stained his locks with Saturninest jet, ✿ And spots of
nut-brown musk on rosy side-face blew:[314]
Mars tinctured either cheek with tinct of martial red; ✿ Sagittal shots
from eyelids Sagittarius threw:
Dowered him Mercury with bright mercurial wit; ✿ Bore off the Bear[315]
what all man's evil glances grew:
Amazed stood Astrophil to sight the marvel-birth ✿ When louted low the
Moon at full to buss the Earth.
And of a truth Allah the Most High had robed him in the raiment of
perfect grace and had purfled and fringed it with a cheek all beauty
and loveliness, even as the poet saith of such an one:—
By his eyelids shedding perfume and his fine slim waist I swear, ✿ By
the shooting of his shafts barbed with sorcery passing rare;
By the softness of his sides,[316] and glances' lingering light; ✿ And
brow of dazzling day-tide ray and night within his hair;
By his eyebrows which deny to who look upon them rest, ✿ Now bidding
now forbidding, ever dealing joy and care;
By the rose that decks his cheek, and the myrtle of its moss;[317] ✿ By
jacinths bedded in his lips and pearl his smile lays bare;
By his graceful bending neck and the curving of his breast; ✿ Whose
polished surface beareth those granados, lovely pair;
By his heavy hips that quiver as he passeth in his pride; ✿ Or he
resteth with that waist which is slim beyond compare;
By the satin of his skin, by that fine unsullied sprite; ✿ By the
beauty that containeth all things bright and debonnair;
By that ever-open hand; by the candour of his tongue; ✿ By noble blood
and high degree whereof he's hope and heir;
Musk from him borrows muskiness she loveth to exhale; ✿ And all the
airs of ambergris through him perfume the air;
The sun, methinks, the broad bright sun, before my love would pale; ✿
And sans his splendour would appear a paring of his nail.[318]
I glanced at him with one glance of eyes which caused me a thousand
sighs; and my heart was at once taken captive-wise; so I asked him, "O
my lord and my love, tell me that whereof I questioned thee;" and he
answered, "Hearing is obeying! Know, O handmaid of Allah, that this
city was the capital of my father who is the King thou sawest on the
throne transfigured by Allah's wrath to a black stone, and the Queen
thou foundest in the alcove is my mother. They and all the people of
the city were Magians who fire adored in lieu of the Omnipotent
Lord[319] and were wont to swear by lowe and heat and shade and light,
and the spheres revolving day and night. My father had ne'er a son till
he was blest with me near the last of his days; and he reared me till I
grew up and prosperity anticipated me in all things. Now it so fortuned
there was with us an old woman well stricken in years, a Moslemah who,
inwardly believing in Allah and His Apostle, conformed outwardly with
the religion of my people; and my father placed thorough confidence in
her for that he knew her to be trustworthy and virtuous; and he treated
her with ever-increasing kindness believing her to be of his own
belief. So when I was well-nigh grown up my father committed me to her
charge saying:—Take him and educate him and teach him the rules of our
faith; let him have the best instructions and cease not thy fostering
care of him. So she took me and taught me the tenets of Al-Islam with
the divine ordinances[320] of the Wuzu-ablution and the five daily
prayers and she made me learn the Koran by rote, often repeating:—Serve
none save Allah Almighty! When I had mastered this much of knowledge
she said to me:—O my son, keep this matter concealed from thy sire and
reveal naught to him lest he slay thee. So I hid it from him and I
abode on this wise for a term of days when the old woman died, and the
people of the city redoubled in their impiety[321] and arrogance and
the error of their ways. One day, while they were as wont, behold, they
heard a loud and terrible sound and a crier crying out with a voice
like roaring thunder so every ear could hear, far and near:—O folk of
this city leave ye your fire-worshipping and adore Allah the
All-compassionate King! At this, fear and terror fell upon the citizens
and they crowded to my father (he being King of the city) and asked
him:—What is this awesome voice we have heard, for it hath confounded
us with the excess of its terror?; and he answered:—Let not a voice
fright you nor shake your steadfast sprite nor turn you back from the
faith which is right. Their hearts inclined to his words and they
ceased not to worship the fire and they persisted in rebellion for a
full year from the time they heard the first voice; and on the
anniversary came a second cry and a third at the head of the third
year, each year once. Still they persisted in their malpractices till
one day at break of dawn, judgment and the wrath of Heaven descended
upon them with all suddenness, and by the visitation of Allah all were
metamorphosed into black stones,[322] they and their beasts and their
cattle; and none was saved save myself who at the time was engaged in
my devotions. From that day to this I am in the case thou seest,
constant in prayer and fasting and reading and reciting the Koran; but
I am indeed grown weary by reason of my loneliness, having none to bear
me company." Then said I to him (for in very sooth he had won my heart
and was the lord of my life and soul), "O youth, wilt thou fare with me
to Baghdad city and visit the Olema and men learned in the law and
doctors of divinity and get thee increase of wisdom and understanding
and theology? And know that she who standeth in thy presence will be
thy handmaid, albeit she be head of her family and mistress over men
and eunuchs and servants and slaves. Indeed my life was no life before
it fell in with thy youth. I have here a ship laden with merchandise;
and in very truth Destiny drove me to this city that I might come to
the knowledge of these matters, for it was fated that we should meet.
And I ceased not to persuade him and speak him fair and use every art
till he consented."——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased
to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Eighteenth Night,
She continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the lady
ceased not persuading with soft speech the youth to depart with her
till he consented and said "Yes." She slept that night lying at his
feet and hardly knowing where she was for excess of joy. As soon as the
next morning dawned (she pursued, addressing the Caliph), I arose and
we entered the treasuries and took thence whatever was light in weight
and great in worth; then we went down side by side from the castle to
the city, where we were met by the Captain and my sisters and slaves
who had been seeking for me. When they saw me they rejoiced and asked
what had stayed me, and I told them all I had seen and related to them
the story of the young Prince and the transformation wherewith the
citizens had been justly visited. Hereat all marvelled, but when my two
sisters (these two bitches, O Commander of the Faithful!) saw me by the
side of my young lover they jaloused me on his account and were wroth
and plotted mischief against me. We awaited a fair wind and went on
board rejoicing and ready to fly for joy by reason of the goods we had
gotten, but my own greatest joyance was in the youth; and we waited
awhile till the wind blew fair for us and then we set sail and fared
forth. Now as we sat talking, my sisters asked me, "And what wilt thou
do with this handsome young man?"; and I answered, "I purpose to make
him my husband!" Then I turned to him and said, "O my lord, I have that
to propose to thee wherein thou must not cross me; and this it is that,
when we reach Baghdad, my native city, I offer thee my life as thy
handmaiden in holy matrimony, and thou shalt be to me baron and I will
be femme to thee." He answered, "I hear and I obey!; thou art my lady
and my mistress and whatso thou doest I will not gainsay." Then I
turned to my sisters and said, "This is my gain; I content me with this
youth and those who have gotten aught of my property let them keep it
as their gain with my good will." "Thou sayest and doest well,"
answered the twain, but they imagined mischief against me. We ceased
not spooning before a fair wind till we had exchanged the sea of peril
for the seas of safety and, in a few days, we made Bassorah-city, whose
buildings loomed clear before us as evening fell. But after we had
retired to rest and were sound asleep, my two sisters arose and took me
up, bed and all, and threw me into the sea: they did the same with the
young Prince who, as he could not swim, sank and was drowned and Allah
enrolled him in the noble army of Martyrs.[323] As for me would Heaven
I had been drowned with him, but Allah deemed that I should be of the
saved; so when I awoke and found myself in the sea and saw the ship
making off like a flash of lightning, He threw in my way a piece of
timber which I bestrided, and the waves tossed me to and fro till they
cast me upon an island coast, a high land and an uninhabited. I landed
and walked about the island the rest of the night and, when morning
dawned, I saw a rough track barely fit for child of Adam to tread,
leading to what proved a shallow ford connecting island and mainland.
As soon as the sun had risen I spread my garments to dry in its rays;
and ate of the fruits of the island and drank of its waters; then I set
out along the foot-track and ceased not walking till I reached the
mainland. Now when there remained between me and the city but a two
hours' journey behold, a great serpent, the bigness of a date-palm,
came fleeing towards me in all haste, gliding along now to the right
then to the left till she was close upon me, whilst her tongue lolled
ground-wards a span long and swept the dust as she went. She was
pursued by a Dragon[324] who was not longer than two lances, and of
slender build about the bulk of a spear and, although her terror lent
her speed, and she kept wriggling from side to side, he overtook her
and seized her by the tail, whereat her tears streamed down and her
tongue was thrust out in her agony. I took pity on her and, picking up
a stone and calling upon Allah for aid, threw it at the Dragon's head
with such force that he died then and there; and the serpent opening a
pair of wings flew into the lift and disappeared from before my eyes. I
sat down marvelling over that adventure, but I was weary and,
drowsiness overcoming me, I slept where I was for a while. When I awoke
I found a jet-black damsel sitting at my feet shampooing them; and by
her side stood two black bitches (my sisters, O Commander of the
Faithful!). I was ashamed before her[325] and, sitting up, asked her,
"O my sister, who and what art thou?"; and she answered, "How soon hast
thou forgotten me! I am she for whom thou wroughtest a good deed and
sowedest the seed of gratitude and slewest her foe; for I am the
serpent whom by Allah's aidance thou didst just now deliver from the
Dragon. I am a Jinniyah and he was a Jinn who hated me, and none saved
my life from him save thou. As soon as thou freedest me from him I flew
on the wind to the ship whence thy sisters threw thee, and removed all
that was therein to thy house. Then I ordered my attendant Marids to
sink the ship and I transformed thy two sisters into these black
bitches; for I know all that hath passed between them and thee; but as
for the youth, of a truth he is drowned. So saying she flew up with me
and the bitches, and presently set us down on the terrace-roof of my
house, wherein I found ready stored the whole of what property was in
my ship, nor was aught of it missing. Now (continued the serpent that
was), I swear by all engraven on the seal-ring of Solomon[326] (with
whom be peace!) unless thou deal to each of these bitches three hundred
stripes every day I will come and imprison thee for ever under the
earth." I answered, "Hearkening and obedience!"; and away she flew. But
before going she again charged me saying, "I again swear by Him who
made the two seas flow[327] (and this be my second oath) if thou
gainsay me I will come and transform thee like thy sisters." Since then
I have never failed, O Commander of the Faithful, to beat them with
that number of blows till their blood flows with my tears, I pitying
them the while, and well they wot that their being scourged is no fault
of mine and they accept my excuses. And this is my tale and my history!
The Caliph marvelled at her adventures and then signed to Ja'afar who
said to the second lady, the Portress, "And thou, how camest thou by
the welts and wheals upon thy body?" So she began the
[Illustration]
_TALE OF THE PORTRESS._
Know, O Commander of the Faithful, that I had a father who, after
fulfilling his time, deceased and left me great store of wealth. I
remained single for a short time and presently married one of the
richest of his day. I abode with him a year when he also died, and my
share of his property amounted to eighty thousand dinars in gold
according to the holy law of inheritance.[328] Thus I became passing
rich and my reputation spread far and wide, for I had made me ten
changes of raiment, each worth a thousand dinars. One day as I was
sitting at home, behold, there came in to me an old woman[329] with
lantern jaws and cheeks sucked in, and eyes rucked up, and eyebrows
scant and scald, and head bare and bald; and teeth broken by time and
mauled, and back bending and neck-nape nodding, and face blotched, and
rheum running, and hair like a snake black-and-white-speckled, in
complexion a very fright, even as saith the poet of the like of her:—
Ill-omened hag! unshriven be her sins ✿ Nor mercy visit her on dying
bed:
Thousand head-strongest he-mules would her guiles, ✿ Despite their
bolting, lead with spider thread.
And as saith another:—
A hag to whom th' unlawful lawfullest ✿ And witchcraft wisdom in her
sight are grown:
A mischief-making brat, a demon-maid, ✿ A whorish woman and a pimping
crone.[330]
When the old woman entered she salamed to me and kissing the ground
before me, said, "I have at home an orphan daughter and this night are
her wedding and her displaying.[331] We be poor folks and strangers in
this city knowing none inhabitant and we are broken-hearted. So do thou
earn for thyself a recompense and a reward in Heaven by being present
at her displaying and, when the ladies of this city shall hear that
thou art to make act of presence, they also will present themselves; so
shalt thou comfort her affliction, for she is sore bruised in spirit
and she hath none to look to save Allah the Most High." Then she wept
and kissed my feet reciting these couplets:—
Thy presence bringeth us a grace ✿ We own before thy winsome face:
And wert thou absent ne'er an one ✿ Could stand in stead or take thy
place.
So pity gat hold on me and compassion and I said, "Hearing is
consenting and, please Allah, I will do somewhat more for her; nor
shall she be shown to her bridegroom save in my raiment and ornaments
and jewelry." At this the old woman rejoiced and bowed her head to my
feet and kissed them, saying, "Allah requite thee weal, and comfort thy
heart even as thou has comforted mine! But, O my lady, do not trouble
thyself to do me this service at this hour; be thou ready by
supper-time,[332] when I will come and fetch thee." So saying she
kissed my hand and went her ways. I set about stringing my pearls and
donning my brocades and making my toilette, little recking what Fortune
had in womb for me, when suddenly the old woman stood before me,
simpering and smiling till she showed every tooth stump, and quoth she,
"O my mistress, the city madams have arrived and when I apprized them
that thou promisedst to be present, they were glad and they are now
awaiting thee and looking eagerly for thy coming and for the honour of
meeting thee." So I threw on my mantilla and, making the old crone walk
before me and my handmaidens behind me, I fared till we came to a
street well watered and swept neat, where the winnowing breeze blew
cool and sweet. Here we were stopped by a gate arched over with a dome
of marble stone firmly seated on solidest foundation, and leading to a
Palace whose walls from earth rose tall and proud, and whose pinnacle
was crowned by the clouds,[333] and over the doorway were writ these
couplets:—
I am the wone where Mirth shall ever smile; ✿ The home of Joyance
through my lasting while:
And 'mid my court a fountain jets and flows, ✿ Nor tears nor troubles
shall that fount defile:
The marge with royal Nu'uman's[334] bloom is dight, ✿ Myrtle,
Narcissus-flower and Chamomile.
Arrived at the gate, before which hung a black curtain, the old woman
knocked and it was opened to us; when we entered and found a vestibule
spread with carpets and hung around with lamps all alight and wax
candles in candelabra adorned with pendants of precious gems and noble
ores. We passed on through this passage till we entered a saloon, whose
like for grandeur and beauty is not to be found in this world. It was
hung and carpeted with silken stuffs, and was illuminated with
branches, sconces and tapers ranged in double row, an avenue abutting
on the upper or noble end of the saloon, where stood a couch of
juniper-wood encrusted with pearls and gems and surmounted by a
baldaquin with mosquito-curtains of satin looped up with margarites.
And hardly had we taken note of this when there came forth from the
baldaquin a young lady and I looked, O Commander of the Faithful, upon
a face and form more perfect than the moon when fullest, with a favour
brighter than the dawn gleaming with saffron-hued light, even as the
poet sang when he said:—
Thou pacest the palace a marvel-sight, ✿ A bride for a Kisrá's or
Kaisar's night!
Wantons the rose on thy roseate cheek, ✿ O cheek as the blood of the
dragon[335] bright!
Slim-waisted, languorous, sleepy-eyed, ✿ With charms which promise all
love-delight:
And the tire which attires thy tiara'd brow ✿ Is a night of woe on a
morn's glad light.
The fair young girl came down from the estrade and said to me, "Welcome
and well come and good cheer to my sister, the dearly-beloved, the
illustrious, and a thousand greetings!" Then she recited these
couplets:—
An but the house could know who cometh 'twould rejoice, ✿ And kiss the
very dust whereon thy foot was placed;
And with the tongue of circumstance the walls would say, ✿ "Welcome and
hail to one with generous gifts engraced!"
Then sat she down and said to me, "O my sister, I have a brother who
hath had sight of thee at sundry wedding-feasts and festive seasons: he
is a youth handsomer than I, and he hath fallen desperately in love
with thee, for that bounteous Destiny hath garnered in thee all beauty
and perfection; and he hath given silver to this old woman that she
might visit thee; and she hath contrived on this wise to foregather us
twain. He hath heard that thou art one of the nobles of thy tribe nor
is he aught less in his; and, being desirous to ally his lot with thy
lot, he hath practised this device to bring me in company with thee;
for he is fain to marry thee after the ordinance of Allah and his
Apostle; and in what is lawful and right there is no shame." When I
heard these words and saw myself fairly entrapped in the house, I said,
"Hearing is consenting." She was delighted at this and clapped her
hands;[336] whereupon a door opened and out of it came a young man
blooming in the prime of life, exquisitely dressed, a model of beauty
and loveliness and symmetry and perfect grace, with gentle winning
manners and eyebrows like a bended bow and shaft on cord, and eyes
which bewitched all hearts with sorcery lawful in the sight of the
Lord; even as saith some rhymer describing the like of him:—
His face as the face of the young moon shines ✿ And Fortune stamps him
with pearls for signs.[337]
And Allah favour him who said:—
Blest be his beauty; blest the Lord's decree ✿ Who cast and shaped a
thing so bright of blee:
All gifts of beauty he conjoins in one; ✿ Lost in his love is all
humanity;
For Beauty's self inscribed on his brow ✿ "I testify there be no Good
but he!"[338]
[Illustration]
When I looked at him my heart inclined to him and I loved him; and he
sat by my side and talked with me a while, when the young lady again
clapped her hands and behold, a side-door opened and out of it came the
Kazi with his four assessors as witnesses; and they saluted us and,
sitting down, drew up and wrote out the marriage-contract between me
and the youth and retired. Then he turned to me and said, "Be our night
blessed," presently adding, "O my lady, I have a condition to lay on
thee." Quoth I, "O my lord, what is that?" Whereupon he arose and
fetching a copy of the Holy Book presented it to me saying, "Swear
hereon thou wilt never look at any other than myself nor incline thy
body or thy heart to him." I swore readily enough to this and he joyed
with exceeding joy and embraced me round the neck while love for him
possessed my whole heart. Then they set the table[339] before us and we
ate and drank till we were satisfied; but I was dying for the coming of
the night. And when night did come he led me to the bride-chamber and
slept with me on the bed and continued to kiss and embrace me till the
morning—such a night I had never seen in my dreams. I lived with him a
life of happiness and delight for a full month, at the end of which I
asked his leave[340] to go on foot to the bazar and buy me certain
especial stuffs and he gave me permission. So I donned my mantilla and,
taking with me the old woman and a slave-girl,[341] I went to the khan
of the silk-mercers, where I seated myself in the shop-front of a young
merchant whom the old woman recommended, saying to me, "This youth's
father died when he was a boy and left him great store of wealth: he
hath by him a mighty fine[342] stock of goods and thou wilt find what
thou seekest with him, for none in the bazar hath better stuffs than
he." Then she said to him, "Show this lady the most costly stuffs thou
hast by thee;" and he replied, "Hearkening and obedience!" Then she
whispered me, "Say a civil word to him!"; but I replied, "I am pledged
to address no man save my lord." And as she began to sound his praise I
said sharply to her, "We want nought of thy sweet speeches; our wish is
to buy of him whatsoever we need, and return home." So he brought me
all I sought and I offered him his money, but he refused to take it
saying, "Let it be a gift offered to my guest this day!" Then quoth I
to the old woman, "If he will not take the money, give him back his
stuff." "By Allah," cried he, "not a thing will I take from thee: I
sell it not for gold or for silver, but I give it all as a gift for a
single kiss; a kiss more precious to me than everything the shop
containeth." Asked the old woman, "What will the kiss profit thee?";
and, turning to me, whispered, "O my daughter, thou hearest what this
young fellow saith? What harm will it do thee if he get a kiss from
thee and thou gettest what thou seekest at that price?" Replied I, "I
take refuge with Allah from such action! Knowest thou not that I am
bound by an oath?"[343] But she answered, "Now whist! just let him kiss
thee and neither speak to him nor lean over him, so shalt thou keep
thine oath and thy silver, and no harm whatever shall befal thee." And
she ceased not to persuade me and importune me and make light of the
matter till evil entered into my mind and I put my head in the
poke[344] and, declaring I would ne'er consent, consented. So I veiled
my eyes and held up the edge of my mantilla between me and the people
passing and he put his mouth to my cheek under the veil. But while
kissing me he bit me so hard a bite that it tore the flesh from my
cheek,[345] and blood flowed fast and faintness came over me. The old
woman caught me in her arms and, when I came to myself, I found the
shop shut up and her sorrowing over me and saying "Thank Allah for
averting which might have been worse!" Then she said to me, "Come, take
heart and let us go home before the matter become public and thou be
dishonoured. And when thou art safe inside the house feign sickness and
lie down and cover thyself up; and I will bring thee powders and
plasters to cure this bite withal, and thy wound will be healed at the
latest in three days." So after a while I arose and I was in extreme
distress and terror came full upon me; but I went on little by little
till I reached the house when I pleaded illness and lay me down. When
it was night my husband came in to me and said, "What hath befallen
thee, O my darling, in this excursion of thine?"; and I replied, "I am
not well: my head acheth badly." Then he lighted a candle and drew near
me and looked hard at me and asked, "What is that wound I see on thy
cheek and in the tenderest part too?" And I answered, "When I went out
to-day with thy leave to buy stuffs, a camel laden with firewood
jostled me and one of the pieces tore my veil and wounded my cheek as
thou seest; for indeed the ways of this city are strait." "To-morrow,"
cried he, "I will go complain to the Governor, so shall he gibbet every
fuel-seller in Baghdad." "Allah upon thee," said I, "burden not thy
soul with such sin against any man. The fact is I was riding on an ass
and it stumbled, throwing me to the ground; and my cheek lighted upon a
stick or a bit of glass and got this wound." "Then," said he,
"to-morrow I will go up to Ja'afar the Barmaki and tell him the story,
so shall he kill every donkey-boy in Baghdad." "Wouldst thou destroy
all these men because of my wound," said I, "when this which befel me
was by decree of Allah and His destiny?" But he answered, "There is no
help for it;" and, springing to his feet, plied me with words and
pressed me till I was perplexed and frightened; and I stuttered and
stammered and my speech waxed thick and I said, "This is a mere
accident by decree of Allah." Then, O Commander of the Faithful, he
guessed my case and said, "Thou hast been false to thine oath." He at
once cried out with a loud cry, whereupon a door opened and in came
seven black slaves whom he commanded to drag me from my bed and throw
me down in the middle of the room. Furthermore, he ordered one of them
to pinion my elbows and squat upon my head; and a second to sit upon my
knees and secure my feet; and drawing his sword he gave it to a third
and said, "Strike her, O Sa'ad, and cut her in twain and let each one
take half and cast it into the Tigris[346] that the fish may eat her;
for such is the retribution due to those who violate their vows and are
unfaithful to their love." And he redoubled in wrath and recited these
couplets:—
An there be one who shares with me her love, ✿ I'd strangle Love tho'
life by Love were slain;
Saying, O Soul, Death were the nobler choice, ✿ For ill is Love when
shared 'twixt partners twain.
Then he repeated to the slave, "Smite her, O Sa'ad!" And when the slave
who was sitting upon me made sure of the command he bent down to me and
said, "O my mistress, repeat the profession of Faith and bethink thee
if there be any thing thou wouldst have done; for verily this is the
last hour of thy life." "O good slave," said I, "wait but a little
while and get off my head that I may charge thee with my last
injunctions." Then I raised my head and saw the state I was in, how I
had fallen from high degree into lowest disgrace; and into death after
life (and such life!) and how I had brought my punishment on myself by
my own sin; whereupon the tears streamed from mine eyes and I wept with
exceeding weeping. But he looked on me with eyes of wrath, and began
repeating:—
Tell her who turneth from our love to work it injury sore, ✿ And taketh
her a fine new love the old love tossing o'er:
We cry enough o' thee ere thou enough of us shalt cry! ✿ What past
between us doth suffice and haply something more.[347]
When I heard this, O Commander of the Faithful, I wept and looked at
him and began repeating these couplets:—
To severance you doom my love and all unmoved remain; ✿ My tear-sore
lids you sleepless make and sleep while I complain:
You make firm friendship reign between mine eyes and insomny; ✿ Yet can
my heart forget you not, nor tears can I restrain:
You made me swear with many an oath my troth to hold for aye; ✿ But
when you reigned my bosom's lord you wrought me traitor-bane:
I loved you like a silly child who wots not what is Love; ✿ Then spare
the learner, let her not be by the master slain!
By Allah's name I pray you write, when I am dead and gone, ✿ Upon my
tomb, This died of Love whose senses Love had ta'en:
Then haply one shall pass that way who fire of Love hath felt, ✿ And
treading on a lover's heart with ruth and woe shall melt.
When I ended my verses tears came again; but the poetry and the weeping
only added fury to his fury, and he recited:—
'Twas not satiety bade me leave the dearling of my soul, ✿ But that she
sinned a mortal sin which clipt me in its clip:
She sought to let another share the love between us twain, ✿ But my
True Faith of Unity refuseth partnership.[348]
When he ceased reciting I wept again and prayed his pardon and humbled
myself before him and spoke him softly, saying to myself, "I will work
on him with words; so haply he will refrain from slaying me, even
though he take all I have." So I complained of my sufferings and began
to repeat these couplets:—
Now, by thy life and wert thou just my life thou hadst not ta'en, ✿ But
who can break the severance-law which parteth lovers twain!
Thou loadest me with heavy weight of longing love, when I ✿ Can hardly
bear my chemisette for weakness and for pain:
I marvel not to see my life and soul in ruin Iain ✿ I marvel much to
see my frame such severance-pangs sustain.
When I ended my verse I wept again; and he looked at me and reviled me
in abusive language,[349] repeating these couplets:—
Thou wast all taken up with love of other man, not me; ✿ 'Twas thine to
show me severance-face, 'twas only mine to see:
I'll leave thee for that first thou wast of me to take thy leave ✿ And
patient bear that parting blow thou borest so patiently:
E'en as thou soughtest other love, so other love I'll seek, ✿ And make
the crime of murdering love thine own atrocity.
When he had ended his verses he again cried out to the slave, "Cut her
in half and free us from her, for we have no profit of her." So the
slave drew near me, O Commander of the Faithful, and I ceased bandying
verses and made sure of death and, despairing of life, committed my
affairs to Almighty Allah, when behold, the old woman rushed in and
threw herself at my husband's feet and kissed them and wept and said,
"O my son, by the rights of my fosterage and by my long service to
thee, I conjure thee pardon this young lady, for indeed she hath done
nothing deserving such doom. Thou art a very young man and I fear lest
her death be laid at thy door; for it is said:—Whoso slayeth shall be
slain. As for this wanton (since thou deemest her such) drive her out
from thy doors, from thy love and from thy heart." And she ceased not
to weep and importune him till he relented and said, "I pardon her, but
needs must I set on her my mark which shall show upon her all her
life." Then he bade the slaves drag me along the ground and lay me out
at full length, after stripping me of all my clothes;[350] and when the
slaves had so sat upon me that I could not move, he fetched in a rod of
quince-tree and came down with it upon my body, and continued beating
me on the back and sides till I lost consciousness from excess of pain,
and I despaired of life. Then he commanded the slaves to take me away
as soon as it was dark, together with the old woman to show them the
way and throw me upon the floor of the house wherein I dwelt before my
marriage. They did their lord's bidding and cast me down in my old home
and went their ways. I did not revive from my swoon till dawn appeared,
when I applied myself to the dressing of my wounds with ointments and
other medicaments; and I medicined myself, but my sides and ribs still
showed signs of the rod as thou hast seen. I lay in weakly case and
confined to my bed for four months before I was able to rise and health
returned to me. At the end of that time I went to the house where all
this had happened and found it a ruin; the street had been pulled down
endlong and rubbish-heaps rose where the building erst was; nor could I
learn how this had come about. Then I betook myself to this my sister
on my father's side and found with her these two black bitches. I
saluted her and told her what had betided me and the whole of my story
and she said, "O my sister, who is safe from the despite of Time and
secure? Thanks be to Allah who hath brought thee off safely;" and she
began to say:—
Such is the World, so bear a patient heart ✿ When riches leave thee and
when friends depart!
Then she told me her own story, and what had happened to her with her
two sisters and how matters had ended; so we abode together and the
subject of marriage was never on our tongues for all these years. After
a while we were joined by our other sister, the procuratrix, who goeth
out every morning and buyeth all we require for the day and night; and
we continued in such condition till this last night. In the morning our
sister went out, as usual, to make her market and then befel us what
befel from bringing the Porter into the house and admitting these three
Kalandar-men.
We entreated them kindly and honourably and a quarter of the night had
not passed ere three grave and respectable merchants from Mosul joined
us and told us their adventures. We sat talking with them but on one
condition which they violated, whereupon we treated them as sorted with
their breach of promise, and made them repeat the account they had
given of themselves. They did our bidding and we forgave their offence;
so they departed from us and this morning we were unexpectedly summoned
to thy presence. And such is our story! The Caliph wondered at her
words and bade the tale be recorded and chronicled and laid up in his
muniment-chambers.——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased
saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Nineteenth Night,
She continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Caliph
commanded this story and those of the sister and the Kalandars to be
recorded in the archives and be set in the royal muniment-chambers.
Then he asked the eldest lady, the mistress of the house, "Knowest thou
the whereabouts of the Ifritah who spelled thy sisters?"; and she
answered, "O Commander of the Faithful, she gave me a ringlet of her
hair saying:—Whenas thou wouldest see me, burn a couple of these hairs
and I will be with thee forthright, even though I were beyond
Caucasus-mountain." Quoth the Caliph, "Bring me hither the hair." So
she brought it and he threw the whole lock upon the fire. As soon as
the odour of the burning hair dispread itself, the palace shook and
trembled, and all present heard a rumbling and rolling of thunder and a
noise as of wings and lo! the Jinniyah who had been a serpent stood in
the Caliph's presence. Now she was a Moslemah, so she saluted him and
said, "Peace be with thee O Vicar[351] of Allah;" whereto he replied,
"And with thee also be peace and the mercy of Allah and His blessing."
Then she continued, "Know that this damsel sowed for me the seed of
kindness, wherefor I cannot enough requite her, in that she delivered
me from death and destroyed mine enemy. Now I had seen how her sisters
dealt with her and felt myself bound to avenge her on them. At first I
was minded to slay them, but I feared it would be grievous to her, so I
transformed them to bitches; but if thou desire their release, O
Commander of the Faithful, I will release them to pleasure thee and her
for I am of the Moslems." Quoth the Caliph, "Release them and after we
will look into the affair of the beaten lady and consider her case
carefully; and if the truth of her story be evidenced I will exact
retaliation[352] from him who wronged her." Said the Ifritah, "O
Commander of the Faithful, I will forthwith release them and will
discover to thee the man who did that deed by this lady and wronged her
and took her property, and he is the nearest of all men to thee!" So
saying she took a cup of water and muttered a spell over it and uttered
words there was no understanding; then she sprinkled some of the water
over the faces of the two bitches, saying, "Return to your former human
shape!" whereupon they were restored to their natural forms and fell to
praising their Creator. Then said the Ifritah, "O Commander of the
Faithful, of a truth he who scourged this lady with rods is thy son
Al-Amin brother of Al-Maamun;[353] for he had heard of her beauty and
loveliness and he played a lover's stratagem with her and married her
according to the law and committed the crime (such as it is) of
scourging her. Yet indeed he is not to be blamed for beating her, for
he laid a condition on her and swore her by a solemn oath not to do a
certain thing; however, she was false to her vow and he was minded to
put her to death, but he feared Almighty Allah and contented himself
with scourging her, as thou hast seen, and with sending her back to her
own place. Such is the story of the second lady and the Lord knoweth
all." When the Caliph heard these words of the Ifritah, and knew who
had beaten the damsel, he marvelled with mighty marvel and said,
"Praise be to Allah, the Most High, the Almighty, who hath shown His
exceeding mercy towards me, enabling me to deliver these two damsels
from sorcery and torture, and vouchsafing to let me know the secret of
this lady's history! And now by Allah, we will do a deed which shall be
recorded of us after we are no more." Then he summoned his son Al-Amin
and questioned him of the story of the second lady, the portress; and
he told it in the face of truth; whereupon the Caliph bade call into
presence the Kazis and their witnesses and the three Kalandars and the
first lady with her sisters german who had been ensorcelled; and he
married the three to the three Kalandars whom he knew to be princes and
sons of Kings and he appointed them chamberlains about his person,
assigning to them stipends and allowances and all that they required,
and lodging them in his palace at Baghdad. He returned the beaten lady
to his son, Al-Amin, renewing the marriage-contract between them and
gave her great wealth and bade rebuild the house fairer than it was
before. As for himself he took to wife the procuratrix and lay with her
that night: and next day he set apart for her an apartment in his
Serraglio, with handmaidens for her service and a fixed daily
allowance. And the people marvelled at their Caliph's generosity and
natural beneficence and princely wisdom; nor did he forget to send all
these histories to be recorded in his annals. When Shahrazad ceased
speaking Dunyazad exclaimed, "O my own sister, by Allah in very sooth
this is a right pleasant tale and a delectable; never was heard the
like of it, but prithee tell me now another story to while away what
yet remaineth of the waking hours of this our night." She replied,
"With love and gladness if the King give me leave;" and he said, "Tell
thy tale and tell it quickly." So she began, in these words,
-----
Footnote 138:
The name of this celebrated successor of Nineveh, where some suppose
The Nights were written, is orig. Μεσοπύλαι (middle-gates) because it
stood on the way where four great highways meet. The Arab. form
"Mausil" (the vulgar "Mosul") is also significant, alluding to the
"junction" of Assyria and Babylonia. Hence our "muslin."
Footnote 139:
This is Mr. Thackeray's "nose-bag." I translate by "walking-shoes"
the Arab "Khuff" which are a manner of loose boot covering the ankle;
they are not usually embroidered, the ornament being reserved for the
inner shoe.
Footnote 140:
_i.e._ Syria (says Abulfeda) the "land on the left" (of one facing
the east) as opposed to Al-Yaman the "land on the right." Osmani
would mean Turkish, Ottoman. When Bernard the Wise (Bohn, p. 24)
speaks of "Bagada and Axiam" (Mabillon's text) or "Axinarri" (still
worse), he means Baghdad and Ash-Shám (Syria, Damascus), the latter
word puzzling his Editor. Richardson (Dissert. lxxii) seems to
support a hideous attempt to derive Shám from Shámat, a mole or wart,
because the country is studded with hillocks! Al-Shám is often
applied to Damascus-city whose proper name Dimishk belongs to books:
this term is generally derived from Dimáshik b. Káli b. Málik b. Sham
(Shem). Lee (Ibn Batútah, 29) denies that ha-Dimishki means "Eliezer
of Damascus."
Footnote 141:
From Oman=Eastern Arabia.
Footnote 142:
Arab. "Tamar Hanná" lit. date of Henna, but applied to the flower of
the eastern privet (_Lawsonia inermis_) which has the sweet scent of
freshly mown hay. The use of Henna as a dye is known even in England.
The "myrtle" alluded to may either have been for a perfume (as it is
held an anti-intoxicant) or for eating, the bitter aromatic berries
of the "Ás" being supposed to flavour wine and especially Raki (raw
brandy).
Footnote 143:
Lane. (i. 211) pleasantly remarks, "A list of these sweets is given
in my original, but I have thought it better to omit the names" (!)
Dozy does not shirk his duty, but he is not much more satisfactory in
explaining words interesting to students because they are unfound in
dictionaries and forgotten by the people "Akrás" (cakes) Laymuníyah
(of limes) wa "Maymuníyah" appears in the Bresl. Edit. as
"Ma'amuniyah" which may mean "Ma'amun's cakes" or "delectable cakes."
"Amshát"=(combs) perhaps refers to a fine kind of Kunáfah
(vermicelli) known in Egypt and Syria as "Ghazl al-banát"=girl's
spinning.
Footnote 144:
The new moon carefully looked for by all Moslems because it begins
the Ramazán-fast.
Footnote 145:
Solomon's signet ring has before been noticed.
Footnote 146:
The "high-bosomed" damsel, with breasts firm as a cube, is a
favourite with Arab tale-tellers. _Fanno baruffa_ is the Italian term
for hard breasts pointing outwards.
Footnote 147:
A large hollow navel is looked upon not only as a beauty, but in
children it is held a promise of good growth.
Footnote 148:
Arab. "Ka'ah," a high hall opening upon the central court: we shall
find the word used for a mansion, barrack, men's quarters, etc.
Footnote 149:
Babel=Gate of God (El), or Gate of Ilu (P.N. of God), which the Jews
ironically interpreted "Confusion." The tradition of Babylonia being
the very centre of witchcraft and enchantment by means of its Seven
Deadly Spirits, has survived in Al-Islam; the two fallen angels
(whose names will occur) being confined in a well; Nimrod attempting
to reach Heaven from the Tower in a magical car drawn by monstrous
birds and so forth. See p. 114, Francois Lenormant's "Chaldean
Magic," London, Bagsters.
Footnote 150:
Arab. "Kámat Alfiyyah"=like the letter Alif, a straight perpendicular
stroke. In the Egyptian hieroglyphs, the origin of every alphabet
(not syllabarium) known to man, one form was a flag or leaf of
water-plant standing upright. Hence probably the Arabic Alif-shape;
while other nations preferred other modifications of the letter (ox's
head, etc.), which in Egyptian number some thirty-six varieties,
simple and compound.
Footnote 151:
I have not attempted to order this marvellous confusion of metaphors
so characteristic of The Nights and the exigencies of Al-Saj'a=rhymed
prose.
Footnote 152:
Here and elsewhere I omit the "kála (_dice Turpino_)" of the
original: Torrens preserves "Thus goes the tale" (which it only
interrupts). This is simply letter-wise and sense-foolish.
Footnote 153:
Of this worthy more at a future time.
Footnote 154:
_i.e._, sealed with the Kazi or legal authority's seal of office.
Footnote 155:
"Nothing for nothing" is a fixed idea with the Eastern woman: not so
much for greed as for a sexual _point d'honneur_ when dealing with
the adversary—man.
Footnote 156:
She drinks first, the custom of the universal East, to show that the
wine she had bought was unpoisoned. Easterns, who utterly ignore the
"social glass" of Western civilisation, drink honestly to get drunk;
and, when far gone are addicted to horseplay (in Pers. "Badmasti"=_le
vin mauvais_) which leads to quarrels and bloodshed. Hence it is held
highly irreverent to assert of patriarchs, prophets and saints that
they "drank wine;" and Moslems agree with our "Teatotallers" in
denying that, except in the case of Noah, inebriatives are anywhere
mentioned in Holy Writ.
Footnote 157:
Arab. "Húr al-Ayn," lit. (maids) with eyes of lively white and black,
applied to the virgins of Paradise who will wive with the happy
Faithful. I retain our vulgar "Houri," warning the reader that it is
a masc. for a fem. ("Huríyah") in Arab, although accepted in Persian,
a genderless speech.
Footnote 158:
Arab. "Zambúr," whose head is amputated in female circumcision. See
Night cccclxxiv.
Footnote 159:
Ocymum basilicum noticed in Introduction; the bassilico of Boccaccio
iv. 5. The Book of Kalilah and Dimnah represents it as "sprouting
with something also whose smell is foul and disgusting and the sower
at once sets to gather it and burn it with fire." (The Fables of
Bidpai translated from the later Syriac version by I. G. N.
Keith-Falconer, etc., etc., etc., Cambridge University Press, 1885).
Here, however, Habk is a pennyroyal (_mentha puligium_), and probably
alludes to the pecten.
Footnote 160:
_i.e._ common property for all to beat.
Footnote 161:
"A digit of the moon" is the Hindú equivalent.
Footnote 162:
Better known to us as Caravanserai, the "Travellers' Bungalow" of
India: in the Khan, however, shelter is to be had, but neither bed
nor board.
Footnote 163:
Arab. "Zubb." I would again note that this and its synonyms are the
equivalents of the Arabic, which is of the lowest. The tale-teller's
evident object is to accentuate the contrast with the tragical
stories to follow.
Footnote 164:
"In the name of Allah," is here a civil form of dismissal.
Footnote 165:
Lane (i. 124) is scandalized and naturally enough by this scene,
which is the only blot in an admirable tale admirably told. Yet even
here the grossness is but little more pronounced than what we find in
our old drama (_e.g._, Shakspeare's King Henry V.) written for the
stage, whereas tales like The Nights are not read or recited before
both sexes. Lastly "nothing follows all this palming work:" in Europe
the orgie would end very differently. These "nuns of Theleme" are
physically pure: their debauchery is of the mind, not the body.
Galland makes them five, including the two doggesses.
Footnote 166:
So Sir Francis Walsingham's "They which do that they should not,
should hear that they would not."
Footnote 167:
The old "Calendar," pleasantly associated with that form of almanac.
The Mac. Edit. has "Karandaliyah," a vile corruption, like Ibn
Batutah's "Karandar" and Torrens' "Kurundul:" so in English we have
the accepted vulgarism of "Kernel" for Colonel. The Bul. Edit. uses
for synonym "Su'ulúk"=an asker, a beggar. Of these mendicant monks,
for such they are, much like the Sarabaites of mediæval Europe, I
have treated, and of their institutions and its founder, Shaykh
Sharif Bu Ali Kalandar (ob. A.H. 724=1323-24), at some length in my
"History of Sindh," chapt. viii. See also the Dabistan (i, 136) where
the good Kalandar exclaims:—
If the thorn break in my body, how trifling the pain!
But how sorely I feel for the poor broken thorn!
D'Herbelot is right when he says that the Kalandar is not generally
approved by Moslems: he labours to win free from every form and
observance and he approaches the Malámati who conceals all his good
deeds and boasts of his evil doings—our "Devil's hypocrite."
Footnote 168:
The "Kalandar" disfigures himself in this manner to show
"mortification."
Footnote 169:
Arab. "Gharíb:" the porter is offended because the word implies "poor
devil;" esp. one out of his own country.
Footnote 170:
A religious mendicant generally.
Footnote 171:
Very scandalous to Moslem "respectability": Mohammed said the house
was accursed when the voices of women could be heard out of doors.
Moreover the neighbours have a right to interfere and abate the
scandal.
Footnote 172:
I need hardly say that these are both historical personages; they
will often be mentioned, and Ja'afar will be noticed in the terminal
Essay.
Footnote 173:
Arab. "Sama'an wa tá'atan;" a popular phrase of assent generally
translated "to hear is to obey;" but this formula may be and must be
greatly varied. In places it means "Hearing (the word of Allah) and
obeying" (His prophet, viceregent, etc.)
Footnote 174:
Arab. "Sawáb"=reward in Heaven. This word for which we have no
equivalent has been naturalised in all tongues (_e.g._ Hindostani)
spoken by Moslems.
Footnote 175:
Wine-drinking, at all times forbidden to Moslems, vitiates the
Pilgrimage-rite: the Pilgrim is vowed to a strict observance of the
ceremonial law and many men date their "reformation" from the "Hajj."
Pilgrimage, iii., 126.
Footnote 176:
Here some change has been necessary; as the original text confuses
the three "ladies."
Footnote 177:
In Arab-the plural masc. is used by way of modesty when a girl
addresses her lover; and for the same reason she speaks of herself as
a man.
Footnote 178:
Arab. "Al-Na'im;" in full "Jannat al-Na'im"=the Garden of Delights,
_i.e._ the fifth Heaven made of white silver. The generic name of
Heaven (the place of reward) is "Jannat," lit. a garden; "Firdaus"
being evidently derived from the Persian through the Greek
παράδεισος, and meaning a chase, a hunting-park. Writers on this
subject should bear in mind Mandeville's modesty, "Of Paradise I
cannot speak properly, for I was not there."
Footnote 179:
Arab. "Mikra'ah," the dried mid-rib of a date-frond used for many
purposes, especially the bastinado.
Footnote 180:
According to Lane (i., 229) these and the immediately following
verses are from an ode by Ibn Sahl al-Ishbili. They are in the Bul.
Edit. not the Mac. Edit.
Footnote 181:
The original is full of conceits and plays on words which are not
easily rendered in English.
Footnote 182:
Arab. "Tarjumán," same root as Chald. Targum (=a translation), the
old "Truchman," and through the Ital. "tergomano" our "Dragoman;"
here a messenger.
Footnote 183:
Lit. the "person of the eyes," our "babe of the eyes," a favourite
poetical conceit in all tongues; much used by the Elizabethans, but
now neglected as a silly kind of conceit. See Night ccix.
Footnote 184:
Arab. "Sár" (Thár) the revenge-right recognised by law and custom
(Pilgrimage, iii., 69)
Footnote 185:
That is "We all swim in the same boat."
Footnote 186:
Ja'afar ever acts, on such occasions, the part of a wise and sensible
man compelled to join in a foolish frolic. He contrasts strongly with
the Caliph, a headstrong despot who will not be gainsaid, whatever be
the whim of the moment. But Easterns would look upon this as a proof
of his "kingliness."
Footnote 187:
Arab. "Wa'l-Salám" (pronounce Was-Salám); meaning "and here ends the
matter." In our slang we say, "All right, and the child's name is
Antony."
Footnote 188:
This is a favourite jingle; the play being upon "ibrat" (a
needle-graver) and "'ibrat" (an example, a warning).
Footnote 189:
That is "make his bow;" as the English peasant pulls his forelock.
Lane (i., 249) suggests, as an afterthought, that it means:—"Recover
thy senses; in allusion to a person's drawing his hand over his head
after sleep or a fit." But it occurs elsewhere in the sense of "cut
thy stick."
Footnote 190:
This would be a separate building like our family tomb and probably
domed, resembling that mentioned in "The King of the Black Islands."
Europeans usually call it "a little Wali;" or, as they write it,
"Wely;" the contained for the container; the "Santon" for the
"Santon's tomb." I have noticed this curious confusion (which begins
with Robinson, i. 322) in "Unexplored Syria," i. 161.
Footnote 191:
Arab. "Wiswás;"=diabolical temptation or suggestion. The "Wiswásí" is
a man with scruples (scrupulus, a pebble in the shoe), _e.g._ one who
fears that his ablutions were deficient, etc.
Footnote 192:
Arab. "Katf"=pinioning by tying the arms behind the back and
shoulders (Kitf), a dire disgrace to freeborn men.
Footnote 193:
Arab. "Nafs."=Heb. Nephesh (Nafash)=soul, life; as opposed to
"Ruach"=spirit and breath. In these places it is equivalent to "I
said to myself." Another form of the root is "Nafas," breath, with an
idea of inspiration: so "Sáhib Nafas" (=master of breath) is a minor
saint who heals by expiration, a matter familiar to mesmerists
(Pilgrimage, i. 86).
Footnote 194:
Arab. "Kaus al-Banduk;" the "pellet-bow" of modern India; with two
strings joined by a bit of cloth which supports a ball of dry clay or
stone. It is chiefly used for birding.
Footnote 195:
In the East blinding was a common practice, especially in the case of
junior princes not required as heirs. A deep perpendicular incision
was made down each corner of the eyes; the lids were lifted and the
balls removed by cutting the optic nerve and the muscles. The later
Caliphs blinded their victims by passing a red-hot sword blade close
to the orbit or a needle over the eyeball. About the same time in
Europe the operation was performed with a heated metal basin—the
well-known _bacinare_ (used by Ariosto), as happened to Pier delle
Vigne (Petrus de Vineâ), the "godfather of modern Italian."
Footnote 196:
Arab. "Khinzír" (by Europeans pronounced "Hanzír"), prop. a
wild-boar; but popularly used like our "you pig!"
Footnote 197:
Striking with the shoe, the pipe-stick and similar articles is highly
insulting, because they are not made, like whips and scourges, for
such purpose. Here the East and the West differ diametrically.
"Wounds which are given by instruments which are in one's hands by
chance do not disgrace a man," says Cervantes (D. Q. i., chapt. 15),
and goes on to prove that if a Zapatero (cobbler) cudgel another with
his form or last, the latter must not consider himself cudgelled. The
reverse in the East where a blow of a pipe-stick cost Mahommed Ali
Pasna's son his life: Ishmail Pasha was burned to death by Malik
Nimr, chief of Shendy (Pilgrimage, i., 203). Moreover, the actual
wound is less considered in Moslem law than the instrument which
caused it: so sticks and stones are venial weapons, whilst sword and
dagger, gun and pistol are felonious. See _ibid._ (i., 336) for a
note upon the weapons with which nations are policed.
Footnote 198:
Incest is now abominable everywhere except amongst the overcrowded
poor of great and civilised cities. Yet such unions were common and
lawful amongst ancient and highly cultivated peoples, as the
Egyptians (Isis and Osiris), Assyrians and ancient Persians.
Physiologically they are injurious only when the parents have
constitutional defects: if both are sound, the issue, as amongst the
so-called "lower animals," is viable and healthy.
Footnote 199:
Dwellers in the Northern Temperates can hardly imagine what a
dust-storm is in sun-parched tropical lands. In Sind we were often
obliged to use candles at midday, while above the dust was a sun that
would roast an egg.
Footnote 200:
Arab. "'Urban," now always used of the wild people, whom the French
have taught us to call _les Bedouins_; "Badw" being a waste or
desert; and Badawi (fem. Badawíyah, plur. Badáwi and Bidwán), a man
of the waste. Europeans have also learnt to miscall the Egyptians
"Arabs": the difference is as great as between an Englishman and a
Spaniard. Arabs proper divide their race into sundry successive
families. "The Arab al-Arabá" (or al-Aribah, or al-Urubíyat) are the
autochthones, prehistoric, proto-historic and extinct tribes; for
instance, a few of the Adites who being at Meccah escaped the
destruction of their wicked nation, but mingled with other classes.
The "Arab al-Muta'arribah," (Arabised Arabs) are the first advenæ
represented by such noble strains as the Koraysh (Koreish), some
still surviving. The "Arab al-Musta'aribah," (insititious,
naturalised or instituted Arabs, men who claim to be Arabs) are Arabs
like the Sinaites, the Egyptians and the Maroccans descended by
intermarriage with other races. Hence our "Mosarabians" and the
"Marrabais" of Rabelais (not, "a word compounded of Maurus and
Arabs"). Some genealogists, however, make the Muta'arribah
descendants of Kahtan (possible the Joktan of Genesis x., a
comparatively modern document, B.C. 700?); and the Musta'aribah those
descended from Adnán the origin of Arab genealogy. And, lastly, are
the "Arab al-Musta'ajimah," barbarised Arabs, like the present
population of Meccah and Al-Medinah. Besides these there are other
tribes whose origin is still unknown; such as the Mahrah tribes of
Hazramaut, the "Akhdám" (=serviles) of Oman (Maskat); and the "Ebná"
of Al-Yaman: Ibn Ishak supposes the latter to be descended from the
Persian soldiers of Anushirwan who expelled the Abyssinian invader
from Southern Arabia. (Pilgrimage, iii., 31, etc.).
Footnote 201:
Arab. "Amír al-Muuminín." The title was assumed by the Caliph Omar to
obviate the inconvenience of calling himself "Khalífah" (successor)
of the Khalífah of the Apostle of Allah (_i.e._ Abu Bakr); which
after a few generations would become impossible. It means "Emir
(chief or prince) of the Muumins;" men who hold to the (true Moslem)
Faith, the "Imán" (theory, fundamental articles) as opposed to the
"Dín," ordinance or practice of the religion. It once became a
Wazirial title conferred by Sultan Malikshah (King King-king) on his
Nizám al-Mulk. (Richardson's Dissert. lviii).
Footnote 202:
This may also mean "according to the seven editions of the Koran,"
the old revisions and so forth (Sale, Sect. iii. and D'Herbelot
"Alcoran.") The schools of the "Mukri," who teach the right
pronunciation wherein a mistake might be sinful, are seven, Hamzah,
Ibn Katír, Ya'akúb, Ibn Amir, Kisái, Asim and Hafs, the latter being
the favourite with the Hanafis and the only one now generally known
in Al-Islam.
Footnote 203:
Arab. "Sadd"=wall, dyke, etc. the "bund" or "band" of Anglo-India.
Hence the "Sadd" on the Nile, the banks of grass and floating islands
which "wall" the stream. There are few sights more appalling than a
sandstorm in the desert, the "Zauba'ah" as the Arabs call it. Devils,
or pillars of sand, vertical and inclined, measuring a thousand feet
high, rush over the plain lashing the sand at their base like a sea
surging under a furious whirlwind; shearing the grass clean away from
the roots, tearing up trees, which are whirled like leaves and sticks
in air, and sweeping away tents and houses as if they were bits of
paper. At last the columns join at the top and form, perhaps three
thousand feet above the earth, a gigantic cloud of yellow sand which
obliterates not only the horizon but even the midday sun. These
sand-spouts are the terror of travellers. In Sind and the Punjab we
have the dust-storm which for darkness, I have said, beats the
blackest London fog.
Footnote 204:
Arab. Sár=the vendetta, before mentioned, as dreaded in Arabia as in
Corsica.
Footnote 205:
Arab. "Ghútah," usually a place where irrigation is abundant. It
especially applies (in books) to the Damascus-plain because "it
abounds with water and fruit trees." Bochart (Geog. Sacra, p. 90)
derives עוטה (utah) from עוץ Uz, son of Arab, who (he says) founded
Damascus. The Ghutah is one of the four earthly paradises, the others
being Basrah (Bassorah), Shiraz and Samarcand. Its peculiarity is the
likeness to a seaport; the Desert which rolls up almost to its doors
being the sea and its ships being the camels. The first Arab to whom
we owe this admirable term for the "Companion of Job" is "Tarafah"
one of the poets of the Suspended Poems: he likens (v.v. 3, 4) the
camels which bore away his beloved to ships sailing from Aduli. But
"ships of the desert" is doubtless a term of the highest antiquity.
Footnote 206:
The exigencies of the "Saj'a," or rhymed prose, disjoint this and
many similar passages.
Footnote 207:
The "Ebony" Islands; Scott's "Isle of Ebene," i., 217.
Footnote 208:
"Jarjarís" in the Bul. Edit.
Footnote 209:
Arab. "Takbís." Many Easterns can hardly sleep without this kneading
of the muscles, this "rubbing" whose hygienic properties England is
now learning.
Footnote 210:
The converse of the breast being broadened, the drooping,
"draggle-tail" gait compared with the head held high and the chest
inflated.
Footnote 211:
This penalty is mentioned in the Koran (chapt. v.) as fit for those
who fight against Allah and his Apostle; but commentators are not
agreed if the sinners are first to be put to death or to hang on the
cross till they die. Pharaoh (chapt xx.) threatens to crucify his
magicians on palm-trees, and is held to be the first crucifier.
Footnote 212:
Arab. "'Ajami"=foreigner, esp. a Persian: the latter in The Nights is
mostly a villain. I must here remark that the contemptible condition
of Persians in Al-Hijáz (which I noted in 1852, Pilgrimage i. 327)
has completely changed. They are no longer, "The slippers of Ali and
hounds of Omar:" they have learned the force of union and now,
instead of being bullied, they bully.
Footnote 213:
The Calc. Edit. turns them into Tailors (Khayyátín) and Torrens does
not see the misprint.
Footnote 214:
_i.e._ Axe and sandals.
Footnote 215:
Lit. "Strike his neck."
Footnote 216:
A phrase which will frequently recur; meaning the situation suggested
such words as these.
Footnote 217:
The smiter with the evil eye is called "A'in" and the person smitten
"Ma'ín" or "Ma'ún."
Footnote 218:
Arab. "Sákiyah," the well-known Persian wheel with pots and buckets
attached to the tire. It is of many kinds, the boxed, etc., etc.; and
it is possibly alluded to in the "pitcher broken at the fountain"
(Ecclesiastes xii. 6) an accident often occurring to the modern
"Noria." Travellers mostly abuse its "dismal creaking" and "mournful
monotony": I have defended the music of the water-wheel in Pilgrimage
ii. 198.
Footnote 219:
Arab. "Zikr" lit. remembering, mentioning (_i.e._ the names of
Allah), here refers to the meetings of religious for devotional
exercises; the "Zikkírs," as they are called, mostly standing or
sitting in a circle while they ejaculate the Holy Name. These
"rogations" are much affected by Darwayshes, or begging friars, whom
Europe politely divides into "dancing" and "howling"; and, on one
occasion, greatly to the scandal of certain Engländerinns to whom I
was showing the Ezbekiyah I joined the ring of "howlers." Lane (Mod.
Egypt, see index) is profuse upon the subject of "Zikrs" and Zikkírs.
It must not be supposed that they are uneducated men: the better
class, however, prefers more privacy.
Footnote 220:
As they thought he had been there for prayer or penance.
Footnote 221:
Arab. "Ziyárat," a visit to a pious person or place.
Footnote 222:
This is a paternal salute in the East where they are particular about
the part kissed. A witty and not unusually gross Persian book, called
the "Al-Námah" because all questions begin with "Al" (the Arab
article) contains one "Al-Wajib al-busídan?" (what best deserves
bussing?) and the answer is "Kus-i-nau-pashm," (a bobadilla with a
young bush).
Footnote 223:
A weight of 71-72 English grains in gold; here equivalent to the
dinar.
Footnote 224:
Compare the tale of The Three Crows in Gammer Grethel, Evening ix.
Footnote 225:
The comparison is peculiarly apposite; the earth seen from above
appears hollow with a raised rim.
Footnote 226:
A hundred years old.
Footnote 227:
"Bahr" in Arab. means sea, river, piece of water; hence the adjective
is needed.
Footnote 228:
The Captain or Master of the ship (not the owner). In Al Yaman the
word also means a "barber," in virtue of the root, Raas, a head.
Footnote 229:
The text has "in the character Ruká'í," or Riká'í, the
correspondence-hand.
Footnote 230:
A curved character supposed to be like the basil-leaf (rayhán).
Richardson calls it "Rohani."
Footnote 231:
I need hardly say that Easterns use a reed, a Calamus (Kalam applied
only to the cut reed) for our quills and steel pens.
Footnote 232:
Famous for being inscribed on the Kiswah (cover) of Mohammed's tomb;
a large and more formal hand still used for engrossing and for mural
inscriptions. Only seventy-two varieties of it are known (Pilgrimage,
ii., 82).
Footnote 233:
The copying and transcribing hand which is either Arabi or Ajami. A
great discovery has lately been made which upsets all our old ideas
of Cufic, etc. Mr. Löytved of Bayrut has found, amongst the Hauranic
inscriptions, one in pure Naskhi, dating A.D. 568, or fifty years
before the Hijrah; and it is accepted as authentic by my learned
friend M. Ch. Clermont-Ganneau (p. 193, Pal. Explor. Fund; July
1884). In D'Herbelot and Sale's day the Koran was supposed to have
been written in rude characters, like those subsequently called
"Cufic," invented shortly before Mohammed's birth by Murámir ibn
Murrah of Anbar in Irák, introduced into Meccah by Bashar the
Kindian, and perfected by Ibn Muklah (Al-Wazir, ob. A.H. 328=940). We
must now change all that. See Catalogue of Oriental Caligraphs, etc.,
by G. P. Badger, London, Whiteley, 1885.
Footnote 234:
Capital and uncial letters; the hand in which the Ka'abah veil is
inscribed (Pilgrimage iii. 299, 300).
Footnote 235:
A "Court hand" says Mr. Payne (i. 112): I know nothing of it. Other
hands are: the Ta'alík; hanging or oblique, used for finer MSS. and
having, according to Richardson, "the same analogy to the Naskhi as
our Italic has to the Roman." The Nasta' lík (not Naskh-Ta'alík) much
used in India, is, as the name suggests, a mixture of the Naskhi
(writing of transactions) and the Ta'alík. The Shikastah (broken
hand) everywhere represents our running hand and becomes a hard task
to the reader. The Kirmá is another cursive character, mostly
confined to the receipts and disbursements of the Turkish treasury.
The Diváni, or Court (of Justice) is the official hand, bold and
round, a business character, the lines often rising with a sweep or
curve towards the (left) end. The Jáli or polished has a variety, the
Jali-Ta'alik: the Sulsi (known in many books) is adopted for titles
of volumes, royal edicts, diplomas and so forth; "answering much the
same purpose as capitals with us, or the flourished letters in
illuminated manuscripts" (Richardson). The Tughrái is that of the
Tughrá, the Prince's cypher or flourishing signature in ceremonial
writings, and containing some such sentence as: Let this be executed.
There are others _e.g._ Yákuti and Sirenkil known only by name.
Finally the Maghribi (Moorish) hand differs in form and diacritical
points from the characters used further east almost as much as German
running hand does from English. It is curious that Richardson omits
the Jali (intricate and convoluted) and the divisions of the Sulusí,
Sulsi or Sulus (Thuluth) character, the Sulus al-Khafíf, etc.
Footnote 236:
Arab. "Baghlah"; the male (Baghl) is used only for loads. This is
everywhere the rule: nothing is more unmanageable than a restive
"Macho"; and he knows that he can always get you off his back when so
minded. From "Baghlah" is derived the name of the native craft
Anglo-Indicè a "Buggalow."
Footnote 237:
In Heb. "Ben-Adam" is any man opp. to "Beni ish" (Psalm iv. 3)=_filii
viri_, not _homines_.
Footnote 238:
This posture is terribly trying to European legs; and few white men
(unless brought up to it) can squat for any time on their heels. The
"tailor-fashion," with crossed legs, is held to be free and easy.
Footnote 239:
Arab. "Katá"=Pterocles Alchata, the well-known sand-grouse of the
desert. It is very poor white flesh.
Footnote 240:
Arab. "Khubz" which I do not translate "cake" or "bread," as that
would suggest the idea of our loaf. The staff of life in the East is
a thin flat circle of dough baked in the oven or on the griddle, and
corresponding with the Scotch "scone," the Spanish "tortilla" and the
Australian "flap-jack."
