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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 (3 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 (3 of 17)" ***
[Illustration]
[Illustration: لا لابرار كلّ شي تبر]
"TO THE PURE ALL THINGS ARE PURE."
(Puris omnia pura)
—_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 III.
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
A FRIEND
WHO
DURING A FRIENDSHIP OF TWENTY-SIX YEARS
EVER SHOWED ME THE MOST
UNWEARIED KINDNESS
Richard Monckton Milnes
Baron Houghton.
CONTENTS OF THE THIRD VOLUME.
PAGE
CONTINUATION OF THE TALE OF KING OMAR BIN AL-NU'UMAN AND HIS
SONS SHARRKAN AND ZAU AL-MAKAN.
_aa._ CONTINUATION OF THE TALE OF AZIZ AND AZIZAH 1
_ab._ CONCLUSION OF THE TALE OF KING OMAR BIN 48
AL-NU'UMAN AND HIS SONS SHARRKAN AND ZAU
AL-MAKAN
_b._ TALE OF THE HASHISH-EATER 91
_c._ TALE OF HAMMAD THE BADAWI 104
1. THE BIRDS AND BEASTS AND THE CARPENTER 114
(_Lane, II. 52-59. The Fable of the Peacock and Peahen, the Duck, the
Young Lion, the Ass, the Horse, the Camel, and the Carpenter, etc._)
2. THE HERMITS 125
3. THE WATER-FOWL AND THE TORTOISE 129
4. THE WOLF AND THE FOX 132
(_Lane, II. 59-69. The Fable of the Fox and the Wolf._)
_a._ TALE OF THE FALCON AND THE PARTRIDGE 138
5. THE MOUSE AND THE ICHNEUMON 147
6. THE CAT AND THE CROW 149
7. THE FOX AND THE CROW 150
_a._ THE FLEA AND THE MOUSE 151
_b._ THE SAKER AND THE BIRDS 154
_c._ THE SPARROW AND THE EAGLE 155
8. THE HEDGEHOG AND THE WOOD PIGEONS 156
_a._ THE MERCHANT AND THE TWO SHARPERS 158
9. THE THIEF AND HIS MONKEY 159
THE FOOLISH WEAVER _ib._
10. THE SPARROW AND THE PEACOCK 161
11. ALI BIN BAKKAR AND SHAMS AL-NAHAR 162
(_Lane, Vol. II., Chapt. ix. Story of Alee the Son of Bakkar, and
Shams en-Nahár, p. 1._)
12. TALE OF KAMAR AL-ZAMAN 212
(_Lane, Chapt. x. Story of the Prince Kamar ez-Zeman and the Princess
Budur, p. 78 and ibid. p. 149._
_Story of the Two Princes El-Amjad and El-As'ad, p. 149._)
CONTINUATION OF THE TALE OF KING OMAR BIN AL-NU'UMAN
AND HIS SONS SHARRKAN AND ZAU AL-MAKAN.
Now when it was the Hundred and Twenty-fifth Night,
Shahrazad continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Aziz
pursued to Taj al-Muluk:—Then I entered the flower-garden and made for
the pavilion, where I found the daughter of Dalilah, the Wily One,
sitting with head on knee and hand to cheek. Her colour was changed and
her eyes were sunken; but, when she saw me, she exclaimed, "Praised be
Allah for thy safety!" And she was minded to rise but fell down for joy.
I was abashed before her and hung my head; presently, however, I went up
to her and kissed her and asked, "How knewest thou that I should come to
thee this very night?" She answered, "I knew it not! By Allah, this
whole year past I have not tasted the taste of sleep, but have watched
through every night, expecting thee; and such hath been my case since
the day thou wentest out from me and I gave thee the new suit of
clothes, and thou promisedst me to go to the Hammam and to come back! So
I sat awaiting thee that night and a second night and a third night; but
thou camest not till after so great delay, and I ever expecting thy
coming; for this is lovers' way. And now I would have thee tell me what
hath been the cause of thine absence from me the past year long?" So I
told her. And when she knew that I was married, her colour waxed yellow,
and I added, "I have come to thee this night but I must leave thee
before day." Quoth she, "Doth it not suffice her that she tricked thee
into marrying her and kept thee prisoner with her a whole year, but she
must also make thee swear by the oath of divorce, that thou wilt return
to her on the same night before morning, and not allow thee to divert
thyself with thy mother or me, nor suffer thee to pass one night with
either of us, away from her? How then must it be with one from whom thou
hast been absent a full year, and I knew thee before she did? But Allah
have mercy on thy cousin Azizah, for there befel her what never befel
any and she bore what none other ever bore and she died by thy
ill-usage; yet 'twas she who protected thee against me. Indeed, I
thought thou didst love me, so I let thee take thine own way; else had I
not suffered thee to go safe in a sound skin, when I had it in my power
to clap thee in jail and even to slay thee." Then she wept with sore
weeping and waxed wroth and shuddered in my face with skin bristling[1]
and looked at me with furious eyes. When I saw her in this case I was
terrified at her and my side-muscles trembled and quivered, for she was
like a dreadful she-Ghul, an ogress in ire, and I like a bean over the
fire. Then said she, "Thou art of no use to me, now thou art married and
hast a child; nor art thou any longer fit for my company; I care only
for bachelors and not for married men:[2] these profit us nothing. Thou
hast sold me for yonder stinking armful; but, by Allah, I will make the
whore's heart ache for thee, and thou shalt not live either for me or
for her!" Then she cried a loud cry and, ere I could think, up came the
slave-girls and threw me on the ground; and when I was helpless under
their hands she rose and, taking a knife, said, "I will cut thy throat
as they slaughter he-goats; and that will be less than thy desert, for
thy doings to me and the daughter of thy uncle before me. When I looked
to my life and found myself at the mercy of her slave-women, with my
cheeks dust-soiled, and saw her sharpen the knife, I made sure of
death"——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Twenty-sixth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Wazir Dandan
thus continued his tale to Zau al-Makan:—Then quoth the youth Aziz to
Taj al-Muluk, Now when I found my life at the mercy of her slave-women
with my cheeks dust-soiled, and I saw her sharpen the knife, I made sure
of death and cried out to her for mercy. But she only redoubled in
ferocity and ordered the slave-girls to pinion my hands behind me, which
they did; and, throwing me on my back, she seated herself on my middle
and held down my head. Then two of them came up and squatted on my
shin-bones, whilst other two grasped my hands and arms; and she summoned
a third pair and bade them beat me. So they beat me till I fainted and
my voice failed. When I revived, I said to myself, "'Twere easier and
better for me to have my gullet slit than to be beaten on this wise!"
And I remembered the words of my cousin, and how she used to say to me,
"Allah, keep thee from her mischief!"; and I shrieked and wept till my
voice failed and I remained without power to breathe or to move. Then
she again whetted the knife and said to the slave-girls, "Uncover him."
Upon this the Lord inspired me to repeat to her the two phrases my
cousin had taught me, and had bequeathed to me, and I said, "O my lady,
dost thou not know that Faith is fair, Unfaith is foul?" When she heard
this, she cried out and said, "Allah pity thee, Azizah, and give thee
Paradise in exchange for thy wasted youth! By Allah, of a truth she
served thee in her lifetime and after her death, and now she hath saved
thee alive out of my hands with these two saws. Nevertheless, I cannot
by any means leave thee thus, but needs must I set my mark on thee, to
spite yonder brazen-faced piece, who hath kept thee from me." Thereupon
she called out to the slave-women and bade them bind my feet with cords
and then said to them, "Take seat on him!" They did her bidding, upon
which she arose and fetched a pan of copper and hung it over the brazier
and poured into it oil of sesame, in which she fried cheese.[3] Then she
came up to me (and I still insensible) and, unfastening my bag-trousers,
tied a cord round my testicles and, giving it to two of her women, bade
them hawl at it. They did so, and I swooned away and was for excess of
pain in a world other than this. Then she came with a razor of steel and
cut off my member masculine,[4] so that I remained like a woman: after
which she seared the wound with the boiling oil and rubbed it with a
powder, and I the while unconscious. Now when I came to myself, the
blood had stopped; so she bade the slave-girls unbind me and made me
drink a cup of wine. Then said she to me, "Go now to her whom thou hast
married and who grudged me a single night, and the mercy of Allah be on
thy cousin Azizah, who saved thy life and never told her secret love!
Indeed, haddest thou not repeated those words to me, I had surely slit
thy weasand. Go forth this instant to whom thou wilt, for I needed
naught of thee save what I have just cut off; and now I have no part in
thee, nor have I any further want of thee or care for thee. So begone
about thy business and rub thy head[5] and implore mercy for the
daughter of thine uncle!" Thereupon she kicked me with her foot and I
rose, hardly able to walk; and I went, little by little, till I came to
the door of our house. I saw it was open, so I threw myself within it
and fell down in a fainting-fit; whereupon my wife came out and lifting
me up, carried me into the saloon and assured herself that I had become
like a woman. Then I fell into a sleep and a deep sleep; and when I
awoke, I found myself thrown down at the garden gate,——And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Twenty-seventh Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Wazir Dandan
pursued to King Zau al-Makan, The youth Aziz thus continued his story to
Taj al-Muluk:—When I awoke and found myself thrown down at the
garden-gate, I rose, groaning for pain and misery, and made my way to
our home and entering, I came upon my mother weeping for me, and saying,
"Would I knew, O my son, in what land art thou!" So I drew near and
threw myself upon her, and when she looked at me and felt me, she knew
that I was ill; for my face was coloured black and tan. Then I thought
of my cousin and all the kind offices she had been wont to do me, and I
learned when too late that she had truly loved me; so I wept for her and
my mother wept also. Presently she said to me, "O my son, thy sire is
dead." At this my fury against Fate redoubled, and I cried till I fell
into a fit. When I came to myself, I looked at the place where my cousin
Azizah had been used to sit and shed tears anew, till I all but fainted
once more for excess of weeping; and I ceased not to cry and sob and
wail till midnight, when my mother said to me, "Thy father hath been
dead these ten days." "I shall never think of any one but my cousin
Azizah," replied I; "and indeed I deserve all that hath befallen me, for
that I neglected her who loved me with love so dear." Asked she, "What
hath befallen thee?" So I told her all that had happened and she wept
awhile, then she rose and set some matter of meat and drink before me. I
ate a little and drank, after which I repeated my story to her, and told
her the whole occurrence; whereupon she exclaimed, "Praised be Allah,
that she did but this to thee and forbore to slaughter thee!" Then she
nursed me and medicined me till I regained my health; and, when my
recovery was complete, she said to me, "O my son, I will now bring out
to thee that which thy cousin committed to me in trust for thee; for it
is thine. She swore me not to give it thee, till I should see thee
recalling her to mind and weeping over her and thy connection severed
from other than herself; and now I know that these conditions are
fulfilled in thee." So she arose, and opening a chest, took out this
piece of linen, with the figures of gazelles worked thereon, which I had
given to Azizah in time past; and taking it I found written therein
these couplets:—
Lady of beauty, say, who taught thee hard and harsh design, ✿ To slay
with longing Love's excess this hapless lover thine?
An thou fain disremember me beyond our parting day, ✿ Allah will know,
that thee and thee my memory never shall tyne.
Thou blamest me with bitter speech yet sweetest 'tis to me; ✿ Wilt
generous be and deign one day to show of love a sign?
I had not reckoned Love contained so much of pine and pain; ✿ And soul
distress until I came for thee to pain and pine;
Never my heart knew weariness, until that eve I fell ✿ In love wi' thee,
and prostrate fell before those glancing eyne!
My very foes have mercy on my case and moan therefor; ✿ But thou, O
heart of Indian steel, all mercy dost decline.
No, never will I be consoled, by Allah, an I die, ✿ Nor yet forget the
love of thee though life in ruins lie!
When I read these couplets, I wept with sore weeping and buffeted my
face; then I unfolded the scroll, and there fell from it another paper.
I opened it and behold, I found written therein, "Know, O son of my
uncle, that I acquit thee of my blood and I beseech Allah to make accord
between thee and her whom thou lovest; but if aught befal thee through
the daughter of Dalilah the Wily, return thou not to her neither resort
to any other woman and patiently bear thine affliction, for were not thy
fated life-tide a long life, thou hadst perished long ago; but praised
be Allah who hath appointed my death-day before thine! My peace be upon
thee; preserve this cloth with the gazelles herein figured and let it
not leave thee, for it was my companion when thou was absent from
me;"——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Twenty-eighth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Wazir Dandan
pursued to King Zau al-Makan, And the youth Aziz continued to Taj
al-Muluk:—So I read what my cousin had written and the charge to me
which was, "Preserve this cloth with the gazelles and let it not leave
thee, for it was my companion when thou wast absent from me and, Allah
upon thee! if thou chance to fall in with her who worked these gazelles,
hold aloof from her and do not let her approach thee nor marry her; and
if thou happen not on her and find no way to her, look thou consort not
with any of her sex. Know that she who wrought these gazelles worketh
every year a gazelle-cloth and despatcheth it to far countries, that her
report and the beauty of her broidery, which none in the world can
match, may be bruited abroad. As for thy beloved, the daughter of
Dalilah the Wily, this cloth came to her hand, and she used to ensnare
folk with it, showing it to them and saying, I have a sister who wrought
this. But she lied in so saying, Allah rend her veil! This is my parting
counsel; and I have not charged thee with this charge, but because I
know[6] that after my death the world will be straitened on thee and,
haply, by reason of this, thou wilt leave thy native land and wander in
foreign parts, and hearing of her who wrought these figures, thou mayest
be minded to foregather with her. Then wilt thou remember me, when the
memory shall not avail thee; nor wilt thou know my worth till after my
death. And, lastly, learn that she who wrought the gazelles is the
daughter of the King of the Camphor Islands and a lady of the noblest."
Now when I had read that scroll and understood what was written therein,
I fell again to weeping, and my mother wept because I wept, and I ceased
not to gaze upon it and to shed tears till nightfall. I abode in this
condition a whole year, at the end of which the merchants, with whom I
am in this cafilah, prepared to set out from my native town; and my
mother counselled me to equip myself and journey with them, so haply I
might be consoled and my sorrow be dispelled, saying, "Take comfort and
put away from thee this mourning and travel for a year or two or three,
till the caravan return, when perhaps thy breast may be broadened and
thy heart heartened." And she ceased not to persuade me with endearing
words, till I provided myself with merchandise and set out with the
caravan. But all the time of my wayfaring, my tears have never dried;
no, never! and at every halting place where we halt, I open this piece
of linen and look on these gazelles and call to mind my cousin Azizah
and weep for her as thou hast seen; for indeed she loved me with dearest
love and died, oppressed by my unlove. I did her nought but ill and she
did me nought but good. When these merchants return from their journey,
I shall return with them, by which time I shall have been absent a whole
year: yet hath my sorrow waxed greater and my grief and affliction were
but increased by my visit to the Islands of Camphor and the Castle of
Crystal. Now these islands are seven in number and are ruled by a King,
by name Shahriman,[7] who hath a daughter called Dunyá;[8] and I was
told that it was she who wrought these gazelles and that this piece in
my possession was of her embroidery. When I knew this, my yearning
redoubled and I burnt with the slow fire of pining and was drowned in
the sea of sad thought; and I wept over myself for that I was become
even as a woman, without manly tool like other men, and there was no
help for it. From the day of my quitting the Camphor Islands, I have
been tearful-eyed and heavy-hearted, and such hath been my case for a
long while and I know not whether it will be given me to return to my
native land and die beside my mother or not; for I am sick from eating
too much of the world. Thereupon the young merchant wept and groaned and
complained and gazed upon the gazelles; whilst the tears rolled down his
cheeks in streams and he repeated these two couplets:—
"Joy needs shall come," a prattler 'gan to prattle: ✿ "Needs cease thy
blame!" I was commoved to rattle:
"In time," quoth he: quoth I "'Tis marvellous! ✿ Who shall ensure my
life, O cold of tattle!"[9]
And he repeated also these:—
Well Allah weets that since our severance-day ✿ I've wept till forced to
ask of tears a loan:
"Patience! (the blamer cries): thou'lt have her yet!" ✿ Quoth I, "O
blamer where may patience wone?"
Then said he, "This, O King! is my tale: hast thou ever heard one
stranger?" So Taj al-Muluk marvelled with great marvel at the young
merchant's story, and fire darted into his entrails on hearing the name
of the Lady Dunya and her loveliness. ——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn
of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Twenty-ninth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Wazir Dandan
continued to Zau al-Makan:—Now when Taj al-Muluk heard the story of the
young merchant, he marvelled with great marvel and fire darted into his
entrails on hearing the name of the Lady Dunya who, as he knew, had
embroidered the gazelles; and his love and longing hourly grew, so he
said to the youth, "By Allah, that hath befallen thee whose like never
befel any save thyself, but thou hast a life-term appointed, which thou
must fulfil; and now I would fain ask of thee a question." Quoth Aziz,
"And what is it?" Quoth he, "Wilt thou tell me how thou sawest the young
lady who wrought these gazelles?" Then he, "O my lord, I got me access
to her by a sleight and it was this. When I entered her city with the
caravan, I went forth and wandered about the garths till I came to a
flower-garden abounding in trees, whose keeper was a venerable old man,
a Shaykh stricken in years. I addressed him, saying, O ancient sir,
whose may be this garden? and he replied, It belongs to the King's
daughter, the Lady Dunya. We are now beneath her palace and, when she is
minded to amuse herself, she openeth the private wicket and walketh in
the garden and smelleth the fragrance of the flowers. So I said to him,
Favour me by allowing me to sit in this garden till she come; haply I
may enjoy a sight of her as she passeth. The Shaykh answered, There can
be no harm in that. Thereupon I gave him a dirham or so and said to him,
Buy us something to eat. He took the money gladly and opened the door
and, entering himself, admitted me into the garden, where we strolled
and ceased not strolling till we reached a pleasant spot in which he
bade me sit down and await his going and his returning. Then he brought
me somewhat of fruit and, leaving me, disappeared for an hour; but after
a while he returned to me bringing a roasted lamb, of which we ate till
we had eaten enough, my heart yearning the while for a sight of the
lady. Presently, as we sat, the postern opened and the keeper said to
me, Rise and hide thee. I did so; and behold, a black eunuch put his
head out through the garden-wicket and asked, O Shaykh, is there any one
with thee? No, answered he; and the eunuch said, Shut the garden gate.
So the keeper shut the gate, and lo! the Lady Dunya came in by the
private door. When I saw her, methought the moon had risen above the
horizon and was shining; so I looked at her a full hour and longed for
her as one athirst longeth for water. After a while she withdrew and
shut the door; whereupon I left the garden and sought my lodging,
knowing that I could not get at her and that I was no man for her, more
especially as I was become like a woman, having no manly tool: moreover
she was a King's daughter and I but a merchant man; so how could I have
access to the like of her or—to any other woman? Accordingly, when these
my companions made ready for the road, I also made preparation and set
out with them, and we journeyed towards this city till we arrived at the
place where we met with thee. Thou askest me and I have answered; and
these are my adventures and peace be with thee!" Now when Taj al-Muluk
heard that account, fires raged in his bosom and his heart and thought
were occupied with love for the Lady Dunya; and passion and longing were
sore upon him. Then he arose and mounted horse and, taking Aziz with
him, returned to his father's capital, where he settled him in a
separate house and supplied him with all he needed in the way of meat
and drink and dress. Then he left him and returned to his palace, with
the tears trickling down his cheeks, for hearing oftentimes standeth in
stead of seeing and knowing.[10] And he ceased not to be in this state
till his father came in to him and finding him wan-faced, lean of limb
and tearful-eyed, knew that something had occurred to chagrin him and
said, "O my son, acquaint me with thy case and tell me what hath
befallen thee, that thy colour is changed and thy body is wasted." So he
told him all that had passed and what tale he had heard of Aziz and the
account of the Princess Dunya; and how he had fallen in love of her on
hearsay, without having set eyes on her. Quoth his sire, "O my son, she
is the daughter of a King whose land is far from ours: so put away this
thought and go in to thy mother's palace"——And Shahrazad perceived the
dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Thirtieth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Wazir Dandan
continued to Zau al-Makan:—And the father of Taj al-Muluk spake to him
on this wise, "O my son, her father is a King whose land is far from
ours: so put away this thought and go into thy mother's palace where are
five hundred maidens like moons, and whichsoever of them pleaseth thee,
take her; or else we will seek for thee in marriage some one of the
King's daughters, fairer than the Lady Dunya." Answered Taj al-Muluk, "O
my father, I desire none other, for she it is who wrought the gazelles
which I saw, and there is no help but that I have her; else I will flee
into the wold and the waste and I will slay myself for her sake." Then
said his father, "Have patience with me, till I send to her sire and
demand her in marriage, and win thee thy wish as I did for myself with
thy mother. Haply Allah will bring thee to thy desire; and, if her
parent will not consent, I will make his kingdom quake under him with an
army, whose rear shall be with me whilst its van shall be upon him."
Then he sent for the youth Aziz and asked him, "O my son, tell me dost
thou know the way to the Camphor Islands?" He answered "Yes"; and the
King said, "I desire of thee that thou fare with my Wazir thither."
Replied Aziz, "I hear and I obey, O King of the Age!"; whereupon the
King summoned his Minister and said to him, "Devise me some device,
whereby my son's affair may be rightly managed, and fare thou forth to
the Camphor Islands and demand of their King his daughter in marriage
for my son, Taj al-Muluk." The Wazir replied, "Hearkening and
obedience." Then Taj al-Muluk returned to his dwelling-place and his
love and longing redoubled and the delay seemed endless to him; and when
the night darkened around him, he wept and sighed and complained and
repeated this poetry:—
Dark falls the night: my tears unaided rail ✿ And fiercest flames of
love my heart assail:
Ask thou the nights of me, and they shall tell ✿ An I find aught to do
but weep and wail:
Night-long awake, I watch the stars what while ✿ Pour down my cheeks the
tears like dropping hail:
And lone and lorn I'm grown with none to aid; ✿ For kith and kin the
love-lost lover fail.
And when he had ended his reciting he swooned away and did not recover
his senses till the morning, at which time there came to him one of his
father's eunuchs and, standing at his head, summoned him to the King's
presence. So he went with him and his father, seeing that his pallor had
increased, exhorted him to patience and promised him union with her he
loved. Then he equipped Aziz and the Wazir and supplied them with
presents; and they set out and fared on day and night till they drew
near the Isles of Camphor, where they halted on the banks of a stream,
and the Minister despatched a messenger to acquaint the King of his
arrival. The messenger hurried forwards and had not been gone more than
an hour, before they saw the King's Chamberlains and Emirs advancing
towards them, to meet them at a parasang's distance from the city and
escort them into the royal presence. They laid their gifts before the
King and became his guests for three days. And on the fourth day the
Wazir rose and going in to the King, stood between his hands and
acquainted him with the object which induced his visit; whereat he was
perplexed for an answer inasmuch as his daughter misliked men and
disliked marriage. So he bowed his head groundwards awhile, then raised
it and calling one of his eunuchs, said to him, "Go to thy mistress, the
Lady Dunya, and repeat to her what thou hast heard and the purport of
this Wazir's coming." So the eunuch went forth and returning after a
time, said to the King, "O King of the Age, when I went in to the Lady
Dunya and told her what I had heard, she was wroth with exceeding wrath
and rose at me with a staff designing to break my head; so I fled from
her, and she said to me:—If my Father force me to wed him, whomsoever I
wed I will slay." Then said her sire to the Wazir and Aziz, "Ye have
heard, and now ye know all! So let your King wot of it and give him my
salutations and say that my daughter misliketh men and disliketh
marriage."——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say
her permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Thirty-first Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that King Shahriman
thus addressed the Wazir and Aziz, "Salute your King from me and inform
him of what ye have heard, namely that my daughter misliketh marriage."
So they turned away unsuccessful and ceased not faring on till they
rejoined the King and told him what had passed; whereupon he commanded
the chief officers to summon the troops and get them ready for marching
and campaigning. But the Wazir said to him, "O my liege Lord, do not
thus: the King is not at fault because, when his daughter learnt our
business, she sent a message saying, If my father force me to wed,
whomsoever I wed I will slay and myself after him. So the refusal cometh
from her." When the King heard his Minister's words he feared for Taj
al-Muluk and said, "Verily if I make war on the King of the Camphor
Islands and carry off his daughter, she will kill herself and it will
avail me naught." Then he told his son how the case stood, who hearing
it said, "O my father, I cannot live without her; so I will go to her
and contrive to get at her, even though I die in the attempt, and this
only will I do and nothing else." Asked his father, "How wilt thou go to
her?" and he answered, "I will go in the guise of a merchant."[11] Then
said the King, "If thou need must go and there is no help for it, take
with thee the Wazir and Aziz." Then he brought out money from his
treasuries and made ready for his son merchandise to the value of an
hundred thousand dinars. The two had settled upon this action; and when
the dark hours came Taj al-Muluk and Aziz went to Aziz's lodgings and
there passed that night, and the Prince was heart-smitten, taking no
pleasure in food or in sleep; for melancholy was heavy upon him and he
was agitated with longing for his beloved. So he besought the Creator
that he would vouchsafe to unite him with her and he wept and groaned
and wailed and began versifying:—
Union, this severance ended, shall I see some day? ✿ Then shall my tears
this love-lorn lot of me portray.
While night all care forgets I only minded thee, ✿ And thou didst gar me
wake while all forgetful lay.
And when his improvising came to an end, he wept with sore weeping and
Aziz wept with him, for that he remembered his cousin; and they both
ceased not to shed tears till morning dawned, whereupon Taj al-Muluk
rose and went to farewell his mother, in travelling dress. She asked him
of his case and he repeated the story to her; so she gave him fifty
thousand gold pieces and bade him adieu; and, as he fared forth, she put
up prayers for his safety and for his union with his lover and his
friends. Then he betook himself to his father and asked his leave to
depart. The King granted him permission and, presenting him with other
fifty thousand dinars, bade set up a tent for him without the city and
they pitched a pavilion wherein the travellers abode two days. Then all
set out on their journey. Now Taj al-Muluk delighted in the company of
Aziz and said to him, "O my brother, henceforth I can never part from
thee." Replied Aziz, "And I am of like mind and fain would I die under
thy feet: but, O my brother, my heart is concerned for my mother." "When
we shall have won our wish," said the Prince, "there will be naught save
what is well!" Now the Wazir continued charging Taj al-Muluk to be
patient, whilst Aziz entertained him every evening with talk and recited
poetry to him and diverted him with histories and anecdotes. And so they
fared on diligently night and day for two whole months, till the way
became tedious to Taj al-Muluk and the fire of desire redoubled on him;
and he broke out:—
The road is longsome; grow my grief and need, ✿ While on my breast
love-fires for ever feed:
Goal of my hopes, sole object of my wish! ✿ By him who moulded man from
drop o' seed,
I bear such loads of longing for thy love, ✿ Dearest, as weight of
al-Shumm Mounts exceed:
O 'Lady of my World,'[12] Love does me die; ✿ No breath of life is left
for life to plead;
But for the union-hope that lends me strength, ✿ My weary limbs were
weak this way to speed.
When he had finished his verses, he wept (and Aziz wept with him) from a
wounded heart, till the Minister was moved to pity by their tears and
said, "O my lord, be of good cheer and keep thine eyes clear of tears;
there will be naught save what is well!" Quoth Taj al-Muluk, "O Wazir,
indeed I am weary of the length of the way. Tell me how far we are yet
distant from the city." Quoth Aziz, "But a little way remaineth to us."
Then they continued their journey, cutting across river-vales and
plains, wolds and stony wastes, till one night, as Taj al-Muluk was
sleeping, he dreamt that his beloved was with him and that he embraced
her and pressed her to his bosom; and he awoke quivering, shivering with
pain, delirious with emotion, and improvised these verses:—
Dear friend, my tears aye flow these cheeks adown, ✿ With longsome pain
and pine, my sorrow's crown:
I plain like keening woman child bereft, ✿ And as night falls like
widow-dove I groan:
An blow the breeze from land where thou dost wone, ✿ I find o'er
sunburnt earth sweet coolness blown.
Peace be wi' thee, my love, while zephyr breathes, ✿ And cushat flies
and turtle makes her moan.
And when he had ended his versifying, the Wazir came to him and said,
"Rejoice; this is a good sign: so be of good cheer and keep thine eyes
cool and clear, for thou shalt surely compass thy desire." And Aziz also
came to him and exhorted him to patience and applied himself to divert
him, talking with him and telling him tales. So they pressed on,
marching day and night, other two months, till there appeared to them
one day at sunrise some white thing in the distance and Taj al-Muluk
said to Aziz, "What is yonder whiteness?" He replied, "O my lord! yonder
is the Castle of Crystal and that is the city thou seekest." At this the
Prince rejoiced, and they ceased not faring forwards till they drew near
the city and, as they approached it, Taj al-Muluk joyed with exceeding
joy, and his care ceased from him. They entered in trader guise, the
King's son being habited as a merchant of importance; and repaired to a
great Khan, known as the Merchants' Lodging. Quoth Taj al-Muluk to Aziz,
"Is this the resort of the merchants?"; and quoth he, "Yes; 'tis the
Khan wherein I lodged before." So they alighted there and making their
baggage-camels kneel, unloaded them and stored their goods in the
warehouses.[13] They abode four days for rest; when the Wazir advised
that they should hire a large house. To this they assented and they
found them a spacious house, fitted up for festivities, where they took
up their abode, and the Wazir and Aziz studied to devise some device for
Taj al-Muluk, who remained in a state of perplexity, knowing not what to
do. Now the Minister could think of nothing but that he should set up as
a merchant on 'Change and in the market of fine stuffs; so he turned to
the Prince and his companion and said to them, "Know ye that if we tarry
here on this wise, assuredly we shall not win our wish nor attain our
aim; but a something occurred to me whereby (if Allah please!) we shall
find our advantage." Replied Taj al-Muluk and Aziz, "Do what seemeth
good to thee, indeed there is a blessing on the grey-beard; more
specially on those who, like thyself, are conversant with the conduct of
affairs: so tell us what occurreth to thy mind." Rejoined the Wazir, "It
is my counsel that we hire thee a shop in the stuff-bazar, where thou
mayst sit to sell and buy. Every one, great and small, hath need of
silken stuffs and other cloths; so if thou patiently abide in thy shop,
thine affairs will prosper, Inshallah! more by token as thou art comely
of aspect. Make, however, Aziz thy factor and set him within the shop,
to hand thee the pieces of cloth and stuffs." When Taj al-Muluk heard
these words, he said, "This rede is right and a right pleasant recking."
So he took out a handsome suit of merchant's weed, and, putting it on,
set out for the bazar, followed by his servants, to one of whom he had
given a thousand dinars, wherewith to fit up the shop. They ceased not
walking till they came to the stuff-market, and when the merchants saw
Taj al-Muluk's beauty and grace, they were confounded and went about
saying, "Of a truth Rizwán[14] hath opened the gates of Paradise and
left them unguarded, so that this youth of passing comeliness hath come
forth." And others, "Peradventure this is one of the angels." Now when
they went in among the traders they asked for the shop of the Overseer
of the market and the merchants directed them thereto. So they delayed
not to repair thither and to salute him, and he and those who were with
him rose to them and seated them and made much of them, because of the
Wazir, whom they saw to be a man in years and of reverend aspect; and
viewing the youths Aziz and Taj al-Muluk in his company, they said to
one another, "Doubtless our Shaykh is the father of these two youths."
Then quoth the Wazir, "Who among you is the Overseer of the market?"
"This is he," replied they; and behold, he came forward and the Wazir
observed him narrowly and saw him to be an old man of grave and
dignified carriage, with eunuchs and servants and black slaves. The
Syndic greeted them with the greeting of friends and was lavish in his
attentions to them: then he seated them by his side and asked them,
"Have ye any business which we[15] may have the happiness of
transacting?" The Minister answered, "Yes; I am an old man, stricken in
years, and have with me these two youths, with whom I have travelled
through every town and country, entering no great city without tarrying
there a full year, that they might take their pleasure in viewing it and
come to know its citizens. Now I have visited your town intending to
sojourn here for a while; so I want of thee a handsome shop in the best
situation, wherein I may establish them, that they may traffic and learn
to buy and sell and give and take, whilst they divert themselves with
the sight of the place, and become familiar with the usages of its
people." Quoth the Overseer, "There is no harm in that;" and, looking at
the two youths, he was delighted with them and affected them with a warm
affection. Now he was a great connoisseur of bewitching glances,
preferring the love of boys to that of girls and inclining to the sour
rather than the sweet of love. So he said to himself, "This, indeed, is
fine game. Glory be to Him who created and fashioned them out of vile
water!"[16] and rising, stood before them like a servant to do them
honour. Then he went out and made ready for them a shop which was in the
very midst of the Exchange; nor was there any larger or better in the
bazar, for it was spacious and handsomely decorated and fitted with
shelves of ivory and ebony wood. After this he delivered the keys to the
Wazir, who was dressed as an old merchant, saying, "Take them, O my
lord, and Allah make it a blessed abiding-place to thy two sons!" The
Minister took the keys and the three returning to the Khan where they
had alighted, bade the servants transport to the shop all their goods
and stuffs.——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying
her permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Thirty-second Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Wazir
took the shop keys, he went accompanied by Taj al-Muluk and Aziz to the
Khan, and they bade the servants transport to the shop all their goods
and stuffs and valuables of which they had great store worth treasures
of money. And when all this was duly done, they went to the shop and
ordered their stock in trade and slept there that night. As soon as
morning morrowed the Wazir took the two young men to the Hammam-bath
where they washed them clean; and they donned rich dresses and scented
themselves with essences and enjoyed themselves to the utmost. Now each
of the youths was passing fair to look upon, and in the bath they were
even as saith the poet:—
Luck to the Rubber, whose deft hand o'erflies ✿ A frame begotten twixt
the lymph and light:[17]
He shows the thaumaturgy of his craft, ✿ And gathers musk in form of
camphor dight.[18]
After bathing they left; and, when the Overseer heard that they had gone
to the Hammam, he sat down to await the twain, and presently they came
up to him like two gazelles; their cheeks were reddened by the bath and
their eyes were darker than ever; their faces shone and they were as two
lustrous moons or two branches fruit-laden. Now when he saw them he rose
forthright and said to them, "O my sons, may your bath profit you
alway!"[19] Whereupon Taj al-Muluk replied, with the sweetest of speech,
"Allah be bountiful to thee, O my father; why didst thou not come with
us and bathe in our company?" Then they both bent over his right hand
and kissed it and walked before him to the shop, to entreat him
honourably and show their respect for him, for that he was Chief of the
Merchants and the market, and he had done them kindness in giving them
the shop. When he saw their hips quivering as they moved, desire and
longing redoubled on him; and he puffed and snorted and he devoured them
with his eyes, for he could not contain himself, repeating the while
these two couplets:—
Here the heart reads a chapter of devotion pure; ✿ Nor reads dispute if
Heaven in worship partner take:
No wonder 'tis he trembles walking 'neath such weight! ✿ How much of
movement that revolving sphere must make.[20]
Furthermore he said:—
I saw two charmers treading humble earth. ✿ Two I must love an tread
they on mine eyes.
When they heard this, they conjured him to enter the bath with them a
second time. He could hardly believe his ears and hastening thither,
went in with them. The Wazir had not yet left the bath; so when he heard
of the Overseer's coming, he came out and meeting him in the middle of
the bath-hall invited him to enter. He refused, whereupon Taj al-Muluk
taking him by the hand walked on one side and Aziz by the other, and
carried him into a cabinet; and that impure old man submitted to them,
whilst his emotion increased on him. He would have refused, albeit this
was what he desired; but the Minister said to him, "They are thy sons;
let them wash thee and cleanse thee." "Allah preserve them to thee!"
exclaimed the Overseer, "by Allah your coming and the coming of those
with you bring down blessing and good luck upon our city!" And he
repeated these two couplets:—
Thou camest and green grew the hills anew; ✿ And sweetest bloom to the
bridegroom threw,
While aloud cried Earth and her earth-borns too ✿ 'Hail and welcome who
comest with grace to endue.'
They thanked him for this, and Taj al-Muluk ceased not to wash him and
Aziz to pour water over him and he thought his soul in Paradise. When
they had made an end of his service, he blessed them and sat by the side
of the Wazir, talking but gazing the while on the youths. Presently, the
servants brought them towels, and they dried themselves and donned their
dress. Then they went out, and the Minister turned to the Syndic and
said to him, "O my lord! verily the bath is the Paradise[21] of this
world." Replied the Overseer, "Allah vouchsafe to thee such Paradise,
and health to thy sons and guard them from the evil eye! Do ye remember
aught that the eloquent have said in praise of the bath?" Quoth Taj
al-Muluk, "I will repeat for thee a pair of couplets;" and he recited:—
The life of the bath is the joy of man's life,[22] ✿ Save that time is
short for us there to bide:
A Heaven, where irksome it were to stay; ✿ A Hell, delightful at
entering-tide.
When he ended his recital, quoth Aziz, "And I also remember two couplets
in praise of the bath." The Overseer said, "Let me hear them;" so he
repeated the following:—
A house where flowers from stones of granite grow, ✿ Seen at its best
when hot with living lowe:
Thou deem'st it Hell but here, forsooth, is Heaven, ✿ And some like suns
and moons within it show.
And when he had ended his recital, his verses pleased the Overseer and
he wondered at his words and savoured their grace and facundity and said
to them, "By Allah, ye possess both beauty and eloquence. But now listen
to me, you twain!" And he began chanting, and recited in song the
following verses:—
O joy of Hell and Heaven! whose tormentry ✿ Enquickens frame and soul
with lively gree:
I marvel so delightsome house to view, ✿ And most when 'neath it kindled
fires I see:
Sojourn of bliss to visitors, withal ✿ Pools on them pour down tears
unceasingly.
Then his eye sight roamed and browsed on the gardens of their beauty and
he repeated these two couplets:—
I went to the house of the keeper-man; ✿ He was out, but others to smile
began:
I entered his Heaven[23] and then his Hell;[24] ✿ And I said "Bless
Málik[25] and bless Rizwán."[26]
When they heard these verses they were charmed, and the Overseer invited
them to his house; but they declined and returned to their own place, to
rest from the great heat of the bath. So they took their ease there and
ate and drank and passed that night in perfect solace and satisfaction,
till morning dawned, when they arose from sleep and making their lesser
ablution, prayed the dawn-prayer and drank the morning draught.[27] As
soon as the sun had risen and the shops and markets opened, they arose
and going forth from their place to the bazar opened their shop, which
their servants had already furnished, after the handsomest fashion, and
had spread with prayer-rugs and silken carpets and had placed on the
divans a pair of mattresses, each worth an hundred dinars. On every
mattress they had disposed a rug of skin fit for a King and edged with a
fringe of gold; and a-middlemost the shop stood a third seat still
richer, even as the place required. Then Taj al-Muluk sat down on one
divan, and Aziz on another, whilst the Wazir seated himself on that in
the centre, and the servants stood before them. The city people soon
heard of them and crowded about them, so that they sold some of their
goods and not a few of their stuffs; for Taj al-Muluk's beauty and
loveliness had become the talk of the town. Thus they passed a trifle of
time, and every day the people flocked to them and pressed upon them
more and more, till the Wazir, after exhorting Taj al-Muluk to keep his
secret, commended him to the care of Aziz and went home, that he might
commune with himself alone and cast about for some contrivance which
might profit them. Meanwhile, the two young men sat talking and Taj al
Muluk said to Aziz, "Haply some one will come from the Lady Dunya." So
he ceased not expecting this chance days and nights, but his heart was
troubled and he knew neither sleep nor rest; for desire had got the
mastery of him, and love and longing were sore upon him, so that he
renounced the solace of sleep and abstained from meat and drink; yet
ceased he not to be like the moon on the night of fullness. Now one day
as he sat in the shop, behold, there came up an ancient woman——And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Thirty-third Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Wazir Dandan
continued to Zau al-Makan:—Now one day as Taj al-Muluk sat in his shop,
behold, there appeared an ancient woman, who came up to him followed by
two slave girls. She ceased not advancing till she stood before the shop
of Taj al-Muluk and, observing his symmetry and beauty and loveliness,
marvelled at his charms and sweated in her petticoat trousers,
exclaiming, "Glory to Him who created thee out of vile water, and made
thee a temptation to all beholders!" And she fixed her eyes on him and
said, "This is not a mortal, he is none other than an angel deserving
the highest respect."[28] Then she drew near and saluted him, whereupon
he returned her salute and rose to his feet to receive her and smiled in
her face (all this by a hint from Aziz); after which he made her sit
down by his side and fanned her with a fan, till she was rested and
refreshed. Then she turned to Taj al-Muluk and said, "O my son! O thou
who art perfect in bodily gifts and spiritual graces; say me, art thou
of this country?" He replied, in voice the sweetest and in tone the
pleasantest, "By Allah, O my mistress, I was never in this land during
my life till this time, nor do I abide here save by way of diversion."
Rejoined she, "May the Granter grant thee all honour and prosperity! And
what stuffs hast thou brought with thee? Show me something passing fine;
for the beauteous should bring nothing but what is beautiful." When he
heard her words, his heart fluttered and he knew not their inner
meaning; but Aziz made a sign to him and he replied, "I have everything
thou canst desire and especially I have goods that besit none but Kings
and King's daughters; so tell me what stuff thou wantest and for whom,
that I may show thee what will be fitting for him." This he said, that
he might learn the meaning of her words; and she rejoined, "I want a
stuff fit for the Princess Dunya, daughter of King Shahriman." Now when
the Prince heard the name of his beloved, he joyed with great joy and
said to Aziz, "Give me such a parcel." So Aziz brought it and opened it
before Taj al-Muluk who said to the old woman, "Select what will suit
her; for these goods are to be found only with me." She chose stuffs
worth a thousand dinars and asked, "How much is this?"; and she ceased
not the while to talk with him and rub what was inside her thighs with
the palm of her hand. Answered Taj al-Muluk, "Shall I haggle with the
like of thee about this paltry price? Praised be Allah who hath
acquainted me with thee!" The old woman rejoined, "Allah's name be upon
thee! I commend thy beautiful face to the protection of the Lord of the
Daybreak.[29] Beautiful face and eloquent speech! Happy she who lieth in
thy bosom and claspeth thy waist in her arms and enjoyeth thy youth,
especially if she be beautiful and lovely like thyself!" At this, Taj
al-Muluk laughed till he fell on his back and said to himself, "O Thou
who fulfillest desires human by means of pimping old women! They are the
true fulfillers of desires!" Then she asked, "O my son, what is thy
name?" and he answered, "My name is Taj al-Muluk, the Crown of Kings."
Quoth she, "This is indeed a name of Kings and King's sons and thou art
clad in merchant's clothes." Quoth Aziz, "For the love his parents and
family bore him and for the value they set on him, they named him thus."
Replied the old woman, "Thou sayest sooth, Allah guard you both from the
evil eye and the envious, though hearts be broken by your charms!" Then
she took the stuffs and went her way; but she was amazed at his beauty
and stature and symmetry, and she ceased not going till she found the
Lady Dunya and said to her, "O my mistress! I have brought thee some
handsome stuffs." Quoth the Princess, "Show me that same"; and the old
woman, "O apple of my eye, here it is, turn it over and examine it." Now
when the Princess looked at it she was amazed and said, "O my nurse,
this is indeed handsome stuff: I have never seen its like in our city."
"O my lady," replied the old nurse, "he who sold it me is handsomer
still. It would seem as if Rizwan had left the gates of Paradise open in
his carelessness, and as if the youth who sold me this stuff had come
bodily out of Heaven. I would he might sleep this night with thee and
might lie between thy breasts.[30] He hath come to thy city with these
precious stuffs for amusement's sake, and he is a temptation to all who
set eyes on him." The Princess laughed at her words and said, "Allah
afflict thee, O pernicious old hag! Thou dotest and there is no sense
left in thee." Presently, she resumed, "Give me the stuff that I may
look at it anew." So she gave it her and she took it again and saw that
its size was small and its value great. It pleased her, for she had
never in her life seen its like, and she exclaimed, "By Allah, this is a
handsome stuff!" Answered the old woman, "O my lady, by Allah! if thou
sawest its owner thou wouldst know him for the handsomest man on the
face of the earth." Quoth the Lady Dunya, "Didst thou ask him if he had
any need, that he might tell us and we might satisfy it?" But the nurse
shook her head and said, "The Lord keep thy sagacity! By Allah, he hath
a want, may thy skill not fail thee. What! is any man free from wants?"
Rejoined the Princess, "Go back to him and salute him and say to
him:—Our land and town are honoured by thy visit and, if thou have any
need, we will fulfil it to thee, on our head and eyes." So the old woman
at once returned to Taj al-Muluk, and when he saw her his heart jumped
for joy and gladness and he rose to his feet before her and, taking her
hand, seated her by his side. As soon as she was rested, she told him
what Princess Dunya had said; and he on hearing it joyed with exceeding
joy; his breast dilated to the full; gladness entered his heart and he
said to himself, "Verily, I have my need." Then he asked the old woman,
"Haply thou wilt take her a message from me and bring me her answer?";
and she answered, "I hear and I obey." So he said to Aziz, "Bring me
ink-case and paper and a brazen pen." And when Aziz brought him what he
sought, he hent the pen in hand and wrote these lines of poetry:—
I write to thee, O fondest hope! a writ ✿ Of grief that severance on my
soul doth lay:
Saith its first line, "Within my heart is lowe!" ✿ Its second, "Love and
longing on me prey!"
Its third, "My patience waste is, fades my life!" ✿ Its fourth, "Naught
shall my pain and pine allay!"
Its fifth, "When shall mine eyes enjoy thy sight?" ✿ Its sixth, "Say,
when shall dawn our meeting-day?"
And, lastly, by way of subscription he wrote these words. "This letter
is from the captive of captivation ✿ prisoned in the hold of longing
expectation ✿ wherefrom is no emancipation ✿ but in anticipation and
intercourse and in unification ✿ after absence and separation. ✿ For
from the severance of friends he loveth so fain ✿ he suffereth
love-pangs and pining pain. ✿" Then his tears rushed out, and he indited
these two couplets:—
I write thee, love, the while my tears pour down; ✿ Nor cease they ever
pouring thick and fleet:
Yet I despair not of my God, whose grace ✿ Haply some day will grant us
twain to meet.
Then he folded the letter[31] and sealed it with his signet-ring and
gave it to the old woman, saying, "Carry it to the Lady Dunya." Quoth
she, "To hear is to obey;" whereupon he gave her a thousand dinars and
said to her, "O my mother! accept this gift from me as a token of my
affection." She took both from him and blessed him and went her way and
never stinted walking till she went in to the Lady Dunya. Now when the
Princess saw her she said to her, "O my nurse, what is it he asketh of
need that we may fulfil his wish to him?" Replied the old woman, "O my
lady, he sendeth thee this letter by me, and I know not what is in it;"
and handed it to her. Then the Princess took the letter and read it; and
when she understood it, she exclaimed, "Whence cometh and whither goeth
this merchant man that he durst address such a letter to me?" And she
slapt her face saying, "Whence are we that we should come to
shopkeeping? Awah! Awah! By the lord, but that I fear Almighty Allah I
had slain him;" and she added, "Yea, I had crucified[32] him over his
shop-door!" Asked the old woman, "What is in this letter to vex thy
heart and move thy wrath on this wise? Doth it contain a complaint of
oppression or demand for the price of the stuff?" Answered the Princess,
"Woe to thee! There is none of this in it, naught but words of love and
endearment. This is all through thee: otherwise whence should this
Satan[33] know me?" Rejoined the old woman, "O my lady, thou sittest in
thy high palace and none may have access to thee; no, not even the birds
of the air. Allah keep thee, and keep thy youth from blame and reproach!
Thou needest not care for the barking of dogs, for thou art a Princess,
the daughter of a King. Be not wroth with me that I brought thee this
letter, knowing not what was in it; but I opine that thou send him an
answer and threaten him with death and forbid him this foolish talk;
surely he will abstain and not do the like again." Quoth the Lady Dunya,
"I fear that, if I write to him, he will desire me the more." The old
woman returned, "When he heareth thy threats and promise of punishment,
he will desist from his persistence." She cried, "Here with the ink-case
and paper and brazen pen;" and when they brought them she wrote these
couplets:—
O thou who for thy wakeful nights wouldst claim my love to boon, ✿ For
what of pining thou must feel and tribulation!
Dost thou, fond fool and proud of sprite, seek meeting with the Moon? ✿
Say, did man ever win his wish to take in arms the Moon?
I counsel thee, from soul cast out the wish that dwells therein, ✿ And
cut that short which threatens thee with sore risk oversoon:
An to such talk thou dare return, I bid thee to expect ✿ Fro' me such
awful penalty as suiteth froward loon:
I swear by Him who moulded man from gout of clotted blood,[34] ✿ Who lit
the Sun to shine by day and lit for night the moon,
An thou return to mention that thou spakest in thy pride, ✿ Upon a cross
of tree for boon I'll have thee crucified!
Then she folded the letter and handing it to the old woman said, "Give
him this and say him:—Cease from this talk!" "Hearkening and obedience"
replied she, and taking the letter with joy, returned to her own house,
where she passed the night; and when morning dawned she betook herself
to the shop of Taj al-Muluk whom she found expecting her. When he saw
her, he was ready to fly[35] for delight, and when she came up to him,
he stood to her on his feet and seated her by his side. Then she brought
out the letter and gave it to him, saying, "Read what is in this;"
adding "When Princess Dunya read thy letter she was angry; but I coaxed
her and jested with her till I made her laugh, and she had pity on thee
and she hath returned thee an answer." He thanked her for her kindness
and bade Aziz give her a thousand gold pieces: then he perused the
letter and understanding it fell to weeping a weeping so sore that the
old woman's heart was moved to ruth for him, and his tears and
complaints were grievous to her. Presently she asked him, "O my son,
what is there in this letter to make thee weep?" Answered he, "She hath
threatened me with death and crucifixion and she forbiddeth me to write
to her, but if I write not my death were better than my life. So take
thou my answer to her letter and let her work her will." Rejoined the
old woman, "By the life of thy youth, needs must I risk my existence for
thee, that I may bring thee to thy desire and help thee to win what thou
hast at heart!" And Taj al-Muluk said, "Whatever thou dost, I will
requite thee for it and do thou weigh it in the scales of thy judgement,
for thou art experienced in managing matters, and skilled in reading the
chapters of the book of intrigue: all hard matters to thee are easy
doings; and Allah can bring about everything." Then he took a sheet of
paper and wrote thereon these improvised couplets:—
Yestre'en my love with slaughter menaced me, ✿ But sweet were slaughter
and Death's foreordainèd:
Yes, Death is sweet for lover doomed to bear ✿ Long life, rejected,
injured and constrainèd:
By Allah! deign to visit friendless friend! ✿ Thy thrall am I and like a
thrall I'm chainèd:
Mercy, O lady mine, for loving thee! ✿ Who loveth noble soul should be
assainèd.
Then he sighed heavy sighs and wept till the old woman wept also; and
presently taking the letter she said to him, "Be of good cheer and cool
eyes and clear; for needs must I bring thee to thy wish."——And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Thirty-fourth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Taj al-Muluk
wept the old woman said to him, "Be of good cheer and cool eyes and
clear; for needs must I bring thee to thy wish." Then she rose and left
him on coals of fire; and returned to Princess Dunya, whom she found
still showing on her changed face rage at Taj al-Muluk's letter. So she
gave her his second letter, whereat her wrath redoubled and she said,
"Did I not say he would desire us the more?" Replied the old woman,
"What thing is this dog that he should aspire to thee?" Quoth the
Princess, "Go back to him and tell him that, if he write me after this,
I will cut off his head." Quoth the nurse, "Write these words in a
letter and I will take it to him that his fear may be the greater." So
she took a sheet of paper and wrote thereon these couplets:—
Ho thou, who past and bygone risks regardest with uncare! ✿ Thou who to
win thy meeting-prize dost overslowly fare!
In pride of spirit thinkest thou to win the star Soha[36]? ✿ Albe thou
may not reach the Moon which shines through upper air?
How darest thou expect to win my favours, hope to clip ✿ Upon a lover's
burning breast my lance like shape and rare?
Leave this thy purpose lest my wrath come down on thee some day, ✿ A day
of wrath shall hoary turn the partings of thy hair!
Then she folded the letter and gave it to the old woman, who took it and
repaired to Taj al-Muluk. And when he saw her, he rose to his feet and
exclaimed, "May Allah never bereave me of the blessing of thy coming!"
Quoth she, "Take the answer to thy letter." He took it and reading it,
wept with sore weeping and said, "I long for some one to slay me at this
moment and send me to my rest, for indeed death were easier to me than
this my state!" Then he took ink-case and pen and paper and wrote a
letter containing these two couplets:—
O hope of me! pursue me not with rigour and disdain: ✿ Deign thou to
visit lover-wight in love of thee is drowned;
Deem not a life so deeply wronged I longer will endure; ✿ My soul for
severance from my friend divorced this frame unsound.
Lastly he folded the letter and handed it to the old woman, saying, "Be
not angry with me, though I have wearied thee to no purpose." And he
bade Aziz give her other thousand ducats, saying, "O my mother, needs
must this letter result in perfect union or utter severance." Replied
she, "O my son, by Allah, I desire nought but thy weal; and it is my
object that she be thine, for indeed thou art the shining moon, and she
the rising sun.[37] If I do not bring you together, there is no profit
in my existence; and I have lived my life till I have reached the age of
ninety years in the practice of wile and intrigue; so how should I fail
to unite two lovers, though in defiance of right and law?" Then she took
leave of him having comforted his heart, and ceased not walking till she
went in to the Lady Dunya. Now she had hidden the letter in her hair: so
when she sat down by the Princess she rubbed her head and said, "O my
lady, maybe thou wilt untwist my hair-knot, for it is a time since I
went to the Hammam." The King's daughter bared her arms to the elbows
and, letting down the old woman's locks, began to loose the knot of back
hair; when out dropped the letter and the Lady Dunya seeing it, asked,
"What is this paper?" Quoth the nurse, "As I sat in the merchant's shop,
this paper must have stuck to me: give it to me that I may return it to
him; possibly it containeth some account whereof he hath need." But the
Princess opened it and read it and, when she understood it, she cried
out, "This is one of thy manifold tricks, and hadst thou not reared me,
I would lay violent hands on thee this moment! Verily Allah hath
afflicted me with this merchant: but all that hath befallen me with him
is on thy head. I know not from what country this one can have come: no
man but he would venture to affront me thus, and I fear lest this my
case get abroad, more by token as it concerneth one who is neither of my
kin nor of my peers." Rejoined the old woman, "None would dare speak of
this for fear of thy wrath and for awe of thy sire; so there can be no
harm in sending him an answer." Quoth the Princess, "O my nurse, verily
this one is a perfect Satan! How durst he use such language to me and
not dread the Sultan's rage. Indeed, I am perplexed about his case: if I
order him to be put to death, it were unjust; and if I leave him alive
his boldness will increase." Quoth the old woman, "Come, write him a
letter; it may be he will desist in dread." So she called for paper and
ink-case and pen and wrote these couplets:—
Thy folly drives thee on though long I chid, ✿ Writing in verse: how
long shall I forbid?
For all forbiddal thou persistest more, ✿ And my sole grace it is to
keep it hid;
Then hide thy love nor ever dare reveal; ✿ For an thou speak, of thee
I'll soon be rid;
If to thy silly speech thou turn anew, ✿ Ravens shall croak for thee the
wold amid:
And Death shall come and beat thee down ere long, ✿ Put out of sight and
bury 'neath an earthen lid:
Thy folk, fond fool! thou'lt leave for thee to mourn, ✿ And through
their lives to sorrow all forlorn.
Then she folded the letter and committed it to the old woman, who took
it and returning to Taj al-Muluk, gave it to him. When he read it, he
knew that the Princess was hard-hearted and that he should not win
access to her; so he complained of his case to the Wazir and besought
his counsel. Quoth the Minister, "Know thou that naught will profit thee
save that thou write to her and invoke the retribution of Heaven upon
her." And quoth the Prince, "O my brother, O Aziz, do thou write to her
as if my tongue spake, according to thy knowledge." So Aziz took a paper
and wrote these couplets:—
By the Five Shayks,[38] O Lord, I pray deliver me; ✿ Let her for whom I
suffer bear like misery:
Thou knowest how I fry in flaming lowe of love, ✿ While she I love hath
naught of ruth or clemency:
How long shall I, despite my pain, her feelings spare? ✿ How long shall
she wreak tyranny o'er weakling me?
In pains of never-ceasing death I ever grieve: ✿ O Lord, deign aid; none
other helping hand I see.
How fain would I forget her and forget her love! ✿ But how forget when
Love garred Patience death to dree?
O thou who hinderest Love to 'joy fair meeting-tide ✿ Say! art thou safe
from Time and Fortune's jealousy?
Art thou not glad and blest with happy life, while I ✿ From folk and
country for thy love am doomèd flee?
Then Aziz folded the letter and gave it to Taj al-Muluk, who read it and
was pleased with it. So he handed it to the old woman, who took it and
went in with it to Princess Dunya. But when she read it and mastered the
meaning thereof, she was enraged with great rage and said, "All that
hath befallen me cometh by means of this ill-omened old woman!" Then she
cried out to the damsels and eunuchs, saying, "Seize this old hag, this
accursed trickstress and beat her with your slippers!" So they came down
upon her till she swooned away; and, when she came to herself, the
Princess said to her, "By the Lord! O wicked old woman, did I not fear
Almighty Allah, I would slay thee." Then quoth she to them, "Beat her
again" and they did so till she fainted a second time, whereupon she
bade them drag her forth and throw her outside the palace-door. So they
dragged her along on her face and threw her down before the gate; but as
soon as she revived she got up from the ground and, walking and sitting
by turns, made her way home. There she passed the night till morning,
when she arose and went to Taj al-Muluk and told them all that had
occurred. He was distressed at this grievous news and said, "O my
mother, hard indeed to us is that which hath befallen thee, but all
things are according to fate and man's lot." Replied she, "Be of good
cheer and keep thine eyes cool and clear, for I will not give over
striving till I have brought thee and her together, and made thee enjoy
this wanton who hath burnt my skin with beating." Asked the Prince,
"Tell me what caused her to hate men;" and the old woman answered, "It
arose from what she saw in a dream." "And what was this dream?" "'Twas
this: one night, as she lay asleep, she saw a fowler spread his net upon
the ground and scatter wheat grain round it. Then he sat down hard by,
and not a bird in the neighbourhood but flocked to his toils. Amongst
the rest she beheld a pair of pigeons, male and female; and, whilst she
was watching the net, behold, the male bird's foot caught in the meshes
and he began to struggle; whereupon all the other birds took fright and
flew away. But presently his mate came back and hovered over him, then
alighted on the toils unobserved by the fowler, and fell to pecking with
her beak and pulling at the mesh in which the male bird's foot was
tangled, till she released the toes and they flew away together. Then
the fowler came up, mended his net and seated himself afar off. After an
hour or so the birds flew back and the female pigeon was caught in the
net; whereupon all the other birds took fright and scurried away; and
the male pigeon fled with the rest and did not return to his mate, but
the fowler came up and took the female pigeon and cut her throat. The
Princess awoke, troubled by her dream, and said:—All males are like this
pigeon, worthless creatures: and men in general lack grace and goodness
to women." When the old woman had ended her story, the Prince said to
her, "O my mother, I desire to have one look at her, though it be my
death; so do thou contrive me some contrivance for seeing her." She
replied, "Know then that she hath under her palace windows a garden
wherein she taketh her pleasure; and thither she resorteth once in every
month by the private door. After ten days, the time of her thus going
forth to divert herself will arrive; so when she is about to visit the
garden, I will come and tell thee, that thou mayst go thither and meet
her. And look thou leave not the garden, for haply, an she see thy
beauty and loveliness, her heart will be taken with love of thee, and
love is the most potent means of union." He said, "I hear and obey;"
whereupon he and Aziz arose and left the shop and, taking the old woman
with them, showed her the place where they lodged. Then said Taj
al-Muluk to Aziz, "O my brother, I have no need of the shop now, having
fulfilled my purpose of it; so I give it to thee with all that is in it;
for that thou hast come abroad with me and hast left thy native land for
my sake." Aziz accepted his gift and then they sat conversing, while the
Prince questioned him of the strange adventures which had befallen him,
and his companion acquainted him with the particulars thereof.
Presently, they went to the Wazir and, reporting to him Taj al-Muluk's
purpose, asked him, "What is to be done?" "Let us go to the garden,"
answered he. So each and every donned richest clothes and went forth,
followed by three white slaves to the garden, which they found thick
with thickets and railing its rills. When they saw the keeper sitting at
the gate, they saluted him with the Salam and he returned their salute.
Then the Wazir gave him an hundred gold pieces, saying, "Prithee, take
this small sum and fetch us somewhat to eat; for we are strangers and I
have with me these two lads whom I wish to divert."[39] The Gardener
took the sequins and said to them, "Enter and amuse yourselves in the
garden, for it is all yours; and sit down till I bring you what food you
require." So he went to the market while the Wazir and Taj al-Muluk and
Aziz entered the garden. And shortly after leaving for the bazar the
Gardener returned with a roasted lamb and cotton-white bread, which he
placed before them, and they ate and drank; thereupon he served up
sweetmeats, and they ate of them, and washed their hands and sat
talking. Presently the Wazir said to the garth-keeper, "Tell me about
this garden: is it thine or dost thou rent it?" The Shaykh replied, "It
doth not belong to me, but to our King's daughter, the Princess Dunya."
"What be thy monthly wages?" asked the Wazir and he answered, "One dinar
and no more." Then the Minister looked round about the garden and,
seeing in its midst a pavilion tall and grand but old and disused, said
to the keeper, "O elder, I am minded to do here a good work, by which
thou shalt remember me." Replied the other, "O my lord, what is the good
work thou wouldest do?" "Take these three hundred dinars," rejoined the
Wazir. When the Keeper heard speak of the gold, he said, "O my lord,
whatso thou wilt, do!" So the Wazir gave him the monies, saying,
"Inshallah, we will make a good work in this place!" Then they left him
and returned to their lodging, where they passed the night; and when it
was the next day, the Minister sent for a plasterer and a painter and a
skilful goldsmith and, furnishing them with all the tools they wanted,
carried them to the garden, where he bade them whitewash the walls of
the pavilion and decorate it with various kinds of paintings. Moreover
he sent for gold and lapis lazuli[40] and said to the painter, "Figure
me on the wall, at the upper end of this hall, a man-fowler with his
nets spread and birds falling into them and a female pigeon entangled in
the meshes by her bill." And when the painter had finished his picture
on one side, the Wazir said, "Figure me on the other side a similar
figure and represent the she-pigeon alone in the snare and the fowler
seizing her and setting the knife to her neck; and draw on the third
side-wall, a great raptor clutching the male pigeon, her mate, and
digging talons into him." The artist did his bidding, and when he and
the others had finished the designs, they received their hire and went
away. Then the Wazir and his companions took leave of the Gardener and
returned to their place, where they sat down to converse. And Taj
al-Muluk said to Aziz, "O my brother, recite me some verses: perchance
it may broaden my breast and dispel my dolours and quench the fire
flaming in my heart." So Aziz chanted with sweet modulation these
couplets:—
Whate'er they say of grief to lovers came, ✿ I, weakling I, can
single-handed claim:
An seek thou watering-spot,[41] my streaming eyes ✿ Pour floods that
thirst would quench howe'er it flame:
Or wouldest view what ruin Love has wrought ✿ With ruthless hands, then
see this wasted frame.
And his eyes ran over with tears and he repeated these couplets also:-
Who loves not swan-neck and gazelle-like eyes, ✿ Yet claims to know
Life's joys, I say he lies:
In Love is mystery, none avail to learn ✿ Save he who loveth in pure
loving wise.
Allah my heart ne'er lighten of this love, ✿ Nor rob the wakefulness
these eyelids prize.
Then he changed the mode of song and sang these couplets:—
Ibn Síná[42] in his Canon doth opine ✿ Lovers' best cure is found in
merry song:
In meeting lover of a like degree, ✿ Dessert in garden, wine-draughts
long and strong:
I chose another who of thee might cure ✿ While Force and Fortune aided
well and long;
But ah! I learnt Love's mortal ill, wherein ✿ Ibn Sina's recipe is fond
and wrong.
After hearing them to the end, Taj al-Muluk was pleased with his verses
and wondered at his eloquence and the excellence of his recitation,
saying, "Indeed, thou hast done away with somewhat of my sorrow." Then
quoth the Wazir, "Of a truth, there occurred to those of old what
astoundeth those who hear it told." Quoth the Prince, "If thou canst
recall aught of this kind, prithee let us hear thy subtle lines and keep
up the talk." So the Minister chanted in modulated song these couplets:—
Indeed I deemed thy favours might be bought ✿ By gifts of gold and
things that joy the sprite;
And ignorantly thought thee light-o'-love, ✿ When can thy love lay low
the highmost might;
Until I saw thee choosing one, that one ✿ Loved with all favour, crowned
with all delight:
Then wot I thou by sleight canst ne'er be won ✿ And under wing my head I
hid from sight;
And in this nest of passion made my wone, ✿ Wherein I nestle morning,
noon and night.
So far concerning them; but as regards the old woman she remained shut
up from the world in her house, till it befel that the King's daughter
was taken with a desire to divert herself in the garden. Now she had
never been wont so to do save in company with her nurse; accordingly she
sent for her and made friends with her and soothed her sorrow, saying,
"I wish to go forth to the garden, that I may divert myself with the
sight of its trees and fruits, and broaden my breast with the scent of
its flowers." Replied the old woman, "I hear and obey; but first I would
go to my house, and soon I will be with thee." The Princess rejoined,
"Go home, but be not long absent from me." So the old woman left her
and, repairing to Taj al-Muluk, said to him, "Get thee ready and don thy
richest dress and go to the garden and find out the Gardener and salute
him and then hide thyself therein." "To hear is to obey" answered he;
and she agreed with him upon a signal, after which she returned to the
Lady Dunya. As soon as she was gone, the Wazir and Aziz rose and robed
Taj al-Muluk in a splendid suit of royal raiment worth five thousand
dinars, and girt his middle with a girdle of gold set with gems and
precious metals. Then they repaired to the garden and found seated at
the gate the Keeper who, as soon as he saw the Prince, sprang to his
feet and received him with all respect and reverence, and opening the
gate, said, "Enter and take thy pleasure in looking at the garden." Now
the Gardener knew not that the King's daughter was to visit the place
that day; but when Taj al-Muluk had been a little while there, he heard
a hubbub and ere he could think, out issued the eunuchs and damsels by
the private wicket. The Gardener seeing this came up to the Prince,
informed him of her approach and said to him, "O my lord, what is to be
done? The Princess Dunya, the King's daughter, is here." Replied the
Prince, "Fear not, no harm shall befal thee; for I will hide me
somewhere about the garden." So the Keeper exhorted him to the utmost
prudence and went away. Presently the Princess entered the garden with
her damsels and with the old woman, who said to herself, "If these
eunuchs stay with us, we shall not attain our end." So quoth she to the
King's daughter, "O my lady, I have somewhat to tell thee which shall
ease thy heart." Quoth the Princess, "Say what thou hast to say." "O my
lady," rejoined the old woman, "thou hast no need of these eunuchs at a
time like the present; nor wilt thou be able to divert thyself at thine
ease, whilst they are with us; so send them away;" and the Lady Dunya
replied, "Thou speakest sooth." Accordingly she dismissed them and
presently began to walk about, whilst Taj al-Muluk looked upon her and
fed his eyes on her beauty and loveliness (but she knew it not); and
every time he gazed at her he fainted by reason of her passing
charms.[43] The old woman drew her on by converse till they reached the
pavilion which the Wazir had bidden be decorated, when the Princess
entered and cast a glance round and perceived the picture of the birds,
the fowler and the pigeon; whereupon she cried, "Exalted be Allah! This
is the very counterfeit presentment of what I saw in my dream." She
continued to gaze at the figures of the birds and the fowler with his
net, admiring the work, and presently she said, "O my nurse, I have been
wont to blame and hate men, but look now at the fowler how he hath
slaughtered the she-bird and set free her mate; who was minded to return
to her and aid her to escape when the bird of prey met him and tore him
to pieces." Now the old woman feigned ignorance to her and ceased not to
occupy her in converse, till they drew near the place where Taj al-Muluk
lay hidden. Thereupon she signed to him to come out and walk under the
windows of the pavilion; and, as the Lady Dunya stood looking from the
casement, behold, her glance fell that way and she saw him and noting
his beauty of face and form, said to the old woman, "O my nurse, whence
cometh yonder handsome youth?" Replied the old woman, "I know nothing of
him save that I think he must be some great King's son, for he attaineth
comeliness in excess and extreme loveliness." And the Lady Dunya fell in
love with him to distraction; the spells which bound her were loosed and
her reason was overcome by his beauty and grace; and his fine stature
and proportions strongly excited her desires sexual. So she said, "O my
nurse! this is indeed a handsome youth;" and the old woman replied,
"Thou sayest sooth, O my lady," and signed to Taj al-Muluk to go home.