Footnote 241:
Arab. "Harísah," a favourite dish of wheat (or rice) boiled and
reduced to a paste with shredded meat, spices and condiments. The
"bangles" is a pretty girl eating with him.
Footnote 242:
These lines are repeated with a difference in Night cccxxx. They
affect _Rims cars_, out of the way, heavy rhymes: _e.g._ here Sakáríj
(plur. of Sakrúj, platters, porringers); Tayáhíj (plur. of Tayhúj,
the smaller caccabis-partridge); Tabáhíj (Persian Tabahjah, an omelet
or a stew of meat, onions, eggs, etc.) Ma'áríj ("in stepped piles"
like the pyramids; which Lane ii. 495, renders "on the stairs");
Makáríj (plur. of Makraj, a small pot); Damálíj (plur. of dumlúj, a
bracelet, a bangle); Dayábíj (brocades) and Tafáríj (openings,
enjoyments). In Night cccxxx. we find also Sikábíj (plur. of Sikbáj,
marinated meat elsewhere explained); Faráríj (plur. of farrúj, a
chicken, vulg. farkh) and Dakákíj (plur. of dakújah, a small jar). In
the first line we have also (though not a rhyme) Gharánik Gr.
Τερανὸς, a crane, preserved in Romaic. The weeping and wailing are
caused by the remembrance that all these delicacies have been
demolished like a Badawi camp.
Footnote 243:
This is the _vinum coctum_, the boiled wine, still a favourite in
Southern Italy and Greece.
Footnote 244:
Eastern topers delight in drinking at dawn: upon this subject I shall
have more to say in other Nights.
Footnote 245:
Arab. "Adab," a _crux_ to translators, meaning anything between good
education and good manners. In mod. Turk. "Edibiyyet"
(Adabiyat)=belles lettres and "Edebi" or "Edíb"=a littérateur.
Footnote 246:
The Caliph Al-Maamún, who was a bad player, used to say, "I have the
administration of the world and am equal to it, whereas I am
straitened in the ordering of a space of two spans by two spans." The
"board" was then "a square field of well-dressed leather."
Footnote 247:
The Rabbis (after Matth. xix. 12) count three kinds of Eunuchs; (1)
Seris chammah=of the sun, _i.e._ natural: (2) Seris Adam=manufactured
_per homines_; and (3) Seris Chammayim=of God (_i.e._ religious
abstainer). Seris (castrated) or Abd (slave) is the general Hebrew
name.
Footnote 248:
The "Lady of Beauty."
Footnote 249:
"Káf" has been noticed as the mountain which surrounds earth as a
ring does the finger: it is popularly used like our Alp and Alpine.
The "circumambient Ocean" (Bahr al-muhít) is the Homeric
Ocean-stream.
Footnote 250:
The pomegranate is probably chosen here because each fruit is
supposed to contain one seed from Eden-garden. Hence a host of
superstitions (Pilgrimage iii., 104) possibly connected with the
Chaldaic-Babylonian god Rimmon or Ramanu. Hence Persephone or Ishtar
tasted the "rich pomegranate's seed." Lenormant, loc. cit. pp.
166,182.
Footnote 251:
_i.e._ for the love of God—a favourite Moslem phrase.
Footnote 252:
Arab. "Báb," also meaning a chapter (of magic, of war, etc.),
corresponding with the Persian "Dar" as in Sad-dar, the Hundred
Doors. Here, however, it is figurative "I tried a new mode." This
scene is in the Mabinogion.
Footnote 253:
I use this Irish term=crying for the dead; as English wants the word
for the præfica or myrialogist. The practice is not encouraged in
Al-Islam; and Caliph Abu Bakr said, "Verily a corpse is sprinkled
with boiling water by reason of the lamentations of the living,"
_i.e._ punished for not having taken measures to prevent their
profitless lamentations. But the practice is from Negroland whence it
reached Egypt; and the people have there developed a curious system
in the "weeping-song": I have noted this in "The Lake-Regions of
Central Africa." In Zoroastrianism (Dabistan, chapt. xcvii.) tears
shed for the dead form a river in hell, black and frigid.
Footnote 254:
These lines are hardly translateable. Arab. "Sabr" means "patience"
as well as "aloes," hereby lending itself to a host of puns and
double entendres more or less vile. The aloe, according to
Burckhardt, is planted in grave-yards as a lesson of patience: it is
also slung, like the dried crocodile, over house-doors to prevent
evil spirits entering; "thus hung without earth and water," says Lane
(M. E., chapt. xi.), "it will live for several years and even
blossom. Hence (?) it is called _Sabr_, which signifies patience."
But Sibr as well as Sabr (a root) means "long-sufferance." I hold the
practise to be one of the many Inner African superstitions. The wild
Gallas to the present day plant aloes on graves, and suppose that
when the plant sprouts the deceased has been admitted to the gardens
of Wák, the Creator. (Pilgrimage iii. 350).
Footnote 255:
Every city in the East has its specific title: this was given to
Baghdad either on account of its superior police or simply because it
was the Capital of the Caliphate. The Tigris was also called the
"River of Peace (or Security)."
Footnote 256:
This is very characteristic: the passengers finding themselves in
difficulties at once take command. See in my Pilgrimage (I. chapt.
xi.) how we beat and otherwise maltreated the Captain of the "Golden
Wire."
Footnote 257:
The fable is probably based on the currents which, as in Eastern
Africa, will carry a ship fifty miles a day out of her course. We
first find it in Ptolemy (vii. 2) whose Maniólai Islands, of India
extra Gangem, cause iron nails to fly out of ships, the effect of the
Lapis Herculeus (Loadstone). Rabelais (v. c. 37) alludes to it and to
the vulgar idea of magnetism being counteracted by Skordon (_Scordon_
or garlic). Hence too the Adamant (Loadstone) Mountains of Mandeville
(chapt. xxvii.) and the "Magnetic Rock" in Mr. Puttock's clever
"Peter Wilkins." I presume that the myth also arose from seeing craft
built, as on the East African Coast, without iron nails. We shall
meet with the legend again. The word Jabal ("Jebel" in Egypt) often
occurs in these pages. The Arabs apply it to any rising ground or
heap of rocks; so it is not always=our mountain. It has found its way
to Europe _e.g._ Gibraltar and Monte Gibello (or Mongibel in
poetry)="Mt. Ethne that men clepen Mounte Gybelle." Other special
senses of Jabal will occur.
Footnote 258:
As we learn from the Nubian Geographer the Arabs in early ages
explored the Fortunate Islands, Jazírát al-Khálidát (=Eternal Isles),
or Canaries, on one of which were reported a horse and horseman in
bronze with his spear pointing west. Ibn al-Wardi notes "two images
of hard stone, each an hundred cubits high, and upon the top of each
a figure of copper pointing with its hand backwards, as though it
would say:—Return for there is nothing behind me!" But this legend
attaches to older doings. The 23rd Tobba (who succeeded Bilkis),
Malik bin Sharhabíl, (or Sharabíl or Sharahíl) surnamed Náshir
al-Ni'ám=scatterer of blessings, lost an army in attempting the
Western sands and set up a statue of copper upon whose breast was
inscribed in antique characters:—
There is no access behind me,
Nothing beyond,
(Saith) The Son of Sharabíl.
Footnote 259:
_i.e._ I exclaimed "Bismillah!"
Footnote 260:
The lesser ablution of hands, face and feet; a kind of "washing the
points." More in Night ccccxl.
Footnote 261:
Arab. "Ruka'tayn"; the number of these bows which are followed by the
prostrations distinguishes the five daily prayers.
Footnote 262:
The "Beth Kol" of the Hebrews; also called by the Moslems "Hátif";
for which ask the Spiritualists. It is the Hindu "voice divine" or
"voice from heaven."
Footnote 263:
These formulæ are technically called Tasmiyah, Tahlíl (before noted)
and Takbír: the "testifying" is Tashhíd.
Footnote 264:
Arab. "Samn," (Pers. "Raughan" Hind. "Ghi") the "single sauce" of the
East; fresh butter set upon the fire, skimmed and kept (for a century
if required) in leather bottles and demijohns. Then it becomes a hard
black mass, considered a panacea for wounds and diseases. It is very
"filling": you say jocosely to an Eastern threatened with a sudden
inroad of guests, "Go, swamp thy rice with Raughan." I once tried
training, like a Hindu Pahlawan or athlete, on Gur (raw sugar), milk
and Ghi; and the result was being blinded by bile before the week
ended.
Footnote 265:
These handsome youths are always described in the terms we should
apply to women.
Footnote 266:
The Bul. Edit. (i. 43) reads otherwise:—I found a garden and a second
and a third and so on till they numbered thirty and nine; and, in
each garden, I saw what praise will not express, of trees and rills
and fruits and treasures. At the end of the last I sighted a door and
said to myself, "What may be in this place?; needs must I open it and
look in!" I did so accordingly and saw a courser ready saddled and
bridled and picketed; so I loosed and mounted him; and he flew with
me like a bird till he set me down on a terrace-roof; and, having
landed me, he struck me a whisk with his tail and put out mine eye
and fled from me. Thereupon I descended from the roof and found ten
youths all blind of one eye who, when they saw me exclaimed, "No
welcome to thee, and no good cheer!" I asked them, "Do ye admit me to
your home and society?" and they answered, "No, by Allah, thou shalt
not live amongst us." So I went forth with weeping eyes and grieving
heart, but Allah had written my safety on the Guarded Tablet so I
reached Baghdad in safety, etc. This is a fair specimen of how the
work has been curtailed in that issue.
Footnote 267:
Arabs date pregnancy from the stopping of the menses, upon which the
fœtus is supposed to feed. Kalilah wa Dimnah says, "The child's navel
adheres to that of his mother and thereby he sucks" (i. 263).
Footnote 268:
This is contrary to the commands of Al-Islam; Mohammed expressly said
"The Astrologers are liars, by the Lord of the Ka'abah!"; and his
saying is known to almost all Moslems, lettered or unlettered. Yet,
the further we go East (Indiawards) the more we find these practises
held in honour. Turning westwards we have:
Iuridicis, Erebo, Fisco, fas vivere rapto;
Militibus, Medicis, Tortori occidere ludo est;
Mentiri Astronomis, Pictoribus atque Poetis.
Footnote 269:
He does not perform the Wuzu or lesser ablution because he neglects
his dawn prayers.
Footnote 270:
For this game see Lane (M. E. Chapt. xvii.) It is usually played on a
checked cloth not on a board like our draughts; and Easterns are fond
of eating, drinking and smoking between and even during the games.
Torrens (p. 142) translates "I made up some dessert," confounding
"Mankalah" with "Nukl" (dried fruit, quatre-mendiants).
Footnote 271:
Quoted from Mohammed whose saying has been given.
Footnote 272:
We should say "the night of the thirty-ninth."
Footnote 273:
The bath first taken after sickness.
Footnote 274:
Arab. "Dikák" used by way of soap or rather to soften the skin: the
meal is usually of lupins, "Adas"="_Revalenta Arabica_," which costs
a penny in Egypt and half-a-crown in England.
Footnote 275:
Arab. "Sukkar-nabát." During my day (1842-49) we had no other sugar
in the Bombay Presidency.
Footnote 276:
This is one of the myriad Arab instances that the decrees of
"Anagké," Fate, Destiny, Weird, are inevitable. The situation is
highly dramatic; and indeed The Nights, as will appear in the
terminal Essay, have already suggested a national drama.
Footnote 277:
Having lately been moved by Ajib.
Footnote 278:
Mr. Payne (i. 131.) omits these lines which appear out of place; but
this mode of inappropriate quotation is a characteristic of Eastern
tales.
Footnote 279:
Anglicè "him."
Footnote 280:
This march of the tribe is a _lieu commun_ of Arab verse _e.g._ the
poet Labid's noble elegy on the "Deserted Camp." We shall find scores
of instances in The Nights.
Footnote 281:
I have heard of such sands in the Desert east of Damascus which can
be crossed only on boards or camel furniture; and the same is
reported of the infamous Region "Al-Ahkáf" ("Unexplored Syria").
Footnote 282:
Hence the Arab. saying "The bark of a dog and not the gleam of a
fire;" the tired traveller knows from the former that the camp is
near, whereas the latter shows from great distances.
Footnote 283:
Dark blue is the colour of mourning in Egypt as it was of the Roman
Republic. The Persians hold that this tint was introduced by Kay
Kawús (B.C. 600) when mourning for his son Siyáwush. It was continued
till the death of Husayn on the 10th of Muharram (the first month,
then representing the vernal equinox) when it was changed for black.
As a rule Moslems do not adopt this symbol of sorrow (called
"Hidád"), looking upon the practice as somewhat idolatrous and
foreign to Arab manners. In Egypt and especially on the Upper Nile
women dye their hands with indigo and stain their faces black or
blacker.
Footnote 284:
The older Roc, of which more in the Tale of Sindbad. Meanwhile the
reader curious about the Persian Símurgh (thirty bird) will consult
the Dabistan, i., 55, 191 and iii., 237, and Richardson's Diss. p.
xlviii. For the Anka (Enka or Unka=long-necked bird) see Dab. iii.,
249 and for the Humá (bird of Paradise) Richardson lxix. We still
lack details concerning the Ben or Bennu (nycticorax) of Egypt which
with the Article pi gave rise to the Greek "phœnix."
Footnote 285:
Probably the _Haledj_ of Forskal (p. xcvi. Flor. Ægypt. Arab.),
"lignum tenax, durum, obscuri generis." The Bres. Edit, has
"ákúl"=teak wood, vulg. "Sáj."
Footnote 286:
The knocker ring is an invention well known to the Romans.
Footnote 287:
Arab. "Sadr"; the place of honour; hence the "Sudder Adawlut"
(Supreme Court) in the Anglo-Indian jargon.
Footnote 288:
Arab. "Ahlan wa sahlan wa marhabá," the words still popularly
addressed to a guest.
Footnote 289:
This may mean "liquid black eyes"; but also, as I have noticed, that
the lashes were long and thick enough to make the eyelids appear as
if Kohl-powder had been applied to the inner rims.
Footnote 290:
A slight parting between the two front incisors, the upper only, is
considered a beauty by Arabs; why it is hard to say except for the
racial love of variety. "Sughr" (Thugr) in the text means, primarily,
the opening of the mouth, the gape: hence the front teeth.
Footnote 291:
_i.e._ makes me taste the bitterness of death, "bursting the
gall-bladder" (Marárah) being our "breaking the heart."
Footnote 292:
Almost needless to say that forbidden doors and rooms form a _lieu
commun_ in Fairie: they are found in the Hindu Katha Sarit Sagara and
became familiar to our childhood by "Bluebeard."
Footnote 293:
Lit. "apply Kohl to my eyes," even as Jezebel "painted her face," in
Heb. put her eyes in painting (2 Kings ix., 30).
Footnote 294:
Arab. "Al-Barkúk," whence our older "Apricock." Classically it is
"Burkúk" and Pers. for Arab. "Mishmish," and it also denotes a small
plum or damson. In Syria the "side next the sun" shows a glowing red
flush.
Footnote 295:
Arab. "Hazáṙ" (in Persian, a thousand)=a kind of mocking bird.
Footnote 296:
Some Edit. make the doors number a hundred, but the Princesses were
forty and these coincidences, which seem to have significance and
have none save for Arab symmetromania, are common in Arab stories.
Footnote 297:
Arab. "Májúr": hence possibly our "mazer," which is popularly derived
from Masarn, a maple.
Footnote 298:
A compound scent of ambergris, musk and aloes.
Footnote 299:
The ends of the bridle-reins forming the whip
Footnote 300:
The flying horse is Pegasus which is a Greek travesty of an Egyptian
myth developed in India.
Footnote 301:
The Bres. Edit. wrongly says "the seventh."
Footnote 302:
Arab. "Sharmutah" (plur. Sharámít) from the root Sharmat, to shred, a
favourite Egyptian word also applied in vulgar speech to a strumpet,
a punk, a piece. It is also the popular term for strips of jerked or
boucaned meat hung up in the sun to dry, and classically called
"Kadíd."
Footnote 303:
Arab. "Izár," the man's waist-cloth opposed to the Ridá or
shoulder-cloth, is also the sheet of white calico worn by the poorer
Egyptian women out of doors and covering head and hands. See Lane (M.
E., chapt. i). The rich prefer a "Habárah" of black silk, and the
poor, when they have nothing else, use a bed-sheet.
Footnote 304:
_i.e._ "My dears."
Footnote 305:
Arab. "Lá tawákhizná:" lit. "do not chastise (or blame) us;" the pop.
expression for, "excuse (or pardon) us."
Footnote 306:
Arab. "Maskhút," mostly applied to change of shape as man enchanted
to monkey, and in vulgar parlance applied to a statue (of stone,
etc.). The list of metamorphoses in Al-Islam is longer than that
known to Ovid. Those who have seen Petra, the Greek town of the
Haurán and the Roman ruins in Northern Africa will readily detect the
basis upon which these stories are built. I shall return to this
subject in The City of Iram (Night cclxxvi.) and The City of Brass
(dlxvii.).
Footnote 307:
A picturesque phrase enough to express a deserted site, a spectacle
familiar to the Nomades and always abounding in pathos to the
citizens.
Footnote 308:
The olden "Harem" (or gynæceum, Pers. Zenanah, Serraglio): Harím is
also used by synecdoche for the inmates; especially the wife.
Footnote 309:
The pearl is supposed in the East to lose 1% per ann. of its
splendour and value.
Footnote 310:
Arab. "Fass," properly the bezel of a ring; also a gem cut _en
cabochon_ and generally the _contenant_ for the _contenu_.
Footnote 311:
Arab. "Mihráb"=the arch-headed niche in the Mosque-wall facing
Meccah-wards. Here, with his back to the people and fronting
the Ka'abah or Square House of Meccah (hence called the
"Kiblah"=direction of prayer), stations himself the Imám, antistes or
fugleman, lit. "one who stands _before_ others;" and his bows and
prostrations give the time to the congregation. I have derived the
Mihrab from the niche in which the Egyptian God was shrined: the Jews
ignored it, but the Christians preserved it for their statues and
altars. Maundrell suggests that the empty niche denotes an invisible
God. As the niche (symbol of Venus) and the minaret (symbol of
Priapus) date only from the days of the tenth Caliph, Al-Walid (A.H.
86-96=105-115), the Hindus charge the Moslems with having borrowed
the two from their favourite idols—The Linga-Yoni or Cunnus-phallus
(Pilgrimage ii. 140), and plainly call the Mihrab a Bhaga=Cunnus
(Dabistan ii. 152.) The Guebres further term Meccah "Mah-gah," locus
Lunæ, and Al-Medinah, "Mahdinah,"=Moon of religion. See Dabistan i.,
49, etc.
Footnote 312:
Arab. "Kursi," a stool of palm-fronds, etc., ❌-shaped (see Lane's
illustration, Nights i., 197), before which the reader sits. Good
Moslems will not hold the Holy Volume below the waist nor open it
except when ceremonially pure. Englishmen in the East should remember
this, for to neglect the "Adab al-Kúran" (respect due to Holy Writ)
gives great scandal.
Footnote 313:
Mr. Payne (i. 148) quotes the German Zuckerpüppchen.
Footnote 314:
The Persian poets have a thousand conceits in praise of the "mole,"
(Khál or Shámah) for which Hafiz offered "Samarkand and Bokhara"
(they not being his, as his friends remarked). Another "topic" is the
flight of arrows shot by eyelashes.
Footnote 315:
Arab. "Suhá" a star in the Great Bear introduced only to balance
"wushát"=spies, enviers, enemies, whose "evil eye" it will ward off.
Footnote 316:
In Arab tales beauty is always "soft-sided," and a smooth skin is
valued in proportion to its rarety.
Footnote 317:
The myrtle is the young hair upon the side-face.
Footnote 318:
In other copies of these verses the fourth couplet swears "by the
scorpions of his brow" _i.e._ the _accroche-cœurs_, the
beau-catchers, bell-ropes or "aggravators," as the B.P. calls them.
In couplet eight the poet alludes to his love's "Unsur," or element,
his nature made up of the four classicals, and in the last couplet he
makes the nail-paring refer to the moon not the sun.
Footnote 319:
This is regular formula when speaking of Guebres.
Footnote 320:
Arab. "Faráiz"; the orders expressly given in the Koran which the
reader will remember, is Uncreate and Eternal. In India "Farz" is
applied to injunctions thrice repeated; and "Wájib" to those given
twice over. Elsewhere scanty difference is made between them.
Footnote 321:
Arab. "Kufr"=rejecting the True Religion, _i.e._ Al-Islam, such
rejection being "Tughyán" or rebellion against the Lord. The
"terrible sound" is taken from the legend of the prophet Sálih and
the proto-historic tribe of Thámúd which for its impiety was struck
dead by an earthquake and a noise from heaven. The latter, according
to some commentators, was the voice of the Archangel Gabriel crying
"Die all of you" (Koran, chapts. vii. xviii., etc.). We shall hear
more of it in the "City of many-coloured Iram." According to some,
Salih, a mysterious Badawi prophet, is buried in the Wady al-Shaykh
of the so-called Sinaitic Peninsula.
Footnote 322:
Yet they kept the semblance of man, showing that the idea arose from
the basaltic statues found in Hauranic ruins. Mohammed in his various
marches to Syria must have seen remnants of Greek and Roman
settlements; and as has been noticed "Sesostris" left his mark near
Meccah. (Pilgrimage iii. 137).
Footnote 323:
Arab. "Shuhadá"; highly respected by Moslems as by other
religionists; although their principal if not only merit seems as a
rule to have been intense obstinacy and devotion to one idea for
which they were ready to sacrifice even life. The Martyrs-category is
extensive including those killed by falling walls; victims to the
plague, pleurisy and pregnancy; travellers drowned or otherwise lost
when journeying honestly, and chaste lovers who die of "broken
hearts" _i.e._ impaired digestion. Their souls are at once stowed
away in the crops of green birds where they remain till Resurrection
Day, "eating of the fruits and drinking of the streams of Paradise,"
a place however, whose topography is wholly uncertain. Thus the young
Prince was rewarded with a manner of anti-Purgatory, a preparatory
heaven.
Footnote 324:
Arab. "Su 'ubán:" the Badawin give the name to a variety of serpents
all held to be venomous; but in tales the word, like "Tannín."
expresses our "dragon" or "cockatrice."
Footnote 325:
She was ashamed to see the lady doing servile duty by rubbing her
feet. This _massage_, which B. de la Brocquière describes in 1452 as
"kneading and pinching," has already been noticed. The French term is
apparently derived from the Arab. "Mas-h."
Footnote 326:
Alluding to the Most High Name, the hundredth name of God, the Heb.
Shem hamphorash, unknown save to a favoured few who by using it
perform all manner of miracles.
Footnote 327:
_i.e._ the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean.
Footnote 328:
_i.e._ Settled by the Koran.
Footnote 329:
The uglier the old woman the better procuress she is supposed to
make. See the Santa Verdiana in Boccaccio v., 10. In Arab. "Ajuz"
(old woman) is highly insulting and if addressed to an Egyptian,
whatever be her age she will turn fiercely and resent it. The polite
term is Shaybah (Pilgrimage iii., 200).
Footnote 330:
The four ages of woman, considered after Demosthenes in her
three-fold character, prostitute for pleasure, concubine for service
and wife for breeding.
Footnote 331:
Arab. "Jilá" (the Hindostani Julwa)=the displaying of the bride
before the bridegroom for the first time, in different dresses, to
the number of seven which are often borrowed for the occasion. The
happy man must pay a fee called "the tax of face-unveiling" before he
can see her features. Amongst Syrian Christians he sometimes tries to
lift the veil by a sharp movement of the sword which is parried by
the women present, and the blade remains entangled in the cloth. At
last he succeeds, the bride sinks to the ground covering her face
with her hands and the robes of her friends: presently she is raised
up, her veil is readjusted and her face is left bare.
Footnote 332:
Arab. "Ishá"=the first watch of the night, twilight, supper-time,
supper. Moslems have borrowed the four watches of the Romans from 6
(a.m. or p.m.) to 6; and ignore the three original watches of the
Jews, even, midnight and cockcrow (Sam. ii. 19, Judges vii. 19, and
Exodus xiv. 24).
Footnote 333:
A popular Arab hyperbole.
Footnote 334:
Arab. "Shakáik al-Nu'umán," lit. the fissures of Nu'uman, the
beautiful anemone, which a tyrannical King of Hirah, Nu'uman ibn
Al-Munzir, a contemporary of Mohammed, attempted to monopolize.
Footnote 335:
Arab. "Andam"=here the gum called dragon's blood; in other places the
dye-wood known as brazil.
Footnote 336:
I need hardly say that in the East, where bells are unused, clapping
the hands summons the servants. In India men cry "Quy hye" (Koi hái?)
and in the Brazil whistle "Pst!" after the fashion of Spain and
Portugal.
Footnote 337:
The moles are here compared with pearls; a simile by no means common
or appropriate.
Footnote 338:
A parody on the testification of Allah's Unity.
Footnote 339:
Arab. "Simát" (prop. "Sumát"); the "dinner-table," composed of a
round wooden stool supporting a large metal tray, the two being
called "Sufrah" (or "Simat"): thus, "Sufrah házirah!" means dinner is
on the table. After the meal they are at once removed.
Footnote 340:
In the text "Dastúr," the Persian word before noticed; "Izn" would be
the proper Arabic equivalent.
Footnote 341:
In the Moslem East a young woman, single or married, is not allowed
to appear alone in the streets; and the police has a right to arrest
delinquents. As a preventive of intrigues the precaution is
excellent. During the Crimean war hundreds of officers, English,
French and Italian, became familiar with Constantinople; and not a
few flattered themselves on their success with Turkish women. I do
not believe that a single _bonâ fide_ case occurred; the "conquests"
were all Greeks, Wallachians, Armenians or Jewesses.
Footnote 342:
Arab. "Azím": translators do not seem to know that this word in The
Nights often bears its Egyptian and slang sense, somewhat equivalent
to our "deuced" or "mighty" or "awfully fine."
Footnote 343:
This is a very serious thing amongst Moslems and scrupulous men often
make great sacrifices to avoid taking an oath.
Footnote 344:
We should say "into the noose."
Footnote 345:
The man had fallen in love with her and determined to mark her so
that she might be his.
Footnote 346:
Arab. "Dajlah," in which we find the Heb. Hid-dekel.
Footnote 347:
Such an execution would be contrary to Moslem law: but people would
look leniently upon the peccadillo of beheading or sacking a
faithless wife. Moreover the youth was of the blood royal and _A quoi
bon être prince?_ as was said by a boy of viceroyal family in Egypt
to his tutor who reproached him for unnecessarily shooting down a
poor old man.
Footnote 348:
Arab. "Shirk," partnership, evening or associating gods with God;
polytheism: especially levelled at the Hindu triadism, Guebre dualism
and Christian Trinitarianism.
Footnote 349:
Arab. "Shatm"=abuse, generally couched in foulest language with
especial reference to the privy parts of female relatives.
Footnote 350:
When a woman is bastinadoed in the East they leave her some portion
of dress and pour over her sundry buckets of water for a delicate
consideration. When the hands are beaten they are passed through
holes in the curtain separating the sufferer from mankind, and made
fast to a "falakah" or pole.
Footnote 351:
Arab. "Khalifah," Caliph. The word is also used for the successor of
a Santon or holy man.
Footnote 352:
Arab. "Sár;" here the Koranic word for carrying out the venerable and
undying _lex talionis_, the original basis of all criminal
jurisprudence. Its main fault is that justice repeats the offence.
Footnote 353:
Both these sons of Harun became Caliphs, as we shall see in The
Nights.
_THE TALE OF THE THREE APPLES._
They relate, O King of the age and lord of the time and of these days,
that the Caliph Harun al-Rashid summoned his Wazir Ja'afar one night
and said to him, "I desire to go down into the city and question the
common folk concerning the conduct of those charged with its
governance; and those of whom they complain we will depose from office
and those whom they commend we will promote." Quoth Ja'afar,
"Hearkening and obedience!" So the Caliph went down with Ja'afar and
Eunuch Masrur to the town and walked about the streets and markets and,
as they were threading a narrow alley, they came upon a very old man
with a fishing-net and crate to carry small fish on his head, and in
his hand a staff; and, as he walked at a leisurely pace, he repeated
these lines:—
They say me:—Thou shinest a light to mankind ✿ With thy lore as the
night which the Moon doth uplight!
I answer, "A truce to your jests and your gibes; ✿ Without luck what is
learning?—a poor-devil wight!
If they take me to pawn with my lore in my pouch, ✿ With my volumes to
read and my ink-case to write,
For one day's provision they never could pledge me; ✿ As likely on
Doomsday to draw bill at sight:"
How poorly, indeed, doth it fare wi' the poor, ✿ With his pauper
existence and beggarly plight:
In summer he faileth provision to find; ✿ In winter the fire-pot's his
only delight:
The street-dogs with bite and with bark to him rise, ✿ And each losel
receives him with bark and with bite:
If he lift up his voice and complain of his wrong, ✿ None pities or
heeds him, however he's right;
And when sorrows and evils like these he must brave ✿ His happiest
homestead were down in the grave.
When the Caliph heard his verses he said to Ja'afar, "See this poor man
and note his verses, for surely they point to his necessities." Then he
accosted him and asked, "O Shaykh, what be thine occupation?" and the
poor man answered, "O my lord, I am a fisherman with a family to keep
and I have been out between midday and this time; and not a thing hath
Allah made my portion wherewithal to feed my family. I cannot even pawn
myself to buy them a supper and I hate and disgust my life and I hanker
after death." Quoth the Caliph, "Say me, wilt thou return with us to
Tigris' bank and cast thy net on my luck, and whatsoever turneth up I
will buy of thee for an hundred gold pieces?" The man rejoiced when he
heard these words and said, "On my head be it! I will go back with
you;" and, returning with them river-wards, made a cast and waited a
while; then he hauled in the rope and dragged the net ashore and there
appeared in it a chest padlocked and heavy. The Caliph examined it and
lifted it finding it weighty; so he gave the fisherman two hundred
dinars and sent him about his business; whilst Masrur, aided by the
Caliph, carried the chest to the palace and set it down and lighted the
candles. Ja'afar and Masrur then broke it open and found therein a
basket of palm-leaves corded with red worsted. This they cut open and
saw within it a piece of carpet which they lifted out, and under it was
a woman's mantilla folded in four, which they pulled out; and at the
bottom of the chest they came upon a young lady, fair as a silver
ingot, slain and cut into nineteen pieces. When the Caliph looked upon
her he cried, "Alas!" and tears ran down his cheeks and turning to
Ja'afar he said, "O dog of Wazirs,[354] shall folk be murdered in our
reign and be cast into the river to be a burden and a responsibility
for us on the Day of Doom? By Allah, we must avenge this woman on her
murderer and he shall be made die the worst of deaths!" And presently
he added, "Now, as surely as we are descended from the Sons of
Abbas,[355] if thou bring us not him who slew her, that we do her
justice on him, I will hang thee at the gate of my palace, thee and
forty of thy kith and kin by thy side." And the Caliph was wroth with
exceeding rage. Quoth Ja'afar, "Grant me three days delay;" and quoth
the Caliph, "We grant thee this." So Ja'afar went out from before him
and returned to his own house, full of sorrow and saying to himself,
"How shall I find him who murdered this damsel, that I may bring him
before the Caliph? If I bring other than the murderer, it will be laid
to my charge by the Lord: in very sooth I wot not what to do." He kept
his house three days and on the fourth day the Caliph sent one of the
Chamberlains for him and, as he came into the presence, asked him,
"Where is the murderer of the damsel?" to which answered Ja'afar, "O
Commander of the Faithful, am I inspector of murdered folk that I
should ken who killed her?" The Caliph was furious at his answer and
bade hang him before the palace-gate and commanded that a crier cry
through the streets of Baghdad, "Whoso would see the hanging of
Ja'afar, the Barmaki, Wazir of the Caliph, with forty of the
Barmecides,[356] his cousins and kinsmen, before the palace-gate, let
him come and let him look!" The people flocked out from all the
quarters of the city to witness the execution of Ja'afar and his
kinsmen, not knowing the cause. Then they set up the gallows and made
Ja'afar and the others stand underneath in readiness for execution, but
whilst every eye was looking for the Caliph's signal, and the crowd
wept for Ja'afar and his cousins of the Barmecides, lo and behold! a
young man fair of face and neat of dress and of favour like the moon
raining light, with eyes black and bright, and brow flower-white, and
cheeks red as rose and young down where the beard grows, and a mole
like a grain of ambergris, pushed his way through the people till he
stood immediately before the Wazir and said to him, "Safety to thee
from this strait, O Prince of the Emirs and Asylum of the poor! I am
the man who slew the woman ye found in the chest, so hang me for her
and do her justice on me!" When Ja'afar heard the youth's confession he
rejoiced at his own deliverance, but grieved and sorrowed for the fair
youth, and whilst they were yet talking behold, another man well
stricken in years pressed forwards through the people and thrust his
way amid the populace till he came to Ja'afar and the youth, whom he
saluted saying, "Ho thou the Wazir and Prince sans-peer! believe not
the words of this youth. Of a surety none murdered the damsel but I;
take her wreak on me this moment; for, an thou do not thus, I will
require it of thee before Almighty Allah." Then quoth the young man, "O
Wazir, this is an old man in his dotage who wotteth not whatso he saith
ever, and I am he who murdered her, so do thou avenge her on me!" Quoth
the old man, "O my son, thou art young and desirest the joys of the
world and I am old and weary and surfeited with the world: I will offer
my life as a ransom for thee and for the Wazir and his cousins. No one
murdered the damsel but I, so Allah upon thee, make haste to hang me,
for no life is left in me now that hers is gone." The Wazir marvelled
much at all this strangeness and, taking the young man and the old man,
carried them before the Caliph, where, after kissing the ground seven
times between his hands, he said, "O Commander of the Faithful, I bring
thee the murderer of the damsel!" "Where is he?"; asked the Caliph and
Ja'afar answered, "This young man saith, I am the murderer, and this
old man giving him the lie saith, I am the murderer, and behold, here
are the twain standing before thee." The Caliph looked at the old man
and the young man and asked, "Which of you killed the girl?" The young
man replied, "No one slew her save I;" and the old man answered,
"Indeed none killed her but myself." Then said the Caliph to Ja'afar,
"Take the twain and hang them both;" but Ja'afar rejoined, "Since one
of them was the murderer, to hang the other were mere injustice."[357]
"By Him who raised the firmament and dispread the earth like a carpet,"
cried the youth, "I am he who slew the damsel;" and he went on to
describe the manner of her murder and the basket, the mantilla and the
bit of carpet, in fact all that the Caliph had found upon her. So the
Caliph was certified that the young man was the murderer; whereat he
wondered and asked him, "What was the cause of thy wrongfully doing
this damsel to die and what made thee confess the murder without the
bastinado, and what brought thee here to yield up thy life, and what
made thee say Do her wreak upon me?" The youth answered, "Know, O
Commander of the Faithful, that this woman was my wife and the mother
of my children; also my first cousin and the daughter of my paternal
uncle, this old man who is my father's own brother. When I married her
she was a maid[358] and Allah blessed me with three male children by
her; she loved me and served me and I saw no evil in her, for I also
loved her with fondest love. Now on the first day of this month she
fell ill with grievous sickness and I fetched in physicians to her; but
recovery came to her little by little and, when I wished her to go to
the Hammam-bath, she said:—There is a something I long for before I go
to the bath and I long for it with an exceeding longing. To hear is to
comply, said I. And what is it? Quoth she, I have a queasy craving for
an apple, to smell it and bite a bit of it. I replied:—Hadst thou a
thousand longings I would try to satisfy them! So I went on the instant
into the city and sought for apples but could find none; yet, had they
cost a gold piece each, would I have bought them. I was vexed at this
and went home and said:—O daughter of my uncle, by Allah I can find
none! She was distressed, being yet very weakly, and her weakness
increased greatly on her that night and I felt anxious and alarmed on
her account. As soon as morning dawned I went out again and made the
round of the gardens, one by one, but found no apples anywhere. At last
there met me an old gardener, of whom I asked about them and he
answered:—O my son, this fruit is a rarity with us and is not now to be
found save in the garden of the Commander of the Faithful at Bassorah,
where the gardener keepeth it for the Caliph's eating. I returned to my
house troubled by my ill-success; and my love for my wife and my
affection moved me to undertake the journey. So I gat me ready and set
out and travelled fifteen days and nights, going and coming, and
brought her three apples which I bought from the gardener for three
dinars. But when I went in to my wife and set them before her, she took
no pleasure in them and let them lie by her side; for her weakness and
fever had increased on her and her malady lasted without abating ten
days, after which time she began to recover health. So I left my house
and betaking me to my shop sat there buying and selling; and about
midday behold, a great ugly black slave, long as a lance and broad as a
bench, passed by my shop holding in hand one of the three apples
wherewith he was playing. Quoth I:—O my good slave, tell me whence thou
tookest that apple, that I may get the like of it? He laughed and
answered:—I got it from my mistress, for I had been absent and on my
return I found her lying ill with three apples by her side, and she
said to me:—My horned wittol of a husband made a journey for them to
Bassorah and bought them for three dinars. So I ate and drank with her
and took this one from her.[359] When I heard such words from the
slave, O Commander of the Faithful, the world grew black before my
face, and I arose and locked up my shop and went home beside myself for
excess of rage. I looked for the apples and finding only two of the
three asked my wife:—O my cousin, where is the third apple?; and
raising her head languidly she answered:—I wot not, O son of my uncle,
where 'tis gone! This convinced me that the slave had spoken the truth,
so I took a knife and coming behind her got upon her breast without a
word said and cut her throat. Then I hewed off her head and her limbs
in pieces and, wrapping her in her mantilla and a rag of carpet,
hurriedly sewed up the whole which I set in a chest and, locking it
tight, loaded it on my he-mule and threw it into the Tigris with my own
hands. So Allah upon thee, O Commander of the Faithful, make haste to
hang me, as I fear lest she appeal for vengeance on Resurrection Day.
For, when I had thrown her into the river and none knew aught of it, as
I went back home I found my eldest son crying and yet he knew naught of
what I had done with his mother. I asked him:—What hath made thee weep,
my boy?; and he answered:—I took one of the three apples which were by
my mammy and went down into the lane to play with my brethren when
behold, a big long black slave snatched it from my hand and said,
Whence hadst thou this? Quoth I, My father travelled far for it, and
brought it from Bassorah for my mother who was ill and two other apples
for which he paid three ducats. He took no heed of my words and I asked
for the apple a second and a third time, but he cuffed me and kicked me
and went off with it. I was afraid lest my mother should swinge me on
account of the apple, so for fear of her I went with my brother outside
the city and stayed there till evening closed in upon us; and indeed I
am in fear of her; and now by Allah, O my father, say nothing to her of
this or it may add to her ailment! When I heard what my child said I
knew that the slave was he who had foully slandered my wife, the
daughter of my uncle, and was certified that I had slain her
wrongfully. So I wept with exceeding weeping and presently this old
man, my paternal uncle and her father, came in; and I told him what had
happened and he sat down by my side and wept and we ceased not weeping
till midnight. We have kept up mourning for her these last five days
and we lamented her in the deepest sorrow for that she was unjustly
done to die. This came from the gratuitous lying of the slave, the
blackamoor, and this was the manner of my killing her; so I conjure
thee, by the honour of thine ancestors, make haste to kill me and do
her justice upon me, as there is no living for me after her!" The
Caliph marvelled at his words and said, "By Allah the young man is
excusable: I will hang none but the accursed slave and I will do a deed
which shall comfort the ill-at-ease and suffering, and which shall
please the All-glorious King."——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day
and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Twentieth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Caliph swore
he would hang none but the slave, for the youth was excusable. Then he
turned to Ja'afar and said to him, "Bring before me this accursed slave
who was the sole cause of this calamity; and, if thou bring him not
before me within three days, thou shalt be slain in his stead." So
Ja'afar fared forth weeping and saying, "Two deaths have already beset
me, nor shall the crock come off safe from every shock.[360] In this
matter craft and cunning are of no avail; but He who preserved my life
the first time can preserve it a second time. By Allah, I will not
leave my house during the three days of life which remain to me and let
the Truth (whose perfection be praised!) do e'en as He will." So he
kept his house three days, and on the fourth day he summoned the Kazis
and legal witnesses and made his last will and testament, and took
leave of his children weeping. Presently in came a messenger from the
Caliph and said to him, "The Commander of the Faithful is in the most
violent rage that can be, and he sendeth to seek thee and he sweareth
that the day shall certainly not pass without thy being hanged unless
the slave be forthcoming." When Ja'afar heard this he wept, and his
children and slaves and all who were in the house wept with him. After
he had bidden adieu to everybody except his youngest daughter, he
proceeded to farewell her; for he loved this wee one, who was a
beautiful child, more than all his other children; and he pressed her
to his breast and kissed her and wept bitterly at parting from her;
when he felt something round inside the bosom of her dress and asked
her, "O my little maid, what is in thy bosom pocket?"; "O my father,"
she replied, "it is an apple with the name of our Lord the Caliph
written upon it. Rayhán our slave brought it to me four days ago and
would not let me have it till I gave him two dinars for it." When
Ja'afar heard speak of the slave and the apple, he was glad and put his
hand into his child's pocket[361] and drew out the apple and knew it
and rejoiced saying, "O ready Dispeller of trouble!"[362] Then he bade
them bring the slave and said to him, "Fie upon thee, Rayhan! whence
haddest thou this apple?" "By Allah, O my master," he replied, "though
a lie may get a man once off, yet may truth get him off, and well off,
again and again. I did not steal this apple from thy palace nor from
the gardens of the Commander of the Faithful. The fact is that five
days ago, as I was walking along one of the alleys of this city, I saw
some little ones at play and this apple in hand of one of them. So I
snatched it from him and beat him and he cried and said, O youth this
apple is my mother's and she is ill. She told my father how she longed
for an apple, so he travelled to Bassorah and bought her three apples
for three gold pieces, and I took one of them to play withal. He wept
again, but I paid no heed to what he said and carried it off and
brought it here, and my little lady bought it of me for two dinars of
gold. And this is the whole story." When Ja'afar heard his words he
marvelled that the murder of the damsel and all this misery should have
been caused by his slave; he grieved for the relation of the slave to
himself, while rejoicing over his own deliverance, and he repeated
these lines:—
If ill betide thee through thy slave, ✿ Make him forthright thy
sacrifice:
A many serviles thou shalt find, ✿ But life comes once and never twice.
Then he took the slave's hand and, leading him to the Caliph, related
the story from first to last and the Caliph marvelled with extreme
astonishment, and laughed till he fell on his back and ordered that the
story be recorded and be made public amongst the people. But Ja'afar
said, "Marvel not, O Commander of the Faithful, at this adventure, for
it is not more wondrous than the History of the Wazir Núr al-Dín Ali of
Egypt and his brother Shams al-Dín Mohammed." Quoth the Caliph, "Out
with it; but what can be stranger than this story?" And Ja'afar
answered, "O Commander of the Faithful, I will not tell it thee, save
on condition that thou pardon my slave;" and the Caliph rejoined, "If
it be indeed more wondrous than that of the three apples, I grant thee
his blood, and if not I will surely slay thy slave." So Ja'afar began
in these words the
-----
Footnote 354:
"Dog" and "hog" are still highly popular terms of abuse. The Rabbis
will not defile their lips with "pig;" but say "Dabhar
akhir"="another thing."
Footnote 355:
The "hero eponymus" of the Abbaside dynasty, Abbas having been the
brother of Abdullah, the father of Mohammed. He is a famous personage
in Al-Islam (D'Herbelot).
Footnote 356:
Europe translates the word "Barmecides." It is Persian from _bar_
(up) and _makídan_ (to suck). The vulgar legend is that Ja'afar, the
first of the name, appeared before the Caliph Abd al-Malik with a
ring poisoned for his own need; and that the Caliph, warned of it by
the clapping of two stones which he wore _ad hoc_, charged the
visitor with intention to murder him. He excused himself and in his
speech occurred the Persian word "Barmakam," which may mean "I shall
sup it up," or, "I am a Barmak," that is, a high priest among the
Guebres. See D'Herbelot s.v.
Footnote 357:
Arab. "Zulm," the deadliest of monarch's sins. One of the sayings of
Mohammed, popularly quoted, is, "Kingdom endureth with Kufr or
infidelity (_i.e._ without accepting Al-Islam) but endureth not with
Zulm or injustice." Hence the good Moslem will not complain of the
rule of Kafirs or Unbelievers, like the English, so long as they rule
him righteously and according to his own law.
Footnote 358:
All this aggravates his crime: had she been a widow she would not
have had upon him "the claims of maidenhead," the premio della
verginità of Boccaccio, x. 10.
Footnote 359:
It is supposed that slaves cannot help telling these fatal lies. Arab
story-books are full of ancient and modern instances and some have
become "Joe Millers." Moreover it is held unworthy of a freeborn man
to take over-notice of these servile villanies; hence the scoundrel
in the story escapes unpunished. I have already noticed the
predilection of debauched women for these "skunks of the human race;"
and the young man in the text evidently suspected that his wife had
passed herself this "little caprice." The excuse which the Caliph
would find for him is the _pundonor_ shown in killing one he loved so
fondly.
Footnote 360:
The Arab equivalent of our pitcher and well.
Footnote 361:
_i.e._ Where the dress sits loosely about the bust.
Footnote 362:
He had trusted in Allah and his trust was justified.
_TALE OF NÚR AL-DÍN ALÍ & HIS SON BADR AL-DÍN HASAN_
Know, O Commander of the Faithful, that in times of yore the land of
Egypt was ruled by a Sultan endowed with justice and generosity, one
who loved the pious poor and companied with the Olema and learned men;
and he had a Wazir, a wise and an experienced, well versed in affairs
and in the art of government. This Minister, who was a very old man,
had two sons, as they were two moons; never man saw the like of them
for beauty and grace, the elder called Shams al-Din Mohammed and the
younger Nur al-Din Ali; but the younger excelled the elder in
seemliness and pleasing semblance, so that folk heard his fame in far
countries and men flocked to Egypt for the purpose of seeing him. In
course of time their father, the Wazir, died and was deeply regretted
and mourned by the Sultan, who sent for his two sons and, investing
them with dresses of honour,[363] said to them, "Let not your hearts be
troubled, for ye shall stand in your father's stead and be joint
Ministers of Egypt." At this they rejoiced and kissed the ground before
him and performed the ceremonial mourning[364] for their father during
a full month; after which time they entered upon the Wazirate, and the
power passed into their hands as it had been in the hands of their
father, each doing duty for a week at a time. They lived under the same
roof and their word was one; and whenever the Sultan desired to travel
they took it by turns to be in attendance on him. It fortuned one night
that the Sultan purposed setting out on a journey next morning, and the
elder, whose turn it was to accompany him, was sitting conversing with
his brother and said to him, "O my brother, it is my wish that we both
marry, I and thou, two sisters; and go in to our wives on one and the
same night." "Do, O my brother, as thou desirest," the younger replied,
"for right is thy recking and surely I will comply with thee in whatso
thou sayest." So they agreed upon this and quoth Shams al-Din, "If
Allah decree that we marry two damsels and go in to them on the same
night, and they shall conceive on their bride-nights and bear children
to us on the same day, and by Allah's will thy wife bear thee a son and
my wife bear me a daughter, let us wed them either to other, for they
will be cousins." Quoth Nur al-Din, "O my brother, Shams al-Din, what
dower[365] wilt thou require from my son for thy daughter?" Quoth Shams
al-Din, "I will take three thousand dinars and three pleasure gardens
and three farms; and it would not be seemly that the youth make
contract for less than this." When Nur al-Din heard such demand he
said, "What manner of dower is this thou wouldest impose upon my son?
Wottest thou not that we are brothers and both by Allah's grace Wazirs
and equal in office? It behoveth thee to offer thy daughter to my son
without marriage settlement; or, if one need be, it should represent a
mere nominal value by way of show to the world: for thou knowest that
the masculine is worthier than the feminine, and my son is a male and
our memory will be preserved by him, not by thy daughter." "But what,"
said Shams al-Din, "is she to have?"; and Nur al-Din continued,
"Through her we shall not be remembered among the Emirs of the earth;
but I see thou wouldest do with me according to the saying:—An thou
wouldst bluff off a buyer, ask him high price and higher; or as did a
man who, they say, went to a friend and asked something of him being in
necessity and was answered:—Bismillah,[366] in the name of Allah, I
will do all what thou requirest but come to-morrow!" Whereupon the
other replied in this verse:—
When he who is asked a favour saith "To-morrow," ✿ The wise man wots
'tis vain to beg or borrow.
Quoth Shams al-Din, "Basta![367] I see thee fail in respect to me by
making thy son of more account than my daughter; and 'tis plain that
thine understanding is of the meanest and that thou lackest manners.
Thou remindest me of thy partnership in the Wazirate, when I admitted
thee to share with me only in pity for thee, and not wishing to mortify
thee; and that thou mightest help me as a manner of assistant. But
since thou talkest on this wise, by Allah, I will never marry my
daughter to thy son; no, not for her weight in gold!" When Nur al-Din
heard his brother's words he waxed wroth and said, "And I too, I will
never, never marry my son to thy daughter; no, not to keep from my lips
the cup of death." Shams al-Din replied, "I would not accept him as a
husband for her, and he is not worth a paring of her nail. Were I not
about to travel I would make an example of thee; however when I return
thou shalt see, and I will show thee, how I can assert my dignity and
vindicate my honour. But Allah doeth whatso He willeth."[368] When Nur
al-Din heard this speech from his brother, he was filled with fury and
lost his wits for rage; but he hid what he felt and held his peace; and
each of the brothers passed the night in a place far apart, wild with
wrath against the other. As soon as morning dawned the Sultan fared
forth in state and crossed over from Cairo[369] to Jízah[370] and made
for the Pyramids, accompanied by the Wazir Shams al-Din, whose turn of
duty it was, whilst his brother Nur al-Din, who passed the night in
sore rage, rose with the light and prayed the dawn-prayer. Then he
betook himself to his treasury and, taking a small pair of saddle-bags,
filled them with gold; and he called to mind his brother's threats and
the contempt wherewith he had treated him, and he repeated these
couplets:—
Travel! and thou shalt find new friends for old ones left behind; ✿
Toil! for the sweets of human life by toil and moil are found:
The stay-at-home no honour wins nor aught attains but want; ✿ So leave
thy place of birth[371] and wander all the world around!
I've seen, and very oft I've seen, how standing water stinks, ✿ And
only flowing sweetens it and trotting makes it sound:
And were the moon for ever full and ne'er to wax or wane, ✿ Man would
not strain his watchful eyes to see its gladsome round:
Except the lion leave his lair he ne'er would fell his game; ✿ Except
the arrow leave the bow ne'er had it reached its bound:
Gold-dust is dust the while it lies untravelled in the mine, ✿ And
aloes-wood mere fuel is upon its native ground:
And gold shall win his highest worth when from his goal ungoal'd; ✿ And
aloes sent to foreign parts grows costlier than gold.
When he ended his verse he bade one of his pages saddle him his Nubian
mare-mule with her padded selle. Now she was a dapple-grey,[372] with
ears like reed-pens and legs like columns and a back high and strong as
a dome builded on pillars; her saddle was of gold-cloth and her
stirrups of Indian steel, and her housing of Ispahan velvet; she had
trappings which would serve the Chosroës, and she was like a bride
adorned for her wedding night. Moreover he bade lay on her back a piece
of silk for a seat, and a prayer-carpet under which were his
saddle-bags. When this was done he said to his pages and slaves, "I
purpose going forth a-pleasuring outside the city on the road to
Kalyúb-town,[373] and I shall lie three nights abroad; so let none of
you follow me, for there is something straiteneth my breast." Then he
mounted the mule in haste; and, taking with him some provaunt for the
way, set out from Cairo and faced the open and uncultivated country
lying around it.[374] About noontide he entered Bilbays-city,[375]
where he dismounted and stayed awhile to rest himself and his mule and
ate some of his victual. He bought at Bilbays all he wanted for himself
and forage for his mule and then fared on the way of the waste. Towards
nightfall he entered a town called Sa'adiyah[376] where he alighted and
took out somewhat of his viaticum and ate; then he spread his strip of
silk on the sand and set the saddle-bags under his head and slept in
the open air; for he was still overcome with anger. When morning dawned
he mounted and rode onward till he reached the Holy City,[377]
Jerusalem, and thence he made Aleppo, where he dismounted at one of the
caravanserais and abode three days to rest himself and the mule and to
smell the air.[378] Then, being determined to travel afar and Allah
having written safety in his fate, he set out again, wending without
wotting whither he was going; and, having fallen in with certain
couriers, he stinted not travelling till he had reached Bassorah-city
albeit he knew not what the place was. It was dark night when he
alighted at the Khan, so he spread out his prayer-carpet and took down
the saddle-bags from the back of the mule and gave her with her
furniture in charge of the door-keeper that he might walk her about.
The man took her and did as he was bid. Now it so happened that the
Wazir of Bassorah, a man shot in years, was sitting at the
lattice-window of his palace opposite the Khan and he saw the porter
walking the mule up and down. He was struck by her trappings of price
and thought her a nice beast fit for the riding of Wazirs or even of
royalties; and the more he looked the more was he perplexed till at
last he said to one of his pages, "Bring hither yon door-keeper." The
page went and returned to the Wazir with the porter who kissed the
ground between his hands, and the Minister asked him, "Who is the owner
of yonder mule and what manner of man is he?"; and he answered, "O my
lord, the owner of this mule is a comely young man of pleasant manners,
withal grave and dignified, and doubtless one of the sons of the
merchants." When the Wazir heard the door-keeper's words he arose
forthright; and, mounting his horse, rode to the Khan[379] and went in
to Nur al-Din who, seeing the Minister making towards him, rose to his
feet and advanced to meet him and saluted him. The Wazir welcomed him
to Bassorah and dismounting, embraced him and made him sit down by his
side and said, "O my son, whence comest thou and what dost thou seek?"
"O my lord," Nur al-Din replied, "I have come from Cairo-city of which
my father was whilome Wazir; but he hath been removed to the grace of
Allah;" and he informed him of all that had befallen him from beginning
to end, adding, "I am resolved never to return home before I have seen
all the cities and countries of the world." When the Wazir heard this,
he said to him, "O my son, hearken not to the voice of passion lest it
cast thee into the pit; for indeed many regions be waste places and I
fear for thee the turns of Time." Then he let load the saddle-bags and
the silk and prayer-carpets on the mule and carried Nur al-Din to his
own house, where he lodged him in a pleasant place and entreated him
honourably and made much of him, for he inclined to love him with
exceeding love. After a while he said to him, "O my son, here am I left
a man in years and have no male children, but Allah hath blessed me
with a daughter who eveneth thee in beauty; and I have rejected all her
many suitors, men of rank and substance. But affection for thee hath
entered into my heart; say me, then, wilt thou be to her a husband? If
thou accept this, I will go up with thee to the Sultan of Bassorah[380]
and will tell him that thou art my nephew, the son of my brother, and
bring thee to be appointed Wazir in my place that I may keep the house
for, by Allah, O my son, I am stricken in years and aweary." When Nur
al-Din heard the Wazir's words, he bowed his head in modesty and said,
"To hear is to obey!" At this the Wazir rejoiced and bade his servants
prepare a feast and decorate the great assembly-hall, wherein they were
wont to celebrate the marriages of Emirs and Grandees. Then he
assembled his friends and the notables of the reign and the merchants
of Bassorah and when all stood before him he said to them, "I had a
brother who was Wazir in the land of Egypt, and Allah Almighty blessed
him with two sons, whilst to me, as well ye wot, He hath given a
daughter. My brother charged me to marry my daughter to one of his
sons, whereto I assented; and, when my daughter was of age to marry, he
sent me one of his sons, the young man now present, to whom I purpose
marrying her, drawing up the contract and celebrating the night of
unveiling with due ceremony: for he is nearer and dearer to me than a
stranger and, after the wedding, if he please he shall abide with me,
or if he desire to travel I will forward him and his wife to his
father's home." Hereat one and all replied, "Right is thy recking;" and
they looked at the bridegroom and were pleased with him. So the Wazir
sent for the Kazi and legal witnesses and they wrote out the marriage
contract, after which the slaves perfumed the guests with incense,[381]
and served them with sherbet of sugar and sprinkled rose-water on them
and all went their ways. Then the Wazir bade his servants take Nur
al-Din to the Hammam-baths and sent him a suit of the best of his own
especial raiment, and napkins and towelry and bowls and perfume-burners
and all else that was required. And after the bath, when he came out
and donned the dress, he was even as the full moon on the fourteenth
night; and he mounted his mule and stayed not till he reached the
Wazir's palace. There he dismounted and went in to the Minister and
kissed his hands, and the Wazir bade him welcome.——And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Twenty-First Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Wazir stood
up to him and welcoming him said, "Arise and go in to thy wife this
night, and on the morrow I will carry thee to the Sultan, and pray
Allah bless thee with all manner of weal." So Nur al-Din left him and
went in to his wife the Wazir's daughter. Thus far concerning him, but
as regards his elder brother, Shams al-Din, he was absent with the
Sultan a long time and when he returned from his journey he found not
his brother; and he asked of his servants and slaves who answered, "On
the day of thy departure with the Sultan, thy brother mounted his mule
fully caparisoned as for state procession saying:—I am going towards
Kalyub-town and I shall be absent one day or at most two days; for my
breast is straitened, and let none of you follow me." Then he fared
forth and from that time to this we have heard no tidings of him. Shams
al-Din was greatly troubled at the sudden disappearance of his brother
and grieved with exceeding grief at the loss and said to himself, "This
is only because I chided and upbraided him the night before my
departure with the Sultan; haply his feelings were hurt and he fared
forth a-travelling; but I must send after him." Then he went in to the
Sultan and acquainted him with what had happened and wrote letters and
dispatches, which he sent by running footmen to his deputies in every
province. But during the twenty days of his brother's absence Nur
al-Din had travelled far and had reached Bassorah; so after diligent
search the messengers failed to come at any news of him and returned.
Thereupon Shams al-Din despaired of finding his brother and said,
"Indeed I went beyond all bounds in what I said to him with reference
to the marriage of our children. Would that I had not done so! This all
cometh of my lack of wit and want of caution." Soon after this he
sought in marriage the daughter of a Cairene merchant[382] and drew up
the marriage contract and went in to her. And it so chanced that, on
the very same night when Shams al-Din went in to his wife, Nur al-Din
also went in to his wife the daughter of the Wazir of Bassorah; this
being in accordance with the will of Almighty Allah, that He might deal
the decrees of Destiny to His creatures. Furthermore, it was as the two
brothers had said; for their two wives became pregnant by them on the
same night and both were brought to bed on the same day; the wife of
Shams al-Din, Wazir of Egypt, of a daughter, never in Cairo was seen a
fairer; and the wife of Nur al-Din of a son, none more beautiful was
ever seen in his time, as one of the poets said concerning the like of
him:—
That jetty hair, that glossy brow,
My slender waisted youth, of thine,
Can darkness round creation throw,
Or make it brightly shine.
The dusky mole that faintly shows
Upon his cheek, ah! blame it not;
The tulip-flower never blows
Undarkened by its spot.[383]
And as another also said:—
His scent was musk and his cheek was rose; ✿ His teeth are pearls and
his lips drop wine;
His form is a brand and his hips a hill; ✿ His hair is night and his
face moonshine.
They named the boy Badr al-Din Hasan and his grandfather, the Wazir of
Bassorah, rejoiced in him and, on the seventh day after his birth, made
entertainments and spread banquets which would befit the birth of
Kings' sons and heirs. Then he took Nur al-Din and went up with him to
the Sultan, and his son-in-law, when he came before the presence of the
King, kissed the ground between his hands and repeated these verses,
for he was ready of speech, firm of sprite and good in heart as he was
goodly in form:—
The world's best joys long be thy lot, my lord! ✿ And last while
darkness and the dawn o'erlap:
O thou who makest, when we greet thy gifts, ✿ The world to dance and
Time his palms to clap.[384]
Then the Sultan rose up to honour them and, thanking Nur al-Din for his
fine compliment, asked the Wazir, "Who may be this young man?"; and the
Minister answered, "This is my brother's son," and related his tale
from first to last. Quoth the Sultan, "And how comes he to be thy
nephew and we have never heard speak of him?" Quoth the Minister, "O
our lord the Sultan, I had a brother who was Wazir in the land of Egypt
and he died, leaving two sons, whereof the elder hath taken his
father's place and the younger, whom thou seest, came to me. I had
sworn I would not marry my daughter to any but to him; so when he came
I married him to her.[385] Now he is young and I am old; my hearing is
dulled and my judgment is easily fooled; wherefore I would solicit our
lord the Sultan[386] to set him in my stead, for he is my brother's son
and my daughter's husband; and he is fit for the Wazirate, being a man
of good counsel and ready contrivance." The Sultan looked at Nur al-Din
and liked him, so he stablished him in office as the Wazir had
requested and formally appointed him, presenting him with a splendid
dress of honour and a she-mule from his private stud; and assigning to
him solde, stipends and supplies. Nur al-Din kissed the Sultan's hand
and went home, he and his father-in-law, joying with exceeding joy and
saying, "All this followeth on the heels of the boy Hasan's birth!"
Next day he presented himself before the King and, kissing the ground,
began repeating:—
Grow thy weal and thy welfare day by day: ✿ And thy luck prevail o'er
the envier's spite;
And ne'er cease thy days to be white as day, ✿ And thy foeman's day to
be black as night!