And though desire and longing flamed in him and he was distraught for
love, yet he went away and took leave of the Gardener and returned to
his place, obeying the old woman and not daring to cross her. When he
told the Wazir and Aziz that she had signed him to depart, they exhorted
him to patience, saying, "Did not the ancient dame know that there was
an object to be gained by thy departure, she had not signalled thee to
return home." Such was the case with Taj al-Muluk, the Wazir and Aziz;
but as regards the King's daughter, the Lady Dunya, desire and passion
redoubled upon her; she was overcome with love and longing and she said
to her nurse, "I know not how I shall manage a meeting with this youth,
but through thee." Exclaimed the old woman, "I take refuge with Allah
from Satan the stoned! Thou who art averse from men! How cometh it then
that thou art thus afflicted with hope and fear of this young man? Yet,
by Allah, none is worthy of thy youth but he." Quoth the Lady Dunya, "O
my nurse, further my cause and help me to foregather with him, and thou
shalt have of me a thousand dinars and a dress of honour worth as much
more: but if thou aid me not to come at him, I am a dead woman in very
sooth." Replied the ancient dame, "Go to thy palace and leave me to
devise means for bringing you twain together. I will throw away my life
to content you both!" So the Lady Dunya returned to her palace, and the
old woman betook herself to Taj al-Muluk who, when he saw her, rose to
receive her and entreated her with respect and reverence making her sit
by his side. Then she said, "The trick hath succeeded," and told him all
that had passed between herself and the Princess. He asked her, "When is
our meeting to be?"; and she answered, "To-morrow." So he gave her a
thousand dinars and a dress of like value, and she took them and stinted
not walking till she returned to her mistress, who said to her, "O my
nurse! what news of the beloved?" Replied she, "I have learnt where he
liveth and will bring him to thee to-morrow." At this the Princess was
glad and gave her a thousand dinars and a dress worth as much more, and
she took them and returned to her own place, where she passed the night
till morning. Then she went to Taj al-Muluk and dressing him in woman's
clothes, said to him, "Follow me and sway from side to side[44] as thou
steppest, and hasten not thy pace nor take heed of any who speaketh to
thee." And after thus charging him she went out, and the Prince followed
her in woman's attire and she continued to charge and encourage him by
the way, that he might not be afraid; nor ceased they walking till they
came to the Palace-gate. She entered and the Prince after her, and she
led him on, passing through doors and vestibules, till they had passed
seven doors.[45] As they approached the seventh, she said to him,
"Hearten thy heart and when I call out to thee and say:—O damsel pass
on! do not slacken thy pace, but advance as if about to run. When thou
art in the vestibule, look to thy left and thou wilt see a saloon with
doors: count five doors and enter the sixth, for therein is thy desire."
Asked Taj al-Muluk, "And whither wilt thou go?"; and she answered,
"Nowhere shall I go except that perhaps I may drop behind thee, and the
Chief Eunuch may detain me to chat with him." She walked on (and he
behind her) till she reached the door where the Chief Eunuch was
stationed and he, seeing Taj al-Muluk with her dressed as a slave-girl,
said to the old woman, "What business hath this girl with thee?" Replied
she, "This is a slave-girl of whom the Lady Dunya hath heard that she is
skilled in different kinds of work and she hath a mind to buy her."
Rejoined the Eunuch, "I know neither slave-girls nor anyone else; and
none shall enter here without my searching according to the King's
commands."——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say
her permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Thirty-fifth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Chamberlain
Eunuch cried to the old woman, "I know neither slave-girl nor anyone
else; and none shall enter here without my searching him according to
the King's commands." Then quoth she, feigning to be angry, "I thought
thee a man of sense and good breeding; but, if thou be changed, I will
let the Princess know of it and tell her how thou hinderest her
slave-girl;" and she cried out to Taj al-Muluk, saying, "Pass on, O
damsel!" So he passed on into the vestibule as she bade him, whilst the
Eunuch was silent and said no more. The Prince counted five doors and
entered the sixth where he found the Princess Dunya standing and
awaiting him. As soon as she saw him, she knew him and clasped him to
her breast, and he clasped her to his bosom. Presently the old woman
came in to them, having made a pretext to dismiss the Princess's
slave-girls for fear of disgrace; and the Lady Dunya said to her, "Be
thou our door-keeper!" So she and Taj al-Muluk abode alone together and
ceased not kissing and embracing and twining leg with leg till dawn.[46]
When day drew near, she left him and, shutting the door upon him, passed
into another chamber, where she sat down as was her wont, whilst her
slave-women came in to her, and she attended to their affairs and
conversed with them. Then she said to them, "Go forth from me now, for I
wish to amuse myself in privacy." So they withdrew and she betook
herself to Taj al-Muluk, and the old woman brought them food, of which
they ate and returned to amorous dalliance till dawn. Then the door was
locked upon him as on the day before; and they ceased not to do thus for
a whole month. This is how it fared with Taj al-Muluk and the Lady
Dunya; but as regards the Wazir and Aziz when they found that the Prince
had gone to the Palace of the King's daughter and there delayed all the
while, they concluded that he would never return from it and that he was
lost for ever; and Aziz said to the Wazir, "O my father, what shall we
do?" He replied, "O my son, this is a difficult matter, and except we
return to his sire and tell him, he will blame us therefor." So they
made ready at once and forthright set out for the Green Land and the
Country of the Two Columns, and sought Sulayman Shah's capital. And they
traversed the valleys night and day till they went in to the King, and
acquainted him with what had befallen his son and how from the time he
entered the Princess's Palace they had heard no news of him. At this the
King was as though the Day of Doom had dawned for him and regret was
sore upon him, and he proclaimed a Holy War[47] throughout his realm.
After which he sent forth his host without the town and pitched tents
for them and took up his abode in his pavilion, whilst the levies came
from all parts of the kingdom; for his subjects loved him by reason of
his great justice and beneficence. Then he marched with an army walling
the horizon, and departed in quest of his son. Thus far concerning them;
but as regards Taj al-Muluk and the Lady Dunya the two remained as they
were half a year's time, whilst every day they redoubled in mutual
affection; and love and longing and passion and desire so pressed upon
Taj al-Muluk, that at last he opened his mind and said to her, "Know, O
beloved of my heart and vitals, that the longer I abide with thee, the
more love and longing and passion and desire increase on me, for that I
have not yet fulfilled the whole of my wish." Asked she, "What then
wouldst thou have, O light of my eyes and fruit of my vitals? If thou
desire aught beside kissing and embracing and entwining of legs with
legs, do what pleaseth thee; for, by Allah, no partner hath any part in
us."[48] But he answered: "It is not that I wish: I would fain acquaint
thee with my true story. Know, then, that I am no merchant, nay, I am a
King, the son of a King, and my father's name is the supreme King
Sulayman Shah, who sent his Wazir ambassador to thy father, to demand
thee in marriage for me, but when the news came to thee thou wouldst not
consent." Then he told her his past from first to last, nor is there any
avail in a twice-told tale, and he added, "And now I wish to return to
my father, that he may send an ambassador to thy sire, to demand thee in
wedlock for me, so we may be at ease." When she heard these words, she
joyed with great joy because it suited with her own wishes, and they
passed the night on this understanding. But it so befel by the decree of
Destiny that sleep overcame them that night above all nights and they
remained till the sun had risen. Now at this hour, King Shahriman was
sitting on his cushion of estate, with his Emirs and Grandees before
him, when the Syndic of the goldsmiths presented himself between his
hands, carrying a large box. And he advanced and opening it in presence
of the King, brought out therefrom a casket of fine work worth an
hundred thousand dinars, for that which was therein of precious stones,
rubies and emeralds beyond the competence of any sovereign on earth to
procure. When the King saw this, he marvelled at its beauty; and,
turning to the Chief Eunuch (him with whom the old woman had had to do),
said to him, "O Kafur,[49] take this casket and wend with it to the
Princess Dunya." The Castrato took the casket and repairing to the
apartment of the King's daughter found the door shut and the old woman
lying asleep on the threshold; whereupon said he, "What! sleeping at
this hour?" When the old woman heard the Eunuch's voice she started from
sleep and was terrified and said to him, "Wait till I fetch the key."
Then she went forth and fled for her life. Such was her case; but as
regards the Epicene he, seeing her alarm, lifted the door off its
hinge-pins,[50] and entering found the Lady Dunya with her arms round
the neck of Taj al-Muluk and both fast asleep. At this sight he was
confounded and was preparing to return to the King, when the Princess
awoke, and seeing him, was terrified and changed colour and waxed pale,
and said to him, "O Kafur, veil thou what Allah hath veiled!"[51] But he
replied, "I cannot conceal aught from the King"; and, locking the door
on them, returned to Shahriman, who asked him, "Hast thou given the
casket to the Princess?" Answered the Eunuch, "Take the casket, here it
is for I cannot conceal aught from thee. Know that I found a handsome
young man by the side of the Princess and they two asleep in one bed and
in mutual embrace." The King commanded them to be brought into the
presence and said to them, "What manner of thing is this?" and, being
violently enraged, seized a dagger and was about to strike Taj al-Muluk
with it, when the Lady Dunya threw herself upon him and said to her
father, "Slay me before thou slayest him." The King reviled her and
commanded her to be taken back to her chamber: then he turned to Taj
al-Muluk and said to him, "Woe to thee! Whence art thou? Who is thy
father and what hath emboldened thee to debauch my daughter?" Replied
the Prince, "Know, O King, that if thou put me to death, thou art a lost
man, and thou and all in thy dominions will repent the deed." Quoth the
King, "How so?"; and quoth Taj al-Muluk, "Know that I am the son of King
Sulayman Shah, and ere thou knowest it, he will be upon thee with his
horse and foot." When King Shahriman heard these words he would have
deferred killing Taj al-Muluk and would rather have put him in prison,
till he should look into the truth of his words; but his Wazir said to
him, "O King of the Age, it is my opinion that thou make haste to slay
this gallows-bird who dares debauch the daughters of Kings." So the King
cried to the headsman, "Strike off his head; for he is a traitor."
Accordingly, the headsman took him and bound him fast and raised his
hand to the Emirs, signing to consult them, a first and a second signal,
thinking thereby to gain time in this matter;[52] but the King cried in
anger to him, "How long wilt thou consult others? If thou consult them
again I will strike off thine own head." So the headsman raised his hand
till the hair of his armpit showed, and was about to smite his neck——And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
[Illustration]
Now when it was the Hundred and Thirty-sixth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the headsman
raised his hand to smite off his head when behold, loud cries arose and
the folk closed their shops; whereupon the King said to the headsman,
"Wait awhile," and despatched one to learn the news. The messenger fared
forth and presently returned and reported, "I saw an army like the
dashing sea with its clashing surge: and their horses curvetting till
earth trembleth with the tramp; and I know no more of them." When the
King heard this, he was confounded and feared for his realm lest it
should be torn from him; so he turned to his Minister and said, "Have
not any of our army gone forth to meet this army?" But ere he had done
speaking, his Chamberlains entered with messengers from the King who was
approaching, and amongst them the Wazir who had accompanied Taj
al-Muluk. They began by saluting the King, who rose to receive them and
bade them draw near, and asked the cause of their coming; whereupon the
Minister came forward from amongst them and stood before him and said,
"Know that he who hath come down upon thy realm is no King like unto the
Kings of yore and the Sultans that went before." "And who is he?" asked
Shahriman, and the Wazir answered, "He is the Lord of justice and
loyalty, the bruit of whose magnanimity the caravans have blazed abroad,
the Sultan Sulayman Shah, Lord of the Green Land and the Two Columns and
the Mountains of Ispahan; he who loveth justice and equity, and hateth
oppression and iniquity. And he saith to thee that his son is with thee
and in thy city; his son, his heart's very core and the fruit of his
loins, and if he find him in safety, his aim is won and thou shalt have
thanks and praise; but if he have been lost from thy realm or if aught
of evil have befallen him, look thou for ruin and the wasting of thy
reign! for this thy city shall become a wold wherein the raven shall
croak. Thus have I done my errand to thee and peace be with thee!" Now
when King Shahriman heard from the messenger these words, his heart was
troubled and he feared for his kingdom: so he cried out for his Grandees
and Ministers, Chamberlains and Lieutenants; and, when they appeared, he
said to them, "Woe to you! Go down and search for the youth." Now the
Prince was still under the headsman's hands, but he was changed by the
fright he had undergone. Presently, the Wazir, chancing to glance
around, saw the Prince on the rug of blood and recognised him; so he
arose and threw himself upon him, and so did the other envoys. Then they
proceeded to loose his bonds and they kissed his hands and feet,
whereupon Taj al-Muluk opened his eyes and, recognising his father's
Wazir and his friend Aziz, fell down a-fainting for excess of delight in
them. When King Shahriman made sure that the coming of this army was
indeed because of this youth, he was confounded and feared with great
fear; so he went up to Taj al-Muluk and, kissing his head, said to him,
"O my son, be not wroth with me, neither blame the sinner for his sin:
but have compassion on my grey hairs, and waste not my realm." Whereupon
Taj al-Muluk drew near unto him and kissing his hand, replied, "No harm
shall come to thee, for indeed thou art to me as my father; but look
that nought befal my beloved, the Lady Dunya!" Rejoined the King, "O my
lord! fear not for her; naught but joy shall betide her;" and he went on
to excuse himself and made his peace with Sulayman Shah's Wazir, to whom
he promised much money, if he would conceal from the King what he had
seen. Then he bade his chief Officers take the Prince with them and
repair to the Hammam and clothe him in one of the best of his own suits
and bring him back speedily. So they obeyed his bidding and bore him to
the bath and clad him in the clothes which King Shahriman had set apart
for him, and brought him back to the presence-chamber. When he entered
the King rose to receive him and made all his Grandees stand in
attendance on him. Then Taj al-Muluk sat down to converse with his
father's Wazir and with Aziz, and he acquainted them with what had
befallen him; after which they said to him, "During that delay we
returned to thy father and gave him to know that thou didst enter the
Palace of the Princess and didst not return therefrom; and thy case
seemed doubtful to us. But when thy sire heard of this he mustered his
forces; then we came to this land and indeed our coming hath brought to
thee relief in extreme case and to us great joy." Quoth he, "Good
fortune hath attended your every action, first and last." While this was
doing King Shahriman went in to his daughter, Princess Dunya, and found
her wailing and weeping for Taj al-Muluk. Moreover, she had taken a
sword and fixed the hilt in the ground and had set the point to the
middle of her heart between her breasts; and she bent over the blade
saying, "Needs must I slay myself and not survive my beloved." When her
father entered and saw her in this case, he cried out to her, saying, "O
Princess of kings' daughters, hold thy hand and have ruth on thy sire
and the folk of thy realm!" Then he came up to her and continued, "Let
it not be that an ill thing befal thy father for thy sake!" And he told
her the whole tale that her lover was the son of King Sulayman Shah and
sought her to wife and he added, "The marriage waiteth only for thy
consent," Thereat she smiled and said, "Did I not tell thee that he was
the son of a Sultan? By Allah, there is no help for it but that I let
him crucify thee on a bit of wood worth two pieces of silver!" Replied
the King, "O my daughter, have mercy on me, so Allah have mercy on
thee!" Rejoined she, "Up with you and make haste and go bring him to me
without delay." Quoth the King, "On my head and eyes be it!"; and he
left her and, going in hastily to Taj al-Muluk, repeated her words in
his ear.[53] So he arose and accompanied the King to the Princess, and
when she caught sight of her lover, she took hold of him and embraced
him in her father's presence and hung upon him and kissed him, saying,
"Thou hast desolated me by thine absence!" Then she turned to her father
and said, "Sawest thou ever any that could do hurt to the like of this
beautiful being, who is moreover a King, the son of a King, and of the
free-born,[54] guarded against ignoble deeds?" Thereupon King Shahriman
went out shutting the door on them with his own hand; and he returned to
the Wazir and to the other envoys of Sulayman Shah and bade them inform
their King that his son was in health and gladness and enjoying all
delight of life with his beloved. So they returned to King Sulayman and
acquainted him with this; whereupon King Shahriman ordered largesse of
money and vivers to the troops of King Sulayman Shah; and, when they had
conveyed all he had commanded, he bade be brought out an hundred
coursers and an hundred dromedaries and an hundred white slaves and an
hundred concubines and an hundred black slaves and an hundred female
slaves; all of which he forwarded to the King as a present. Then he took
horse, with his Grandees and Chief Officers, and rode out of the city in
the direction of the King's camp. As soon as Sultan Sulayman Shah knew
of his approach, he rose and advanced many paces to meet him. Now the
Wazir and Aziz had told him all the tidings, whereat he rejoiced and
cried, "Praise be to Allah who hath granted the dearest wish of my son!"
Then King Sulayman took King Shahriman in his arms and seated him beside
himself on the royal couch, where they conversed awhile and had pleasure
in each other's conversation. Presently food was set before them, and
they ate till they were satisfied; and sweetmeats and dried fruits were
brought, and they enjoyed their dessert. And after a while came to them
Taj al-Muluk, richly dressed and adorned, and when his father saw him,
he stood up and embraced him and kissed him. Then all who were sitting
rose to do him honour; and the two Kings seated him between them and
they sat conversing a while, after which quoth King Sulayman Shah to
King Shahriman, "I desire to have the marriage-contract between my son
and thy daughter drawn up in the presence of witnesses, that the wedding
may be made public, even as is the custom of Kings." "I hear and I
obey," quoth King Shahriman and thereon summoned the Kazi and the
witnesses, who came and wrote out the marriage-contract between Taj
al-Muluk and the Lady Dunya. Then they gave bakhshish[55] of money and
sweetmeats; and lavished incense and essences; and indeed it was a day
of joy and gladness and all the grandees and soldiers rejoiced therein.
Then King Shahriman proceeded to dower and equip his daughter; and Taj
al-Muluk said to his sire, "Of a truth, this young man Aziz is of the
generous and hath done me a notable service, having borne weariness with
me; and he hath travelled with me and hath brought me to my desire. He
ceased never to show sufferance with me and exhort me to patience till I
accomplished my intent; and now he hath abided with us two whole years,
and he cut off from his native land. So now I purpose to equip him with
merchandise, that he may depart hence with a light heart; for his
country is nearhand." Replied his father, "Right is thy rede;" so they
made ready an hundred loads of the richest stuffs and the most costly,
and Taj al-Muluk presented them with great store of money to Aziz, and
farewelled him, saying, "O my brother and my true friend! take these
loads and accept them from me by way of gift and token of affection, and
go in peace to thine own country." Aziz accepted the presents and
kissing the ground between the hands of the Prince and his father bade
them adieu. Moreover, Taj al-Muluk mounted and accompanied him three
miles on his homeward way as a proof of amity, after which Aziz conjured
him to turn back, saying, "By Allah, O my master, were it not for my
mother, I never would part from thee! But, good my lord! leave me not
without news of thee." Replied Taj al-Muluk, "So be it!" Then the Prince
returned to the city and Aziz journeyed on till he came to his native
town; and he entered it and ceased not faring till he went in to his
mother and found that she had built him a monument in the midst of the
house and used to visit it continually. When he entered, he saw her with
hair dishevelled and dispread over the tomb, weeping and repeating these
lines:—
Indeed I'm strong to bear whate'er befal; ✿ But weak to bear such
parting's dire mischance:
What heart estrangement of the friend can bear? ✿ What strength
withstand assault of severance?
Then sobs burst from her breast, and she recited also these couplets:—
What's this? I pass by tombs, and fondly greet ✿ My friends' last homes,
but send they no reply:
For saith each friend, "Reply how can I make ✿ When pledged to clay and
pawned to stones I lie?
Earth has consumed my charms and I forget ✿ Thy love, from kith and kin
poor banisht I."
While she was thus, behold, Aziz came in to her and when she saw him,
she fell down, fainting for very joy. He sprinkled water on her face
till she revived and rising, took him in her arms and strained him to
her breast, whilst he in like manner embraced her. Then he greeted her
and she greeted him, and she asked the reason of his long absence,
whereupon he told her all that had befallen him from first to last and
informed her how Taj al-Muluk had given him an hundred loads of monies
and stuffs. At this she rejoiced, and Aziz abode with his mother in his
native town, weeping for what mishaps had happened to him with the
daughter of Dalilah the Wily One, even her who had castrated[56] him.
Such was the case with Aziz; but as regards Taj al-Muluk he went in unto
his beloved, the Princess Dunya, and abated her maidenhead. Then King
Shahriman proceeded to equip his daughter for her journey with her
husband and father in-law, and bade bring them provaunt and presents and
rarities. So they loaded their beasts and set forth, whilst King
Shahriman escorted them, by way of farewell, three days' journey on
their way, till King Shah Sulayman conjured him to return. So he took
leave of them and turned back, and Taj al-Muluk and his wife and father
fared forwards night and day, with their troops, till they drew near
their capital. As soon as the news of their coming spread abroad, the
folk decorated for them the city,——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of
day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Thirty-seventh Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Shah Sulayman
drew near his capital, the folk decorated the city for him and for his
son. So they entered in state and the King, sitting on his throne with
his son by his side, gave alms and largesse and loosed all who were in
his jails. Then he held a second bridal for his son, and the sound of
the singing-women and players upon instruments was never silent for a
whole month, and the tirewomen stinted not to adorn the Lady Dunya and
display her in various dresses; and she tired not of the displaying nor
did the women weary of gazing on her. Then Taj al-Muluk, after having
foregathered awhile with his father and mother, took up his sojourn with
his wife, and they abode in all joyance of life and in fairest fortune,
till there came to them the Destroyer of all delights.[57] Now when the
Wazir Dandan had ended the tale of Taj al-Muluk and the Lady Dunya, Zau
al-Makan said to him, "Of a truth, it is the like of thee who lighten
the mourner's heart and who deserve to be the boon-companions of Kings
and to guide their policy in the right way." All this befel and they
were still besieging Constantinople, where they lay four whole years,
till they yearned after their native land; and the troops murmured,
being weary of vigil and besieging and the endurance of fray and foray
by night and by day. Then King Zau al-Makan summoned Rustam and Bahram
and Tarkash, and when they were in presence bespoke them thus, "Know
that we have lain here all these years and we have not won to our wish;
nay, we have but gained increase of care and concern; for indeed we
came, thinking to take our man-bote for King Omar bin al-Nu'uman and in
so doing my brother Sharrkan was slain; so is our sorrow grown to
sorrows twain and our affliction to afflictions twain. All this came of
the old woman Zat al-Dawahi, for it was she who slew the Sultan in his
kingdom and carried off his wife, the Queen Sophia; nor did this suffice
her, but she must put another cheat on us and cut the throat of my
brother Sharrkan: and indeed I have bound myself and sworn by the
solemnest oaths that there is no help but I take blood-wit from her.
What say ye? Ponder my address and answer me." Then they bowed their
heads and answered, "It is for the Wazir Dandan to opine." So the
Minister came forward and said, "Know O King of the Age! it booteth us
nought to tarry here; and 'tis my counsel that we strike camp and return
to our own country, there to abide for a certain time and after that we
should return for a razzia upon the worshippers of idols." Replied the
King, "This rede is right, for indeed the folk weary for a sight of
their families, and I am another who is also troubled with yearning
after my son Kanmakan and my brother's daughter Kuzia Fakan, for she is
in Damascus and I know not how is her case." When the troops heard this
report, they rejoiced and blessed the Wazir Dandan. Then the King bade
the crier call the retreat after three days. They fell to preparing for
the march, and, on the fourth day, they beat the big drums and unfurled
the banners and the army set forth, the Wazir Dandan in the van and the
King riding in the mid-battle, with the Grand Chamberlain by his side;
and all journeyed without ceasing, night and day, till they reached
Baghdad city. The folk rejoiced in their return, and care and fear
ceased from them whilst the stay-at-homes met the absentees and each
Emir betook him to his own house. As for Zau al-Makan he marched up to
the Palace and went in to his son Kanmakan, who had now reached the age
of seven; and who used to go down to the weapon-plain and ride. As soon
as the King was rested of his journey, he entered the Hammam with his
son, and returning, seated himself on his sofa of state, whilst the
Wazir Dandan took up his station before him and the Emirs and Lords of
the realm presented themselves and stood in attendance upon him. Then
Zau al-Makan called for his comrade, the Fireman, who had befriended him
in his wanderings; and, when he came into presence, the King rose to do
him honour and seated him by his side. Now he had acquainted the Wazir
with all the kindness and good turns which the Stoker had done him; and
he found that the wight had waxed fat and burly with rest and good fare,
so that his neck was like an elephant's throat and his face like a
dolphin's belly. Moreover, he was grown dull of wit, for that he had
never stirred from his place; so at first he knew not the King by his
aspect. But Zau al-Makan came up to him smiling in his face, and greeted
him after the friendliest fashion, saying, "How soon hast thou forgotten
me?" With this the Fireman roused himself and, looking steadfastly at
Zau al-Makan, made sure that he knew him; whereupon he sprang hastily to
his feet and exclaimed, "O my friend, who hath made thee Sultan?" Then
Zau al-Makan laughed at him and the Wazir, coming up to him expounded
the whole story to him and said, "In good sooth he was thy brother and
thy friend; and now he is King of the land and needs must thou get great
good of him. So I charge thee, if he say:—Ask a boon of me, ask not but
for some great thing; for thou art very dear to him." Quoth the Fireman,
"I fear lest, if I ask of him aught, he may not choose to give it or may
not be able to grant it." Quoth the Wazir, "Have no care; whatsoever
thou askest he will give thee." Rejoined the Stoker, "By Allah, I must
at once ask of him a thing that is in my thought: every night I dream of
it and implore Almighty Allah to vouchsafe it to me." Said the Wazir,
"Take heart; by Allah, if thou ask of him the government of Damascus, in
place of his brother, he would surely give it thee and make thee
Governor." With this the Stoker rose to his feet and Zau al-Makan signed
to him to sit; but he refused, saying, "Allah forfend! The days are gone
by of my sitting in thy presence." Answered the Sultan, "Not so, they
endure even now. Thou wast in very deed the cause that I am at present
alive and, by Allah, whatever thing most desired thou requirest of me, I
will give that same to thee. But ask thou first of Allah, and then of
me!" He said, "O my lord, I fear—" "Fear not," quoth the Sultan. He
continued, "I fear to ask aught and that thou shouldst refuse it to me
and it is only—" At this the King laughed and replied, "If thou require
of me the half of my kingdom I would share it with thee: so ask what
thou wilt and leave talking." Repeated the Fireman "I fear—" "Don't
fear," quoth the King. He went on, "I fear lest I ask a thing and thou
be not able to grant it." Upon this the Sultan waxed wroth and cried,
"Ask what thou wilt." Then said he, "I ask, first of Allah and then of
thee, that thou write me a patent of Syndicate over all the Firemen of
the baths in the Holy City, Jerusalem." The Sultan and all present
laughed and Zau al-Makan said, "Ask something more than this." He
replied, "O my lord, said I not I feared that thou wouldst not choose to
give me what I should ask or that thou be not able to grant it?"
Therewith the Wazir signed him with his foot once and twice and thrice,
and every time he began, "I ask of thee—" Quoth the Sultan, "Ask and be
speedy." So he said, "I ask thee to make me Chief of the Scavengers in
the Holy City of Jerusalem, or in Damascus town." Then all those who
were present fell on their backs with laughter and the Wazir beat him;
whereupon he turned to the Minister and said to him, "What art thou that
thou shouldest beat me? 'Tis no fault of mine: didst thou not thyself
bid me ask some important thing?" And he added, "Let me go to my own
land." With this, the Sultan knew that he was jesting and took patience
with him awhile; then turned to him and said, "O my brother, ask of me
some important thing, befitting our dignity." So the Stoker said, "O
King of the Age, I ask first of Allah and then of thee, that thou make
me Viceroy of Damascus in the place of thy brother;" and the King
replied, "Allah granteth thee this." Thereupon the Fireman kissed ground
before him and he bade set him a chair in his rank and vested him with a
viceroy's habit. Then he wrote him a patent and sealed it with his own
seal, and said to the Wazir Dandan, "None shall go with him but thou;
and when thou makest the return journey, do thou bring with thee my
brother's daughter, Kuzia Fakan." "Hearkening and obedience," answered
the Minister; and, taking the Fireman, went down with him and made ready
for the march. Then the King appointed for the Stoker servants and
suite, and gave him a new litter and a princely equipage and said to the
Emirs, "Whoso loveth me, let him honour this man and offer him a
handsome present." So each and every of the Emirs brought him his gift
according to his competence; and the King named him Zibl Khán,[58] and
conferred on him the honourable surname of al-Mujáhid.[59] As soon as
the gear was ready, he went up with the Wazir Dandan to the King, that
he might take leave of him and ask his permission to depart. The King
rose to him and embraced him, and charged him to do justice between his
subjects and bade him make ready for fight against the Infidels after
two years. Then they took leave of each other and the King,[60] the
Fighter for the Faith hight Zibl Khan, having been again exhorted by Zau
al-Makan to deal fairly with his subjects, set out on his journey, after
the Emirs had brought him Mamelukes and eunuchs, even to five thousand
in number, who rode after him. The Grand Chamberlain also took horse, as
did Bahram, captain of the Daylamites, and Rustam, captain of the
Persians, and Tarkash, captain of the Arabs, who attended to do him
service; and they ceased not riding with him three days' journey by way
of honour. Then, taking their leave of him, they returned to Baghdad and
the Sultan Zibl Khan and the Wazir Dandan fared on, with their suite and
troops, till they drew near Damascus. Now news was come, upon the wings
of birds, to the notables of Damascus, that King Zau al-Makan had made
Sultan over Damascus a King named Zibl Khan and surnamed Al-Mujahid; so
when he reached the city he found it dressed in his honour and everyone
in the place came out to gaze on him. The new Sultan entered Damascus in
a splendid progress and went up to the citadel, where he sat down upon
his chair of state, whilst the Wazir Dandan stood in attendance on him,
to acquaint him with the ranks of the Emirs and their stations. Then the
Grandees came in to him and kissed hands and called down blessings on
him. The new King, Zibl Khan, received them graciously and bestowed on
them dresses of honour and various presents and bounties; after which he
opened the treasuries and gave largesse to the troops, great and small.
Then he governed and did justice and proceeded to equip the Lady Kuzia
Fakan, daughter of King Sharrkan, appointing her a litter of silken
stuff. Moreover he furnished the Wazir Dandan equally well for the
return journey and offered him a gift of coin; but he refused, saying,
"Thou art near the time appointed by the King, and haply thou wilt have
need of money, or after this we may send to seek of thee funds for the
Holy War or what not." Now when the Wazir was ready to march, Sultan
al-Mujahid mounted to bid the Minister farewell and brought Kuzia Fakan
to him, and made her enter the litter and sent with her ten damsels to
do her service. Thereupon they set forward, whilst King "Fighter for the
Faith" returned to his government that he might order affairs and get
ready his munitions of war, awaiting such time as King Zau al-Makan
should send a requisition to him. Such was the case with Sultan Zibl
Khan, but as regards the Wazir Dandan, he ceased not faring forward and
finishing off the stages, in company with Kuzia Fakan till they came to
Ruhbah[61] after a month's travel and thence pushed on, till he drew
near Baghdad. Then he sent to announce his arrival to King Zau al-Makan
who, when he heard this, took horse and rode out to meet him. The Wazir
Dandan would have dismounted, but the King conjured him not to do so and
urged his steed till he came up to his side. Then he questioned him of
Zibl Khan hight Al-Mujahid, whereto the Wazir replied that he was well
and that he had brought with him Kuzia Fakan the daughter of his
brother. At this the King rejoiced and said to Dandan, "Down with thee
and rest thee from the fatigue of the journey for three days, after
which come to me again." Replied the Wazir, "With joy and gratitude,"
and betook himself to his own house, whilst the King rode up to his
Palace and went in to his brother's daughter, Kuzia Fakan, a girl of
eight years old. When he saw her, he rejoiced in her and sorrowed for
her sire; then he bade make for her clothes and gave her splendid
jewelry and ornaments, and ordered she be lodged with his son Kanmakan
in one place. So they both grew up the brightest of the people of their
time and the bravest; but Kuzia Fakan became a maiden of good sense and
understanding and knowledge of the issues of events, whilst Kanmakan
approved him a generous youth and freehanded, taking no care in the
issue of aught. And so they continued till each of them attained the age
of twelve. Now Kuzia Fakan used to ride a-horseback and fare forth with
her cousin into the open plain and push forward and range at large with
him in the wold; and they both learnt to smite with swords and spike
with spears. But when they had reached the age of twelve, King Zau
al-Makan, having completed his preparations and provisions and munitions
for Holy War, summoned the Wazir Dandan and said to him, "Know that I
have set mind on a thing, which I will discover to thee, and I want
thine opinion thereon; so do thou with speed return me a reply." Asked
the Wazir, "What is that, O King of the Age?"; and the other answered,
"I am resolved to make my son Kanmakan Sultan and rejoice in him in my
lifetime and do battle before him till death overtake me. What reckest
thou of this?" The Wazir kissed the ground before the King and replied,
"Know, O King and Sultan mine, Lord of the Age and the time! that which
is in thy mind is indeed good, save that it is now no tide to carry it
out, for two reasons; the first, that thy son Kanmakan is yet of tender
years; and the second, that it often befalleth him who maketh his son
King in his lifetime, to live but a little while there afterward.[62]
And this is my reply." Rejoined the King, "Know, O Wazir, that we will
make the Grand Chamberlain guardian over him, for he is now one of the
family and he married my sister, so that he is to me as a brother."
Quoth the Wazir, "Do what seemeth good to thee: we have only to obey
thine orders." Then the King sent for the Grand Chamberlain whom they
brought into the presence together with the Lords of the realm and he
said to them, "Ye know that this my son Kanmakan is the first cavalier
of the age, and that he hath no peer in striking with the sword and
lunging with the lance; and now I appoint him to be Sultan over you and
I make the Grand Chamberlain, his uncle, guardian over him." Replied the
Chamberlain, "I am but a tree which thy bounty hath planted"; and Zau
al-Makan said, "O Chamberlain, verily this my son Kanmakan and my niece
Kuzia Fakan are brothers' children; so I hereby marry her to him and I
call those present to witness thereof." Then he made over to his son
such treasures as no tongue can describe; and, going in to his sister,
Nuzhat al-Zaman, told her what he had done, whereat she was a glad woman
and said, "Verily the twain are my children: Allah preserve thee to them
and keep thy life for them many a year!" Replied he, "O my sister, I
have accomplished in this world all my heart desired and I have no fear
for my son! yet it were well thou have an eye on him, and an eye on his
mother." And he charged the Chamberlain and Nuzhat al-Zaman with the
care of his son and niece and wife, and this he continued to do nights
and days till he fell sick and deemed surely that he was about to drink
the cup of death; so he took to his bed, whilst the Chamberlain busied
himself with ordering the folk and realm. At the end of the year, the
King summoned his son Kanmakan and the Wazir Dandan and said, "O my son,
after my death this Wazir is thy sire; for know that I am about to leave
this house of life transitory for the house of eternity. And indeed I
have fulfilled my will of this world; yet there remaineth in my heart
one regret which may Allah dispel through and by thy hands." Asked his
son, "What regret is that, O my father?" Answered Zau al-Makan, "O my
son, the sole regret of me is that I die without having avenged thy
grandfather, Omar bin al-Nu'uman, and thine uncle, Sharrkan, on an old
woman whom they call Zat al-Dawahi; but, if Allah grant thee aid, sleep
not till thou take thy wreak on her, and so wipe out the shame we have
suffered at the Infidel's hands; and beware of the old hag's wile and do
what the Wazir Dandan shall advise thee; because he from old time hath
been the pillar of our realm." And his son assented to what he said.