The Sultan bade him be seated on the Wazir's seat, so he sat down and
applied himself to the business of his office and went into the cases
of the lieges and their suits, as is the wont of Ministers; while the
Sultan watched him and wondered at his wit and good sense, judgment and
insight. Wherefor he loved him and took him into intimacy. When the
Divan was dismissed Nur al-Din returned to his house and related what
had passed to his father-in-law who rejoiced. And thenceforward Nur
al-Din ceased not so to administer the Wazirate that the Sultan would
not be parted from him night or day; and increased his stipends and
supplies till his means were ample and he became the owner of ships
that made trading voyages at his command, as well as of Mamelukes and
blackamoor slaves; and he laid out many estates and set up Persian
wheels and planted gardens. When his son Hasan was four years of age,
the old Wazir deceased, and he made for his father-in-law a sumptuous
funeral ceremony ere he was laid in the dust. Then he occupied himself
with the education of this son and, when the boy waxed strong and came
to the age of seven, he brought him a Fakih, a doctor of law and
religion, to teach him in his own house and charged him to give him a
good education and instruct him in politeness and good manners. So the
tutor made the boy read and retain all varieties of useful knowledge,
after he had spent some years in learning the Koran by heart;[387] and
he ceased not to grow in beauty and stature and symmetry, even as saith
the poet:—
In his face-sky shines the fullest moon; ✿ In his cheeks' anemone glows
the sun:
He so conquered Beauty that he hath won ✿ All charms of humanity one by
one.
The professor brought him up in his father's palace teaching him
reading, writing and cyphering, theology and belles lettres. His
grandfather the old Wazir had bequeathed to him the whole of his
property when he was but four years of age. Now during all the time of
his earliest youth he had never left the house, till on a certain day
his father, the Wazir Nur al-Din, clad him in his best clothes and,
mounting him on a she-mule of the finest, went up with him to the
Sultan. The King gazed at Badr al-Din Hasan and marvelled at his
comeliness and loved him. As for the city-folk, when he first passed
before them with his father, they marvelled at his exceeding beauty and
sat down on the road expecting his return, that they might look their
fill on his beauty and loveliness and symmetry and perfect grace; even
as the poet said in these verses:—
As the sage watched the stars, the semblance clear
Of a fair youth on's scroll he saw appear.
Those jetty looks Canopus o'er him threw,
And tinged his temple curls a musky hue;
Mars dyed his ruddy cheek; and from his eyes
The Archer-star his glittering arrow flies;
His wit from Hermes came; and Soha's care,
(The half-seen star that dimly haunts the Bear)
Kept off all evil eyes that threaten and ensnare,
The sage stood mazed to see such fortunes meet,
And Luna kissed the earth beneath his feet.[388]
And they blessed him aloud as he passed and called upon Almighty Allah
to bless him.[389] The Sultan entreated the lad with especial favour
and said to his father, "O Wazir, thou must needs bring him daily to my
presence;" whereupon he replied, "I hear and I obey." Then the Wazir
returned home with his son and ceased not to carry him to court till he
reached the age of twenty. At that time the Minister sickened and,
sending for Badr al-Din Hasan, said to him, "Know, O my son, that the
world of the Present is but a house of mortality, while that of the
Future is a house of eternity. I wish, before I die, to bequeath thee
certain charges and do thou take heed of what I say and incline thy
heart to my words." Then he gave him his last instructions as to the
properest way of dealing with his neighbours and the due management of
his affairs; after which he called to mind his brother and his home and
his native land and wept over his separation from those he had first
loved. Then he wiped away his tears and, turning to his son, said to
him, "Before I proceed, O my son, to my last charges and injunctions,
know that I have a brother, and thou hast an uncle, Shams al-Din hight,
the Wazir of Cairo, with whom I parted, leaving him against his will.
Now take thee a sheet of paper and write upon it whatso I say to thee.
Badr al-Din took a fair leaf and set about doing his father's bidding
and he wrote thereon a full account of what had happened to his sire
first and last; the dates of his arrival at Bassorah and of his
foregathering with the Wazir; of his marriage, of his going in to the
Minister's daughter and of the birth of his son; brief, his life of
forty years from the day of his dispute with his brother, adding the
words, "And this is written at my dictation and may Almighty Allah be
with him when I am gone!" Then he folded the paper and sealed it and
said, "O Hasan, O my son, keep this paper with all care; for it will
enable thee to stablish thine origin and rank and lineage and, if
anything contrary befal thee, set out for Cairo and ask for thine uncle
and show him this paper and say to him that I died a stranger far from
mine own people and full of yearning to see him and them." So Badr
al-Din Hasan took the document and folded it; and, wrapping it up in a
piece of waxed cloth, sewed it like a talisman between the inner and
outer cloth of his skull-cap and wound his light turband[390] round it.
And he fell to weeping over his father and at parting with him, and he
but a boy. Then Nur al-Din lapsed into a swoon, the forerunner of
death; but presently recovering himself he said, "O Hasan, O my son, I
will now bequeath to thee five last behests. The FIRST BEHEST is, Be
over-intimate with none, nor frequent any, nor be familiar with any; so
shalt thou be safe from his mischief;[391] for security lieth in
seclusion of thought and a certain retirement from the society of thy
fellows; and I have heard it said by a poet:—
In this world there is none thou mayst count upon ✿ To befriend thy
case in the nick of need:
So live for thyself nursing hope of none ✿ Such counsel I give thee:
enow, take heed!
The SECOND BEHEST is, O my son: Deal harshly with none lest fortune
with thee deal hardly; for the fortune of this world is one day with
thee and another day against thee and all worldly goods are but a loan
to be repaid. And I have heard a poet say:—
Take thought nor haste to win the thing thou wilt; ✿ Have ruth on man
for ruth thou may'st require:
No hand is there but Allah's hand is higher; ✿ No tyrant but shall rue
worse tyrant's ire!
The THIRD BEHEST is, Learn to be silent in society and let thine own
faults distract thine attention from the faults of other men: for it is
said:—In silence dwelleth safety, and thereon I have heard the lines
that tell us:—
Reserve's a jewel, Silence safety is; ✿ Whenas thou speakest many a
word withhold:
For an of Silence thou repent thee once, ✿ Of speech thou shalt repent
times manifold.
The FOURTH BEHEST, O my son, is Beware of wine-bibbing, for wine is the
head of all frowardness and a fine solvent of human wits. So shun, and
again I say, shun mixing strong liquor; for I have heard a poet
say:—[392]
From wine[393] I turn and whoso wine-cups swill; ✿ Becoming one of
those who deem it ill:
Wine driveth man to miss salvation-way,[394] ✿ And opes the gateway
wide to sins that kill.
The FIFTH BEHEST, O my son, is Keep thy wealth and it will keep thee;
guard thy money and it will guard thee; and waste not thy substance
lest haply thou come to want and must fare a-begging from the meanest
of mankind. Save thy dirhams and deem them the sovereignest salve for
the wounds of the world. And here again I have heard that one of the
poets said:—
When fails my wealth no friend will deign befriend: ✿ When wealth
abounds all friends their friendship tender:
How many friends lent aid my wealth to spend; ✿ But friends to lack of
wealth no friendship render.
On this wise Nur al-Din ceased not to counsel his son Badr al-Din Hasan
till his hour came and, sighing one sobbing sigh, his life went forth.
Then the voice of mourning and keening rose high in his house and the
Sultan and all the grandees grieved for him and buried him; but his son
ceased not lamenting his loss for two months, during which he never
mounted horse, nor attended the Divan nor presented himself before the
Sultan. At last the King, being wroth with him, stablished in his stead
one of his Chamberlains and made him Wazir, giving orders to seize and
set seals on all Nur al-Din's houses and goods and domains. So the new
Wazir went forth with a mighty posse of Chamberlains and people of the
Divan, and watchmen and a host of idlers to do this and to seize Badr
al-Din Hasan and carry him before the King, who would deal with him as
he deemed fit. Now there was among the crowd of followers a Mameluke of
the deceased Wazir who, when he had heard this order, urged his horse
and rode at full speed to the house of Badr al-Din Hasan; for he could
not endure to see the ruin of his old master's son. He found him
sitting at the gate with head hung down and sorrowing, as was his wont,
for the loss of his father; so he dismounted and kissing his hand said
to him, "O my lord and son of my lord, haste ere ruin come and lay
waste!" When Hasan heard this he trembled and asked, "What may be the
matter?"; and the man answered, "The Sultan is angered with thee and
hath issued a warrant against thee, and evil cometh hard upon my track;
so flee with thy life!" At these words Hasan's heart flamed with the
fire of bale, and his rose-red cheek turned pale, and he said to the
Mameluke, "O my brother, is there time for me to go in and get me some
worldly gear which may stand me in stead during my strangerhood?" But
the slave replied, "O my lord, up at once and save thyself and leave
this house, while it is yet time." And he quoted these lines:—
Escape with thy life, if oppression betide thee, ✿ And let the house
tell of its builder's fate!
Country for country thou'lt find, if thou seek it; ✿ Life for life
never, early or late.
It is strange men should dwell in the house of abjection, ✿ When the
plain of God's earth is so wide and so great![395]
At these words of the Mameluke, Badr al-Din covered his head with the
skirt of his garment and went forth on foot till he stood outside of
the city, where he heard folk saying, "The Sultan hath sent his new
Wazir to the house of the old Wazir, now no more, to seal his property
and seize his son Badr al-Din Hasan and take him before the presence,
that he may put him to death;" and all cried, "Alas for his beauty and
his loveliness!" When he heard this he fled forth at hazard, knowing
not whither he was going, and gave not over hurrying onwards till
Destiny drove him to his father's tomb. So he entered the cemetery and,
threading his way through the graves, at last he reached the sepulchre
where he sat down and let fall from his head the skirt of his long
robe[396] which was made of brocade with a gold-embroidered hem whereon
were worked these couplets:—
O thou whose forehead, like the radiant East, ✿ Tells of the stars of
Heaven and bounteous dews:
Endure thine honour to the latest day, ✿ And Time thy growth of glory
ne'er refuse!
While he was sitting by his father's tomb behold, there came to him a
Jew as he were a Shroff,[397] a money-changer, with a pair of
saddle-bags containing much gold, who accosted him and kissed his hand,
saying, "Whither bound, O my lord: 'tis late in the day and thou art
clad but lightly and I read signs of trouble in thy face?" "I was
sleeping within this very hour," answered Hasan, "when my father
appeared to me and chid me for not having visited his tomb; so I awoke
trembling and came hither forthright lest the day should go by without
my visiting him, which would have been grievous to me." "O my lord,"
rejoined the Jew[398] "thy father had many merchantmen at sea and, as
some of them are now due, it is my wish to buy of thee the cargo of the
first ship that cometh into port with this thousand dinars of gold." "I
consent," quoth Hasan, whereupon the Jew took out a bag full of gold
and counted out a thousand sequins which he gave to Hasan, the son of
the Wazir, saying, "Write me a letter of sale and seal it." So Hasan
took a pen and paper and wrote these words in duplicate, "The writer,
Hasan Badr al-Din, son of Wazir Nur al-Din, hath sold to Isaac the Jew
all the cargo of the first of his father's ships which cometh into
port, for a thousand dinars, and he hath received the price in
advance." And after he had taken one copy the Jew put it into his pouch
and went away; but Hasan fell a-weeping as he thought of the dignity
and prosperity which had erst been his and he began reciting:—
This house, my lady, since you left is now a home no more ✿ For me, nor
neighbours, since you left, prove kind and neighbourly:
The friend, whilere I took to heart, alas! no more to me ✿ Is friend;
and even Luna's self displayeth lunacy:
You left and by your going left the world a waste, a wold, ✿ And lies a
gloomy murk upon the face of hill and lea:
O may the raven-bird whose cry our hapless parting croaked ✿ Find ne'er
a nesty home and eke shed all his plumery!
At length my patience fails me; and this absence wastes my flesh; ✿ How
many a veil by severance rent our eyes are doomèd see:
Ah! shall I ever sight again our fair past nights of yore; ✿ And shall
a single house become a home for me once more?
Then he wept with exceeding weeping and night came upon him; so he
leant his head against his father's grave and sleep overcame him: Glory
to Him who sleepeth not! He ceased not slumbering till the moon rose,
when his head slipped from off the tomb and he lay on his back, with
limbs outstretched, his face shining bright in the moonlight. Now the
cemetery was haunted day and night by Jinns who were of the True
Believers, and presently came out a Jinniyah who, seeing Hasan asleep,
marvelled at his beauty and loveliness and cried, "Glory to God! this
youth can be none other than one of the Wuldán of Paradise."[399] Then
she flew firmament-wards to circle it, as was her custom, and met an
Ifrit on the wing who saluted her and she said to him, "Whence comest
thou?" "From Cairo," he replied. "Wilt thou come with me and look upon
the beauty of a youth who sleepeth in yonder burial place?" she asked,
and he answered, "I will." So they flew till they lighted at the tomb
and she showed him the youth and said, "Now diddest thou ever in thy
born days see aught like this?" The Ifrit looked upon him and
exclaimed, "Praise be to Him that hath no equal! But, O my sister,
shall I tell thee what I have seen this day?" Asked she, "What is
that?" and he answered, "I have seen the counterpart of this youth in
the land of Egypt. She is the daughter of the Wazir Shams al-Din and
she is a model of beauty and loveliness, of fairest favour and formous
form, and dight with symmetry and perfect grace. When she had reached
the age of nineteen,[400] the Sultan of Egypt heard of her and, sending
for the Wazir her father, said to him:—Hear me, O Wazir: it hath
reached mine ear that thou hast a daughter and I wish to demand her of
thee in marriage. The Wazir replied:—O our lord the Sultan, deign
accept my excuses and take compassion on my sorrows, for thou knowest
that my brother, who was partner with me in the Wazirate, disappeared
from amongst us many years ago and we wot not where he is. Now the
cause of his departure was that one night, as we were sitting together
and talking of wives and children to come, we had words on the matter
and he went off in high dudgeon. But I swore that I would marry my
daughter to none save to the son of my brother on the day her mother
gave her birth, which was nigh upon nineteen years ago. I have lately
heard that my brother died at Bassorah, where he had married the
daughter of the Wazir and that she bare him a son; and I will not marry
my daughter but to him in honour of my brother's memory I recorded the
date of my marriage and the conception of my wife and the birth of my
daughter; and from her horoscope I find that her name is conjoined with
that of her cousin;[401] and there are damsels in foison for our lord
the Sultan. The King, hearing his Minister's answer and refusal, waxed
wroth with exceeding wrath and cried:—When the like of me asketh a girl
in marriage of the like of thee, he conferreth an honour, and thou
rejectest me and puttest me off with cold[402] excuses! Now, by the
life of my head I will marry her to the meanest of my men in spite of
the nose of thee![403] There was in the palace a horse-groom which was
a Gobbo with a bunch to his breast and a hunch to his back; and the
Sultan sent for him and married him to the daughter of the Wazir, lief
or loath, and hath ordered a pompous marriage procession for him and
that he go in to his bride this very night. I have now just flown
hither from Cairo, where I left the Hunchback at the door of the
Hammam-bath amidst the Sultan's white slaves who were waving lighted
flambeaux about him. As for the Minister's daughter she sitteth among
her nurses and tirewomen, weeping and wailing; for they have forbidden
her father to come near her. Never have I seen, O my sister, more
hideous being than this Hunchback[404] whilst the young lady is the
likest of all folk to this young man, albeit even fairer than he."——And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted
say.
Now when it was the Twenty-Second Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Jinni
narrated to the Jinniyah how the King had caused the wedding contract
to be drawn up between the hunchbacked groom and the lovely young lady
who was heart-broken for sorrow; and how she was the fairest of created
things and even more beautiful than this youth, the Jinniyah cried at
him "Thou liest! this youth is handsomer than any one of his day." The
Ifrit gave her the lie again, adding, "By Allah, O my sister, the
damsel I speak of is fairer than this; yet none but he deserveth her,
for they resemble each other like brother and sister or at least
cousins. And, well-away! how she is wasted upon that Hunchback!" Then
said she, "O my brother, let us get under him and lift him up and carry
him to Cairo, that we may compare him with the damsel of whom thou
speakest and so determine whether of the twain is the fairer." "To hear
is to obey!" replied he, "thou speakest to the point; nor is there a
righter recking than this of thine, and I myself will carry him." So he
raised him from the ground and flew with him like a bird soaring in
upper air, the Ifritah keeping close by his side at equal speed, till
he alighted with him in the city of Cairo and set him down on a stone
bench and woke him up. He roused himself and finding that he was no
longer at his father's tomb in Bassorah-city he looked right and left
and saw that he was in a strange place; and he would have cried out;
but the Ifrit gave him a cuff which persuaded him to keep silence. Then
he brought him rich raiment and clothed him therein and, giving him a
lighted flambeau, said, "Know that I have brought thee hither, meaning
to do thee a good turn for the love of Allah: so take this torch and
mingle with the people at the Hammam-door and walk on with them without
stopping till thou reach the house of the wedding-festival; then go
boldly forward and enter the great saloon; and fear none, but take thy
stand at the right hand of the Hunchback bridegroom; and, as often as
any of the nurses and tirewomen and singing-girls come up to thee,[405]
put thy hand into thy pocket which thou wilt find filled with gold.
Take it out and throw to them and spare not; for as often as thou
thrustest fingers in pouch thou shalt find it full of coin. Give
largesse by handsful and fear nothing, but set thy trust upon Him who
created thee, for this is not by thine own strength but by that of
Allah Almighty, that His decrees may take effect upon his creatures."
When Badr al-Din Hasan heard these words from the Ifrit he said to
himself, "Would Heaven I knew what all this means and what is the cause
of such kindness!" However, he mingled with the people and, lighting
his flambeau, moved on with the bridal procession till he came to the
bath where he found the Hunchback already on horseback. Then he pushed
his way in among the crowd, a veritable beauty of a man in the finest
apparel, wearing tarbush[406] and turband and a long-sleeved robe
purfled with gold; and, as often as the singing women stopped for the
people to give them largesse, he thrust his hand into his pocket and,
finding it full of gold, took out a handful and threw it on the
tambourine[407] till he had filled it with gold pieces for the
music-girls and the tirewomen. The singers were amazed by his bounty
and the people marvelled at his beauty and loveliness and the splendour
of his dress. He ceased not to do thus till he reached the mansion of
the Wazir (who was his uncle), where the Chamberlains drove back the
people and forbade them to go forward; but the singing-girls and the
tirewomen said, "By Allah we will not enter unless this young man enter
with us, for he hath given us length o' life with his largesse and we
will not display the bride unless he be present." Therewith they
carried him into the bridal hall and made him sit down defying the evil
glances of the hunchbacked bridegroom. The wives of the Emirs and
Wazirs and Chamberlains and Courtiers all stood in double line, each
holding a massy cierge ready lighted; all wore thin face-veils and the
two rows right and left extended from the bride's throne[408] to the
head of the hall adjoining the chamber whence she was to come forth.
When the ladies saw Badr al-Din Hasan and noted his beauty and
loveliness and his face that shone like the new moon, their hearts
inclined to him and the singing-girls said to all that were present,
"Know that this beauty crossed our hands with naught but red gold; so
be not chary to do him womanly service and comply with all he says, no
matter what he ask."[409] So all the women crowded round Hasan with
their torches and gazed on his loveliness and envied him his beauty;
and one and all would gladly have lain on his bosom an hour or rather a
year. Their hearts were so troubled that they let fall their veils from
before their faces and said, "Happy she who belongeth to this youth or
to whom he belongeth!"; and they called down curses on the crooked
groom and on him who was the cause of his marriage to the girl-beauty;
and as often as they blessed Badr al-Din Hasan they damned the
Hunchback, saying, "Verily this youth and none else deserveth our
Bride: ah, well-away for such a lovely one with this hideous Quasimodo;
Allah's curse light on his head and on the Sultan who commanded the
marriage!" Then the singing-girls beat their tabrets and lulliloo'd
with joy, announcing the appearing of the bride; and the Wazir's
daughter came in surrounded by her tirewomen who had made her goodly to
look upon; for they had perfumed her and incensed her and adorned her
hair; and they had robed her in raiment and ornaments befitting the
mighty Chosroes Kings. The most notable part of her dress was a loose
robe worn over her other garments: it was diapered in red gold with
figures of wild beasts, and birds whose eyes and beaks were of gems,
and claws of red rubies and green beryl; and her neck was graced with a
necklace of Yamani work, worth thousands of gold pieces, whose bezels
were great round jewels of sorts, the like of which was never owned by
Kaysar or by Tobba King.[410] And the bride was as the full moon when
at fullest on fourteenth night; and as she paced into the hall she was
like one of the Houris of Heaven—praise be to Him who created her in
such splendour of beauty! The ladies encompassed her as the white
contains the black of the eye, they clustering like stars whilst she
shone amongst them like the moon when it eats up the clouds. Now Badr
al-Din Hasan of Bassorah was sitting in full gaze of the folk, when the
bride came forward with her graceful swaying and swimming gait, and her
hunchbacked bridegroom stood up to meet[411] and receive her: she,
however, turned away from the wight and walked forward till she stood
before her cousin Hasan, the son of her uncle. Whereat the people
laughed. But when the wedding-guests saw her thus attracted towards
Badr Al-Din they made a mighty clamour and the singing-women shouted
their loudest; whereupon he put his hand into his pocket and, pulling
out a handful of gold, cast it into their tambourines and the girls
rejoiced and said, "Could we win our wish this bride were thine!" At
this he smiled and the folk came round him, flambeaux in hand like the
eyeball round the pupil, while the Gobbo bridegroom was left sitting
alone much like a tail-less baboon; for every time they lighted a
candle for him it went out willy-nilly, so he was left in darkness and
silence and looking at naught but himself.[412] When Badr al-Din Hasan
saw the bridegroom sitting lonesome in the dark, and all the
wedding-guests with their flambeaux and wax candles crowding about
himself, he was bewildered and marvelled much; but when he looked at
his cousin, the daughter of his uncle, he rejoiced and felt an inward
delight: he longed to greet her and gazed intently on her face which
was radiant with light and brilliancy. Then the tirewomen took off her
veil and displayed her in the first bridal dress which was of scarlet
satin; and Hasan had a view of her which dazzled his sight and dazed
his wits, as she moved to and fro, swaying with graceful gait;[413] and
she turned the heads of all the guests, women as well as men, for she
was even as saith the surpassing poet:—
A sun on wand in knoll of sand she showed, ✿ Clad in her cramoisy-hued
chemisette:
Of her lips honey-dew she gave me drink, ✿ And with her rosy cheeks
quencht fire she set.
Then they changed that dress and displayed her in a robe of azure; and
she reappeared like the full moon when it riseth over the horizon, with
her coal-black hair and cheeks delicately fair; and teeth shown in
sweet smiling and breasts firm rising and crowning sides of the softest
and waist of the roundest. And in this second suit she was as a certain
master of high conceits saith of the like of her:—
She came apparelled in an azure vest, ✿ Ultramarine, as skies are deckt
and dight:
I view'd th' unparallel'd sight, which show'd my eyes ✿ A moon of
Summer on a Winter-night.
Then they changed that suit for another and, veiling her face in the
luxuriance of her hair, loosed her lovelocks, so dark, so long that
their darkness and length outvied the darkest nights, and she shot
through all hearts with the magical shaft of her eye-babes. They
displayed her in the third dress and she was as said of her the sayer:—
Veiling her cheeks with hair a-morn she comes, ✿ And I her mischiefs
with the cloud compare:
Saying, "Thou veilest morn with night!" "Ah no!" ✿ Quoth she, "I shroud
full moon with darkling air!"
Then they displayed her in the fourth bridal dress and she came forward
shining like the rising sun and swaying to and fro with lovesome grace
and supple ease like a gazelle-fawn. And she clave all hearts with the
arrows of her eyelashes, even as saith one who described a charmer like
her:—·
The sun of beauty she to sight appears ✿ And, lovely-coy, she mocks all
loveliness;
And when he fronts her favour and her smile ✿ A-morn, the Sun of day in
clouds must dress.
Then she came forth in the fifth dress, a very light of loveliness like
a wand of waving willow or a gazelle of the thirsty wold. Those locks
which stung like scorpions along her cheeks were bent, and her neck was
bowed in blandishment, and her hips quivered as she went. As saith one
of the poets describing her in verse:—
She comes like fullest moon on happy night; ✿ Taper of waist, with
shape of magic might:
She hath an eye whose glances quell mankind, ✿ And Ruby on her cheeks
reflects his light:
Enveils her hips the blackness of her hair; ✿ Beware of curls that bite
with viper-bite!
Her sides are silken-soft, the while the heart ✿ Mere rock behind that
surface lurks from sight:
From the fringed curtains of her eyne she shoots ✿ Shafts which at
farthest range on mark alight:
When round her neck or waist I throw my arms ✿ Her breasts repel me
with their hardened height.
Ah, how her beauty all excels! ah how ✿ That shape transcends the
graceful waving bough!
Then they adorned her with the sixth toilette, a dress which was green.
And now she shamed in her slender straightness the nut-brown spear; her
radiant face dimmed the brightest beams of full moon and she outdid the
bending branches in gentle movement and flexile grace. Her loveliness
exalted the beauties of earth's four quarters and she broke men's
hearts by the significance of her semblance; for she was even as saith
one of the poets in these lines:—
A damsel 'twas the tirer's art had decked with snares and sleight:[414]
✿ And robed in rays as though the sun from her had borrowed light:
She came before us wondrous clad in chemisette of green, ✿ As veilèd by
its leafy screen pomegranate hides from sight:
And when he said "How callest thou the manner of thy dress?" ✿ She
answered us in pleasant way with double meaning dight;
"We call this garment _crève-cœur_; and rightly is it hight, ✿ For many
a heart wi' this we broke[415] and conquered many a sprite!"
Then they displayed her in the seventh dress, coloured between
safflower[416] and saffron, even as one of the poets saith:—
In vest of saffron pale and safflower red ✿ Musk'd, sandal'd,
ambergris'd, she came to front:
"Rise!" cried her youth, "go forth and show thyself!" ✿ "Sit!" said her
hips, "we cannot bear the brunt!"
And when I craved a bout, her Beauty said ✿ "Do, do!" and said her
pretty shame, "Don't, don't!"
Thus they displayed the bride in all her seven toilettes before Hasan
al-Basri, wholly neglecting the Gobbo who sat moping alone; and, when
she opened her eyes[417] she said, "O Allah make this man my goodman
and deliver me from the evil of this hunchbacked groom." As soon as
they had made an end of this part of the ceremony they dismissed the
wedding guests who went forth, women children and all, and none
remained save Hasan and the Hunchback, whilst the tirewomen led the
bride into an inner room to change her garb and gear and get her ready
for the bridegroom. Thereupon Quasimodo came up to Badr al-Din Hasan
and said, "O my lord, thou hast cheered us this night with thy good
company and overwhelmed us with thy kindness and courtesy; but now why
not get thee up and go?" "Bismillah;" he answered, "In Allah's name so
be it!"; and rising, he went forth by the door, where the Ifrit met him
and said, "Stay in thy stead, O Badr al-Din, and when the Hunchback
goes out to the closet of ease go in without losing time and seat
thyself in the alcove; and when the bride comes say to her:—'Tis I am
thy husband, for the King devised this trick only fearing for thee the
evil eye, and he whom thou sawest is but a Syce, a groom, one of our
stablemen. Then walk boldly up to her and unveil her face; for jealousy
hath taken us of this matter." While Hasan was still talking with the
Ifrit behold, the groom fared forth from the hall and entering the
closet of ease sat down on the stool. Hardly had he done this when the
Ifrit came out of the tank,[418] wherein the water was, in semblance of
a mouse and squeaked out "Zeek!" Quoth the Hunchback, "What ails
thee?"; and the mouse grew and grew till it became a coal-black cat and
caterwauled "Meeao! Meeao[419]"! Then it grew still more and more till
it became a dog and barked out "Owh! Owh!" When the bridegroom saw this
he was frightened and exclaimed "Out with thee, O unlucky one!"[420]
But the dog grew and swelled till it became an ass-colt that brayed and
snorted in his face "Hauk![421] Hauk!" Whereupon the Hunchback quaked
and cried, "Come to my aid, O people of the house!" But behold, the
ass-colt grew and became big as a buffalo and walled the way before him
and spake with the voice of the sons of Adam, saying, "Woe to thee, O
thou Bunch-back, thou stinkard, O thou filthiest of grooms!" Hearing
this the groom was seized with a colic and he sat down on the jakes in
his clothes with teeth chattering and knocking together. Quoth the
Ifrit, "Is the world so strait to thee thou findest none to marry save
my lady-love?" But as he was silent the Ifrit continued, "Answer me or
I will do thee dwell in the dust!" "By Allah," replied the Gobbo, "O
King of the Buffaloes, this is no fault of mine, for they forced me to
wed her; and verily I wot not that she had a lover amongst the
buffaloes; but now I repent, first before Allah and then before thee."
Said the Ifrit to him, "I swear to thee that if thou fare forth from
this place, or thou utter a word before sunrise, I assuredly will wring
thy neck. When the sun rises wend thy went and never more return to
this house." So saying, the Ifrit took up the Gobbo bridegroom and set
him head downwards and feet upwards in the slit of the privy,[422] and
said to him, "I will leave thee here but I shall be on the look-out for
thee till sunrise; and, if thou stir before then, I will seize thee by
the feet and dash out thy brains against the wall: so look out for thy
life!" Thus far concerning the Hunchback, but as regards Badr al-Din
Hasan of Bassorah he left the Gobbo and the Ifrit jangling and
wrangling and, going into the house, sat him down in the very middle of
the alcove; and behold, in came the bride attended by an old woman who
stood at the door and said, "O Father of Uprightness,[423] arise and
take what God giveth thee." Then the old woman went away and the bride,
Sitt al-Husn or the Lady of Beauty hight, entered the inner part of the
alcove broken-hearted and saying in herself, "By Allah I will never
yield my person to him; no, not even were he to take my life!" But as
she came to the further end she saw Badr al-Din Hasan and she said,
"Dearling! art thou still sitting here? By Allah I was wishing that
thou wert my bridegroom or, at least, that thou and the hunchbacked
horse-groom were partners in me." He replied, "O beautiful lady, how
should the Syce have access to thee, and how should he share in thee
with me?" "Then," quoth she, "who _is_ my husband, thou or he?" "Sitt
al-Husn," rejoined Hasan, "we have not done this for mere fun,[424] but
only as a device to ward off the evil eye from thee; for when the
tirewomen and singers and wedding guests saw thy beauty being displayed
to me, they feared fascination and thy father hired the horse-groom for
ten dinars and a porringer of meat to take the evil eye off us; and now
he hath received his hire and gone his gait." When the Lady of Beauty
heard these words she smiled and rejoiced and laughed a pleasant laugh.
Then she whispered him, "By the Lord thou hast quenched a fire which
tortured me and now, by Allah, O my little dark-haired darling, take me
to thee and press me to thy bosom!" Then she began singing:—
By Allah, set thy foot upon my soul; ✿ Since long, long years for this
alone I long:
And whisper tale of love in ear of me; ✿ To me 'tis sweeter than the
sweetest song!
No other youth upon my heart shall lie; ✿ So do it often, dear, and do
it long.
Then she stripped off her outer gear and she threw open her chemise
from the neck downwards and showed her parts genital and all the
rondure of her hips. When Badr al-Din saw the glorious sight his
desires were roused, and he arose and doffed his clothes, and wrapping
up in his bag-trousers[425] the purse of gold which he had taken from
the Jew and which contained the thousand dinars, he laid it under the
edge of the bedding. Then he took off his turband and set it upon the
settle[426] atop of his other clothes, remaining in his skull-cap and
fine shirt of blue silk laced with gold. Whereupon the Lady of Beauty
drew him to her and he did likewise. Then he took her to his embrace
and set her legs round his waist and point-blanked that cannon[427]
placed where it battereth down the bulwark of maidenhead and layeth it
waste. And he found her a pearl unpierced and unthridden and a filly by
all men save himself unridden; and he abated her virginity and had
joyance of her youth in his virility and presently he withdrew sword
from sheath; and then returned to the fray right eath; and when the
battle and the siege had finished, some fifteen assaults he had
furnished and she conceived by him that very night. Then he laid his
hand under her head and she did the same and they embraced and fell
asleep in each other's arms, as a certain poet said of such lovers in
these couplets:—
Visit thy lover, spurn what envy told; ✿ No envious churl shall smile
on love ensoul'd
Merciful Allah made no fairer sight ✿ Than coupled lovers single couch
doth hold;
Breast pressing breast and robed in joys their own, ✿ With pillowed
forearms cast in finest mould:
And when heart speaks to heart with tongue of love, ✿ Folk who would
part them hammer steel ice-cold:
If a fair friend[428] thou find who cleaves to thee, ✿ Live for that
friend, that friend in heart enfold.
O ye who blame for love us lover kind ✿ Say, can ye minister to
diseasèd mind?
This much concerning Badr al-Din Hasan and Sitt al-Husn his cousin; but
as regards the Ifrit, as soon as he saw the twain asleep, he said to
the Ifritah, "Arise; slip thee under the youth and let us carry him
back to his place ere dawn overtake us; for the day is nearhand."
Thereupon she came forward and, getting under him as he lay asleep,
took him up clad only in his fine blue shirt, leaving the rest of his
garments; and ceased not flying (and the Ifrit vying with her in
flight) till the dawn advised them that it had come upon them mid-way,
and the Muezzin began his call from the Minaret, "Haste ye to
salvation![429] Haste ye to salvation!" Then Allah suffered His angelic
host to shoot down the Ifrit with a shooting star,[430] so he was
consumed, but the Ifritah escaped and she descended with Badr al-Din at
the place where the Ifrit was burnt, and did not carry him back to
Bassorah, fearing lest he come to harm. Now by the order of Him who
predestineth all things, they alighted at Damascus of Syria, and the
Ifritah set down her burden at one of the city-gates and flew away.
When day arose and the doors were opened, the folk who came forth saw a
handsome youth, with no other raiment but his blue shirt of
gold-embroidered silk and skull-cap,[431] lying upon the ground drowned
in sleep after the hard labour of the night which had not suffered him
to take his rest. So the folk looking at him said, "O her luck with
whom this one spent the night! but would he had waited to don his
garments." Quoth another, "A sorry lot are the sons of great families!
Haply he but now came forth of the tavern on some occasion of his own
and his wine flew to his head,[432] whereby he hath missed the place he
was making for and strayed till he came to the gate of the city; and
finding it shut lay him down and went to by-by!" As the people were
bandying guesses about him suddenly the morning breeze blew upon Badr
al-Din and raising his shirt to his middle showed a stomach and navel
with something below it,[433] and legs and thighs clear as crystal and
smooth as cream. Cried the people, "By Allah he is a pretty fellow!";
and at the cry Badr al-Din awoke and found himself lying at a city-gate
with a crowd gathered around him. At this he greatly marvelled and
asked, "Where am I, O good folk; and what causeth you thus to gather
round me, and what have I had to do with you?"; and they answered, "We
found thee lying here asleep during the call to dawn-prayer and this is
all we know of the matter, but where diddest thou lie last night?"[434]
"By Allah, O good people," replied he, "I lay last night in Cairo."
Said somebody, "Thou hast surely been eating Hashísh;"[435] and
another, "He is a fool;" and a third, "He is a _citrouille_;" and a
fourth asked him, "Art thou out of thy mind? thou sleepest in Cairo and
thou wakest in the morning at the gate of Damascus-city!"[436] Cried
he, "By Allah, my good people, one and all, I lie not to you: indeed I
lay yesternight in the land of Egypt and yesternoon I was at Bassorah."
Quoth one, "Well! well!"; and quoth another, "Ho! ho!"; and a third,
"So! so!"; and a fourth cried, "This youth is mad, is possessed of the
Jinni!" So they clapped hands at him and said to one another, "Alas,
the pity of it for his youth: by Allah a madman! and madness is no
respecter of persons." Then said they to him, "Collect thy wits and
return to thy reason! How couldest thou be in Bassorah yesterday and in
Cairo yesternight and withal awake in Damascus this morning?" But he
persisted, "Indeed I was a bridegroom in Cairo last night." "Belike
thou hast been dreaming," rejoined they, "and sawest all this in thy
sleep." So Hasan took thought for a while and said to them, "By Allah,
this is no dream; nor vision-like doth it seem! I certainly was in
Cairo where they displayed the bride before me, in presence of a third
person, the Hunchback groom who was sitting hard by. By Allah, O my
brother, this be no dream, and if it were a dream, where is the bag of
gold I bore with me and where are my turband and my robe, and my
trousers?" Then he rose and entered the city, threading its highways
and by-ways and bazar-streets; and the people pressed upon him and
jeered at him, crying out "Madman! madman!" till he, beside himself
with rage, took refuge in a cook's shop. Now that Cook had been a
trifle too clever, that is, a rogue and thief; but Allah had made him
repent and turn from his evil ways and open a cook-shop; and all the
people of Damascus stood in fear of his boldness and his mischief. So
when the crowd saw the youth enter his shop, they dispersed being
afraid of him, and went their ways. The Cook looked at Badr al-Din and,
noting his beauty and loveliness, fell in love with him forthright and
said, "Whence comest thou, O youth? Tell me at once thy tale, for thou
art become dearer to me than my soul." So Hasan recounted to him all
that had befallen him from beginning to end (but in repetition there is
no fruition) and the Cook said, "O my lord Badr al-Din, doubtless thou
knowest that this case is wondrous and this story marvellous;
therefore, O my son, hide what hath betided thee, till Allah dispel
what ills be thine; and tarry with me here the meanwhile, for I have no
child and I will adopt thee." Badr al-Din replied, "Be it as thou wilt,
O my uncle!" Whereupon the Cook went to the bazar and bought him a fine
suit of clothes and made him don it; then fared with him to the Kazi,
and formally declared that he was his son. So Badr al-Din Hasan became
known in Damascus-city as the Cook's son and he sat with him in the
shop to take the silver, and on this wise he sojourned there for a
time. Thus far concerning him; but as regards his cousin, the Lady of
Beauty, when morning dawned she awoke and missed Badr al-Din Hasan from
her side; but she thought that he had gone to the privy and she sat
expecting him for an hour or so; when behold, entered her father Shams
al-Din Mohammed, Wazir of Egypt. Now he was disconsolate by reason of
what had befallen him through the Sultan, who had entreated him harshly
and had married his daughter by force to the lowest of his menials and
he too a lump of a groom hunchbacked withal, and he said to himself, "I
will slay this daughter of mine if of her own free will she have
yielded her person to this accursed carle." So he came to the door of
the bride's private chamber, and said, "Ho! Sitt al-Husn." She answered
him, "Here am I! here am I![437] O my lord," and came out unsteady of
gait after the pains and pleasures of the night; and she kissed his
hand, her face showing redoubled brightness and beauty for having lain
in the arms of that gazelle, her cousin. When her father, the Wazir,
saw her in such case, he asked her, "O thou accursed, art thou
rejoicing because of this horse-groom?", and Sitt al-Husn smiled
sweetly and answered, "By Allah, don't ridicule me: enough of what
passed yesterday when folk laughed at me, and evened me with that
groom-fellow who is not worthy to bring my husband's shoes or slippers;
nay who is not worth the paring of my husband's nails! By the Lord,
never in my life have I nighted a night so sweet as yesternight!, so
don't mock by reminding me of the Gobbo." When her parent heard her
words he was filled with fury, and his eyes glared and stared, so that
little of them showed save the whites and he cried, "Fie upon thee!
What words are these? 'Twas the hunchbacked horse-groom who passed the
night with thee!" "Allah upon thee," replied the Lady of Beauty, "do
not worry me about the Gobbo, Allah damn his father;[438] and leave
jesting with me; for this groom was only hired for ten dinars and a
porringer of meat and he took his wage and went his way. As for me I
entered the bridal-chamber, where I found my true bridegroom sitting,
after the singer-women had displayed me to him; the same who had
crossed their hands with red gold, till every pauper that was present
waxed wealthy; and I passed the night on the breast of my bonny man, a
most lively darling, with his black eyes and joined eyebrows."[439]
When her parent heard these words the light before his face became
night, and he cried out at her saying, "O thou whore! What is this thou
tellest me? Where be thy wits?" "O my father," she rejoined, "thou
breakest my heart; enough for thee that thou hast been so hard upon me!
Indeed my husband who took my virginity is but just now gone to the
draught house and I feel that I have conceived by him."[440] The Wazir
rose in much marvel and entered the privy where he found the
hunchbacked horse-groom with his head in the hole and his heels in the
air. At this sight he was confounded and said, "This is none other than
he, the rascal Hunchback!" So he called to him, "Ho, Hunchback!" The
Gobbo grunted out, "_Taghúm! Taghúm!_"[441] thinking it was the Ifrit
spoke to him; so the Wazir shouted at him and said, "Speak out, or I'll
strike off thy pate with this sword." Then quoth the Hunchback, "By
Allah, O Shaykh of the Ifrits, ever since thou settest me in this
place, I have not lifted my head; so Allah upon thee, take pity and
entreat me kindly!" When the Wazir heard this he asked, "What is this
thou sayest? I'm the bride's father and no Ifrit." "Enough for thee
that thou hast well nigh done me die," answered Quasimodo; "now go thy
ways before he come upon thee who hath served me thus. Could ye not
marry me to any save the lady-love of buffaloes and the beloved of
Ifrits? Allah curse her and curse him who married me to her and was the
cause of this my case."——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day, and
ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Twenty-third Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the hunchbacked
groom spake to the bride's father saying, "Allah curse him who was the
cause of this my case!" Then said the Wazir to him, "Up and out of this
place!" "Am I mad," cried the groom, "that I should go with thee
without leave of the Ifrit whose last words to me were:—When the sun
rises, arise and go thy gait. So hath the sun risen or no?; for I dare
not budge from this place till then." Asked the Wazir, "Who brought
thee hither?"; and he answered "I came here yesternight for a call of
nature and to do what none can do for me, when lo! a mouse came out of
the water, and squeaked at me and swelled and waxed gross till it was
big as a buffalo, and spoke to me words that entered my ears. Then he
left me here and went away, Allah curse the bride and him who married
me to her!" The Wazir walked up to him and lifted his head out of the
cess-pool hole; and he fared forth running for dear life and hardly
crediting that the sun had risen; and repaired to the Sultan to whom he
told all that had befallen him with the Ifrit. But the Wazir returned
to the bride's private chamber, sore troubled in spirit about her, and
said to her, "O my daughter, explain this strange matter to me!" Quoth
she, "'Tis simply this. The bridegroom to whom they displayed me
yester-eve lay with me all night, and took my virginity and I am with
child by him. He is my husband and if thou believe me not, there are
his turband, twisted as it was, lying on the settle and his dagger and
his trousers beneath the bed with a something, I wot not what, wrapped
up in them." When her father heard this he entered the private chamber
and found the turband which had been left there by Badr al-Din Hasan,
his brother's son, and he took it in hand and turned it over, saying,
"This is the turband worn by Wazirs, save that it is of Mosul
stuff."[442] So he opened it and, finding what seemed to be an amulet
sewn up in the Fez, he unsewed the lining and took it out; then he
lifted up the trousers wherein was the purse of the thousand gold
pieces and, opening that also, found in it a written paper. This he
read and it was the sale-receipt of the Jew in the name of Badr al-Din
Hasan, son of Nur al-Din Ali, the Egyptian; and the thousand dinars
were also there. No sooner had Shams al-Din read this than he cried out
with a loud cry and fell to the ground fainting; and as soon as he
revived and understood the gist of the matter he marvelled and said,
"There is no god, but _the_ God, whose All-might is over all things!
Knowest thou, O my daughter, who it was that became the husband of thy
virginity?" "No," answered she, and he said, "Verily he is the son of
my brother, thy cousin, and this thousand dinars is thy dowry. Praise
be to Allah! and would I wot how this matter came about!" Then opened
he the amulet which was sewn up and found therein a paper in the
handwriting of his deceased brother, Nur al-Din the Egyptian, father of
Badr al-Din Hasan; and, when he saw the handwriting, he kissed it again
and again; and he wept and wailed over his dead brother and improvised
these lines:—
I see their traces and with pain I melt, ✿ And on their whilome homes I
weep and yearn:
And Him I pray who dealt this parting-blow ✿ Some day he deign
vouchsafe a safe return.[443]
When he ceased versifying, he read the scroll and found in it recorded
the dates of his brother's marriage with the daughter of the Wazir of
Bassorah, and of his going in to her, and her conception, and the birth
of Badr al-Din Hasan and all his brother's history and doings up to his
dying day. So he marvelled much and shook with joy and, comparing the
dates with his own marriage and going in unto his wife and the birth of
his daughter, Sitt al-Husn, he found that they perfectly agreed. So he
took the document and, repairing with it to the Sultan, acquainted him
with what had passed, from first to last; whereat the King marvelled
and commanded the case to be at once recorded.[444] The Wazir abode
that day expecting to see his brother's son but he came not; and he
waited a second day, a third day and so on to the seventh day, without
any tidings of him. So he said, "By Allah, I will do a deed such as
none hath ever done before me!"; and he took reed-pen and ink and drew
upon a sheet of paper the plan of the whole house, showing whereabouts
was the private chamber with the curtain in such a place and the
furniture in such another and so on with all that was in the room. Then
he folded up the sketch and, causing all the furniture to be collected,
he took Badr al-Din's garments and the turband and Fez and robe and
purse, and carried the whole to his house and locked them up, against
the coming of his nephew, Badr al-Din Hasan, the son of his lost
brother, with an iron padlock on which he set his seal. As for the
Wazir's daughter, when her tale of months was fulfilled, she bare a son
like the full moon, the image of his father in beauty and loveliness
and fair proportions and perfect grace. They cut his navel-string[445]
and Kohl'd his eyelids to strengthen his eyes, and gave him over to the
nurses and nursery governesses,[446] naming him Ajíb, the Wonderful.
His day was as a month and his month was as a year;[447] and, when
seven years had passed over him, his grandfather sent him to school,
enjoining the master to teach him Koran-reading, and to educate him
well. He remained at the school four years, till he began to bully his
schoolfellows and abuse them and bash them and thrash them and say,
"Who among you is like me? I am the son of the Wazir of Egypt!" At last
the boys came in a body to complain to the Monitor[448] of what hard
usage they were wont to have from Ajib, and he said to them, "I will
tell you somewhat you may do to him so that he shall leave off coming
to the school, and it is this. When he enters to-morrow, sit ye down
about him and say some one of you to some other:—By Allah none shall
play with us at this game except he tell us the names of his mamma and
his papa; for he who knows not the names of his mother and his father
is a bastard, a son of adultery,[449] and he shall not play with us."
When morning dawned the boys came to school, Ajib being one of them,
and all flocked round him saying, "We will play a game wherein none
shall join save he can tell the name of his mamma and his papa." And
they all cried, "By Allah, good!" Then quoth one of them, "My name is
Májid and my mammy's name is Alawiyah and my daddy's Izz al-Din."
Another spoke in like guise and yet a third, till Ajib's turn came, and
he said, "My name is Ajib, and my mother's is Sitt al-Husn, and my
father's Shams al-Din, the Wazir of Cairo." "By Allah," cried they,
"the Wazir is not thy true father." Ajib answered, "The Wazir is my
father in very deed." Then the boys all laughed and clapped their hands
at him, saying "He does not know who is his papa: get out from among
us, for none shall play with us except he know his father's name."
Thereupon they dispersed from around him and laughed him to scorn; so
his breast was straitened and he well nigh choked with tears and hurt
feelings. Then said the Monitor to him, "We know that the Wazir is thy
grandfather, the father of thy mother, Sitt al-Husn, and not thy
father. As for thy father, neither dost thou know him nor yet do we;
for the Sultan married thy mother to the hunchbacked horse-groom; but
the Jinni came and slept with her and thou hast no known father. Leave,
then, comparing thyself too advantageously with the little ones of the
school, till thou know that thou hast a lawful father; for until then
thou wilt pass for a child of adultery amongst them. Seest thou not
that even a huckster's son knoweth his own sire? Thy grandfather is the
Wazir of Egypt; but as for thy father we wot him not and we say indeed
that thou hast none. So return to thy sound senses!" When Ajib heard
these insulting words from the Monitor and the school boys and
understood the reproach they put upon him, he went out at once and ran
to his mother, Sitt al-Husn, to complain; but he was crying so bitterly
that his tears prevented his speech for a while. When she heard his
sobs and saw his tears her heart burned as though with fire for him,
and she said, "O my son, why dost thou weep? Allah keep the tears from
thine eyes! Tell me what hath betided thee?" So he told her all that he
heard from the boys and from the Monitor and ended with asking, "And
who, O my mother, is my father?" She answered, "Thy father is the Wazir
of Egypt;" but he said, "Do not lie to me. The Wazir is thy father, not
mine! who then is my father? Except thou tell me the very truth I will
kill myself with this hanger."[450] When his mother heard him speak of
his father she wept, remembering her cousin and her bridal night with
him and all that occurred there and then, and she repeated these
couplets:—
Love in my heart they lit and went their ways, ✿ And all I love to
furthest lands withdrew;
And when they left me sufferance also left, ✿ And when we parted
Patience bade adieu:
They fled and flying with my joys they fled, ✿ In very constancy my
spirit flew:
They made my eyelids flow with severance tears ✿ And to the
parting-pang these drops are due:
And when I long to see reunion-day, ✿ My groans prolonging sore for
ruth I sue:
Then in my heart of hearts their shapes I trace, ✿ And love and longing
care and cark renew:
O ye, whose names cling round me like a cloak, ✿ Whose love yet closer
than a shirt I drew,
Belovèd ones! how long this hard despite? ✿ How long this severance and
this coy shy flight?
Then she wailed and shrieked aloud and her son did the like; and
behold, in came the Wazir whose heart burnt within him at the sight of
their lamentations and he said, "What makes you weep?" So the Lady of
Beauty acquainted him with what happened between her son and the school
boys; and he also wept, calling to mind his brother and what had past
between them and what had betided his daughter and how he had failed to
find out what mystery there was in the matter. Then he rose at once
and, repairing to the audience-hall, went straight to the King and told
his tale and craved his permission[451] to travel eastward to the city
of Bassorah and ask after his brother's son. Furthermore he besought
the Sultan to write for him letters patent, authorising him to seize
upon Badr al-Din, his nephew and son-in-law, wheresoever he might find
him. And he wept before the King, who had pity on him and wrote royal
autographs to his deputies in all climes[452] and countries and cities;
whereat the Wazir rejoiced and prayed for blessings on him. Then,
taking leave of his Sovereign, he returned to his house, where he
equipped himself and his daughter and his adopted child Ajib, with all
things meet for a long march; and set out and travelled the first day
and the second and the third and so forth till he arrived at
Damascus-city. He found it a fair place abounding in trees and streams,
even as the poet said of it:—
When I nighted and dayed in Damascus-town, ✿ Time sware such another he
ne'er should view:
And careless we slept under wing of night, ✿ Till dappled Morn 'gan her
smiles renew:
And dew-drops on branch in their beauty hung, ✿ Like pearls to be dropt
when the Zephyr blew:
And the Lake[453] was the page where birds read and note, ✿ And the
clouds set points to what breezes wrote.
The Wazir encamped on the open space called Al-Hasá;[454] and, after
pitching tents, said to his servants, "A halt here for two days!" So
they went into the city upon their several occasions, this to sell and
that to buy; this to go to the Hammam and that to visit the
Cathedral-mosque of the Banu Umayyah, the Ommiades, whose like is not
in this world.[455] Ajib also went, with his attendant eunuch, for
solace and diversion to the city and the servant followed with a
quarter-staff[456] of almond-wood so heavy that if he struck a camel
therewith the beast would never rise again.[457] When the people of
Damascus saw Ajib's beauty and brilliancy and perfect grace and
symmetry (for he was a marvel of comeliness and winning loveliness,
softer than the cool breeze of the North, sweeter than limpid waters to
man in drowth, and pleasanter than the health for which sick man
sueth), a mighty many followed him, whilst others ran on before and sat
down on the road until he should come up, that they might gaze on him,
till, as Destiny had decreed, the Eunuch stopped opposite the shop of
Ajib's father, Badr al-Din Hasan. Now his beard had grown long and
thick and his wits had ripened during the twelve years which had passed
over him, and the Cook and ex-rogue having died, the so-called Hasan of
Bassorah had succeeded to his goods and shop, for that he had been
formally adopted before the Kazi and witnesses. When his son and the
Eunuch stepped before him he gazed on Ajib and, seeing how very
beautiful he was, his heart fluttered and throbbed, and blood drew to
blood and natural affection spake out and his bowels yearned over him.
He had just dressed a conserve of pomegranate grains with sugar, and
Heaven-implanted love wrought within him; so he called to his son Ajib
and said, "O my lord, O thou who hast gotten the mastery of my heart
and my very vitals and to whom my bowels yearn; say me, wilt thou enter
my house and solace my soul by eating of my meat?" Then his eyes
streamed with tears which he could not stay, for he bethought him of
what he had been and what he had become. When Ajib heard his father's
words his heart also yearned himwards and he looked at the Eunuch and
said to him, "Of a truth, O my good guard, my heart yearns to this
cook; he is as one that hath a son far away from him: so let us enter
and gladden his heart by tasting of his hospitality. Perchance for our
so doing Allah may reunite me with my father." When the Eunuch heard
these words he cried, "A fine thing this, by Allah! Shall the sons of
Wazirs be seen eating in a common cook-shop? Indeed I keep off the folk
from thee with this quarter-staff lest they even look upon thee; and I
dare not suffer thee to enter this shop at all." When Hasan of Bassorah
heard his speech he marvelled and turned to the Eunuch with the tears
pouring down his cheeks; and Ajib said, "Verily my heart loves him!"
But he answered, "Leave this talk, thou shalt not go in." Thereupon the
father turned to the Eunuch and said, "O worthy sir, why wilt thou not
gladden my soul by entering my shop? O thou who art like a chesnut,
dark without but white of heart within! O thou of the like of whom a
certain poet said * * *" The Eunuch burst out a-laughing and
asked—"Said what? Speak out by Allah and be quick about it." So Hasan
the Bassorite began reciting these couplets:—
If not master of manners or aught but discreet ✿ In the household of
Kings no trust could he take:
And then for the Harem! What Eunuch[458] is he ✿ Whom angels would
serve for his service sake.
The Eunuch marvelled and was pleased at these words, so he took Ajib by
the hand and went into the cook's shop: whereupon Hasan the Bassorite
ladled into a saucer some conserve of pomegranate-grains wonderfully
good, dressed with almonds and sugar, saying, "You have honoured me
with your company: eat then and health and happiness to you!" Thereupon
Ajib said to his father, "Sit thee down and eat with us; so perchance
Allah may unite us with him we long for." Quoth Hasan, "O my son, hast
thou then been afflicted in thy tender years with parting from those
thou lovest?" Quoth Ajib, "Even so, O nuncle mine; my heart burns for
the loss of a beloved one who is none other than my father; and indeed
I come forth, I and my grandfather,[459] to circle and search the world
for him. Oh, the pity of it, and how I long to meet him!" Then he wept
with exceeding weeping, and his father also wept seeing him weep and
for his own bereavement, which recalled to him his long separation from
dear friends and from his mother; and the Eunuch was moved to pity for
him. Then they ate together till they were satisfied; and Ajib and the
slave rose and left the shop. Hereat Hasan the Bassorite felt as though
his soul had departed his body and had gone with them; for he could not
lose sight of the boy during the twinkling of an eye, albeit he knew
not that Ajib was his son. So he locked up his shop and hastened after
them; and he walked so fast that he came up with them before they had
gone out of the western gate. The Eunuch turned and asked him, "What
ails thee?"; and Badr al-Din answered, "When ye went from me, meseemed
my soul had gone with you; and, as I had business without the
city-gate, I purposed to bear you company till my matter was ordered
and so return." The Eunuch was angered and said to Ajib, "This is just
what I feared! we ate that unlucky mouthful (which we are bound to
respect), and here is the fellow following us from place to place; for
the vulgar are ever the vulgar." Ajib, turning and seeing the Cook just
behind him, was wroth and his face reddened with rage and he said to
the servant, "Let him walk the highway of the Moslems; but, when we
turn off it to our tents, and find that he still follows us, we will
send him about his business with a flea in his ear." Then he bowed his
head and walked on, the Eunuch walking behind him. But Hasan of
Bassorah followed them to the plain Al-Hasa; and, as they drew near to
the tents, they turned round and saw him close on their heels; so Ajib
was very angry, fearing that the Eunuch might tell his grandfather what
had happened. His indignation was the hotter for apprehension lest any
say that after he had entered a cook-shop the cook had followed him. So
he turned and looked at Hasan of Bassorah and found his eyes fixed on
his own, for the father had become a body without a soul; and it seemed
to Ajib that his eye was a treacherous eye or that he was some lewd
fellow. So his rage redoubled and, stooping down, he took up a stone
weighing half a pound and threw it at his father. It struck him on the
forehead, cutting it open from eye-brow to eye-brow and causing the
blood to stream down: and Hasan fell to the ground in a swoon whilst
Ajib and the Eunuch made for the tents. When the father came to himself
he wiped away the blood and tore off a strip from his turband and bound
up his head, blaming himself the while, and saying, "I wronged the lad
by shutting up my shop and following, so that he thought I was some
evil-minded fellow." Then he returned to his place where he busied
himself with the sale of his sweetmeats; and he yearned after his
mother at Bassorah, and wept over her and broke out repeating:—
Unjust it were to bid the World[460] be just ✿ And blame her not: She
ne'er was made for justice:
Take what she gives thee, leave all grief aside, ✿ For now to fair and
then to foul her lust is.
So Hasan of Bassorah set himself steadily to sell his sweetmeats; but
the Wazir, his uncle, halted in Damascus three days and then marched
upon Emesa, and passing through that town he made enquiry there and at
every place where he rested. Thence he fared on by way of Hamah and
Aleppo and thence through Diyár Bakr and Máridin and Mosul, still
enquiring, till he arrived at Bassorah-city. Here, as soon as he had
secured a lodging, he presented himself before the Sultan, who
entreated him with high honour and the respect due to his rank, and
asked the cause of his coming. The Wazir acquainted him with his
history and told him that the Minister Nur al-Din was his brother;
whereupon the Sultan exclaimed, "Allah have mercy upon him!" and added,
"My good Sáhib![461]; he was my Wazir for fifteen years and I loved him
exceedingly. Then he died leaving a son who abode only a single month
after his father's death; since which time he has disappeared and we
could gain no tidings of him. But his mother, who is the daughter of my
former Minister, is still among us." When the Wazir Shams al-Din heard
that his nephew's mother was alive and well, he rejoiced and said, "O
King I much desire to meet her." The King on the instant gave him leave
to visit her; so he betook himself to the mansion of his brother, Nur
al-Din, and cast sorrowful glances on all things in and around it and
kissed the threshold. Then he bethought him of his brother, Nur al-Din
Ali, and how he had died in a strange land far from kith and kin and
friends; and he wept and repeated these lines:—
I wander 'mid these walls, my Lavla's walls, ✿ And kissing this and
other wall I roam:
'Tis not the walls or roof my heart so loves, ✿ But those who in this
house had made their home.
Then he passed through the gate into a courtyard and found a vaulted
doorway builded of hardest syenite[462] inlaid with sundry kinds of
multi-coloured marble. Into this he walked and wandered about the house
and, throwing many a glance around, saw the name of his brother, Nur
al-Din, written in gold wash upon the walls. So he went up to the
inscription and kissed it and wept and thought of how he had been
separated from his brother and had now lost him for ever, and he
recited these couplets:—
I ask of you from every rising sun, ✿ And eke I ask when flasheth
leven-light:
Restless I pass my nights in passion-pain, ✿ Yet ne'er I 'plain me of
my painful plight:
My love! if longer last this parting throe ✿ Little by little shall it
waste my sprite.
An thou wouldst bless these eyne with sight of thee ✿ One day on earth,
I crave none other sight:
Think not another could possess my mind ✿ Nor length nor breadth for
other love I find.
Then he walked on till he came to the apartment of his brother's widow,
the mother of Badr al-Din Hasan, the Egyptian. Now from the time of her
son's disappearance she had never ceased weeping and wailing through
the light hours and the dark; and, when the years grew longsome with
her, she built for him a tomb of marble in the midst of the saloon and
there used to weep for him day and night, never sleeping save thereby.
When the Wazir drew near her apartment, he heard her voice and stood
behind the door while she addressed the sepulchre in verse and said:—
Answer, by Allah! Sepulchre, are all his beauties gone? ✿ Hath change
the power to blight his charms, that Beauty's paragon?
Thou art not earth, O Sepulchre! nor art thou sky to me; ✿ How comes
it, then, in thee I see conjoint the branch and moon?
While she was bemoaning herself after this fashion, behold, the Wazir
went in to her and saluted her and informed her that he was her
husband's brother; and, telling her all that had passed between them,
laid open before her the whole story, how her son Badr al-Din Hasan had
spent a whole night with his daughter full ten years ago but had
disappeared in the morning. And he ended with saying, "My daughter
conceived by thy son and bare a male child who is now with me, and he
is thy son and thy son's son by my daughter." When she heard the
tidings that her boy, Badr al-Din, was still alive and saw her
brother-in-law, she rose up to him and threw herself at his feet and
kissed them, reciting these lines:—
Allah be good to him that gives glad tidings of thy steps; ✿ In very
sooth for better news mine ears would never sue:
Were he content with worn-out robe, upon his back I'd throw ✿ A heart
to pieces rent and torn when heard the word Adieu.
Then the Wazir sent for Ajib and his grandmother stood up and fell on
his neck and wept; but Shams al-Din said to her, "This is no time for
weeping; this is the time to get thee ready for travelling with us to
the land of Egypt; haply Allah will reunite me and thee with thy son
and my nephew." Replied she, "Hearkening and obedience;" and, rising at
once, collected her baggage and treasures and her jewels, and equipped
herself and her slave-girls for the march, whilst the Wazir went to
take his leave of the Sultan of Bassorah, who sent by him presents and
rarities for the Soldan of Egypt. Then he set out at once upon his
homeward march and journeyed till he came to Damascus-city where he
alighted in the usual place and pitched tents, and said to his suite,
"We will halt a se'nnight here to buy presents and rare things for the
Soldan." Now Ajib bethought him of the past so he said to the Eunuch,
"O Láik, I want a little diversion; come, let us go down to the great
bazar of Damascus,[463] and see what hath become of the cook whose
sweetmeats we ate and whose head we broke, for indeed he was kind to us
and we entreated him scurvily." The Eunuch answered, "Hearing is
obeying!" So they went forth from the tents; and the tie of blood drew
Ajib towards his father, and forthwith they passed through the gateway,
Báb al-Farádís[464] hight, and entered the city and ceased not walking
through the streets till they reached the cook-shop, where they found
Hasan of Bassorah standing at the door. It was near the time of
mid-afternoon prayer[465] and it so fortuned that he had just dressed a
confection of pomegranate-grains. When the twain drew near to him and
Ajib saw him, his heart yearned towards him, and noticing the scar of
the blow, which time had darkened on his brow, he said to him, "Peace
be on thee, O man![466]; know that my heart is with thee." But when
Badr al-Din looked upon his son his vitals yearned and his heart
fluttered, and he hung his head earthwards and sought to make his
tongue give utterance to his words, but he could not. Then he raised
his head humbly and suppliant-wise towards his boy and repeated these
couplets:—
I longed for my beloved but when I saw his face, ✿ Abashed I held my
tongue and stood with downcast eye;
And hung my head in dread and would have hid my love, ✿ But do whatso I
would hidden it would not lie:
Volumes of plaints I had prepared, reproach and blame, ✿ But when we
met, no single word remembered I.
And then said he to them, "Heal my broken heart and eat of my
sweetmeats; for, by Allah, I cannot look at thee but my heart flutters.
Indeed I should not have followed thee the other day, but that I was
beside myself." "By Allah," answered Ajib, "thou dost indeed love us!
We ate in thy house a mouthful when we were here before and thou madest
us repent of it, for that thou followedst us and wouldst have disgraced
us; so now we will not eat aught with thee save on condition that thou
make oath not to go out after us nor dog us. Otherwise we will not
visit thee again during our present stay; for we shall halt a week
here, whilst my grandfather buys certain presents for the King." Quoth
Hasan of Bassorah, "I promise you this." So Ajib and the Eunuch entered
the shop, and his father set before them a saucer-full of conserve of
pomegranate-grains. Said Ajib, "Sit thee down and eat with us, so haply
shall Allah dispel our sorrows." Hasan the Bassorite was joyful and sat
down and ate with them; but his eyes kept gazing fixedly on Ajib's
face, for his very heart and vitals clove to him; and at last the boy
said to him, "Did I not tell thee thou art a most noyous dotard?; so do
stint thy staring in my face!" But when Hasan of Bassorah heard his
son's words he repeated these lines:—
Thou hast some art the hearts of men to clip; ✿ Close-veiled,
far-hidden mystery dark and deep:
O thou whose beauties shame the lustrous moon, ✿ Wherewith the saffron
Morn fears rivalship!
Thy beauty is a shrine shall ne'er decay; ✿ Whose signs shall grow
until they all outstrip;[467]
Must I be thirst-burnt by that Eden-brow ✿ And die of pine to taste
that Kausar[468]-lip?
Hasan kept putting morsels into Ajib's mouth at one time and at another
time did the same by the Eunuch and they ate till they were satisfied
and could no more. Then all rose up and the cook poured water on their
hands;[469] and, loosing a silken waist-shawl, dried them and sprinkled
them with rose-water from a casting-bottle he had by him. Then he went
out and presently returned with a gugglet of sherbet flavoured with
rose-water, scented with musk and cooled with snow; and he set this
before them saying, "Complete your kindness to me!" So Ajib took the
gugglet and drank and passed it to the Eunuch; and it went round till
their stomachs were full and they were surfeited with a meal larger
than their wont. Then they went away and made haste in walking till
they reached the tents, and Ajib went in to his grandmother, who kissed
him and, thinking of her son, Badr al-Din Hasan, groaned aloud and wept
and recited these lines:—
I still had hoped to see thee and enjoy thy sight, ✿ For in thine
absence life had lost its kindly light:
I swear my vitals wot none other love but thine ✿ By Allah, who can
read the secrets of the sprite!
Then she asked Ajib, "O my son! where hast thou been?"; and he
answered, "In Damascus-city;" Whereupon she rose and set before him a
bit of scone and a saucer of conserve of pomegranate-grains (which was
too little sweetened), and she said to the Eunuch, "Sit down with thy
master!" Said the servant to himself, "By Allah, we have no mind to
eat: I cannot bear the smell of bread;" but he sat down and so did
Ajib, though his stomach was full of what he had eaten already and
drunken. Nevertheless he took a bit of the bread and dipped it in the
pomegranate-conserve and made shift to eat it, but he found it too
little sweetened, for he was cloyed and surfeited, so he said, "Faugh;
what be this wild-beast[470] stuff?" "O my son," cried his grandmother,
"dost thou find fault with my cookery? I cooked this myself and none
can cook it as nicely as I can save thy father, Badr al-Din Hasan." "By
Allah, O my lady," Ajib answered, "this dish is nasty stuff; for we saw
but now in the city of Bassorah a cook who so dresseth
pomegranate-grains that the very smell openeth a way to the heart and
the taste would make a full man long to eat; and, as for this mess
compared with his, 'tis not worth either much or little." When his
grandmother heard his words she waxed wroth with exceeding wrath and
looked at the servant——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Twenty-Fourth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Ajib's
grandmother heard his words, she waxed wroth and looked at the servant
and said, "Woe to thee! dost thou spoil my son,[471] and dost take him
into common cookshops?" The Eunuch was frightened and denied, saying,
"We did not go into the shop; we only passed by it." "By Allah," cried
Ajib, "but we _did_ go in and we ate till it came out of our nostrils,
and the dish was better than thy dish!" Then his grandmother rose and
went and told her brother-in-law, who was incensed against the Eunuch,
and sending for him asked him, "Why didst thou take my son into a
cook-shop?"; and the Eunuch being frightened answered, "We did not go
in." But Ajib said, "We _did_ go inside and ate conserve of
pomegranate-grains till we were full; and the cook gave us to drink of
iced and sugared sherbet." At this the Wazir's indignation redoubled
and he questioned the Castrato but, as he still denied, the Wazir said
to him, "If thou speak sooth, sit down and eat before us." So he came
forward and tried to eat, but could not and threw away the mouthful
crying "O my lord! I am surfeited since yesterday." By this the Wazir
was certified that he had eaten at the cook's and bade the slaves throw
him[472] which they did. Then they came down on him with a rib-basting
which burned him till he cried for mercy and help from Allah, saying,
"O my master, beat me no more and I will tell thee the truth;"
whereupon the Wazir stopped the bastinado and said, "Now speak thou
sooth." Quoth the Eunuch, "Know then that we did enter the shop of a
cook while he was dressing conserve of pomegranate-grains and he set
some of it before us: by Allah! I never ate in my life its like, nor
tasted aught nastier than this stuff which is now before us."[473] Badr
al-Din Hasan's mother was angry at this and said, "Needs must thou go
back to the cook and bring me a saucer of conserved pomegranate-grains
from that which is in his shop and show it to thy master, that he may
say which be the better and the nicer, mine or his." Said the unsexed
"I will." So on the instant she gave him a saucer and a half dinar and
he returned to the shop and said to the cook, "O Shaykh of all
Cooks,[474] we have laid a wager concerning thy cookery in my lord's
house, for they have conserve of pomegranate-grains there also; so give
me this half-dinar's worth and look to it; for I have eaten a full meal
of stick on account of thy cookery, and so do not let me eat aught more
thereof." Hasan of Bassorah laughed and answered, "By Allah, none can
dress this dish as it should be dressed save myself and my mother, and
she at this time is in a far country." Then he ladled out a
saucer-full; and, finishing it off with musk and rose-water, put it in
a cloth which he sealed[475] and gave it to the Eunuch, who hastened
back with it. No sooner had Badr al-Din Hasan's mother tasted it and
perceived its fine flavour and the excellence of the cookery, than she
knew who had dressed it, and she screamed and fell down fainting. The
Wazir, sorely startled, sprinkled rose-water upon her and after a time
she recovered and said, "If my son be yet of this world, none dressed
this conserve of pomegranate-grains but he; and this Cook is my very
son Badr al-Din Hasan; there is no doubt of it nor can there be any
mistake, for only I and he knew how to prepare it and I taught him."
When the Wazir heard her words he joyed with exceeding joy and said,
"Oh the longing of me for a sight of my brother's son! I wonder if the
days will ever unite us with him! Yet it is to Almighty Allah alone
that we look for bringing about this meeting." Then he rose without
stay or delay and, going to his suite said to them, "Be off, some fifty
of you with sticks and staves to the Cook's shop and demolish it; then
pinion his arms behind him with his own turband, saying:—It was thou
madest that foul mess of pomegranate-grains! and drag him here perforce
but without doing him a harm." And they replied, "It is well." Then the
Wazir rode off without losing an instant to the Palace and,
foregathering with the Viceroy of Damascus, showed him the Sultan's
orders. After careful perusal he kissed the letter, and placing it upon
his head said to his visitor, "Who is this offender of thine?" Quoth
the Wazir, "A man which is a cook." So the Viceroy at once sent his
apparitors to the shop; which they found demolished and everything in
it broken to pieces; for whilst the Wazir was riding to the palace his
men had done his bidding. Then they awaited his return from the
audience, and Hasan of Bassorah who was their prisoner kept saying, "I
wonder what they have found in the conserve of pomegranate-grains to
bring things to this pass!"[476] When the Wazir returned to them, after
his visit to the Viceroy who had given him formal permission to take up
his debtor and depart with him, on entering the tents he called for the
Cook. They brought him forward pinioned with his turband; and, when
Badr al-Din Hasan saw his uncle, he wept with exceeding weeping and
said, "O my lord, what is my offence against thee?" "Art thou the man
who dressed that conserve of pomegranate-grains?"; asked the Wazir, and
he answered "Yes! didst thou find in it aught to call for the cutting
off of my head?" Quoth the Wazir, "That were the least of thy deserts!"
Quoth the cook, "O my lord, wilt thou not tell me my crime and what
aileth the conserve of pomegranate-grains?" "Presently," replied the
Wazir and called aloud to his men, saying "Bring hither the camels." So
they struck the tents and by the Wazir's orders the servants took Badr
al-Din Hasan, and set him in a chest which they padlocked and put on a
camel. Then they departed and stinted not journeying till nightfall,
when they halted and ate some victual, and took Badr al-Din Hasan out
of his chest and gave him a meal and locked him up again. They set out
once more and travelled till they reached Kimrah, where they took him
out of the box and brought him before the Wazir who asked him, "Art
thou he who dressed that conserve of pomegranate-grains?" He answered
"Yes, O my lord!"; and the Wazir said "Fetter him!" So they fettered
him and returned him to the chest and fared on again till they reached
Cairo and lighted at the quarter called Al-Raydaniyah.[477] Then the
Wazir gave order to take Badr al-Din Hasan out of the chest and sent
for a carpenter and said to him, "Make me a cross of wood[478] for this
fellow!" Cried Badr al-Din Hasan, "And what wilt thou do with it?"; and
the Wazir replied, "I mean to crucify thee thereon, and nail thee
thereto and parade thee all about the city." "And why wilt thou use me
after this fashion?" "Because of thy villanous cookery of conserved
pomegranate-grains; how durst thou dress it and sell it lacking
pepper?" "And for that it lacked pepper wilt thou do all this to me? Is
it not enough that thou hast broken my shop and smashed my gear and
boxed me up in a chest and fed me only once a day?" "Too little pepper!
too little pepper! this is a crime which can be expiated only upon the
cross!" Then Badr al-Din Hasan marvelled and fell a-mourning for his
life; whereupon the Wazir asked him, "Of what thinkest thou?"; and he
answered him, "Of maggoty heads like thine;[479] for an thou had one
ounce of sense thou hadst not treated me thus." Quoth the Wazir, "It is
our duty to punish thee lest thou do the like again." Quoth Badr al-Din
Hasan, "Of a truth my offence were over-punished by the least of what
thou hast already done to me; and Allah damn all conserve of
pomegranate-grains and curse the hour when I cooked it and would I had
died ere this!" But the Wazir rejoined, "There is no help for it: I
must crucify a man who sells conserve of pomegranate-grains lacking
pepper." All this time the carpenter was shaping the wood and Badr
al-Din looked on; and thus they did till night, when his uncle took him
and clapped him into the chest, saying, "The thing shall be done
to-morrow!" Then he waited till he knew Badr al-Din Hasan to be asleep,
when he mounted; and, taking the chest up before him, entered the city
and rode on to his own house, where he alighted and said to his
daughter, Sitt al-Husn, "Praised be Allah who hath reunited thee with
thy husband, the son of thine uncle! Up now, and order the house as it
was on thy bridal night." So the servants arose and lit the candles;
and the Wazir took out his plan of the nuptial chamber, and directed
them what to do till they had set everything in its stead, so that
whoever saw it would have no doubt but it was the very night of the
marriage. Then he bade them put down Badr al-Din Hasan's turband on the
settle, as he had deposited it with his own hand, and in like manner
his bag-trousers and the purse which were under the mattress; and told
his daughter to undress herself and go to bed in the private chamber as
on her wedding-night, adding, "When the son of thine uncle comes in to
thee, say to him:—Thou hast loitered while going to the privy; and call
him to lie by thy side and keep him in converse till day-break, when we
will explain the whole matter to him." Then he bade take Badr al-Din
Hasan out of the chest, after loosing the fetters from his feet and
stripping off all that was on him save the fine shirt of blue silk in
which he had slept on his wedding-night; so that he was well nigh naked
and trouserless. All this was done whilst he was sleeping on utterly
unconscious. Then, by doom of Destiny, Badr al-Din Hasan turned over
and awoke; and, finding himself in a lighted vestibule, said to
himself, "Surely I am in the mazes of some dream." So he rose and went
on a little to an inner door and looked in and lo! he was in the very
chamber wherein the bride had been displayed to him; and there he saw
the bridal alcove and the settle and his turband and all his clothes.
When he saw this he was confounded and kept advancing with one foot,
and retiring with the other, saying, "Am I sleeping or waking?" And he
began rubbing his forehead and saying (for indeed he was thoroughly
astounded), "By Allah, verily this is the chamber of the bride who was
displayed before me! Where am I then? I was surely but now in a box!"
Whilst he was talking with himself, Sitt al-Husn suddenly lifted the
corner of the chamber-curtain and said, "O my lord, wilt thou not come
in? Indeed thou hast loitered long in the water-closet." When he heard
her words and saw her face he burst out laughing and said, "Of a truth
this is a very nightmare among dreams!" Then he went in sighing, and
pondered what had come to pass with him and was perplexed about his
case, and his affair became yet more obscure to him when he saw his
turband and bag-trousers and when, feeling the pocket, he found the
purse containing the thousand gold pieces. So he stood still and
muttered, "Allah is all knowing! Assuredly I am dreaming a wild waking
dream!" Then said the Lady of Beauty to him, "What ails thee to look
puzzled and perplexed?"; adding, "Thou wast a very different man during
the first of the night!" He laughed and asked her, "How long have I
been away from thee?"; and she answered him, "Allah preserve thee and
His Holy Name be about thee! Thou didst but go out an hour ago for an
occasion and return. Are thy wits clean gone?" When Badr al-Din Hasan
heard this, he laughed,[480] and said, "Thou hast spoken truth; but,
when I went out from thee, I forgot myself awhile in the draught-house
and dreamed that I was a cook at Damascus and abode there ten years;
and there came to me a boy who was of the sons of the great, and with
him an Eunuch." Here he passed his hand over his forehead and, feeling
the scar, cried, "By Allah, O my lady, it must have been true, for he
struck my forehead with a stone and cut it open from eye-brow to
eye-brow; and here is the mark: so it must have been on wake." Then he
added, "But perhaps I dreamt it when we fell asleep, I and thou, in
each other's arms, for meseems it was as though I travelled to Damascus
without tarbush and trousers and set up as a cook there." Then he was
perplexed and considered for awhile, and said, "By Allah, I also
fancied that I dressed a conserve of pomegranate-grains and put too
little pepper in it. By Allah, I must have slept in the numero-cent and
have seen the whole of this in a dream; but how long was that dream!"
"Allah upon thee," said Sitt al-Husn, "and what more sawest thou?" So
he related all to her; and presently said, "By Allah, had I not woke up
they would have nailed me to a cross of wood!" "Wherefore?" asked she;
and he answered, "For putting too little pepper in the conserve of
pomegranate-grains, and meseemed they demolished my shop and dashed to
pieces my pots and pans, destroyed all my stuff and put me in a box;
then they sent for the carpenter to fashion a cross for me and would
have crucified me thereon. Now Alhamdolillah! thanks be to Allah, for
that all this happened to me in sleep, and not on wake." Sitt al-Husn
laughed and clasped him to her bosom and he her to his: then he thought
again and said, "By Allah, it could not be save while I was awake:
truly I know not what to think of it." Then he lay him down and all the
night he was bewildered about his case, now saying, "I was dreaming!"
and then saying, "I was awake!", till morning, when his uncle Shams
al-Din, the Wazir, came to him and saluted him. When Badr al-Din Hasan
saw him he said, "By Allah, art thou not he who bade bind my hands
behind me and smash my shop and nail me to a cross on a matter of
conserved pomegranate-grains because the dish lacked a sufficiency of
pepper?" Whereupon the Wazir said to him, "Know, O my son, that truth
hath shown it soothfast and the concealed hath been revealed![481] Thou
art the son of my brother, and I did all this with thee to certify
myself that thou wast indeed he who went in unto my daughter that
night. I could not be sure of this, till I saw that thou knewest the
chamber and thy turband and thy trousers and thy gold and the papers in
thy writing and in that of thy father, my brother; for I had never seen
thee afore that and knew thee not; and as to thy mother I have
prevailed upon her to come with me from Bassorah." So saying, he threw
himself on his nephew's breast and wept for joy; and Badr al-Din Hasan,
hearing these words from his uncle, marvelled with exceeding marvel and
fell on his neck and also shed tears for excess of delight. Then said
the Wazir to him, "O my son, the sole cause of all this is what passed
between me and thy sire;" and he told him the manner of his father
wayfaring to Bassorah and all that had occurred to part them. Lastly
the Wazir sent for Ajib; and when his father saw him he cried, "And
this is he who struck me with the stone!" Quoth the Wazir "This is thy
son!" And Badr al-Din Hasan threw himself upon his boy and began
repeating:—
Long have I wept o'er severance' ban and bane, ✿ Long from mine eyelids
tear-rills rail and rain:
And vowèd I if Time re-union bring ✿ My tongue from name of "Severance"
I'll restrain:
Joy hath o'ercome me to this stress that I ✿ From joy's revulsion to
shed tears am fain:
Ye are so trained to tears, O eyne of me! ✿ You weep with pleasure as
you weep with pain.[482]
When he had ended his verse his mother came in and threw herself upon
him and began reciting:—
When we met we complained, ✿ Our hearts were sore wrung:
But plaint is not pleasant ✿ Fro' messenger's tongue.
Then she wept and related to him what had befallen her since his
departure, and he told her what he had suffered, and they thanked Allah
Almighty for their reunion. Two days after his arrival the Wazir Shams
al-Din went in to the Sultan and, kissing the ground between his hands,
greeted him with the greeting due to Kings. The Sultan rejoiced at his
return and his face brightened and, placing him hard by his side,[483]
asked him to relate all he had seen in his wayfaring and whatso had
betided him in his going and coming. So the Wazir told him all that had
passed from first to last and the Sultan said, "Thanks be to Allah for
thy victory[484] and the winning of thy wish and thy safe return to thy
children and thy people! And now I needs must see the son of thy
brother, Hasan of Bassorah, so bring him to the audience-hall
to-morrow." Shams al-Din replied, "Thy slave shall stand in thy
presence to-morrow, Inshallah, if it be God's will." Then he saluted
him and, returning to his own house, informed his nephew of the
Sultan's desire to see him, whereto replied Hasan, whilome the
Bassorite, "The slave is obedient to the orders of his lord." And the
result was that next day he accompanied his uncle, Shams al-Din, to the
Divan; and, after saluting the Sultan and doing him reverence in most
ceremonious obeisance and with most courtly obsequiousness, he began
improvising these verses:—
The first in rank to kiss the ground shall deign ✿ Before you, and all
ends and aims attain:
You are Honour's fount; and all that hope of you, ✿ Shall gain more
honour than Hope hoped to gain.
The Sultan smiled and signed to him to sit down. So he took a seat
close to his uncle, Shams al-Din, and the King asked him his name.
Quoth Badr al-Din Hasan, "The meanest of thy slaves is known as Hasan
the Bassorite, who is instant in prayer for thee day and night." The
Sultan was pleased at his words and, being minded to test his learning
and prove his good breeding, asked him, "Dost thou remember any verses
in praise of the mole on the cheek?" He answered, "I do," and began
reciting:—
When I think of my love and our parting-smart, ✿ My groans go forth and
my tears upstart:
He's a mole that reminds me in colour and charms ✿ O' the black o' the
eye and the grain[485] of the heart.
The King admired and praised the two couplets and said to him, "Quote
something else; Allah bless thy sire and may thy tongue never tire!" So
he began:—
That cheek-mole's spot they evened with a grain ✿ Of musk, nor did they
here the simile strain:
Nay, marvel at the face comprising all ✿ Beauty, nor falling short by
single grain.
The King shook with pleasure[486] and said to him, "Say more: Allah
bless thy days!" So he began:—
O you whose mole on cheek enthroned recalls ✿ A dot of musk upon a
stone of ruby,
Grant me your favours! Be not stone at heart! ✿ Core of my heart whose
only sustenance _you_ be!
Quoth the King, "Fair comparison, O Hasan![487] thou hast spoken
excellently well and hast proved thyself accomplished in every
accomplishment! Now explain to me how many meanings be there in the
Arabic language[488] for the word _Khál_ or _mole_." He replied, "Allah
keep the King! Seven and fifty and some by tradition say fifty." Said
the Sultan, "Thou sayest sooth," presently adding, "Hast thou knowledge
as to the points of excellence in beauty?" "Yes," answered Badr al-Din
Hasan, "Beauty consisteth in brightness of face, clearness of
complexion, shapeliness of nose, gentleness of eyes, sweetness of
mouth, cleverness of speech, slenderness of shape and seemliness of all
attributes." But the acme of beauty is in the hair and, indeed,
al-Shiháb the Hijazi hath brought together all these items in his
doggrel verse of the metre Rajaz[489] and it is this:—
Say thou to skin "Be soft," to face "Be fair;" ✿ And gaze, nor shall
they blame howso thou stare:
Fine nose in Beauty's list is high esteemed; ✿ Nor less an eye full,
bright and debonnair
Eke did they well to laud the lovely lips ✿ (Which e'en the sleep of me
will never spare);
A winning tongue, a stature tall and straight;[490] ✿ A seemly union of
gifts rarest rare:
But Beauty's acme in the hair one views it; ✿ So hear my strain and
with some few excuse it!
The Sultan was captivated by his converse and, regarding him as a
friend, asked, "What meaning is there in the saw "Shurayh is foxier
than the fox"?" And he answered, "Know, O King (whom Almighty Allah
keep!) that the legist Shurayh[491] was wont, during the days of the
plague, to make a visitation to Al-Najaf; and, whenever he stood up to
pray, there came a fox which would plant himself facing him and which,
by mimicking his movements, distracted him from his devotions. Now when
this became longsome to him, one day he doffed his shirt and set it
upon a cane and shook out the sleeves; then placing his turband on the
top and girding its middle with a shawl, he stuck it up in the place
where he used to pray. Presently up trotted the fox according to his
custom and stood over against the figure, whereupon Shurayh came behind
him, and took him." Hence the sayer saith, "Shurayh is foxier than the
fox." When the Sultan heard Badr al-Din Hasan's explanation he said to
his uncle, Shams al-Din, "Truly this the son of thy brother is perfect
in courtly breeding and I do not think that his like can be found in
Cairo." At this Hasan arose and kissed the ground before him and sat
down again as a Mameluke should sit before his master. When the Sultan
had thus assured himself of his courtly breeding and bearing and his
knowledge of the liberal arts and belles-lettres, he joyed with
exceeding joy and invested him with a splendid robe of honour and
promoted him to an office whereby he might better his condition.[492]
Then Badr al-Din Hasan arose and, kissing the ground before the King,
wished him continuance of glory and asked leave to retire with his
uncle, the Wazir Shams al-Din. The Sultan gave him leave and he issued
forth and the two returned home, where food was set before them and
they ate what Allah had given them. After finishing his meal Hasan
repaired to the sitting-chamber of his wife, the Lady of Beauty, and
told her what had past between him and the Sultan; whereupon quoth she,
"He cannot fail to make thee a cup-companion and give thee largesse in
excess and load thee with favours and bounties; so shalt thou, by
Allah's blessing, dispread, like the greater light, the rays of thy
perfection wherever thou be, on shore or on sea." Said he to her, "I
purpose to recite a Kasídah, an ode, in his praise, that he may
redouble in affection for me." "Thou art right in thine intent," she
answered, "so gather thy wits together and weigh thy words, and I shall
surely see my husband favoured with his highest favour." Thereupon
Hasan shut himself up and composed these couplets on a solid base and
abounding in inner grace and copied them out in a handwriting of the
nicest taste. They are as follows:—
Mine is a Chief who reached most haught estate, ✿ Treading the pathways
of the good and great:
His justice makes all regions safe and sure, ✿ And against froward foes
bars every gate:
Bold lion, hero, saint, e'en if you call ✿ Seraph or Sovran[493] he
with all may rate!
The poorest suppliant rich from him returns, ✿ All words to praise him
were inadequate.
He to the day of peace is saffron Morn, ✿ And murky Night in furious
warfare's bate.
Bow 'neath his gifts our necks, and by his deeds ✿ As King of
freeborn[494] souls he 'joys his state:
Allah increase for us his term of years, ✿ And from his lot avert all
risks and fears!
When he had finished transcribing the lines, he despatched them, in
charge of one of his uncle's slaves, to the Sultan, who perused them
and his fancy was pleased; so he read them to those present and all
praised them with the highest praise. Thereupon he sent for the writer
to his sitting chamber and said to him, "Thou art from this day forth
my boon-companion and I appoint to thee a monthly solde of a thousand
dirhams, over and above that I bestowed on thee aforetime." So Hasan
rose and, kissing the ground before the King several times, prayed for
the continuance of his greatness and glory and length of life and
strength. Thus Badr al-Din Hasan the Bassorite waxed high in honour and
his fame flew forth to many regions and he abode in all comfort and
solace and delight of life with his uncle and his own folk till Death
overtook him. When the Caliph Harun al-Rashid heard this story from the
mouth of his Wazir, Ja'afar the Barmecide, he marvelled much and said,
"It behoves that these stories be written in letters of liquid gold."
Then he set the slave at liberty and assigned to the youth who had
slain his wife such a monthly stipend as sufficed to make his life
easy; he also gave him a concubine from amongst his own slave-girls and
the young man became one of his cup-companions. "Yet this story"
(continued Shahrazad) "is in no wise stranger than the tale of the
Tailor and the Hunchback and the Jew and the Reeve and the Nazarene,
and what betided them." Quoth the King, "And what may that be?" So
Shahrazad began, in these words,[495]
-----
Footnote 363:
Arab. "Khila'ah" prop. what a man strips from his person: gen. an
honorary gift. It is something more than the "robe of honour" of our
chivalrous romances, as it includes a horse, a sword (often
gold-hilted), a black turban (amongst the Abbasides) embroidered with
gold, a violet-coloured mantle, a waist-shawl and a gold neck-chain
and shoe-buckles.
Footnote 364:
Arab. "Izá," _i.e._ the visits of condolence and so forth which are
long and terribly wearisome in the Moslem East.
Footnote 365:
Arab. "Mahr," the money settled by the man before marriage on the
woman and without which the contract is not valid. Usually half of it
is paid down on the marriage-day and the other half when the husband
dies or divorces his wife. But if she take a divorce she forfeits her
right to it, and obscene fellows, especially Persians, often compel
her to demand divorce by unnatural and preposterous use of her
person.
Footnote 366:
Bismillah here means "Thou art welcome to it."
Footnote 367:
Arab. "Bassak," half Pers. (bas=enough) and—ak=thou; for thee. "Bas"
sounds like our "buss" (to kiss) and there are sundry good old
Anglo-Indian jokes of feminine mistakes on the subject.
Footnote 368:
This saving clause makes the threat worse. The scene between the two
brothers is written with characteristic Arab humour; and it is true
to nature. In England we have heard of a man who separated from his
wife because he wished to dine at six and she preferred half-past
six.
Footnote 369:
Arab. "Misr" (vulg. Masr). The word, which comes of a very ancient
house, was applied to the present Capital about the time of its
conquest by the Osmanli Turks A.H. 923=1517.
Footnote 370:
The Arab. "Jízah,"=skirt, edge; the modern village is the site of an
ancient Egyptian city, as the "Ghizah inscription" proves (Brugsch,
History of Egypt, ii. 415).
Footnote 371:
Arab. "Watan" literally meaning "birth-place" but also used for
"patria, native country"; thus "Hubb al-Watan"=patriotism. The Turks
pronounce it "Vatan," which the French have turned into Va-t'en!
Footnote 372:
Arab. "Zarzariyah"=the colour of a stare or starling (Zurzúr).
Footnote 373:
Now a Railway Station on the Alexandria-Cairo line.
Footnote 374:
Even as late as 1852, when I first saw Cairo, the city was girt by
waste lands and the climate was excellent. Now cultivation comes up
to the house walls; while the Mahmudiyah Canal, the planting the
streets with avenues and over-watering have seriously injured it;
those who want the air of former Cairo must go to Thebes. Gout,
rheumatism and hydrophobia (before unknown) have become common of
late years.
Footnote 375:
This is the popular pronunciation: Yákút calls it "Bilbís."
Footnote 376:
An outlying village on the "Long Desert," between Cairo and
Palestine.
Footnote 377:
Arab. "Al-Kuds"=holiness. There are few cities which in our day have
less claim to this title than Jerusalem; and, curious to say, the
"Holy Land" shows Jews, Christians and Moslems all in their worst
form. The only religion (if it can be called one) which produces men
in Syria is the Druse. "Heiligen-landes Jüden" are proverbial and
nothing can be meaner than the Christians while the Moslems are famed
for treachery.
Footnote 378:
Arab. "Shamm al-hawá." In vulgar parlance to "smell the air" is to
take a walk especially out of town. There is a peculiar Egyptian
festival called "Shamm al-Nasím" (smelling the Zephyr) which begins
on Easter-Monday (O.S.), thus corresponding with the Persian Nau-roz,
vernal equinox and introducing the fifty days of "Khammasín" or
"Mirisi" (hot desert winds). On awaking, the people smell and bathe
their temples with vinegar in which an onion has been soaked and
break their fast with a "fisikh" or dried "búri"=mullet from Lake
Menzalah: the late Hekekiyan Bey had the fish-heads counted in one
public garden and found 70,000. The rest of the day is spent out of
doors "Gypsying," and families greatly enjoy themselves on these
occasions. For a longer description see a paper by my excellent
friend Yacoub Artin Pasha, in the Bulletin de l'Institut Égyptien,
2nd series, No. 4, Cairo, 1884. I have noticed the Mirisi
(Southwester) and other winds in the Land of Midian, i., 23.
Footnote 379:
So in the days of the "Mameluke Beys" in Egypt a man of rank would
not cross the street on foot.
Footnote 380:
Arab. Basrah. The city now in decay and not to flourish again till
the advent of the Euphrates Valley R.R., is a modern place, founded
in A.H. 15, by the Caliph Omar upon the Aylah, a feeder of the
Tigris. Here, according to Al-Hariri, the "whales and the lizards
meet;" and, as the tide affects the river,
Its stream shows prodigy, ebbing and flowing.
In its far-famed market-place, Al-Marbad, poems used to be recited;
and the city was famous for its mosques and Saint-shrines, fair women
and school of Grammar which rivalled that of Kúfah. But already in
Al-Hariri's day (nat. A.H. 446=A.D. 1030) Baghdad had drawn off much
of its population.
Footnote 381:
This fumigation (Bukhúr) is still used. A little incense or perfumed
wood is burnt upon an open censer (Mibkharah) of earthenware or
metal, and passed round, each guest holding it for a few moments
under his beard. In the Somali Country, the very home of incense,
both sexes fumigate the whole person after carnal intercourse. Lane
(Mod. Egypt, chapt. viii.) gives an illustration of the Mibkharah.
Footnote 382:
The reader of The Nights will remark that the merchant is often a
merchant-prince, consorting and mating with the highest dignitaries.
Even amongst the Romans, a race of soldiers, statesmen and lawyers,
"mercatura" on a large scale was "not to be vituperated." In
Boccaccio (x. 19) they are netti e delicati uomini. England is
perhaps the only country which has made her fortune by trade, and
much of it illicit trade, like that in slaves which built Liverpool
and Bristol, and which yet disdains or affects to disdain the trader.
But the unworthy prejudice is disappearing with the last generation,
and men who formerly would have half starved as curates and ensigns,
barristers and _carabins_ are now only too glad to become merchants.
Footnote 383:
These lines in the Calc. and Bul. Edit. have already occurred (Night
vii.) but such carelessness is characteristic despite the proverb,
"In repetition is no fruition." I quote Torrens (p. 60) by way of
variety. As regards the anemone (here called a tulip) being named
"Shakík"=fissure, I would conjecture that it derives from the flower
often forming long lines of red like stripes of blood in the
landscape. Travellers in Syria always observe this.
Footnote 384:
Such an address to a royalty (Eastern) even in the present day, would
be a passport to future favours.
Footnote 385:
In England the man marries and the woman is married: there is no such
distinction in Arabia.
Footnote 386:
"Sultan" (and its corruption "Soldan") etymologically means lord,
victorious, ruler, ruling over. In Arabia it is a not uncommon proper
name; and as a title it is taken by a host of petty kinglets. The
Abbaside Caliphs (as Al-Wásik who has been noticed) formally created
these Sultans as their regents. Al-Tá'i bi'llah (regn. A.H. 363=974),
invested the famous Sabuktagin with the office; and, as
Alexander-Sikandar was wont to do, fastened for him two flags, one of
silver, after the fashion of nobles, and the other of gold, as
Viceroy-designate. Sabuktagin's son, the famous Mahmúd of the
Ghaznavite dynasty in A.H. 393=1002, was the first to adopt "Sultan"
as an independent title some two hundred years after the death of
Harun al-Rashid. In old writers we have the Soldan of Egypt, the
Soudan of Persia, and the Sowdan of Babylon; three modifications of
one word.
Footnote 387:
_i.e._ he was a "Háfiz," one who commits to memory the whole of the
Koran. It is a serious task and must be begun early. I learnt by rote
the last "Juzw" (or thirtieth part) and found that quite enough. This
is the vulgar use of "Hafiz": technically and theologically it means
the third order of Traditionists (the total being five) who know by
heart 300,000 traditions of the Prophet with their ascriptions. A
curious "spiritualist" book calls itself "Hafed, Prince of Persia,"
proving by the very title that the Spirits are equally ignorant of
Arabic and Persian.
Footnote 388:
Here again the Cairo Edit. repeats the six couplets already given in
Night xvii. I take them from Torrens (p. 163).
Footnote 389:
This naïve admiration of beauty in either sex characterised our
chivalrous times. Now it is mostly confined to "professional
beauties" of what is conventionally called the "fair sex"; as if
there could be any comparison between the beauty of man and the
beauty of woman, the Apollo Belvidere with the Venus de Medici.
Footnote 390:
Arab. "Shásh" (in Pers. urine), a light turband generally of muslin.
Footnote 391:
This is a _lieu commun_ of Eastern worldly wisdom. Quite true! Very
unadvisable to dive below the surface of one's acquaintances, but
such intimacy is like marriage of which Johnson said, "Without it
there is no pleasure in life."
Footnote 392:
The lines are attributed to the famous Al-Mutanabbi=the claimant to
"Prophecy," of whom I have given a few details in my Pilgrimage (iii.
60, 62). He led the life of a true poet, somewhat Chauvinistic
withal; and, rather than run away, was killed in A.H. 354=965.
Footnote 393:
Arab. "Nabíz"=wine of raisins or dates; any fermented liquor; from a
root to "press out" in Syriac, like the word "Talmiz" (or Tilmiz,
says the Kashf al-Ghurrah) a pupil, student. Date-wine (fermented
from the fruit, not the Tádi, or juice of the stem, our "toddy") is
called Fazikh. Hence the Masjid al-Fazikh at Al-Medinah where the
Ansar or Auxiliaries of that city were sitting cup in hand when they
heard of the revelation forbidding inebriants and poured the liquor
upon the ground (Pilgrimage ii. 322).
Footnote 394:
Arab. "Huda"=direction (to the right way), salvation, a word
occurring in the Opening Chapter of the Koran. Hence to a Kafir who
offers the Salam-salutation many Moslems reply "Allah yahdík"=Allah
direct thee! (_i.e._ make thee a Moslem), instead of Allah
yusallimak=Allah lead thee to salvation. It is the root word of the
Mahdi and Mohdi.
Footnote 395:
These lines have already occurred in The First Kalandar's Story
(Night xi). I quote by way of change and with permission Mr. Payne's
version (i. 93).
Footnote 396:
Arab. "Farajíyah," a long-sleeved robe worn by the learned (Lane, M.
E., chapt. i.)
Footnote 397:
Arab. "Sarráf" (vulg. Sayrafi), whence the Anglo-Indian "Shroff," a
familiar corruption.
Footnote 398:
Arab. "Yahúdí" which is less polite than "Banú Isráíl"=Children of
Israel. So in Christendom "Israelite" when in favour and "Jew" (with
an adjective or a participle) when nothing is wanted of him.
Footnote 399:
Also called "Ghilmán"=the beautiful youths appointed to serve the
True Believers in Paradise. The Koran says (chapt. lvi. 9 etc.)
"Youths, which shall continue in their bloom for ever, shall go round
about to attend them, with goblets, and beakers, and a cup of flowing
wine," etc. Mohammed was an Arab (not a Persian, a born pederast) and
he was too fond of women to be charged with love of boys: even
Tristram Shandy (vol. vii. chapt. 7; "No, quoth a third; the
gentleman has been committing——") knew that the two tastes are
incompatibles. But this and other passages in the Koran have given
the Chevaliers de la Paille a hint that the use of boys, like that of
wine, here forbidden, will be permitted in Paradise.
Footnote 400:
Which, by the by, is the age of an oldish old maid in Egypt. I much
doubt puberty being there earlier than in England where our
grandmothers married at fourteen. But Orientals are aware that the
period of especial feminine devilry is between the first menstruation
and twenty when, according to some, every girl is a "possible
murderess." So they wisely marry her and get rid of what is called
the "lump of grief," the "domestic calamity"—a daughter. Amongst them
we never hear of the abominable egotism and cruelty of the English
mother, who disappoints her daughter's womanly cravings in order to
keep her at home for her own comfort; and an "old maid" in the house,
especially a stout, plump old maid, is considered not "respectable."
The ancient virgin is known by being lean and scraggy; and perhaps
this diagnosis is correct.
Footnote 401:
This prognostication of destiny by the stars and a host of follies
that end in-mancy is. an intricate and extensive subject. Those who
would study it are referred to chapt. xiv. of the "Qanoon-e-Islam, or
the Customs of the Mussulmans of India; etc., etc., by Jaffur
Shurreeff and translated by G. A. Herklots, M.D. of Madras." This
excellent work first appeared in 1832 (Allen and Co., London) and
thus it showed the way to Lane's "Modern Egyptians" (1833-35). The
name was unfortunate as "Kuzzilbash" (which rhymed to guzzle and
hash), and kept the book back till a second edition appeared in 1863
(Madras: J. Higginbotham).
Footnote 402:
Arab. "Bárid," lit. cold: metaph. vain, foolish, insipid.
Footnote 403:
Not to "spite thee" but "in spite of thee." The phrase is still used
by high and low.
Footnote 404:
Arab. "Ahdab," the common hunchback: in classical language the Gobbo
in the text would be termed "Ak'as" from "Ka'as," one with protruding
back and breast; sometimes used for hollow back and protruding
breast.
Footnote 405:
This is the custom with such gentry, who, when they see a likely man
sitting, are allowed by custom to ride astraddle upon his knees with
most suggestive movements, till he buys them off. These Ghawází are
mostly Gypsies who pretend to be Moslems; and they have been confused
with the Almahs or Moslem dancing-girls proper (Awálim, plur. of
Alimah, a learned feminine) by a host of travellers. They call
themselves Barámikah or Barmecides only to affect Persian origin.
Under native rule they were perpetually being banished from and
returning to Cairo (Pilgrimage i., 202). Lane (M. E., chapts. xviii.
and xix.) discusses the subject, and would derive Al'mah, often so
pronounced, from Heb. Almah, girl, virgin, singing girl, hence he
would translate Al-Alamoth shir (Psalm xlvi.) and Nebalim al-alamoth
(1 Chron., xv. 20) by a "song for singing-girls" and "harps for
singing-girls." He quotes also St. Jerome as authority that Alma in
Punic (Phœnician) signified a virgin, not a common article, I may
observe, amongst singing-girls. I shall notice in a future page
Burckhardt's description of the Ghawazi, p. 173, "Arabic Proverbs;"
etc., etc. Second Edition. London: Quaritch, 1875.
Footnote 406:
I need hardly describe the Tarbúsh, a corruption of the Pers.
"Sar-púsh" (head-cover) also called "Fez," from its old home; and
"Tarbrush" by the travelling Briton. In old days it was a calotte
worn under the turban; and it was protected from scalp-perspiration
by an "Arakiyah" (Pers. Arak-chín), a white skull-cap. Now it is worn
without either and as a head-dress nothing can be worse (Pilgrimage
ii. 275.)
Footnote 407:
Arab. "Tár.": the custom still prevails. Lane (M. E., chapt. xviii.)
describes and figures this hoop-drum.
Footnote 408:
The couch on which she sits while being displayed. It is her throne,
for she is the Queen of the occasion, with all the Majesty of
Virginity.
Footnote 409:
This is a solemn "chaff;" such liberties being permitted at weddings
and festive occasions.
Footnote 410:
The pre-Islamític dynasty of Al-Yaman in Arabia Felix, a region
formerly famed for wealth and luxury. Hence the mention of Yamani
work. The caravans from Sana'á, the capital, used to carry patterns
of vases to be made in China and bring back the porcelains at the end
of the third year: these are the Arabic inscriptions which have
puzzled so many collectors. The Tobba, or Successors, were the old
Himyarite Kings, a dynastic name like Pharaoh, Kisra (Persia), Negush
(Abyssinia), Khakan or Khan (Tartary), etc., who claimed to have
extended their conquests to Samarcand and made war on China. Any
history of Arabia (as Crichton I., chapt iv.) may be consulted for
their names and annals. I have been told by Arabs that "Tobba" (or
Tubba) is still used in the old Himyar-land=the Great or the Chief.
Footnote 411:
Lane and Payne (as well as the Bres. Edit.) both render the word "to
kiss her," but this would be clean contrary to Moslem usage.
Footnote 412:
_i.e._ he was full of rage which he concealed.
Footnote 413:
The Hindus (as the Katha shows) compare this swimming gait with an
elephant's roll.
Footnote 414:
Arab. "Fitnah," a word almost as troublesome as "Adab." Primarily,
revolt seduction, mischief: then a beautiful girl (or boy), and
lastly a certain aphrodisiac perfume extracted from mimosa-flowers
(Pilgrimage i., 118).
Footnote 415:
Lit. burst the "gall-bladder:" In this and in the "liver" allusions I
dare not be baldly literal.
Footnote 416:
Arab. "Usfur" the seeds of Carthamus tinctorius=Safflower (Forskål,
Flora, etc. lv.). The seeds are crushed for oil and the flowers,
which must be gathered by virgins or the colour will fail, are
extensively used for dyeing in Southern Arabia and Eastern Africa.
Footnote 417:
On such occasions Miss Modesty shuts her eyes and looks as if about
to faint.
Footnote 418:
After either evacuation the Moslem is bound to wash or sand the part;
first however he should apply three pebbles, or potsherds or clods of
earth. Hence the allusion in the Koran (chapt. ix.), "men who love to
be purified." When the Prophet was questioning the men of Kuba, where
he founded a mosque (Pilgrimage ii., 215), he asked them about their
legal ablutions, especially after evacuation; and they told him that
they used three stones before washing. Moslems and Hindus (who prefer
water mixed with earth) abhor the unclean and unhealthy use of paper
without ablution; and the people of India call Europeans
draught-houses, by way of opprobrium, "Kághaz-khánah"=paper closets.
Most old Anglo-Indians, however, learn to use water.
Footnote 419:
"Miao" or "Mau" is the generic name of the cat in the Egyptian of the
hieroglyphs.
Footnote 420:
Arab. "Ya Mash'úm" addressed to an evil spirit.
Footnote 421:
"Heehaw!" as we should say. The Bresl. Edit. makes the cat cry "Nauh!
Nauh!" and the ass-colt "Manu! Manu!" I leave these onomatopoeics as
they are in Arabic; they are curious, showing the unity in variety of
hearing inarticulate sounds. The bird which is called "Whip poor
Will" in the U.S., is known to the Brazilians as "Joam corta páo"
(John cut wood); so differently do they hear the same notes.
Footnote 422:
It is usually a slab of marble with a long slit in front and a round
hole behind. The text speaks of a Kursi (=stool); but this is now
unknown to native houses which have not adopted European fashions.
Footnote 423:
This again is chaff as she addresses the Hunchback. The Bul. Edit.
has "O Abu Shiháb" (Father of the shooting-star=evil spirit); the
Bresl. Edit. "O son of a heap! O son of a Something!" (al-Aísh, a
vulgarism).
Footnote 424:
As the reader will see, Arab ideas of "fun" and practical jokes are
of the largest, putting the Hibernian to utter rout, and comparing
favourably with those recorded in Don Quixote.
Footnote 425:
Arab. "Saráwil" a corruption of the Pers. "Sharwál"; popularly called
"libás" which, however, may also mean clothing in general and
especially outer-clothing. I translate "bag-trousers" and
"petticoat-trousers," the latter being the divided skirt of our
future. In the East, where Common Sense, not Fashion, rules dress,
men, who have a protuberance to be concealed, wear petticoats and
women wear trousers. The feminine article is mostly baggy but
sometimes, as in India, _collant_-tight. A quasi-sacred part of it is
the inkle, tape or string, often a most magnificent affair, with
tassels of pearl and precious stones; and "laxity in the
trouser-string" is equivalent to the loosest conduct. Upon the
subject of "libás," "sarwál" and its variants the curious reader will
consult Dr. Dozy's "Dictionnaire Détaillé des Noms des Vêtements chez
les Arabes," a most valuable work.
Footnote 426:
The turban out of respect is not put upon the ground (Lane, M. E.,
chapt. i.).
Footnote 427:
Arab. "Madfa'" showing the modern date or the modernization of the
tale. In Lebid "Madáfi'" (plur. of Madfa') means water-courses or
leats.
Footnote 428:
In Arab, the "he" is a "she;" and Habíb ("friend") is the Attic
φίλος, a euphemism for lover. This will occur throughout The Nights.
So the Arabs use a phrase corresponding with the Stoic φιλε~ι _i.e._
is wont, is fain.
Footnote 429:
Part of the Azán, or call to prayer.
Footnote 430:
Arab. "Shiháb," these meteors being the flying shafts shot at evil
spirits who approach too near Heaven. The idea doubtless arose from
the showers of August and November meteors (The Perseides and
Taurides) which suggest a battle raging in upper air. Christendom
also has its superstition concerning them and called those of August
the "fiery tears of Saint Lawrence," whose festival was on August 10.
Footnote 431:
Arab. "Tákiyah"=Pers. Arak-chin; the calotte worn under the Fez. It
is, I have said, now obsolete and the red woollen cap (mostly made in
Europe) is worn over the hair; an unclean practice.
Footnote 432:
Often the effect of cold air after a heated room.
Footnote 433:
_i.e._ He was not a Eunuch, as the people guessed.
Footnote 434:
In Arab, "this night" for the reason before given.
Footnote 435:
Meaning especially the drink prepared of the young leaves and florets
of Cannabis Sativa. The word literally means "dry grass" or
"herbage." This intoxicant was much used by magicians to produce
ecstacy and thus to "deify themselves and receive the homage of the
genii and spirits of nature."
Footnote 436:
Torrens, being an Irishman, translates "and woke in the morning
sleeping at Damascus."
Footnote 437:
Arab. "Labbayka," the cry technically called "Talbiyah" and used by
those entering Meccah (Pilgrimage iii. 125-232). I shall also
translate it by "Adsum." The full cry is:—
Here am I, O Allah, here am I!
No partner hast Thou, here am I:
Verily the praise and the grace and the kingdom are thine:
No partner hast Thou: here am I!
A single Talbiyah is a "Shart" or positive condition: and its
repetition is a Sunnat or Custom of the Prophet. See Night xci.
Footnote 438:
The staple abuse of the vulgar is cursing parents and relatives,
especially feminine, with specific allusions to their "shame." And
when dames of high degree are angry, Nature, in the East as in the
West, sometimes speaks out clearly enough, despite Mistress Chapone
and all artificial restrictions.
Footnote 439:
A great beauty in Arabia and the reverse in Denmark, Germany and
Slav-land, where it is a sign of being a were-wolf or a vampire. In
Greece also it denotes a "Brukolak" or vampire.
Footnote 440:
This is not physiologically true: a bride rarely conceives the first
night, and certainly would not know that she had conceived. Moreover
the number of courses furnished by the bridegroom would be against
conception. It is popularly said that a young couple often undoes in
the morning what it has done during the night.
Footnote 441:
Torrens (Notes, xxiv.) quotes "Fleisher" upon the word "Ghamghama"
(Diss. Crit. de Glossis Habichtionis), which he compares with
"Dumduma" and "Humbuma" determining them to be onomatopoeics, "an
incomplete and an obscure murmur of a sentence as it were lingering
between the teeth and lips and therefore difficult to be understood."
Of this family is "Taghúm"; not used in modern days. In my Pilgrimage
(i. 313) I have noticed another, "Khyas, Khyas!" occurring in a Hizb
al-Bahr (Spell of the Sea). Herklots gives a host of them; and their
sole characteristics are harshness and strangeness of sound, uniting
consonants which are not joined in Arabic. The old Egyptians and
Chaldeans had many such words composed at will for theurgic
operations.
Footnote 442:
This may mean either "it is of Mosul fashion" or, it is of muslin.
Footnote 443:
To the English reader these lines would appear the reverse of
apposite; but Orientals have their own ways of application, and all
allusions to Badawi partings are effective and affecting. The
civilised poets of Arab cities throw the charm of the Desert over
their verse by images borrowed from its scenery, the dromedary, the
mirage and the well, as naturally as certain of our bards who hated
the country, babbled of purling rills, etc. Thoroughly to feel Arabic
poetry one must know the Desert (Pilgrimage iii., 63).
Footnote 444:
In those days the Arabs and the Portuguese recorded everything which
struck them, as the Chinese and Japanese do in our times. And yet we
complain of the amount of our modern writing!
Footnote 445:
This is mentioned because it is the act preliminary to naming the
babe.
Footnote 446:
Arab. "Kahramánát" from Kahramán, an old Persian hero who conversed
with the Simurgh-Griffon. Usually the word is applied to
women-at-arms who defend the Harem, like the Urdu-begani of India,
whose services were lately offered to England (1885), or the
"Amazons" of Dahome.
Footnote 447:
Meaning he grew as fast in one day as other children in a month.
Footnote 448:
Arab. Al-Aríf; the tutor, the assistant-master.
Footnote 449:
Arab. "Ibn harám," a common term of abuse; and not a factual
reflection on the parent. I have heard a mother apply the term to her
own son.
Footnote 450:
Arab. "Khanjar" from the Persian, a syn. with the Arab. "Jambiyah."
It is noticed in my Pilgrimage iii., pp. 72, 75. To "silver the
dagger," means to become a rich man. From "Khanjar," not from its
fringed loop or strap, I derive our silly word "hanger." Dr.
Steingass would connect it with Germ. Fänger, _e.g._, Hirschfänger.
Footnote 451:
Again we have "Dastur" for "Izn."
Footnote 452:
Arab. "Iklím"; the seven climates of Ptolemy.
Footnote 453:
Arab. "Al-Ghadir," lit. a place where water sinks, a lowland: here
the drainage-lakes east of Damascus into which the Baradah (Abana?)
discharges. The higher eastern plain is "Al-Ghutah" before noticed.
Footnote 454:
The "Plain of Pebbles" still so termed at Damascus; an open space
west of the city.
Footnote 455:
Every Guide-book, even the Reverend Porter's "Murray," gives a long
account of this Christian Church 'verted to a Mosque.
Footnote 456:
Arab. "Nabút"; Pilgrimage i. 336.
Footnote 457:
The Bres. Edit. says, "would have knocked him into Al-Yaman"
(Southern Arabia) something like our slang phrase "into the middle of
next week."
Footnote 458:
Arab. "Khádim": lit. a servant, politely applied (like Aghá=master)
to a castrato. These gentry wax furious if baldly called
"Tawáshi"=Eunuch. A mauvais plaisant in Egypt used to call me The
Agha because a friend had placed his wife under my charge.
Footnote 459:
This sounds absurd enough in English, but Easterns always put
themselves first for respect.
Footnote 460:
In Arabic the World is feminine.
Footnote 461:
Arab. "Sáhib"=lit. a companion; also a friend and especially applied
to the Companions of Mohammed. Hence the Sunnis claim for them the
honour of "friendship" with the Apostle; but the Shia'hs reply that
the Arab says "Sahaba-hu'l-himár" (the Ass was his Sahib or
companion). In the text it is a Wazirial title, in modern India it
is=gentleman, _e.g._ "Sahib log" (the Sahib people) means their white
conquerors, who, by the by, mostly mispronounce the word "Sáb."
Footnote 462:
Arab. "Suwán," prop. Syenite, from Syene (Al-Suwan) but applied to
flint and any hard stone.
Footnote 463:
It was famous in the middle ages, and even now it is, perhaps, the
most interesting to travellers after that "Sentina Gentium," the
"Bhendi Bazar" of unromantic Bombay.
Footnote 464:
"The Gate of the Gardens," in the northern wall, a Roman archway of
the usual solid construction shaming not only our modern shams, but
our finest masonry.
Footnote 465:
Arab. "Al-Asr," which may mean either the hour or the prayer. It is
also the moment at which the Guardian Angels relieve each other
(Sale's Koran, chapt. v.).
Footnote 466:
Arab. "Ya házá"=O this (one)! a somewhat slighting address equivalent
to "Heus tu! O thou, whoever thou art." Another form is "Yá hú"=O he!
Can this have originated Swift's "Yahoo?"
Footnote 467:
Alluding to the τήρατα ("minor miracles which cause surprise")
performed by Saints' tombs, the mildest form of thaumaturgy. One of
them gravely recorded in the Dabistan (ii. 226) is that of the holy
Jamen, who opened the Sámran or bead-bracelet from the arm of the
beautiful Chistápá with member erect, "thus evincing his manly
strength and his command over himself"(!)
Footnote 468:
The River of Paradise, a _lieu commun_ of poets (Koran, chapt.
cviii.): the water is whiter than milk or silver, sweeter than honey,
smoother than cream, more odorous than musk; its banks are of
chrysolite and it is drunk out of silver cups set around it thick as
stars. Two pipes conduct it to the Prophet's Pond which is an exact
square, one month's journey in compass. Kausar is spirituous like
wine; Salsabil sweet like clarified honey; the Fount of Mildness is
like milk and the Fount of Mercy like liquid crystal.
Footnote 469:
The Moslem does not use the European basin because water which has
touched an impure skin becomes impure. Hence it is poured out from a
ewer ("ibrík" Pers. Abríz) upon the hands and falls into a basin
("tisht") with an open-worked cover.
Footnote 470:
Arab. "Wahsh," a word of many meanings; nasty, insipid, savage, etc.
The offside of a horse is called Wahshi opposed to Insi, the near
side. The Amir Taymur ("Lord Iron") whom Europeans unwittingly call
after his Persian enemies' nickname, "Tamerlane," _i.e._
Taymur-i-lang, or limping Taymur, is still known as "Al-Wahsh" (the
wild beast) at Damascus, where his Tartars used to bury men up to
their necks and play at bowls with their heads for ninepins.
Footnote 471:
For "grandson" as being more affectionate. Easterns have not yet
learned that clever Western saying:—The enemies of our enemies are
our friends.
Footnote 472:
This was a simple bastinado on the back, not the more ceremonious
affair of beating the feet-soles. But it is surprising what the
Egyptians can bear; some of the rods used in the time of the Mameluke
Beys are nearly as thick as a man's wrist.
Footnote 473:
The woman-like spite of the eunuch intended to hurt the grandmother's
feelings.
Footnote 474:
The usual Cairene "chaff."
Footnote 475:
A necessary precaution against poison (Pilgrimage i. 84, and iii.
43).
Footnote 476:
The Bresl. Edit. (ii. 108) describes the scene at greater length.
Footnote 477:
The Bul. Edit. gives by mistake of diacritical points, "Zabdaniyah:"
Raydaniyah is or rather was a camping ground to the North of Cairo.
Footnote 478:
Arab. "La'abat"=a plaything, a puppet, a lay figure. Lane (i. 326)
conjectures that the cross is so called because it resembles a man
with arms extended. But Moslems never heard of the fanciful ideas of
mediæval Christian divines who saw the cross everywhere and in
everything. The former hold that Pharaoh invented the painful and
ignominious punishment. (Koran, chapt. vii.)
Footnote 479:
Here good blood, driven to bay, speaks out boldly. But, as a rule the
humblest and mildest Eastern when in despair turns round upon his
oppressors like a wild cat. Some of the criminals whom Fath Ali Shah
of Persia put to death by chopping down the fork, beginning at the
scrotum, abused his mother till the knife reached their vitals and
they could no longer speak.
Footnote 480:
These repeated "laughs" prove the trouble of his spirit. Noble Arabs
"show their back-teeth" so rarely that their laughter is held worthy
of being recorded by their biographers.
Footnote 481:
A popular phrase, derived from the Koranic "Truth is come, and
falsehood is vanished: for falsehood is of short continuance" (chapt.
xvii.). It is an equivalent of our adaptation from 1 Esdras iv. 41,
"Magna est veritas et prævalebit." But the great question still
remains, What is Truth?
Footnote 482:
In Night lxxv. these lines will occur with variants.
Footnote 483:
This is always mentioned: the nearer the seat the higher the honour.
Footnote 484:
Alluding to the phrase "Al-safar zafar"=voyaging is victory
(Pilgrimage i., 127).
Footnote 485:
Arab. "Habb;" alluding to the black drop in the human heart which the
Archangel Gabriel removed from Mohammed by opening his breast.
Footnote 486:
This phrase, I have said, often occurs: it alludes to the
horripilation (Arab. Kush'arírah), horror or gooseflesh which, in
Arab as in Hindu fables, is a symptom of great joy. So Boccaccio's
"pelo arriciato" v., 8: Germ. Gänsehaut.
Footnote 487:
Arab. "Hasanta ya Hasan"=Bene detto, Benedetto! the usual word-play
vulgarly called "pun:" Hasan (not Hassan, as we _will_ write it)
meaning "beautiful."
Footnote 488:
Arab. "Loghah" also=a vocabulary, a dictionary; the Arabs had them by
camel-loads.
Footnote 489:
The seventh of the sixteen "Bahr" (metres) in Arabic prosody; the
easiest because allowing the most licence and, consequently, a
favourite for didactic, homiletic and gnomic themes. It means
literally "agitated" and was originally applied to the rude song of
the Cameleer. De Sacy calls this doggrel "the poet's ass" (Torrens,
Notes xxvi.). It was the only metre in which Mohammed the Apostle
ever spoke: he was no poet (Koran xxxvi., 69) but he occasionally
recited a verse and recited it wrongly (Dabistan iii., 212). In
Persian prosody Rajaz is the seventh of nineteen and has six distinct
varieties (pp. 79-81, "Gladwin's Dissertations on Rhetoric," etc.
Calcutta, 1801). I shall have more to say about it in the terminal
Essay.
Footnote 490:
"Her stature tall—I hate a dumpy woman" (Don Juan).
Footnote 491:
A worthy who was Kazi of Kufah (Cufa) in the seventh century.
Al-Najaf, generally entitled "Najaf al-Ashraf" (the Venerand) is the
place where Ali, the son-in-law of Mohammed, lies or is supposed to
lie buried, and has ever been a holy place to the Shi'ahs. I am not
certain whether to translate "Sa'alab" by fox or jackal; the Arabs
make scant distinction between them. "Abu Hosayn" (Father of the
Fortlet) is certainly the fox, and as certainly "Sha'arhar" is the
jackal from the Pehlevi Shagál or Shaghál.
Footnote 492:
Usually by all manner of extortions and robbery, corruption and
bribery, the ruler's motto being
Fiat _in_justitia ruat Cœlum.
There is no more honest man than the Turkish peasant or the private
soldier; but the process of deterioration begins when he is made a
corporal and culminates in the Pasha. Moreover official dishonesty is
permitted by public opinion, because it belongs to the condition of
society. A man buys a place (as in England two centuries ago) and
retains it by presents to the heads of offices. Consequently he must
recoup himself in some way, and he mostly does so by grinding the
faces of the poor and by spoiling the widow and the orphan. The
radical cure is high pay; but that phase of society refuses to afford
it.