Then the King's eyes ran over with tears and his sickness redoubled on
him; whereupon his brother-in-law, the Chamberlain, took charge over the
country and, being a capable man, he judged and bade and forbade for the
whole of that year; while Zau al-Makan was occupied with his malady. And
his sickness was sore upon him for four years, during which the Chief
Chamberlain sat in his stead and gave full satisfaction to the commons
and the nobles; and all the country blessed his rule. Such was the case
with Zau al-Makan and the Chamberlain; but as regards the King's son, he
busied himself only with riding and lunging with lance and shooting with
shaft, and thus also did the daughter of his uncle, Kuzia Fakan; for he
and she were wont to fare forth at the first of the day and return at
nightfall, when she would go in to her mother, and he would go in to his
mother whom he ever found sitting in tears by the head of his father's
couch. Then he would tend his father all night long till daybreak, when
he would go forth again with his cousin according to their wont. Now Zau
al-Makan's pains and sufferings were longsome upon him and he wept and
began versifying with these couplets:—
Gone is my strength, told is my tale of days ✿ And, lookye! I am left as
thou dost see:
In honour's day most honoured wont to be, ✿ And win the race from all my
company,
Would Heaven before my death I might behold ✿ My son in seat of empire
sit for me;
And rush upon his foes, to take his wreak ✿ With sway of sword and lance
lunged gallantly:
In this world and the next I am undone, ✿ Except the Lord vouchsafe me
clemency.
When he had ended repeating these verses, he laid his head on his pillow
and closed his eyes and slept. Then saw he in his sleep one who said to
him, "Rejoice, for thy son shall fill the lands with justest sway; and
he shall rule them and him shall the lieges obey." Then he awoke from
his dream gladdened by the good tidings he had seen, and after a few
days, Death smote him, and because of his dying great grief fell on the
people of Baghdad, and simple and gentle mourned for him. But Time
passed over him, as though he had never been[63] and Kanmakan's estate
was changed; for the people of Baghdad set him aside and put him and his
family in a place apart. Now when his mother saw this, she fell into the
sorriest of plights and said, "There is no help but that I go to the
Grand Chamberlain, and I must hope for the aidance of the Subtle, the
All-Wise!" Then she rose from her place and betook herself to the house
of the Chamberlain who was now become Sultan, and she found him sitting
upon his carpet. So she went in to his wife, Nuzhat al-Zaman, and wept
with sore weeping and said unto her, "Verily the dead hath no friend!
May Allah never bring you to want as long as your age and the years
endure, and may you cease not to rule justly over rich and poor. Thine
ears have heard and thine eyes have seen all that was ours of kingship
and honour and dignity and wealth and fair fortune of life and
condition; and now Time hath turned upon us, and fate and the world have
betrayed us and wrought in hostile way with us; wherefore I come to thee
craving thy favours, I from whom favours were craved: for when a man
dieth, women and maidens are brought to despisal." And she repeated
these couplets:—
Suffice thee Death such marvels can enhance, ✿ And severed lives make
lasting severance:
Man's days are marvels, and their stations are ✿ But water-pits[64] of
misery and mischance.
Naught wrings my heart save loss of noble friends, ✿ Girt round by rings
of hard, harsh circumstance.
When Nuzhat al-Zaman heard these words, she remembered her brother, Zau
al-Makan, and his son Kanmakan, and, making her draw near to her and
showing her honour, she said, "Verily at this moment, by Allah, I am
grown rich and thou art poor; now by the Lord! we did not cease to seek
thee out, but we feared to wound thy heart lest thou shouldest fancy our
gifts to thee an alms-gift. Withal, whatso weal we now enjoy is from
thee and thy husband; so our house is thy house and our place thy place,
and thine is all our wealth and what goods we have belong to thee." Then
she robed her in sumptuous robes and set apart for her a place in the
Palace adjoining her own; and they abode therein, she and her son, in
all delight of life. And Nuzhat al-Zaman clothed him also in Kings'
raiment and gave to them both especial handmaids for their service.
After a little, she related to her husband the sad case of the widow of
her brother, Zau al-Makan, whereat his eyes filled with tears and he
said, "Wouldest thou see the world after thee, look thou upon the world
after other than thyself. Then entreat her honourably and enrich her
poverty."——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Thirty-eighth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Nuzhat
al-Zaman related to her husband the sad case of the widow of her
brother, Zau al-Makan, the Chamberlain said, "Entreat her honourably and
enrich her poverty." Thus far concerning Nuzhat al-Zaman and her consort
and the relict of Zau al-Makan; but as regards Kanmakan and his cousin
Kuzia Fakan, they grew up and flourished till they waxed like unto two
fruit-laden boughs or two shining moons; and they reached the age of
fifteen. And she was indeed the fairest of maids who are modestly
veiled, lovely-faced with smooth cheeks graced, and slender waist on
heavy hips based; and her shape was the shaft's thin line and her lips
were sweeter than old wine and the nectar of her mouth as it were the
fountain Salsabíl[65]; even as saith the poet in these two couplets
describing one like her:—
As though ptisane of wine on her lips honey-dew ✿ Dropt from the ripened
grapes her mouth in clusters grew:
And, when her frame thou doublest, and low bends her vine, ✿ Praise her
Creator's might no creature ever knew.
Of a truth Allah had united in her every charm: her shape would shame
the branch of waving tree and the rose before her cheeks craved lenity;
and the honey-dew of her lips of wine made jeer, however old and clear,
and she gladdened heart and beholder with joyous cheer, even as saith of
her the poet:—
Goodly of gifts is she, and charm those perfect eyes, ✿ With lashes
shaming Kohl and all the fair ones Kohl'd[66]
And from those eyne the glances pierce the lover's heart, ✿ Like sword
in Mír al-Muminína Ali's hold.
And (the relator continueth) as for Kanmakan, he became unique in
loveliness and excelling in perfection no less; none could even him in
qualities as in seemliness and the sheen of valour between his eyes was
espied, testifying for him while against him it never testified. The
hardest hearts inclined to his side; his eyelids bore lashes black as by
Kohl; and he was of surpassing worth in body and soul. And when the down
of lips and cheeks began to sprout bards and poets sang for him far and
near:—
Appeared not my excuse till hair had clothed his cheek, ✿ And gloom
o'ercrept that side-face (sight to stagger!)
A fawn, when eyes would batten on his charms, ✿ Each glance deals thrust
like point of Khanjar-dagger.
And saith another:—
His lovers' souls have drawn upon his cheek ✿ An ant that perfected its
rosy light:
I marvel at such martyrs Lazá-pent ✿ Who yet with greeny robes of Heaven
are dight.[67]
Now it chanced one holiday, that Kuzia Fakan fared forth to make
festival with certain kindred of the court, and she went surrounded by
her handmaids. And indeed beauty encompassed her; the roses of her
cheeks dealt envy to their mole; from out her smiling lips leven flashed
white, gleaming like the chamomile[68]; and Kanmakan began to turn about
her and devour her with his sight, for she was the moon of resplendent
light. Then he took heart and giving his tongue a start began to
improvise:—
When shall the disappointed heart be healed of severance, ✿ And lips of
Union smile at ceasing of our hard mischance?
Would Heaven I knew shall come some night, and with it surely bring ✿
Meeting with friend who like myself endureth sufferance.[69]
When Kuzia Fakan heard these couplets, she showed vexation and
disapproval and, putting on a haughty and angry air, said to him, "Dost
thou name me in thy verse, to shame me amongst folk? By Allah, if thou
turn not from this talk, I will assuredly complain of thee to the Grand
Chamberlain, Sultan of Khorasan and Baghdad and lord of justice and
equity; that disgrace and punishment may befal thee!" Kanmakan made no
reply for anger but he returned to Baghdad; and Kuzia Fakan also
returned to her palace and complained of her cousin to her mother, who
said to her, "O my daughter, haply he meant thee no harm, and is he
aught but an orphan? Withal, he said nought of reproach to thee; so
beware thou tell none of this, lest perchance it come to the Sultan's
ears and he cut short his life and blot out his name and make it even as
yesterday, whose memory hath passed away." However, Kanmakan's love for
Kuzia Fakan spread abroad in Baghdad, so that the women talked of it.
Moreover, his breast became straitened and his patience waned and he
knew not what to do, yet he could not hide his condition from the world.
Then longed he to give vent to the pangs he endured, by reason of the
lowe of separation; but he feared her rebuke and her wrath; so he began
improvising:—
Now is my dread to incur reproaches, which ✿ Disturb her temper and her
mind obscure,
Patient I'll bear them; e'en as generous youth ✿ Beareth the burn of
brand his case to cure.[70]
——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Thirty-ninth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Grand
Chamberlain became Sultan they named him King Sásán; and after he had
assumed the throne he governed the people in righteous way. Now as he
was giving audience one day, Kanmakan's verses came to his knowledge.
Thereupon he repented him of the past and going in to his wife Nuzhat
al-Zaman, said to her, "Verily, to join Halfah-grass and fire,[71] is
the greatest of risks; and man may not be trusted with woman, so long as
eye glanceth and eyelid quivereth. Now thy brother's son, Kanmakan, is
come to man's estate and it behoveth us to forbid him access to the
rooms where anklets tinkle, and it is yet more needful to forbid thy
daughter the company of men, for the like of her should be kept in the
Harim." Replied she, "Thou sayest sooth, O wise King!" Next day came
Kanmakan according to his wont; and, going in to his aunt saluted her.
She returned his salutation and said to him, "O my son! I have somewhat
to say to thee which I would fain leave unsaid; yet I must tell it thee
despite my inclination." Quoth he, "Speak;" and quoth she, "Know then
that thy sire the Chamberlain, the father of Kuzia Fakan, hath heard of
the verses thou madest anent her, and hath ordered that she be kept in
the Harim and out of thy reach; if therefore, O my son, thou want
anything from us, I will send it to thee from behind the door; and thou
shalt not look upon Kuzia Fakan nor shalt thou return hither from this
day forth." When he heard this he arose and withdrew without speaking a
single word; and, betaking himself to his mother, related what his aunt
had said. She observed, "This all cometh of thine overtalking. Thou
knowest that the news of thy passion for Kuzia Fakan is noised abroad
and the tattle hath spread everywhere how thou eatest their food and
thereafter thou courtest their daughter." Rejoined he, "And who should
have her but I? She is the daughter of my father's brother and I have
the best of rights to her." Retorted his mother, "These are idle words.
Be silent, lest haply thy talk come to King Sasan's ears and it prove
the cause of thy losing her and the reason of thy ruin and increase of
thine affliction. They have not sent us any supper to-night and we shall
die an-hungered; and were we in any land but this, we were already dead
of famine or of shame for begging our bread." When Kanmakan heard these
words from his mother, his regrets redoubled; his eyes ran over with
tears and he complained and began improvising:—
Minish this blame I ever bear from you: ✿ My heart loves her to whom all
love is due:
Ask not from me of patience jot or tittle, ✿ Divorce of Patience by
God's House! I rue:
What blamers preach of patience I unheed; ✿ Here am I, love-path firmly
to pursue!
Indeed they bar me access to my love; ✿ Here am I, by God's ruth no ill
I sue!
Good sooth my bones, whenas they hear thy name, ✿ Quail as birds quailed
when Nisus o'er them flew:[72]
Ah! say to them who blame my love that I ✿ Will love that face, fair
cousin, till I die.
And when he had ended his verses he said to his mother, "I have no
longer a place in my aunt's house nor among these people, but I will go
forth from the palace and abide in the corners of the city." So he and
his mother left the court; and, having sought an abode in the
neighbourhood of the poorer sort, there settled; but she used to go from
time to time to King Sasan's palace and thence take daily bread for
herself and her son. As this went on Kuzia Fakan took her aside one day
and said to her, "Alas, O my naunty, how is it with thy son?" Replied
she, "O my daughter, sooth to say, he is tearful-eyed and heavy-hearted,
being fallen into the net of thy love." And she repeated to her the
couplets he had made; whereupon Kuzia Fakan wept and said, "By Allah! I
rebuked him not for his words, nor for ill-will to him, but because I
feared for him the malice of foes. Indeed my passion for him is double
that he feeleth for me; my tongue may not describe my yearning for him;
and were it not for the extravagant wilfulness of his words and the
wanderings of his wit, my father had not cut off from him favours that
besit, nor had decreed unto him exclusion and prohibition as fit.
However, man's days bring nought but change, and patience in all case is
most becoming; peradventure He who ordained our severance will vouchsafe
us reunion!" And she began versifying in these two couplets:—
O son of mine uncle! same sorrow I bear, ✿ And suffer the like of thy
cark and thy care;
Yet hide I from man what I suffer for pine; ✿ Hide it too, and such
secret to man never bare!
When his mother heard this from her, she thanked her and blessed her:
then she left her and acquainted her son with what she had said;
whereupon his desire for her increased and he took heart, being eased of
his despair and the turmoil of his love and care. And he said, "By
Allah, I desire none but her!"; and he began improvising:—
Leave this blame, I will list to no flout of my foe! ✿ I divulged a
secret was told me to keep:
He is lost to my sight for whose union I yearn, ✿ And I watch all the
while he can slumber and sleep.
So the days and nights went by whilst Kanmakan lay tossing upon coals of
fire,[73] till he reached the age of seventeen; and his beauty had waxt
perfect and his wits were at their brightest. One night, as he lay
awake, he communed with himself and said, "Why should I keep silence
till I waste away and see not my lover? Fault have I none save poverty;
so, by Allah, I am resolved to remove me from this region and wander
over the wild and the wold; for my position in this city is a torture
and I have no friend nor lover therein to comfort me; wherefore I am
determined to distract myself by absence from my native land till I die
and take my rest after this shame and tribulation." And he began to
improvise and recited these couplets:—
Albeit my vitals quiver 'neath this ban; ✿ Before the foe myself I'll
ne'er unman!
So pardon me, my vitals are a writ ✿ Whose superscription are my tears
that ran:
Heigh-ho! my cousin seemeth Houri-may ✿ Come down to earth by reason of
Rizwán:
'Scapes not the dreadful sword-lunge of her look ✿ Who dares the
glancing of those eyne to scan:
O'er Allah's wide-spread world I'll roam and roam, ✿ And from such exile
win what bread I can:
Yes, o'er broad earth I'll roam and save my soul, ✿ All but her absence
bearing like a man:
With gladsome heart I'll haunt the field of fight, ✿ And meet the
bravest Brave in battle-van!
So Kanmakan fared forth from the palace barefoot and he walked in a
short-sleeved gown, wearing on his head a skull cap of felt[74] seven
years old and carrying a scone three days stale, and in the deep glooms
of night betook himself to the portal al-Arij of Baghdad. Here he waited
for the gate being opened and when it was opened, he was the first to
pass through it; and he went out at random and wandered about the wastes
night and day. When the dark hours came, his mother sought him but found
him not; whereupon the world waxt strait upon her for all that it was
great and wide, and she took no delight in aught of weal it supplied.
She looked for him a first day and a second day and a third day till ten
days were past, but no news of him reached her. Then her breast became
contracted and she shrieked and shrilled, saying, "O my son! O my
darling! thou hast revived my regrets. Sufficed not what I endured, but
thou must depart from my home? After thee I care not for food nor joy in
sleep, and naught but tears and mourning are left me. O my son, from
what land shall I call thee? And what town hath given thee refuge?" Then
her sobs burst out, and she began repeating these couplets:—
Well learnt we, since you left, our grief and sorrow to sustain, ✿ While
bows of severance shot their shafts in many a railing rain:
They left me, after girthing on their selles of corduwayne ✿ To fight
the very pangs of death while spanned they sandy plain:
Mysterious through the nightly gloom there came the moan of dove; ✿ A
ringdove, and replied I, 'Cease thy plaint, how durst complain?'
If, by my life, her heart, like mine, were full of pain and pine ✿ She
had not deckt her neck with ring nor sole with ruddy stain.[75]
Fled is mine own familiar friend, bequeathing me a store ✿ Of
parting-pang and absence-ache to suffer evermore.
Then she abstained from food and drink and gave herself up to excessive
tear-shedding and lamentation. Her grief became public property far and
wide and all the people of the town and country side wept with her and
cried, "Where is thine eye, O Zau al-Makan?" And they bewailed the
rigours of Time, saying, "Would Heaven we knew what hath befallen
Kanmakan that he fled his native town, and chased himself from the place
where his father used to fill all in hungry case and do justice and
grace?" And his mother redoubled her weeping and wailing till the news
of Kanmakan's departure came to King Sasan.——And Shahrazad perceived the
dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Fortieth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that came to King Sasan
the tidings of the departure of Kanmakan, through the Chief Emirs who
said to him, "Verily he is the son of our Sovran and the seed of King
Omar bin al-Nu'uman and it hath reached us that he hath exiled himself
from the land." When King Sasan heard these words, he was wroth with
them and ordered one of them to be hanged by way of silencing him,
whereat the fear of him fell upon the hearts of all the other Grandees
and they dared not speak one word. Then he called to mind all the
kindness that Zau al-Makan had done him, and how he had charged him with
the care of his son; wherefore he grieved for Kanmakan and said, "Needs
must I have search made for him in all countries." So he summoned
Tarkash and bade him choose an hundred horse and wend with them in quest
of the Prince. Accordingly he went out and was absent ten days, after
which he returned and said, "I can learn no tidings of him and have hit
on no trace of him, nor can any tell me aught of him." Upon this King
Sasan repented him of that which he had done by the Prince; whilst his
mother abode in unrest continual nor would patience come at her call:
and thus passed over her twenty days in heaviness all. This is how it
fared with these; but as regards Kanmakan, when he left Baghdad, he went
forth perplexed about his case and knowing not whither he should go: so
he fared on alone through the desert for three days and saw neither
footman nor horseman; withal, his sleep fled and his wakefulness
redoubled, for he pined after his people and his homestead. He ate of
the herbs of the earth and drank of its flowing waters and siesta'd
under its trees at hours of noontide heats, till he turned from that
road to another way and, following it other three days, came on the
fourth to a land of green leas, dyed with the hues of plants and trees
and with sloping valley-sides made to please, abounding with the fruits
of the earth. It had drunken of the cups of the cloud, to the sound of
thunders rolling loud and the song of the turtle-dove gently sough'd,
till its hill-slopes were brightly verdant and its fields were sweetly
fragrant. Then Kanmakan recalled his father's city Baghdad, and for
excess of emotion he broke out into verse:—
I roam, and roaming hope I to return; ✿ Yet of returning see not how or
when:
I went for love of one I could not win, ✿ Nor way of 'scaping ills that
pressed could ken.
When he ended his recital he wept, but presently he wiped away his tears
and ate of the fruits of the earth enough for his present need. Then he
made the Wuzu-ablution and prayed the ordained prayers which he had
neglected all this time; and he sat resting in that place through the
livelong day. When night came he slept and ceased not sleeping till
midnight, when he awoke and heard a human voice declaiming these
couplets:—
What's life to me, unless I see the pearly sheen ✿ Of teeth I love, and
sight that glorious mien?
Pray for her Bishops who in convents reign, ✿ Vying to bow before that
heavenly queen.
And Death is lighter than the loved one's wrath, ✿ Whose phantom haunts
me, seen in every scene:
O joy of cup-companions, when they meet, ✿ And loved and lover o'er each
other lean!
E'en more in time of spring, the lord of flowers, ✿ When fragrant is the
world with bloom and green:
Drainer of vine-juice! up wi' thee, for now ✿ Earth is a Heaven where
sweet waters flow.[76]
When Kanmakan heard these distichs his sorrows surged up; his tears ran
down his cheeks like freshets and flames of fire darted into his heart.
So he rose to see who it was that spake these words, but saw none for
the thickness of the gloom; whereupon passion increased on him and he
was frightened and restlessness possessed him. He descended from his
place to the sole of the valley and walked along the banks of the
stream, till he heard the same voice sighing heavy sighs and reciting
these couplets:—
Tho' 'tis thy wont to hide thy love perforce, ✿ Yet weep on day of
parting and divorce!
Twixt me and my dear love were plighted vows; ✿ Pledge of reunion,
fonder intercourse:
With joy inspires my heart and deals it rest ✿ Zephyr, whose coolness
doth desire enforce.
O Sa'adá,[77] thinks of me that anklet-wearer? ✿ Or parting broke she
troth without remorse?
And say! shall nights foregather us, and we ✿ Of suffered hardships tell
in soft discourse?
Quoth she, "Thou'rt daft for us and fey"; quoth I, ✿ "'Sain thee! how
many a friend hast turned to corse!"
If taste mine eyes sweet sleep while she's away, ✿ Allah with loss of
her these eyne accurse.
O wounds in vitals mine! for cure they lack ✿ Union and dewy lips' sweet
theriack.[78]
When Kanmakan heard this verse again spoken by the same voice yet saw no
one, he knew that the speaker was a lover like unto himself, debarred
from union with her who loved him; and he said to himself, "'Twere
fitting that this man should lay his head to my head and become my
comrade in this my strangerhood."[79] Then he hailed the speaker and
cried out to him, saying, "O thou who farest in sombrest night, draw
near to me and tell me thy tale; haply thou shalt find me one who will
succour thee in thy sufferings." And when the owner of the voice heard
these words, he cried out, "O thou that respondest to my complaint and
wouldest hear my history, who art thou amongst the knights? Art thou
human or Jinni? Answer me speedily ere thy death draw near, for I have
wandered in this desert some twenty days and have seen no one nor heard
any voice but thy voice." At these words Kanmakan said to himself, "This
one's case is like my case, for I, even I, have wandered twenty days,
nor during my wayfare have I seen man or heard voice:" and he added, "I
will make him no answer till day arise." So he was silent, and the voice
again called out to him, saying, "O thou that callest, if thou be of the
Jinn fare in peace and, if thou be man, stay awhile till the day break
stark and the night flee with the dark." The speaker abode in his place
and Kanmakan did likewise and the twain in reciting verses never failed,
and wept tears that railed till the light of day began loom and the
night departed with its gloom. Then Kanmakan looked at the other and
found him to be of the Badawi Arabs, a youth in the flower of his age;
clad in worn clothes and bearing in baldrick a rusty sword which he kept
sheathed, and the signs of love-longing were apparent on him. He went up
to him and accosted him and saluted him, and the Badawi returned the
salute and greeted him with courteous wishes for his long life, but
somewhat despised him, seeing his tender years and his condition, which
was that of a pauper. So he said to him, "O youth, of what tribe art
thou and to whom art thou kin among the Arabs; and what is thy history
that thou goest by night, after the fashion of knights? Indeed thou
spakest to me in the dark words such as are spoken of none but doughty
cavaliers and lion-like warriors; and now I hold thy life in hand. But I
have compassion on thee by reason of thy green years; so I will make
thee my companion and thou shalt go with me, to do me service." When
Kanmakan heard him speak these unseemly words, after showing him such
skill in verse, he knew that he despised him and would presume with him;
therefore he answered him with soft and well-chosen speech, saying, "O
Chief of the Arabs, leave my tenderness of age and tell me why thou
wanderest by night in the desert reciting verses. Thou talkest, I see,
of my serving thee; who then art thou and what moved thee to talk this
wise?" Answered he, "Hark ye, boy! I am Sabbáh, son of Rammáh bin
Humám.[80] My people are of the Arabs of Syria and I have a cousin,
Najmah hight, who to all that look on her brings delight. And when my
father died I was brought up in the house of his brother, the father of
Najmah; but as soon I grew up and my uncle's daughter became a woman,
they secluded her from me and me from her, seeing that I was poor and
without money in pouch. Then the Chiefs of the Arabs and the heads of
the tribes rebuked her sire, and he was abashed before them and
consented to give me my cousin, but upon condition that I should bring
him as her dower fifty head of horses and fifty dromedaries which travel
ten days[81] without a halt and fifty camels laden with wheat and a like
number laden with barley, together with ten black slaves and ten
handmaids. Thus the weight he set upon me was beyond my power to bear;
for he exacted more than the marriage-settlement as by law established.
So here am I, travelling from Syria to Irak, and I have passed twenty
days without seeing other than thyself; yet I mean to go to Baghdad that
I may ascertain what merchant men of wealth and importance start thence.
Then will I fare forth in their track and loot their goods, and I will
slay their escort and drive off their camels with their loads. But what
manner of man art thou?" Replied Kanmakan, "Thy case is like unto my
case, save that my evil is more grievous than thine ill; for my cousin
is a King's daughter and the dowry of which thou hast spoken would not
content her people, nor would they be satisfied with the like of that
from me." Quoth Sabbah, "Surely thou art a fool or thy wits for excess
of passion are gathering wool! How can thy cousin be a King's daughter?
Thou hast no sign of royal rank on thee, for thou art but a mendicant."
Rejoined Kanmakan, "O Chief of the Arabs, let not this my case seem
strange to thee; for what happened, happened;[82] and if thou desire
proof of me, I am Kanmakan, son of King Zau al-Makan, son of King Omar
bin al-Nu'uman Lord of Baghdad and the realm Khorasan; and Fortune
banned me with her tyrant ban, for my father died and my Sultanate was
taken by King Sasan. So I fled forth from Baghdad secretly, lest I be
seen of any man, and have wandered twenty days without any but thyself
to scan. So now I have discovered to thee my case, and my story is as
thy story and my need as thy need." When Sabbah heard this, he cried
out, "O my joy, I have attained my desire! I will have no loot this day
but thyself; for since thou art of the seed of Kings and hast come out
in beggar's garb, there is no help but thy people will seek thee; and,
if they find thee in any one's power, they will ransom thee with monies
galore. So show me thy back, O my lad, and walk before me." Answered
Kanmakan, "O brother of the Arabs, act not on this wise, for my people
will not buy me with silver nor with gold, not even with a copper
dirham; and I am a poor man, having with me neither much nor little; so
cease then to be upon this track and take me to thy comrade. Fare we
forth for the land of Irak and wander over the world, so haply we may
win dower and marriage-portion, and we may seek and enjoy our cousins'
kisses and embraces when we come back." Hearing this, Sabbah waxed
angry; his arrogance and fury redoubled and he said, "Woe to thee! Dost
thou bandy words with me, O vilest of dogs that be? Turn thee thy back,
or I will come down on thee with clack!" Kanmakan smiled and answered,
"Why should I turn my back for thee? Is there no justice in thee? Dost
thou not fear to bring blame upon the Arab men by driving a man like
myself captive, in shame and disdain, before thou hast proved him on the
plain, to know if he be a warrior or of cowardly strain?" Upon this
Sabbah laughed and replied, "By Allah, a wonder! Thou art a boy in years
told, but in talk thou art old. These words should come from none but a
champion doughty and bold: what wantest thou of justice?" Quoth
Kanmakan, "If thou wilt have me thy captive, to wend with thee and serve
thee, throw down thine arms and put off thine outer gear and come on and
wrestle with me; and whichever of us throw his opponent shall have his
will of him and make him his boy." Then Sabbah laughed and said, "I
think this waste of breath denoteth the nearness of thy death." Then he
arose and threw down his weapon and, tucking up his skirt, drew near
unto Kanmakan who also drew near and they gripped each other. But the
Badawi found that the other had the better of him and weighed him down,
as the quintal downweighs the dinar; and he looked at his legs firmly
planted on the ground, and saw that they were as two minarets[83]
strongly based, or two tent-poles in earth encased, or two mountains
which may not be displaced. So he acknowledged himself to be a failure
and repented of having come to wrestle with him, saying in himself,
"Would I had slain him with my weapon!" Then Kanmakan took hold of him
and mastering him, shook him till the Badawi thought his bowels would
burst in his belly, and he broke out, "Hold thy hand, O boy!" He heeded
not his words, but shook him again and, lifting him from the ground,
made with him towards the stream, that he might throw him therein:
whereupon the Badawi roared out, saying, "O thou valiant man, what wilt
thou do with me?"[84] Quoth he, "I mean to throw thee into this stream:
it will bear to the Tigris. The Tigris will bring thee to the river Isa
and the Isa will carry thee to the Euphrates, and the Euphrates will
land thee in thine own country; so thy tribe shall see thee and know thy
manly cheer and how thy passion be sincere." Then Sabbah cried aloud and
said, "O Champion of the desert-lair, do not with me what deed the
wicked dare but let me go, by the life of thy cousin, the jewel of the
fair!" Hearing this, Kanmakan set him on the ground; but when he found
himself at liberty, he ran to his sword and targe and taking them up,
stood plotting in himself treachery and sudden assault on his
adversary.[85] The Prince kenned his intent in his eye and said to him,
"I con what is in thy heart, now thou hast hold of thy sword and thy
targe. Thou hast neither length of hand nor trick of wrestling, but thou
thinkest that, wert thou on thy mare and couldst wheel about the plain,
and ply me with thy skene, I had long ago been slain. But I will give
thee thy requite, so there may be left in thy heart no despite; now give
me the targe and fall on me with thy whinger; either thou shalt kill me
or I shall kill thee." "Here it is," answered Sabbah and, throwing him
the targe, bared his brand and rushed at him sword in hand; Kanmakan
hent the buckler in his right and began to fend himself with it, whilst
Sabbah struck at him, saying at each stroke, "This is the finishing
blow!" But it fell harmless enow, for Kanmakan took all on his buckler
and it was waste work, though he did not reply lacking the wherewithal
to strike and Sabbah ceased not to smite at him with his sabre, till his
arm was weary. When his opponent saw this, he rushed upon him and,
hugging him in his arms, shook him and threw him to the ground. Then he
turned him over on his face and pinioned his elbows behind him with the
baldrick of his sword, and began to drag him by the feet and to make for
the river. Thereupon cried Sabbah, "What wilt thou do with me, O youth,
and cavalier of the age and brave of the plain where battles rage?"
Answered he, "Did I not tell thee that it was my intent to send thee by
the river to thy kin and to thy tribe, that thy heart be not troubled
for them nor their hearts be troubled for thee, and lest thou miss thy
cousin's bride-feast!" At this Sabbah shrieked aloud and wept and
screaming said, "Do not thus, O champion of the time's braves! Let me go
and make me one of thy slaves!" And he wept and wailed and began
reciting these verses:—
I'm estranged fro' my folk and estrangement's long: ✿ Shall I die amid
strangers? Ah, would that I kenned!
I die, nor my kinsmen shall know where I'm slain, ✿ Die in exile nor see
the dear face of my friend!
Thereupon Kanmakan had compassion on him and said, "Make with me a
covenant true and swear me an oath to be a comrade as due and to bear me
company wheresoever I may go." "'Tis well," replied Sabbah and swore
accordingly. Then Kanmakan loosed him and he rose and would have kissed
the Prince's hand; but he forbade him that. Then the Badawi opened his
scrip and, taking out three barley scones, laid them before Kanmakan and
they both sat down on the bank of the stream to eat.[86] When they had
done eating together, they made the lesser ablution and prayed; after
which they sat talking of what had befallen each of them from his people
and from the shifts of Time. Presently said Kanmakan, "Whither dost thou
now intend?" Replied Sabbah, "I purpose to repair to Baghdad, thy native
town, and abide there, until Allah vouchsafe me the marriage portion."
Rejoined the other, "Up then and to the road! I tarry here." So the
Badawi farewelled him and took the way for Baghdad, whilst Kanmakan
remained behind, saying to himself, "O my soul, with what face shall I
return pauper-poor? Now by Allah, I will not go back empty-handed and,
if the Almighty please, I will assuredly work my deliverance." Then he
went to the stream and made the Wuzu-washing and when prostrating he
laid his brow in the dust and prayed to the Lord, saying, "O Allah! Thou
who sendest down the dew, and feedest the worm that homes in the stone,
I beseech Thee vouchsafe me my livelihood of Thine Omnipotence and the
Grace of Thy benevolence!" Then he pronounced the salutation which
closes prayer; yet every road appeared closed to him. And while he sat
turning right and left, behold, he espied a horseman making towards him
with bent back and reins slack. He sat upright and after a time reached
the Prince; and the stranger was at the last gasp and made sure of
death, for he was grievously wounded when he came up; the tears streamed
down his cheeks like water from the mouths of skins, and he said to
Kanmakan, "O chief of the Arabs, take me to thy friendship as long as I
live, for thou wilt not find my like; and give me a little water though
the drinking of water be harmful to one wounded, especially whilst the
blood is flowing and the life with it. And if I live, I will give thee
what shall heal thy penury and thy poverty: and if I die, mayst thou be
blessed for thy good intent." Now under that horseman was a stallion, so
noble a Rabite[87] the tongue fails to describe him; and as Kanmakan
looked at his legs like marble shafts, he was seized with a longing and
said to himself, "Verily the like of this stallion[88] is not to be
found in our time." Then he helped the rider to alight and entreated him
in friendly guise and gave him a little water to swallow; after which he
waited till he had taken rest and addressed him, saying, "Who hath dealt
thus with thee?" Quoth the rider, "I will tell thee the truth of the
case. I am a horse-thief and I have busied myself with lifting and
snatching horses all my life, night and day, and my name is Ghassán, the
plague of every stable and stallion. I heard tell of this horse, that he
was in the land of Roum, with King Afridun, where they had named him
Al-Katúl and surnamed him Al-Majnún.[89] So I journeyed to
Constantinople for his sake and watched my opportunity and whilst I was
thus waiting, there came out an old woman, one highly honoured among the
Greeks, and whose word with them is law, by name Zat al-Dawahi, a past
mistress in all manner of trickery. She had with her this steed and ten
slaves, no more, to attend on her and the horse; and she was bound for
Baghdad and Khorasan, there to seek King Sasan and to sue for peace and
pardon from ban. So I went out in their track, longing to get at the
horse,[90] and ceased not to follow them, but was unable to come by the
stallion, because of the strict guard kept by the slaves, till they
reached this country and I feared lest they enter the city of Baghdad.