Footnote 493:
Arab. "Malik" (King) and "Malak" (angel) the words being written the
same when lacking vowels and justifying the jingle.
Footnote 494:
Arab. "Hurr"; the Latin "ingenuus," lit. freeborn; metaph. noble as
opp. to a slave who is not expected to do great or good deeds. In
pop. use it corresponds, like "Fatá," with our "gentleman."
Footnote 495:
This is one of the best tales for humour and movement, and Douce and
Madden show what a rich crop of fabliaux, whose leading incident was
the disposal of a dead body, it produced.
_THE HUNCHBACK'S TALE._
It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that there dwelt during times of
yore, and years and ages long gone before, in a certain city of
China,[496] a Tailor who was an open-handed man that loved pleasuring
and merry making; and who was wont, he and his wife, to solace
themselves from time to time with public diversions and amusements. One
day they went out with the first of the light and were returning in the
evening when they fell in with a Hunchback, whose semblance would draw
a laugh from care and dispel the horrors of despair. So they went up to
enjoy looking at him and invited him to go home with them and converse
and carouse with them that night. He consented and accompanied them
afoot to their home; whereupon the Tailor fared forth to the bazar
(night having just set in) and bought a fried fish and bread and lemons
and dry sweetmeats for dessert; and set the victuals before the
Hunchback and they ate. Presently the Tailor's wife took a great fid of
fish and gave it in a gobbet to the Gobbo, stopping his mouth with her
hand and saying, "By Allah, thou must down with it at a single gulp;
and I will not give thee time to chew it." So he bolted it; but therein
was a stiff bone which stuck in his gullet and, his hour being come, he
died.——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
permitted say.
Now when it was the Twenty-Fifth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Tailor's
wife gave the Hunchback that mouthful of fish which ended his term of
days he died on the instant. Seeing this the Tailor cried aloud, "There
is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah! Alas, that this poor
wretch should have died in so foolish fashion at our hands!" and the
woman rejoined, "Why this idle talk? Hast thou not heard his saying who
said?—
Why then waste I my time in grief, until ✿ I find no friend to bear my
weight of woe?
How sleep upon a fire that flames unquenched? ✿ Upon the flames to rest
were hard enow!"
Asked her husband, "And what shall I do with him?"; and she answered,
"Rise and take him in thine arms and spread a silken kerchief over him;
then I will fare forth, with thee following me, this very night and if
thou meet any one say:—This is my son, and his mother and I are
carrying him to the doctor that he may look at him." So he rose and
taking the Hunchback in his arms bore him along the streets, preceded
by his wife who kept crying, "O my son, Allah keep thee! what part
paineth thee and where hath this small-pox[497] attacked thee?" So all
who saw them said "'Tis a child sick of small-pox."[498] They went
along asking for the physician's house till folk directed them to that
of a leach which was a Jew. They knocked at the door, and there came
down to them a black slave-girl who opened and, seeing a man bearing a
babe, and a woman with him, said to them, "What is the matter?" "We
have a little one with us," answered the Tailor's wife "and we wish to
show him to the physician: so take this quarter dinar and give it to
thy master and let him come down and see my son who is sore sick." The
girl went up to tell her master, whereupon the Tailor's wife walked
into the vestibule and said to her husband, "Leave the Hunchback here
and let us fly for our lives." So the Tailor carried the dead man to
the top of the stairs and propped him upright against the wall and ran
away, he and his wife. Meanwhile the girl went in to the Jew and said
to him, "At the door are a man and a woman with a sick child and they
have given me a quarter-dinar for thee, that thou mayest go down and
look at the little one and prescribe for it." As soon as the Jew saw
the quarter-dinar he rejoiced and rose quickly in his greed of gain and
went forth hurriedly in the dark; but hardly had he made a step when he
stumbled on the corpse and threw it over, when it rolled to the bottom
of the staircase. So he cried out to the girl to hurry up with the
light, and she brought it, whereupon he went down and examining the
Hunchback found that he was stone dead. So he cried out, "O for
Esdras![499] O for Moses! O for Aaron! O for Joshua, son of Nun! O the
Ten Commandments! I have stumbled against the sick one and he hath
fallen downstairs and he is dead! How shall I get this man I have
killed out of my house? O by the hoofs of the ass of Esdras!" Then he
took up the body and, carrying it into the house, told his wife what
had happened and she said to him, "Why dost thou sit still? If thou
keep him here till day-break we shall both lose our lives. Let us two
carry him to the terrace-roof and throw him over into the house of our
neighbour, the Moslem, for if he abide there a night the dogs will come
down on him from the adjoining terraces and eat him up." Now his
neighbour was a Reeve, the controller of the Sultan's kitchen, and was
wont to bring back great store of oil and fat and broken meats; but the
cats and rats used to eat it, or, if the dogs scented a fat sheep's
tail they would come down from the nearest roofs and tear at it; and on
this wise the beasts had already damaged much of what he brought home.
So the Jew and his wife carried the Hunchback up to the roof; and,
letting him down by his hands and feet through the wind-shaft[500] into
the Reeve's house, propped him up against the wall and went their ways.
Hardly had they done this when the Reeve, who had been passing an
evening with his friends hearing a recitation of the Koran, came home
and opened the door and, going up with a lighted candle, found a son of
Adam standing in the corner under the ventilator. When he saw this, he
said, "Wah! by Allah, very good forsooth! He who robbeth my stuff is
none other than a man." Then he turned to the Hunchback and said, "So
'tis thou that stealest the meat and the fat! I thought it was the cats
and dogs, and I kill the dogs and cats of the quarter and sin against
them by killing them. And all the while 'tis thou comest down from the
house terrace through the wind-shaft. But I will avenge myself upon
thee with my own hand!" So he snatched up a heavy hammer and set upon
him and smote him full on the breast and he fell down. Then he examined
him and, finding that he was dead, cried out in horror, thinking that
he had killed him, and said, "There is no Majesty and there is no Might
save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great!" And he feared for his life,
and added, "Allah curse the oil and the meat and the grease and the
sheep's tails to boot! How hath fate given this man his quietus at my
hand!" Then he looked at the body and seeing it was that of a Gobbo,
said, "Was it not enough for thee to be a hunchback,[501] but thou must
likewise be a thief and prig flesh and fat! O thou Veiler,[502] deign
to veil me with Thy curtain of concealment!" So he took him up on his
shoulders and, going forth with him from his house about the latter end
of the night, carried him to the nearest end of the bazar, where he set
him up on his feet against the wall of a shop at the head of a dark
lane, and left him and went away. After a while up came a
Nazarene,[503] the Sultan's broker who, much bemused with liquor, was
purposing for the Hammam-bath as his drunkenness whispered in his ear,
"Verily the call to matins[504] is nigh." He came plodding along and
staggering about till he drew near the Hunchback and squatted down to
make water[505] over against him; when he happened to glance around and
saw a man standing against the wall. Now some person had snatched off
the Christian's turband[506] in the first of the night; so when he saw
the Hunchback hard by he fancied that he also meant to steal his
head-dress. Thereupon he clenched his fist and struck him on the neck,
felling him to the ground, and called aloud to the watchman of the
bazar, and came down on the body in his drunken fury and kept on
belabouring and throttling the corpse. Presently the Charley came up
and, finding a Nazarene kneeling on a Moslem and frapping him, asked,
"What harm hath this one done?"; and the Broker answered, "The fellow
meant to snatch off my turband." "Get up from him," quoth the watchman.
So he arose and the Charley went up to the Hunchback and finding him
dead, exclaimed, "By Allah, good indeed! A Christian killing a
Mahometan!" Then he seized the Broker and, tying his hands behind his
back, carried him to the Governor's house,[507] and all the while the
Nazarene kept saying to himself, "O Messiah! O Virgin! how came I to
kill this fellow? And in what a hurry he must have been to depart this
life when he died of a single blow!" Presently, as his drunkenness
fled, came dolour in its stead. So the broker and the body were kept in
the Governor's place till morning morrowed, when the Wali came out and
gave order to hang the supposed murderer and commanded the
executioner[508] make proclamation of the sentence. Forthwith they set
up a gallows under which they made the Nazarene stand and the
torch-bearer, who was hangman, threw the rope round his neck and passed
one end through the pulley, and was about to hoist him up[509] when lo!
the Reeve, who was passing by, saw the Broker about to be hanged; and,
making his way through the people, cried out to the executioner, "Hold!
Hold! I am he who killed the Hunchback!" Asked the Governor, "What made
thee kill him?"; and he answered, "I went home last night and there
found this man who had come down the ventilator to steal my property;
so I smote him with a hammer on the breast and he died forthright. Then
I took him up and carried him to the bazar and set him up against the
wall in such a place near such a lane;" adding, "Is it not enough for
me to have killed a Moslem without also killing a Christian? So hang
none other but me." When the Governor heard these words he released the
Broker and said to the torch-bearer, "Hang up this man on his own
confession." So he loosed the cord from the Nazarene's neck and threw
it round that of the Reeve and, making him stand under the
gallows-tree, was about to string him up when behold, the Jewish
physician pushed through the people and shouted to the executioner,
"Hold! Hold! It was I and none else killed the Hunchback! Last night I
was sitting at home when a man and a woman knocked at the door carrying
this Gobbo who was sick, and gave my handmaid a quarter-dinar, bidding
her hand me the fee and tell me to come down and see him. Whilst she
was gone the man and the woman brought him into the house and, setting
him on the stairs, went away; and presently I came down and not seeing
him, for I was in the dark, stumbled over him and he fell to the foot
of the staircase and died on the moment. Then we took him up, I and my
wife, and carried him on to the top terrace; and, the house of this
Reeve being next door to mine, we let the body down through the
ventilator. When he came home and found the Hunchback in his house, he
fancied he was a thief and struck him with a hammer, so that he fell to
the ground, and our neighbour made certain that he had slain him. Now
is it not enough for me to have killed one Moslem unwittingly, without
burdening myself with taking the life of another Moslem wittingly?"
When the Governor heard this he said to the hangman, "Set free the
Reeve, and hang the Jew."
Thereupon the torch-bearer took him and slung the cord round his neck
when behold, the Tailor pushed through the people, and shouted to the
executioner, "Hold! Hold! It was I and none else killed the Hunchback;
and this was the fashion thereof. I had been out a-pleasuring yesterday
and, coming back to supper, fell in with this Gobbo, who was drunk and
drumming away and singing lustily to his tambourine. So I accosted him
and carried him to my house and bought a fish, and we sat down to eat.
Presently my wife took a fid of fish and, making a gobbet of it,[510]
crammed it into his mouth; but some of it went down the wrong way or
stuck in his gullet and he died on the instant. So we lifted him up, I
and my wife, and carried him to the Jew's house where the slave-girl
came down and opened the door to us and I said to her:—Tell thy master
that there are a man and a woman and a sick person for thee to see! I
gave her a quarter-dinar and she went up to tell her master; and,
whilst she was gone, I carried the Hunchback to the head of the
staircase and propped him up against the wall, and went off with my
wife. When the Jew came down he stumbled over him and thought that he
had killed him." Then he asked the Jew, "Is this the truth?"; and the
Jew answered, "Yes." Thereupon the Tailor turned to the Governor, and
said, "Leave go the Jew and hang me." When the Governor heard the
Tailor's tale he marvelled at the matter of this Hunchback and
exclaimed, "Verily this is an adventure which should be recorded in
books!" Then he said to the hangman, "Let the Jew go and hang the
Tailor on his own confession." The executioner took the Tailor and put
the rope around his neck and said, "I am tired of such slow work: we
bring out this one and change him for that other, and no one is hanged
after all!" Now the Hunchback in question was, they relate, jester to
the Sultan of China who could not bear him out of his sight; so when
the fellow got drunk and did not make his appearance that night or the
next day till noon, the Sultan asked some of his courtiers about him
and they answered, "O our lord, the Governor hath come upon him dead
and hath ordered his murderer to be hanged; but, as the hangman was
about to hoist him up there came a second and a third and a fourth and
each one said:—It is I, and none else killed the Hunchback!; and each
gave a full and circumstantial account of the manner of the jester
being killed." When the King heard this he cried aloud to the
Chamberlain-in-waiting, "Go down to the Governor and bring me all four
of them." So the Chamberlain went down at once to the place of
execution, where he found the torch-bearer on the point of hanging the
Tailor and shouted to him, "Hold! Hold!" Then he gave the King's
command to the Governor who took the Tailor, the Jew, the Nazarene and
the Reeve (the Hunchback's body being borne on men's shoulders) and
went up with one and all of them to the King. When he came into the
presence, he kissed the ground and acquainted the ruler with the whole
story which it is needless to relate for, as they say:—There is no
avail in a thrice-told tale. The Sultan hearing it marvelled and was
moved to mirth and commanded the story to be written in letters of
liquid gold, saying to those present, "Did ye ever hear a more wondrous
tale than that of my Hunchback?" Thereupon the Nazarene broker came
forward and said, "O King of the age, with thy leave I will tell thee a
thing which happened to myself and which is still more wondrous and
marvellous and pleasurable and delectable than the tale of the
Hunchback." Quoth the King, "Tell us what thou hast to say!" So he
began in these words
_THE NAZARENE BROKER'S STORY._
O King of the age, I came to this thy country with merchandise and
Destiny stayed me here with you: but my place of birth was Cairo, in
Egypt, where I also was brought up, for I am one of the Copts and my
father was a broker before me. When I came to man's estate he departed
this life and I succeeded to his business. One day, as I was sitting in
my shop, behold, there came up to me a youth as handsome as could be,
wearing sumptuous raiment and riding a fine ass.[511] When he saw me he
saluted me, and I stood up to do him honour: then he took out a
kerchief containing a sample of sesame and asked, "How much is this
worth per Ardabb[512]?"; whereto I answered, "An hundred dirhams."
Quoth he, "Take porters and gaugers and metesmen and come to-morrow to
the Khan al-Jawáli,[513] by the Gate of Victory quarter where thou wilt
find me." Then he fared forth leaving with me the sample of sesame in
his kerchief; and I went the round of my customers and ascertained that
every Ardabb would fetch an hundred and twenty dirhams. Next day I took
four metesmen and walked with them to the Khan, where I found him
awaiting me. As soon as he saw me he rose and opened his magazine, when
we measured the grain till the store was empty; and we found the
contents fifty Ardabbs, making five thousand pieces of silver. Then
said he, "Let ten dirhams on every Ardabb be thy brokerage; so take the
price and keep in deposit four thousand, and five hundred dirhams for
me; and, when I have made an end of selling the other wares in my
warehouses, I will come to thee and receive the amount." "I will well,"
replied I and kissing his hand went away, having made that day a profit
of a thousand dirhams. He was absent a month, at the end of which he
came to me and asked, "Where be the dirhams?" I rose and saluted him
and answered to him, "Wilt thou not eat somewhat in my house?" But he
refused with the remark, "Get the monies ready and I will presently
return and take them." Then he rode away. So I brought out the dirhams
and sat down to await him, but he stayed away for another month, when
he came back and said to me, "Where be the dirhams?" I rose and
saluting him asked, "Wilt thou not eat something in my house?" But he
again refused adding, "Get me the monies ready and I will presently
return and take them." Then he rode off. So I brought out the dirhams
and sat down to await his return; but he stayed away from me a third
month, and I said, "Verily this young man is liberality in incarnate
form." At the end of the month he came up, riding a mare-mule and
wearing a suit of sumptuous raiment; he was as the moon on the night of
fullness, and he seemed as if fresh from the baths, with his cheeks
rosy bright, and his brow flower-white, and a mole-spot like a grain of
ambergris delighting the sight; even as was said of such an one by the
poet:—
Full moon with sun in single mansion ✿ In brightest sheen and fortune
rose and shone,
With happy splendour changing every sprite: ✿ Hail to what guerdons
prayer with blissfull boon!
Their charms and grace have gained perfection's height, ✿ All hearts
have conquered and all wits have won.
Laud to the Lord for works so wonder-strange, ✿ And what th' Almighty
wills His hand hath done!
When I saw him I rose to him and invoking blessings on him asked, "O my
lord, wilt thou not take thy monies?" "Whence the hurry?"[514] quoth
he, "Wait till I have made an end of my business and then I will come
and take them." Again he rode away and I said to myself, "By Allah,
when he comes next time needs must I make him my guest; for I have
traded with his dirhams and have gotten large gains thereby." At the
end of the year he came again, habited in a suit of clothes more
sumptuous than the former; and, when I conjured him by the Evangel to
alight at my house and eat of my guest-food, he said, "I consent, on
condition that what thou expendest on me shall be of my monies still in
thy hands." I answered, "So be it," and made him sit down whilst I got
ready what was needful of meat and drink and else besides; and set the
tray before him, with the invitation "Bismillah"![515] Then he drew
near the tray and put out his left hand[516] and ate with me; and I
marvelled at his not using the right hand. When we had done eating, I
poured water on his hand and gave him wherewith to wipe it. Upon this
we sat down to converse after I had set before him some sweetmeats; and
I said to him, "O my master, prithee relieve me by telling me why thou
eatest with thy left hand? Perchance something aileth thy other hand?"
When he heard my words, he repeated these verses:—
Dear friend, ask not what burneth in my breast, ✿ Lest thou see fiery
pangs eye never saw:
Wills not my heart to harbour Salmá in stead ✿ Of Laylá's[517] love,
but need hath ne'er a law!
And he put out his right arm from his sleeve and behold, the hand was
cut off, a wrist without a fist. I was astounded at this but he said,
"Marvel not, and think not that I ate with my left hand for conceit and
insolence, but from necessity; and the cutting off my right hand was
caused by an adventure of the strangest." Asked I, "And what caused
it?"; and he answered:—Know that I am of the sons of Baghdad and my
father was of notables of that city. When I came to man's estate I
heard the pilgrims and wayfarers, travellers and merchants talk of the
land of Egypt and their words sank deep into my mind till my parent
died, when I took a large sum of money and furnished myself for trade
with stuffs of Baghdad and Mosul and, packing them up in bales, set out
on my wanderings; and Allah decreed me safety till I entered this your
city. Then he wept and began repeating:—
The blear-eyed scapes the pits ✿ Wherein the lynx-eyed fall:
A word the wise man slays ✿ And saves the natural:
The Moslem fails of food ✿ The Káfir feasts in hall:
What art or act is man's? ✿ God's will obligeth all!
Now when he had ended his verse he said, So I entered Cairo and took
off my loads and stored my stuffs in the Khan "Al-Masrúr."[518] Then I
gave the servant a few silvers wherewith to buy me some food and lay
down to sleep awhile. When I awoke I went to the street called "Bayn
al-Kasrayn"—Between the two Palaces—and presently returned and rested
my night in the Khan. When it was morning I opened a bale and took out
some stuff saying to myself, "I will be off and go through some of the
bazars and see the state of the market." So I loaded the stuff on some
of my slaves and fared forth till I reached the Kaysariyah or Exchange
of Jahárkas;[519] where the brokers who knew of my coming came to meet
me. They took the stuffs and cried them for sale, but could not get the
prime cost of them. I was vexed at this, however the Shaykh of the
brokers said to me, "O my lord, I will tell thee how thou mayest make a
profit of thy goods. Thou shouldest do as the merchants do and sell thy
merchandise at credit for a fixed period, on a contract drawn up by a
notary and duly witnessed; and employ a Shroff to take thy dues every
Monday and Thursday. So shalt thou gain two dirhams and more, for every
one; and thou shalt solace and divert thyself by seeing Cairo and the
Nile." Quoth I, "This is sound advice," and carried the brokers to the
Khan. They took my stuffs and went with them on 'Change where I sold
them well taking bonds for the value. These bonds I deposited with a
Shroff, a banker, who gave me a receipt with which I returned to the
Khan. Here I stayed a whole month, every morning breaking my fast with
a cup of wine and making my meals on pigeon's meat, mutton and
sweetmeats, till the time came when my receipts began to fall due. So,
every Monday and Thursday I used to go on 'Change and sit in the shop
of one or other of the merchants, whilst the notary and money-changer
went round to recover the monies from the traders, till after the time
of mid-afternoon prayer, when they brought me the amount, and I counted
it and, sealing the bags, returned with them to the Khan. On a certain
day which happened to be a Monday,[520] I went to the Hammam and thence
back to my Khan, and sitting in my own room[521] broke my fast with a
cup of wine, after which I slept a little. When I awoke I ate a chicken
and, perfuming my person, repaired to the shop of a merchant hight Badr
al-Din al-Bostáni, or the Gardener,[522] who welcomed me; and we sat
talking awhile till the bazar should open. Presently, behold, up came a
lady of stately figure wearing a head-dress of the most magnificent,
perfumed with the sweetest of scents and walking with graceful swaying
gait; and seeing me she raised her mantilla allowing me a glimpse of
her beautiful black eyes. She saluted Badr al-Din who returned her
salutation and stood up, and talked with her; and the moment I heard
her speak, the love of her gat hold of my heart. Presently she said to
Badr al-Din "Hast thou by thee a cut piece of stuff woven with thread
of pure gold?" So he brought out to her a piece from those he had
bought of me and sold it to her for one thousand two hundred dirhams;
when she said, "I will take the piece home with me and send thee its
price." "That is impossible, O my lady," the merchant replied, "for
here is the owner of the stuff and I owe him a share of profit." "Fie
upon thee!" she cried, "Do I not use to take from thee entire rolls of
costly stuff, and give thee a greater profit than thou expectest, and
send thee the money?" "Yes," rejoined he; "but I stand in pressing need
of the price this very day." Hereupon she took up the piece and threw
it back upon his lap, saying "Out on thee! Allah confound the tribe of
you which estimates none at the right value;" and she turned to go. I
felt my very soul going with her; so I stood up and stayed her, saying,
"I conjure thee by the Lord, O my lady, favour me by retracing thy
gracious steps." She turned back with a smile and said, "For thy sake I
return," and took a seat opposite me in the shop. Then quoth I to Badr
al-Din "What is the price they asked thee for this piece?"; and quoth
he, "Eleven hundred dirhams." I rejoined, "The odd hundred shall be thy
profit: bring me a sheet of paper and I will write thee a discharge for
it." Then I wrote him a receipt in my own handwriting and gave the
piece to the lady, saying, "Take it away with thee and, if thou wilt,
bring me its price next bazar-day; or better still, accept it as my
guest-gift to thee." "Allah requite thee with good," answered she, "and
make thee my husband and lord and master of all I have!"[523] And Allah
favoured her prayer. I saw the Gates of Paradise swing open before me
and said, "O my lady, let this piece of stuff be now thine and another
like it is ready for thee; only let me have one look at thy face." So
she raised her veil and I saw a face the sight of which bequeathed to
me a thousand sighs, and my heart was so captivated by her love that I
was no longer ruler of my reason. Then she let fall her face-veil and
taking up the piece of stuff said, "O my lord make me not desolate by
thine absence!" and turned away and disappeared from my sight. I
remained sitting on 'Change till past the hour of afternoon prayer,
lost to the world by the love which had mastered me; and the violence
of my passion compelled me to make enquiries concerning her of the
merchant, who answered me, "This is a lady and a rich: she is the
daughter of a certain Emir who lately died and left her a large
fortune." Then I took leave of him and returned home to the Khan where
they set supper before me; but I could not eat for thinking of her and
when I lay down to sleep, sleep came not near me. So I watched till
morning, when I arose and donned a change of raiment and drank a cup of
wine; and, after breaking my fast on some slight matter, I went to the
merchant's shop where I saluted him and sat down by him. Presently up
came the lady as usual, followed by a slave-girl and wearing a dress
more sumptuous than before; and she saluted me without noticing Badr
al-Din and said in fluent graceful speech (never heard I voice softer
or sweeter), "Send one with me to take the thousand and two hundred
dirhams, the price of the piece." "Why this hurry?" asked I and she
answered, "May we never lose thee!"[524] and handed me the money. Then
I sat talking with her and presently I signed to her in dumb show,
whereby she understood that I longed to enjoy her person,[525] and she
rose up in haste with a show of displeasure. My heart clung to her and
I went forth from the bazar and followed on her track. As I was walking
suddenly a black slave-girl stopped me and said, "O my master, come
speak with my mistress."[526] At this I was surprised and replied,
"There is none who knows me here;" but she rejoined, "O my lord, how
soon hast thou forgotten her! My lady is the same who was this day at
the shop of such a merchant." Then I went with her to the Shroff's,
where I found the lady who drew me to her side and said, "O my beloved,
thine image is firmly stamped upon my fancy, and love of thee hath
gotten hold of my heart: from the hour I first saw thee nor sleep nor
food nor drink hath given me aught of pleasure." I replied, "The double
of that suffering is mine and my state dispenseth me from complaint."
Then said she, "O my beloved, at thy house, or at mine?" "I am a
stranger here and have no place of reception save the Khan, so by thy
favour it shall be at thy house." "So be it; but this is Friday[527]
night and nothing can be done till to-morrow after public prayers; go
to the Mosque and pray; then mount thine ass, and ask for the
Habbániyah[528] quarter; and, when there, look out for the mansion of
Al-Nakib[529] Barakát, popularly known as Abu Shámah the Syndic; for I
live there: so do not delay as I shall be expecting thee." I rejoiced
with still greater joy at this; and took leave of her and returned to
my Khan, where I passed a sleepless night. Hardly was I assured that
morning had dawned when I rose, changed my dress, perfumed myself with
essences and sweet scents and, taking fifty dinars in a kerchief, went
from the Khan Masrúr to the Zuwaylah[530] gate, where I mounted an ass
and said to its owner, "Take me to the Habbaniyah." So he set off with
me and brought up in the twinkling of an eye at a street known as Darb
al-Munkari, where I said to him, "Go in and ask for the Syndic's
mansion." He was absent a while and then returned and said, "Alight."
"Go thou before me to the house," quoth I, adding, "Come back with the
earliest light and bring me home;" and he answered, "In Allah's name;"
whereupon I gave him a quarter-dinar of gold, and he took it and went
his ways. Then I knocked at the door and out came two white
slave-girls, both young; high-bosomed virgins, as they were moons, and
said to me, "Enter, for our mistress is expecting thee and she hath not
slept the night long for her delight in thee." I passed through the
vestibule into a saloon with seven doors, floored with particoloured
marbles and furnished with curtains and hangings of coloured silks: the
ceiling was _cloisonné_ with gold and corniced with inscriptions[531]
emblazoned in lapis lazuli; and the walls were stuccoed with Sultání
gypsum[532] which mirrored the beholder's face. Around the saloon were
latticed windows overlooking a garden full of all manner of fruits;
whose streams were railing and rilling and whose birds were trilling
and shrilling; and in the heart of the hall was a jetting fountain at
whose corners stood birds fashioned in red gold crusted with pearls and
gems and spouting water crystal-clear. When I entered and took a
seat,——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
permitted say.
Now when it was the Twenty-Sixth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the young
merchant continued, When I entered and took a seat, the lady at once
came in crowned with a diadem[533] of pearls and jewels; her face
dotted with artificial moles in indigo,[534] her eyebrows pencilled
with Kohl and her hands and feet reddened with Henna. When she saw me
she smiled in my face and took me to her embrace and clasped me to her
breast; then she put her mouth to my mouth and sucked my tongue[535]
(and I did likewise) and said, "Can it be true, O my little darkling,
thou art come to me?" adding, "Welcome and good cheer to thee! By
Allah, from the day I saw thee sleep hath not been sweet to me nor hath
food been pleasant." Quoth I, "Such hath also been my case: and I am
thy slave, thy negro slave." Then we sat down to converse and I hung my
head earthwards in bashfulness, but she delayed not long ere she set
before me a tray of the most exquisite viands, marinated meats,
fritters soaked in bee's honey[536] and chickens stuffed with sugar and
pistachio-nuts, whereof we ate till we were satisfied. Then they
brought basin and ewer and I washed my hands and we scented ourselves
with rose-water musk'd and sat down again to converse. So she began
repeating these couplets:[537]—
Had we wist of thy coming, thy way had been strown
With the blood of our heart and the balls of our sight:
Our cheek as a foot-cloth to greet thee been thrown,
That thy step on our eyelids should softly alight.
And she kept plaining of what had befallen her and I of what had
betided me; and love of her gat so firm hold of my heart that all
my wealth seemed a thing of naught in comparison with her. Then we
fell to toying and groping and kissing till nightfall, when the
handmaidens set before us meats and a complete wine service, and we
sat carousing till the noon of night; when we lay down and I lay
with her, never in my life saw I a night like that night. When
morning morrowed I arose and took leave of her, throwing under the
carpet-bed the kerchief wherein were the dinars[538] and as I went
out she wept and said, "O my lord, when shall I look upon that
lovely face again?" "I will be with thee at sunset," answered I,
and going out found the donkey-boy, who had brought me the day
before, awaiting at the door. So I mounted ass and rode to the Khan
of Masrur where I alighted and gave the man a half-dinar, saying,
"Return at sunset;" and he said "I will." Then I breakfasted and
went out to seek the price of my stuffs; after which I returned,
and taking a roast lamb and some sweetmeats, called a porter and
put the provision in his crate, and sent it to the lady paying the
man his hire.[539] I went back to my business till sunset, when the
ass-driver came to me; and I took fifty dinars in a kerchief and
rode to her house where I found the marble floor swept, the brasses
burnisht, the branch-lights burning, the wax-candles ready lighted,
the meat served up and the wine strained.[540] When my lady saw me
she threw her arms about my neck, and cried, "Thou hast desolated
me by thine absence." Then she set the tables before me and we ate
till we were satisfied, when the slave girls carried off the trays
and served up wine. We gave not over drinking till half the night
was past; and, being well warmed with drink, we went to the
sleeping-chamber and lay there till morning. I then arose and fared
forth from her leaving the fifty dinars with her as before; and,
finding the donkey-boy at the door, rode to the Khan and slept
awhile. After that I went out to make ready the evening meal and
took a brace of geese with gravy on two platters of dressed and
peppered rice, and got ready colocasia[541]-roots fried and soaked
in honey, and wax-candles and fruits and conserves and nuts and
almonds and sweet-scented flowers; and I sent them all to her. As
soon as it was night I again tied up fifty dinars in a kerchief
and, mounting the ass as usual, rode to the mansion where we ate
and drank and lay together till morning when I threw the kerchief
and dinars[542] to her and rode back to the Khan. I ceased not
doing after that fashion till, after a sweet night, I woke one fine
morning and found myself beggared, dinar-less and dirham-less. So
said I to myself "All this be Satan's work;" and began to recite
these couplets:—
Poverty dims the sheen of man whate'er his wealth has been, ✿ E'en as
the sun about to set shines with a yellowing light:
Absent he falls from memory, forgotten by his friends; ✿ Present he
shareth not their joys for none in him delight:
He walks the market shunned of all, too glad to hide his head; ✿ In
desert places tears he sheds and moans his bitter plight:
By Allah, 'mid his kith and kin a man, however good, ✿ Waylaid by want
and penury is but a stranger-wight!
I fared forth from the Khan and walked down "Between the Palaces"
street till I came to the Zuwaylah Porte, where I found the people
crowding and the gateway blocked for the much folk. And by the decree
of Destiny I saw there a trooper against whom I pressed
unintentionally, so that my hand came upon his bosom pocket and I felt
a purse inside it. I looked and seeing a string of green silk hanging
from the pocket knew it for a purse; and the crush grew greater every
minute and just then, a camel laden with a load of fuel happened to
jostle the trooper on the opposite side, and he turned round to fend it
off from him, lest it tear his clothes; and Satan tempted me, so I
pulled the string and drew out a little bag of blue silk, containing
something which chinked like coin. But the soldier, feeling his pocket
suddenly lightened, put his hand to it and found it empty; whereupon he
turned to me and, snatching up his mace from his saddle-bow, struck me
with it on the head. I fell to the ground, whilst the people came round
us and seizing the trooper's mare by the bridle said to him, "Strikest
thou this youth such a blow as this for a mere push!" But the trooper
cried out at them, "This fellow is an accursed thief!" Whereupon I came
to myself and stood up, and the people looked at me and said, "Nay, he
is a comely youth: he would not steal anything;" and some of them took
my part and others were against me and question and answer waxed loud
and warm. The people pulled at me and would have rescued me from his
clutches; but as fate decreed behold, the Governor, the Chief of
Police, and the watch[543] entered the Zuwaylah Gate at this moment
and, seeing the people gathered together around me and the soldier, the
Governor asked, "What is the matter?" "By Allah! O Emir," answered the
trooper, "this is a thief! I had in my pocket a purse of blue silk
lined with twenty good gold pieces and he took it, whilst I was in the
crush." Quoth the Governor, "Was any one by thee at the time?"; and
quoth the soldier, "No." Thereupon the Governor cried out to the Chief
of Police who seized me, and on this wise the curtain of the Lord's
protection was withdrawn from me. Then he said "Strip him;" and, when
they stripped me, they found the purse in my clothes. The Wali took it,
opened it and counted it; and, finding in it twenty dinars as the
soldier had said, waxed exceeding wroth and bade his guard bring me
before him. Then said he to me, "Now, O youth, speak truly: didst thou
steal this purse?"[544] At this I hung my head to the ground and said
to myself, "If I deny having stolen it, I shall get myself into
terrible trouble." So I raised my head and said, "Yes, I took it." When
the Governor heard these words he wondered and summoned witnesses who
came forward and attested my confession. All this happened at the
Zuwaylah Gate. Then the Governor ordered the link-bearer to cut off my
right hand, and he did so; after which he would have struck off my left
foot also; but the heart of the soldier softened and he took pity on me
and interceded for me with the Governor that I should not be
slain.[545] Thereupon the Wali left me, and went away and the folk
remained round me and gave me a cup of wine to drink. As for the
trooper he pressed the purse upon me, and said, "Thou art a comely
youth and it befitteth not thou be a thief." So I repeated these
verses:—
I swear by Allah's name, fair sir! no thief was I, ✿ Nor, O thou best
of men! was I a bandit bred:
But Fortune's change and chance o'erthrew me suddenly, ✿ And cark and
care and penury my course misled:
I shot it not, indeed, 'twas Allah shot the shaft ✿ That rolled in dust
the Kingly diadem from my head.[546]
The soldier turned away after giving me the purse; and I also went my
ways having wrapped my hand in a piece of rag and thrust it into my
bosom. My whole semblance had changed, and my colour had waxed yellow
from the shame and pain which had befallen me. Yet I went on to my
mistress's house where, in extreme perturbation of spirit I threw
myself down on the carpet-bed.
She saw me in this state and asked me, "What aileth thee and why do I
see thee so changed in looks?"; and I answered, "My head paineth me and
I am far from well." Whereupon she was vexed and was concerned on my
account and said, "Burn not my heart, O my lord, but sit up and raise
thy head and recount to me what hath happened to thee to-day, for thy
face tells me a tale." "Leave this talk," replied I. But she wept and
said, "Meseems thou art tired of me, for I see thee contrary to thy
wont." But I was silent; and she kept on talking to me albeit I gave
her no answer, till night came on. Then she set food before me, but I
refused it fearing lest she see me eating with my left hand and said to
her, "I have no stomach to eat at present." Quoth she, "Tell me what
hath befallen thee to-day, and why art thou so sorrowful and broken in
spirit and heart?" Quoth I, "Wait awhile; I will tell thee all at my
leisure." Then she brought me wine, saying, "Down with it, this will
dispel thy grief: thou must indeed drink and tell me of thy tidings." I
asked her, "Perforce must I tell thee?"; and she answered, "Yes." Then
said I, "If it needs must be so, then give me to drink with thine own
hand." She filled and drank,[547] and filled again and gave me the cup
which I took from her with my left hand and wiped the tears from my
eyelids and began repeating:—
When Allah willeth aught befal a man ✿ Who hath of ears and eyes and
wits full share;
His ears He deafens and his eyes He blinds ✿ And draws his wits e'en as
we draw a hair[548]
Till, having wrought His purpose, He restores ✿ Man's wits, that warned
more circumspect he fare.
When I ended my verses I wept, and she cried out with an exceeding loud
cry, "What is the cause of thy tears? Thou burnest my heart! What makes
thee take the cup with thy left hand?" Quoth I, "Truly I have on my
right hand a boil;" and quoth she, "Put it out and I will open it for
thee."[549] "It is not yet time to open it," I replied, "So worry me
not with thy words, for I will not take it out of the bandage at this
hour." Then I drank off the cup, and she gave not over plying me with
drink until drunkenness overcame me and I fell asleep in the place
where I was sitting; whereupon she looked at my right hand and saw a
wrist without a fist. So she searched me closely and found with me the
purse of gold and my severed hand wrapped up in the bit of rag.[550]
With this such sorrow came upon her as never overcame any and she
ceased not lamenting on my account till the morning. When I awoke I
found that she had dressed me a dish of broth of four boiled chickens,
which she brought to me together with a cup of wine. I ate and drank
and laying down the purse, would have gone out; but she said to me,
"Whither away?"; and I answered, "Where my business calleth me;" and
said she, "Thou shalt not go: sit thee down." So I sat down and she
resumed, "Hath thy love for me so overpowered thee that thou hast
wasted all thy wealth and hast lost thine hand on my account? I take
thee to witness against me and also Allah be my witness that I will
never part with thee, but will die under thy feet; and soon thou shalt
see that my words are true." Then she sent for the Kazi and witnesses
and said to them, "Write my contract of marriage with this young man,
and bear ye witness that I have received the marriage-settlement."[551]
When they had drawn up the document she said, "Be witness that all my
monies which are in this chest and all I have in slaves and handmaidens
and other property is given in free gift to this young man." So they
took act of this statement enabling me to assume possession in right of
marriage; and then withdrew, after receiving their fees. Thereupon she
took me by the hand and, leading me to a closet, opened a large chest
and said to me, "See what is herein;" and I looked and behold, it was
full of kerchiefs. Quoth she, "This is the money I had from thee and
every kerchief thou gavest me, containing fifty dinars, I wrapped up
and cast into this chest; so now take thine own, for it returns to
thee, and this day thou art become of high estate. Fortune and Fate
afflicted thee so that thou didst lose thy right hand for my sake; and
I can never requite thee; nay, although I gave my life 'twere but
little and I should still remain thy debtor." Then she added, "Take
charge of thy property;" so I transferred the contents of her chest to
my chest, and added my wealth to her wealth which I had given her, and
my heart was eased and my sorrow ceased. I stood up and kissed her and
thanked her; and she said, "Thou hast given thy hand for love of me and
how am I able to give thee an equivalent? By Allah, if I offered my
life for thy love, it were indeed but little and would not do justice
to thy claim upon me." Then she made over to me by deed all that she
possessed in clothes and ornaments of gold and pearls, and goods and
farms and chattels, and lay not down to sleep that night, being sorely
grieved for my grief, till I told her the whole of what had befallen
me. I passed the night with her. But before we had lived together a
month's time she fell sorely sick and illness increased upon her, by
reason of her grief for the loss of my hand, and she endured but fifty
days before she was numbered among the folk of futurity and heirs of
immortality. So I laid her out and buried her body in mother earth and
let make a pious perlection of the Koran[552] for the health of her
soul, and gave much money in alms for her; after which I turned me from
the grave and returned to the house. There I found that she had left
much substance in ready money and slaves, mansions, lands and domains,
and among her storehouses was a granary of sesame-seed, whereof I sold
part to thee; and I had neither time nor inclination to take count with
thee till I had sold the rest of the stock in store; nor, indeed, even
now have I made an end of receiving the price. So I desire thou baulk
me not in what I am about to say to thee: twice have I eaten of thy
food and I wish to give thee as a present the monies for the sesame
which are by thee. Such is the cause of the cutting of my right hand
and my eating with my left. "Indeed," said I, "thou hast shown me the
utmost kindness and liberality." Then he asked me, "Why shouldst thou
not travel with me to my native country whither I am about to return
with Cairene and Alexandrian stuffs? Say me, wilt thou accompany me?;"
and I answered "I will." So I agreed to go with him at the head of the
month, and I sold all I had and bought other merchandise; then we set
out and travelled, I and the young man, to this country of yours, where
he sold his venture and bought other investment of country stuffs and
continued his journey to Egypt. But it was my lot to abide here, so
that these things befel me in my strangerhood which befel last night,
and is not this tale, O King of the age, more wondrous and marvellous
than the story of the Hunchback? "Not so," quoth the King, "I cannot
accept it: there is no help for it but that you be hanged, every one of
you."——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day, and ceased saying her
permitted say.
Now when it was the Twenty-seventh Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the King of
China declared "There is no help for it but that you be hanged," the
Reeve of the Sultan's Kitchen came forward and said, "If thou permit me
I will tell thee a tale of what befel me just before I found this
Gobbo; and, if it be more wondrous than his story, do thou grant us our
lives." And when the King answered "Yes" he began to recount
_THE REEVE'S TALE._
Know, O King, that last night I was at a party where they made a
perlection of the Koran and got together doctors of law and religion
skilled in recitation and intoning; and, when the readers ended, the
table was spread and amongst other things they set before us was a
marinated ragout[553] flavoured with cumin-seed. So we sat down, but
one of our number held back and refused to touch it. We conjured him to
eat of it but he swore he would not; and, when we again pressed him, he
said, "Be not instant with me; sufficeth me that which hath already
befallen me through eating it"; and he began reciting:—
Shoulder thy tray and go straight to thy goal; ✿ And, if suit thee this
Kohl, why,—use this Kohl![554]
When he ended his verse we said to him, "Allah upon thee, tell us thy
reason for refusing to eat of the cumin-ragout?" "If so it be," he
replied, "and needs must I eat of it, I will not do so except I wash my
hand forty times with soap, forty times with potash and forty times
with galangale,[555] the total being one hundred and twenty washings."
Thereupon the hospitable host bade his slaves bring water and whatso he
required; and the young man washed his hand as afore mentioned. Then he
sat down, as if disgusted and frightened withal, and dipping his hand
in the ragout, began eating and at the same time showing signs of
anger. And we wondered at him with extreme wonderment, for his hand
trembled and the morsel in it shook and we saw that his thumb had been
cut off and he ate with his four fingers only. So we said to him,
"Allah upon thee, what happened to thy thumb? Is thy hand thus by the
creation of God or hath some accident befallen it?" "O my brothers," he
answered, "it is not only thus with this thumb, but also with my other
thumb and with both my great toes, as you shall see." So saying he
uncovered his left hand and his feet, and we saw that the left hand was
even as the right and in like manner that each of his feet lacked its
great toe. When we saw him after this fashion, our amazement waxed
still greater and we said to him, "We have hardly patience enough to
await thy history and to hear the manner of the cutting off of thy
thumbs, and the reason of thy washing both hands one hundred and twenty
times." Know then, said he, that my father was chief of the merchants
and the wealthiest of them all in Baghdad-city during the reign of the
Caliph Harun al-Rashid; and he was much given to wine-drinking and
listening to the lute and the other instruments of pleasaunce; so that
when he died he left nothing. I buried him and had perlections of the
Koran made for him, and mourned for him days and nights: then I opened
his shop and found that he had left in it few goods, while his debts
were many. However I compounded with his creditors for time to settle
their demands and betook myself to buying and selling, paying them
something from week to week on account; and I gave not over doing this
till I had cleared off his obligations in full and began adding to my
principal. One day, as I sat in my shop, suddenly and unexpectedly
there appeared before me a young lady, than whom I never saw a fairer,
wearing the richest raiment and ornaments and riding a she mule, with
one negro-slave walking before her and another behind her. She drew
rein at the head of the exchange-bazar and entered followed by an
eunuch who said to her, "O my lady come out and away without telling
any one, lest thou light a fire which will burn us all up." Moreover he
stood before her guarding her from view whilst she looked at the
merchants' shops. She found none open but mine; so she came up with the
eunuch behind her and sitting down in my shop saluted me; never heard I
aught fairer than her speech or sweeter than her voice. Then she
unveiled her face, and I saw that she was like the moon and I stole a
glance at her whose sight caused me a thousand sighs, and my heart was
captivated with love of her, and I kept looking again and again upon
her face repeating these verses:—
Say to the charmer in the dove-hued veil, ✿ Death would be welcome to
abate thy bale!
Favour me with thy favours that I live: ✿ See, I stretch forth my palm
to take thy vail!
When she heard my verse she answered me saying:—
I've lost all patience by despite of you; ✿ My heart knows nothing save
love-plight to you!
If aught I sight save charms so bright of you; ✿ My parting end not in
the sight of you!
I swear I'll ne'er forget the right of you; ✿ And fain this breast
would soar to height of you:
You made me drain the love-cup, and I lief ✿ A love-cup tender for
delight of you:
Take this my form where'er you go, and when ✿ You die, entomb me in the
site of you:
Call on me in my grave, and hear my bones ✿ Sigh their responses to the
shright of you:
And were I asked "Of God what wouldst thou see?" ✿ I answer, "first His
will then Thy decree!"
When she ended her verse she asked me, "O youth, hast thou any fair
stuffs by thee?"; and I answered, "O my lady, thy slave is poor; but
have patience till the merchants open their shops, and I will suit thee
with what thou wilt." Then we sat talking, I and she (and I was drowned
in the sea of her love, dazed in the desert[556] of my passion for
her), till the merchants opened their shops; when I rose and fetched
her all she sought to the tune of five thousand dirhams. She gave the
stuff to the eunuch and, going forth by the door of the Exchange, she
mounted mule and went away, without telling me whence she came, and I
was ashamed to speak of such trifle. When the merchants dunned me for
the price, I made myself answerable for five thousand dirhams and went
home, drunken with the love of her. They set supper before me and I ate
a mouthful, thinking only of her beauty and loveliness, and sought to
sleep, but sleep came not to me. And such was my condition for a whole
week, when the merchants required their monies of me, but I persuaded
them to have patience for another week, at the end of which time she
again appeared mounted on a she-mule and attended by her eunuch and two
slaves. She saluted me and said, "O my master, we have been long in
bringing thee the price of the stuffs; but now fetch the Shroff and
take thy monies." So I sent for the money-changer and the eunuch
counted out the coin before him and made it over to me. Then we sat
talking, I and she, till the market opened, when she said to me, "Get
me this and that." So I got her from the merchants whatso she wanted,
and she took it and went away without saying a word to me about the
price. As soon as she was out of sight, I repented me of what I had
done; for the worth of the stuffs bought for her amounted to a thousand
dinars, and I said in my soul, "What manner of love is this? She hath
brought me five thousand dirhams, and hath taken goods for a thousand
dinars."[557] I feared lest I should be beggared through having to pay
the merchants their money, and I said, "They know none other but me;
this lovely lady is naught but a cheat and a swindler, who hath diddled
me with her beauty and grace; for she saw that I was a mere youth and
laughed at me for not asking her address. I ceased not to be troubled
by these doubts and fears, as she was absent more than a month, till
the merchants pestered me for their money and were so hard upon me that
I put up my property for sale and stood on the very brink of ruin."
However, as I was sitting in my shop one day, drowned in melancholy
musings, she suddenly rode up and, dismounting at the bazar-gate, came
straight towards me. When I saw her all my cares fell from me and I
forgot every trouble. She came close up to me and greeted me with her
sweet voice and pleasant speech and presently said, "Fetch me the
Shroff and weigh thy money.[558]" So she gave me the price of what
goods I had gotten for her and more, and fell to talking freely with
me, till I was like to die of joy and delight. Presently she asked me,
"Hast thou a wife?"; and I answered "No, indeed: I have never known
woman"; and began to shed tears. Quoth she "Why weepest thou?" Quoth I
"It is nothing!" Then giving the eunuch some of the gold pieces, I
begged him to be go-between[559] in the matter; but he laughed and
said, "She is more in love with thee than thou with her: she hath no
occasion for the stuffs she hath bought of thee and did all this only
for the love of thee; so ask of her what thou wilt and she will deny
thee nothing." When she saw me giving the dinars to the eunuch, she
returned and sat down again; and I said to her, "Be charitable to thy
slave and pardon him what he is about to say." Then I told her what was
in my mind and she assented and said to the eunuch, "Thou shalt carry
my message to him," adding to me, "And do thou whatso the eunuch
biddeth thee." Then she got up and went away, and I paid the merchants
their monies and they all profited; but as for me, regret at the
breaking off of our intercourse was all my gain; and I slept not the
whole of that night. However, before many days passed her eunuch came
to me, and I entreated him honourably and asked him after his mistress.
"Truly she is sick with love of thee," he replied and I rejoined, "Tell
me who and what she is." Quoth he, "The Lady Zubaydah, queen-consort of
Harun al-Rashid, bought her up as a rearling[560] and hath advanced her
to be stewardess of the Harim, and gave her the right of going in and
out of her own sweet will. She spoke to her lady of thee and begged her
to marry her to thee; but she said:—I will not do this, till I see the
young man; and, if he be worthy of thee, I will marry thee to him. So
now we look for the moment to smuggle thee into the Palace and if thou
succeed in entering privily thou wilt win thy wish to wed her; but if
the affair get wind, the Lady Zubaydah will strike off thy head.[561]
What sayest thou to this?" I answered, "I will go with thee and abide
the risk whereof thou speakest." Then said he, "As soon as it is night,
go to the Mosque built by the Lady Zubaydah on the Tigris and pray the
night-prayers and sleep there." "With love and gladness," cried I. So
at nightfall I repaired to the Mosque, where I prayed and passed the
night. With earliest dawn, behold, came sundry eunuchs in a skiff with
a number of empty chests which they deposited in the Mosque, then all
of them went their ways but one, and looking curiously at him, I saw he
was our go-between. Presently in came the handmaiden, my mistress,
walking straight up to us; and I rose to her and embraced her while she
kissed me and shed tears.[562] We talked awhile; after which she made
me get into one of the chests which she locked upon me. Presently the
other eunuchs came back with a quantity of packages and she fell to
stowing them in the chests, which she locked down, one by one, till all
were shut. When all was done the eunuchs embarked the chests in the
boat and made for the Lady Zubaydah's palace. With this, thought began
to beset me and I said to myself, "Verily thy lust and wantonness will
be the death of thee; and the question is after all shalt thou win to
thy wish or not?" And I began to weep, boxed up as I was in the box and
suffering from cramp; and I prayed Allah that He deliver me from the
dangerous strait I was in, whilst the boat gave not over going on till
it reached the Palace-gate where they lifted out the chests and amongst
them that in which I was. Then they carried them in, passing through a
troop of eunuchs, guardians of the Harim and of the ladies behind the
curtain, till they came to the post of the Eunuch-in-Chief[563] who
started up from his slumbers and shouted to the damsel "What is in
those chests?" "They are full of wares for the Lady Zubaydah!" "Open
them, one by one, that I may see what is in them." "And wherefore
wouldst thou open them?" "Give me no words and exceed not in talk!
these chests must and shall be opened." So saying, he sprang to his
feet, and the first which they brought to him to open was that wherein
I was; and, when I felt his hands upon it, my senses failed me and I
bepissed myself in my funk, the water running out of the box. Then said
she to the Eunuch-in-Chief, "O steward! thou wilt cause me to be killed
and thyself too, for thou hast damaged goods worth ten thousand dinars.
This chest contains coloured dresses, and four gallon flasks of Zemzem
water;[564] and now one of them hath got unstoppered and the water is
running out over the clothes and it will spoil their colours." The
eunuch answered, "Take up thy boxes and get thee gone to the curse of
God!" So the slaves carried off all the chests, including mine; and
hastened on with them till suddenly I heard the voice of one saying,
"Alack, and alack! the Caliph! the Caliph!" When that cry struck mine
ears I died in my skin and said a saying which never yet shamed the
sayer, "There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the
Glorious, the Great! I and only I have brought this calamity upon
myself." Presently I heard the Caliph say to my mistress, "A plague on
thee, what is in those boxes?"; and she answered, "Dresses for the Lady
Zubaydah";[565] whereupon he, "Open them before me!" When I heard this
I died my death outright and said to myself, "By Allah, to-day is the
very last of my days in this world: if I come safe out of this I am to
marry her and no more words, but detection stares me in the face and my
head is as good as stricken off." Then I repeated the profession of
Faith, saying, "There is no god but _the_ God, and Mohammed is the
Apostle of God!"——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to
say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Twenty-Eighth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the young
merchant continued as follows: Now when I testified, "I bear witness
that there is no god save _the_ God, I heard my mistress the handmaid
declare to the Caliph, "These chests, O Commander of the Faithful, have
been committed to my charge by the Lady Zubaydah, and she doth not wish
their contents to be seen by any one." "No matter!" quoth the Caliph,
"needs must they be opened, I _will_ see what is in them"; and he cried
aloud to the eunuchs, "Bring the chests here before me." At this I made
sure of death (without benefit of a doubt) and swooned away. Then the
eunuchs brought the chests up to him one after another and he fell to
inspecting the contents, but he saw in them only ottars and stuffs and
fine dresses; and they ceased not opening the chests and he ceased not
looking to see what was in them, finding only clothes and such matters,
till none remained unopened but the box in which I was boxed. They put
forth their hands to open it, but my mistress the handmaid made haste
and said to the Caliph, "This one thou shalt see only in the presence
of the Lady Zubaydah, for that which is in it is her secret." When he
heard this he gave orders to carry in the chests; so they took up that
wherein I was and bore it with the rest into the Harim and set it down
in the midst of the saloon; and indeed my spittle was dried up for very
fear.[566] Then my mistress opened the box and took me out, saying,
"Fear not: no harm shall betide thee now nor dread; but broaden thy
breast and strengthen thy heart and sit thee down till the Lady
Zubaydah come, and surely thou shalt win thy wish of me." So I sat down
and, after a while, in came ten handmaidens, virgins like moons, and
ranged themselves in two rows, five facing five; and after them twenty
other damsels, high-bosomed virginity, surrounding the Lady Zubaydah
who could hardly walk for the weight of her raiment and ornaments. As
she drew near, the slave-girls dispersed from around her, and I
advanced and kissed the ground between her hands. She signed to me to
sit and, when I sat down before her chair, she began questioning me of
my forbears and family and condition, to which I made such answers that
pleased her, and she said to my mistress, "Our nurturing of thee, O
damsel, hath not disappointed us." Then she said to me, "Know that this
handmaiden is to us even as our own child and she is a trust committed
to thee by Allah." I again kissed the ground before her, well pleased
that I should marry my mistress, and she bade me abide ten days in the
palace. So I abode there ten days, during which time I saw not my
mistress nor any body save one of the concubines, who brought me the
morning and evening meals. After this the Lady Zubaydah took counsel
with the Caliph on the marriage of her favourite handmaid, and he gave
leave and assigned to her a wedding portion of ten thousand gold
pieces. So the Lady Zubaydah sent for the Kazi and witnesses who wrote
our marriage-contract, after which the women made ready sweetmeats and
rich viands and distributed them among all the Odahs[567] of the Harim.
Thus they did other ten days, at the end of which time my mistress went
to the baths.[568] Meanwhile, they set before me a tray of food whereon
were various meats and among those dishes, which were enough to daze
the wits, was a bowl of cumin-ragout containing chickens' breasts,
fricandoed[569] and flavoured with sugar, pistachios, musk and
rose-water. Then, by Allah, fair sirs, I did not long hesitate; but
took my seat before the ragout and fell to and ate of it till I could
no more. After this I wiped my hands, but forgot to wash them; and sat
till it grew dark, when the wax-candles were lighted and the singing
women came in with their tambourines and proceeded to display the bride
in various dresses and to carry her in procession from room to room all
round the palace, getting their palms crossed with gold. Then they
brought her to me and disrobed her. When I found myself alone with her
on the bed I embraced her, hardly believing in our union; but she smelt
the strong odours of the ragout upon my hands and forthwith cried out
with an exceeding loud cry, at which the slave-girls came running to
her from all sides. I trembled with alarm, unknowing what was the
matter, and the girls asked her, "What aileth thee, O our sister?" She
answered them, "Take this madman away from me: I had thought he was a
man of sense!" Quoth I to her, "What makes thee think me mad?" Quoth
she, "Thou madman! what made thee eat of cumin-ragout and forget to
wash thy hand? By Allah, I will requite thee for thy misconduct. Shall
the like of thee come to bed with the like of me with unclean
hands?[570]" Then she took from her side a plaited scourge and came
down with it on my back and the place where I sit till her forearms
were benumbed and I fainted away from the much beating; when she said
to the handmaids, "Take him and carry him to the Chief of Police, that
he may strike off the hand wherewith he ate of the cumin-ragout, and
which he did not wash." When I heard this I said, "There is no Majesty
and there is no Might save in Allah! Wilt thou cut off my hand, because
I ate of a cumin-ragout and did not wash?" The handmaidens also
interceded with her and kissed her hand saying, "O our sister, this man
is a simpleton, punish him not for what he hath done this nonce;" but
she answered, "By Allah, there is no help but that I dock him of
somewhat, especially the offending member." Then she went away and I
saw no more of her for ten days, during which time she sent me meat and
drink by a slave-girl who told me that she had fallen sick from the
smell of the cumin-ragout. After that time she came to me and said, "O
black of face[571]! I will teach thee how to eat cumin-ragout without
washing thy hands!" Then she cried out to the handmaids, who pinioned
me; and she took a sharp razor and cut off my thumbs and great toes;
even as you see, O fair assembly! Thereupon I swooned away, and she
sprinkled some powder of healing herbs upon the stumps and when the
blood was staunched, I said, "Never again will I eat of cumin-ragout
without washing my hands forty times with potash and forty times with
galangale and forty times with soap!" And she took of me an oath and
bound me by a covenant to that effect. When, therefore, you brought me
the cumin-ragout my colour changed and I said to myself, "It was this
very dish that caused the cutting off of my thumbs and great toes;"
and, when you forced me, I said, "Needs must I fulfil the oath I have
sworn." "And what befel thee after this?" asked those present; and he
answered, When I swore to her, her anger was appeased and I slept with
her that night. We abode thus awhile till she said to me one day,
"Verily the Palace of the Caliph is not a pleasant place for us to live
in, and none ever entered it save thyself; and thou only by grace of
the Lady Zubaydah. Now she hath given me fifty thousand dinars,"
adding, "Take this money and go out and buy us a fair dwelling-house."
So I fared forth and bought a fine and spacious mansion, whither she
removed all the wealth she owned and what riches I had gained in stuffs
and costly rarities. Such is the cause of the cutting off of my thumbs
and great toes." We ate, (continued the Reeve) and were returning to
our homes when there befel me with the Hunchback that thou wottest of.
This then is my story, and peace be with thee! Quoth the King, "This
story is on no wise more delectable than the story of the Hunchback;
nay, it is even less so, and there is no help for the hanging of the
whole of you." Then came forward the Jewish physician and kissing the
ground said, "O King of the age, I will tell thee an history more
wonderful than that of the Hunchback." "Tell on," said the King of
China; so he began the
_TALE OF THE JEWISH DOCTOR._
Right marvellous was a matter which came to pass to me in my youth. I
lived in Damascus of Syria studying my art and, one day, as I was
sitting at home behold, there came to me a Mameluke from the household
of the Sáhib and said to me, "Speak with my lord!" So I followed him to
the Viceroy's house and, entering the great hall, saw at its head a
couch of cedar plated with gold whereon lay a sickly youth beautiful
withal; fairer than he one could not see. I sat down by his head and
prayed to Heaven for a cure; and he made me a sign with his eyes, so I
said to him, "O my lord! favour me with thy hand, and safety be with
thee!"[572] Then he put forth his left hand and I marvelled thereat and
said, "By Allah, strange that this handsome youth, the son of a great
house, should so lack good manners. This can be nothing but pride and
conceit!" However I felt his pulse and wrote him a prescription and
continued to visit him for ten days, at the end of which time he
recovered and went to the Hammam,[573] whereupon the Viceroy gave me a
handsome dress of honour and appointed me superintendent of the
hospital which is in Damascus.[574] I accompanied him to the baths, the
whole of which they had kept private for his accommodation; and the
servants came in with him and took off his clothes within the bath, and
when he was stripped I saw that his right hand had been newly cut off,
and this was the cause of his weakliness. At this I was amazed and
grieved for him: then, looking at his body, I saw on it the scars of
scourge-stripes whereto he had applied unguents. I was troubled at the
sight and my concern appeared in my face. The young man looked at me
and, comprehending the matter, said, "O Physician of the age, marvel
not at my case; I will tell thee my story as soon as we quit the
baths." Then we washed and, returning to his house, ate somewhat of
food and took rest awhile; after which he asked me, "What sayest thou
to solacing thee by inspecting the supper-hall"; and I answered "So let
it be." Thereupon he ordered the slaves to carry out the carpets and
cushions required and roast a lamb and bring us some fruit. They did
his bidding and we ate together, he using the left hand for the
purpose. After a while I said to him, "Now tell me thy tale." "O
Physician of the age," replied he, "Hear what befel me. Know that I am
of the sons of Mosul, where my grandfather died leaving nine children
of whom my father was the eldest. All grew up and took to them wives,
but none of them was blessed with offspring except my father, to whom
Providence vouchsafed me. So I grew up amongst my uncles who rejoiced
in me with exceeding joy, till I came to man's estate. One day which
happened to be a Friday, I went to the Cathedral-mosque of Mosul with
my father and my uncles, and we prayed the congregational prayers,
after which the folk went forth, except my father and uncles, who sat
talking of wondrous things in foreign parts and the marvellous sights
of strange cities. At last they mentioned Egypt, and one of my uncles
said, "Travellers tell us that there is not on earth's face aught
fairer than Cairo and her Nile;" and these words made me long to see
Cairo. Quoth my father, "Whoso hath not seen Cairo hath not seen the
world. Her dust is golden and her Nile a miracle holden; and her women
are as Houris fair; puppets, beautiful pictures; her houses are palaces
rare; her water is sweet and light[575] and her mud a commodity and a
medicine beyond compare, even as said the poet in this his poetry:—
The Nile[576]-flood this day is the gain you own; ✿ You alone in such
gain and bounties wone:
The Nile is my tear-flood of severance, ✿ And here none is forlorn but
I alone.