As I was casting about to steal the stallion lo! a great cloud of dust
arose on them and walled the horizon. Presently it opened and disclosed
fifty horsemen, gathered together to waylay merchants on the highway,
and their captain, by name Kahrdásh, was a lion in daring and dash; a
furious lion who layeth knights flat as carpets in battle-crash."——And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Forty-first Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the wounded rider
spake thus to Kanmakan, "Then came out the same Kahrdash, and fell on
the old woman and her men and bore down upon them bashing them, nor was
it long before they bound her and the ten slaves and bore off their
captives and the horse, rejoicing. When I saw this, I said to myself:—My
pains were in vain nor did I attain my gain. However, I waited to see
how the affair would fare, and when the old woman found herself in
bonds, she wept and said to the captain, Kahrdash:—O thou doughty
Champion and furious Knight, what wilt thou do with an old woman and
slaves, now that thou hast thy will of the horse? And she beguiled him
with soft words and she sware that she would send him horses and cattle,
till he released her and her slaves. Then he went his way, he and his
comrades, and I followed them till they reached this country; and I
watched them, till at last I found an opportunity of stealing the horse,
whereupon I mounted him and, drawing a whip from my wallet, struck him
with it. When the robbers heard this, they came out on me and surrounded
me on all sides and shot arrows and cast spears at me, whilst I stuck
fast on his back and he fended me with hoofs and forehand,[91] till at
last he bolted out with me from amongst them like unerring shaft or
shooting star. But in the stress and stowre I got sundry grievous wounds
and sore; and, since that time, I have passed on his back three days
without tasting food or sleeping aught, so that my strength is down
brought and the world is become to me as naught. But thou hast dealt
kindly with me and hast shown ruth on me; and I see thee naked stark and
sorrow hath set on thee its mark, yet are signs of wealth and gentle
breeding manifest on thee. So tell me, what and whence art thou and
whither art thou bound?" Answered the Prince, "My name is Kanmakan, son
of Zau al-Makan, son of King Omar bin al-Nu'uman. When my father died
and an orphan lot was my fate, a base man seized the throne and became
King over small and great." Then he told him all his past from first to
last; and the horse-thief said to him, for he pitied him, "By Allah,
thou art one of high degree and exceeding nobility, and thou shalt
surely attain estate sublime and become the first cavalier of thy time.
If thou can lift me on horseback and mount thee behind me and bring me
to my own land, thou shalt have honour in this world and a reward on the
day of band calling to band,[92] for I have no strength left to steady
myself; and if this be my last day, the steed is thine alway; for thou
art worthier of him than any other." Quoth Kanmakan, "By Allah, if I
could carry thee on my shoulders or share my days with thee, I would do
this deed without the steed! For I am of a breed that loveth to do good
and to succour those in need; and one kindly action in Almighty Allah's
honour averteth seventy calamities from its doer. So make ready to set
out and put thy trust in the Subtle, the All-Wise." And he would have
lifted him on to the horse and fared forward trusting in Allah, Aider of
those who seek aid, but the horse-thief said, "Wait for me awhile." Then
he closed his eyes and opening his hands, said, "I testify that there is
no god but _the_ God, and I testify that Mohammed is the Apostle of
God!" And he added, "O glorious One, pardon me my mortal sin, for none
can pardon mortal sins save the Immortal!" And he made ready for death
and recited these couplets:—
I have wronged mankind, and have ranged like wind ✿ O'er the world, and
in wine-cups my life has past:
I've swum torrent-course to bear off the horse; ✿ And my guiles high
places on plain have cast.
Much I've tried to win and o'er much my sin; ✿ And Katul of my winnings
is most and last:
I had hoped of this steed to gain wish and need, ✿ But vain was the end
of this journey vast.
I have stolen through life, and my death in strife ✿ Was doomed by the
Lord who doth all forecast;
And I've toiled these toils to their fatal end ✿ For an orphan, a pauper
sans kith or friend!
And when he had finished his verses he closed his eyes and opened his
mouth; then with a single death-rattling he left this world. Thereupon
Kanmakan rose and dug a grave and laid him in the dust; after which he
went up to the steed and kissed him and wiped his face and joyed with
exceeding joy, saying, "None hath the fellow of this stallion; no, not
even King Sasan." Such was the case with Kanmakan; but as regards King
Sasan, presently news came to him that the Wazir Dandan had thrown off
his allegiance, and with him half the army who swore that they would
have no King but Kanmakan: and the Minister had bound the troops by a
solemn covenant and had gone with them to the Islands of India and to
Berber-land and to Black-land;[93] where he had levied armies from far
and near, like unto the swollen sea for fear and none could tell the
host's van from its rear. And the Minister was resolved to make for
Baghdad and take the kingdom in ward and slay every soul who dare
retard, having sworn not to return the sword of war to its sheath, till
he had made Kanmakan King. When this news came to Sasan, he was drowned
in the sea of appal, knowing that the whole state had turned against
him, great and small; and his trouble redoubled and his care became
despair. So he opened his treasuries and distributed his monies among
his officers; and he prayed for Kanmakan's return, that he might draw
his heart to him with fair usage and bounty; and make him commander of
those troops which ceased not being faithful to him, so might he quench
the sparks ere they became a flame. Now when the news of this reached
Kanmakan by the merchants, he returned in haste to Baghdad on the back
of the aforesaid stallion, and as King Sasan sat perplexed upon his
throne he heard of the coming of Kanmakan; whereupon he despatched all
the troops and head-men of the city to meet him. So all who were in
Baghdad fared forth and met the Prince and escorted him to the palace
and kissed the thresholds, whilst the damsels and the eunuchs went in to
his mother and gave her the fair tidings of his return. She came to him
and kissed him between the eyes, but he said to her, "O mother mine, let
me go to my uncle King Sasan who hath overwhelmed me with weal and
boon." And while he so did, all the palace-people and head-men marvelled
at the beauty of the stallion and said, "No King is like unto this man."
So Kanmakan went in to King Sasan and saluted him as he rose to receive
him; and, kissing his hands and feet, offered him the horse as a
present. The King greeted him, saying, "Well come and welcome to my son
Kanmakan! By Allah, the world hath been straitened on me by reason of
thine absence, but praised be Allah for thy safety!" And Kanmakan called
down blessings on him. Then the King looked at the stallion, Al-Katul
hight, and knew him for the very horse he had seen in such and such a
year whilst beleaguering the Cross-worshippers of Constantinople with
Kanmakan's sire, Zau al-Makan, that time they slew his uncle Sharrkan.
So he said to the Prince, "If thy father could have come by this
courser, he would have bought it with a thousand blood horses: but now
let the honour return to the honourable. We accept the steed and we give
him back to thee as a gift, for to him thou hast more right than any
wight, being knightliest of knights." Then King Sasan bade bring forth
for him dresses of honour and led horses and appointed to him the chief
lodging in the palace, and showed him the utmost affection and honour,
because he feared the issue of the Wazir Dandan's doings. At this
Kanmakan rejoiced and shame and humiliation ceased from him. Then he
went to his house and, going to his mother, asked, "O my mother, how is
it with the daughter of my uncle?" Answered she, "By Allah, O my son, my
concern for thine absence hath distracted me from any other, even from
thy beloved; especially as she was the cause of thy strangerhood and thy
separation from me." Then he complained to her of his case, saying, "O
my mother, go to her and speak with her; haply she will vouchsafe me her
sight to see and dispel from me this despondency." Replied his mother,
"Idle desires abase men's necks; so put away from thee this thought that
can only vex; for I will not wend to her nor go in to her with such
message." Now when he heard his mother's words he told her what said the
horse-thief concerning Zat al-Dawahi, how the old woman was then in
their land purposing to make Baghdad, and added, "It was she who slew my
uncle and my grandfather, and needs must I avenge them with man-bote,
that our reproach be wiped out." Then he left her and repaired to an old
woman, a wicked, whorish, pernicious beldam by name Sa'adánah and
complained to her of his case and of what he suffered for love of his
cousin Kuzia Fakan and begged her to go to her and win her favour for
him. "I hear and I obey," answered the old hag and leaving him betook
herself to Kuzia Fakan's palace, that she might intercede with her in
his behalf. Then she returned to him and said, "Of a truth Kuzia Fakan
saluteth thee and promiseth to visit thee this night about
midnight."——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying
her permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Forty-second Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the old woman
came to Kanmakan and said, "Of a truth the daughter of thine uncle
saluteth thee and she will visit thee this night about midnight;" he
rejoiced and sat down to await the fulfilment of his cousin's promise.
But before the hour of night she came to him, wrapped in a veil of black
silk, and she went in to him and aroused him from sleep, saying, "How
canst thou pretend to love me, when thou art sleeping heart-free and in
complete content?" So he awoke and said, "By Allah, O desire of my
heart, I slept not but in the hope that thine image might visit my
dreams!" Then she chid him with soft words and began versifying in these
couplets:—
Hadst thou been leal in love's loyalty, ✿ Ne'er haddest suffered sleep
to seal those eyne:
O thou who claimest lover-loyalty, ✿ Treading the lover's path of pain
and pine!
By Allah, O my cousin, never yet ✿ Did eyes of lover sleep such sleep
indign.
Now when he heard his cousin's words, he was abashed before her and rose
and excused himself. Then they embraced and complained to each other of
the anguish of separation; and they ceased not thus till dawn broke and
day dispersed itself over the horizon; when she rose preparing to
depart. Upon this Kanmakan wept and sighed and began improvising these
couplets:—
O thou who deignest come at sorest syne, ✿ Whose lips those teeth like
necklaced pearls enshrine!
I kissed him[94] thousand times and clipt his waist, ✿ And spent the
night with cheek to cheek close li'en,
Till to depart us twain came dawning day, ✿ Like sword-edge drawn from
sheath in radiant line.
And when he ended his poetry, Kuzia Fakan took leave of him and returned
to her palace. Now certain of her damsels became aware of her secret,
and one of these slave girls disclosed it to King Sasan, who went into
Kuzia Fakan and, drawing his sabre upon her, would have slain her: but
her mother Nuzhat al-Zaman entered and said to him, "By Allah, do her no
harm, for if thou hurt her, the report will be noised among the folk and
thou shalt become a reproach amongst the Kings of the age! Know thou
that Kanmakan is no son of adultery, but a man of honour and nobility,
who would not do aught that could shame him, and she was reared with
him. So be not hasty; for verily the report is spread abroad, among all
the palace-people and all the folk of Baghdad, how the Wazir Dandan hath
levied armies from all countries and is on his way hither to make
Kanmakan King." Quoth Sasan, "By Allah, needs must I cast him into such
calamity that neither earth shall support him nor sky shall shadow him!
I did but speak him fair and show him favour because of my lieges and my
lords, lest they incline to him; but right soon shalt thou see what
shall betide." Then he left her and went out to order the affairs of the
realm. Such, then, was the case with King Sasan; but as regards
Kanmakan, on the next day he came in to his mother and said, "O my
mother! I am resolved to ride forth a-raiding and a-looting: and I will
cut the road of caravans and lift horses and flocks, negroes and white
slaves and, as soon as I have collected great store and my case is
bettered galore, I will demand my cousin Kuzia Fakan in marriage of my
uncle Sasan." Replied she, "O my son, of a truth the goods of men are
not ready to hand like a scape-camel;[95] for on this side of them are
sword-strokes and lance-lungings and men that eat the wild beast and lay
countries waste and chase lynxes and hunt lions." Quoth he, "Heaven
forefend that I turn back from my resolve, till I have won to my will!"
Then he despatched the old woman to Kuzia Fakan, to tell her that he was
about to set out in quest of a marriage-settlement befitting her, saying
to the beldam, "Thou needs must pray her to send me an answer." "I hear
and I obey," replied the old woman and going forth, presently returned
with Kuzia Fakan's reply, which was, "She will come to thee at
midnight." So he abode awake till one half of the night was passed, when
restlessness gat hold on him, and before he was aware she came in to
him, saying, "My life be thy ransom from wakefulness!" and he sprang up
to receive her, exclaiming, "O desire of my heart, my life be thy
redemption from all ills and evils!" Then he acquainted her, with his
intent, and she wept: but he said, "Weep not, O daughter of my uncle;
for I beseech Him who decreed our separation to vouchsafe us reunion and
fair understanding." Then Kanmakan, having fixed a day for departure,
went in to his mother and took leave of her, after which came he down
from his palace and threw the baldrick of his sword over his shoulder
and donned turband and face-veil; and mounting his horse, Al-Katul, and
looking like the moon at its full, he threaded the streets of Baghdad,
till he reached the city gate. And behold, here he found Sabbah bin
Rammah coming out of town; and his comrade seeing him, ran to his
stirrup and saluted him. He returned his salutation, and Sabbah asked
him, "O my brother, how camest thou by this good steed and this sword
and clothes, whilst I up to present time have gotten nothing but my
sword and target?" Answered Kanmakan, "The hunter returneth not but with
quarry after the measure of his intention. A little after thy departure,
fortune came to me: so now say, wilt thou go with me and work thine
intent in my company and journey with me in this desert?" Replied
Sabbah, "By the Lord of the Ka'abah, from this time forth I will call
thee naught but 'my lord'!" Then he ran on before the horse, with his
sword hanging from his neck and his budget between his shoulder-blades,
and Kanmakan rode a little behind him; and they plunged into the desert,
for a space of four days, eating of the gazelles and drinking water of
the springs. On the fifth day they drew near a high hill, at whose foot
was a spring-encampment[96] and a deep running stream; and the knolls
and hollows were filled with camels and cattle and sheep and horses, and
little children played about the pens and folds. When Kanmakan saw this,
he rejoiced at the sight and his breast was filled with delight; so he
addressed himself to fight, that he might take the camels and the
cattle, and said to Sabbah, "Come, fall with us upon this loot, whose
owners have left it unguarded here, and do we battle for it with near
and far, so haply may fall to our lot of goods some share." Replied
Sabbah, "O my lord, verily they to whom these herds belong be many in
number; and among them are doughty horsemen and fighting footmen; and if
we venture lives in this derring-do we shall fall into danger great and
neither of us will return safe from this bate; but we shall both be cut
off by fate and leave our cousins desolate." Then Kanmakan laughed and
knew that he was a coward; so he left him and rode down the rise, intent
on rapine, with loud cries and chanting these couplets:—
Oh a valiant race are the sons of Nu'umán, ✿ Braves whose blades shred
heads of the foeman-clan![97]
A tribe who, when tried in the tussle of war, ✿ Taketh prowest stand in
the battle-van:
In their tents safe close gaberlunzie's eyne, ✿ Nor his poverty's ugly
features scan:
And I for their aidance sue of Him ✿ Who is King of Kings and made soul
of man.
Then he rushed upon the she-camels like a he-camel in rut and drove all
before him, sheep and cattle, horses and dromedaries. Therewith the
slaves ran at him with their blades so bright and their lances so long;
and at their head rode a Turkish horseman who was indeed a stout
champion, doughty in fray and in battle chance and skilled to wield the
nut-brown lance and the blade with bright glance. He drove at Kanmakan,
saying, "Woe to thee! Knewest thou to whom these herds belong thou hadst
not done this deed. Know that they are the goods of the band Grecian,
the champions of the ocean and the troop Circassian; and this troop
containeth none but valiant wights numbering an hundred knights, who
have cast off the allegiance of every Sultan. But there hath been stolen
from them a noble stallion, and they have vowed not to return hence
without him." Now when Kanmakan heard these words, he cried out, saying,
"O villain, this I bestride is the steed whereof ye speak and after
which ye seek, and ye would do battle with me for his sake! So come out
against me, all of you at once, and do you dourest for the nonce!" Then
he shouted between the ears of Al-Katul who ran at them like a Ghul;
whereupon Kanmakan let drive at the Turk[98] and ran him through the
body and threw him from his horse and let out his life; after which he
turned upon a second and a third and a fourth, and also of life bereft
them. When the slaves saw this, they were afraid of him, and he cried
out and said to them, "Ho, sons of whores, drive out the cattle and the
stud or I will dye my spear in your blood." So they untethered the
beasts and began to drive them out; and Sabbah came down to Kanmakan
with loud voicing and hugely rejoicing; when lo! there arose a cloud of
dust and grew till it walled the view, and there appeared under of it
riders an hundred, like lions an-hungered. Upon this Sabbah took flight,
and fled to the hill's topmost height, leaving the assailable site, and
enjoyed sight of the fight, saying, "I am no warrior; but in sport and
jest I delight."[99] Then the hundred cavaliers made towards Kanmakan
and surrounded him on all sides, and one of them accosted him, saying,
"Whither goest thou with this loot?" Quoth he, "I have made it my prize
and am carrying it away; and I forbid you from it, or come on to the
combat, for know ye that he who is before you is a terrible lion and an
honourable champion, and a sword that cutteth wherever it turneth!" When
the horseman heard these words, he looked at Kanmakan and saw that he
was a knight like a mane-clad lion in might, whilst his face was as the
full moon rising on its fourteenth night, and valour shone from between
his eyes. Now that horseman was the captain of the hundred horse, and
his name was Kahrdash; and when he saw in Kanmakan the perfection of
cavalarice with surpassing gifts of comeliness, his beauty reminded him
of a beautiful mistress of his whose name was Fátin.[100] Now she was
one of the fairest of women in face, for Allah had given her charms and
grace and noble qualities of all kinds, such as tongue faileth to
explain and which ravish the hearts of men. Moreover, the cavaliers of
the tribe feared her prowess and all the champions of that land stood in
awe of her high spirit; and she had sworn that she would not marry nor
let any possess her, except he should conquer her in combat (Kahrdash
being one of her suitors); and she said to her father, "None shall
approach me, save he be able to deal me overthrow in the field and stead
of war-thrust and blow. Now when this news reached Kahrdash, he scorned
to fight with a girl, fearing reproach; and one of his intimates said to
him, "Thou art complete in all conditions of beauty and goodliness; so
if thou contend with her, even though she be stronger than thou, thou
must needs overcome her; for when she seeth thy beauty and grace, she
will be discomfited before thee and yield thee the victory; for verily
women have a need of men e'en as thou heedest full plain. Nevertheless
Kahrdash refused and would not contend with her, and he ceased not to
abstain from her thus, till he met from Kanmakan that which hath been
set down. Now he took the Prince for his beloved Fatin and was afraid;
albeit indeed she loved him for what she had heard of his beauty and
valour; so he went up to him and said, "Woe to thee,[101] O Fatin! Thou
comest here to show me thy prowess; but now alight from thy steed, that
I may talk with thee, for I have lifted these cattle and have foiled my
friends and waylaid many a brave and man of knightly race, all for the
sake of thy beauty of form and face, which are without peer. So marry me
now, that Kings' daughters may serve thee and thou shalt become Queen of
these countries." When Kanmakan heard these words, the fires of wrath
flamed up in him and he cried out, "Woe to thee, O Persian dog! Leave
Fatin and thy trust and mistrust, and come to cut and thrust, for
eftsoon thou shalt lie in the dust;" and so saying, he began to wheel
about him and assail him and feel the way to prevail. But when Kahrdash
observed him closely he knew him for a doughty knight and a stalwart in
fight; and the error of his thought became manifest to him, whenas he
saw the green down on his cheeks dispread like myrtles springing from
the heart of a rose bright-red. And he feared his onslaught and quoth he
to those with him, "Woe to you! Let one of you charge down upon him and
show him the keen sword and the quivering spear; for know that when many
do battle with one man it is foul shame, even though he be a kemperly
wight and an invincible knight." Upon this, there ran at Kanmakan a
horseman like a lion in fight, mounted on a black horse with hoofs
snow-white and a star on his forehead, the bigness of a dirham,
astounding wit and sight, as he were Abjar, which was Antar's destrier,
even as saith of him the poet:—
The courser chargeth on battling foe, ✿ Mixing heaven on high with the
earth down low:[102]
As though the Morning had blazed his brow, ✿ And he rends her vitals as
quid pro quo.
He rushed upon Kanmakan, and they wheeled about awhile, giving blows and
taking blows such as confound the sprite and dim the sight; but Kanmakan
was the first to smite the foe a swashing blow, that rove through
turband and iron skull-cap and reached his head, and he fell from his
steed with the fall of a camel when he rolleth over. Then a second came
out to him and offered battle, and in like guise a third, a fourth and a
fifth, and he did with them all as he had done with the first. Thereupon
the rest at once rushed upon him, for indeed they were roused by rage
and wild with wrath; but it was not long before he had pierced them all
with the point of his spear. When Kahrdash saw these feats of arms, he
feared death; for he knew that the youth was stoutest of heart and
concluded that he was unique among knights and braves; and he said to
Kanmakan, "I waive my claim to thy blood and I pardon thee the blood of
my comrades: so take what thou wilt of the cattle and wend thy ways, for
thy firmness in fight moveth my ruth and life is better for thee than
death." Replied Kanmakan, "Thou lackest not of the generosity of the
noble! but leave this talk and run for thy life and reck not of blame
nor think to get back the booty; but take the straight path for thine
own safety." Thereupon Kahrdash waxed exceeding wroth, and rage moved
him to the cause of his death; so he said to Kanmakan, "Woe to thee, an
thou knew who I be, thou wouldst not wield these words in the open
field. I am the lion to bash known as Kahrdash, he who spoileth great
Kings and waylayeth all travellings and seizeth the merchants'
preciousest things. And the steed under thee is that I am seeking; and I
call upon thee to tell me how thou camest by him and hast him in thy
keeping." Replied Kanmakan, "Know thou that this steed was being carried
to my uncle King Sasan, under the escort of an ancient dame high in rank
attended by ten slaves, when thou fellest upon her and tookest the horse
from her; and I have a debt of blood against this old woman for the sake
of my grandfather King Omar bin al-Nu'uman and my uncle King Sharrkan."
"Woe to thee!" quoth Kahrdash, "who is thy father, O thou that hast no
lawful mother?" Quoth he, "Know that I am Kanmakan, bin Zau al-Makan,
son of Omar bin al-Nu'uman." But when Kahrdash heard this address he
said, "Thy perfection cannot be denied, nor yet the union in thee of
knightly virtue and seemlihead," and he added, "Fare in peace, for thy
father showed us favour." Rejoined Kanmakan, "By Allah, I will not deign
to honour thee, O wretch I disdain, so far as to overcome thee in
battle-plain!" Upon this the Badawi waxed wroth and they drove at each
other, shouting aloud, whilst their horses pricked their ears and raised
their tails.[103] And they ceased not clashing together with such a
crash that it seemed to each as if the firmament were split in sunder,
and they continued to strive like two rams which butt, smiting and
exchanging with their spears thrust and cut. Presently Kahrdash foined
at Kanmakan; but he evaded it and rejoined upon him and so pierced him
through the breast that the spearhead issued from his back. Then he
collected the horses and the plunder, and he cried out to the slaves,
saying, "Up and be driving as hard as ye may!" Hearing this, down came
Sabbah and, accosting Kanmakan, said to him, "Right well hast thou
dight, O Knight of the age! Verily I prayed Allah for thee and the Lord
heard my prayer." Then he cut off Kahrdash's head and Kanmakan laughed
and said, "Woe to thee, O Sabbah! I thought thee a rider fain of fight."
Quoth the Badawi, "Forget not thy slave in the division of the spoil, so
haply therewith I may marry my cousin Najmah." Answered Kanmakan, "Thou
shalt assuredly share in it, but now keep watch over the booty and the
slaves." Then he set out for his home and he ceased not journeying night
and day till he drew near Baghdad city, and all the troops heard of
Kanmakan, and saw what was his of loot and cattle and the horse-thief's
head on the point of Sabbah's spear. Also (for he was a noted
highwayman) the merchants knew Kahrdash's head and rejoiced, saying,
"Allah hath rid mankind of him!"; and they marvelled at his being slain
and blessed his slayer. Thereupon all the people of Baghdad came to
Kanmakan, seeking to know what adventures had befallen him, and he told
them what had passed, whereupon all men were taken with awe of him and
the Knights and champions feared him. Then he drove his spoil under the
palace walls; and, planting the spear-heel, on whose point was
Kahrdash's head, over against the royal gate, gave largesse to the
people of Baghdad, distributing horses and camels, so that all loved him
and their hearts inclined to him. Presently he took Sabbah and lodged
him in a spacious dwelling and gave him a share of the loot; after which
he went in to his mother and told her all that had befallen him in his
last journey. Meanwhile the news of him reached the King, who rose from
his levee and, shutting himself up with his chief officers, said to
them, "Know ye that I desire to reveal to you my secret and acquaint you
with the hidden facts of my case. And further know that Kanmakan will be
the cause of our being uprooted from this kingdom, our birth-place; for
he hath slain Kahrdash, albeit he had with him the tribes of the Kurds
and the Turks, and our affair with him will end in our destruction,
seeing that the most part of our troops are his kinsmen and ye weet what
the Wazir Dandan hath done; how he disowneth me, after all I have shown
him of favours; and after being faithful he hath turned traitor. Indeed
it hath reached me that he hath levied an army in the provinces and hath
planned to make Kanmakan Sultan, for that the Sultanate was his father's
and his grandfather's; and assuredly he will slay me without mercy." Now
when the Lords of the Realm heard from him these words, they replied, "O
King, verily his man[104] is unequal to this, and did we not know him to
have been reared by thee, not one of us would approve of him. And know
thou that we are at thy commandment; if thou desire his death, we will
do him die; and if thou wilt remove him, we will remove him." Now when
King Sasan heard this, he said, "Verily, to slay him were wise; but
needs must ye swear an oath to it." So all sware to slay Kanmakan
without giving him a chance; to the end that, when the Wazir Dandan
should come and hear of his death, his force might be weakened and he
fail of his design. When they had made this compact and covenant with
him, the King honoured them with the highest honours and presently
retired to his own apartments. But the officers deserted him and the
troops refused their service and would neither mount nor dismount until
they should espy what might befal, for they saw that most of the army
was with the Wazir Dandan. Presently, the news of these things came to
Kuzia Fakan and caused her much concern; so that she sent for the old
woman who was wont to carry messages between her and her cousin, and
when she came, bade her go to him and warn him of the plot. Whereto he
replied, "Bear my salutation to the daughter of my uncle and say to
her:—Verily the earth is of Allah (to whom belong Might and Majesty!),
and He giveth it as heritage to whomsoever of His servants he willeth.
How excellent is the saying of the sayer:—
Allah holds Kingship! Whoso seeks without Him victory ✿ Shall be cast
out, with soul condemned to Hell of low degree:
Had I or any other man a finger-breadth of land, ✿ The rule were changed
and men a twain of partner-gods would see."
Then the old woman returned to Kuzia Fakan and told her his reply and
acquainted her that he abode in the city. Meanwhile, King Sasan awaited
his faring forth from Baghdad, that he might send after him some who
would slay him; till it befel one morning that Kanmakan went out to
course and chase, accompanied by Sabbah, who would not leave him night
or day. He caught ten gazelles and among them one that had tender black
eyes and turned right and left: so he let her go and Sabbah said to him,
"Why didst thou free this gazelle?" Kanmakan laughed and set the others
free also, saying, "It is only humane to release gazelles that have
young, and this one turned not from side to side, save to look for her
fawns: so I let her go and released the others in her honour." Quoth
Sabbah, "Do thou release me, that I may go to my people." At this
Kanmakan laughed and smote him with the spear-butt on the breast, and he
fell to the ground squirming like a snake. Whilst they were thus doing,
behold, they saw a dust-cloud spireing high and heard the tramp of
horses; and presently there appeared under it a plump of knights and
braves. Now the cause of their coming was this. Some of his followers
had acquainted King Sasan with Kanmakan's going out to the chase; so he
sent for an Emir of the Daylamites, called Jámi' and twenty of his
horsemen; and gave them money and bade them slay Kanmakan. So when they
drew near the Prince, they charged down upon him and he met them in
mid-charge and killed them all, to the last man. And behold, King Sasan
took horse and riding out to meet his people, found them all slain,
whereat he wondered and turned back; when lo! the people of the city
laid hands on him and bound him straitly. As for Kanmakan after that
adventure, he left the place behind him and rode onward with Sabbah the
Badawi. And the while he went, lo! he saw a youth sitting at the door of
a house on his road and saluted him. The youth returned his greeting
and, going into the house, brought out two platters, one full of soured
milk and the other of brewis swimming in clarified butter; and he set
the platter before Kanmakan, saying, "Favour us by eating of our
victual." But he refused and quoth the young man to him, "What aileth
thee, O man, that thou wilt not eat?" Quoth Kanmakan, "I have a vow upon
me." The youth asked, "What is the cause of thy vow?", and Kanmakan
answered, "Know that King Sasan seized upon my kingdom like a tyrant and
an enemy, although it was my father's and my grandfather's before me;
yet he became master of it by force after my father's death and took no
count of me, by reason of my tender years. So I have bound myself by a
vow to eat no man's victual till I have eased my heart of my foe."
Rejoined the youth, "Rejoice, for Allah hath fulfilled thy vow. Know
that he hath been prisoned in a certain place and methinks he will soon
die." Asked Kanmakan, "In what house is he confined?" "Under yon high
dome," answered the other. The Prince looked and saw the folk entering
and buffeting Sasan, who was suffering the agonies of the dying. So he
arose and went up to the pavilion and noted what was therein; after
which he returned to his place and, sitting down to the proferred
victual, ate what sufficed him and put the rest in his wallet. Then he
took seat in his own place and ceased not sitting till it was dark night
and the youth, whose guest he was slept; when he rose and repaired to
the pavilion wherein Sasan was confined. Now about it were dogs guarding
it, and one of them sprang at him; so he took out of his budget a bit of
meat and threw it to him. He ceased not casting flesh to the dogs till
he came to the pavilion and, making his way to where King Sasan was,
laid his hand upon his head; whereupon he said in a loud voice, "Who art
thou?" He replied, "I am Kanmakan whom thou strivest to kill; but Allah
made thee fall into thine evil device. Did it not suffice thee to take
my kingdom and the kingdom of my father, but thou must purpose to slay
me?"[105] And Sasan swore a false oath that he had not plotted his death
and that the bruit was untrue. So Kanmakan forgave him and said to him,
"Follow me." Quoth he, "I cannot walk a single step for weakness." Quoth
Kanmakan, "If the case be thus we will get us two horses and ride forth,
I and thou, and seek the open." So he did as he said, and he took horse
with Sasan and rode till daybreak, when they prayed the dawn-prayer and
fared on, and ceased not faring till they came to a garden, where they
sat down and talked. Then Kanmakan rose to Sasan and said, "Is aught
left to set thy heart against me?" "No, by Allah!" replied Sasan. So
they agreed to return to Baghdad and Sabbah the Badawi said, "I will go
before you, to give folk the fair tidings of your coming." Then he rode
on in advance, acquainting women and men with the good news; so all the
people came out to meet Kanmakan with tabrets and pipes; and Kuzia Fakan
also came out, like the full moon shining in all her splendour of light
through the thick darkness of the night. So Kanmakan met her, and soul
yearned to soul and body longed for body. There was no talk among the
people of the time but of Kanmakan; for the Knights bore witness of him
that he was the most valiant of the folk of the age and said, "It is not
right that other than Kanmakan should be our Sultan; but the throne of
his grandfather shall revert to him as it began." Meanwhile Sasan went
in to his wife, Nuzhat al-Zaman, who said to him, "I hear that the folk
talk of nothing but Kanmakan and attribute to him such qualities as
tongue never can." He replied, "Hearing of a man is not like seeing a
man. I have seen him, but have noted in him none of the attributes of
perfection. Not all that is heard is said; but folk ape one another in
extolling and cherishing him, and Allah maketh his praises to run on the
lips of men, so that there incline to him the hearts of the people of
Baghdad and of the Wazir Dandan, that perfidious and treacherous man;
who hath levied troops from all lands and taketh to himself the right of
naming a King of the country; and who chooseth that it shall be under
the hand of an orphan ruler whose worth is naught." Asked Nuzhat
al-Zaman, "What then is it that thou purposest to do?"; and the King
answered, "I mean to kill him, that the Wazir may be baulked of his
intent and return to his allegiance, seeing nothing for it but my
service." Quoth she, "In good sooth perfidy with strangers is a foul
thing and how much more with kith and kin! The righteous deed to do
would be to marry him to thy daughter Kuzia Fakan and give heed to what
was said of old time:—
An Fate some person 'stablish o'er thy head, ✿ And thou being worthier
her choice upbraid,
Yet do him honour due to his estate; ✿ He'll bring thee weal though far
or near thou vade:
Nor speak thy thought of him, else shalt thou be ✿ Of those who self
degrade from honour's grade:
Many Haríms are lovelier than the Bride; ✿ But Time and Fortune lent the
Bride their aid."
When Sasan heard these her words and comprehended what her verse
intended, he rose from her in anger and said, "Were it not that thy
death would bring on me dishonour and disgrace, I would take off thy
head with my blade and make an end of thy breath." Quoth she, "Why art
thou wroth with me? I did but jest with thee." Then she rose to him and
bussed his head and hands, saying, "Right is thy foresight, and I and
thou will cast about for some means to kill him forthright." When he
heard this, he was glad and said, "Make haste and contrive some deceit
to relieve me of my grieving: for in my sooth the door of device is
straitened upon me!" Replied she, "At once I will devise for thee to do
away his life." "How so?" asked he; and she answered, "By means of our
female slave the so-called Bákún." Now this Bakun was past mistress in
all kinds of knavery and was one of the most pestilent of old women, in
whose religion to abstain from wickedness was not lawful; she had
brought up Kuzia Fakan and Kanmakan who had her in so great affection
that he used to sleep at her feet. So when King Sasan heard his wife
name her, he said, "Right is this recking"; and, sending for the old
woman, told her what had passed and bade her cast about to kill
Kanmakan, promising her all good. Replied she, "Thy bidding shall be
obeyed; but I would have thee, O my lord, give me a dagger[106] which
hath been tempered in water of death, that I may despatch him the
speedilier for thee." Quoth Sasan, "And welcome to thee!"; and gave her
a hanger that would devance man's destiny. Now this slave-woman had
heard stories and verses and had learned by rote great store of strange
sayings and anecdotes: so she took the dagger and went out of the room,
considering how she could compass his doom. Then she repaired to
Kanmakan, who was sitting and awaiting news of tryst with the daughter
of his uncle, Kuzia Fakan; so that night his thought was taken up with
her and the fires of love for her raged in his heart. And while he was
thus, behold, the slave-woman, Bakun, went in to him and said, "Union
time is at hand and the days of disunion are over and gone." Now when he
heard this he asked, "How is it with Kuzia Fakan?"; and Bakun answered,
"Know that her time is wholly taken up with love of thee." At this he
rose and doffing his outer clothes put them on her and promised her all
good. Then said she, "Know that I mean to pass this night with thee,
that I may tell thee what talk I have heard and console thee with
stories of many passion-distraughts whom love hath made sick." "Nay,"
quoth he, "rather tell me a tale that will gladden my heart and gar my
cares depart." "With joy and good will," answered she; then she took
seat by his side (and that poniard under her dress) and began to
say:—Know thou that the pleasantest thing my ears ever heard was
_THE TALE OF THE HASHISH EATER._
A certain man loved fair women, and spent his substance on them, till he
became so poor that nothing remained to him; the world was straitened
upon him and he used to go about the market-streets begging his daily
bread. Once upon a time as he went along, behold, a bit of iron nail
pierced his finger and drew blood; so he sat down and wiping away the
blood, bound up his finger. Then he arose crying out, and fared forwards
till he came to a Hammam and entering took off his clothes, and when he
looked about him he found it clean and empty. So he sat him down by the
fountain-basin, and ceased not pouring water on his head, till he was
tired.——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Forty-third Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the man sat down
by the fountain-basin and ceased not pouring water on his head till he
was tired. Then he went out to the room in which was the cistern of cold
water; and seeing no one there, he found a quiet corner and taking out a
piece of Hashísh,[107] swallowed it. Presently the fumes mounted to his
brain and he rolled over on to the marble floor. Then the Hashish made
him fancy that a great lord was shampooing him and that two slaves stood
at his head, one bearing a bowl and the other washing gear and all the
requisites of the Hammam. When he saw this, he said in himself,
"Meseemeth these here be mistaken in me; or else they are of the company
of us Hashish-eaters."[108] Then he stretched out his legs and he
imagined that the bathman said to him, "O my master, the time of thy
going up to the Palace draweth near and it is to-day thy turn of
service." At this he laughed and said to himself, "As Allah
willeth,[109] O Hashish!" Then he sat and said nothing, whilst the
bathman arose and took him by the hand and girt his middle with a
waist-cloth of black silk, after which the two slaves followed him with
the bowls and gear; and they ceased not escorting him till they brought
him into a cabinet, wherein they set incense and perfumes a-burning. He
found the place full of various kinds of fruits and sweet-scented
flowers, and they sliced him a water-melon and seated him on a stool of
ebony, whilst the bathman stood to wash him and the slaves poured water
on him; after which they rubbed him down well and said, "O our lord, Sir
Wazir, health to thee for ever!" Then they went out and shut the door on
him; and in the vanity of phantasy he arose and removed the waist-cloth
from his middle, and laughed till he well nigh fainted. He gave not over
laughing for some time and at last quoth he to himself, "What aileth
them to address me as if I were a Minister and style me Master, and Sir?
Haply they are now blundering; but after an hour they will know me and
say, This fellow is a beggar; and take their fill of cuffing me on the
neck." Presently, feeling hot he opened the door, whereupon it seemed to
him that a little white slave and an eunuch came in to him carrying a
parcel. Then the slave opened it and brought out three kerchiefs of
silk, one of which he threw over his head, a second over his shoulders
and a third he tied round his waist. Moreover, the eunuch gave him a
pair of bath-clogs,[110] and he put them on; after which in came white
slaves and eunuchs and supported him (and he laughing the while) to the
outer hall, which he found hung and spread with magnificent furniture,
such as beseemeth none but kings; and the pages hastened up to him and
seated him on the divan. Then they fell to kneading him till sleep
overcame him; and he dreamt that he had a girl in his arms. So he kissed
her and set her between his thighs; then, sitting to her as a man
sitteth to a woman,[111] he took yard in hand and drew her towards him
and weighed down upon her, when lo! he heard one saying to him, "Awake,
thou ne'er-do-well! The noon-hour is come and thou art still asleep." He
opened his eyes and found himself lying on the marge of the cold-water
tank, amongst a crowd of people all laughing at him; for his prickle was
at point and the napkin had slipped from his middle. So he knew that all
this was but a confusion of dreams and an illusion of Hashish and he was
vexed and said to him who had aroused him, "Would thou hadst waited till
I had put it in!" Then said the folk, "Art thou not ashamed, O
Hashish-eater, to be sleeping stark naked with stiff-standing tool?" And
they cuffed him till his neck was red. Now he was starving, yet forsooth
had he savoured the flavour of pleasure in his dream. When Kanmakan
heard the bondwoman's tale, he laughed till he fell backward and said to
Bakun, "O my nurse, this is indeed a rare story and a delectable; I
never heard the like of this anecdote. Say me! hast more?" "Yes,"
replied she, and she ceased not to tell him merry adventures and
laughable absurdities, till sleep overcame him. Then she sat by his head
till the most part of the night was past, when she said to herself, "It
is time to profit by the occasion." So she sprang to her feet and
unsheathed the hanger and rushing up to Kanmakan, was about to cut his
throat when behold, his mother came in upon the twain. As soon as Bakun
saw her, she rose in respect and advanced to meet her, and fear gat hold
of her and she fell a-trembling, as if she had the ague. When his mother
looked at her she marvelled to see her thus and aroused her son, who
awoke and found her sitting at his head. Now the cause of her coming was
that Kuzia Fakan overheard the conversation and the concert to kill
Kanmakan, and she said to his mother, "O wife of my uncle, go to thy
son, ere that wicked whore Bakun murther him;" and she told her what had
passed from first to last. So she fared forth at once, and she thought
of naught and stayed not for aught till she went in to her son at the
very moment when Bakun was about to slay him in his sleep. When he
awoke, he said to his mother, "O my mother, indeed thou comest at a good
time, for nurse Bakun hath been with me this night." Then he turned to
Bakun and asked her, "By my life! knowest thou any story better than
those thou hast told me?" She answered, "And where is what I have told
thee compared with what I will tell thee?; but however better it be, it
must be told at another time." Then she rose to depart, hardly
believing, in her escape albeit he said, "Go in peace!" for she
perceived by her cunning that his mother knew what had occurred. So she
went her way; whereupon his mother said to him, "O my son, blessed be
this night, for that Almighty Allah hath delivered thee from this
accursed woman." "And how so?" enquired he, and she told him the story
from beginning to end. Quoth he, "O my mother, of a truth the live man
findeth no slayer, and though slain he shall not die; but now it were
wiser that we depart from amongst these enemies and let Allah work what
He will." So, when day dawned he left the city and joined the Wazir
Dandan, and after his departure, certain things befel between King Sasan
and Nuzhat al-Zaman, which compelled her also to quit the city and join
herself to them; and presently they were met by all the high officers of
King Sasan who inclined to their party. Then they sat in counsel
together devising what they should do, and at last all agreed upon a
razzia into the land of Roum there to take their revenge for the death
of King Omar bin al-Nu'uman and his son Sharrkan. So they set out with
this intent and, after sundry adventures (which it were tedious to tell
as will appear from what follows), they fell into the hands of Rúmzán,
King of the Greeks. Next morning, King Rumzan caused Kanmakan and the
Wazir Dandan and their company to be brought before him and, when they
came, he seated them at his side, and bade spread the tables of food. So
they ate and drank and took heart of grace, after having made sure of
death, when they were summoned to the King's presence; and they had said
to one another, "He hath not sent for us but to slay us." And when they
were comforted the King said, "In truth I have had a dream, which I
related to the monks, and they said, 'None can expound it to thee save
the Wazir Dandan.'" Quoth the Minister, "Weal it was thou didst see in
thy dream, O King of the age!" Quoth the King, "O Wazir, I dreamt that I
was in a pit which seemed a black well where multitudes were tormenting
me; and I would have risen, but when springing up I fell on my feet and
could not get out of that same pit. Then I turned and saw therein a
girdle of gold and I stretched out my hand to take it; but when I raised
it from the ground, I saw it was two girdles. So I girt my middle with
them both and behold, the girdles became one girdle; and this, O Wazir,
is my dream and what I saw when my sleep was deepest." Said Dandan, "O
our Lord the Sultan! know that this thy dream denoteth thou hast a
brother or a brother's son or an uncle's son or other near kinsman of
thy flesh and blood whom thou knowest not; withal he is of the noblest
of you all." Now when the King heard these words he looked at Kanmakan
and Nuzhat al-Zaman and Kuzia Fakan and the Wazir Dandan and the rest of
the captives and said to himself, "If I smite these people's necks,
their troops will lose heart for the destruction of their chiefs and I
shall be able to return speedily to my realm, lest the Kingship pass out
of my hands." So having determined upon this he called the Sworder and
bade him strike off Kanmakan's head upon the spot and forthright, when
lo! up came Rumzan's nurse and said to him, "O auspicious King, what
purposest thou?" Quoth he, "I purpose slaughtering these prisoners who
are in my power; and after that I will throw their heads among their
men: then will I fall upon them, I and all my army in one body, and kill
all we can kill and rout the rest: so will this be the decisive action
of the war and I shall return speedily to my kingdom ere aught of
accident befal among my subjects." When the nurse heard these words, she
came up to him and said in the Frankish tongue, "How canst thou prevail
upon thyself to slay thine own brother's son, and thy sister, and thy
sister's daughter?" When he heard this language, he was wroth with
exceeding wrath and said to her, "O accursed woman, didst thou not tell
me that my mother was murthered and that my father died by poison? Didst
thou not give me a jewel and say to me:—Of a truth this jewel was thy
father's? Why didst thou not tell me the truth?" Replied she, "All that
I told thee is true, but my case and thy case are wonderful and my
history and thy history are marvellous. My name is Marjanah and thy
mother's name was Abrizah: and she was gifted with such beauty and
loveliness and valour that proverbs were made of her, and her prowess
was renowned among men of war. And thy father was King Omar bin
al-Nu'uman, Lord of Baghdad and Khorasan, without doubt or double
dealing or denial. He sent his son Sharrkan on a razzia in company with
this very Wazir Dandan; and they did all that men can. But Sharrkan, thy
brother, who had preceded the force, separated himself from the troops
and fell in with thy mother Queen Abrizah in her palace; and we happened
to have sought a place apart in order to wrestle, she and I and her
other damsels. He came upon us by chance while we were in such case, and
wrestled with thy mother, who overcame him by the power of her splendid
beauty and by her prowess. Then she entertained him five days in her
palace, till the news of this came to her father, by the old woman
Shawahi, surnamed Zat al-Dawahi, whereupon she embraced Al-Islam at the
hands of Sharrkan, and he took her and carried her by stealth to
Baghdad, and with her myself and Rayhánah and twenty other damsels, all
of us having, like her, followed the True Faith. When we came into the
presence of thy Father, the King Omar bin al-Nu'uman, and he saw thy
mother, Queen Abrizah, he fell in love with her and going in unto her
one night, had connection with her, and she conceived by him and became
with child of thee. Now thy mother had three jewels which she presented
to thy father; and he gave one of them to his daughter, Nuzhat al-Zaman,
another to thy brother, Zau al-Makan, and the third to thy brother
Sharrkan. This last thy mother took from Sharrkan and kept it for thee.
But as the time of her delivery drew near she yearned after her own
people and disclosed to me her secret; so I went to a black slave called
Al-Ghazban; and, privily telling him our case, bribed him to go with us.
Accordingly the negro took us and fled the city with us, thy mother
being near her time. But as we approached a desert place on the borders
of our own country, the pangs of labour came upon thy mother. Then the
slave proved himself a lustful villain and approaching her sought of her
a shameful thing; whereupon she cried out at him with a loud cry, and
was sore affrighted at him. In the excess of her fright she gave birth
to thee at once, and at that moment there arose, in the direction of our
country, a dust-cloud which towered and flew till it walled the view.
Thereupon the slave feared for his life; so he smote Queen Abrizah with
his sword and slew her in his fury; then mounting his horse he went his
way. Soon after his going, the dust lifted and discovered thy
grandfather, King Hardub, Lord of Græcia-land, who, seeing thy mother
(and his daughter) lying slain on the plain, was sorely troubled with a
distress that redoubled, and questioned me of the manner of her death
and the cause of her secretly quitting her father's realm. So I told him
all that had passed, first and last; and this is the cause of the feud
between the people of the land of the Greeks and the people of the city
of Baghdad. Then we bore off thy murthered mother and buried her; and I
took thee and reared thee, and hung about thy neck the jewel which was
with Queen Abrizah. But, when being grown up thou camest to man's
estate, I dared not acquaint thee with the truth of the matter, lest
such information stir up a war of blood-revenge between you. Moreover,
thy grandfather had enjoined me to secrecy, and I could not gainsay the
commandment of thy mother's father, Hardub, King of the Greeks. This,
then, is the cause of my concealment and the reason why I forbore to
inform thee that thy father was King Omar bin al-Nu'uman; but when thou
camest to the throne, I told thee what thou knowest; and I durst not
reveal to thee the rest till this moment, O King of the Age! So now I
have discovered to thee my secret and my proof, and I have acquainted
thee with all I know; and thou reckest best what is in thy mind." Now
all the captives had heard the slave-woman Marjanah, nurse to King
Rumzan, speaking as she spake; when Nuzhat al-Zaman, without stay or
delay, cried out, saying, "This King Rumzan is my brother by my father,
King Omar bin al-Nu'uman, and his mother was Queen Abrizah, daughter of
King Hardub, Lord of the Greeks; and I know this slave-woman Marjanah
right well." With this, trouble and perplexity got hold upon Rumzan and
he caused Nuzhat al-Zaman to be brought up to him forthright. When he
looked upon her, blood yearned to blood and he questioned her of his
history. She told him the tale and her story tallied with that of
Marjanah, his nurse; whereupon the King was assured that he was, indeed
and without a doubt, of the people of Irak; and that King Omar bin
al-Nu'uman was his father. So without losing time he caused his sister
to be unpinioned, and Nuzhat al-Zaman came up to him and kissed his
hands, whilst her eyes ran over with tears. The King wept also to see
her weeping, and brotherly love possessed him and his heart yearned to
his brother's son Sultan Kanmakan. So he sprang to his feet and, taking
the sword from the Sworder's hands (whereat the captives made sure of
death), he caused them to be set close to him and he cut their bonds
with the blade and said to his nurse Marjanah, "Explain the matter to
this company, even as thou hast explained it to me." Replied she, "O
King, know that this Shaykh is the Wazir Dandan and he is the best of
witnesses to my story, seeing that he knoweth the facts of the case."
Then she turned to the captives and repeated the whole story to them on
the spot and forthright, and in presence of the Kings of the Greeks and
the Kings of the Franks; whereupon Queen Nuzhat al-Zaman and the Wazir
Dandan and all who were prisoners with them confirmed her words. When
Marjanah, the bond-woman, had finished, chancing to look at Sultan
Kanmakan she saw on his neck the third jewel, fellow to the two which
were with Queen Abrizah; and, recognising it, she cried so loud a cry,
that the palace re-echoed it and said to the King, "O my son, Know that
now my certainty is still more assured, for this jewel that is about the
neck of yonder captive is the fellow to that I hung to thy neck; and,
these being the two, this captive is indeed thy brother's son,
Kanmakan." Then the slave-woman Marjanah turned to Kanmakan and said to
him, "Let me see that jewel, O King of the Age!"; so he took it from his
neck and handed it to her. Then she asked Nuzhat al-Zaman of the third
jewel and she gave it to her; and when the two were in her hand she
delivered them to King Rumzan, and the truth and proof were made
manifest to him; and he was assured that he was indeed Sultan Kanmakan's
uncle and that his father was King Omar bin al-Nu'uman. So he rose at
once and on the spot and, going up to the Wazir Dandan, threw his arms
round his neck; then he embraced King Kanmakan and the twain cried a
loud cry for excess of joy. The glad news was blazed abroad without
delay; and they beat the tabrets and cymbals, whilst the shawms sounded
and the people held high festival. The armies of Irak and Syria heard
the clamour of rejoicing among the Greeks; so they mounted to the last
man, and King Zibl Khan also took, horse saying to himself, "Would I
knew what can be the cause of this clamour and rejoicing in the army of
the Franks and the Greeks!" Then the army of Irak dight itself for fight
and advanced into the plain and place of cut and foin. Presently, King
Rumzan turned him round and saw the army deployed and in preparing for
battle employed, so he asked the cause thereof and was told the state of
the case. Thereupon he bade his niece and brother's daughter, Kuzia
Fakan, return at once and forthright to the troops of Syria and Irak and
acquaint them with the plight that had betided and how it was come to
light that King Rumzan was uncle to Sultan Kanmakan. She set out,
putting away from her sorrows and troubles and, coming to King Zibl
Khan,[112] saluted him and told him all that had passed of the good
accord, and how King Rumzan had proved to be her uncle and uncle of
Kanmakan. And when she went in to him she found him tearful-eyed, in
fear for the captive Emirs and Princes; but when he heard what had
passed, from first to last, the Moslem's sadness was abated and they
joyed with the more gladness. Then King Zibl Khan and all his officers
and his retinue took horse and followed Princess Kuzia Fakan till they
reached the pavilion of King Rumzan; and when entering they found him
sitting with his nephew, Sultan Kanmakan. Now he had taken counsel with
the Wazir Dandan concerning King Zibl Khan and had agreed to commit to
his charge the city of Damascus of Sham and leave him King over it as he
before had been while they themselves entered Irak. Accordingly, they
confirmed him in the vice-royalty of Damascus of Syria, and bade him set
out at once for his government; so he fared forth with his troops and
they rode with him a part of the way to bid him farewell. Then they
returned to their own places whereupon, the two armies foregathered and
gave orders for the march upon Irak; but the Kings said one to other,
"Our hearts will never be at rest nor our wrath cease to rage till we
have taken our wreak of the old woman Shawahi, surnamed Zat al-Dawahi,
and wiped away our shame and blot upon our honour." Thereupon King
Rumzan and his nephew set out, surrounded by their Nobles and Grandees;
and indeed Kanmakan rejoiced in his uncle, King Rumzan, and called down
blessings on nurse Marjanah who had made them known to each other. They
fared on and ceased not faring till they drew near their home Baghdad,
and when the Chief Chamberlain, Sasan, heard of their approach, he came
out to meet them and kissed the hand of King Rumzan who bestowed on him
a dress of honour. Then the King of Roum sat down on the throne and
seated by his side his nephew Sultan Kanmakan, who said to him, "O my
uncle, this Kingdom befitteth none but thee." Replied Rumzan, "Allah be
my refuge and the Lord forbid that I should supplant thee in thy
Kingdom!" Upon this the Wazir Dandan counselled them to share the throne
between the two, ruling each one day in turn; and with this they were
well satisfied.——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased
saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Forty-fourth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the two Kings
agreed each to rule one day in turn: then made they feasts and offered
sacrifices of clean beasts and held high festival; and they abode thus
awhile, whilst Sultan Kanmakan spent his nights with his cousin Kuzia
Fakan. And after that period, as the two Kings sat rejoicing in their
condition and in the happy ending of their troubles, behold, they saw a
cloud of dust arise and tower till it walled the world from their eyes.
And out of it came a merchant shrieking and crying aloud for succour and
saying, "O Kings of the Age! how cometh it that I woned safely in the
land of the Infidels and I am plundered in your realm, though it be the
biding place of justice[113] and peace?" Then King Rumzan went up to him
and questioned him of his case and he replied, "I am a merchant and,
like other merchants, I have been long absent from my native land,
travelling in far countries for some twenty years; and I have a patent
of exemption from the city of Damascus which the Viceroy, King Sharrkan
(who hath found mercy) wrote me, for the cause that I had made him gift
of a slave-girl. Now as I was drawing near my home, having with me an
hundred loads of rarities of Hind, when I brought them near Baghdad,
which be the seat of your sovereignty and the place of your peace and
your justice, out there came upon me wild Arabs and Kurds[114] in band
gathered together from every land; and they slew my many and they robbed
my money and this is what they have done me." Then the trader wept in
presence of King Rumzan, saying that he was an old man and infirm; and
he bemoaned himself till the King felt for him and had compassion on
him; and likewise did King Kanmakan and they swore that they would sally
forth upon the thieves. So they set out amid an hundred horse, each
reckoned worth thousands of men, and the merchant went before them to
guide them in the right way; and they ceased not faring on all that day
and the livelong night till dawn-break, when they came to a valley
abounding in rills and shady with trees. Here they found the foray
dispersed about the valley, having divided that merchant's bales among
them; but there was yet some of the goods left. So the hundred horsemen
fell upon them and surrounded them on all sides, and King Rumzan shouted
his war cry, and thus also did his nephew Kanmakan, and ere long they
made prize of them all, to the number of near three hundred horsemen,
banded together of the refuse of rascality.[115] They took what they
could find of the merchant's goods and, binding them tightly, brought
them to Baghdad, where King Rumzan and his nephew, King Kanmakan, sat
down together on one throne and, passing the prisoners in review before
them, questioned them of their case and their chiefs. They said, "We
have no chiefs but these three men and it was they who gathered us
together from all corners and countries." The Kings said to them, "Point
out to us your head-men!"; and, when this was done, they bade lay hands
on the leaders and set their comrades free, after taking from them all
the goods in their possession and restoring them to the merchant, who
examined his stuffs and monies and found that a fourth of his stock was
missing. The Kings engaged to make good the whole of his loss, whereupon
the trader pulled out two letters, one in the handwriting of Sharrkan,
and the other in that of Nuzhat al-Zaman; for this was the very merchant
who had bought Nuzhat al-Zaman of the Badawi, when she was a virgin, and
had forwarded her to her brother Sharrkan; and that happened between
them which happened.[116] Hereupon King Kanmakan examined the letters
and recognised the handwriting of his uncle Sharrkan, and, having heard
the history of his aunt, Nuzhat al-Zaman, he went in to her with the
second letter written by her to the merchant who had lost through her
his monies; Kanmakan also told her what had befallen the trader from
first to last. She knew her own handwriting and, recognising the
merchant, despatched to him guest-gifts and commended him to her brother
and nephew, who ordered him largesse of money and black slaves and pages
to wait on him; besides which Nuzhat al-Zaman sent him an hundred
thousand dirhams in cash and fifty loads of merchandise and presented to
him other rich presents. Then she sent for him and when he came, she
went up to him and saluted him and told him that she was the daughter of
King Omar bin al-Nu'uman and that her brother was King Rumzan and that
King Kanmakan was her nephew. Thereupon the merchant rejoiced with great
joy, and congratulated her on her safety and on her reunion with her
brother, and kissed her hands thanking her for her bounty; and said to
her, "By Allah! a good deed is not lost upon thee!" Then she withdrew to
her own apartment and the trader sojourned with them three days, after
which he took leave of them and set out on his return march to the land
of Syria. Thereupon the two Kings sent for the three robber-chiefs who
were of the highwaymen, and questioned them of their case, when one of
them came forward and said, "Know ye that I am a Badawi who am wont to
lie in wait, by the way, to snatch small children[117] and virgin girls
and sell them to merchants; and this I did for many a year until these
latter days, when Satan incited me to join yon two gallows-birds in
gathering together all the riff-raff of the Arabs and other peoples,
that we might plunder merchandise and waylay merchants." Said the Kings,
"Tell us the rarest of the adventures that have befallen thee in
kidnapping children and maidens." Replied he, "O Kings of the Age, the
strangest thing that happened to me was that one day, two-and-twenty
years ago, I snatched a girl who belonged to the Holy City; she was
gifted with beauty and comeliness, despite that she was but a servant
and was clad in threadbare clothes, with a piece of camlet-cloth on her
head. So I entrapped her by guile as she came out of the caravanserai;
and at that very hour mounting her on a camel, made off with her,
thinking to carry her to my own people in the Desert and there set her
to pasture the camels and gather their droppings in the valley. But she
wept with so sore a weeping that after coming down upon her with blows,
I took her and carried her to Damascus city where a merchant saw her
with me and, being astounded at her beauty and marvelling at her
accomplishments, wished to buy her of me and kept on bidding me more and
more for her, till at last I sold her to him for an hundred thousand
dirhams. After selling her I heard her display prodigious eloquence; and
it reached me that the merchant clothed her in handsome gear and
presented her to the Viceroy of Damascus, who gave him three times the
price which he had paid to me, and this price, by my life! was but
little for such a damsel. This, O Kings of the Age, is the strangest
thing that ever befel me." When the two Kings heard her story they
wondered thereat, but when Nuzhat al-Zaman heard what the Badawi
related, the light became darkness before her face and she cried out and
said to her brother Rumzan, "Sure and sans doubt this is the very Badawi
who kidnapped me in the Holy City Jerusalem!" Then she told them all
that she had endured from him in her strangerhood of hardship, blows,
hunger, humiliation, contempt, adding, "And now it is lawful for me to
slay him." So saying she seized a sword and made at him to smite him;
and behold, he cried out and said, "O Kings of the Age, suffer her not
to slay me, till I shall have told you the rare adventures that have
betided me." And her nephew Kanmakan said to her, "O my aunt, let him
tell us his tale, and after that do with him as thou wilt." So she held
her hand and the Kings said to him, "Now let us hear thy history." Quoth
he, "O Kings of the Age, if I tell you a rare tale will ye pardon me?"
"Yes," answered they. Then the Badawi robber-chief began,
THE TALE OF HAMMAD THE BADAWI;
And he said:—Know ye that a short while ago, I was sore wakeful one
night and thought the morn would never dawn; so, as soon as it was break
of day I rose, without stay or delay; and, slinging over my shoulder my
sword, mounted horse and set my lance in rest. Then I rode out to sport
and hunt and, as I went along, a company of men accosted me and asked me
whither I was bound. I told them and they said, "We will keep thee
company." So we all fared on together, and, whilst we were faring, lo
and behold! up started an ostrich and we gave her chase, but she escaped
our pursuit and spreading wings ceased not to fly before us (and we
following by sight) till she lost us in a desert wherein there was
neither grass nor water, nor heard we aught therein save hiss of snake
and wail of Jinn and howl of Ghul; and when we reached that place the
ostrich disappeared nor could we tell whether she had flown up into the
sky or into the ground had gone down. Then we turned our horses' heads
and thought to return; but found that to retrace our steps at that time
of burning heat would be toilsome and dangerous; for the sultry air was
grievous to us, so that we thirsted with sore thirst and our steeds
stood still. We made sure of death; but while we were in this case we
suddenly espied from afar a spacious mead where gazelles were frisking.
Therein was a tent pitched and by the tent side a horse tethered and a
spear was planted with head glittering in the sun.[118] Upon this our
hearts revived after we had despaired, and we turned our horses' heads
towards that tent making for the meadow and the water which irrigated
it; and all my comrades fared for it and I at their head, and we ceased
not faring till we reached the mead. Then we alighted at the spring and
watered our beasts. But I was seized with a fever of foolish curiosity
and went up to the door of that tent, wherein I saw a young man, without
hair on his cheeks, who fellowed the new moon; and on his right hand was
a slender-waisted maid, as she were a willow-wand. No sooner did I set
eyes on her than love gat hold upon my heart and I saluted the youth,
who returned my greeting. Then said I, "O my brother, tell me who thou
art and what to thee is this damsel sitting by thy side?"[119] Thereupon
the youth bent his head groundwards awhile, then raised it and replied,
"Tell me first who thou art and what are these horsemen with thee?"
Answered I, "I am Hammad son of al-Fazári, the renowned knight, who is
reckoned among the Arabs as five hundred horse. We went forth from our
place this morning to sport and chase and were overcome by thirst; so I
came to the door of this tent, thinking haply to get of thee a draught
of water." When he heard these my words, he turned to the fair maiden
and said, "Bring this man water and what food there is ready." So she
arose trailing her skirts, whilst the golden bangles tinkled on her
ankles and her feet stumbled in her long locks, and she disappeared for
a little while. Presently she returned bearing in her right hand a
silver vessel full of cold water and in her left hand a bowl brimming
with milk and dates, together with some flesh of wild cattle. But I
could take of her nor meat nor drink for the excess of my passion, and I
applied to her these two couplets, saying:—
It was as though the sable dye[120] upon her palms, ✿ Were raven
perching on a swathe of freshest snow;
Thou seest Sun and Moon conjoined in her face, ✿ While Sun fear-dimmed
and Moon fright-pallid show.
After I had eaten and drunk I said to the youth, "Know thou, O Chief of
the Arabs, that I have told thee in all truth who and what I am, and now
I would fain have thee do the like by me and tell me the truth of thy
case." Replied the young man, "As for this damsel she is my sister."
Quoth I, "It is my desire that thou give me her to wife of thy free
will: else will I slay thee and take her by force." Upon this, he bowed
his head groundwards awhile, then he raised his eyes to me and answered,
"Thou sayest sooth in avouching thyself a renowned knight and famed in
fight and verily thou art the lion of the desert; but if ye all attack
me treacherously and slay me in your wrath and take my sister by force,
it will be a stain upon your honour. An you be, as ye aver, cavaliers
who are counted among the Champions and reck not the shock of foray and
fray, give me a little time to don my armour and sling on my sword and
set lance in rest and mount war-steed. Then will we go forth into the
field of fight, I and you; and, if I conquer you, I will kill you to the
last man; but if you overcome me and slay me, this damsel, my sister, is
yours." Hearing such words I replied, "This is only just, and we oppose
it not." Then I turned back my horse's head (for my love for the damsel
waxed hotter and hotter) and returned to my companions, to whom I set
forth her beauty and loveliness as also the comeliness of the young man
who was with her, together with his valour and strength of soul and how
he had avouched himself a match for a thousand horse. Moreover, I
described to my company the tent and all the riches and rarities therein
and said to them, "Know ye that this youth would not have cut himself
off from society and have taken up his abode alone in this place, were
he not a man of great prowess: so I propose that whoso slayeth the
younker shall take his sister." And they said, "This contenteth us."
Then my company armed themselves and mounting, rode to the tent, where
we found that the young man had donned his gear and backed his steed;
but his sister ran up to him (her veil being drenched with tears), and
took hold of his stirrup and cried out, saying, "Alas!" and, "Woe worth
the day!" in her fear for her brother, and recited these couplets:-
To Allah will I make my moan of travail and of woe; ✿ Maybe Ilàh of
Arsh[121] will smite their faces with affright:
Fain would they slay thee, brother mine, with purpose felon-fell; ✿ Albe
no cause of vengeance was, nor fault forewent the fight.
Yet for a rider art thou known to those who back the steed, ✿ And twixt
the East and West of knights thou art the prowest knight:
Thy sister's honour thou shalt guard though little might be hers, ✿ For
thou'rt her brother and for thee she sueth Allah's might:
Then let not enemy possess my soul nor 'thrall my frame, ✿ And work on
me their will and treat thy sister with despight.
I'll ne'er abide, by Allah's truth, in any land or home ✿ Where thou art
not, though dight it be with joyance and delight:
For love and yearning after thee myself I fain will slay, ✿ And in the
gloomy darksome tomb spread bed upon the clay.
But when her brother heard her verse he wept with sore weeping and
turned his horse's head towards his sister and made this answer to her
poetry:—
Stand by and see the derring-do which I to-day will show, ✿ When meet we
and I deal them blows that rend and cleave and split;
E'en though rush out to seek a bout the lion of the war, ✿ The stoutest
hearted brave of all and eke the best in wit;
To him I'll deal without delay a Sa'alabiyan blow,[122] ✿ And dye my
cane-spear's joint in blood by wound of foe bespit:
If all I beat not off from thee, O sister, may this frame ✿ Be slain,
and cast my corpse to birds, for so it would befit:
Yes, for thy dearest sake I'll strike my blows with might and main, ✿
And when we're gone shall this event in many a book be writ.
And when he had ended his verse, he said, "O my sister, give ear to what
I shall enjoin on thee"; whereto she replied, "Hearkening and
obedience." Quoth he, "If I fall, let none possess thy person;" and
thereupon she buffeted her face and said, "Allah forbid, O my brother,
that I should see thee laid low and yield myself to thy foe!" With this
the youth put out his hand to her and withdrew her veil from her face,
whereupon it shone forth as the sun shineth out from the white clouds.
Then he kissed her between the eyes and bade her farewell; after which
he turned to us and said, "Holla, Knights! Come ye as guests or crave ye
cuts and thrusts? If ye come to us as your hosts, rejoice ye in the
guest-rite; and, if ye covet the shining moon, come ye out against me,
knight by knight, into this plain and place of fight." Thereupon rushed
out to him a doughty rider and the young man said to him, "Tell me thy
name and thy father's name, for I am under an oath not to slay any whose
name tallies with mine and whose father's name is that of my father; and
if this be the case with thee, I will give thee up the maid." Quoth the
horseman, "My name is Bilál;"[123] and the young man answered him,
saying:—
Thou liest when speaking of "benefits," while ✿ Thou comest to front
with thine evillest will:
An of prowess thou'rt prow, to my words give ear, ✿ I'm he who makes
champions in battle-field reel
With keen blade, like the horn of the cuspèd moon, ✿ So 'ware thrust
that shall drill through the durest hill!
Then they charged down, each at each, and the youth thrust his adversary
in the breast so that the lance-head issued from his back. With this,
another came out, and the youth cried:—
Ho thou hound, who art rotten with foulness in grain,[124] ✿ What high
meed is there easy for warrior to gain?
'Tis none save the lion of strain purest pure ✿ Who uncareth for life in
the battle-plain!
Nor was it long before the youth left him drowned in his blood and cried
out, "Who will come forth to me?" So a third horseman rushed out upon
the youth and began saying:—
To thee come I forth with my heart a-flame, ✿ And summon my friends and
my comrades by name:
When thou slewest the chief of the Arabs this day, ✿ This day thou
remainest the pledge of my claim.
Now when the youth heard this he answered him in these words:—
Thou liest, O foulest of Satans that are, ✿ And with leasings calumnious
thou comest to war:
This day thou shalt fall by a death-dealing point ✿ Where the lances
lunge and the scymitars jar!
Then he so foined him in the breast that the spear-point issued from his
back and he cried out, saying, "Ho! will none come out?" So a fourth
fared forwards and the youth asked him his name and he answered, "My
name is Hilál, the New Moon." And the youth began repeating:—
Thou hast failed who would sink me in ruin-sea, ✿ Thou who camest in
malice with perfidy:
I, whose verses hast heard from the mouth of me, ✿ Will ravish thy soul
though unknown to thee.
Then they drave at each other and delivered two cuts, but the youth's
stroke devanced that of the rider his adversary and slew him: and thus
he went on to kill all who sallied out against him. Now when I saw my
comrades slain, I said to myself, "If I go down to fight with him, I
shall not be able to prevail against him; and, if I flee, I shall become
a byword of shame among the Arabs." But the youth gave me no time to
think, for he ran at me and dragged me from my saddle and hurled me to
the ground. I fainted at the fall and he raised his sword designing to
cut off my head; but I clung to his skirts, and he lifted me in his hand
as though I were a sparrow. When the maiden saw this, she rejoiced in
her brother's prowess and coming up to him, kissed him between the eyes.
Then he delivered me to her, saying, "Take him and look to him and
entreat him hospitably, for he is come under our rule." So she took hold
of the collar of my hauberk[125] and led me away by it as one would lead
a dog. Then she did off her brother's coat of mail and clad him in a
robe, and set for him a stool of ivory, on which he sat down; and she
said to him, "Allah whiten thy honour and prevent from thee the shifts
of fortune!" And he answered her with these couplets:—
My sister said, as saw she how I stood ✿ In fight, when sun-rays lit my
knightlihood,
"Allah assain thee for a Brave of braves ✿ To whom in vale bow lions
howso wood!"
Quoth I, "Go ask the champions of my case, ✿ When feared the Lords of
war my warrior-mood!
My name is famed for fortune and for force, ✿ And soared my spirit to
such altitude;"
Ho thou, Hammád, a lion hast upstirred, ✿ Shall show thee speedy death
like viper-brood!
Now when I heard his verse, I was perplexed as to my case and,
considering my condition and how I was become a captive, I was lowered
in my own esteem. Then I looked at the damsel, his sister, and seeing
her beauty I said to myself, "'Tis she who caused all this trouble; and
I fell a-marvelling at her loveliness till the tears streamed from my
eyes and I recited these couplets:—
Dear friend! ah leave thy loud reproach and blame; ✿ Such blame but irks
me yet may not alarm:
I'm clean distraught for one whom saw I not ✿ Without her winning me by
winsome charm:
Yestreen her brother crossed me in her love, ✿ A Brave stout-hearted and
right long of arm."