Moreover temperate is her air, and with fragrance blent, which
surpasseth aloes-wood in scent; and how should it be otherwise, she
being the Mother of the World? And Allah favour him who wrote these
lines:—
An I quit Cairo and her pleasaunces, ✿ Where can I wend to find so
gladsome ways?
Shall I desert that site, whose grateful scents ✿ Joy every soul and
call for loudest praise?
Where every palace, as another Eden, ✿ Carpets and cushions richly
wrought displays;
A city wooing sight and sprite to glee, ✿ Where Saint meets Sinner and
each 'joys his craze;
Where friend meets friend, by Providence united ✿ In greeny garden and
in palmy maze:
People of Cairo, an by Allah's doom ✿ I fare, with you in thoughts I
wone always!
Whisper not Cairo in the ear of Zephyr, ✿ Lest for her like of garden
scents he reave her.[577]
And if your eyes saw her earth, and the adornment thereof with bloom,
and the purfling of it with all manner blossoms, and the islands of the
Nile and how much is therein of wide-spread and goodly prospect, and if
you bent your sight upon the Abyssinian Pond[578], your glance would
not revert from the scene quit of wonder; for nowhere would you behold
the fellow of that lovely view; and, indeed, the two arms of the Nile
embrace most luxuriant verdure[579], as the white of the eye
encompasseth its black or like filagree'd silver surrounding
chrysolites. And divinely gifted was the poet who thereanent said these
couplets:—
By th' Abyssinian Pond, O day divine! ✿ In morning twilight and in
sunny shine:
The water prisoned in its verdurous walls, ✿ Like sabre flashes before
shrinking eyne:
And in The Garden sat we while it drains ✿ Slow draught, with purfled
sides dyed finest fine:
The stream is rippled by the hands of clouds; ✿ We too, a-rippling, on
our rugs recline,
Passing pure wine, and whoso leaves us there ✿ Shall ne'er arise from
fall his woes design:
Draining long draughts from large and brimming bowls, ✿ Administ'ring
thirst's only medicine—wine.
And what is there to compare with the Rasad, the Observatory, and its
charms whereof every viewer as he approacheth saith:—"Verily this spot
is specialised with all manner of excellence! And if thou speak of the
Night of Nile-full,[580] give the rainbow and distribute it![581] And
if thou behold The Garden at eventide, with the cool shades sloping far
and wide, a marvel thou wouldst see and wouldst incline to Egypt in
ecstacy. And wert thou by Cairo's river side,[582] when the sun is
sinking and the stream dons mail-coat and habergeon[583] over its other
vestments, thou wouldst be quickened to new life by its gentle zephyrs
and by its all-sufficient shade." So spake he and the rest fell to
describing Egypt and her Nile. As I heard their accounts, my thoughts
dwelt upon the subject and when, after talking their fill, all arose
and went their ways, I lay down to sleep that night, but sleep came not
because of my violent longing for Egypt; and neither meat pleased me
nor drink. After a few days my uncles equipped themselves for a
trade-journey to Egypt; and I wept before my father till he made ready
for me fitting merchandise, and he consented to my going with them,
saying however, "Let him not enter Cairo, but leave him to sell his
wares at Damascus." So I took leave of my father and we fared forth
from Mosul and gave not over travelling till we reached Aleppo[584]
where we halted certain days. Then we marched onwards till we made
Damascus and we found her a city as though she were a Paradise,
abounding in trees and streams and birds and fruits of all kinds. We
alighted at one of the Khans, where my uncles tarried awhile selling
and buying; and they bought and sold also on my account, each dirham
turning a profit of five on prime cost, which pleased me mightily.
After this they left me alone and set their faces Egyptwards; whilst I
abode at Damascus, where I had hired from a jeweller, for two dinars a
month, a mansion[585] whose beauties would beggar the tongue. Here I
remained, eating and drinking and spending what monies I had in hand
till, one day, as I was sitting at the door of my house behold, there
came up a young lady clad in costliest raiment—never saw my eyes
richer. I winked[586] at her and she stepped inside without hesitation
and stood within. I entered with her and shut the door upon myself and
her; whereupon she raised her face-veil and threw off her mantilla,
when I found her like a pictured moon of rare and marvellous
loveliness; and love of her gat hold of my heart. So I rose and brought
a tray of the most delicate eatables and fruits and whatso befitted the
occasion, and we ate and played and after that we drank till the wine
turned our heads. Then I lay with her the sweetest of nights and in the
morning I offered her ten gold pieces; when her face lowered and her
eyebrows wrinkled and shaking with wrath she cried, "Fie upon thee, O
my sweet companion! dost thou deem that I covet thy money?" Then she
took out from the bosom of her shift[587] fifteen dinars and, laying
them before me, said, "By Allah! unless thou take them I will never
come back to thee." So I accepted them and she said to me, "O my
beloved! expect me again in three days' time, when I will be with thee
between sunset and supper-tide; and do thou prepare for us with these
dinars the same entertainment as yesternight." So saying, she took
leave of me and went away and all my senses went with her. On the third
day she came again, clad in stuff weft with gold wire, and wearing
raiment and ornaments finer than before. I had prepared the place for
her ere she arrived and the repast was ready; so we ate and drank and
lay together, as we had done, till the morning, when she gave me other
fifteen gold pieces and promised to come again after three days.
Accordingly, I made ready for her and, at the appointed time, she
presented herself more richly dressed than on the first and second
occasion, and said to me, "O my lord, am I not beautiful?" "Yea, by
Allah thou art!" answered I, and she went on, "Wilt thou allow me to
bring with me a young lady fairer than I, and younger in years, that
she may play with us and thou and she may laugh and make merry and
rejoice her heart, for she hath been very sad this long time past, and
hath asked me to take her out and let her spend the night abroad with
me?" "Yea, by Allah!" I replied; and we drank till the wine turned our
heads and slept till the morning, when she gave me other fifteen
dinars, saying, "Add something to thy usual provision on account of the
young lady who will come with me." Then she went away, and on the
fourth day I made ready the house as usual, and soon after sunset
behold, she came, accompanied by another damsel carefully wrapped in
her mantilla. They entered and sat down; and when I saw them I repeated
these verses:—
How dear is our day and how lucky our lot, ✿ When the cynic's away with
his tongue malign!
When love and delight and the swimming of head ✿ send cleverness
trotting,—the best boon of wine.
When the full moon shines from the cloudy veil, ✿ And the branchlet
sways in her greens that shine:
When the red rose mantles in freshest cheek, ✿ And Narcissus[588] opeth
his love-sick eyne:
When pleasure with those I love is so sweet, ✿ When friendship with
those I love is complete!
I rejoiced to see them, and lighted the candles after receiving them
with gladness and delight. They doffed their heavy outer dresses and
the new damsel uncovered her face when I saw that she was like the moon
at its full—never beheld I aught more beautiful. Then I rose and set
meat and drink before them, and we ate and drank; and I kept giving
mouthfuls to the new comer, crowning her cup and drinking with her till
the first damsel, waxing inwardly jealous, asked me, "By Allah, is she
not more delicious than I?"; whereto I answered, "Ay, by the Lord!" "It
is my wish that thou lie with her this night; for I am thy mistress but
she is our visitor." "Upon my head be it, and my eyes." Then she rose
and spread the carpets for our bed[589] and I took the young lady and
lay with her that night till morning, when I awoke and found myself
wet, as I thought, with sweat. I sat up and tried to arouse the damsel;
but when I shook her by the shoulders my hand became crimson with blood
and her head rolled off the pillow. Thereupon my senses fled and I
cried aloud, saying, "O All-powerful Protector, grant me Thy
protection!" Then finding her neck had been severed, I sprung up and
the world waxed black before my eyes, and I looked for the lady, my
former love, but could not find her. So I knew that it was she who had
murdered the damsel in her jealousy[590], and said, "There is no
Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great!
What is to be done now?" I considered awhile then, doffing my clothes,
dug a hole in the middle of the courtyard, wherein I laid the murdered
girl with her jewellery and golden ornaments; and, throwing back the
earth on her, replaced the slabs of the marble[591] pavement. After
this I made the Ghusl or total ablution,[592] and put on pure clothes;
then, taking what money I had left, locked up the house and summoned
courage and went to its owner to whom I paid a year's rent, saying, "I
am about to join my uncles in Cairo." Presently I set out and,
journeying to Egypt, foregathered with my uncles who rejoiced in me,
and I found that they had made an end of selling their merchandise.
They asked me, "What is the cause of thy coming?;" and I answered "I
longed for a sight of you;" but did not let them know that I had any
money with me. I abode with them a year, enjoying the pleasures of
Cairo and her Nile,[593] and squandering the rest of my money in
feasting and carousing till the time drew near for the departure of my
uncles, when I fled from them and hid myself. They made enquiries and
sought for me, but hearing no tidings they said, "He will have gone
back to Damascus." When they departed I came forth from my hiding-place
and abode in Cairo three years, until naught remained of my money. Now
every year I used to send the rent of the Damascus house to its owner,
until at last I had nothing left but enough to pay him for one year's
rent and my breast was straitened. So I travelled to Damascus and
alighted at the house whose owner, the jeweller, was glad to see me and
I found everything locked up as I had left it. I opened the closets and
took out my clothes and necessaries and came upon, beneath the
carpet-bed whereon I had lain that night with the girl who had been
beheaded, a golden necklace set with ten gems of passing beauty. I took
it up and, cleansing it of the blood, sat gazing upon it and wept
awhile. Then I abode in the house two days and on the third I entered
the Hammam and changed my clothes. I had no money by me now; so Satan
whispered temptation to me that the Decree of Destiny be carried out.
Next day I took the jewelled necklace to the bazar and handed it to a
broker who made me sit down in the shop of the jeweller, my landlord,
and bade me have patience till the market was full[594], when he
carried off the ornament and proclaimed it for sale, privily and
without my knowledge. The necklet was priced as worth two thousand
dinars but the broker returned to me and said, "This collar is of
copper, a mere counterfeit after the fashion of the Franks[595] and a
thousand dirhams have been bidden for it." "Yes," I answered, "I knew
it to be copper, as we had it made for a certain person that we might
mock her: now my wife hath inherited it and we wish to sell it; so go
and take over the thousand dirhams."——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn
of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Twenty-ninth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the beautiful
youth said to the broker, "Take over the thousand dirhams"; and when
the broker heard this, he knew that the case was suspicious. So he
carried the collar to the Syndic of the bazar, and the Syndic took it
to the Governor who was also prefect of police, and said to him falsely
enough, "This necklet was stolen from my house, and we have found the
thief in traders' dress." So before I was aware of it the watch got
round me and, making me their prisoner, carried me before the Governor
who questioned me of the collar. I told him the tale I had told to the
broker; but he laughed and said, "These words are not true." Then,
before I knew what was doing, the guard stripped off my clothes and
came down with palm-rods upon my ribs, till for the smart of the stick
I confessed, "It was I who stole it;" saying to myself, "'Tis better
for thee to say, I stole it, than to let them know that its owner was
murdered in thy house, for then would they slay thee to avenge her." So
they wrote down that I had stolen it and they cut off my hand and
scalded the stump in oil,[596] when I swooned away for pain; but they
gave me wine to drink and I recovered and, taking up my hand, was going
to my fine house, when my landlord said to me, "Inasmuch, O my son, as
this hath befallen thee, thou must leave my house and look out for
another lodging for thee, since thou art convicted of theft. Thou art a
handsome youth, but who will pity thee after this?" "O my master" said
I, "bear with me but two days or three, till I find me another place."
He answered, "So be it," and went away and left me. I returned to the
house where I sat weeping and saying, "How shall I go back to my own
people with my hand lopped off and they know not that I am innocent?
Perchance even after this Allah may order some matter for me." And I
wept with exceeding weeping; grief beset me and I remained in sore
trouble for two days; but on the third day my landlord came suddenly in
to me, and with him some of the guard and the Syndic of the bazar, who
had falsely charged me with stealing the necklet. I went up to them and
asked, "What is the matter?" however, they pinioned me without further
parley and threw a chain about my neck, saying, "The necklet which was
with thee hath proved to be the property of the Wazir of Damascus who
is also her Viceroy;" and they added, "It was missing from his house
three years ago at the same time as his younger daughter." When I heard
these words, my heart sank within me and I said to myself, "Thy life is
gone beyond a doubt! By Allah, needs must I tell the Chief my story;
and, if he will, let him kill me, and if he please, let him pardon me."
So they carried me to the Wazir's house and made me stand between his
hands. When he saw me, he glanced at me out of the corner of his eye
and said to those present, "Why did ye lop off his hand? This man is
unfortunate, and there is no fault in him; indeed ye have wronged him
in cutting off his hand." When I heard this, I took heart and, my soul
presaging good, I said to him, "By Allah, O my lord, I am no thief; but
they calumniated me with a vile calumny, and they scourged me midmost
the market, bidding me confess till, for the pain of the rods, I lied
against myself and confessed the theft, albeit I am altogether innocent
of it." "Fear not," quoth the Viceroy, "no harm shall come to thee."
Then he ordered the Syndic of the bazar to be imprisoned and said to
him, "Give this man the blood-money for his hand; and, if thou delay I
will hang thee and seize all thy property." Moreover he called to his
guards who took him and dragged him away, leaving me with the Chief.
Then they loosed by his command the chain from my neck and unbound my
arms; and he looked at me, and said, "O my son, be true with me, and
tell me how this necklace came to thee." And he repeated these verses:—
Truth best befits thee, albeit truth ✿ Shall bring thee to burn on the
threatened fire.
"By Allah, O my lord," answered I, "I will tell thee nothing but the
truth." Then I related to him all that had passed between me and the
first lady, and how she had brought me the second and had slain her out
of jealousy, and I detailed for him the tale to its full. When he heard
my story, he shook his head and struck his right hand upon the
left,[597] and putting his kerchief over his face wept awhile and then
repeated:—
I see the woes of the world abound, ✿ And worldings sick with spleen
and teen;
There's One who the meeting of two shall part, ✿ And who part not are
few and far between!
Then he turned to me and said, "Know, O my son, that the elder damsel
who first came to thee was my daughter whom I used to keep closely
guarded. When she grew up, I sent her to Cairo and married her to her
cousin, my brother's son. After a while he died and she came back: but
she had learnt wantonness and ungraciousness from the people of
Cairo[598]; so she visited thee four times and at last brought her
younger sister. Now they were sisters german and much attached to each
other; and, when that adventure happened to the elder, she disclosed
her secret to her sister who desired to go out with her. So she asked
thy leave and carried her to thee; after which she returned alone and,
finding her weeping, I questioned her of her sister, but she said:—I
know nothing of her. However, she presently told her mother privily of
what had happened and how she had cut off her sister's head and her
mother told me. Then she ceased not to weep and say:—By Allah! I shall
cry for her till I die. Nor did she give over mourning till her heart
broke and she died; and things fell out after that fashion. See then, O
my son, what hath come to pass; and now I desire thee not to thwart me
in what I am about to offer thee, and it is that I purpose to marry
thee to my youngest daughter; for she is a virgin and born of another
mother[599]; and I will take no dower of thee but, on the contrary,
will appoint thee an allowance, and thou shalt abide with me in my
house in the stead of my son." "So be it," I answered, "and how could I
hope for such good fortune?" Then he sent at once for the Kazi and
witnesses, and let write my marriage-contract with his daughter and I
went in to her. Moreover, he got me from the Syndic of the bazar a
large sum of money and I became in high favour with him. During this
year news came to me that my father was dead and the Wazir despatched a
courier, with letters bearing the royal sign-manual, to fetch me the
money which my father had left behind him, and now I am living in all
the solace of life. Such was the manner of the cutting off my right
hand. "I marvelled at his story (continued the Jew), and I abode with
him three days after which he gave me much wealth, and I set out and
travelled Eastward till I reached this your city and the sojourn suited
me right well; so I took up my abode here and there befel me what thou
knowest with the Hunchback." Thereupon the King of China shook his
head[600] and said, "This story of thine is not stranger and more
wondrous and marvellous and delectable than the tale of the Hunchback;
and so needs must I hang the whole number of you. However there yet
remains the Tailor who is the head of all the offence;" and he added,
"O Tailor, if thou canst tell me any thing more wonderful than the
story of the Hunchback, I will pardon you all your offences." Thereupon
the man came forward and began to tell the
_TALE OF THE TAILOR._
Know, O King of the age, that most marvellous was that which befel me
but yesterday, before I foregathered with the Hunchback. It so chanced
that in the early day I was at the marriage-feast of one of my
companions, who had gotten together in his house some twenty of the
handicraftsmen of this city, amongst them tailors and silk-spinners and
carpenters and others of the same kidney. As soon as the sun had risen,
they set food[601] before us that we might eat when behold, the master
of the house entered, and with him a foreign youth and a well-favoured
of the people of Baghdad, wearing clothes as handsome as handsome could
be; and he was of right comely presence save that he was lame of one
leg. He came and saluted us and we stood up to receive him; but when he
was about to sit down he espied amongst us a certain man which was a
Barber; whereupon he refused to be seated and would have gone away. But
we stopped him and our host also stayed him, making oath that he should
not leave us and asked him, "What is the reason of thy coming in and
going out again at once?"; whereto he answered, "By Allah, O my lord,
do not hinder me; for the cause of my turning back is yon Barber of bad
omen,[602] yon black o' face, yon ne'er-do-well!" When the house-master
heard these words he marvelled with extreme marvel and said, "How
cometh this young man, who haileth from Baghdad, to be so troubled and
perplexed about this Barber?" Then we looked at the stranger and said,
"Explain the cause of thine anger against the Barber." "O fair
company," quoth the youth, "there befel me a strange adventure with
this Barber in Baghdad (which is my native city); he was the cause of
the breaking of my leg and of my lameness, and I have sworn never to
sit in the same place with him, nor even tarry in any town where he
happens to abide; and I have bidden adieu to Baghdad and travelled far
from it and came to stay in this your city; yet I have hardly passed
one night before I meet him again. But not another day shall go by ere
I fare forth from here." Said we to him, "Allah upon thee, tell us the
tale;" and the youth replied (the Barber changing colour from brown to
yellow as he spoke):—Know, O fair company, that my father was one of
the chief merchants of Baghdad, and Almighty Allah had blessed him with
no son but myself. When I grew up and reached man's estate, my father
was received into the mercy of Allah (whose Name be exalted!) and left
me money and eunuchs, servants and slaves; and I used to dress well and
diet well. Now Allah had made me a hater of women-kind and one day, as
I was walking along a street in Baghdad a party of females met me face
to face in the footway; so I fled from them and, entering an alley
which was no thoroughfare, sat down upon a stone-bench at its other
end. I had not sat there long before the latticed window of one of the
houses opposite was thrown open, and there appeared at it a young lady,
as she were the full moon at its fullest; never in my life saw I her
like; and she began to water some flowers on the window-sill.[603] She
turned right and left and, seeing me watching her, shut the window and
went away.
Thereupon fire was suddenly enkindled in my heart; my mind was
possessed with her and my woman-hate turned to woman-love. I continued
sitting there, lost to the world, till sunset when lo! the Kazi of the
city came riding by with his slaves before him and his eunuchs behind
him, and dismounting entered the house in which the damsel had
appeared. By this I knew that he was her father; so I went home
sorrowful and cast myself upon my carpet-bed in grief. Then my
handmaids flocked in and sat about me, unknowing what ailed me; but I
addressed no speech to them, and they wept and wailed over me.
Presently in came an old woman who looked at me and saw with a glance
what was the matter with me: so she sat down by my head and spoke me
fair, saying, "O my son, tell me all about it and I will be the means
of thy union with her."[604] So I related to her what had happened and
she answered, "O my son, this one is the daughter of the Kazi of
Baghdad who keepeth her in the closest seclusion; and the window where
thou sawest her is her floor, whilst her father occupies the large
saloon in the lower story. She is often there alone and I am wont to
visit at the house; so thou shalt not win to her save through me. Now
set thy wits to work and be of good cheer." With these words she went
away and I took heart at what she said and my people rejoiced that day,
seeing me rise in the morning safe and sound. By and by the old woman
returned looking chopfallen[605], and said, "O my son, do not ask me
how I fared with her! When I told her that, she cried at me:—If thou
hold not thy peace, O hag of ill-omen, and leave not such talk, I will
entreat thee as thou deservest and do thee die by the foulest of
deaths. But needs must I have at her a second time.[606]" When I heard
this it added ailment to my ailment and the neighbours visited me and
judged that I was not long for this world; but after some days, the old
woman came to me and, putting her mouth close to my ear, whispered, "O
my son; I claim from thee the gift of good news." With this my soul
returned to me and I said, "Whatever thou wilt shall be thine."
Thereupon she began, "Yesterday I went to the young lady who, seeing me
broken in spirit and shedding tears from reddened eyes, asked me:—O
naunty[607] mine, what ails thee, that I see thy breast so
straitened?"; and I answered her, weeping bitterly, "O my lady, I am
just come from the house of a youth who loves thee and who is about to
die for sake of thee!" Quoth she (and her heart was softened), "And who
is this youth of whom thou speakest?"; and quoth I, "He is to me as a
son and the fruit of my vitals. He saw thee, some days ago, at the
window watering thy flowers and espying thy face and wrists he fell in
love at first sight. I let him know what happened to me the last time I
was with thee, whereupon his ailment increased, he took to the pillow
and he is naught now but a dead man, and no doubt whatever of it." At
this she turned pale and asked, "All this for my sake?"; and I
answered, "Ay, by Allah![608] what wouldst thou have me do?" Said she,
"Go back to him and greet him for me and tell him that I am twice more
heartsick than he is. And on Friday, before the hour of public prayer,
bid him here to the house, and I will come down and open the door for
him. Then I will carry him up to my chamber and foregather with him for
awhile, and let him depart before my father return from the Mosque."
When I heard the old woman's words, all my sickness suddenly fell from
me, my anguish ceased and my heart was comforted, I took off what
clothes were on me and gave them to her and, as she turned to go, she
said; "Keep a good heart!" "I have not a jot of sorrow left," I
replied. My household and intimates rejoiced in my recovery and I abode
thus till Friday, when behold, the old woman came in and asked me how I
did, to which I answered that I was well and in good case. Then I
donned my clothes and perfumed myself and sat down to await the
congregation going in to prayers, that I might betake myself to her.
But the old woman said to me, "Thou hast time and to spare: so thou
wouldst do well to go to the Hammam and have thy hair shaven off
(especially after thy ailment), so as not to show traces of sickness."
"This were the best way," answered I, "I have just now bathed in hot
water; but I will have my head shaved." Then I said to my page, "Go to
the bazar and bring me a barber, a discreet fellow and one not inclined
to meddling or impertinent curiosity or likely to split my head with
his excessive talk."[609] The boy went out at once and brought back
with him this wretched old man, this Shaykh of ill-omen. When he came
in he saluted me and I returned his salutation; then quoth he, "Of a
truth I see thee thin of body;" and quoth I, "I have been ailing." He
continued, "Allah drive far away from thee thy woe and thy sorrow and
thy trouble and thy distress." "Allah grant thy prayer!" said I. He
pursued, "All gladness to thee, O my master, for indeed recovery is
come to thee. Dost thou wish to be polled or to be blooded? Indeed it
was a tradition of Ibn Abbas[610] (Allah accept of him!) that the
Apostle said:—Whoso cutteth his hair on a Friday, the Lord shall avert
from him threescore and ten calamities; and again is related of him
also that he said:—Cupping on a Friday keepeth from loss of sight and a
host of diseases." "Leave this talk," I cried; "come, shave me my head
at once for I can't stand it." So he rose and put forth his hand in
most leisurely way and took out a kerchief and unfolded it, and lo! it
contained an astrolabe[611] with seven parallel plates mounted in
silver. Then he went to the middle of the court and raised head and
instrument towards the sun's rays and looked for a long while. When
this was over, he came back and said to me, "Know that there have
elapsed of this our day, which be Friday, and this Friday be the tenth
of the month Safar in the six hundred and fifty-third year since the
Hegira or Flight of the Apostle (on whom be the bestest of blessings
and peace!) and the seventh thousand three hundred and twentieth year
of the era of Alexander, eight degrees and six minutes. Furthermore the
ascendant of this our day is, according to the exactest science of
computation, the planet Mars; and it so happeneth that Mercury is in
conjunction with him, denoting an auspicious moment for hair-cutting;
and this also maketh manifest to me that thou desirest union with a
certain person and that your intercourse will not be propitious. But
after this there occurreth a sign respecting a matter which will befal
thee and whereof I will not speak." "O thou," cried I, "by Allah, thou
weariest me and scatterest my wits and thy forecast is other than good;
I sent for thee to poll my head and naught else: so up and shave me and
prolong not thy speech." "By Allah," replied he, "if thou but knew what
is about to befal thee, thou wouldst do nothing this day, and I counsel
thee to act as I tell thee by computation of the constellations." "By
Allah," said I, "never did I see a barber who excelled in judicial
astrology save thyself: but I think and I know that thou art most
prodigal of frivolous talk. I sent for thee only to shave my head, but
thou comest and pesterest me with this sorry prattle." "What more
wouldst thou have?" replied he. "Allah hath bounteously bestowed on
thee a Barber, who is an astrologer, one learned in alchemy and white
magic[612]; syntax, grammar, and lexicology; the arts of logic,
rhetoric and elocution; mathematics, arithmetic and algebra; astronomy,
astromancy and geometry; theology, the Traditions of the Apostle and
the Commentaries on the Koran. Furthermore, I have read books galore
and digested them and have had experience of affairs and comprehended
them. In short I have learned the theorick and the practick of all the
arts and sciences; I know everything of them by rote and I am a past
master _in totâ re scibili_. Thy father loved me for my lack of
officiousness, argal, to serve thee is a religious duty incumbent on
me. I am no busy-body as thou seemest to suppose, and on this account I
am known as The Silent Man, also, The Modest Man. Wherefore it behoveth
thee to render thanks to Allah Almighty and not cross me, for I am a
true counsellor to thee and benevolently minded towards thee. Would
that I were in thy service a whole year that thou mightest do me
justice; and I would ask thee no wage for all this." When I heard his
flow of words, I said to him, "Doubtless thou wilt be my death this
day!"——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
permitted say.
[Illustration]
Now when it was the Thirtieth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the young man
said to the Barber, "Thou certainly wilt be the death of me this very
day!" "O master mine," replied he, "I am he, The Silent Man hight, by
reason of the fewness of my words, to distinguish me from my six
brothers. For the eldest is called Al-Bakbúk, the prattler; the second
Al-Haddár, the babbler; the third Al-Fakík, the gabbler; the fourth,
his name is Al-Kuz al-aswáni, the long-necked Gugglet, from his eternal
chattering; the fifth is Al-Nashshár, the tattler and tale-teller; the
sixth Shakáshik, or many-clamours; and the seventh is famous as
Al-Sámit, the Silent Man, and this is my noble self!" Whilst he
redoubled his talk, I thought my gall-bladder would have burst; so I
said to the servant, "Give him a quarter-dinar and dismiss him and let
him go from me in the name of God who made him. I won't have my head
shaved to-day." "What words be these, O my lord?" cried he. "By Allah!
I will accept no hire of thee till I have served thee and have
ministered to thy wants; and I care not if I never take money of thee.
If thou know not my quality, I know thine; and I owe thy father, honest
man, on whom Allah Almighty have mercy! many a kindness, for he was a
liberal soul and a generous. By Allah, he sent for me one day, as it
were this blessed day, and I went in to him and found a party of his
intimates about him." Quoth he to me, "Let me blood;" so I pulled out
my astrolabe and, taking the sun's altitude for him, I ascertained that
the ascendant was inauspicious and the hour unfavourable for blooding.
I told him of this, and he did according to my bidding and awaited a
better opportunity. So I made these lines in honour of him:—
I went to my patron some blood to let him, ✿ But found that the moment
was far from good:
So I sat and I talked of all strangenesses, ✿ And with jests and jokes
his good will I wooed:
They pleased him and cried he, 'O man of wit, ✿ Thou hast proved thee
perfect in merry mood!'
Quoth I, 'O thou Lord of men, save thou ✿ Lend me art and wisdom I'm
fou and wood:
In thee gather grace, boon, bounty, suavity; ✿ And I guerdon the world
with lore, science and gravity.
Thy father was delighted and cried out to the servant, "Give him an
hundred and three gold pieces with a robe of honour!" The man obeyed
his orders, and I awaited an auspicious moment, when I blooded him; and
he did not baulk me; nay he thanked me and I was also thanked and
praised by all present. When the bloodletting was over I had no power
to keep silence and asked him, "By Allah, O my lord, what made thee say
to the servant:—Give him an hundred and _three_ dinars?"; and he
answered, "One dinar was for the astrological observation, another for
thy pleasant conversation, the third for the phlebotomisation, and the
remaining hundred and the dress were for thy verses in my
commendation." "May Allah show small mercy to my father," exclaimed I,
"for knowing the like of thee." He laughed and ejaculated, "There is no
god but _the_ God and Mohammed is the Apostle of God! Glory to Him that
changeth and is changed not! I took thee for a man of sense, but I see
thou babblest and dotest for illness. Allah hath said in the Blessed
Book[613]:—Paradise is prepared for the goodly who bridle their anger
and forgive men, and so forth; and in any case thou art excused. Yet I
cannot conceive the cause of thy hurry and flurry; and thou must know
that thy father and thy grandfather did nothing without consulting me,
and indeed it hath been said truly enough:—Let the adviser be prized;
and:—There is no vice in advice; and it is also said in certain saws,
Whoso hath no counsellor elder than he, will never himself an elder
be[614]; and the poet says:—
Whatever needful thing thou undertake, ✿ Consult th' experienced and
contraire him not!"
And indeed thou shalt never find a man better versed in affairs than I,
and I am here standing on my feet to serve thee. I am not vexed with
thee: why shouldest thou be vexed with me? But whatever happen I will
bear patiently with thee in memory of the much kindness thy father
shewed me." "By Allah," cried I, "O thou with tongue long as the tail
of a jackass, thou persistest in pestering me with thy prate and thou
becomest more longsome in thy long speeches, when all I want of thee is
to shave my head and wend thy way!" Then he lathered my head saying, "I
perceive thou art vexed with me, but I will not take it ill of thee,
for thy wit is weak and thou art but a laddy: it was only yesterday I
used to take thee on my shoulder[615] and carry thee to school." "O my
brother," said I, "for Allah's sake do what I want and go thy gait!"
And I rent my garments.[616] When he saw me do this he took the razor
and fell to sharpening it and gave not over stropping it until my
senses were well nigh leaving me. Then he came up to me and shaved part
of my head; then he held his hand and then he said, "O my lord, haste
is Satan's gait whilst patience is of Allah the Compassionate. But
thou, O my master, I ken thou knowest not my rank; for verily this hand
alighteth upon the heads of Kings and Emirs and Wazirs, and sages and
doctors learned in the law, and the poet said of one like me:—
All crafts are like necklaces strung on a string, ✿ But this Barber's
the union pearl of the band:
High over all craftsmen he ranketh, and why? ✿ The heads of the Kings
are under his hand!"[617]
Then said I, "_Do_ leave off talking about what concerneth thee not:
indeed thou hast straitened my breast and distracted my mind." Quoth
he, "Meseems thou art a hasty man;" and quoth I, "Yes! yes! yes!" and
he, "I rede thee practise restraint of self, for haste is Satan's pelf
which bequeatheth only repentance and ban and bane, and He (upon whom
be blessings and peace!) hath said, The best of works is that wherein
deliberation lurks: but I, by Allah! have some doubt about thine
affair; and so I should like thee to let me know what it is thou art in
such haste to do; for I fear me it is other than good." Then he
continued, "It wanteth three hours yet to prayer-time; but I do not
wish to be in doubt upon this matter; nay, I must know the moment
exactly, for truly:—A guess shot in times of doubt, oft brings harm
about; especially in the like of me, a superior person whose merits are
famous amongst mankind at large; and it doth not befit me to talk at
random, as do the common sort of astrologers." So saying, he threw down
the razor and taking up the astrolabe, went forth under the sun and
stood there a long time; after which he returned and counting on his
fingers said to me, "There remain still to prayer-time three full hours
and complete, neither more nor yet less, according to the most learned
astronomicals and the wisest makers of almanacks." "Allah upon thee,"
cried I, "hold thy tongue with me, for thou breakest my liver in
pieces." So he took the razor and, after sharpening it as before and
shaving other two hairs of my head, he again held his hand and said, "I
am concerned about thy hastiness and indeed thou wouldst do well to let
me into the cause of it; 'twere the better for thee, as thou knowest
that neither thy father nor thy grandfather ever did a single thing
save by my advice." When I saw that there was no escape from him I said
to myself, "The time for prayer draws near and I wish to go to her
before the folk come out of the mosque. If I am delayed much longer, I
know not how to come at her." Then said I aloud, "Be quick and stint
this talk and impertinence, for I have to go to a party at the house of
some of my intimates." When he heard me speak of the party, he said,
"This thy day is a blessed day for me! In very sooth it was but
yesterday I invited a company of my friends and I have forgotten to
provide anything for them to eat. This very moment I was thinking of
it: Alas, how I shall be disgraced in their eyes!" "Be not distressed
about this matter," answered I; "have I not told thee that I am bidden
to an entertainment this day? So everything in my house, eatable and
drinkable, shall be thine, if thou wilt only get through thy work and
make haste to shave my head." He replied, "Allah requite thee with
good! Specify to me what is in thy house for my guests that I may be
ware of it." Quoth I, "Five dishes of meat and ten chickens with
reddened breasts[618] and a roasted lamb." "Set them before me," quoth
he, "that I may see them." So I told my people to buy, borrow or steal
them and bring them in anywise, and had all this set before him. When
he saw it he cried, "The wine is wanting," and I replied, "I have a
flagon or two of good old grape-juice in the house," and he said, "Have
it brought out!" So I sent for it and he exclaimed, "Allah bless thee
for a generous disposition! But there are still the essences and
perfumes." So I bade them set before him a box containing Nadd,[619]
the best of compound perfumes, together with fine lign-aloes, ambergris
and musk unmixed, the whole worth fifty dinars. Now the time waxed
strait and my heart straitened with it; so I said to him, "Take it all
and finish shaving my head by the life of Mohammed (whom Allah bless
and keep!)." "By Allah," said he, "I will not take it till I see all
that is in it." So I bade the page open the box and the Barber laid
down the astrolabe, leaving the greater part of my head unpolled; and,
sitting on the ground, turned over the scents and incense and
aloes-wood and essences till I was well nigh distraught. Then he took
the razor and coming up to me shaved off some few hairs and repeated
these lines:—
The boy like his father shall surely show, ✿ As the tree from its
parent root shall grow.[620]
Then said he, "By Allah, O my son, I know not whether to thank thee or
thy father; for my entertainment this day is all due to thy bounty and
beneficence; and, although none of my company be worthy of it, yet I
have a set of honourable men, to wit Zantút the bath-keeper and Salí'a
the corn-chandler; and Sílat the bean-seller; and Akrashah the
greengrocer; and Humayd the scavenger; and Sa'íd the camel-man; and
Suwayd the porter; and Abu Makárish the bathman[621]; and Kasím the
watchman; and Karím the groom. There is not among the whole of them a
bore or a bully in his cups; nor a meddler nor a miser of his money,
and each and every hath some dance which he danceth and some of his own
couplets which he caroleth; and the best of them is that, like thy
servant, thy slave here, they know not what much talking is nor what
forwardness means." The bath-keeper sings to the tom-tom[622] a song
which enchants; and he stands up and dances and chants,
I am going, O mammy, to fill up my pot.
As for the corn-chandler he brings more skill to it than any; he dances
and sings,
O Keener,[623] O sweetheart, thou fallest not short
and he leaves no one's vitals sound for laughing at him. But the
scavenger sings so that the birds stop to listen to him and dances and
sings,
News my wife wots is not locked in a box![624]
And he hath privilege, for 'tis a shrewd rogue and a witty;[625] and
speaking of his excellence I am wont to say:—
"My life for the scavenger! right well I love him, ✿ Like a waving
bough he is sweet to my sight:
Fate joined us one night, when to him quoth I ✿ (The while I grew weak
and love gained more might)
'Thy love burns my heart!' 'And no wonder,' quoth he ✿ 'When the drawer
of dung turns a stoker wight.'[626]
And indeed each is perfect in whatso can charm the wit with joy and
jollity;" adding presently, "But hearing is not seeing; and indeed if
thou make up thy mind to join us and put off going to thy friends,
'twill be better for us and for thee. The traces of illness are yet
upon thee and haply thou art going among folk who be mighty talkers,
men who commune together of what concerneth them not; or there may be
amongst them some forward fellow who will split thy head, and thou half
thy size from sickness." "This shall be for some other day," answered
I, and laughed with heart angered: "finish thy work and go, in Allah
Almighty's guard, to thy friends, for they will be expecting thy
coming." "O my lord," replied he, "I seek only to introduce thee to
these fellows of infinite mirth, the sons of men of worth, amongst whom
there is neither procacity nor dicacity nor loquacity; for never, since
I grew to years of discretion, could I endure to consort with one who
asketh questions concerning what concerneth him not, nor have I ever
frequented any save those who are, like myself, men of few words. In
sooth if thou were to company with them or even to see them once, thou
wouldst forsake all thy intimates." "Allah fulfil thy joyance with
them," said I, "needs must I come amongst them some day or other." But
he said, "Would it were this very day, for I had set my heart upon thy
making one of us; yet if thou must go to thy friends to-day, I will
take these good things, wherewith thou hast honoured and favoured me,
to my guests and leave them to eat and drink and not wait for me;
whilst I will return to thee in haste and accompany thee to thy little
party; for there is no ceremony between me and my intimates to prevent
my leaving them. Fear not, I will soon be back with thee and wend with
thee whithersoever thou wendest. There is no Majesty and there is no
Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great!" I shouted; "Go thou to
thy friends and make merry with them; and _do_ let me go to mine and be
with them this day, for they expect me." But the Barber cried, "I will
not let thee go alone;" and I replied, "The truth is none can enter
where I am going save myself." He rejoined, "I suspect that to-day thou
art for an assignation with some woman, else thou hadst taken me with
thee; yet am I the right man to take, one who could aid thee to the end
thou wishest. But I fear me thou art running after strange women and
thou wilt lose thy life; for in this our city of Baghdad one cannot do
any thing in this line, especially on a day like Friday: our Governor
is an angry man and a mighty sharp blade." "Shame on thee, thou wicked,
bad, old man!" cried I, "Be off! what words are these thou givest me?"
"O cold of wit,"[627] cried he, "thou sayest to me what is not true and
thou hidest thy mind from me, but I know the whole business for certain
and I seek only to help thee this day with my best endeavour." I was
fearful lest my people or my neighbours should hear the Barber's talk,
so I kept silence for a long time whilst he finished shaving my head;
by which time the hour of prayer was come and the Khutbah, or sermon,
was about to follow. When he had done, I said to him, "Go to thy
friends with their meat and drink, and I will await thy return. Then we
will fare together." In this way I hoped to pour oil on troubled waters
and to trick the accursed loon, so haply I might get quit of him; but
he said, "Thou art cozening me and thou wouldst go alone to thy
appointment and cast thyself into jeopardy, whence there will be no
escape for thee. Now by Allah! and again by Allah! do not go till I
return, that I may accompany thee and watch the issue of thine affair."
"So be it," I replied, "do not be long absent." Then he took all the
meat and drink I had given him and the rest of it and went out of my
house; but the accursed carle gave it in charge of a porter to carry to
his home but hid himself in one of the alleys. As for me I rose on the
instant, for the Muezzins had already called the Salám of Friday, the
salutation to the Apostle;[628] and I dressed in haste and went out
alone and, hurrying to the street, took my stand by the house wherein I
had seen the young lady. I found the old woman on guard at the door
awaiting me, and went up with her to the upper story, the damsel's
apartment. Hardly had I reached it when behold, the master of the house
returned from prayers and entering the great saloon, closed the door. I
looked down from the window and saw this Barber (Allah's curse upon
him!) sitting over against the door and said, "How did this devil find
me out?" At this very moment, as Allah had decreed it for rending my
veil of secrecy, it so happened that a handmaid of the house-master
committed some offence for which he beat her. She shrieked out and his
slave ran in to intercede for her, whereupon the Kazi beat him to boot,
and he also roared out. The damned Barber fancied that it was I who was
being beaten; so he also fell to shouting and tore his garments and
scattered dust on his head and kept on shrieking and crying Help! Help!
So the people came round about him and he went on yelling, "My master
is being murdered in the Kazi's house!" Then he ran clamouring to my
place with the folk after him, and told my people and servants and
slaves; and, before I knew what was doing, up they came tearing their
clothes and letting loose their hair[629] and shouting, "Alas, our
master!"; and this Barber leading the rout with his clothes rent and in
sorriest plight; and he also shouting like a madman and saying, "Alas
for our murdered master!" And they all made an assault upon the house
in which I was. The Kazi, hearing the yells and the uproar at his door
said to one of his servants, "See what is the matter"; and the man went
forth and returned and said, "O my master, at the gate there are more
than ten thousand souls what with men and women, and all crying out,
Alas for our murdered master!; and they keep pointing to our house."
When the Kazi heard this, the matter seemed serious and he waxed wroth;
so he rose and opening the door saw a great crowd of people; whereat he
was astounded and said, "O folk! what is there to do?" "O accursed! O
dog! O hog!" my servants replied; "'Tis thou who hast killed our
master!" Quoth he, "O good folk, and what hath your master done to me
that I should kill him?"——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Thirty-first Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Kazi said to
the servants, "What hath your master done to me that I should kill him?
This is my house and it is open to you all." Then quoth the Barber,
"Thou didst beat him and I heard him cry out;" and quoth the Kazi, "But
what was he doing that I should beat him, and what brought him in to my
house; and whence came he and whither went he?" "Be not a wicked,
perverse old man!" cried the Barber, "for I know the whole story; and
the long and short of it is that thy daughter is in love with him and
he loves her; and when thou knewest that he had entered the house, thou
badest thy servants beat him and they did so: by Allah, none shall
judge between us and thee but the Caliph; or else do thou bring out our
master that his folk may take him, before they go in and save him
perforce from thy house, and thou be put to shame." Then said the Kazi
(and his tongue was bridled and his mouth was stopped by confusion
before the people), "An thou say sooth, do thou come in and fetch him
out." Whereupon the Barber pushed forward and entered the house. When I
saw this I looked about for a means of escape and flight, but saw no
hiding-place except a great chest in the upper chamber where I was. So
I got into it and pulled the lid down upon myself and held my breath.
The Barber was hardly in the room before he began to look about for me,
then turned him right and left and came straight to the place where I
was, and stepped up to the chest and, lifting it on his head, made off
as fast as he could. At this, my reason forsook me, for I knew that he
would not let me be; so I took courage and opening the chest threw
myself to the ground. My leg was broken in the fall, and the door being
open I saw a great concourse of people looking in. Now I carried in my
sleeve much gold and some silver, which I had provided for an ill day
like this and the like of such occasion; so I kept scattering it
amongst the folk to divert their attention from me and, whilst they
were busy scrambling for it, I set off, hopping as fast as I could,
through the by-streets of Baghdad, shifting and turning right and left.
But whithersoever I went this damned Barber would go in after me,
crying aloud, "They would have bereft me of my maa-a-ster! They would
have slain him who was a benefactor to me and my family and my friends!
Praised be Allah who made me prevail against them and delivered my lord
from their hands!" Then to me, "Where wilt thou go now? Thou wouldst
persist in following thine own evil devices, till thou broughtest
thyself to this ill pass; and, had not Allah vouchsafed me to thee,
ne'er hadst thou escaped this strait into which thou hast fallen, for
they would have cast thee into a calamity whence thou never couldest
have won free. But I will not call thee to account for thine ignorance,
as thou art so little of wit and inconsequential and addicted to
hastiness!" Said I to him, "Doth not what thou hast brought upon me
suffice thee, but thou must run after me and talk me such talk in the
bazar-streets?" And I well-nigh gave up the ghost for excess of rage
against him. Then I took refuge in the shop of a weaver amiddlemost of
the market and sought protection of the owner who drove the Barber
away; and, sitting in the back-room,[630] I said to myself, "If I
return home I shall never be able to get rid of this curse of a Barber,
who will be with me night and day; and I cannot endure the sight of him
even for a breathing-space." So I sent out at once for witnesses and
made a will, dividing the greater part of my property among my people,
and appointed a guardian over them, to whom I committed the charge of
great and small, directing him to sell my houses and domains. Then I
set out on my travels that I might be free of this pimp[631]; and I
came to settle in your town where I have lived some time. When you
invited me and I came hither, the first thing I saw was this accursed
pander seated in the place of honour. How then can my heart be glad and
my stay be pleasant in company with this fellow who brought all this
upon me, and who was the cause of the breaking of my leg and of my
exile from home and native land? And the youth refused to sit down and
went away. When we heard his story (continued the Tailor) we were
amazed beyond measure and amused and said to the Barber, "By Allah, is
it true what this young man saith of thee?" "By Allah," replied he, "I
dealt thus by him of my courtesy and sound sense and generosity. Had it
not been for me he had perished and none but I was the cause of his
escape. Well it was for him that he suffered in his leg and not in his
life! Had I been a man of many words, a meddler, a busy body, I had not
acted thus kindly by him; but now I will tell you a tale which befel
me, that you may be well assured I am a man sparing of speech in whom
is no forwardness and a very different person from those six Brothers
of mine; and this it is."
_THE BARBER'S TALE OF HIMSELF._
I was living in Baghdad during the times of Al-Mustansir bi'llah,[632]
son of Al-Mustazi bi'llah the then Caliph, a prince who loved the poor
and needy and companied with the learned and pious. One day it happened
to him that he was wroth with ten persons, highwaymen who robbed on the
Caliph's highway, and he ordered the Prefect of Baghdad to bring them
into the presence on the anniversary of the Great Festival.[633] So the
Prefect sallied out and, making them his prisoners, embarked with them
in a boat. I caught sight of them as they were embarking and said to
myself, "These are surely assembled for a marriage-feast; methinks they
are spending their day in that boat eating and drinking, and none shall
be companion of their cups but I myself." So I rose, O fair assembly;
and, of the excess of my courtesy and the gravity of my understanding,
I embarked with them and entered into conversation with them. They
rowed across to the opposite bank, where they landed and there came up
the watch and guardians of the peace with chains, which they put round
the robbers' necks. They chained me among the rest of them; and, O
people, is it not a proof of my courtesy and spareness of speech, that
I held my peace and did not please to speak? Then they took us away in
bilbos and next morning carried us all before Al-Mustansir bi'llah,
Commander of the Faithful, who bade smite the necks of the ten robbers.
So the Sworder came forward after they were seated on the leather of
blood:[634] then drawing his blade, struck off one head after another
until he had smitten the neck of the tenth; and I alone remained. The
Caliph looked at me and asked the Headsman, saying, "What ails thee
that thou hast struck off only nine heads?"; and he answered, "Allah
forbid that I should behead only nine, when thou biddest me behead
ten!" Quoth the Caliph, "Meseems thou hast smitten the necks of only
nine, and this man before thee is the tenth." "By thy beneficence!"
replied the Headsman, "I have beheaded ten." "Count them!" cried the
Caliph and whenas they counted heads, lo! there were ten. The Caliph
looked at me and said, "What made thee keep silence at a time like this
and how camest thou to company with these men of blood. Tell me the
cause of all this, for albeit thou art a very old man, assuredly thy
wits are weak." Now when I heard these words from the Caliph I sprang
to my feet and replied, "Know, O Prince of the Faithful, that I am the
Silent Shaykh and am thus called to distinguish me from my six
brothers. I am a man of immense learning whilst, as for the gravity of
my understanding, the wiliness of my wits and the spareness of my
speech, there is no end to them; and my calling is that of a barber. I
went out early on yesterday morning and saw these men making for a
skiff; and, fancying they were bound for a marriage-feast, I joined
them and mixed with them. After a while up came the watch and guardians
of the peace, who put chains round their necks and round mine with the
rest; but, in the excess of my courtesy, I held my peace and spake not
a word; nor was this other but generosity on my part. They brought us
into thy presence, and thou gavest an order to smite the necks of the
ten; yet did I not make myself known to thee and remained silent before
the Sworder, purely of my great generosity and courtesy which led me to
share with them in their death. But all my life long have I dealt thus
nobly with mankind, and they requite me the foulest and evillest
requital!" When the Caliph heard my words and knew that I was a man of
exceeding generosity and of very few words, one in whom is no
forwardness (as this youth would have it whom I rescued from mortal
risk and who hath so scurvily repaid me), he laughed with excessive
laughter till he fell upon his back. Then said he to me, "O Silent Man,
do thy six brothers favour thee in wisdom and knowledge and spareness
of speech?" I replied, "Never were they like me! Thou puttest reproach
upon me, O Commander of the Faithful, and it becomes thee not to even
my brothers with me; for, of the abundance of their speech and their
deficiency of courtesy and gravity, each one of them hath gotten some
maim or other. One is a monocular, another palsied, a third
stone-blind, a fourth cropped of ears and nose and a fifth shorn of
both lips, while the sixth is a hunchback and a cripple. And conceive
not, O Commander of the Faithful, that I am prodigal of speech; but I
must perforce explain to thee that I am a man of greater worth and
fewer words than any of them. From each one of my brothers hangs a tale
of how he came by his bodily defect and these I will relate to thee."
So the Caliph gave ear to
_THE BARBER'S TALE OF HIS FIRST BROTHER._
[Illustration]
Know then, O Commander of the Faithful, that my first brother,
Al-Bakbuk, the prattler, is a Hunchback who took to tailoring in
Baghdad, and he used to sew in a shop hired from a man of much wealth,
who dwelt over the shop,[635] and there was also a flour-mill in the
basement. One day as my brother, the Hunchback, was sitting in his shop
a-tailoring, he chanced to raise his head and saw a lady like the
rising full moon at a balconied window of his landlord's house, engaged
in looking out at the passers-by.[636] When my brother beheld her, his
heart was taken with love of her and he passed his whole day gazing at
her and neglected his tailoring till eventide. Next morning he opened
his shop and sat him down to sew; but, as often as he stitched a
stitch, he looked to the window and saw her as before; and his passion
and infatuation for her increased. On the third day as he was sitting
in his usual place, gazing on her, she caught sight of him and,
perceiving that he had been captivated with love of her, laughed in his
face,[637] and he smiled back at her. Then she disappeared and
presently sent her slave-girl to him with a bundle containing a piece
of red flowered silk. The handmaid accosted him and said, "My lady
salameth to thee and desireth thee, of thy skill and good will, to
fashion for her a shift of this piece and to sew it handsomely with thy
best sewing." He replied, "Hearkening and obedience"; and shaped for
her a chemise and finished sewing it the same day. When the morning
morrowed the girl came back and said to him, "My lady salameth to thee
and asks how thou hast passed yesternight; for she hath not tasted
sleep by reason of her heart being taken up with thee." Then she laid
before him a piece of yellow satin and said, "My lady biddeth thee cut
her two pair of petticoat-trousers out of this piece and sew them this
very day." Hearkening and obedience!" replied he, "greet her for me
with many greetings and say to her, Thy slave is obedient to thine
order; so command him as thou wilt." Then he applied himself to cutting
out and worked hard at sewing the trousers; and after an hour the lady
appeared at the lattice and saluted him by signs, now casting down her
eyes, then smiling in his face, and he began to assure himself that he
would soon make a conquest. She did not let him stir till he had
finished the two pair of trousers, when she withdrew and sent the
handmaid to whom he delivered them; and she took them and went her
ways. When it was night, he threw himself on his carpet-bed, and lay
tossing about from side to side till morning, when he rose and sat down
in his place. Presently the damsel came to him and said, "My master
calleth for thee." Hearing these words he feared with exceeding fear;
but the slave-girl, seeing his affright, said to him, "No evil is meant
to thee: naught but good awaiteth thee. My lady would have thee make
acquaintance with my lord." So my brother the tailor, rejoicing with
great joy, went with her; and when he came into the presence of his
landlord, the lady's husband, he kissed the ground before him, and the
master of the house returned his greeting and gave him a great piece of
linen saying, "Shape me shirts out of this stuff and sew them well;"
and my brother answered, "To hear is to obey." Thereupon he fell to
work at once, snipping, shaping and sewing till he had finished twenty
shirts by supper time, without stopping to taste food. The house-master
asked him, "How much the wage for this?"; and he answered, "Twenty
dirhams." So the gentleman cried out to the slave-girl, "Bring me
twenty dirhams," and my brother spake not a word; but the lady signed,
"Take nothing from him;" whereupon my brother said, "By Allah I will
take naught from thy hand." And he carried off his tailor's gear and
returned to his shop, although he was destitute even to a red
cent.[638] Then he applied himself to do their work; eating, in his
zeal and diligence, but a bit of bread and drinking only a little water
for three days. At the end of this time came the handmaid and said to
him, "What hast thou done?" Quoth he, "They are finished," and carried
the shirts to the lady's husband, who would have paid him his hire: but
he said, "I will take nothing," for fear of her and, returning to his
shop, passed the night without sleep because of his hunger. Now the
dame had informed her husband how the case stood (my brother knowing
naught of this); and the two had agreed to make him tailor for nothing,
the better to mock and laugh at him. Next morning he went to his shop,
and, as he sat there, the handmaid came to him and said, "Speak with my
master." So he accompanied her to the husband who said to him, "I wish
thee to cut out for me five long-sleeved robes.[639]" So he cut them
out[640] and took the stuff and went away. Then he sewed them and
carried them to the gentleman, who praised his sewing and offered him a
purse of silver. He put out his hand to take it, but the lady signed to
him from behind her husband not to do so, and he replied, "O my lord,
there is no hurry, we have time enough for this." Then he went forth
from the house meaner and meeker than a donkey, for verily five things
were gathered together in him viz:—love, beggary, hunger, nakedness and
hard labour. Nevertheless he heartened himself with the hope of gaining
the lady's favours. When he had made an end of all their jobs, they
played him another trick and married him to their slave-girl; but, on
the night when he thought to go in to her, they said to him, "Lie this
night in the mill; and to-morrow all will go well." My brother
concluded that there was some good cause for this and nighted alone in
the mill. Now the husband had set on the miller to make the tailor turn
the mill: so when night was half spent the man came into him and began
to say, "This bull of ours hath become useless and standeth still
instead of going round: he will not turn the mill this night, and yet
we have great store of corn to be ground. However, I'll yoke him
perforce and make him finish grinding it before morning, as the folk
are impatient for their flour." So he filled the hoppers with grain
and, going up to my brother with a rope in his hand, tied it round his
neck and said to him, "Gee up! Round with the mill! thou, O bull,
wouldst do nothing but grub and stale and dung!" Then he took a whip
and laid it on the shoulders and calves of my brother, who began to
howl and bellow; but none came to help him; and he was forced to grind
the wheat till hard upon dawn, when the house-master came in and,
seeing my brother still tethered to the yoke and the man flogging him,
went away. At day-break the miller returned home and left him still
yoked and half dead; and soon after in came the slave-girl who unbound
him, and said to him, "I and my lady are right sorry for what hath
happened and we have borne thy grief with thee." But he had no tongue
wherewith to answer her from excess of beating and mill-turning. Then
he retired to his lodging and behold, the clerk who had drawn up the
marriage-deed came to him[641] and saluted him, saying, "Allah give
thee long life! May thy espousal be blessed! This face telleth of
pleasant doings and dalliance and kissing and clipping from dusk to
dawn." "Allah grant the liar no peace, O thou thousandfold cuckold!",
my brother replied, "by Allah, I did nothing but turn the mill in the
place of the bull all night till morning!" "Tell me thy tale," quoth
he; and my brother recounted what had befallen him and he said, "Thy
star agrees not with her star; but an thou wilt I can alter the
contract for thee," adding, "'Ware lest another cheat be not in store
for thee." And my brother answered him, "See if thou have not another
contrivance." Then the clerk left him and he sat in his shop, looking
for some one to bring him a job whereby he might earn his day's bread.
Presently the handmaid came to him and said, "Speak with my lady."
"Begone, O my good girl," replied he, "there shall be no more dealings
between me and thy lady." The handmaid returned to her mistress and
told her what my brother had said and presently she put her head out of
the window, weeping and saying, "Why, O my beloved, are there to be no
more dealings 'twixt me and thee?" But he made her no answer. Then she
wept and conjured him, swearing that all which had befallen him in the
mill was not sanctioned by her and that she was innocent of the whole
matter. When he looked upon her beauty and loveliness and heard the
sweetness of her speech, the sorrow which had possessed him passed from
his heart; he accepted her excuse and he rejoiced in her sight. So he
saluted her and talked with her and sat tailoring awhile, after which
the handmaid came to him and said, "My mistress greeteth thee and
informeth thee that her husband purposeth to lie abroad this night in
the house of some intimate friends of his; so, when he is gone, do thou
come to us and spend the night with my lady in delightsomest joyance
till the morning." Now her husband had asked her, "How shall we manage
to turn him away from thee?;" and she answered, "Leave me to play him
another trick and make him a laughing-stock for all the town." But my
brother knew naught of the malice of women. As soon as it was dusk, the
slave-girl came to him and carried him to the house, and when the lady
saw him she said to him, "By Allah, O my lord, I have been longing
exceedingly for thee." "By Allah," cried he, "kiss me quick before thou
give me aught else.[642]" Hardly had he spoken, when the lady's husband
came in from the next room[643] and seized him, saying, "By Allah, I
will not let thee go, till I deliver thee to the chief of the town
watch." My brother humbled himself to him; but he would not listen to
him and carried him before the Prefect who gave him an hundred lashes
with a whip and, mounting him on a camel, promenaded him round about
the city, whilst the guards proclaimed aloud, "This is his reward who
violateth the Harims of honourable men!" Moreover, he fell off the
camel and broke his leg and so became lame. Then the Prefect banished
him from the city; and he went forth unknowing whither he should wend;
but I heard of him and fearing for him went out after him, and brought
him back secretly to the city and restored him to health and took him
into my house where he still liveth." The Caliph laughed at my story
and said, "Thou hast done well, O Samit, O Silent Man, O spare of
speech!"; and he bade me take a present and go away. But I said, "I
will accept naught of thee except I tell thee what befel all my other
brothers; and do not think me a man of many words." So the Caliph gave
ear to,
_THE BARBER'S TALE OF HIS SECOND BROTHER._
[Illustration]
Know, O Commander of the Faithful, that my second brother's name was
Al-Haddár, that is the babbler, and he was the paralytic. Now it
happened to him one day, as he was going about his business, that an
old woman accosted him and said, "Stop a little, my good man, that I
may tell thee of somewhat which, if it be to thy liking, thou shalt do
for me and I will pray Allah to give thee good of it!" My brother
stopped and she went on, "I will put thee in the way of a certain
thing, so thou not be prodigal of speech." "On with thy talk," quoth
he; and she, "What sayest thou to handsome quarters and a fair garden
with flowing waters, flowers blooming, and fruit growing, and old wine
going and a pretty young face whose owner thou mayest embrace from dark
till dawn? If thou do whatso I bid thee thou shalt see something
greatly to thy advantage." "And is all this in the world?" asked my
brother; and she answered, "Yes, and it shall be thine, so thou be
reasonable and leave idle curiosity and many words, and do my bidding,"
"I will indeed, O my lady," said he, "how is it thou hast preferred me
in this matter before all men and what is it that so much pleaseth thee
in me?" Quoth she, "Did I not bid thee be spare of speech? Hold thy
peace and follow me. Know, that the young lady, to whom I shall carry
thee, loveth to have her own way and hateth being thwarted and all who
gainsay; so, if thou humour her, thou shalt come to thy desire of her."
And my brother said, "I will not cross her in anything." Then she went
on and my brother followed her, an-hungering after what she described
to him till they entered a fine large house, handsome and choicely
furnished, full of eunuchs and servants and showing signs of prosperity
from top to bottom. And she was carrying him to the upper story when
the people of the house said to him, "What dost thou here?" But the old
woman answered them, "Hold your peace and trouble him not: he is a
workman and we have occasion for him." Then she brought him into a fine
great pavilion, with a garden in its midst, never eyes saw a fairer;
and made him sit upon a handsome couch. He had not sat long, before he
heard a loud noise and in came a troop of slave-girls surrounding a
lady like the moon on the night of its fullest. When he saw her, he
rose up and made an obeisance to her, whereupon she welcomed him and
bade him be seated. So he sat down and she said to him, "Allah advance
thee to honour! Is all well with thee?" "O my lady," he answered, "all
with me is right well." Then she bade bring in food, and they set
before her delicate viands; so she sat down to eat, making a show of
affection to my brother and jesting with him, though all the while she
could not refrain from laughing; but as often as he looked at her, she
signed towards her handmaidens as though she were laughing at them. My
brother (the ass!) understood nothing; but, in the excess of his
ridiculous passion, he fancied that the lady was in love with him and
that she would soon grant him his desire. When they had done eating,
they set on the wine and there came in ten maidens like moons, with
lutes ready strung in their hands, and fell to singing with full
voices, sweet and sad, whereupon delight gat hold upon him and he took
the cup from the lady's hands and drank it standing. Then she drank a
cup of wine and my brother (still standing) said to her "Health," and
bowed to her. She handed him another cup and he drank it off, when she
slapped him hard on the nape of his neck.[644] Upon this my brother
would have gone out of the house in anger; but the old woman followed
him and winked to him to return. So he came back and the lady bade him
sit and he sat down without a word. Then she again slapped him on the
nape of his neck; and the second slapping did not suffice her, she must
needs make all her handmaidens also slap and cuff him, while he kept
saying to the old woman, "I never saw aught nicer than this." She on
her side ceased not exclaiming, "Enough, enough, I conjure thee, O my
mistress!"; but the women slapped him till he well nigh swooned away.
Presently my brother rose and went out to obey a call of nature, but
the old woman overtook him, and said, "Be patient a little and thou
shalt win to thy wish." "How much longer have I to wait," my brother
replied, "this slapping hath made me feel faint." "As soon as she is
warm with wine," answered she, "thou shalt have thy desire." So he
returned to his place and sat down, whereupon all the handmaidens stood
up and the lady bade them perfume him with pastiles and besprinkle his
face with rose-water. Then said she to him, "Allah advance thee to
honour! Thou hast entered my house and hast borne with my conditions,
for whoso thwarteth me I turn him away, and whoso is patient hath his
desire." "O mistress mine," said he, "I am thy slave and in the hollow
of thine hand!" "Know, then," continued she, "that Allah hath made me
passionately fond of frolic; and whoso falleth in with my humour cometh
by whatso he wisheth." Then she ordered her maidens to sing with loud
voices till the whole company was delighted; after which she said to
one of them, "Take thy lord, and do what is needful for him and bring
him back to me forthright." So the damsel took my brother (and he not
knowing what she would do with him); but the old woman overtook him and
said, "Be patient; there remaineth but little to do." At this his face
brightened and he stood up before the lady while the old woman kept
saying, "Be patient; thou wilt now at once win to thy wish!"; till he
said, "Tell me what she would have the maiden do with me?" "Nothing but
good," replied she, "as I am thy sacrifice! She wisheth only to dye thy
eyebrows and pluck out thy mustachios." Quoth he, "As for the dyeing of
my eyebrows, that will come off with washing,[645] but for the plucking
out of my mustachios that indeed is a somewhat painful process." "Be
cautious how thou cross her," cried the old woman; "for she hath set
her heart on thee." So my brother patiently suffered her to dye his
eyebrows and pluck out his mustachios; after which the maiden returned
to her mistress and told her. Quoth she, "Remaineth now only one other
thing to be done; thou must shave his beard and make him a smooth o'
face.[646]" So the maiden went back and told him what her mistress had
bidden her do; and my brother (the blockhead!) said to her, "How shall
I do what will disgrace me before the folk?" But the old woman said,
"She would do on this wise only that thou mayst be as a beardless youth
and that no hair be left on thy face to scratch and prick her delicate
cheeks; for indeed she is passionately in love with thee. So be patient
and thou shalt attain thine object." My brother _was_ patient and did
her bidding and let shave off his beard and, when he was brought back
to the lady, lo! he appeared dyed red as to his eyebrows, plucked of
both mustachios, shorn of his beard, rouged on both cheeks. At first
she was affrighted at him; then she made mockery of him and, laughing
till she fell upon her back, said, "O my lord, thou hast indeed won my
heart by thy good nature!" Then she conjured him, by her life, to stand
up and dance, and he arose, and capered about, and there was not a
cushion in the house but she threw it at his head, and in like manner
did all her women who also kept pelting him with oranges and lemons and
citrons till he fell down senseless from the cuffing on the nape of the
neck, the pillowing and the fruit-pelting. "Now thou hast attained thy
wish," said the old woman when he came round; "there are no more blows
in store for thee and there remaineth but one little thing to do. It is
her wont, when she is in her cups, to let no one have her until she put
off her dress and trousers and remain stark naked.[647] Then she will
bid thee doff thy clothes and run; and she will run before thee as if
she were flying from thee; and do thou follow her from place to place
till thy prickle stands at fullest point, when she will yield to
thee[648];" adding, "Strip off thy clothes at once." So he rose, well
nigh lost in ecstacy and, doffing his raiment, showed himself
mother-naked.——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to
say her permitted say.
[Illustration]
Now when it was the Thirty-Second Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the old
woman said to the Barber's second brother, "Doff thy clothes," he rose,
well nigh lost in ecstacy; and, stripping off his raiment, showed
himself mother-naked. Whereupon the lady stripped also and said to my
brother, "If thou want anything run after me till thou catch me." Then
she set out at a run and he ran after her while she rushed into room
after room and rushed out of room after room, my brother scampering
after her in a rage of desire like a veritable madman, with yard
standing terribly tall. After much of this kind she dashed into a
darkened place, and he dashed after her; but suddenly he trod upon a
yielding spot, which gave way under his weight; and, before he was
aware where he was, he found himself in the midst of a crowded market,
part of the bazar of the leather-sellers who were crying the prices of
skins and hides and buying and selling. When they saw him in his
plight, naked, with standing yard, shorn of beard and moustachios, with
eyebrows dyed red, and cheeks ruddled with rouge, they shouted and
clapped their hands at him, and set to flogging him with skins upon his
bare body till a swoon came over him. Then they threw him on the back
of an ass and carried him to the Chief of Police. Quoth the Chief "What
is this?" Quoth they, "This fellow fell suddenly upon us out of the
Wazir's house[649] in this state." So the Prefect gave him an hundred
lashes and then banished him from Baghdad. However I went out after him
and brought him back secretly into the city and made him a daily
allowance for his living: although, were it not for my generous humour,
I could not have put up with the like of him. Then the Caliph gave ear
to
_THE BARBER'S TALE OF HIS THIRD BROTHER._
My third brother's name was Al-Fakík, the Gabbler, who was blind. One
day Fate and Fortune drove him to a fine large house, and he knocked at
the door, desiring speech of its owner that he might beg somewhat of
him. Quoth the master of the house, "Who is at the door?" But my
brother spake not a word and presently he heard him repeat with a loud
voice, "Who is this?" Still he made no answer and immediately heard the
master walk to the door and open it and say, "What dost thou want?" My
brother answered "Something for Allah Almighty's sake.[650]" "Art thou
blind?" asked the man, and my brother answered "Yes." Quoth the other,
"Stretch me out thy hand." So my brother put out his hand thinking that
he would give him something; but he took it and, drawing him into the
house, carried him up from stair to stair till they reached the terrace
on the house-top, my brother thinking the while that he would surely
give him something of food or money. Then he asked my brother, "What
dost thou want, O blind man?" and he answered, "Something for the
Almighty's sake." "Allah open for thee some other door!" "O thou! why
not say so when I was below stairs?" "O cadger, why not answer me when
I first called to thee?" "And what meanest thou to do for me now?"
"There is nothing in the house to give thee." "Then take me down the
stair." "The path is before thee." So my brother rose and made his way
downstairs, till he came within twenty steps of the door, when his foot
slipped and he rolled to the bottom and broke his head. Then he went
out, unknowing whither to turn, and presently fell in with two other
blind men, companions of his, who said to him, "What didst thou gain
to-day?" He told them what had befallen him and added, "O my brothers,
I wish to take some of the money in my hands and provide myself with
it." Now the master of the house had followed him and was listening to
what they said; but neither my brother nor his comrades knew of this.
So my brother went to his lodging and sat down to await his companions,
and the house-owner entered after him without being perceived. When the
other blind men arrived, my brother said to them, "Bolt the door and
search the house lest any stranger have followed us." The man, hearing
this, caught hold of a cord that hung from the ceiling and clung to it,
whilst they went round about the house and searched but found no one.
So they came back, and, sitting beside my brother, brought out their
money which they counted and lo! it was twelve thousand dirhams. Each
took what he wanted and they buried the rest in a corner of the room.
Then they set on food and sat down, to eat. Presently my brother,
hearing a strange pair of jaws munching by his side,[651] said to his
friends, "There is a stranger amongst us;" and, putting forth his hand,
caught hold of that of the house-master. Thereupon all fell on him and
beat him;[652] and when tired of belabouring him they shouted, "O ye
Moslems! a thief is come in to us, seeking to take our money!" A crowd
gathered around them, whereupon the intruder hung on to them; and
complained with them as they complained; and, shutting his eyes like
them, so that none might doubt his blindness, cried out, "O Moslems, I
take refuge with Allah and the Governor, for I have a matter to make
known to him!" Suddenly up came the watch and, laying hands on the
whole lot (my brother being amongst them), drove them[653] to the
Governor's who set them before him and asked, "What news with you?"
Quoth the intruder, "Look and find out for thyself, not a word shall be
wrung from us save by torture, so begin by beating me and after me beat
this man our leader."[654] And he pointed to my brother. So they threw
the man at full length and gave him four hundred sticks on his
backside. The beating pained him, whereupon he opened one eye and, as
they redoubled their blows, he opened the other eye. When the Governor
saw this he said to him, "What have we here, O accursed?"; whereto he
replied, "Give me the seal-ring of pardon! We four have shammed blind,
and we impose upon people that we may enter houses and look upon the
unveiled faces of the women and contrive for their corruption. In this
way we have gotten great gain and our store amounts to twelve thousand
dirhams. Said I to my company:—Give me my share, three thousand; but
they rose and beat me and took away my money, and I seek refuge with
Allah and with thee; better thou have my share than they. So, if thou
wouldst know the truth of my words, beat one and every of the others
more than thou hast beaten me, and he will surely open his eyes." The
Governor gave orders for the question to begin with my brother, and
they bound him to the whipping-post,[655] and the Governor said, "O
scum of the earth, do ye abuse the gracious gifts of Allah and make as
if ye were blind!" "Allah! Allah!" cried my brother, "by Allah, there
is none among us who can see." Then they beat him till he swooned away
and the Governor cried, "Leave him till he come to and then beat him
again." After this he caused each of the companions to receive more
than three hundred sticks, whilst the sham-abraham kept saying to them
"Open your eyes or you will be beaten afresh." At last the man said to
the Governor, "Dispatch some one with me to bring thee the money; for
these fellows will not open their eyes, lest they incur disgrace before
the folk." So the Governor sent to fetch the money and gave the man his
pretended share, three thousand dirhams; and, keeping the rest for
himself, banished the three blind men from the city. But I, O Commander
of the Faithful, went out and overtaking my brother questioned him of
his case; whereupon he told me of what I have told thee; so I brought
him secretly into the city, and appointed him (in the strictest
privacy) an allowance for meat and drink! The Caliph laughed at my
story and said, "Give him a gift and let him go;" but I said, "By
Allah! I will take naught till I have made known to the Commander of
the Faithful what came to pass with the rest of my brothers; for truly
I am a man of few words and spare of speech." Then the Caliph gave ear
to
_THE BARBER'S TALE OF HIS FOURTH BROTHER._
Now as for my fourth brother, O Commander of the Faithful, Al-Kuz
al-aswáni, or the long-necked Gugglet hight, from his brimming over
with words, the same who was blind of one eye, he became a butcher in
Baghdad and he sold flesh and fattened rams; and great men and rich
bought their meat of him, so that he amassed much wealth and got him
cattle and houses. He fared thus a long while, till one day, as he was
sitting in his shop, there came up an old man and long o' the beard,
who laid down some silver and said, "Give me meat for this." He gave
him his money's worth of flesh and the oldster went his ways. My
brother examined the Shaykh's silver, and, seeing that the dirhams were
white and bright, he set them in a place apart. The grey-beard
continued to return to the shop regularly for five months, and my
brother ceased not to lay up all the coin he received from him in its
own box. At last he thought to take out the money to buy sheep; so he
opened the box and found in it nothing, save bits of white paper cut
round to look like coin[656]; so he buffetted his face and cried aloud
till the folk gathered about him, whereupon he told them his tale which
made them marvel exceedingly. Then he rose as was his wont, and
slaughtering a ram hung it up inside his shop; after which he cut off
some of the flesh, and hanging it outside kept saying to himself, "O
Allah, would the ill-omened old fellow but come!" And an hour had not
passed before the Shaykh came with his silver in hand; whereupon my
brother rose and caught hold of him calling out, "Come aid me, O
Moslems, and learn my story with this villain!" When the old man heard
this, he quietly said to him, "Which will be the better for thee, to
let go of me or to be disgraced by me amidst the folk?" "In what wilt
thou disgrace me?" "In that thou sellest man's flesh for mutton!" "Thou
liest, thou accursed!" "Nay, he is the accursed who hath a man hanging
up by way of meat in his shop." "If the matter be as thou sayest, I
give thee lawful leave to take my money and my life." Then the old man
cried out aloud, "Ho, ye people! if you would prove the truth of my
words, enter this man's shop." The folk rushed in and found that the
ram was become a dead man[657] hung up for sale. So they set upon my
brother crying out, "O Infidel! O villain!"; and his best friends fell
to cuffing and kicking him and kept saying, "Dost thou make us eat
flesh of the sons of Adam?" Furthermore, the old man struck him on the
eye and put it out. Then they carried the carcass, with the throat cut,
before the Chief of the city-watch, to whom the old man said, "O Emir,
this fellow butchers men and sells their flesh for mutton and we have
brought him to thee; so arise and execute the judgments of Allah (to
whom be honour and glory!)" My brother would have defended himself, but
the Chief refused to hear him and sentenced him to receive five hundred
sticks and to forfeit the whole of his property. And, indeed, had it
not been for that same property which he expended in bribes, they would
have surely slain him. Then the Chief banished him from Baghdad; and my
brother fared forth at a venture, till he came to a great town, where
he thought it best to set up as a cobbler; so he opened a shop and sat
there doing what he could for his livelihood. One day, as he went forth
on his business, he heard the distant tramp of horses and, asking the
cause, was told that the King was going out to hunt and course; so my
brother stopped to look at the fine suite. It so fortuned that the
King's eye met my brother's; whereupon the King hung down his head and
said, "I seek refuge with Allah from the evil of this day!"[658]; and
turned the reins of his steed and returned home with all his retinue.
Then he gave orders to his guards, who seized my brother and beat him
with a beating so painful that he was well-nigh dead; and my brother
knew not what could be the cause of his maltreatment, after which he
returned to his place in sorriest plight. Soon afterwards he went to
one of the King's household and related what had happened to him; and
the man laughed till he fell upon his back and cried, "O brother mine,
know that the King cannot bear to look at a monocular, especially if he
be blind of the right eye, in which case he doth not let him go without
killing him." When my brother heard this, he resolved to fly from that
city; so he went forth from it to another wherein none knew him and
there he abode a long while. One day, being full of sorrowful thought
for what had befallen him, he sallied out to solace himself; and, as he
was walking along, he heard the distant tramp of horses behind him and
said, "The judgment of Allah is upon me!" and looked about for a
hiding-place but found none. At last he saw a closed door which he
pushed hard: it yielded and he entered a long gallery in which he took
refuge, but hardly had he done so, when two men set upon him crying
out, "Allah be thanked for having delivered thee into our hands, O
enemy of God! These three nights thou hast robbed us of our rest and
sleep, and verily thou hast made us taste of the death-cup." My brother
asked, "O folk, what ails you?"; and they answered, "Thou givest us the
change and goest about to disgrace us and plannest some plot to cut the
throat of the house-master! Is it not enough that thou hast brought him
to beggary, thou and thy fellows? But now give us up the knife
wherewith thou threatenest us every night." Then they searched him and
found in his waist-belt the knife used for his shoe-leather; and he
said, "O people, have the fear of Allah before your eyes and maltreat
me not, for know that my story is a right strange!" "And what is thy
story?" said they; so he told them what had befallen him, hoping they
would let him go; however they paid no heed to what he said and,
instead of showing some regard, beat him grievously and tore off his
clothes: then, finding on his sides the scars of beating with rods,
they said, "O accursed! these marks are the manifest signs of thy
guilt!" They carried him before the Governor, whilst he said to
himself, "I am now punished for my sins and none can deliver me save
Allah Almighty!" The Governor addressing my brother asked him, "O
villain, what led thee to enter their house with intention to
murther?"; and my brother answered, "I conjure thee by Allah, O Emir,
hear my words and be not hasty in condemning me!". But the Governor
cried, "Shall we listen to the words of a robber who hath beggared
these people, and who beareth on his back the scar of his stripes?"
adding, "They surely had not done this to thee, save for some great
crime." So he sentenced him to receive an hundred cuts with the
scourge, after which they set him on a camel and paraded him about the
city, proclaiming, "This is the requital and only too little to requite
him who breaketh into people's houses." Then they thrust him out of the
city, and my brother wandered at random, till I heard what had befallen
him; and, going in search of him, questioned him of his case; so he
acquainted me with his story and all his mischances, and I carried him
secretly to the city where I made him an allowance for his meat and
drink. Then the Caliph gave ear to
_THE BARBER'S TALE OF HIS FIFTH BROTHER._
My fifth brother Al-Nashshár,[659] the Babbler, the same who was
cropped of both ears, O Commander of the Faithful, was an asker wont
to beg of folk by night and live on their alms by day. Now when our
father, who was an old man well stricken in years, sickened and died,
he left us seven hundred dirhams whereof each son took his hundred;
but, as my fifth brother received his portion, he was perplexed and
knew not what to do with it. While in this uncertainty he bethought
him to lay it out on glass-ware of all sorts and turn an honest penny
on its price. So he bought an hundred dirhams worth of verroterie
and, putting it into a big tray, sat down to sell it on a bench at
the foot of a wall against which he leant back. As he sat with the
tray before him he fell to musing and said to himself, "Know, O my
good Self, that the head of my wealth, my principal invested in this
glass-ware, is an hundred dirhams. I will assuredly sell it for two
hundred, with which I will forthright buy other glass and make by it
four hundred; nor will I cease to sell and buy on this wise, till I
have gotten four thousand and soon find myself the master of much
money. With these coins I will buy merchandize and jewels and
ottars[660] and gain great profit on them; till, Allah willing, I
will make my capital an hundred thousand dirhams. Then I will
purchase a fine house with white slaves and eunuchs and horses; and I
will eat and drink and disport myself; nor will I leave a singing man
or a singing woman in the city, but I will summon them to my palace
and make them perform before me." All this he counted over in his
mind, while the tray of glass-ware, worth an hundred dirhams, stood
on the bench before him, and, after looking at it, he continued, "And
when, Inshallah! my capital shall have become one hundred
thousand[661] dinars, I will send out marriage-brokeresses to require
for me in wedlock the daughters of Kings and Wazirs; and I will
demand to wife the eldest daughter of the Prime Minister; for it hath
reached me that she is perfect in beauty and prime in loveliness and
rare in accomplishments. I will give a marriage-settlement of one
thousand dinars; and, if her father consent, well: but if not I will
take her by force from under his very nose. When she is safely homed
in my house, I will buy ten little eunuchs[662] and for myself a robe
of the robes of Kings and Sultans; and get me a saddle of gold and a
bridle set thick with gems of price. Then I will mount with the
Mamelukes preceding me and surrounding me, and I will make the round
of the city whilst the folk salute me and bless me; after which I
will repair to the Wazir (he that is father of the girl), with armed
white slaves before and behind me and on my right and on my left.
When he sees me, the Wazir stands up, and seating me in his own place
sits down much below me; for that I am to be his son-in-law. Now I
have with me two eunuchs carrying purses, each containing a thousand
dinars; and of these I deliver to him the thousand, his daughter's
marriage-settlement, and make him a free gift of the other thousand,
that he may have reason to know my generosity and liberality and my
greatness of spirit and the littleness of the world in my eyes. And
for ten words he addresses to me I answer him two. Then back I go to
my house, and if one come to me on the bride's part, I make him a
present of money and throw on him a dress of honour; but if he bring
me a gift, I give it back to him and refuse to accept it,[663] that
they may learn what a proud spirit is mine which never condescends to
derogate. Thus I establish my rank and status. When this is done I
appoint her wedding night and adorn my house showily! gloriously! And
as the time for parading the bride is come, I don my finest attire
and sit down on a mattress of gold brocade, propping up my elbow with
a pillow, and turning neither to the right nor to the left; but
looking only straight in front for the haughtiness of my mind and the
gravity of my understanding. And there before me stands my wife in
her raiment and ornaments, lovely as the full moon; and I, in my
loftiness and dread lordliness,[664] will not glance at her till
those present say to me, "O our lord and our master, thy wife, thy
handmaid, standeth before thee; vouchsafe her one look for standing
wearieth her." Then they kiss the ground before me many times;
whereupon I raise my eyes and cast at her one single glance and turn
my face earthwards again. Then they bear her off to the
bride-chamber,[665] and I arise and change my clothes for a far finer
suit; and, when they bring in the bride a second time, I deign not to
throw her a look till they have begged me many times; after which I
glance at her out of the corner of one eye, and then bend down my
head. I continue acting after this fashion till the parading and
displaying are completed"[666]——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of
day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Thirty-Third Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Barber's
fifth brother proceeded:—Then I bend down my head and continue acting
after this fashion till her parading and displaying are completed.
Thereupon I order one of my eunuchs to bring me a bag of five hundred
dinars which I give as largesse to the tirewomen present and bid them
one and all lead me to the bride-chamber. When they leave me alone with
her I neither look at her nor speak to her, but lie[667] by her side
with my face to the wall showing my contempt, that each and every may
again remark how high and haughty I am. Presently her mother comes in
to me; and kissing[668] my head and hand, says to me, "O my lord, look
upon thine handmaid who longs for thy favour; so heal her broken
spirit!" I give her no answer; and when she sees this she rises and
busses my feet many times and says, "O my lord, in very sooth my
daughter is a beautiful maid, who hath never known man; and if thou
show her this backwardness and aversion, her heart will break; so do
thou incline to her and speak to her and soothe her mind and spirit."
Then she rises and fetches a cup of wine; and says to her daughter,
"Take it and hand it to thy lord." But as she approaches me I leave her
standing between my hands and sit, propping my elbow on a round cushion
purfled with gold thread, leaning lazily back, and without looking at
her in the majesty of my spirit, so that she may deem me indeed a
Sultan and a mighty man. Then she says to me, "O my lord, Allah upon
thee, do not refuse to take the cup from the hand of thine handmaid,
for verily I am thy bondswoman." But I do not speak to her and she
presses me, saying, "There is no help but that thou drink it;" and she
puts it to my lips. Then I shake my fist in her face and kick her with
my foot thus. So he let out with his toe and knocked over the tray of
glass-ware which fell to the ground and, falling from the bench, all
that was on it was broken to bits. "O foulest of pimps,[669] this comes
from the pride of my spirit!" cried my brother; and then, O Commander
of the Faithful, he buffeted his face and rent his garments, and kept
on weeping and beating himself. The folk who were flocking to their
Friday prayers saw him; and some of them looked at him and pitied him,
whilst others paid no heed to him, and in this way my brother lost both
capital and profit. He remained weeping a long while, and at last up
came a beautiful lady, the scent of musk exhaling from her, who was
going to Friday prayers riding a mule with a gold saddle and followed
by several eunuchs. When she saw the broken glass and my brother
weeping, her kind heart was moved to pity for him, and she asked what
ailed him and was told that he had a tray full of glass-ware by the
sale of which he hoped to gain his living, but it was broken, and (said
they), "there befel him what thou seest." Thereupon she called up one
of her eunuchs and said to him, "Give what thou hast with thee to this
poor fellow!" And he gave my brother a purse in which he found five
hundred dinars; and when it touched his hand he was well-nigh dying for
excess of joy and he offered up blessings for her. Then he returned to
his abode a substantial man; and, as he sat considering, some one
rapped at the door. So he rose and opened and saw an old woman whom he
had never seen. "O my son," said she, "know that prayertide is near and
I have not yet made my Wuzu-ablution[670]; so kindly allow me the use
of thy lodging for the purpose." My brother answered, "To hear is to
comply;" and going in bade her follow him. So she entered and he
brought her an ewer wherewith to wash, and sat down like to fly with
joy because of the dinars which he had tied up in his belt for a purse.
When the old woman had made an end of her ablution, she came up to
where he sat, and prayed a two-bow prayer; after which she blessed my
brother with a godly benediction, and he while thanking her put his
hand to the dinars and gave her two, saying to himself "These are my
voluntaries."[671] When she saw the gold she cried, "Praise be to
Allah! why dost thou look on one who loveth thee as if she were a
beggar? Take back thy money: I have no need of it; or, if thou want it
not, return it to her who gave it thee when thy glass-ware was broken.
Moreover, if thou wish to be united with her, I can manage the matter,
for she is my mistress." "O my mother," asked my brother, "by what
manner of means can I get at her?"; and she answered, "O my son! she
hath an inclination for thee, but she is the wife of a wealthy man; so
take the whole of thy money with thee and follow me, that I may guide
thee to thy desire: and when thou art in her company spare neither
persuasion nor fair words, but bring them all to bear upon her; so
shalt thou enjoy her beauty and wealth to thy heart's content." My
brother took all his gold and rose and followed the old woman, hardly
believing in his luck. She ceased not faring on, and my brother
following her, till they came to a tall gate at which she knocked and a
Roumi slave-girl[672] came out and opened to them. Then the old woman
led my brother into a great sitting-room spread with wondrous fine
carpets and hung with curtains, where he sat down with his gold before
him, and his turband on his knee.[673] He had scarcely taken seat
before there came to him a young lady (never eye saw fairer) clad in
garments of the most sumptuous; whereupon my brother rose to his feet,
and she smiled in his face and welcomed him, signing to him to be
seated. Then she bade shut the door and, when it was shut, she turned
to my brother, and taking his hand conducted him to a private chamber
furnished with various kinds of brocades and gold-cloths. Here he sat
down and she sat by his side and toyed with him awhile; after which she
rose and saying, "Stir not from thy seat till I come back to thee;"
disappeared. Meanwhile as he was on this wise, lo! there came in to him
a black slave big of body and bulk and holding a drawn sword in hand,
who said to him, "Woe to thee! Who brought thee hither and what dost
thou want here?" My brother could not return him a reply, being
tongue-tied for terror; so the blackamoor seized him and stripped him
of his clothes and bashed him with the flat of his sword-blade till he
fell to the ground, swooning from excess of belabouring. The ill-omened
nigger fancied that there was an end of him and my brother heard him
cry, "Where is the salt-wench?"[674] Whereupon in came a handmaid
holding in hand a large tray of salt, and the slave kept rubbing it
into my brother's wounds;[675] but he did not stir fearing lest the
slave might find out that he was not dead and kill him outright. Then
the salt-girl went away, and the slave cried "Where is the
souterrain[676]-guardianess?" Hereupon in came the old woman and
dragged my brother by his feet to a souterrain and threw him down upon
a heap of dead bodies. In this place he lay two full days, but Allah
made the salt the means of preserving his life by staunching the blood
and staying its flow. Presently, feeling himself able to move,
Al-Nashshár rose and opened the trap-door in fear and trembling and
crept out into the open; and Allah protected him, so that he went on in
the darkness and hid himself in the vestibule till dawn, when he saw
the accursed beldam sally forth in quest of other quarry. He followed
in her wake without her knowing it, and made for his own lodging where
he dressed his wounds and medicined himself till he was whole.
Meanwhile he used to watch the old woman, tracking her at all times and
seasons, and saw her accost one man after another and carry them to the
house. However he uttered not a word; but, as soon as he waxed hale and
hearty, he took a piece of stuff and made it into a bag which he filled
with broken glass and bound about his middle. He also disguised himself
as a Persian that none might know him, and hid a sword under his
clothes of foreign cut. Then he went out and presently, falling in with
the old woman, said to her, speaking Arabic with a Persian accent,
"Venerable lady,[677] I am a stranger arrived but this day here where I
know no one. Hast thou a pair of scales wherein I may weigh eleven
hundred dinars? I will give thee somewhat of them for thy pains." "I
have a son, a money-changer, who keepeth all kinds of scales," she
answered, "so come with me to him before he goeth out and he will weigh
thy gold." My brother answered "Lead the way!" She led him to the house
and the young lady herself came out and opened it, whereupon the old
woman smiled in her face and said, "I bring thee fat meat to-day."[678]
Then the damsel took my brother by the hand, and led him to the same
chamber as before; where she sat with him awhile then rose and went
forth saying, "Stir not from thy seat till I come back to thee."
Presently in came the accursed slave with the drawn sword and cried to
my brother, "Up and be damned to thee!" So he rose, and as the slave
walked on before him he drew the sword from under his clothes and smote
him with it, making head fly from body. Then he dragged the corpse by
the feet to the souterrain and called out, "Where is the salt-wench?"
Up came the girl carrying the tray of salt and, seeing my brother sword
in hand, turned to fly; but he followed her and struck off her head.
Then he called out "Where is the souterrain-guardianess?"; and in came
the old woman to whom he said, "Dost know me again, O ill-omened hag?"
"No my lord," she replied, and he said, "I am the owner of the five
hundred gold pieces, whose house thou enteredst to make the ablution
and to pray, and whom thou didst snare hither and betray." "Fear Allah
and spare me," cried she; but he regarded her not and struck her with
the sword till he had cut her in four. Then he went to look for the
young lady; and when she saw him her reason fled and she cried out
piteously "Amán![679] Mercy!" So he spared her and asked, "What made
thee consort with this blackamoor?;" and she answered, "I was slave to
a certain merchant, and the old woman used to visit me till I took a
liking to her. One day she said to me:—We have a marriage festival at
our house the like of which was never seen and I wish thee to enjoy the
sight. To hear is to obey, answered I and rising arrayed myself in my
finest raiment and ornaments, and took with me a purse containing an
hundred gold pieces. Then she brought me hither and hardly had I
entered the house when the black seized on me, and I have remained in
this case three whole years through the perfidy of the accursed
beldam." Then my brother asked her, "Is there anything of his in the
house?"; whereto she answered, "Great store of wealth, and if thou art
able to carry it away, do so and Allah give thee good of it!" My
brother went with her and she opened to him sundry chests wherein were
money bags, at which he was astounded; then she said to him, "Go now
and leave me here, and fetch men to remove the money." He went out and
hired ten men, but when he returned he found the door wide open, the
damsel gone and nothing left but some small matter of coin and the
household stuffs.[680] By this he knew that the girl had overreached
him; so he opened the store rooms and seized what was in them, together
with the rest of the money, leaving nothing in the house. He passed the
night rejoicing, but when morning dawned he found at the door some
twenty troopers who laid hands on him saying, "The Governor wants
thee!" My brother implored them hard to let him return to his house;
and even, offered them a large sum of money; but they refused and,
binding him fast with cords, carried him off. On the way they met a
friend of my brother who clung to his skirt and implored his
protection, begging him to stand by him and help to deliver him out of
their hands. The man stopped, and asked them what was the matter, and
they answered, "The Governor hath ordered us to bring this fellow
before him and, look ye, we are doing so." My brother's friend urged
them to release him, and offered them five hundred dinars to let him
go, saying, "When ye return to the Governor tell him that you were
unable to find him." But they would not listen to his words and took my
brother, dragging him along on his face, and set him before the
Governor who asked him, "Whence gottest thou these stuffs and monies?";
and he answered, "I pray for mercy!" So the Governor gave him the
kerchief of mercy;[681] and he told him all that had befallen him from
first to last with the old woman and the flight of the damsel; ending
with, "Whatso I have taken, take of it what thou wilt, so thou leave me
sufficient to support life."[682] But the Governor took the whole of
the stuffs and all the money for himself; and, fearing lest the affair
come to the Sultan's ears, he summoned my brother and said, "Depart
from this city, else I will hang thee." "Hearing and obedience" quoth
my brother and set out for another town. On the way thieves fell foul
of him and stripped and beat him and docked his ears; but I heard
tidings of his misfortunes and went out after him taking him clothes;
and brought him secretly into the city where I assigned to him an
allowance for meat and drink. And presently the Caliph gave ear to,
_THE BARBER'S TALE OF HIS SIXTH BROTHER._
My sixth brother, O Commander of the Faithful, Shakashik,[683] or
Many-clamours, the shorn of both lips, was once rich and became poor;
so one day he went out to beg somewhat to keep life in him. As he was
on the road he suddenly caught sight of a large and handsome mansion,
with a detached building wide and lofty at the entrance, where sat
sundry eunuchs bidding and forbidding.[684] My brother enquired of one
of those idling there and he replied. "The palace belongs to a scion of
the Barmaki house;" so he stepped up to the door-keepers and asked an
alms of them. "Enter," said they, "by the great gate and thou shalt get
what thou seekest from the Wazir our master." Accordingly he went in
and, passing through the outer entrance, walked on a while and
presently came to a mansion of the utmost beauty and elegance, paved
with marble, hung with curtains and having in the midst of it a flower
garden whose like he had never seen.[685] My brother stood awhile as
one bewildered not knowing whither to turn his steps; then, seeing the
farther end of the sitting-chamber tenanted, he walked up to it and
there found a man of handsome presence and comely beard. When this
personage saw my brother he stood up to him and welcomed him and asked
him of his case; whereto he replied that he was in want and needed
charity. Hearing these words the grandee showed great concern and,
putting his hand to his fine robe, rent it exclaiming, "What! am I in a
city, and thou here an-hungered? I have not patience to bear such
disgrace!" Then he promised him all manner of good cheer and said,
"There is no help but that thou stay with me and eat of my salt.[686]"
"O my lord," answered my brother, "I can wait no longer; for I am
indeed dying of hunger." So he cried, "Ho boy! bring basin and ewer;"
and, turning to my brother, said, "O my guest come forward and wash thy
hands." My brother rose to do so but he saw neither ewer nor basin; yet
his host kept washing his hands with invisible soap in imperceptible
water and cried, "Bring the table!" But my brother again saw nothing.
Then said the host, "Honour me by eating of this meat and be not
ashamed." And he kept moving his hand to and fro as if he ate and
saying to my brother, "I wonder to see thee eating thus sparely: do not
stint thyself for I am sure thou art famished." So my brother began to
make as though he were eating whilst his host kept saying to him, "Fall
to, and note especially the excellence of this bread and its
whiteness!" But still my brother saw nothing. Then said he to himself,
"This man is fond of poking fun at people;" and replied, "O my lord, in
all my days I never knew aught more winsome than its whiteness or
sweeter than its savour." The Barmecide said, "This bread was baked by
a handmaid of mine whom I bought for five hundred dinars." Then he
called out, "Ho boy, bring in the meat pudding[687] for our first dish,
and let there be plenty of fat in it;" and, turning to my brother said,
"O my guest, Allah upon thee, hast ever seen anything better than this
meat-pudding? Now by my life, eat and be not abashed." Presently he
cried out again, "Ho boy, serve up the marinated stew[688] with the
fatted sand-grouse in it;" and he said to my brother, "Up and eat, O my
guest, for truly thou art hungry and needest food." So my brother began
wagging his jaws and made as if champing and chewing,[689] whilst the
host continued calling for one dish after another and yet produced
nothing save orders to eat. Presently he cried out, "Ho boy, bring us
the chickens stuffed with pistachio nuts;" and said to my brother, "By
thy life, O my guest, I have fattened these chickens upon pistachios;
eat, for thou hast never eaten their like." "O my lord," replied my
brother, "they are indeed first-rate." Then the host began motioning
with his hand as though he were giving my brother a mouthful; and
ceased not to enumerate and expatiate upon the various dishes to the
hungry man whose hunger waxt still more violent, so that his soul
lusted after a bit of bread, even a barley-scone.[690] Quoth the
Barmecide, "Didst thou ever taste anything more delicious than the
seasoning of these dishes?"; and quoth my brother, "Never O my lord!"
"Eat heartily and be not ashamed," said the host, and the guest, "I
have eaten my fill of meat." So the entertainer cried, "Take away and
bring in the sweets;" and turning to my brother said, "Eat of this
almond conserve for it is prime and of these honey fritters; take this
one, by my life, the syrup runs out of it." "May I never be bereaved of
thee, O my lord," replied the hungry one and began to ask him about the
abundance of musk in the fritters. "Such is my custom," he answered:
"they put me a dinar-weight of musk in every honey-fritter and half
that quantity of ambergris." All this time my brother kept wagging head
and jaws till the master cried, "Enough of this. Bring us the dessert!"
Then said he to him, "Eat of these almonds and walnuts and raisins; and
of this and that (naming divers kinds of dried fruits), and be not
abashed." But my brother replied, "O my lord, indeed I am full: I can
eat no more." "O my guest," repeated the host, "if thou have a mind to
these good things eat: Allah! Allah![691] do not remain hungry;" but my
brother rejoined, "O my lord, he who hath eaten of all these dishes how
can he be hungry?" Then he considered and said to himself, "I will do
that shall make him repent of these pranks." Presently the entertainer
called out "Bring me the wine;" and, moving his hands in the air, as
though they had set it before them, he gave my brother a cup and said,
"Take this cup and, if it please thee, let me know." "O my lord," he
replied, "it is notable good as to nose but I am wont to drink wine
some twenty years old." "Knock then at this door,[692]" quoth the host,
"for thou canst not drink of aught better." "By thy kindness," said my
brother, motioning with his hand as though he were drinking. "Health
and joy to thee," exclaimed the house-master and feigned to fill a cup
and drink it off; then he handed another to my brother who quaffed it
and made as if he were drunken. Presently he took the host unawares;
and, raising his arm till the white of his armpit appeared, dealt him
such a cuff on the nape of his neck that the palace echoed to it. Then
he came down upon him with a second cuff and the entertainer cried
aloud, "What is this, O thou scum of the earth?" "O my lord," replied
my brother, "thou hast shown much kindness to thy slave, and admitted
him into thine abode and given him to eat of thy victual; then thou
madest him drink of thine old wine till he became drunken and
boisterous; but thou art too noble not to bear with his ignorance and
pardon his offence." When the Barmaki heard my brother's words he
laughed his loudest and said, "Long have I been wont to make mock of
men and play the madcap among my intimates, but never yet have I come
across a single one who had the patience and the wit to enter into all
my humours save thyself: so I forgive thee, and thou shalt be my
boon-companion in very sooth and never leave me." Then he ordered the
servants to lay the table in earnest and they set on all the dishes of
which he had spoken in sport; and he and my brother ate till they were
satisfied; after which they removed to the drinking-chamber, where they
found damsels like moons who sang all manner songs and played on all
manner instruments. There they remained drinking till their wine got
the better of them and the host treated my brother like a familiar
friend, so that he became as it were his brother, and bestowed on him a
robe of honour and loved him with exceeding love. Next morning the two
fell again to feasting and carousing, and ceased not to lead this life
for a term of twenty years; at the end of which the Barmecide died and
the Sultan took possession of all his wealth and squeezed my brother of
his savings, till he was left a pauper without a penny to handle. So he
quitted the city and fled forth following his face;[693] but, when he
was half way between two towns, the wild Arabs fell on him and bound
him and carried him to their camp, where his captor proceeded to
torture him, saying, "Buy thy life of me with thy money, else I will
slay thee!" My brother began to weep and replied, "By Allah, I have
nothing, neither gold nor silver; but I am thy prisoner; so do with me
what thou wilt." Then the Badawi drew a knife, broad-bladed and so
sharp-grinded that if plunged into a camel's throat[694] it would sever
it clean across from one jugular to the other, and cut off my brother's
lips and waxed more instant in requiring money. Now this Badawi had a
fair wife who in her husband's absence used to make advances to my
brother and offer him her favours, but he held off from her. One day
she began to tempt him as usual and he played with her and made her sit
on his lap, when behold, in came the Badawi who, seeing this, cried
out, "Woe to thee, O accursed villain, wouldest thou debauch my wife
for me?" Then he took out a knife and cut off my brother's yard, after
which he bound him on the back of a camel and, carrying him to a
mountain, left him there. He was at last found by some who recognised
him and gave him meat and drink and acquainted me with his condition;
whereupon I went forth to him and brought him back to Baghdad where I
made him an allowance sufficient to live on. This, then, O Commander of
the Faithful, is the history of my six brothers and I feared to go away
without relating it all to thee and leave thee in the error of judging
me to be like them. And now thou knowest that I have six brothers upon
my hands and, being more upright than they, I support the whole family.
When the Caliph heard my story and all I told him concerning my
brothers, he laughed and said, "Thou sayest sooth, O Silent Man! thou
art indeed spare of speech nor is there aught of forwardness in thee;
but now go forth out of this city and settle in some other." And he
banished me under edict. I left Baghdad and travelled in foreign parts
till I heard of his death and the accession of another to the
Caliphate. Then I returned to Baghdad where I found all my brothers
dead and chanced upon this young man, to whom I rendered the kindliest
service, for without me he had surely been killed. Indeed he slanders
me and accuses me of a fault which is not in my nature; and what he
reports concerning impudence and meddling and forwardness is idle and
false; for verily on his account I left Baghdad and travelled about
full many a country till I came to this city and met him here in your
company. And was not this, O worthy assemblage, of the generosity of my
nature?
_THE END OF THE TAILOR'S TALE._
Then quoth the Tailor to the King of China:—When we heard the Barber's
tale and saw the excess of his loquacity and the way in which he had
wronged this young man, we laid hands on him and shut him up, after
which we sat down in peace, and ate and drank and enjoyed the good
things of the marriage-feast till the time of the call to mid-afternoon
prayer, when I left the party and returned home. My wife received me
with sour looks and said, "Thou goest a-pleasuring among thy friends
and thou leavest me to sit sorrowing here alone. So now, unless thou
take me abroad and let me have some amusement for the rest of the day,
I will cut the rope[695] and it will be the cause of my separation from
thee." So I took her out and we amused ourselves till supper time, when
we returned home and fell in with this Hunchback who was brimful of
drink and trolling out these rhymes:—
Clear's the wine, the cup's fine; ✿ Like to like they combine:
It is wine and not cup! ✿ 'Tis a cup and not wine!
So I invited him to sup with us and went out to buy fried fish; after
which we sat down to eat; and presently my wife took a piece of bread
and a fid of fish and stuffed them into his mouth and he choked; and,
though I slapped him long and hard between the shoulders, he died. Then
I carried him off and contrived to throw him into the house of this
leach, the Jew; and the leach contrived to throw him into the house of
the Reeve; and the Reeve contrived to throw him on the way of the
Nazarene broker. This, then, is my adventure which befel me but
yesterday. Is not it more wondrous than the story of the Hunchback?
When the King of China heard the Tailor's tale he shook his head for
pleasure; and, showing great surprise, said, "This that passed between
the young man and the busy-body of a Barber is indeed more pleasant and
wonderful than the story of my lying knave of a Hunchback." Then he
bade one of his Chamberlains go with the Tailor and bring the Barber
out of jail, saying, "I wish to hear the talk of this Silent Man and it
shall be the cause of your deliverance one and all: then we will bury
the Hunchback, for that he is dead since yesterday, and set up a tomb
over him."——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say
her permitted say.
Now when it was the Thirty-fourth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the King of China
bade, "Bring me the Barber who shall be the cause of your deliverance;
then we will bury this Hunchback, for that he is dead since yesterday
and set up a tomb over him." So the Chamberlain and the Tailor went to
the jail and, releasing the Barber, presently returned with him to the
King. The Sultan of China looked at him and considered him carefully
and lo and behold! he was an ancient man, past his ninetieth year;
swart of face, white of beard, and hoar of eyebrows; lop-eared and
proboscis-nosed,[696] with a vacant, silly and conceited expression of
countenance. The King laughed at this figure o' fun and said to him, "O
Silent Man, I desire thee to tell me somewhat of thy history." Quoth
the Barber, "O King of the age, allow me first to ask thee what is the
tale of this Nazarene and this Jew and this Moslem and this Hunchback
(the corpse) I see among you? And prithee what may be the object of
this assemblage?" Quoth the King of China, "And why dost thou ask?" "I
ask," he replied, "in order that the King's majesty may know that I am
no forward fellow or busy-body or impertinent meddler; and that I am
innocent of their calumnious charges of overmuch talk; for I am he
whose name is the Silent Man, and indeed peculiarly happy is my
sobriquet, as saith the poet:—
When a nickname or little name men design, ✿ Know that nature with name
shall full oft combine."
Then said the King, "Explain to the Barber the case of this Hunchback
and what befel him at supper-time; also repeat to him the stories told
by the Nazarene, the Jew, the Reeve, and the Tailor; and of no avail to
me is a twice told tale." They did his bidding, and the Barber shook
his head and said, "By Allah, this is a marvel of marvels! Now uncover
me the corpse of yonder Hunchback." They undid the winding-sheet and he
sat down and, taking the Hunchback's head in his lap, looked at his
face, and laughed and guffaw'd[697] till he fell upon his back and
said, "There is wonder in every death,[698] but the death of this
Hunchback is worthy to be written and recorded in letters of liquid
gold!" The by-standers were astounded at his words and the King
marvelled and said to him, "What ails thee O Silent Man? Explain to us
thy words!" "O King of the age," said the Barber, "I swear by thy
beneficence that there is still life in this Gobbo Golightly!"
Thereupon he pulled out of his waist-belt a barber's budget, whence he
took a pot of ointment and anointed therewith the neck of the Hunchback
and its arteries. Then he took a pair of iron tweezers and, inserting
them into the Hunchback's throat, drew out the fid of fish with its
bone; and, when it came to sight, behold, it was soaked in blood.
Thereupon the Hunchback sneezed a hearty sneeze and jumped up as if
nothing had happened and passing his hand over his face said, "I
testify that there is no god, but _the_ God, and I testify that
Mohammed is the Apostle of God." At this sight all present wondered;
the King of China laughed till he fainted and in like manner did the
others. Then said the Sultan, "By Allah, of a truth this is the most
marvellous thing I ever saw! O Moslems, O soldiers all, did you ever in
the lives of you see a man die and be quickened again? Verily had not
Allah vouchsafed to him this Barber, he had been a dead man!" Quoth
they, "By Allah, 'tis a marvel of marvels." Then the King of China bade
record this tale, so they recorded it and placed it in the royal
muniment-rooms; after which he bestowed costly robes of honour upon the
Jew, the Nazarene and the Reeve, and bade them depart in all esteem.
Then he gave the Tailor a sumptuous dress and appointed him his own
tailor, with suitable pay and allowances; and made peace between him
and the Hunchback, to whom also he presented a splendid and expensive
suit with a suitable stipend. He did as generously with the Barber
giving him a gift and a dress of honour; moreover he settled on him a
handsome solde and created him Barber-surgeon[699] of state and made
him one of his cup-companions. So they ceased not to live the most
pleasurable life and the most delectable, till there came to them the
Destroyer of all delights and the Sunderer of all societies, the
Depopulator of palaces and the Garnerer for graves. Yet, O most
auspicious King! (continued Shahrazad) this tale is by no means more
wonderful than that of the two Wazirs and Anís al-Jalís. Quoth her
sister Dunyazad, "And what may that be?"; whereupon she began to relate
the following tale of
-----
Footnote 496:
Other editions read, "at Bassorah" and the Bresl. (ii. 123) "at
Bassorah and Kájkár" (Káshghár): somewhat like in Dover and
Sebastopol. I prefer China because further off and making the
improbabilities more notable.
Footnote 497:
Arab. "Judri," lit. "small stones" from the hard gravelly feeling of
the pustules (Rodwell, p. 20). The disease is generally supposed to
be the growth of Central Africa where it is still a plague and passed
over to Arabia about the birth-time of Mohammed. Thus is usually
explained the "war of the elephant" (Koran, chapt. cv.) when the
Abyssinian army of Abrahah, the Christian, was destroyed by swallows
(Abábíl which Major Price makes the plural of Abilah=a vesicle) which
dropped upon them "stones of baked clay," like vetches (Pilgrimage
ii. 175). See for details Sale (_in loco_) who seems to accept the
miraculous defence of the Ka'abah. For the horrors of small-pox in
Central Intertropical Africa the inoculation, known also to the
Badawin of Al-Hijáz and other details, readers will consult "The Lake
Regions of Central Africa" (ii. 318). The Hindus "take the bull by
the horns" and boldly make "Sítlá" (small-pox) a goddess, an
incarnation of Bhawáni, deëss of destruction-reproduction. In China
small pox is believed to date from B.C. 1200; but the chronology of
the Middle Kingdom still awaits the sceptic.
Footnote 498:
In Europe we should add "and all fled, especially the women." But the
fatalism inherent in the Eastern mind makes the great difference.
Footnote 499:
Arab. "Uzayr." Esdras was a manner of Ripp van Winkle. He was riding
over the ruins of Jerusalem when it had been destroyed by the
Chaldeans and he doubted by what means Allah would restore it;
whereupon he died and at the end of a hundred years he revived. He
found his basket of figs and cruse of wine as they were; but of his
ass only the bones remained. These were raised to life as Ezra looked
on and the ass began at once to bray. Which was a lesson to Esdras.
(Koran, chapt. ii). The oath by the ass's hoofs is to ridicule the
Jew. Mohammed seems to have had an _idée fixe_ that "the Jews say,
Ezra is the son of God" (Koran ix.); it may have arisen from the
heterodox Jewish belief that Ezra, when the Law was utterly lost,
dictated the whole anew to the scribes of his own memory. His tomb
with the huge green dome is still visited by the Jews of Baghdad.
Footnote 500:
Arab. "Bádhanj," the Pers. Bád (wind)-gír (catcher): a wooden
pent-house on the terrace-roof universal in the nearer East.
Footnote 501:
The hunchback, in Arabia as in Southern Europe, is looked upon by the
vulgar with fear and aversion: The reason is that he is usually
sharper-witted than his neighbours.
Footnote 502:
Arab. "Yá Sattár"=Thou who veilest the discreditable secrets of Thy
creatures.
Footnote 503:
Arab. "Nasráni," a follower of Him of Nazareth and an older name than
"Christian" which (Acts xi., 26) was first given at Antioch about
A.D. 43. The cry in Alexandria used to be "Ya Nasráni, Kalb awáni!"=O
Nazarene! O dog obscene! (Pilgrimage, 1., 160). "Christian" in Arabic
can be expressed only by "Masíhi"=follower of the Messiah.
Footnote 504:
Arab. "Tasbíh,"=Saluting in the Subh (morning).
Footnote 505:
In the East women stand on minor occasions while men squat on their
hunkers in a way hardly possible to an untrained European. The custom
is old. Herodotus (ii., 35) says, "The women stand up when they make
water, but the men sit down." Will it be believed that Canon
Rawlinson was too modest to leave this passage in his translation?
The custom was perpetuated by Al-Islam because the position prevents
the ejection touching the clothes and making them ceremonially
impure; possibly they borrowed it from the Guebres. Dabistan, Gate
xvi. says, "It is improper, whilst in an erect posture, to make
water; it is therefore necessary to sit at squat and force it to some
distance, repeating the Avesta mentally."
Footnote 506:
This is still a popular form of the "Kinchin lay," and as the
turbands are often of fine stuff, the _petite industrie_ pays well.
Footnote 507:
Arab. "Wali"=Governor; the term still in use for the Governor-General
of a Province as opposed to the "Muháfiz," or district-governor. In
Eastern Arabia the Wali is the Civil Governor opposed to the Amir or
Military Commandant. Under the Caliphate the Wali acted also as
Prefect of Police (the Indian Faujdár), who is now called "Zábit."
The older name for the latter was "Sáhib al-Shartah" (=chief of the
watch) or "Mutawalli"; and it was his duty to go the rounds in
person. The old "Charley," with his lantern and cudgel, still guards
the bazars in Damascus.
Footnote 508:
Arab. "Al-Mashá ilí"=the bearer of a cresset (Mash'al) who was also
Jack Ketch. In Anglo-India the name is given to a lower body-servant.
The "Mash'al" which Lane (M. E., chapt vi.) calls "Mesh'al" and
illustrates, must not be confounded with its congener the "Sha'ílah"
or link (also lamp, wick, etc.).
Footnote 509:
I need hardly say that the civilised "drop" is unknown to the East
where men are strung up as to a yardarm. This greatly prolongs the
suffering.
Footnote 510:
Arab. "Lukmah":=a mouthful. It is still the fashion amongst Easterns
of primitive manners to take up a handful of rice, etc., ball it and
put it into a friend's mouth _honoris causâ_. When the friend is a
European the expression of his face is generally a study.
Footnote 511:
I need hardly note that this is an old Biblical practice. The ass is
used for city-work as the horse for fighting and travelling, the mule
for burdens and the dromedary for the desert. But the Badawi, like
the Indian, despises the monture and sings:—
The back of the steed is a noble place;
But the mule's dishonour, the ass disgrace!
The fine white asses, often thirteen hands high, sold by the Banu
Salíb and other Badawi tribes, will fetch £100, and more. I rode a
little brute from Meccah to Jedda (42 miles) in one night and it came
in with me cantering.
Footnote 512:
A dry measure of about five bushels (Cairo). The classical
pronunciation is Irdabb and it measured 24 sa'a (gallons) each
filling four outstretched hands.
Footnote 513:
"Al-Jawáli" should be Al-Jáwali (Al-Makrizi) and the Bab al-Nasr
(Gate of Victory) is that leading to Suez. I lived in that quarter as
shown by my Pilgrimage (i. 62).
Footnote 514:
Arab. "Al-'ajalah," referring to a saying in every Moslem mouth,
"Patience is from the Protector (Allah): Hurry is from Hell." That
and "Inshallah bukra!" (Please God to-morrow!) are the traveller's
_bêtes noires_.
Footnote 515:
Here it is a polite equivalent for "fall to!"
Footnote 516:
The left hand is used throughout the East for purposes of ablution
and is considered unclean. To offer the left hand would be most
insulting and no man ever strokes his beard with it or eats with it:
hence, probably, one never sees a left-handed man throughout the
Moslem east. In the Brazil for the same reason old-fashioned people
will not take snuff with the right hand. And it is related of the
Khataians that they prefer the left hand, "Because the heart, which
is the Sultan of the city of the Body, hath his mansion on that side"
(Rauzat al-Safá).
Footnote 517:
Two feminine names; as we might say Mary and Martha.
Footnote 518:
It was near the Caliph's two Palaces (Al-Kasrayn); and was famous in
the 15th century A.D. The Kazi's Mahkamah (Court-house) now occupies
the place of the Two Palaces.
Footnote 519:
A Kaysariah is a superior kind of bazar, a "bezestein." That in the
text stood to the east of the principal street in Cairo and was built
in A. H. 502 (=1108-9) by a Circassian Emir, known as Fakhr al-Din
Jahárkas, a corruption of the Persian "Chehár-kas"=four persons
(Lane, i. 422, from Al-Makrizi and Ibn Khallikan). For Jahárkas the
Mac. Edit. has Jirjís (George) a common Christian name. I once lodged
in a "Wakálah (the modern Khan) Jirjis." Pilgrimage, i. 255.
Footnote 520:
Arab. "Second Day," _i.e._ after Saturday, the true Sabbath, so
marvellously ignored by Christendom.
Footnote 521:
Readers who wish to know how a traveller is lodged in a Wakálah,
Khan, or Caravanserai, will consult my Pilgrimage, i. 60.
Footnote 522:
The original occupation of the family had given it a name, as amongst
us.
Footnote 523:
The usual "chaff" or banter allowed even to modest women when
shopping, and—many a true word is spoken in jest.
Footnote 524:
"La adamnák"=Heaven deprive us not of thee, _i.e._ grant I see thee
often!
Footnote 525:
This is a somewhat cavalier style of advance; but Easterns under such
circumstances go straight to the point, hating to filer the parfait
amour.
Footnote 526:
The peremptory formula of a slave delivering such a message.
Footnote 527:
This would be our Thursday night, preceding the day of public prayers
which can be performed only when in a state of ceremonial purity.
Hence many Moslems go to the Hammam on Thursday and have no
connection with their wives till Friday night.
Footnote 528:
Lane (i. 423) gives ample details concerning the Habbániyah, or
grain-sellers' quarter in the southern part of Cairo; and shows that
when this tale was written (or transcribed?) the city was almost as
extensive as it is now.
Footnote 529:
Nakíb is a caravan-leader, a chief, a syndic; and "Abú Shámah"=Father
of a cheek mole, while "Abú Shámmah"=Father of a smeller, a nose, a
snout. The "Kuniyah," bye-name, patronymic or matronymic, is
necessary amongst Moslems whose list of names, all connected more or
less with religion, is so scanty. Hence Buckingham the traveller was
known as Abu Kidr, the Father of a Cooking-pot and Hajj Abdullah as
Abu Shawárib, Father of Mustachios (Pilgrimage, iii., 263).
Footnote 530:
More correctly Bab Zawilah from the name of a tribe in Northern
Africa. This gate dates from the same age as the Eastern or Desert
gate, Bab al-Nasr (A.D. 1087) and is still much admired. M. Jomard
describes it (Description, etc., ii. 670) and lately my good friend
Yacoub Artin Pasha has drawn attention to it in the Bulletin de
l'Inst. Egypt., Deuxième Série, No. 4, 1883.
Footnote 531:
This ornament is still seen in the older saloons of Damascus: the
inscriptions are usually religious sentences, extracts from the
Koran, etc., in uncial characters. They take the place of our
frescos; and, as a work of art, are generally far superior.
Footnote 532:
Arab. "Bayáz al-Sultání," the best kind of gypsum which shines like
polished marble. The stucco on the walls of Alexandria, built by
Alexander of the two Horns, was so exquisitely tempered and
beautifully polished that men had to wear masks for fear of
blindness.
Footnote 533:
This Iklíl, a complicated affair, is now obsolete, its place having
been taken by the "Kurs," a gold plate, some five inches in diameter,
set with jewels, etc. Lane (M. E. Appendix A) figures it.
Footnote 534:
The woman-artist who applies the dye is called "Munakkishah."
Footnote 535:
"Kissing with th' inner lip," as Shakespeare calls it; the French
_langue fourrée_; and Sankrit "Samputa." The subject of kissing is
extensive in the East. Ten different varieties are duly enumerated in
the "Ananga-Ranga;" or, The Hindu Art of Love (Ars Amoris Indica)
translated from the Sanscrit, and annotated by A. F. F. and B. F. R.
It is also connected with unguiculation, or impressing the nails, of
which there are seven kinds; morsication (seven kinds); handling the
hair and tappings or pattings with the fingers and palm (eight
kinds).
Footnote 536:
Arab. "asal-nahl," to distinguish it from "honey" _i.e._ syrup of
sugar-cane and fruits.
Footnote 537:
The lines have occurred in Night xii. By way of variety I give
Torrens' version p. 273.
Footnote 538:
The way of carrying money in the corner of a pocket-handkerchief is
still common.
Footnote 539:
He sent the provisions not to be under an obligation to her in this
matter. And she received them to judge thereby of his liberality.
Footnote 540:
Those who have seen the process of wine-making in the Libanus will
readily understand why it is always strained.
Footnote 541:
Arab. "Kulkasá," a kind of arum or yam, eaten boiled like our
potatoes.
Footnote 542:
At first he slipped the money into the bed-clothes: now he gives it
openly and she accepts it for a reason.
Footnote 543:
Arab. Al-Zalamah: lit.=tyrants, oppressors, applied to the police and
generally to the employés of Government. It is a word which tells a
history.
Footnote 544:
Moslem law is never completely satisfied till the criminal confess.
It also utterly ignores circumstantial evidence and for the best of
reasons: amongst so sharp-witted a people the admission would lead to
endless abuses. I greatly surprised a certain Governor-General of
India by giving him this simple information.
Footnote 545:
Cutting off the right hand is the Koranic punishment (chapt. v.) for
one who robs an article worth four dinars, about forty francs to
shillings. The left foot is to be cut off at the ankle for a second
offence and so on; but death is reserved for a hardened criminal. The
practice is now obsolete and theft is punished by the bastinado, fine
or imprisonment. The old Guebres were as severe. For stealing one
dirham's worth they took a fine of two, cut off the ear-lobes, gave
ten stick-blows and dismissed the criminal who had been subjected to
an hour's imprisonment. A second theft caused the penalties to be
doubled; and after that the right hand was cut off or death was
inflicted according to the proportion stolen.
Footnote 546:
Koran viii. 17.
Footnote 547:
A universal custom in the East, the object being originally to show
that the draught was not poisoned.
Footnote 548:
Out of paste or pudding.
Footnote 549:
Boils and pimples are supposed to be caused by broken hair-roots and
in Hindostani are called Bál-tor.
Footnote 550:
He intended to bury it decently, a respect which Moslems always show
even to the exuviæ of the body, as hair and nail parings. Amongst
Guebres the latter were collected and carried to some mountain. The
practice was intensified by fear of demons or wizards getting
possession of the spoils.
Footnote 551:
Without which the marriage was not valid. The minimum is ten dirhams
(drachmas) now valued at about five francs to shillings; and if a man
marry without naming the sum, the woman, after consummation, can
compel him to pay this minimum.
Footnote 552:
Arab. "Khatmah"=reading or reciting the whole Koran, by one or more
persons, usually in the house, not over the tomb. Like the "Zikr,"
Litany or Rogation, it is a pious act confined to certain occasions.
Footnote 553:
Arab. "Zírbájah"=meat dressed with vinegar, cumin-seed (Pers. Zír)
and hot spices. More of it in the sequel of the tale.
Footnote 554:
A saying not uncommon meaning, let each man do as he seems fit;
also="age quod agis": and at times corresponding with our saw about
the cap-fitting.
Footnote 555:
Arab. "Su'úd," an Alpinia with pungent rhizome like ginger; here used
as a counter-odour.
Footnote 556:
Arab. "Tá'ih"=lost in the "Tíh," a desert wherein man _may_ lose
himself, translated in our maps "The Desert of the Wanderings," scil.
of the children of Israel. "Credat Judæus."
Footnote 557:
_i.e._, £125 and £500.
Footnote 558:
A large sum was weighed by a professional instead of being counted,
the reason being that the coin is mostly old and worn: hence our
words "pound" and "pension" (or what is weighed out).
Footnote 559:
The eunuch is the best possible go-between on account of his almost
unlimited power over the Harem.
Footnote 560:
_i.e._ a slave-girl brought up in the house and never sold except for
some especial reason, as habitual drunkenness, etc.
Footnote 561:
Smuggling men into the Harem is a stock "topic" of eastern tales. "By
means of their female attendants, the ladies of the royal harem
generally get men into their apartments in the disguise of women."
Says Vatsyayana in The Kama Sutra, Part V., London: Printed for the
Hindoo Kamashastra Society, 1883. For private circulation only.