Then the maiden set food before her brother and he bade me eat with him,
whereat I rejoiced and felt assured that I should not be slain. And when
he had ended eating, she brought him a flagon of pure wine and he
applied him to it till the fumes of the drink mounted to his head and
his face flushed red. Then he turned to me and said, "Woe to thee, O
Hammad! dost thou know me or not?" Replied I, "By thy life, I am rich in
naught save ignorance!" Quoth he "O Hammad, I am 'Abbád bin Tamím bin
Sa'labah and indeed Allah giveth thee thy liberty and leadeth thee to a
happy bride and spareth thee confusion." Then he drank to my long life
and gave me a cup of wine and I drank it off; and presently he filled me
a second and a third and a fourth, and I drained them all; while he made
merry with me and swore me never to betray him. So I sware to him one
thousand five hundred oaths that I would never deal perfidiously with
him at any time, but that I would be a friend and a helper to him.
Thereupon he bade his sister bring me ten suits of silk; so she brought
them and laid them on my person, and this dress I have on my body is one
of them. Moreover, he made bring one of the best of his
she-dromedaries[126] carrying stuffs and provaunt, he bade her also
bring a sorrel horse, and when they were brought he gave the whole of
them to me. I abode with them three days, eating and drinking, and what
he gave me of gifts is with me to this present. At the end of the three
days he said to me, "O Hammad, O my brother, I would sleep awhile and
take my rest and verily I trust my life to thee; but, if thou see
horsemen making hither, fear not, for know that they are of the Banu
Sa'labah, seeking to wage war on me." Then he laid his sword under his
head-pillow and slept; and when he was drowned in slumber Iblis tempted
me to slay him; so I arose in haste, and drawing the sword from under
his head, dealt him a blow that made his head fall from his body. But
his sister knew what I had done, and rushing out from within the tent,
threw herself on his corpse, rending her raiment and repeating these
couplets:—
To kith and kin bear thou sad tidings of our plight; ✿ From doom th'
All-wise decreed shall none of men take flight:
Low art thou laid, O brother! strewn upon the stones, ✿ With face that
mirrors moon when shining brightest bright!
Good sooth, it is a day accurst, thy slaughter-day ✿ Shivering thy spear
that won the day in many a fight!
Now thou be slain no rider shall delight in steed, ✿ Nor man-child shall
the breeding woman bring to light.
This morn Hammád uprose and foully murthered thee, ✿ Falsing his oath
and troth with foulest perjury.
When she had ended her verse she said to me, "O thou of accursed
forefathers, wherefore didst thou play my brother false and slay him
when he purposed returning thee to thy native land with provisions; and
it was his intent also to marry thee to me at the first of the month?"
Then she drew a sword she had with her, and planting the hilt in the
earth, with the point set to her breast, she bent over it and threw
herself thereon till the blade issued from her back and she fell to the
ground, dead. I mourned for her and wept and repented when repentance
availed me naught. Then I arose in haste and went to the tent and,
taking whatever was light of load and weighty of worth, went my way; but
in my haste and horror I took no heed of my dead comrades, nor did I
bury the maiden and the youth. And this my tale is still more wondrous
than the story of the serving-girl I kidnapped from the Holy City,
Jerusalem. But when Nuzhat al-Zaman heard these words from the Badawi,
the light was changed in her eyes to night——And Shahrazad perceived the
dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Forty-fifth Night,
[Illustration]
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Nuzhat
al-Zaman heard these words from the Badawi, the light was changed in her
eyes to night, and she rose and drawing the sword, smote Hammad the Arab
between the shoulder-blades so that the point issued from the apple of
his throat.[127] And when all present asked her, "Why hast thou made
haste to slay him;" she answered, "Praised be Allah who hath granted me
in my life-tide to avenge myself with mine own hand!" And she bade the
slaves drag the body out by the feet and cast it to the dogs. Thereupon
they turned to the two prisoners who remained of the three; and one of
them was a black slave, so they said to him, "What is thy name, fellow?
Tell us the truth of thy case." He replied, "As for me my name is
Al-Ghazbán," and acquainted them what had passed between himself and
Queen Abrizah, daughter of King Hardub, Lord of Greece, and how he had
slain her and fled. Hardly had the negro made an end of his story, when
King Rumzan struck off his head with his scymitar, saying, "Praise to
Allah who gave me life! I have avenged my mother with my own hand." Then
he repeated to them what his nurse Marjanah had told him of this same
slave whose name was Al-Ghazban; after which they turned to the third
prisoner. Now this was the very camel-driver[128] whom the people of the
Holy City, Jerusalem, hired to carry Zau al-Makan and lodge him in the
hospital at Damascus of Syria; but he threw him down on the ashes-midden
and went his way. And they said to him, "Acquaint us with thy case and
tell the truth." So he related to them all that had happened to him with
Sultan Zau al-Makan; how he had been carried from the Holy City, at the
time when he was sick, till they made Damascus and he had been thrown
into the hospital; how also the Jerusalem folk had paid the cameleer
money to transport the stranger to Damascus, and he had taken it and
fled after casting his charge upon the midden by the side of the
ash-heap of the Hammam. But when he ended his words, Sultan Kanmakan
took his sword forthright and cut off his head, saying, "Praised be
Allah who hath given me life, that I might requite this traitor what he
did with my father, for I have heard this very story from King Zau
al-Makan himself." Then the Kings said each to other, "It remaineth only
for us to wreak our revenge upon the old woman Shawahi, yclept Zat
al-Dawahi, because she is the prime cause of all these calamities and
cast us into adversity on this wise. Who will deliver her into our hands
that we may avenge ourselves upon her and wipe out our dishonour?" And
King Rumzan said, "Needs must we bring her hither." So without stay or
delay he wrote a letter to his grandmother, the aforesaid ancient woman,
giving her to know therein that he had subdued the kingdoms of Damascus
and Mosul and Irak, and had broken up the host of the Moslems and
captured their princes, adding, "I desire thee of all urgency to come to
me, bringing with thee Queen Sophia, daughter of King Afridun, and whom
thou wilt of the Nazarene chiefs, but no armies; for the country is
quiet and wholly under our hand." And when she read the letter and
recognised the writing of King Rumzan, she rejoiced with great joy and
forthright equipping herself and Queen Sophia, set out with their
attendants and journeyed, without stopping, till they drew near Baghdad.
Then she fore-sent a messenger to acquaint the King of her arrival,
whereupon quoth Rumzan, "We should do well to don the habit of the
Franks and fare forth to meet the old woman, to the intent that we may
be assured against her craft and perfidy." Whereto Kanmakan replied,
"Hearing is consenting." So they clad themselves in Frankish clothes
and, when Kuzia Fakan saw them, she exclaimed, "By the truth of the Lord
of Worship, did I not know you, I should take you to be indeed Franks!"
Then they sallied forth with a thousand horse, King Rumzan riding on
before them, to meet the old woman. As soon as his eyes fell on hers, he
dismounted and walked towards her and she, recognizing him, dismounted
also and embraced him; but he pressed her ribs with his hands, till he
well nigh broke them. Quoth she, "What is this, O my son?" But before
she had done speaking, up came Kanmakan and Dandan; and the horsemen
with them cried out at the women and slaves and took them all prisoners.
Then the two Kings returned to Baghdad, with their captives, and Rumzan
bade them decorate the city which they did for three days, at the end of
which they brought out the old woman Shawahi, hight Zat al-Dawahi, with
a peaked red turband of palm-leaves on her head, diademed with
asses'-dung and preceded by a herald proclaiming aloud, "This is the
reward of those who presume to lay hands on Kings and the sons of
Kings!" Then they crucified her on one of the gates of Baghdad; and,
when her companions saw what befel her, all embraced in a body the faith
of Al-Islam. As for Kanmakan and his uncle Rumzan and his aunt Nuzhat
al-Zaman and the Wazir Dandan, they marvelled at the wonderful events
that had betided them and bade the scribes chronicle them in books that
those who came after might read. Then they all abode for the remainder
of their days in the enjoyment of every solace and comfort of life, till
there overtook them the Destroyer of all delights and the Sunderer of
all societies. And this is the whole that hath come down to us of the
dealings of fortune with King Omar bin al-Nu'uman and his sons Sharrkan
and Zau al-Makan and his son's son Kanmakan and his daughter Nuzhat
al-Zaman and her daughter Kuzia Fakan. Thereupon quoth Shahryar to
Shahrazad, "I desire that thou tell me somewhat about birds;" and
hearing this Dunyazad said to her sister, "I have never seen the Sultan
light at heart all this while till the present night; and his pleasure
garreth me hope that the issue for thee with him may be a happy issue."
Then drowsiness overcame the Sultan, so he slept;[129]——And Shahrazad
perceived the approach of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
-----
Footnote 1:
This "horripilation," for which we have the poetical term
"gooseflesh," is often mentioned in Hindu as in Arab literature.
Footnote 2:
How often we have heard this in England!
Footnote 3:
As a styptic. The scene in the text has often been enacted in Egypt
when a favourite feminine mode of murdering men is by beating and
bruising the testicles. The Fellahs are exceedingly clever in
inventing methods of manslaughter. For some years bodies were found
that bore no outer mark of violence, and only Frankish inquisitiveness
discovered that the barrel of a pistol had been passed up the anus and
the weapon discharged internally. Murders of this description are
known in English history; but never became popular practice.
Footnote 4:
Arab. "Zakar," that which betokens masculinity. At the end of the tale
we learn that she also gelded him; thus he was a "Sandali," a _rasé_.
Footnote 5:
See vol. i. p. 104.
Footnote 6:
The purity and intensity of her love had attained to a something of
prophetic strain.
Footnote 7:
Lane corrupts this Persian name to Sháh Zemán (i. 568).
Footnote 8:
_i.e._, the world, which includes the ideas of Fate, Time, Chance.
Footnote 9:
Arab. "Bárid," silly, noyous, contemptible; as in the proverb
Two things than ice are colder cold:—
An old man young, a young man old.
A "cold-of-countenance" = a fool: "May Allah make cold thy face!" =
may it show want and misery. "By Allah, a cold speech!" = a silly or
abusive tirade (Pilgrimage, ii. 22).
Footnote 10:
The popular form is, "often the ear loveth before the eye."
Footnote 11:
Not the first time that royalty has played this prank, nor the last,
perhaps.
Footnote 12:
_i.e._ the Lady Dunya.
Footnote 13:
These magazines are small strongly-built rooms on the ground floor,
where robbery is almost impossible.
Footnote 14:
Lit. "approbation," "benediction"; also the Angel who keeps the Gates
of Paradise and who has allowed one of the Ghilmán (or Wuldán) the
boys of supernatural beauty that wait upon the Faithful, to wander
forth into this wicked world.
Footnote 15:
In Europe this would be a _plurale majestatis_, used only by Royalty.
In Arabic it has no such significance, and even the lower orders apply
it to themselves; although it often has a _soupçon_ of "I and thou."
Footnote 16:
Man being an "extract of despicable water" (Koran xxxii. 7) ex
spermate genitali, which Mr. Rodwell renders "from germs of life,"
"from sorry water."
Footnote 17:
_i.e._ begotten by man's seed in the light of salvation (Núr al-Hudà).
Footnote 18:
The rolls of white (camphor-like) scarf-skin and sordes which come off
under the bath-man's glove become by miracle of Beauty, as brown musk.
The Rubber or Shampooer is called in Egypt "Mukayyis" (vulgarly
"Mukayyisáti") or "bagman," from his "Kís," a bag-glove of coarse
woollen stuff. To "Johnny Raws" he never fails to show the little
rolls which come off the body and prove to them how unclean they are;
but the material is mostly dead scarf-skin.
Footnote 19:
The normal phrase on such occasions (there is always a "dovetail" _de
rigueur_) "Allah give thee profit!"
Footnote 20:
_i.e._ We are forced to love him only, and ignore giving him a rival
(referring to Koranic denunciations of "Shirk," or attributing a
partner to Allah, the religion of plurality, syntheism not
polytheism): see, he walks tottering under the weight of his back
parts wriggling them whilst they are rounded like the revolving
heavens.
Footnote 21:
Jannat al-Na'ím (Garden of Delight); the fifth of the seven Paradises,
made of white diamond; the gardens and the plurality being borrowed
from the Talmud. Mohammed's Paradise, by the by, is not a greater
failure than Dante's. Only ignorance or pious fraud asserts it to be
wholly sensual; and a single verse is sufficient refutation: "Their
prayer therein shall be 'Praise unto thee, O Allah!' and their
salutation therein shall be 'Peace!' and the end of their prayer shall
be, 'Praise unto God, the Lord of all creatures'" (Koran x. 10-11).
See also lvi. 24-26. It will also be an intellectual condition wherein
knowledge will greatly be increased (lxxxviii. 17-20). Moreover the
Moslems, far more logical than Christians, admit into Paradise the
so-called "lower animals."
Footnote 22:
Sed vitam faciunt balnea, vina, Venus! The Hammam to Easterns is a
luxury as well as a necessity; men sit there for hours talking chiefly
of money and their prowess with the fair; and women pass half the day
in it complaining of their husbands' over-amativeness and contrasting
their own chaste and modest aversion to carnal congress.
Footnote 23:
The frigidarium or cold room, coolness being delightful to the Arab.
Footnote 24:
The calidarium or hot room of the bath.
Footnote 25:
The Angel who acts door-keeper of Hell; others say he specially
presides over the torments of the damned (Koran xliii. 78).
Footnote 26:
The Door-keeper of Heaven before mentioned who, like the Guebre
Zamiyád has charge of the heavenly lads and lasses, and who is often
charged by poets with letting them slip.
Footnote 27:
Lane (i. 616), says "of wine, milk, sherbet, or any other beverage."
Here it is wine, a practice famed in Persian poetry, especially by
Hafiz, but most distasteful to a European stomach. We find the Mu
allakah of Imr al-Kays noticing "our morning draught." Nott (Hafiz)
says a "cheerful cup of wine in the morning was a favourite indulgence
with the more luxurious Persians. And it was not uncommon among the
Easterns, to salute a friend by saying:—May your morning potation be
agreeable to you!" In the present day this practice is confined to
regular debauchees.
Footnote 28:
Koran xii. 31. The words spoken by Zulaykhá's women friends and
detractors whom she invited to see Beauty Joseph.
Footnote 29:
A formula for averting fascination. Koran, chapt. cxiii. 1. "Falak"
means "cleaving"; hence the breaking forth of light from darkness, a
"wonderful instance of the Divine power."
Footnote 30:
The usual delicate chaff.
Footnote 31:
Such letters are generally written on a full-sized sheet of paper
("notes" are held slighting in the East) and folded till the breadth
is reduced to about one inch. The edges are gummed; the ink, much like
our Indian ink, is smeared with the finger upon the signet-ring; the
place where it is to be applied is slightly wetted with the tongue and
the seal is stamped across the line of junction to secure privacy. I
have given a specimen of an original love-letter of the kind in
"Scinde, or the Unhappy Valley," chapt. iv.
Footnote 32:
Arab. "Salb" which may also mean hanging, but the usual term for the
latter in The Nights is "shanak." Crucifixion, abolished by the
superstitious Constantine, was practised as a servile punishment as
late as the days of Mohammed Ali Pasha the Great. The malefactors were
nailed and tied to the patibulum or cross-piece, without any
suppedaneum or foot-rest and left to suffer tortures from flies and
sun, thirst and hunger. They often lived three days and died of the
wounds mortifying and the nervous exhaustion brought on by cramps and
convulsions. In many cases the corpses were left to feed the kites and
crows; and this added horror to the death. Moslems care little for
mere hanging. Whenever a fanatical atrocity is to be punished, the
malefactor should be hung in pig-skin, his body burnt and the ashes
publicly thrown into a common cesspool.
Footnote 33:
Arab. "Shaytán" the insolent or rebellious one is a common term of
abuse. The word is Koranic, and borrowed as usual from the Jews.
"Satan" occurs four times in the O. T. o£ which two are in Job, where,
however, he is a subordinate angel.
Footnote 34:
Arab. "Alak" from the Koran xxii. 5. "O men ... consider that we first
created you of dust (Adam); afterwards of seed (Rodwell's "moist germs
of life"); afterwards of a little coagulated (or clots of) blood." It
refers to all mankind except Adam, Eve and Isa. Also chapt. xcvi. 2,
which, as has been said was probably the first composed at Meccah. Mr.
Rodwell (v. 10) translates by "Servant of God" what should be "Slave
of Allah," alluding to Mohammed's original name Abdullah. See my
learned friend Aloys Sprenger, Leben, etc., i. 155.
Footnote 35:
The Hindus similarly exaggerate: "He was ready to leap out of his skin
in his delight" (Katha, etc., p. 443).
Footnote 36:
A star in the tail of the Great Bear, one of the "Banát al-Na'ash," or
a star close to the second. Its principal use is to act foil to bright
Sohayl (Canopus) as in the beginning of Jámi's Layla-Majnún:—
To whom Thou'rt hid, day is darksome night:
To whom shown, Sohá as Sohayl is bright.
See also al-Hariri (xxxii. and xxxvi.). The saying, "I show her Soha
and she shows me the moon" (A. P. i. 547) arose as follows. In the
Ignorance a beautiful Amazon defied any man to take her maidenhead;
and a certain Ibn al-Ghazz won the game by struggling with her till
she was nearly senseless. He then asked her, "How is thine eye-sight:
dost thou see Soha?" and she, in her confusion, pointed to the moon
and said, "That is it!"
Footnote 37:
The moon being masculine (lunus) and the sun feminine.
Footnote 38:
The "five Shaykhs" must allude to that number of Saints whose names
are doubtful; it would be vain to offer conjectures. Lane and his
"Sheykh" (i. 617) have tried and failed.
Footnote 39:
The beauties of nature seem always to provoke hunger in Orientals,
especially Turks, as good news in Englishmen.
Footnote 40:
Pers. "Lájuward": Arab. "Lázuward"; prob. the origin of our "azure,"
through the Romaic λαζούριον and the Ital. azzurro; and, more
evidently still, of lapis lazuli, for which do _not_ see the
Dictionaries.
Footnote 41:
Arab. "Maurid," the desert-wells where caravans drink; also the way to
water-wells.
Footnote 42:
The famous Avicenna, whom the Hebrews called Aben Sina. The early
European Arabists, who seem to have learned Arabic through Hebrew,
borrowed their corruption, and it long kept its place in Southern
Europe.
Footnote 43:
According to the Hindus there are ten stages of love-sickness: (1)
Love of the eyes; (2) Attraction of the Manas or mind; (3) Birth of
desire; (4) Loss of sleep; (5) Loss of flesh; (6) Indifference to
objects of sense; (7) Loss of shame; (8) Distraction of thought; (9)
Loss of consciousness; and (10) Death.
Footnote 44:
We should call this walk of "Arab ladies" a waddle: I have never seen
it in Europe except amongst the trading classes of Trieste, who have a
"wriggle" of their own.
Footnote 45:
In our idiom six doors.
Footnote 46:
They refrained from the highest enjoyment, intending to marry.
Footnote 47:
Arab. "Jihád," lit. fighting against something; Koranically, fighting
against infidels _i.e._ non-believers in Al-Islam (chapt. lx. 1). But
the "Mujáhidún" who wage such war are forbidden to act aggressively
(ii. 186). Here it is a war to save a son.
Footnote 48:
The lady proposing extreme measures is characteristic: Egyptians hold,
and justly enough, that their women are more amorous than men.
Footnote 49:
"O Camphor," an antiphrase before noticed. The vulgar also say "Yá
Taljí" = O snowy (our snowball), the polite "Ya Abú Sumrah!" = O
father of brownness.
Footnote 50:
_i.e._ which fit into sockets in the threshold and lintel and act as
hinges. These hinges have caused many disputes about how they were
fixed, for instance in caverns without moveable lintel or threshold.
But one may observe that the upper projections are longer than the
lower and that the door never fits close above; so by lifting it up
the inferior pins are taken out of the holes. It is the oldest form
and the only form known to the Ancients. In Egyptian the hinge is
called Akab = the heel, hence the proverb Wakaf' al-báb alá 'akabih;
the door standeth on its heel; _i.e._ every thing in proper place.
Footnote 51:
Hence the addresses to the Deity: Yá Sátir and Yá Sattár—O Thou who
veilest the sins of Thy Servants! said _e.g._, when a woman is falling
from her donkey, etc.
Footnote 52:
A necessary precaution, for the headsman who would certainly lose his
own head by overhaste.
Footnote 53:
The passage has also been rendered, "and rejoiced him by what he said"
(Lane i, 600).
Footnote 54:
Arab. "Hurr" = noble, independent (opp. to 'Abd = a servile) often
used to express animæ nobilitas as εἰγενὴς in Acts xvii. 11; where the
Berœans were "more noble" than the Thessalonians. The Princess means
that the Prince would not lie with her before marriage.
Footnote 55:
The Persian word is now naturalized as Anglo-Egyptian.
Footnote 56:
Arab. "khassat hu" = removed his testicles, gelded him.
Footnote 57:
Here ends the compound tale of Taj al-Muluk cum Aziz plus Azizah, and
we return to the history of King Omar's sons.
Footnote 58:
"Zibl" popularly pronounced Zabal, means "dung." Khan is "Chief," as
has been noticed; "Zabbál," which Torrens renders literally
"dung-drawer," is one who feeds the Hammam with _bois-de-vache_, etc.
Footnote 59:
_i.e._ one who fights the Jihád or "Holy War": it is equivalent to our
"good knight."
Footnote 60:
Arab. "Malik." Azud al-Daulah, a Sultan or regent under the Abbaside
Caliph Al-Tá'í li 'llah (regn. A.H. 363-381) was the first to take the
title of "Malik." The latter in poetry is still written Malík.
Footnote 61:
A townlet on the Euphrates, in the "awwal Shám," or frontier of Syria.
Footnote 62:
_i.e._, the son would look to that.
Footnote 63:
A characteristic touch of Arab pathos, tender and true.
Footnote 64:
Arab. "Mawarid" from "ward" = resorting to pool or water-pit (like
those of "Gakdúl") for drinking, as opposed to "Sadr" = returning
after having drunk at it. Hence the "Sádir" (part. act.) takes
precedence of the "Wárid" in Al-Hariri (Ass. of the Badawi).
Footnote 65:
One of the fountains of Paradise (Koran, chapt. lxxvi.): the word lit.
means "water flowing pleasantly down the throat." The same chapter
mentions "Zanjabíl," or the Ginger-fount, which to the Infidel mind
unpleasantly suggests "ginger pop."
Footnote 66:
Arab. "Takhíl" = adorning with Kohl.
Footnote 67:
The allusions are far-fetched and obscure as in Scandinavian poetry.
Mr. Payne (ii. 314) translates "Naml" by "net." I understand the ant
(swarm) creeping up the cheeks, a common simile for a young beard. The
lovers are in the Lazá (hell) of jealousy, etc., yet feel in the Na'ím
(heaven) of love and robe in green, the hue of hope, each expecting to
be the favoured one.
Footnote 68:
Arab. "Ukhuwán," the classical term. There are two chamomiles; the
white (Bábúnaj) and the yellow (Kaysún); these however are Syrian
names and plants are differently called in almost every Province of
Arabia.
Footnote 69:
In nomadic life the parting of lovers happens so frequently that it
becomes a stock topic in poetry and often, as here, the lover
complains of parting when he is not parted. But the gravamen lies in
the word "Wasl" which may mean union, meeting, reunion or coition. As
Ka'ab ibn Zuhayr began his famous poem with "Su'ád hath departed," 900
imitators (says Al-Siyuti) adopted the Násib or address to the beloved
and Su'ad came to signify a cruel, capricious mistress.
Footnote 70:
As might be expected from a nation of camel-breeders actual cautery
which can cause only counter-irritation, is a favourite nostrum; and
the Hadis or prophetic saying is "Akhir al-dawá (or al-tibb) al-Kayy"
= cautery is the end of medicine-cure; and "Fire and sickness cannot
cohabit." Most of the Badawi bear upon their bodies grisly marks of
this heroic treatment, whose abuse not unfrequently brings on
gangrene. The Hadis (Burckhardt, Proverbs, No. 30) also means "if
nothing else avail, take violent measures."
Footnote 71:
The Spaniards have the same expression: "Man is fire and woman is
tinder."
Footnote 72:
Arab. "Báshik" from Persian "Báshah" (_accipiter Nisus_) a fierce
little species of sparrow-hawk which I have described in "Falconry in
the Valley of the Indus" (p. 14, etc.)
Footnote 73:
Lit. "Coals (fit) for frying-pan."
Footnote 74:
Arab. "Libdah," the sign of a pauper or religious mendicant. He is
addressed "Yá Abu libdah!" (O father of a felt calotte!)
Footnote 75:
In times of mourning Moslem women do not use perfumes or dyes, like
the Henna here alluded to in the pink legs and feet of the dove.
Footnote 76:
Koran, chapt. ii. 23. The idea is repeated in some forty Koranic
passages.
Footnote 77:
A woman's name, often occurring. The "daughters of Sa'ada" are zebras,
so called because "they resemble women in beauty and graceful
agility."
Footnote 78:
Arab. "Tiryák" from Gr. Θηριακόν φάρμακον a drug against venomous
bites. It was compounded mainly of treacle, and that of Baghdad and
Irák was long held sovereign. The European equivalent, "Venice
treacle," (Theriaca Andromachi) is an electuary containing many
elements. Badawin eat for counter-poison three heads of garlic in
clarified butter for forty days. (Pilgrimage iii. 77.)
Footnote 79:
Could Cervantes have read this? In Algiers he might easily have heard
it recited by the tale-tellers. Kanmakan is the typical Arab Knight,
gentle and valiant as Don Quixote; Sabbáh is the _Grazioso_, a
"Beduin" Sancho Panza. In the "Romance of Antar" we have a similar
contrast with Ocab who says: "Indeed I am no fighter: the sword in my
hand-palm chases only pelicans;" and, "whenever you kill a satrap,
I'll plunder him."
Footnote 80:
_i.e._ The Comely, son of the Spearman, son of the Lion, or Hero.
Footnote 81:
Arab. "Ushári." Old Purchas (vi., i. 9) says there are three kinds of
camels (1) _Huguin_ (= Hejin) of tall stature and able to carry 1,000
lbs. (2) _Bechete_ (= Bukhti) the two-humped Bactrian before mentioned
and, (3) the _Raguahill_ (Rahíl) small dromedaries unfit for burden
but able to cover a hundred miles in a day. The "King of Timbukhtu"
(not "Bukhtu's well" pop. Timbuctoo) had camels which reach Segelmesse
(Sijalmas) or Darha, nine hundred miles in eight days at most. Lyon
makes the Maherry (also called El-Heirie = Mahri) trot nine miles an
hour for a long time. Other travellers in North Africa report the
_Sabayee_ (Saba'i = seven days wonder) as able to get over six hundred
and thirty miles (or thirty-five caravan stages = each eighteen miles)
in five to seven days. One of the dromedaries in the "hamlah" or
caravan of Mr. Ensor (Journey through Nubia and Darfoor—a charming
book) travelled one thousand one hundred and ten miles in twenty-seven
days. He notes that his beasts were better with water every five to
seven days, but in the cold season could do without drink for sixteen.
I found in Al-Hijaz at the end of August that the camels suffered much
after ninety hours without drink (Pilgrimage iii. 14). But these were
"Júdi" fine-haired animals as opposed to "Khawár" (the Khowás of
Chesney, p. 333), coarse-haired, heavy, slow brutes which will not
stand great heat.
Footnote 82:
_i.e._ Fortune so willed it (euphemistically).
Footnote 83:
The "minaret" being feminine is usually compared with a fair young
girl. The oldest minaret proper is supposed to have been built in
Damascus by the Ommiade Caliph (No. X.) Al-Walid A.H. 86-96 (=
705-715). According to Ainsworth (ii. 113) the second was at Kuch
Hisar in Chaldea.
Footnote 84:
None of the pure Badawi can swim for the best of reasons, want of
waters.
Footnote 85:
The baser sort of Badawi is never to be trusted: he is a traitor born,
and looks upon fair play as folly or cowardice. Neither oath nor
kindness can bind him: he unites the cruelty of the cat with the
wildness of the wolf. How many Englishmen have lost their lives by not
knowing these elementary truths! The race has not changed from the
days of Mandeville (A.D. 1322) whose "Arabians, who are called
Bedouins and Ascopards (?), are right felonious and foul, and of a
cursed nature." In his day they "carried but one shield and one spear,
without other arm:" now, unhappily for travellers, they have
matchlocks and most tribes can manufacture a something called by
courtesy gunpowder.
Footnote 86:
Thus by Arab custom they become friends.
Footnote 87:
Our classical term for a noble Arab horse.
Footnote 88:
In Arab. "Khayl" is = horse; Husan, a stallion; Hudúd, a brood
stallion; Faras, a mare (but sometimes used as a horse and meaning
"that tears over the ground"); Jiyád a steed (noble); Kadísh, a nag
(ignoble); Mohr a colt and Mohrah, a filly. There are dozens of other
names but these suffice for conversation.
Footnote 89:
Al-Katúl, the slayer; Al-Majnún, the mad; both high compliments in the
style inverted.
Footnote 90:
This was a highly honourable exploit, which would bring the doer fame
as well as gain
Footnote 91:
This is a true and life-like description of horse-stealing in the
Desert: Antar and Burckhardt will confirm every word. A noble Arab
stallion is supposed to fight for his rider and to wake him at night
if he see any sign of danger. The owner generally sleeps under the
belly of the beast which keeps eyes and ears alert till dawn.
Footnote 92:
Arab. "Yaum al-tanádí," _i.e._ Resurrection-day.
Footnote 93:
Arab. "Bilád al-Súdán" = the Land of the Blacks, negro-land, whence
the slaves came, a word now fatally familiar to English ears. There
are, however, two regions of the same name, the Eastern upon the Upper
Nile and the Western which contains the Niger-Valley; and each
considers itself _the_ Sudan. And the reader must not confound the
Berber of the Upper Nile, the _Berberino_ who acts servant in Lower
Egypt, with the Berber of Barbary: the former speaks an African
language; the latter a "Semitic" (Arabic) tongue.
Footnote 94:
"Him" for "her."
Footnote 95:
Arab. "Sáibah," a she-camel freed from labour under certain conditions
amongst the pagan Arabs; for which see Sale (Prel. Disc. sect. v.).
Footnote 96:
Arab. "Marba'." In early spring the Badawi tribes leave the Rasm or
wintering-place (the Turco-Persian "Kishlák") in the desert, where
winter-rains supply them, and make for the Yaylák, or summer-quarters,
where they find grass and water. Thus the great Ruwala tribe appears
regularly every year on the eastern slopes of the Anti-Libanus
(Unexplored Syria, i. 117), and hence the frequent "partings."
Footnote 97:
This "renowning it" and boasting of one's tribe (and oneself) before
battle is as natural as the war-cry: both are intended to frighten the
foe and have often succeeded. Every classical reader knows that the
former practice dates from the earliest ages. It is still customary in
Arabia during the furious tribal fights, the duello on a magnificent
scale, which often ends in half the combatants on either side being
placed hors-de-combat. A fair specimen of "renowning it" is Amrú's
Suspended Poem with its extravagant panegyric of the Taghlab tribe (p.
64, "Arabian Poetry for English Readers," etc., by W. A. Clouston,
Glasgow: privately printed MDCCCLXXXI.; and transcribed from Sir
William Jones's translation).
Footnote 98:
The "Turk" appeared soon amongst the Abbaside Caliphs. Mohammed was
made to prophecy of them under the title Banú Kantúrah, the latter
being a slave-girl of Abraham. The Imam Al-Shafi'i (A.H. 195 = A.D.
810) is said to have foretold their rule in Egypt where an Ottoman
defended him against a donkey-boy. (For details see Pilgrimage i.
216.) The Caliph Al-Mu'atasim bi'llah (A.D. 833-842) had more than
10,000 Turkish slaves and was the first to entrust them with high
office; so his Arab subjects wrote of him:—
A wretched Turk is thy heart's desire;
And to them thou showest thee dam and sire.
His successor Al-Wásik (Vathek, of the terrible eyes) was the first to
appoint a Turk his Sultan or regent. After his reign they became
prætorians and led to the downfall of the Abbasides.
Footnote 99:
The Persian saying is "First at the feast and last at the fray."
Footnote 100:
_i.e._ a tempter, a seducer.
Footnote 101:
Arab. "Wayl-ak" here probably used in the sense of "Wayh-ak" an
expression of affectionate concern.
Footnote 102:
Firdausi, the Homer of Persia, affects the same magnificent
exaggeration. The trampling of men and horses raises such a dust that
it takes one layer (of the seven) from earth and adds it to the (seven
of the) Heavens. The "blaze" on the stallion's forehead (Arab.
"Ghurrah") is the white gleam of the morning.
Footnote 103:
A noted sign of excitement in the Arab blood horse, when the tail
looks like a panache covering the hind-quarter.
Footnote 104:
_i.e._ Prince Kanmakan.
Footnote 105:
The "quality of mercy" belongs to the noble Arab, whereas the ignoble
and the Badawin are rancorous and revengeful as camels.
Footnote 106:
Arab. "Khanjar," the poison was let into the grooves and hollows of
the poniard.
Footnote 107:
The Pers. "Bang"; Indian "Bhang"; Maroccan "Fasúkh" and S. African
"Dakhá." (Pilgrimage i. 64). I heard of a "Hashish-orgie" in London
which ended in half the experimentalists being on their sofas for a
week. The drug is useful for stokers, having the curious property of
making men insensible to heat. Easterns also use it for "Imsák"
prolonging coition, of which I speak presently.
Footnote 108:
Arab. "Hashsháshín;" whence De Sacy derived "Assassin." A notable
effect of the Hashish preparation is wildly to excite the imagination,
a kind of delirium imaginans sive phantasticum.
Footnote 109:
Meaning "Well done!" Mashallah (Má sháa 'llah) is an exclamation of
many uses, especially affected when praising man or beast for fear
lest flattering words induce the evil eye.
Footnote 110:
Arab. "Kabkáb" vulg. "Kubkáb." They are between three and ten inches
high; and those using them for the first time in the slippery Hammam
must be careful.
Footnote 111:
Arab. "Majlis" = sitting. The postures of coition, ethnologically
curious and interesting, are subjects so extensive that they require a
volume rather than a note. Full information can be found in the
Ananga-ranga, or Stage of the Bodiless One, a treatise in Sanskrit
verse vulgarly known as Koka Pandit from the supposed author, a Wazir
of the great Rajah Bhoj or, according to others, of the Maharajah of
Kanoj. Under the title Lizzat al-Nisá (The Pleasures—or enjoying—of
Women) it has been translated into all the languages of the Moslem
East, from Hindustani to Arabic. It divides postures into five great
divisions: (1) the woman lying supine, of which there are eleven
subdivisions; (2) lying on her side, right or left, with three
varieties; (3) sitting, which has ten; (4) standing, with three
subdivisions, and (5) lying prone, with two. This total of
twenty-nine, with three forms of "Purusháyit," when the man lies
supine (see the Abbot in Boccaccio i. 4), becomes thirty-two,
approaching the French _quarante façons_. The Upavishta, majlis, or
sitting postures, when one or both "sit at squat" somewhat like birds,
appear utterly impossible to Europeans who lack the pliability of the
Eastern's limbs. Their object in congress is to avoid tension of the
muscles which would shorten the period of enjoyment. In the text the
woman lies supine and the man sits at squat between her legs: it is a
favourite from Marocco to China. A literal translation of the
Ananga-ranga appeared in 1873 under the name of Káma-Shástra; or the
Hindoo Art of Love (Ars Amoris Indica); but of this only six copies
were printed. It was re-issued (printed but not published) in 1885.