Footnote 562:
These tears are shed over past separation. So the "Indians" of the
New World never meet after long parting without beweeping mutual
friends they have lost.
Footnote 563:
A most important Jack in office whom one can see with his smooth chin
and blubber lips, starting up from his lazy snooze in the shade and
delivering his orders more peremptorily than any Dogberry. These
epicenes are as curious and exceptional in character as in external
conformation. Disconnected, after a fashion, with humanity, they are
brave, fierce and capable of any villany or barbarity (as Agha
Mohammed Khan in Persia 1795-98). The frame is unnaturally long and
lean, especially the arms and legs; with high, flat, thin shoulders;
big protruding joints and a face by contrast extraordinarily large, a
veritable mask; the Castrato is expert in the use of weapons and sits
his horse admirably, riding well "home" in the saddle for the best of
reasons; and his hoarse thick voice, which apparently does not break,
as in the European "Cáppone," invests him with all the circumstance
of command.
Footnote 564:
From the Meccan well used by Moslems much like Eau de Lourdes by
Christians: the water is saltish, hence the touch of Arab humour
(Pilgrimage III., 201-202.)
Footnote 565:
Such articles would be sacred from Moslem eyes.
Footnote 566:
Physiologically true, but not generally mentioned in describing the
emotions.
Footnote 567:
Properly "Uta," the different rooms, each "Odalisque," or concubine,
having her own.
Footnote 568:
Showing that her monthly ailment was over.
Footnote 569:
Arab. "Muhammarah"=either browned before the fire or artificially
reddened.
Footnote 570:
The insolence and licence of these palace-girls was (and is)
unlimited; especially when, as in the present case, they have to deal
with a "softy." On this subject numberless stories are current
throughout the East.
Footnote 571:
_i.e._ blackened by the fires of Jehannam.
Footnote 572:
Arab. "Bi'l-Salámah"=in safety (to avert the evil eye). When visiting
the sick it is usual to say something civil; "The Lord heal thee! No
evil befal thee!" etc.
Footnote 573:
Washing during sickness is held dangerous by Arabs; and "going to the
Hammam" is, I have said, equivalent to convalescence.
Footnote 574:
Arab. "Máristán" (pronounced Múristan) a corruption of the Pers.
"Bímáristán"=place of sickness, a hospital much affected by the old
Guebres (Dabistan, i., 165, 166). That of Damascus was the first
Moslem hospital, founded by Al-Walid Son of Abd al-Malik the Ommiade
in A.H. 88=706-7. Benjamin of Tudela (A.D. 1164) calls it
"Dar-al-Maraphtan" which his latest Editor explains by
"Dar-al-Mora-bittan" (abode of those who require being chained).
Al-Makrizi (Khitat) ascribes the invention of "Spitals" to
Hippocrates; another historian to an early Pharaoh "Manákiyush;" thus
ignoring the Persian Kings, Saint Ephrem (or Ephraim) Syru etc. In
modern parlance "Maristan" is a madhouse where the maniacs are
treated with all the horrors which were universal in Europe till
within a few years and of which occasional traces occur to this day.
In A.D. 1399 Katherine de la Court held a "hospital in the Court
called Robert de Paris;" but the first madhouse in Christendom was
built by the legate Ortiz in Toledo A.D. 1483, and was therefore
called Casa del Nuncio. The Damascus "Maristan" was described by
every traveller of the last century: and it showed a curious contrast
between the treatment of the maniac and the idiot or omadhaun, who is
humanely allowed to wander about unharmed, if not held a Saint. When
I saw it last (1870) it was all but empty and mostly in ruins. As far
as my experience goes, the United States is the only country where
the insane are rationally treated by the sane.
Footnote 575:
Hence the trite saying "Whoso drinks the water of the Nile will ever
long to drink it again." "Light" means easily digested water; and the
great test is being able to drink it at night between the sleeps,
without indigestion.
Footnote 576:
"Níl" in popular parlance is the Nile in flood, although also used
for the River as a proper name. Egyptians (modern as well as
ancient), have three seasons Al-Shitá (winter), Al-Sayf (summer) and
Al-Níl (the Nile _i.e._ flood season, our mid-summer); corresponding
with the Growth-months; Housing (or granary) months and Flood-months
of the older race.
Footnote 577:
These lines are in the Mac. Edit.
Footnote 578:
Arab. "Birkat al-Habash," a tank formerly existing in Southern Cairo:
Galland (Night 128) says "en remontant vers l'Éthiopie."
Footnote 579:
The Bres. Edit. (ii., 190) from which I borrow this description, here
alludes to the well-known Island, Al-Rauzah (Rodah)=The Garden.
Footnote 580:
Arab. "Laylat al-Wafá," the night of the completion or abundance of
the Nile (flood), usually between August 6th and 16th, when the
government proclaims that the Nilometer shows a rise of 16 cubits. Of
course it is a great festival and a high ceremony, for Egypt is still
the gift of the Nile (Lane M. E. chapt. xxvi—a work which would be
much improved by a better index).
Footnote 581:
_i.e._ admiration will be complete.
Footnote 582:
Arab. "Sáhil Masr" (Misr): hence I suppose Galland's _villes
maritimes_.
Footnote 583:
A favourite simile, suggested by the broken glitter and shimmer of
the stream under the level rays and the breeze of eventide.
Footnote 584:
Arab. "Halab," derived by Moslems from "He (Abraham) milked
(_halaba_) the white and dun cow." But the name of the city occurs in
the Cuneiforms as Halbun or Khalbun, and the classics knew it as
Βέροια, Beroea, written with variants.
Footnote 585:
Arab. "Ká'ah," usually a saloon; but also applied to a fine house
here and elsewhere in The Nights.
Footnote 586:
Arab. "Ghamz"=winking, signing with the eye which, amongst Moslems,
is not held "vulgar."
Footnote 587:
Arab. "Kamís" from low Lat. "Camicia," first found in St.
Jerome:—"Solent militantes habere lineas, quas Camicias vocant." Our
shirt, chemise, chemisette, etc. was unknown to the Ancients of
Europe.
Footnote 588:
Arab. "Narjís." The Arabs borrowed nothing, but the Persians much,
from Greek Mythology. Hence the eye of Narcissus, an idea hardly
suggested by the look of the daffodil (or asphodel) flower, is at
times the glance of a spy and at times the die-away look of a
mistress. Some scholars explain it by the form of the flower, the
internal calyx resembling the iris, and the stalk being bent just
below the petals suggesting drooping eyelids and languid eyes. Hence
a poet addresses the Narcissus:—
O Narjis, look away! Before those eyes ✿ I may not kiss her as
a-breast she lies.
What! Shall the lover close his eyes in sleep ✿ While thine watch all
things between earth and skies?
The fashionable lover in the East must affect a frantic jealousy if
he does not feel it.
Footnote 589:
In Egypt there are neither bedsteads nor bed-rooms: the carpets and
mattresses, pillows and cushions (sheets being unknown) are spread
out when wanted, and during the day are put into chests or cupboards,
or only rolled up in a corner of the room (Pilgrimage i., 53).
Footnote 590:
The women of Damascus have always been famed for the sanguinary
jealousy with which European story-books and novels credit the
"Spanish lady." The men were as celebrated for intolerance and
fanaticism, which we first read of in the days of Bertrandon de la
Brocquière and which culminated in the massacre of 1860. Yet they are
a notoriously timid race and make, physically and morally, the worst
of soldiers: we proved that under my late friend Fred. Walpole in the
Bashi-Buzuks during the old Crimean war. The men looked very fine
fellows and after a month in camp fell off to the condition of old
women.
Footnote 591:
Arab. "Rukhám," properly=alabaster and "Marmar"=marble; but the two
are often confounded.
Footnote 592:
He was ceremonially impure after touching a corpse.
Footnote 593:
The phrase is perfectly appropriate: Cairo without "her Nile" would
be nothing.
Footnote 594:
"The market was hot" say the Hindustanis. This would begin between 7
and 8 a.m.
Footnote 595:
Arab. Al-Faranj, Europeans generally. It is derived from "Gens
Francorum," and dates from Crusading days when the French played the
leading part. Hence the Lingua Franca, the Levantine jargon, of which
Molière has left such a witty specimen.
Footnote 596:
A process familiar to European surgery of the same date.
Footnote 597:
In sign of disappointment, regret, vexation; a gesture still common
amongst Moslems and corresponding in significance to a certain extent
with our stamping, wringing the hands and so forth. It is not
mentioned in the Koran where, however, we find "biting fingers' ends
out of wrath" against a man (chapt. iii).
Footnote 598:
This is no unmerited scandal. The Cairenes, especially the feminine
half (for reasons elsewhere given), have always been held exceedingly
debauched. Even the modest Lane gives a "shocking" story of a woman
enjoying her lover under the nose of her husband and confining the
latter in a madhouse (chapt. xiii.) With civilisation, which objects
to the good old remedy, the sword, they become worse: and the Kazi's
court is crowded with would-be divorcees. Under English rule the evil
has reached its acme because it goes unpunished: in the avenues of
the new Isma'iliyah Quarter, inhabited by Europeans, women, even
young women, will threaten to expose their persons unless they
receive "bakhshísh." It was the same in Sind when husbands were
assured that they would be hanged for cutting down adulterous wives:
at once after its conquest the women broke loose; and in 1843-50, if
a young officer sent to the bazar for a girl, half-a-dozen would
troop to his quarters. Indeed more than once the professional
prostitutes threatened to memorialise Sir Charles Napier because the
"modest women," the "ladies" were taking the bread out of their
mouths. The same was the case at Kabul (Caboul) of Afghanistan in the
old war of 1840; and here the women had more excuse, the husbands
being notable sodomites as the song has it:—
The worth of slit the Afghan knows;
The worth of hole the Kábul-man.
Footnote 599:
So that he might not have to do with three sisters german. Moreover
amongst Moslems a girl's conduct is presaged by that of her mother;
and if one sister go wrong, the other is expected to follow suit.
Practically the rule applies everywhere: "like mother like daughter."
Footnote 600:
In sign of dissent; as opposed to nodding the head which signifies
assent. These are two items, apparently instinctive and universal, of
man's gesture-language which has been so highly cultivated by sundry
North American tribes and by the surdo-mute establishments of Europe.
Footnote 601:
This "Futur" is the real "breakfast" of the East, the "Chhoti házri"
(petit déjeûner) of India, a bit of bread, a cup of coffee or tea and
a pipe on rising. In the text, however it is a ceremonious affair.
Footnote 602:
Arab. "Nahs," a word of many meanings; a sinister aspect of the stars
(as in Heb. and Aram.) or, adjectively, sinister, of ill-omen.
Vulgarly it is used as the reverse of nice and corresponds, after a
fashion with our "nasty."
Footnote 603:
"Window-gardening," new in England, is an old practise in the East.
Footnote 604:
Her pimping instinct at once revealed the case to her.
Footnote 605:
The usual "pander-dodge" to get more money.
Footnote 606:
The writer means that the old woman's account was all false, to
increase apparent difficulties and _pour se faire valoir_.
Footnote 607:
Arab. "Yá Khálati"=mother's sister; a familiar address to the old, as
uncle or nuncle (father's brother) to a man. The Arabs also hold that
as a girl resembles her mother so a boy follows his uncle (mother's
brother): hence the address "Ya tayyib al-Khál!"=O thou nephew of a
good uncle. I have noted that physically this is often fact.
Footnote 608:
"Ay w' Alláhi," contracted popularly to Aywa, a word in every Moslem
mouth and shunned by Christians because against orders Hebrew and
Christian. The better educated Turks now eschew that eternal
reference to Allah which appears in The Nights and which is still the
custom of the vulgar throughout the world of Al-Islam.
Footnote 609:
The "Muzayyin" or barber in the East brings his basin and budget
under his arm: he is not content only to shave, he must scrape the
forehead, trim the eyebrows, pass the blade lightly over the nose and
correct the upper and lower lines of the mustachios, opening the
central parting and so forth. He is not a whit less a tattler and a
scandalmonger than the old Roman tonsor or Figaro his _confrère_ in
Southern Europe. The whole scene of the Barber is admirable, an
excellent specimen of Arab humour and not over-caricatured. We all
have met him.
Footnote 610:
Abdullah ibn Abbas was a cousin and a companion of the Apostle; also
a well-known Commentator on the Koran and conserver of the traditions
of Mohammed.
Footnote 611:
I have noticed the antiquity of this father of our sextant, a
fragment of which was found in the Palace of Sennacherib. More
concerning the "Arstable" (as Chaucer calls it) is given in my
"Camoens: his Life and his Lusiads" p. 381.
Footnote 612:
Arab. "Simiyá" to rhyme with Kímiyá (alchemy proper). It is a
subordinate branch of the Ilm al-Ruháni which I would translate
"Spiritualism," and which is divided into two great branches, "Ilwí
or Rahmáni" (the high or related to the Deity) and Siflí or Shaytáni
(low, Satanic). To the latter belongs Al-Sahr, magic or the black art
proper, gramarye, egromancy, while Al-Simiyá is white magic,
electro-biology, a kind of natural and deceptive magic, in which
drugs and perfumes exercise an important action. One of its principal
branches is the Darb al-Mandal or magic mirror, of which more in a
future page. See Boccaccio's Day x. Novel 5.
Footnote 613:
Chapt. iii. 128. See Sale (in loco) for the noble application of this
text by the Imam Hasan, son of the Caliph Ali.
Footnote 614:
These proverbs at once remind us of our old friend Sancho Panza and
are equally true to nature in the mouth of the Arab and of the
Spaniard.
Footnote 615:
Our nurses always carry in the arms: Arabs place the children
astraddle upon the hip and when older on the shoulder.
Footnote 616:
Eastern clothes allow this biblical display of sorrow and vexation,
which with our European garb would look absurd: we must satisfy
ourselves with maltreating our hats.
Footnote 617:
Koran xlviii., 8. It may be observed that according to the Ahádis
(sayings of the Prophet) and the Sunnat (sayings and doings of
Mahommed), all the hair should be allowed to grow or the whole head
be clean shaven. Hence the "Shúshah," or topknot supposed to be left
as a handle for drawing the wearer into Paradise; and the Zulf, or
side-locks, somewhat like the ringlets of the Polish Jews, are both
vain "Bida'at," or innovations, and therefore technically termed
"Makrúh," a practice not laudable, neither "Halál" (perfectly lawful)
nor "Harám" (forbidden by the law). When boys are first shaved,
generally in the second or third year, a tuft is left on the crown
and another over the forehead: but this is not the fashion amongst
adults. Abu Hanifah, if I am rightly informed, wrote a treatise on
the Shushah or long lock growing from the Násiyah (head-poll) which
is also a precaution lest the decapitated Moslem's mouth be defiled
by an impure hand; and thus it would resemble the chivalry-lock by
which the Redskin brave (and even the "cowboy" of better times)
facilitated the removal of his own scalp. Possibly the Turks had
learned the practice from the Chinese and introduced it into Baghdad
(Pilgrimage i., 240). The Badawi plait their locks in Kurún (horns)
or Jadáil (ringlets) which are undone only to be washed with the
water of the she-camel. The wild Sherifs wear Haffah, long elf-locks
hanging down both sides of the throat, and shaved away about a
finger's breadth round the forehead and behind the neck (Pilgrimage
iii., 35-36). I have elsewhere noted the _accroche-cœurs_, the
"idiot-fringe," etc.
Footnote 618:
Meats are rarely coloured in modern days; but Persian cooks are great
adepts in staining rice for the "Puláo" (which we call after its
Turkish corruption "pilaff"): it sometimes appears in
rainbow-colours, red, yellow and blue; and in India is covered with
gold and silver leaf. Europe retains the practice in tinting Pasch
(Easter) eggs, the survival of the mundane ovum which was hatched at
Easter-tide; and they are dyed red in allusion to the Blood of
Redemption.
Footnote 619:
As I have noticed this is a mixture.
Footnote 620:
We say:—
'Tis rare the father in the son we see:
He sometimes rises in the third degree.
Footnote 621:
Arab. "Ballán" _i.e._ the body-servant: "Ballánah" is a tire-woman.
Footnote 622:
Arab. "Darabukkah" a drum made of wood or earthenware (Lane, M. E.,
xviii.), and used by all in Egypt.
Footnote 623:
Arab. "Naihah" more generally "Naddábah" Lat. præfica or carina, a
hired mourner, the Irish "Keener" at the conclamatio or coronach,
where the Hullabaloo, Hulululu or Ululoo showed the survivors'
sorrow.
Footnote 624:
These doggrels, which are like our street melodies, are now forgotten
and others have taken their place. A few years ago one often heard,
"Dus ya lallí" (tread, O my joy) and "Názil il'al-Ganínah" (Down into
the garden) and these in due turn become obsolete. Lane (M. E. chapt.
xviii.) gives the former _e.g._
Tread, O my joy! Tread, O my joy!
Love of my love brings sore annoy,
A chorus to such stanzas as:—
Alexandrian damsels rare! ✿ Daintily o'er the floor ye fare:
Your lips are sweet, are sugar-sweet, ✿ And purfled Cashmere shawls
ye wear!
It maybe noted that "humming" is not a favourite practice with
Moslems; if one of the company begin, another will say, "Go to the
Kahwah" (the coffee-house, the proper music-hall) "and sing there!" I
have elsewhere observed their dislike to Al-sifr or whistling.
Footnote 625:
Arab. Khalí'a=worn out, crafty, an outlaw; used like Span. "Perdido."
Footnote 626:
"Zabbál" is the scavenger, lit. a dung-drawer, especially for the use
of the Hammam which is heated with the droppings of animals. "Wakkád"
(stoker) is the servant who turns the fire. The verses are mere
nonsense to suit the Barber's humour.
Footnote 627:
Arab. "Yá bárid"=O fool.
Footnote 628:
This form of blessing is chaunted from the Minaret about half-an-hour
before midday, when the worshippers take their places in the mosque.
At noon there is the usual Azán or prayer-call, and each man performs
a two-bow, in honour of the mosque and its gathering, as it were. The
Prophet is then blessed and a second Salám is called from the raised
ambo or platform ("dikkah") by the divines who repeat the
midday-call. Then an Imam recites the first Khutbah, or sermon "of
praise"; and the congregation worships in silence. This is followed
by the second exhortation "of Wa'az," dispensing the words of wisdom.
The Imam now stands up before the Mihráb (prayer niche) and recites
the Ikámah which is the common Azan with one only difference: after
"Hie ye to salvation" it adds "Come is the time of supplication";
whence the name, "causing" (prayer) to stand (_i.e._ to begin).
Hereupon the worshippers recite the Farz or Koran-commanded
noon-prayer of Friday; and the unco'guid add a host of
supererogatories. Those who would study the subject may consult Lane
(M. E. chapt. iii. and its abstract in his "Arabian Nights," I, p.
430, or note 69 to Chapt. v.)
Footnote 629:
_i.e._, The women loosed their hair; an immodesty sanctioned only by
a great calamity.
Footnote 630:
These small shops are composed of a "but" and a "ben" (Pilgrimage i.
99.)
Footnote 631:
Arab. "Kawwád," a popular term of abuse; hence the Span. and Port.
"Alcoviteiro." The Italian "Galeotto" is from Galahalt, not Galahad.
Footnote 632:
_i.e._ "one seeking assistance in Allah." He was the son of Al-Záhir
bi'lláh (one pre-eminent by the decree of Allah). Lane says (i. 430),
"great-grandson of Harun al-Rashid," alluding to the first Mustansir
son of Al-Mutawakkil (regn. A.H. 247-248=861-2). But this is the 56th
Abbaside and regn. A.H. 623-640 (=1226-1242).
Footnote 633:
Arab. "Yaum al-Id," the Kurban Bairam of the Turks, the Pilgrimage
festival. The story is historical. In the "Akd," a miscellany
compiled by Ibn Abd Rabbuh (vulg. Rabbi-hi) of Cordova, who ob. A.H.
328=940 we read:—A spunger found ten criminals and followed them,
imagining they were going to a feast; but lo, they were going to
their deaths. And when they were slain and he remained, he was
brought before the Khalifah (Al-Maamun) and Ibrahim son of Al-Mahdi
related a tale to procure pardon for the man, whereupon the Khalifah
pardoned him. Lane ii, 506.
Footnote 634:
Arab. "Nata' al-Dam"; the former word was noticed in the Tale of the
Bull and the Ass. The leather of blood was not unlike the Sufrah and
could be folded into a bag by a string running through rings round
the edges. Moslem executioners were very expert and seldom failed to
strike off the head with a single blow of the thin narrow blade with
razor-edge, hard as diamond withal, which contrasted so strongly with
the great coarse chopper of the European headsman.
Footnote 635:
The ground floor, which in all hot countries is held, and rightly so,
unwholesome during sleep, is usually let for shops. This is also the
case throughout Southern Europe, and extends to the Canary Islands
and the Brazil.
Footnote 636:
This serious contemplation of street-scenery is one of the pleasures
of the Harems.
Footnote 637:
We should say "smiled at him": the laugh was not intended as an
affront.
Footnote 638:
Arab. "Fals ahmar." Fals is a fish-scale, also the smaller coin and
the plural "Fulús" is the vulgar term for money (=Ital. _quattrini_)
without specifying the coin. It must not be confounded with the
"Fazzah," alias "Nuss," alias "Páráh" (Turk.); the latter being made,
not of "red copper" but of a vile alloy containing like the Greek
"Asper," some silver; and representing, when at par, the fortieth of
a piastre, the latter being=2d. ⅖ths.
Footnote 639:
Arab. "Farajiyah," a long-sleeved robe; Lane's "Farageeyeh," M. E.,
chapt. i.
Footnote 640:
The tailor in the East, as in Southern Europe, is made to cut out the
cloth in presence of its owner to prevent "cabbaging."
Footnote 641:
Expecting a present.
Footnote 642:
Alluding to the saying, "Kiss is the key to Kitty."
Footnote 643:
The "panel-dodge" is fatally common throughout the East, where a man
found in the house of another is helpless.
Footnote 644:
This was the beginning of horseplay which often ends in a bastinado.
Footnote 645:
Hair-dyes, in the East, are all of vegetable matter, henna,
indigo-leaves, galls, etc.: our mineral dyes are, happily for them,
unknown. Herklots will supply a host of recipes. The Egyptian mixture
which I quoted in Pilgrimage (ii., 274) is sulphate of iron and
ammoniure of iron one part and gall nuts two parts, infused in eight
parts of distilled water. It is innocuous but very poor as a dye.
Footnote 646:
Arab. Amrad, etymologically "beardless and handsome," but often used
in a bad sense, to denote an effeminate, a catamite.
Footnote 647:
The Hindus prefer "having the cardinal points as her sole garment."
Vêtu de climat, says Madame de Stael. In Paris nude statues are
"draped in cerulean blue." Rabelais (iv., 29) robes King Shrovetide
in grey and gold of a comical cut, nothing before, nothing behind
with sleeves of the same.
Footnote 648:
This scene used to be enacted a few years ago in Paris for the
benefit of concealed spectators, a young American being the victim.
It was put down when one of the lookers-on lost his eye by a
pen-knife thrust into the "crevice."
Footnote 649:
Meaning that the trick had been played by the Wazir's wife or
daughter. I could mention sundry names at Cairo whose charming owners
have done worse things than this unseemly frolic.
Footnote 650:
Arab. "Shayyun li'lláhi," a beggar's formula=per amor di Dio.
Footnote 651:
Noting how sharp-eared the blind become.
Footnote 652:
The blind in Egypt are notorious for insolence and violence,
fanaticism and rapacity. Not a few foreigners have suffered from them
(Pilgrimage i. 148). In former times many were blinded in infancy by
their mothers, and others blinded themselves to escape conscription
or honest hard work. They could always obtain food, especially as
Mu'ezzins; and were preferred because they could not take advantage
of the minaret by spying into their neighbours' households. The
Egyptian race is chronically weak-eyed, the effect of the damp hot
climate of the valley, where ophthalmia prevailed even during the
pre-Pharaohnic days. The great Sesostris died stone-blind and his
successor lost his sight for ten years (Pilgrimage ii., 176). That
the Fellahs are now congenitally weak-eyed, may by seen by comparing
them with negroes imported from Central Africa. Ophthalmia rages,
especially during the damp season, in the lower Nile-valley; and the
best cure for it is a fortnight's trip to the Desert where, despite
glare, sand and wind, the eye readily recovers tone.
Footnote 653:
_i.e._ With kicks and cuffs, and blows, as is the custom. (Pilgrimage
i., 174.)
Footnote 654:
Arab. Káid (whence "Alcayde") a word still much used in North Western
Africa.
Footnote 655:
Arab. "Sullam"=lit. a ladder; a frame-work of sticks, used by way of
our triangles or whipping-posts.
Footnote 656:
This is one of the feats of Al-Simiyá=white magic; fascinating the
eyes. In Europe it has lately taken the name of "Electro-biology."
Footnote 657:
Again by means of the "Simiyá" or power of fascination possessed by
the old scoundrel.
Footnote 658:
A formula for averting "Al-Ayn," the evil eye. It is always unlucky
to meet a one-eyed man, especially the first thing in the morning and
when setting out on any errand. The idea is that the fascinated one
will suffer from some action of the physical eye. Monoculars also are
held to be rogues: so the Sanskrit saying "Few one-eyed men be honest
men."
Footnote 659:
Al-Nashshár from Nashr=sawing: so the fiddler in Italian is called
the "village-saw" (_Sega del villaggio_). He is the Alnaschar of the
Englished Galland and Richardson. The tale is very old. It appears as
the Brahman and the Pot of Rice in the Panchatantra; and Professor
Benfey believes (as usual with him) that this, with many others,
derives from a Buddhist source. But I would distinctly derive it from
Æsop's market-woman who kicked over her eggs; whence the Lat. prov.
Ante victoriam canere triumphum=to sell the skin before you have
caught the bear. In the "Kalilah and Dimnah" and its numerous
offspring it is the "Ascetic with his Jar of oil and honey;" in
Rabelais (i, 33) Echephron's shoemaker spills his milk, and so La
Perette in La Fontaine. See M. Max Muller's "Chips," vol. iii.,
appendix. The curious reader will compare my version with that which
appears at the end of Richardson's Arabic Grammar (Edit. of 1811): he
had a better, or rather a fuller MS. (p. 199) than any yet printed.
Footnote 660:
Arab. "Atr"=any perfume especially oil of roses; whence our word
"Ottar," through the Turkish corruption.
Footnote 661:
The texts give "dirhams" (100,000=5,000 dinars) for "dinars," a
clerical error as the sequel shows.
Footnote 662:
"Young slaves," says Richardson, losing "colour."
Footnote 663:
Nothing more calculated to give affront than such a refusal.
Richardson (p. 204) who, however, doubts his own version (p. 208)
here translates, "and I will not give liberty to my soul (spouse) but
in her apartments." The Arabic or rather Cairene, is, "wa lá akhalli
rúhi"=I will not let myself go _i.e._ be my every-day self, etc.
Footnote 664:
"Whilst she is in astonishment and terror." (Richardson).
Footnote 665:
"Chamber of robes," Richardson whose text has "Nám" for "Manám."
Footnote 666:
"Till I compleat her distress," Richardson, whose text is corrupt.
Footnote 667:
"Sleep by her side," R. the word "Náma" bearing both senses.
Footnote 668:
"Will take my hand," R. "takabbal" being also ambiguous.
Footnote 669:
Arab. "Mu'arras" one who brings about "'Ars," marriages, etc. So the
Germ. "Kupplerinn," a Coupleress. It is one of the many synonyms for
a pimp, and a word in general use (Pilgrimage i., 276). The most
insulting term, like Dayyús, insinuates that the man panders for his
own wife.
Footnote 670:
Of hands and face, etc. See Night cccclxiv.
Footnote 671:
Arab. "Sadakah" (sincerity), voluntary or superogatory alms, opposed
to "Zakát" (purification), legal alms which are indispensable.
"Prayer carries us half way to Allah; fasting brings us to the door
of His palace and alms-deeds (Sadakah) causes us to enter." For
"Zakát" no especial rate is fixed; but it should not be less than
one-fortieth of property or two and a half per cent. Thus Al-Islam
is, as far as I know, the only faith which makes a poor-rate (Zakát)
obligatory and which has invented a property-tax, as opposed to the
unjust and unfair income-tax upon which England prides herself.
Footnote 672:
A Greek girl.
Footnote 673:
This was making himself very easy; and the idea is that the gold in
pouch caused him to be so bold. Lane's explanation (in loco) is all
wrong. The pride engendered by sudden possession of money is a _lieu
commun_ amongst Eastern story-tellers; even in the beast-fables the
mouse which has stolen a few gold pieces becomes confident and
stouthearted.
Footnote 674:
Arab. "Al-Málihah" also means the beautiful (fem.), from "Milh"=salt,
splendour, etc. The Mac. Edit. has "Mumallihah"=a salt-vessel.
Footnote 675:
_i.e._ to see if he felt the smart.
Footnote 676:
Arab. "Sardábeh" (Persian)=an underground room used for coolness in
the hot season. It is unknown in Cairo but every house in Baghdad, in
fact throughout the Mesopotamian cities, has one. It is on the
principle of the underground cellar without which wine will not keep:
Lane (i., 406) calls it a "vault."
Footnote 677:
In the orig. "O old woman!" which is insulting.
Footnote 678:
So the Italians say "a quail to skin."
Footnote 679:
"Amán" is the word used for quarter on the battle-field; and there
are Joe Millers about our soldiers in India mistaking it for "a man"
or (_Scotticè_) "a mon."
Footnote 680:
Illustrating the Persian saying "Allah himself cannot help a fool."
Footnote 681:
Any article taken from the person and given to a criminal is a
promise of pardon, of course on the implied condition of plenary
confession and of becoming "King's evidence."
Footnote 682:
A naive proposal to share the plunder.
Footnote 683:
In popular literature "Schacabac." And from this tale comes our
saying "a Barmecide's Feast," _i.e._ an illusion.
Footnote 684:
The Castrato at the door is still (I have said,) the fashion of Cairo
and he acts "Suisse" with a witness.
Footnote 685:
As usual in the East, the mansion was a hollow square surrounding
what in Spain is called _Patio_: the outer entrance was far from the
inner, showing the extent of the grounds.
Footnote 686:
"Nahnu málihín"=we are on terms of salt, said and say the Arabs. But
the traveller must not trust in these days to the once sacred tie;
there are tribes which will give bread with one hand and stab with
the other. The Eastern use of salt is a curious contrast with that of
Westerns, who made it an invidious and inhospitable distinction,
_e.g._ to sit above the salt-cellar and below the salt. Amongst the
ancients, however, "he took bread and salt" means he swore, the food
being eaten when an oath was taken. Hence the "Bride cake" of salt,
water and flour.
Footnote 687:
Arab. "Harísah," the meat-pudding before explained.
Footnote 688:
Arab. "Sikbáj," before explained; it is held to be a lordly dish,
invented by Khusraw Parwiz. "Fatted duck" says the Bresl. Edit. ii.
308, with more reason.
Footnote 689:
I was reproved in Southern Abyssinia for eating without this
champing, "Thou feedest like a beggar who muncheth silently in his
corner;" and presently found that it was a sign of good breeding to
eat as noisily as possible.
Footnote 690:
Barley in Arabia is, like our oats, food for horses: it fattens at
the same time that it cools them. Had this been known to our cavalry
when we first occupied Egypt in 1883-4 our losses in horse-flesh
would have been far less; but official ignorance persisted in feeding
the cattle upon heated oats and the riders upon beef, which is
indigestible, instead of mutton, which is wholesome.
Footnote 691:
_i.e._ "I conjure thee by God."
Footnote 692:
_i.e._ "This is the very thing for thee."
Footnote 693:
_i.e._, at random.
Footnote 694:
This is the way of slaughtering the camel, whose throat is never cut
on account of the thickness of the muscles. "Égorger un chameau" is a
mistake often made in French books.
Footnote 695:
_i.e._ I will break bounds.
Footnote 696:
The Arabs have a saying corresponding with the dictum of the
Salernitan school:—
Noscitur a labiis quantum sit virginis antrum:
Noscitur a naso quanta sit hasta viro;
(A maiden's mouth shows what's the make of her _chose_;
And man's mentule one knows by the length of his nose.)
Whereto I would add:—
And the eyebrows disclose how the lower wig grows.
The observations are purely empirical but, as far as my experience
extends, correct.
Footnote 697:
Arab. "Kahkahah," a very low proceeding.
Footnote 698:
Or "for every death there is a cause;" but the older Arabs had a
saying corresponding with "Deus non fecit mortem."
Footnote 699:
The King's barber is usually a man of rank for the best of reasons
that he holds his Sovereign's life between his fingers. One of these
noble Figaros in India married an English lady who was, they say,
unpleasantly surprised to find out what were her husband's official
duties.
END OF VOL. I.
وآلسلام
INDEX.
Abbas "hero eponymus" of the Abbaside dynasty, 188
Abdullah ibn Abbas, companion and traditioner, 304
Abú Kidr=father of the cooking-pot, _ib._
Abú Shámah=father of a cheek-mole, 269
Abú Shámmah=father of a smeller or nose, _ib._
Abú Shawárib=father of mustachios, _ib._
Abu Shiháb, father of the shooting star=evil spirit, 221
Abú Yakzán=the wakener=ass, 16
=cock, 18
Ad=tribe of prehistoric Arabs, 65
Adab=anything between good education and good manners, 132
Aghá=master, politely applied to an Eunuch, 235
Ahdab, hunchback=classical Ak'as, 213
A'in=Smiter with the evil eye, 123
Ajal=appointed period of life, 74
'Ajami=foreigner, esp. Persian, 120
Ajuz, for old woman, highly insulting; use Shaybah, 174
Akásirah=Kisra-Kings, 75
Akrás=cakes, 83
Al-Aftah=Broad-o'-Brow, 17
Al-Ajam=region not Arab, Persia, 2
Al-Amin, son and successor of Hárún al-Rashíd, 185
Al-Aríf=monitor, 231
Al-Asr=time or prayer of mid-afternoon, 240
Al-Bashárah=gift of good tidings, guerdon, 30
Al-Bostáni=gardener, family name from original occupation, 266
Al-Faranj=European, 296
Al-Hasá=plain of pebbles, west of Damascus, 234
Al-Kahánah=the craft of a Káhin or soothsayer, 28
Al-Maamún, son and successor of Hárún al-Rashíd, 185
Al-Málihah=salt-girl; beautiful, 340
Al-Mustansir bi'llah=one seeking help in Allah, 317
Al-Nashshár=sawing, 335
Al-Níl=flood season corresponding to mid-summer, 290
Al-Rauzah=the gardens, 291
Al-Safar Zafar=voyaging is victory, 250
Al-Sahr=magic, black art, 305
Al-Záhir bi'llah=one pre-eminent by the decree of Allah, 317
Al-Zalamah (tyrants, oppressors)=police and employés, 273
Allah! Allah!=I conjure thee by God, _Passim_
Allah hath said, formula of quoting the Koran, 61
Allah Karím=Allah is all beneficent, 32
Allah will open thee, a formula of refusing, _ib._
Ailaho a'alam=God is all knowing, 2; 50
Allahumma=Yá Allah with emphasis, 39
Amán=quarter, mercy, 342
Amír=Military Commandant, 259
Amír al-Muuminín=Prince of the Faithful, 112
Amrad=beardless and handsome, effeminate, 327
Amsár=cities, 11
Amshát (combs) perhaps=Kunáfah (vermicelli), 83
Andam=the gum called dragon's blood; brazilwood, 176
Arab al-Arabá=prehistoric tribes of the Arabs, 112
Arab al-Musta'ajimah=barbarised Arabs, _ib._
Arab al-Musta'aribah=naturalised Arabs, _ib._
Arab al-Muta'arribah=Arabised Arabs, _ib._
Arakiyah=white scull-cap, 215
Ardabb (Irdabb)=about five bushels, 263
Arún (Heb.)=in his shirt, 78
Asal-nahl=bee's honey, 271
Ashkánián=race of Persian Kings, 78
Astrolabe, father of our sextant, 304
Atr=any perfume, 335
Auhashtani=thou hast made me desolate, 62
Awálim pl. of Alimah=dancing girls, 214
Aysh (Egypt.)=Ayyu shayyin for classical "Má"=what, 79
Aywa (for Ay w' Alláhi)=Ay, by Allah, 303
Azim="deuced" or "mighty fine", 178
Báb=gate; chapter, 136
Báb al-Farádís=gate of the gardens at Damascus, 240
Babel=Gate of God, 85
Babes of the eyes=pupils, 100
Badawi's dying farewell, 75
Bádhanj=wind-shaft, ventilator, 257
Badmasti=le vin mauvais, 88
Baghlah=she-mule, 129
Bahr=water cut or trenched in the earth, sea, large river, 44
Bahr al-muhít=circumambient ocean, 133
Balid=simpleton, 17
Ballán=body servant, 311
Ballánah=tire-woman, _ib._
Banj=Nibanj=Nepenthe, hemp, 70
Baradiyah=wide-mouthed jug, 36
Bárid=vain, foolish, insipid, 213
Barley, food for horses, 345
Barmecides, 188
Basaltic statues in Hauranic ruins give rise to the idea of men
metamorphosed into black stones, 170
Basil=the Indian Tulsi, Ocymum basilicum, 19
Basil of the bridges=pennyroyal, 91
Bastinado of women, 183
Bayáz al-Sultáni=the best kind of gypsum, 270
Bazar of Damascus famous in the Middle Ages, 2
Beheading or sacking a faithless wife unlawful but leniently looked
upon, 181
Before the face of Allah=for the love of God, 135
Bi'l-Salámah=in safety (to avert the evil eye), 288
Birkat al-Habash=Abyssinian pond, 291
Bismillah=in the name of God, 40
—— said before taking action, 80
—— a civil form of dismissal, 98
——="fall to!", 264
Blackamoors preferred by debauched women, 6
Blind notorious for insolence, etc., 330
Blinding a common practice in the East, how done, 108
Blue and yellow turbans prescribed to Christians and Jews, 77
Boils and pimples supposed to be caused by broken hair-roots, 275
Breast broadening with delight, 48
Breast straitened, the converse of breast broadening (48), 119
Bride's throne, 215
Búzah=beer, 72
Cairenes held exceedingly debauched, 298
Cairo nothing without the Nile, 295
Camel, how slaughtered, 347
Carpet-beds, 294
Chaff or banter allowed even to modest women, 267
Champing sign of good breeding, 345
Chess-anecdote, 132
Children carried astraddle upon hip or shoulder, 308
Claims of maidenhead, 190
Clapping of hands to summon servants, 177
Clever young ladies dangerous in the East, 15
Conception on the bride-night rare, 227
Confession after concealment a characteristic of the servile class, 53
Confession on the criminal's part required by Moslem Law, 274
Confusion of metaphors characteristic of The Nights, 86
Contemplation of street-scenery one of the pleasures of the Harem, 319
Corpse pollutes him who touches it, 295
Cutting off the right hand Koranic punishment for theft, 274
Cutting of the navel string preliminary to naming the babe, 231
Cutting the rope=breaking bounds, 349
Dajlah=Tigris, Heb. Hid-dekel, 180
Dakhíl-ak=under thy protection, 61
Damascus women famed for sanguinary jealousy, 295
Darabukkah=tom-tom, 311
Darbar=public audience, 29
Dastúr=leave, permission, 66
Daughter of my uncle=my wife, 69
Daurak=narrow-mouthed jug, 36
Despite his nose=against his will, 26
Destiny blindeth human sight, 67
Dinár=gold piece, Daric, Miskál, 32
Dirham=silver piece, 33
"Dog" and "hog" popular terms of abuse, 188
Drinking first to show that the draught is not poisoned, 88; 295
"Drop" unknown to the Eastern gallows, 260
Dunyázád=world-free, 14
Dust-storm in tropical lands, 111
Elephant's roll (to Hindu)=swaying and graceful gait, 217
Erotic inferences drawn from parts of body, 350
Eternal truth of The Nights, 7
Eunuch best go-between, 282
Eunuch employed as porter, 343
Eunuch-in-Chief a most important Jack in office, 283
Eunuchs, different kinds of, 132
Euphemistic formulas to avoid mentioning unpleasant matters, 31
Exaggeration part of humour, 12
Eyebrows joined a great beauty in Arabia, 227
Eyes of me=my dears, 163
Face-veil="nose-bag", 82
Fakír=religious mendicant generally, 95
Falcon=blinding the quarry, 51
Fals ahmar=a red cent, 321
Faráiz=orders expressly given in the Koran, 169
Farajíyah=a long sleeved robe, 210, 321
Fass=bezel of a ring, gem cut en cabochon, contenant for contenu, 165
Fata=a youth; generous man, etc., 67
Favours foreshadowing downfall, 48
Female depravity going hand in hand with perversity of taste, 73
Fiat _in_justitia ruat cœlum, 253
First personal pronoun placed first for respect, 237
Fitnah=revolt, seduction, mischief; beautiful girl; aphrodisiac
perfume, 219
Following one's face=at random, 347
Friday night=our Thursday night, 269
Friday Service described, 313
Frolics of highborn ladies, 328
"Fun"=practical jokes of the largest, 20
Futur=breakfast, 300
Gall-bladder and liver allusions, 219
Ghadir=a place where water sinks, lowland, 233
Ghamz=winking, signing with the eye, 292
Gharíb=foreigner, 95
Ghawází=singing girls, 214
Ghazl al-banát (spinning of girls)=vermicelli, 83
Ghilmán=Wuldán, the beautiful youths of Paradise, 211
Ghútah=thickly grown lowland, 115
Ghúlah=ogress, 55
Going straight to the point preferred to filer le parfait amour, 268
Gold makes bold, 340
Ground-floor usually let for shops, 319
Habb=grain of the heart, 250
Habbániyah=grain-seller's quarter, 269
Habíb, euphemism for lover, 223
Hayhát, onomatopoetic=heigh-ho!, 76
Hair should be allowed all to grow or be shaven off, 308
Hair-dyes all vegetable matter, 326
Halab=Aleppo, 292
Hammam, going to the=convalescence, 288
——, showing that a woman's monthly ailment is over, 286
Harím=Harem, used for the inmates, wife, etc., 165
Harísah, a favourite dish, 131
Hasanta ya Hasan=bene detto, Benedetto!, 251
Hashísh, intoxicant prepared of hemp, 225
Haste ye to salvation, part of the Azán, 224
Hátif=mysterious voice, 142
Hauk! Hauk!=heehaw!, 221
Head in the poke=into the noose, 179
High-bosomed damsel a favourite with Arab tale-tellers, 84
Hog, popular term of abuse, 188
Horoscopes, etc., 213
Horseplay frequently ending in bastinado, 325
House of Peace=Baghdad, 139
Houses of Lamentation in Moslem burial-grounds, 94
Humming not a favourite practice with Moslems, 311
Hunchback looked upon with fear and aversion, 258
Húr al-Ayn=with eyes of lively white and black, 90
Hurr=gentleman, 254
Hurry is from Hell, 264
Iblis=Despairer, 13
Ibn Harám=son of adultery, abuse not necessarily reflecting on the
parent, 231
Ibrat=needle-graver and Ibrat=warning, a favourite jingle, 104
Ibrík=ewer, and Tisht=basin, used for washing the hands, 241
Id al-Kabír=the Great Festival, 28
Ifrít, divided into two races like mankind, 11
Ifritah=she-Ifrit, 34
Ihdák=encompassing, as the white encloses the black of the eye, 49
Ihtizáz=shaking with delight, 50
Iklíl=diadem, now obsolete, 270
Iklím=the seven climates of Ptolemy, 233
Ilm al-Ruháni=Spiritualism, 305
Improvising still common amongst the Badawin, 39
Incest lawful amongst ancient peoples, 110
Inheritance, law of, settled by the Koran, 174
Inshád=conjuring by Allah, 11
Insolence and licence of palace girls, 286
Intellect of man stronger than a Jinni's, 43
Internally wounded=sick at heart, 5
Inwá=jerking the date-stone, 25
Ishá=the first watch of the night, 175
Izár=sheet worn as veil, 163
Ja'afar=contrasting strongly with his master, 102
Jahárkas=Pers. Chehár-kas, four persons, 266
Jannat al-Na'ím=The Garden of Delights _i.e._ Heaven, 98
Jazírah=Peninsula, Arabia, 2
Jazírát al-Khálidát=Eternal Isles=Canaries, 141
Jilá=displaying the bride before the bridegroom, 174
Jinn=the French génie, the Hindu Rakshasa or Yaksha, 10
Joseph of the Koran very different from him of Genesis, 13
Judri=small-pox, 256
Junún=madness, 10
Ká'ah=ground-floor hall, 85
Ká'ah (saloon)=fine house, mansion, 292
Kábul-men noted for Sodomy, 299
Káf, popularly=Caucasus, 72, 133
Kahbah=whore, 70
Kahílat al-taraf=having the eyelids lined with Kohl, 63
Kahkahah=horse-laughter, 350
Kahramánát=nursery governess, 231
Káid=leader, 330
Kalam=reed-pen, 128
Kalám al-Mubáh=the permitted say, 29
Kalandar=mendicant monk, 94
Kámat Alfiyyah=straight stature, 85
Kamís=shift, etc., 293
Kat'a=bit of leather, 20
Katá=sand-grouse, 131
Katf=pinioning, 106
Kathá-Sarit-Ságara=poetical version of the Vrihat-Kathá, 12
Kaus al-Banduk=pellet-bow, 10
Kausar=a lieu commun of poets, 241
Kawwád=pimp, 316
Káyánián race of Persian Kings, 75
Kaylúlah=siesta, 51
Kaysariyah=superior kind of Bazar, 266
Kazi=judge in religious matters, 21
Kerchief of mercy, 343
Khádim=servant, politely applied to a castrato, 235
Khalí'a=worn out; wag, 311
Khalífah=Vicar of Allah; successor of a Santon, 184
Khan=caravanserai, 92
Khan Al-Masrúr, in Cairo, famous in the 15th century, 265
Khanjar=hanger, 232
Khatmah=reading or reciting the whole Koran, 277
Khinzír=hog, 108
Khubz=scones, 131
Khuff=walking shoes, 82
Khyas, Khyas, onomatopoetic, used in a sea-spell, 228
King's barber a man of rank, 351
"Kiss, key to Kitty", 323
Kissing the eyes a paternal salute, 125
Kohl=powdered antimony for the eyelids, 89
—— proverbially used, 278
Koran quoted (xx.), 2
—— (ii. 34), 13
—— (xxv. 31), _ib._
—— (xix. 69), _ib._
—— (xxvi.), 39
—— (xxvii.), 42
—— (v., xx.), 119
—— (vii., xviii.), 169
—— (i.), 208
—— (lvi. 9), 211
—— (lx.), 220
—— (v.), 240
—— (cviii.), 241
—— (xvii.), 249
—— (xxxvi. 69), 251
—— (cv.), 256
—— (ii., ix.), 257
—— (v.), 274
—— (viii. 17), _ib._
—— (iii.), 298
—— (iii. 128), 307
Kufr=rejecting the True Religion, 169
Kulkasá=colocasia roots, 272
Kullah=gugglet, 36
Kumkum=a gourd-shaped bottle for sprinkling scents, 42
Kári=teacher of the correct pronunciation of the Koran, 113
Kurrat al-Ayn=coolness of the eye, 72
Kurs has taken the place of Iklíl, 270
Kursi (choir, throne)=desk or stool for the Koran, 167
Kush'arírah=horripilation, symptom of great joy or fear, 251
La'abat=a plaything, a puppet, a lay figure, 245
Lá adamnák=Heaven deprive us not of thee, 268
Labbayka=Here am I, called Talbiyah, 226
Laylat al-Wafá=the night of completion of the Nile-flood, 291
Lá Haula, etc.=there is no Majesty etc., 69
Lá tawáhishná=do not make us desolate, 62
Lá tawákhizná=do not chastise us=excuse us, 164
Latter night=hours between the last sleep and dawn, 24
Laughing in one's face not intended as an affront, 320
Laughter rare and sign of a troubled spirit, 248
Life-breath in the nostrils=heart in the mouth, 42
Like mother like daughter, 299
Liver=seat of passion, 27
Loghah=Arabic language, also a vocabulary, dictionary, 251
Loosening the hair an immodesty in women sanctioned only by a great
calamity, 314
Lukmah=mouthful, 261
Madfa'=cannon, showing modern date, 223
Magnet Mountains, fable probably based on the currents, 140
Mail-coat and habergeon simile for a glittering stream, 291
Ma'ín, Ma'ún=smitten with the evil eye, 123
Majnún=madman, 10
Making water, 259
Mahkamah=Kazi's Court, 21
Malik or Malak=Seraph or Sovran, 253
Mamlúk=white slaves trained to arms, 81
Márid=contumacious Jinni, 41
Máristán (from Pers. Bímáristán=place of sickness), 288
Marmar=marble, 295
Marriage not valid without receipt of settlement, 276
Mashá ilí=bearer of a cresset (Mash'al), 259
Masíhi=follower of the Messiah, 258
Maskhút=transformed (mostly into something hideous); a statue, 165
Massage (shampooing), 172
Mausil (Mosul) alluding to the junction of Assyria and Babylonia, 82
Maydán=parade ground, 46
Maymúnah, proverbial name now forgotten, 57
Meat rarely coloured in modern days, 310
Merchants and shopkeepers carrying, swords, 54
Miao or Mau=cat, 220
Mikra'ah=palm-rod, 99
Mihráb and Minaret, symbols of Venus and Priapus?, 166
Milh=salt, 340
Miracles performed by Saints' tombs, 241
Miskál=71-72 grams in gold, used for dinar, 126
Mizr, Mizar=beer, 72
Moles compared with pearls, 177
Monday=second day, reckoning from Sabbath (Saturday), 266
Money carried in the corner of a handkerchief, 271
Monoculars unlucky to meet, 333
Mosul stuff=muslin, 229
Mounds=rubbish heaps outlying Eastern cities, 71
Mouth compared to the ring of Sulayman, 84
Mu'arras=pimp, 338
Muháfiz=district-governor, 259
Muhakkak="Court-hand", 129
Muhammarah=fricandoed, 286
Mujtabá=the Accepted, 77
Munakkishah=woman who applies the dye to a face, 270
Murtazá=the Elect, 77
Mustapha=the Chosen, _ib._
Mutawalli=Prefect of Police, 259
Muzayyin=Figaro of the East, 304
Nabút=quarter-staff, 234
Nadd, a compound perfume, 310
Naddábah=mourning woman, 311
Nadím=cup-companion, 46
Nafas=breath, 107
Nafs=soul, life, _ib._
Nahás asfar=brass, 40
Nahás (ahmar)=copper, _ib._
Nahnu málihín=we are on term of salt, 344
Nahs=nasty, 301
Naihah=keener, hired mourner, 311
Nakedness paraphrased, 327
Nakíb a caravan-leader, chief, syndic, 269
Name of Allah introduced into an indecent tale essentially Egyptian, 12
Narjis=Narcissus, 294
Naskh=copying hand, 128
Nasráni=follower of Him of Nazareth, 258
Nat'a=leather used by way of table-cloth, 20
Nata' al-dam=the leather of blood, 318
Navel as to beauty and health, 84
Nearness of seat a mark of honour, 250
Negroes preferred by debauched women, 6
New-moon beginning Ramazán carefully looked for, 84
Nile-water sweet and light, 290
Nineteen the age of an oldish old maid in Egypt, 212
Noisy merriment scandalous to Moslem "respectability", 95
Nothing for nothing a sexual _point d'honneur_, 87
Oath a serious thing amongst Moslems, 179
Oman=Eastern Arabia, 83
Oriental orgie different from European, 93
Pander-dodge to get more money, 302
Panel-dodge fatally common, 323
Paris Jockey-club scene anticipated, 327
Parody on the testification of Allah's Unity, 177
Parrot-story a world-wide folk-lore, 52
Passengers in difficulties take command, 140
Pearl, supposed to lose one per cent. per ann. of its splendour, 165
Peshdadians, race of Persian Kings, 75
Plain (ground), synonyms for, 46
Plural masc. used by way of modesty when a girl addresses her lover, 98
Poetry of the Arabs requires knowledge of the Desert to be understood,
230
Pomegranate fruit supposed to contain seed from Eden garden, 134
Prime Minister carrying fish to the cookmaid, 63
Privy, a slab with slit in front and a round hole behind, 221
Proverbs true to nature, 307
Qanoon-e-Islam quoted on the subject of horoscopes, etc., 213
Raydaniyah, a camping ground near Cairo, 245
Rayháni=a curved character, 128
Rais=captain of a ship, 127
Rajaz=the seventh Bahr of Arabic prosody, 251
Rajul ikhtiyár=middle-aged man, 55
Refusal of a gift greatest affront, 336
Rending of garments as sign of sorrow or vexation, 308
Respect shown to parts of the body, exuviæ, etc., 276
Riding on the ass an old Biblical practice, 262
Rims cars, 131
Rozistan=day station, 29
Ruká'í=correspondence hand, 128
Rukhám=alabaster, 295
Ruka'tayn=two-bow prayer, 142
Sa'ad=auspiciousness, prosperity; derivatives, 9
Sabr=patience and aloes, source of puns, 138
Sadaf=cowrie, 19
Sadakah=voluntary alms, opposed to Zakát, 339
Sadd=wall, dyke, 114
Sáhib=companion, used as a Wazirial title, 237
Sáhib al-Shartah=chief of the watch (Prefect of Police), 259
Sáhib Nafas=master of breath, a minor saint healing by expiration, 107
Sáhil Masr=the river side (at Cairo), 291
Saj'a=rhymed prose, 116
Sakhr al-Jinni alluded to, 41
Sákiyah=the Persian water wheel, 123
Sálih, prophet sent to Thámúd, 169
Salmá and Layla=our "Mary and Martha", 265
Sama'an wa ta atan to be translated variously, 96
Samn=clarified butter, 144
Sár=vendetta, 101, 114
Saráwil=bag or petticoat trousers, 222
Sardábeh=underground room, 340
Sarráf=Anglo-Indian "Shroff", 210
Sassanides, 75
Sawáb=reward in Heaven, 96
Sayd wa Kanas=hunting and coursing, 9
Scalding a stump in oil common surgery practice, 297
Scorpions of the brow=accroche-cœurs, etc., 168
Sealing a covered dish a necessary precaution against poison, 244
Seas, the two=the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean, 173
Sepulchre, erroneously called "a little Wali", 105
Seven schools or editions of the Koran, 113
Shább=youth between puberty and forty, 55
Shabistan=night station, 29
Shakáik al-Nu'umán=anemone, 175
Shahrázád=city-freer, 14
Shahryár=city friend, 2
Shah Zamán=King of the Age, _ib._
Shaykh=an old man, elder, chief, 26
Shaykh, Shaybah=grey-beard, oldster, 55
Sha'ílah=link (also lamp, wick, etc.), 259
Shaking and nodding the head, universal items of gesture language, 300
Shám (Syria)=land on the left, opposed to Al-Yaman=land on the right,
83
"Shame" alluded to in cursing parents of an abused person, 227
Shampooing the feet, 117
Sharmutah=rags, tatters; strumpets; shreds of meat=Kadíd, 163
Shámah=Khál, mole on the cheek, 167
Shart=a single Talbiyah or cry Labbayka, 226
Shatm=obscene abuse, 182
Shayyun li'lláhi=per amor di Dio, 329
Shedding tears no disgrace for a man, 68
Sham hamphorash=the hundredth name of God, engraved on the seal-ring of
Solomon, 173
Shiháb=shooting stars, 224
Shirk (partnership)=Syntheism, Dualism, Trinitarianism, 181
Shops composed of a "but" and a "ben", 316
Shudder preceding the magnetic trance, 44
Shuhadá, martyrs, extensive category, 171
Shuhúd=assessors of the Kazi's Court, 21
Shurayh, foxier than the fox, 252
Shúshah=topknot of hair, 308
Simát=dinner table, 178
Simiyá=white magic, 305, 332
Sitting on shins and knees a trying posture, 130
Slaves fancied by debauched women, 191
Slice of the moon=digit of the moon, 91
Smuggling men into the Harem, 282
Snatching off the turband a paying industry, 259
Soft-sided, attribute of beauty, 168
Solomon's death fixing the date of a tale, 41
"Son" used for "grandson" more affectionate, 243
Son of a century=hundred years old, 126
Sons of Adam=men, 130
Sons of Sásán=Sassanides, 2
Speaker puts himself first, 33
Spittle dried up from fear, 285
Staff broken in the first bout=failure in the first attempt, 64
Street melodies changing with fashion, 311
Striking the right hand upon the left sign of vexation, 298
Striking with the shoe, the pipe-stick, etc., highly insulting, 110
Subh-i-kázib=false dawn, 78
Subh-i-sádik=true dawn, _ib._
Sucking the tongue="kissing with th' inner lip", 270
Sufrah=dinner table, 178
Sugar-stick=German Zuckerpüppchen, 167
Suhá, star in the Great Bear, _ib._
Sulayman and Sakhr al-Jinni, 42
Sullam=ladder; whipping-post, 331
Sulus=engrossing hand, 128
Sums of large amount weighed, 281
Sun greeting Mohammed, 45
Superstitious practices not confined to the lower orders, 40
Surriyat=concubine, 27
Su 'ubán=dragon, cockatrice=Tannín, 172
Su'úd used as a counter odour, 279
Suwán=syenite, 238
Taghúm a kind of onomatopoetic grunt, 228
Tailor made to cut out the cloth in owner's presence, 321
Tákiyah, calotte worn under the Fez, scull-cap, 224
Talbiyah=the cry Labbayka, 226
Tammúz=July, 53
Tamar Hanná=flower of privet, 83
Tár=tambourine, 215
Tarbúsh=Pers. Sar-púsh, head cover, _ib._
Tarík=clear the way, 66
Tarjumán=truchman, dragoman, 100
Tasbíh=saluting in the Subh, 258
Taur (Thaur, Saur), a venerable remnant of un-split speech, 16
Tawáshi, obnoxious name for a Eunuch, 235
Tears shed over past separation, 283
Thousand dirhams and thousand dinars=£125 and £500 respectively, 281
Three days term of hospitality, 3
Throwing one=bastinado on the back, 243
Tibn=crushed straw, 16
Tobba (Himyaritic)=the Great or Chief, 216
Tongue of the case=words suggested by the circumstances, 121
Tughyán=Kufr, rejection of the True Religion, 169
Túmár=uncial letters, 129
Turband not put upon the ground out of respect, 223
"Turk" probably a late addition, 52
Turning round in despair against an oppressor, 246
Odah, properly Uta=private room of a concubine, 286
Ultra-Shakspearean geography, "Fars of Roum", 45
Umamah and Atikah, tale of two women now forgotten, 61
Umm Amir=Mother of Amir, nickname for the hyena, 43
'Urban=wild Arabs, 112
Usfur=safflower, 219
Uzayr=Esdras, 257
Varieties of handwriting, 129
Wady, Anglicè "valley", 51
Wahsh=wild-beast and synonyms, 242
Wakálah; described in Pilgrimage i. 60, 266
Wakkád=stoker, 312
Wali=(civil) Governor, 259
Wa'l-Salám=and here ends the matter, 102
Washings after evacuation, 220
Way of Allah=common property, 91
Wazir=Minister, 2
"What is it compared with," popular way of expressing great difference,
37
Wife euphemistically spoken of in the masculine, 67
Window-gardening, old practice in the East, 301
Wine boiled=vinum coctum, 132
Wine-drinking vitiates the Pilgrimage-rite, 97
Wine flying to the head, effect of the cold after a heated room, 224
Wine why strained? 27
Wiswás=diabolical temptation or suggestion, 106
Women bastinadoed, 183
Wonder (=cause) in every death, 351
Wuldán=Ghilmán, the beautiful youths of Paradise, 211
Wuzu-ablution=lesser ablutions, 142
Yá Ba'íd=O distant one, euphemism for gross abuse, 41
Yá bárid=O fool, 313
Yá hú=O he! Swift's Yahoo? 240
Yahúdí for Jew, less polite than Banu Isráíl, 210
Yá Khálati=mother's sister, in addressing the old, 303
Yá Mash'úm=O unlucky one, 221
Yá házá=O this (one), somewhat slightingly, 240
Yá Sattár=Thou who veilest the discreditable secrets of Thy creatures,
258
Yá Tayyib al-Khál=O thou nephew of a good uncle, 303
Yaum al-Id=the great festival, 317
Youth described in terms applying to women, 144
Zábit=Prefect of Police, 259
Zakát=legal alms, 339
Zambúr=clitoris, 90
Zemzem=water saltish, 284
Zikr=litanies, 124
Zírbájah=meat dressed with cumin-seed, etc., 278
Ziyárat=visit to a pious person or place, 125
Zauba'ah=sandstorm the desert, 114
Zubb=penis, 92
Zabbál=scavenger, 312
Zulf=side-lock, 308
Zulm, injustice, tyranny; worst of a monarch's crimes, 190
Zuwaylah gate, more correctly Báb Zawilah, 269
[Illustration]
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES
1. Added missing anchors for footnotes on p. 44, p. 87, p. 181, p.
208, and p. 218.
2. Corrected footnote numbering on p. 181 and p. 182.
3. Corrected footnote anchor numbering on p. 263 and p. 272.
4. Added footnote number on p. 297.
5. Added missing page number 253 to Index entry "Malik or Malak=Seraph
or Sovran" on p. 358.
6. The dates ("A.H. 86-96=105-115") on p. 208 are probably incorrect
as the Caliph lived from 691-743 CE per Wikipedia.
7. Silently corrected simple spelling, grammar, and typographical
errors.
8. Retained anachronistic and non-standard spellings as printed.
9. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.
10. Enclosed bold font in =equals=.
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "A plain and literal translation of the Arabian nights entertainments, now entituled The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 1 (of 17)" ***
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