The curious in such matters will consult the Index Librorum
Prohibitorum (London, privately printed, 1879) by Pisanus Fraxi (H. S.
Ashbee).
Footnote 112:
_i.e._ _Le Roi Crotte._
Footnote 113:
This seems to be a punning allusion to Baghdad, which in Persian would
mean the Garden (bágh) of Justice (dád). See "Biographical Notices of
Persian Poets" by Sir Gore Ouseley, London, Oriental Translation Fund,
1846.
Footnote 114:
The Kardoukhoi (Carduchi) of Xenophon; also called (Strabo xv.)
"Kárdakís, from a Persian word signifying manliness," which would be
"Kardak" = a doer (of derring-do). They also named the Montes Gordæi
the original Ararat of Xisisthrus-Noah's Ark. The Kurds are of Persian
race, speaking an old and barbarous Iranian tongue and often of the
Shi'ah sect. They are born bandits, highwaymen, cattle-lifters; yet
they have spread extensively over Syria and Egypt and have produced
some glorious men, witness Sultan Saláh al-Din (Saladin) the Great.
They claim affinity with the English in the East, because both races
always inhabit the highest grounds they can find.
Footnote 115:
These irregular bands who belong to no tribe are the most dangerous
bandits in Arabia, especially upon the northern frontier. Burckhardt,
who suffered from them, gives a long account of their treachery and
utter absence of that Arab "pundonor" which is supposed to
characterise Arab thieves.
Footnote 116:
An euphemistic form to avoid mentioning the incestuous marriage.
Footnote 117:
The Arab form of our "Kinchin lay."
Footnote 118:
These are the signs of a Shaykh's tent.
Footnote 119:
These questions, indiscreet in Europe, are the rule throughout Arabia,
as they were in the United States of the last generation.
Footnote 120:
Arab. "Khizáb" a paste of quicklime and lamp-black kneaded with
linseed oil which turns the Henna to a dark olive. It is hideously
ugly to unaccustomed eyes and held to be remarkably beautiful in
Egypt.
Footnote 121:
_i.e._ the God of the Empyrean.
Footnote 122:
A blow worthy of the Sa'alabah tribe to which he belonged.
Footnote 123:
_i.e._ "benefits"; also the name of Mohammed's Mu'ezzin, or crier to
prayer, who is buried outside the Jábiah gate of Damascus. Hence
amongst Moslems Abyssinians were preferred as mosque-criers in the
early ages of Al-Islam. Egypt chose blind men because they were
abundant and cheap; moreover they cannot take note of what is doing on
the adjoining roof-terraces where women and children love to pass the
cool hours that begin and end the day. Stories are told of men who
counterfeited blindness for years in order to keep the employment. In
Moslem cities the stranger required to be careful how he appeared at a
window or on the gallery of a minaret: the people hate to be
overlooked and the whizzing of a bullet was the warning to be off.
Pilgrimage iii. 185.
Footnote 124:
His instinct probably told him that this opponent was a low fellow;
but such insults are common when "renowning it."
Footnote 125:
Arab. "Dara'" or "Dira'," a habergeon, a coat of ring-mail, sometimes
worn in pairs. During the wretched "Sudan" campaigns much naïve
astonishment was expressed by the English Press to hear of warriors
armed cap-à-pie in this armour like medieval knights. They did not
know that every great tribe has preserved, possibly from Crusading
times, a number of hauberks, even to hundreds. I have heard of only
one English traveller who had a mail-jacket made by Wilkinson of Pall
Mall, imitating in this point Napoleon III. and (according to the
Banker-poet, Rogers) the Duke of Wellington. That of Napoleon is said
to have been made of platinum-wire, the work of a Pole who received
his money and an order to quit Paris. The late Sir Robert Clifton
(they say) tried its value with a Colt after placing it upon one of
his coat-models or mannequins. It is easy to make these hauberks
arrow-proof or sword-proof, even bullet-proof if Arab gunpowder be
used: but against a modern rifle-cone they are worse than worthless as
the fragments would be carried into the wound. The British serjeant
was right in saying that he would prefer to enter battle in his shirt:
and he might even doff that to advantage and return to the primitive
custom of man-gymnomachy.
Footnote 126:
Arab. "Jamal" (by Badawin pronounced "Gamal" like the Hebrew) is the
generic term for "Camel" through the Gr.κάμηλος: "Ibl" is also the
camel-species but not so commonly used. "Hajín" is the dromedary (in
Egypt, "Dalúl" in Arabia), not the one-humped camel of the zoologist
(_C. dromedarius_) as opposed to the two-humped (_C. Bactrianus_), but
a running _i.e._ a riding camel. The feminine is Nákah, for like mules
females are preferred. "Bakr" (masc.) and "Bakrah" (fem.) are
camel-colts. There are hosts of special names besides those which are
general. Mr. Ensor is singular when he states (p. 40) "the male (of
the camel) is much the safer animal to choose;" and the custom of the
universal East disproves his assertion. Mr. McCoan ("Egypt as it is")
tells his readers that the Egyptian camel has two humps; in fact, he
describes the camel as it is not.
Footnote 127:
So, in the Romance of Dalhamah (Zát al-Himmah, the heroine) the hero
Al-Gundubah ("one locust-man") smites off the head of his mother's
servile murderer and cries, "I have taken my blood-revenge upon this
traitor slave!" (Lane, M. E. chapt. xxiii.).
Footnote 128:
This gathering all the persons upon the stage before the curtain drops
is highly artistic and improbable.
Footnote 129:
He ought to have said his dawn prayers.
Now when it was the Hundred and Forty-sixth Night,
Shahrazad began to relate, in these words,
THE TALE OF THE BIRDS AND BEASTS AND THE
CARPENTER.[130]
Quoth she, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that in times of yore
and in ages long gone before, a peacock abode with his wife on the
sea-shore. Now the place was infested with lions and all manner wild
beasts, withal it abounded in trees and streams. So cock and hen were
wont to roost by night upon one of the trees, being in fear of the
beasts, and went forth by day questing food. And they ceased not thus to
do till their fear increased on them and they searched for some place
wherein to dwell other than their old dwelling-place; and in the course
of their search behold, they happened on an island abounding in streams
and trees. So they alighted there and ate of its fruits and drank of its
waters. But whilst they were thus engaged, lo! up came to them a duck in
a state of extreme terror, and stayed not faring forwards till she
reached the tree whereon were perched the two peafowl, when she seemed
re-assured in mind. The peacock doubted not but that she had some rare
story; so he asked her of her case and the cause of her concern, whereto
she answered, "I am sick for sorrow, and my horror of the son of
Adam:[131] so beware, and again I say beware of the sons of Adam!"
Rejoined the peacock, "Fear not now that thou hast won our protection."
Cried the duck, "Alhamdolillah! glory to God, who hath done away my cark
and care by means of you being near! For indeed I come of friendship
fain with you twain." And when she had ended her speech the peacock's
wife came down to her and said, "Well come and welcome and fair cheer!
No harm shall hurt thee: how can son of Adam come to us and we in this
isle which lieth a-middlemost of the sea? From the land he cannot reach
us neither can he come against us from the water. So be of good cheer
and tell us what hath betided thee from the child of Adam." Answered the
duck, "Know, then, O thou peahen, that of a truth I have dwelt all my
life in this island safely and peacefully, nor have I seen any
disquieting thing, till one night, as I was asleep, I sighted in my
dream the semblance of a son of Adam, who talked with me and I with him.
Then I heard a voice say to me:—O thou duck, beware of the son of Adam
and be not imposed on by his words nor by that he may suggest to thee;
for he aboundeth in wiles and guiles; so beware with all wariness of his
perfidy, for again I say, he is crafty and right cunning even as singeth
of him the poet:—
He'll offer sweetmeats with his edgèd tongue, ✿ And fox thee with the
foxy guile of fox."
[Illustration]
And know thou that the son of Adam circumventeth the fishes and draweth
them forth of the seas; and he shooteth the birds with a pellet of
clay,[132] and trappeth the elephant with his craft. None is safe from
his mischief and neither bird nor beast escapeth him; and on this wise
have I told thee what I have heard concerning the son of Adam. So I
awoke, fearful and trembling, and from that hour to this my heart hath
not known gladness, for dread of the son of Adam, lest he surprise me
unawares by his wile or trap me in his snares. By the time the end of
the day overtook me, my strength was grown weak and my spunk failed me;
so, desiring to eat and drink, I went forth walking, troubled in spirit
and with a heart ill at ease. Now when I reached yonder mountain I saw a
tawny lion-whelp at the door of a cave; and sighting me he joyed in me
with great joy, for my colour pleased him and my gracious shape; so he
cried out to me saying:—Draw nigh unto me. I went up to him and he asked
me, What is thy name, and what is thy nature? Answered I, My name is
Duck, and I am of the bird-kind; and I added, But thou, why tarriest
thou in this place till this time? Answered the whelp, My father the
lion hath for many a day warned me against the son of Adam, and it came
to pass this night that I saw in my sleep the semblance of a son of
Adam. And he went on to tell me the like of that I have told you. When I
heard these words, I said to him, O lion, I take asylum with thee, that
thou mayest kill the son of Adam and be steadfast in resolve to his
slaughter; verily I fear him for myself with extreme fear and to my
fright affright is added for that thou also dreadest the son of Adam,
albeit thou art Sultan of savage beasts. Then I ceased not, O my sister,
to bid the young lion beware of the son of Adam and urge him to slay
him, till he rose of a sudden and at once from his stead and went out
and he fared on, and I after him and I noted him lashing flanks with
tail. We advanced in the same order till we came to a place where the
roads forked and saw a cloud of dust arise which, presently clearing
away, discovered below it a runaway naked ass, now galloping and running
at speed and now rolling in the dust. When the lion saw the ass, he
cried out to him, and he came up to him in all humility. Then said the
lion:—Harkye, crack-brain brute! What is thy kind and what be the cause
of thy coming hither? He replied, O son of the Sultan! I am by kind an
ass—Asinus Caballus—and the cause of my coming to this place is that I
am fleeing from the son of Adam. Asked the lion-whelp, Dost thou fear
then that he will kill thee? Answered the ass, Not so, O son of the
Sultan, but I dread lest he put a cheat on me and mount upon me; for he
hath a thing called Pack-saddle, which he setteth on my back; also a
thing called Girths which he bindeth about my belly; and a thing called
Crupper which he putteth under my tail, and a thing called Bit which he
placeth in my mouth: and he fashioneth me a goad[133] and goadeth me
with it and maketh me run more than my strength. If I stumble he curseth
me, and if I bray, he revileth me;[134] and at last when I grow old and
can no longer run, he putteth on me a pannel[135] of wood and delivereth
me to the water-carriers, who load my back with water from the river in
skins and other vessels, such as jars, and I cease not to wone in misery
and abasement and fatigue till I die, when they cast me on the
rubbish-heaps to the dogs. So what grief can surpass this grief and what
calamities can be greater than these calamities? Now when I heard, O
peahen, the ass's words, my skin shuddered, and became as gooseflesh at
the son of Adam; and I said to the lion-whelp, O my lord, the ass of a
verity hath excuse and his words add terror to my terror. Then quoth the
young lion to the ass, Whither goest thou? Quoth he, Before sunrise I
espied the son of Adam afar off, and fled from him; and now I am minded
to flee forth and run without ceasing for the greatness of my fear of
him, so haply I may find me a place of shelter from the perfidious son
of Adam. Whilst the ass was thus discoursing with the lion-whelp,
seeking the while to take leave of us and go away, behold, appeared to
us another cloud of dust, whereat the ass brayed and cried out and
looked hard and let fly a loud fart.[136] After a while the dust lifted
and discovered a black steed finely dight with a blaze on the forehead
like a dirham round and bright;[137] handsomely marked about the hoof
with white and with firm strong legs pleasing to sight and he neighed
with affright. This horse ceased not running till he stood before the
whelp, the son of the lion who, when he saw him, marvelled and made much
of him and said, What is thy kind, O majestic wild beast and wherefore
fleest thou into this desert wide and vast? He replied, O lord of wild
beasts, I am a steed of the horse-kind, and the cause of my running is
that I am fleeing from the son of Adam. The lion-whelp wondered at the
horse's speech and cried to him:—Speak not such words for it is shame to
thee, seeing that thou art tall and stout. And how cometh it that thou
fearest the son of Adam, thou, with thy bulk of body and thy swiftness
of running, when I, for all my littleness of stature am resolved to
encounter the son of Adam and, rushing on him, eat his flesh, that I may
allay the affright of this poor duck and make her dwell in peace in her
own place? But now thou hast come here and thou hast wrung my heart with
thy talk and turned me back from what I had resolved to do, seeing that,
for all thy bulk, the son of Adam hath mastered thee and hath feared
neither thy height nor thy breadth, albeit, wert thou to kick him with
one hoof thou wouldst kill him, nor could he prevail against thee, but
thou wouldst make him drink the cup of death. The horse laughed when he
heard the whelp's words and replied, Far, far is it from my power to
overcome him, O Prince. Let not my length and my breadth nor yet my bulk
delude thee with respect to the son of Adam; for that he, of the excess
of his guile and his wiles, fashioneth me a thing called Hobble and
applieth to my four legs a pair of ropes made of palm-fibres bound with
felt, and gibbeteth me by the head to a high peg, so that I being tied
up remain standing and can neither sit nor lie down. And when he is
minded to ride me, he bindeth on his feet a thing of iron called
Stirrup[138] and layeth on my back another thing called Saddle, which he
fasteneth by two Girths passed under my armpits. Then he setteth in my
mouth a thing of iron he calleth Bit, to which he tieth a thing of
leather called Rein; and, when he sitteth in the saddle on my back, he
taketh the rein in his hand and guideth me with it, goading my flanks
the while with the shovel-stirrups till he maketh them bleed. So do not
ask, O son of our Sultan, the hardships I endure from the son of Adam.
And when I grow old and lean and can no longer run swiftly, he selleth
me to the miller who maketh me turn in the mill, and I cease not from
turning night and day till I grow decrepit. Then he in turn vendeth me
to the knacker who cutteth my throat and flayeth off my hide and
plucketh out my tail, which he selleth to the sieve-maker; and he
melteth down my fat for tallow-candles. When the young lion heard the
horse's words, his rage and vexation redoubled and he said, When didst
thou leave the son of Adam? Replied the horse, At mid-day and he is upon
my track. Whilst the whelp was thus conversing with the horse lo! there
rose a cloud of dust and, presently opening out, discovered below it a
furious camel gurgling and pawing the earth with his feet and never
ceasing so to do till he came up with us. Now when the lion-whelp saw
how big and buxom he was, he took him to be the son of Adam and was
about to spring upon him when I said to him, O Prince, of a truth this
is not the son of Adam, this be a camel, and he seemeth to be fleeing
from the son of Adam. As I was thus conversing, O my sister, with the
lion-whelp, the camel came up and saluted him; whereupon he returned the
greeting and said:—What bringeth thee hither? Replied he, I came here
fleeing from the son of Adam. Quoth the whelp, And thou, with thy huge
frame and length and breadth, how cometh it that thou fearest the son of
Adam, seeing that with one kick of thy foot thou wouldst kill him? Quoth
the camel, O son of the Sultan, know that the son of Adam hath
subtleties and wiles, which none can withstand nor can any prevail
against him, save only Death; for he putteth into my nostrils a twine of
goat's hair he calleth Nose-ring,[139] and over my head a thing he
calleth Halter; then he delivereth me to the least of his little
children, and the youngling draweth me along by the nose-ring, my size
and strength notwithstanding. Then they load me with the heaviest of
burdens and go long journeys with me and put me to hard labour through
the hours of the night and the day. When I grow old and stricken in
years and disabled from working, my master keepeth me not with him, but
selleth me to the knacker who cutteth my throat and vendeth my hide to
the tanners and my flesh to the cooks: so do not ask the hardships I
suffer from the son of Adam. When didst thou leave the son of Adam?
asked the young lion; and he answered, At sundown, and I suppose that
coming to my place after my departure and not finding me there, he is
now in search of me: wherefore let me go, O son of the Sultan, that I
may flee into the wolds and the wilds. Said the whelp, Wait awhile, O
camel, till thou see how I will tear him, and give thee to eat of his
flesh, whilst I craunch his bones and drink his blood. Replied the
camel, O King's son, I fear for thee from the child of Adam, for he is
wily and guilefull. And he began repeating these verses:—
When the tyrant enters the lieges' land, ✿ Naught remains for the lieges
but quick remove!
Now whilst the camel was speaking with the lion-whelp, behold, there
rose a cloud of dust which, after a time, opened and showed an old man
scanty of stature and lean of limb; and he bore on his shoulder a basket
of carpenter's tools and on his head a branch of a tree and eight
planks. He led little children by the hand and came on at a trotting
pace,[140] never stopping till he drew near the whelp. When I saw him, O
my sister, I fell down for excess of fear; but the young lion rose and
walked forward to meet the carpenter and when he came up to him, the man
smiled in his face and said to him, with a glib tongue and in courtly
terms:—O King who defendeth from harm and lord of the long arm, Allah
prosper thine evening and thine endeavouring and increase thy valiancy
and strengthen thee! Protect me from that which hath distressed me and
with its mischief hath oppressed me, for I have found no helper save
only thyself. And the carpenter stood in his presence weeping and
wailing and complaining. When the whelp heard his sighing and his crying
he said, I will succour thee from that thou fearest. Who hath done thee
wrong and what art thou, O wild beast, whose like in my life I never
saw, nor ever espied one goodlier of form or more eloquent of tongue
than thou? What is thy case? Replied the man, O lord of wild beasts, as
to myself I am a carpenter; but as to who hath wronged me, verily he is
a son of Adam, and by break of dawn after this coming night[141] he will
be with thee in this place. When the lion-whelp heard these words of the
carpenter, the light was changed to night before his sight and he
snorted and roared with ire and his eyes cast forth sparks of fire. Then
he cried out saying, By Allah, I will assuredly watch through this
coming night till dawn, nor will I return to my father till I have won
my will. Then he turned to the carpenter and asked, Of a truth I see
thou art short of step and I would not hurt thy feelings for that I am
generous of heart; yet do I deem thee unable to keep pace with the wild
beasts: tell me then whither thou goest? Answered the carpenter, Know
that I am on my way to thy father's Wazir, the lynx; for when he heard
that the son of Adam had set foot in this country he feared greatly for
himself and sent one of the wild beasts on a message for me, to make him
a house wherein he should dwell, that it might shelter him and fend off
his enemy from him, so not one of the sons of Adam should come at him.
Accordingly I took up these planks and set forth to find him. Now when
the young lion heard these words he envied the lynx and said to the
carpenter, By my life there is no help for it but thou make me a house
with these planks ere thou make one for Sir Lynx! When thou hast done my
work, go to him and make him whatso he wisheth. The carpenter replied, O
lord of wild beasts, I cannot make thee aught till I have made the lynx
what he desireth: then will I return to thy service and build thee a
house as a fort to ward thee from thy foe. Exclaimed the lion-whelp, By
Allah, I will not let thee leave this place till thou build me a house
of planks. So saying he made for the carpenter and sprang upon him,
thinking to jest with him, and cuffed him with his paw, knocking the
basket off his shoulder; and threw him down in a fainting fit, whereupon
the young lion laughed at him and said, Woe to thee, O carpenter, of a
truth thou art feeble and hast no force; so it is excusable in thee to
fear the son of Adam. Now when the carpenter fell on his back, he waxed
exceeding wroth; but he dissembled his wrath for fear of the whelp and
sat up and smiled in his face, saying, Well, I will make for thee the
house. With this he took the planks he had brought and nailed together
the house, which he made in the form of a chest after the measure of the
young lion. And he left the door open, for he had cut in the box a large
aperture, to which he made a stout cover and bored many holes therein.
Then he took out some newly wrought nails and a hammer and said to the
young lion, Enter the house through this opening, that I may fit it to
thy measure. Thereat the whelp rejoiced and went up to the opening, but
saw that it was strait; and the carpenter said to him, Enter and crouch
down on thy legs and arms! So the whelp did thus and entered the chest,
but his tail remained outside. Then he would have drawn back and come
out; but the carpenter said to him, Wait patiently a while till I see if
there be room for thy tail with thee. The young lion did as he was bid
when the carpenter twisted up his tail and, stuffing it into the chest,
whipped the lid on to the opening and nailed it down; whereat the whelp
cried out and said, O carpenter, what is this narrow house thou hast
made me? Let me out, sirrah! But the carpenter answered, Far be it, far
be it from thy thought! Repentance for past avails naught, and indeed of
this place thou shalt not come out. He then laughed and resumed, Verily
thou art fallen into the trap and from thy duresse there is no escape, O
vilest of wild beasts! Rejoined the whelp, O my brother, what manner of
words are these thou addressest to me? The carpenter replied "Know, O
dog of the desert! that thou hast fallen into that which thou fearedst:
Fate hath upset thee, nor shall caution set thee up. When the whelp
heard these words, O my sister, he knew that this was indeed the very
son of Adam, against whom he had been warned by his sire in waking state
and by the mysterious Voice in sleeping while; and I also was certified
that this was indeed he without doubt; wherefore great fear of him for
myself seized me and I withdrew a little apart from him and waited to
see what he would do with the young lion. Then I saw, O my sister, the
son of Adam dig a pit in that place hard by the chest which held the
whelp and, throwing the box into the hole, heap dry wood upon it and
burn the young lion with fire. At this sight, O sister mine, my fear of
the son of Adam redoubled and in my affright I have been these two days
fleeing from him." But when the peahen heard from the duck this
story,——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Forty-seventh Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the peahen
heard from the duck this story, she wondered with exceeding wonder and
said to her, "O my sister, here thou art safe from the son of Adam, for
we are in one of the islands of the sea whither there is no way for the
son of Adam; so do thou take up thine abode with us till Allah make easy
thy case and our case." Quoth the duck, "I fear lest some calamity come
upon me by night, for no runaway can rid him of fate by flight."
Rejoined the peahen, "Abide with us, and be like unto us;" and ceased
not to persuade her, till she yielded, saying, "O my sister, thou
knowest how weak is my resistance; but verily had I not seen thee here,
I had not remained." Said the peahen, "That which is on our
foreheads[142] we must indeed fulfil, and when our doomed day draweth
near, who shall deliver us? But not a soul departeth except it have
accomplished its predestined livelihood and term." Now the while they
talked thus, a cloud of dust appeared and approached them, at sight of
which the duck shrieked aloud and ran down into the sea, crying out,
"Beware! beware! though flight there is not from Fate and Lot!"[143]
After awhile, the dust opened out and discovered under it an antelope;
whereat the duck and the peahen were re-assured and the peacock's wife
said to her companion, "O my sister, this thou seest and wouldst have me
beware of is an antelope, and here he is, making for us. He will do us
no hurt, for the antelope feedeth upon the herbs of the earth and, even
as thou art of the bird-kind, so is he of the beast-kind. Be therefore
of good cheer and cease care-taking; for care-taking wasteth the body."
Hardly had the peahen done speaking, when the antelope came up to them,
thinking to shelter him under the shade of the tree; and, sighting the
peahen and the duck, saluted them and said, "I came to this island
to-day and I have seen none richer in herbage nor pleasanter for
habitation." Then he besought them for company, and amity and, when they
saw his friendly behaviour to them, they welcomed him and gladly
accepted his offer. So they struck up a sincere friendship and sware
thereto; and they slept in one place and they ate and drank together;
nor did they cease dwelling in safety, eating and drinking their fill,
till one day there came thither a ship which had strayed from her course
in the sea. She cast anchor near them and the crew came forth and
dispersed about the island. They soon caught sight of the three friends,
antelope, peahen and duck, and made for them; whereupon the peahen flew
up into the tree and thence winged her way through air; and the antelope
fled into the desert, but the duck abode paralysed by fear. So they
chased her till they caught her and she cried out and said, "Caution
availed me naught against Fate and Lot!"; and they bore her off to the
ship. Now when the peahen saw what had betided the duck, she removed
from the island, saying, "I see that misfortunes lie in ambush for all.
But for yonder ship, parting had not befallen between me and this duck,
because she was one of the truest of friends." Then she flew off and
rejoined the antelope, who saluted her and gave her joy of her safety
and asked for the duck, to which she replied, "The enemy hath taken her,
and I loathe the sojourn of this island after her." Then she wept for
the loss of the duck and began repeating:—
The day of parting cut my heart in twain: ✿ In twain may Allah cut the
parting-day!
And she spake also this couplet:—
I pray some day that we reunion gain, ✿ So may I tell him Parting's ugly
way.
The antelope sorrowed with great sorrow, but dissuaded the peahen from
her resolve to remove from the island. So they abode there together with
him, eating and drinking, in peace and safety, except that they ceased
not to mourn for the loss of the duck; and the antelope said to the
peahen, "O my sister, thou seest how the folk who came forth of the ship
were the cause of our severance from the duck and of her destruction; so
do thou beware of them and guard thyself from them and from the wile of
the son of Adam and his guile." But the peahen replied, "I am assured
that nought caused her death save her neglecting to say Subhán' Allah,
glory to God; indeed I often said to her:—Exclaim thou, Praised be
Allah, and verily I fear for thee, because thou neglectest to laud the
Almighty; for all things created by Allah glorify Him on this wise, and
whoso neglecteth the formula of praise[144] him destruction waylays."
When the antelope heard the peahen's words he exclaimed, "Allah make
fair thy face!" and betook himself to repeating the formula of praise,
and ceased not therefrom a single hour. And it is said that his form of
adoration was as follows:—"Praise be to the Requiter of every good and
evil thing, the Lord of Majesty and of Kings the King!" And a tale is
also told on this wise of
-----
Footnote 130:
Here begins what I hold to be the oldest subject-matter in The Nights,
the apologues or fables proper; but I reserve further remarks for the
terminal Essay. Lane has most objectionably thrown this and sundry of
the following stories into a note (vol. ii., pp. 53-69).
Footnote 131:
In beast stories generally when man appears he shows to disadvantage.
Footnote 132:
Shakespeare's "stone bow" not Lane's "cross-bow" (ii. 53).
Footnote 133:
The goad still used by the rascally Egyptian donkey-boy is a sharp
nail at the end of a stick; and claims the special attention of
societies for the protection of animals.
Footnote 134:
"The most ungrateful of all voices surely is the voice of asses"
(Koran xxxi. 18); and hence the "braying of hell" (Koran lxvii. 7).
The vulgar still believe that the donkey brays when seeing the Devil.
"The last animal which entered the Ark with Noah was the Ass to whose
tail Iblis was clinging. At the threshold the ass seemed troubled and
could enter no further when Noah said to him:—Fie upon thee! come in.
But as the ass was still troubled and did not advance Noah cried:—Come
in, though the Devil be with thee!; so the ass entered and with him
Iblis. Thereupon Noah asked:—O enemy of Allah who brought thee into
the Ark?; and Iblis answered:—Thou art the man, for thou saidest to
the ass, come in though the Devil be with thee!" (Kitáb al-Unwán fi
Makáid al-Niswán quoted by Lane ii. 54).
Footnote 135:
Arab. "Rihl," a wooden saddle stuffed with straw and matting. In
Europe the ass might complain that his latter end is the sausage. In
England they say no man sees a dead donkey: I have seen dozens and,
unfortunately, my own.
Footnote 136:
The English reader will not forget Sterne's old mare. Even Al-Hariri,
the prince of Arab rhetoricians, does not disdain to use "pepedit,"
the effect being put for the cause—terror. But Mr. Preston (p. 285)
and polite men translate by "fled in haste" the Arabic "farted for
fear."
Footnote 137:
This is one of the lucky signs and adds to the value of the beast.
There are some fifty of these marks, some of them (like a spiral of
hair in the breast which denotes that the rider is a cuckold) so
ill-omened that the animal can be bought for almost nothing. Of course
great attention is paid to colours, the best being the dark rich bay
("red" of Arabs) with black points, or the flea-bitten grey (termed
Azrak = blue or Akhzar = green) which whitens with age. The worst are
dun, cream coloured, piebald and black, which last are very rare. Yet
according to the Mishkát al-Masábih (Lane 2, 54) Mohammed said, "The
best horses are black (dark brown?) with white blazes (Arab.
"Ghurrah") and upper lips; next, black with blaze and three white legs
(bad, because white-hoofs are brittle): next, bay with white blaze and
white fore and hind legs." He also said, "Prosperity is with sorrel
horses;" and praised a sorrel with white forehead and legs; but he
dispraised the "Shikál" which has white stockings (Arab. "Muhajjil")
on alternate hoofs (_e.g._ right hind and left fore). The curious
reader will consult Lady Anne Blunt's "Bedouin Tribes of the
Euphrates, with some Account of the Arabs and their Horses" (1879);
but he must remember that it treats of the frontier tribes. The late
Major Upton also left a book, "Gleanings from the Desert of Arabia"
(1881); but it is a marvellous production deriving _e.g._ Khayl (a
horse generically) from Kohl or antimony (p. 275). What the Editor was
dreaming of I cannot imagine. I have given some details concerning the
Arab horse especially in Al-Yaman, among the Zú Mohammed, the Zú
Husayn and the Banu Yam in Pilgrimage iii. 270. As late as Marco
Polo's day they supplied the Indian market _viâ_ Aden; but the "Eye of
Al-Yaman" has totally lost the habit of exporting horses.
Footnote 138:
The shovel-iron which is the only form of spur.
Footnote 139:
Used for the dromedary: the baggage-camel is haltered.
Footnote 140:
Arab. "Harwalah," the _pas gymnastique_ affected when circumambulating
the Ka'abah (Pilgrimage iii. 208).
Footnote 141:
"This night" would be our "last night": the Arabs, I repeat, say
"night and day," not "day and night."
Footnote 142:
The vulgar belief is that man's fate is written upon his skull, the
sutures being the writing.
Footnote 143:
Koran ii. 191.
Footnote 144:
Arab "Tasbíh" = saying, "Subhán' Allah." It also means a rosary
(Egypt. Sebhah for Subhah) a string of 99 beads divided by a longer
item into sets of three and much fingered by the would-appear pious.
The professional devotee carries a string of wooden balls the size of
pigeons' eggs.
THE HERMITS.
A certain hermit worshipped on a certain mountain, whither resorted a
pair of pigeons; and the worshipper was wont to make two parts of his
daily bread,——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying
her permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Forty-eighth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the worshipper was
wont to make two parts of his daily bread, eating one half himself and
giving the other to the pigeon pair. He also prayed for them both that
they might be blest with issue: so they increased and multiplied
greatly. Now they resorted only to that mountain where the hermit was,
and the reason of their foregathering with the holy man was their
assiduity in repeating "Praised be Allah!" for it is recounted that the
pigeon[145] sayeth in praise, "Praised be the Creator of all Creatures,
the Distributor of daily bread, the Builder of the heavens and
Dispreader of the earths!" And that couple ceased not to dwell together
in the happiest of life, they and their brood till the holy man died,
when the company of the pigeons was broken up and they dispersed among
the towns and villages and mountains. Now it is told that on a certain
other mountain there dwelt a shepherd, a man of piety and good sense and
chastity; and he had flocks of sheep which he tended, and he made his
living by their milk and wool. The mountain which gave him a home
abounded in trees and pasturage and also in wild beasts, but these had
no power over his flocks; so he ceased not to dwell upon that highland
in full security, taking no thought to the things of the world, by
reason of his beatitude and his assiduity in prayer and devotion, till
Allah ordained that he should fall sick with exceeding sickness.
Thereupon he betook himself to a cavern in the mountain and his sheep
used to go out in the morning to the pasturage and take refuge at night
in the cave. But Allah Almighty, being minded to try him and prove his
patience and his obedience, sent him one of His angels, who came in to
him in the semblance of a fair woman and sat down before him. When the
shepherd saw that woman seated before him, his flesh shuddered at her
with horripilation[146] and he said to her, "O thou woman, what was it
invited thee to this my retreat? I have no need of thee, nor is there
aught betwixt me and thee which calleth for thy coming in to me." Quoth
she, "O man, dost thou not behold my beauty and loveliness and the
fragrance of my breath; and knowest thou not the need women have of men
and men of women? So who shall forbid thee from me when I have chosen to
be near thee and desire to enjoy thy company? Indeed, I come to thee
willingly and do not withhold myself from thee, and near us there is
none whom we need fear; and I wish to abide with thee as long as thou
sojournest in this mountain, and be thy companion and thy true friend. I
offer myself to thee, for thou needest the service of woman: and if thou
have carnal connection with me and know me, thy sickness shall be turned
from thee and health return to thee; and thou wilt repent thee of the
past for having foresworn the company of women during the days that are
now no more. In very sooth, I give thee good advice: so incline to my
counsel and approach me." Quoth the shepherd, "Go out from me, O woman
deceitful and perfidious! I will not incline to thee nor approach thee.
I want not thy company nor wish for union with thee; he who coveteth the
coming life renounceth thee, for thou seducest mankind, those of past
time and those of present time. Allah the Most High lieth in wait for
His servants and woe unto him who is cursed with thy company!" Answered
she, "O thou that errest from the truth and wanderest from the way of
reason, turn thy face to me and look upon my charms and take thy full of
my nearness, as did the wise who have gone before thee. Indeed, they
were richer than thou in experience and sharper of wit; withal they
rejected not, as thou rejectest, the enjoyment of women; nay, they took
their pleasure of them and their company even as thou renouncest them,
and it did them no hurt in things temporal or things spiritual.
Wherefore do thou recede from thy resolve and thou shalt praise the
issue of thy case." Rejoined the shepherd, "All thou sayest I deny and
abhor, and all thou offerest I reject: for thou art cunning and
perfidious and there is no honesty in thee nor is there honour. How much
of foulness hidest thou under thy beauty, and how many a pious man hast
thou seduced from his duty and made his end penitence and perdition?
Avaunt from me, O thou who devotest thyself to corrupt others!"
Thereupon, he threw his goat's-hair cloak over his head that he might
not see her face, and betook himself to calling upon the name of his
Lord. And when the angel saw the excellence of his submission to the
Divine Will, he went out from him and ascended to heaven. Now hard by
the hermit's hill was a village wherein dwelt a pious man, who knew not
the other's station, till one night he heard in a dream a Voice saying
to him, "In such a place near to thee is a devout man: go thou to him
and be at his command!" So when morning dawned he set out to wend
thither, and what time the heat was grievous upon him, he came to a tree
which grew beside a spring of running water. So he sat down to rest in
the shadow of that tree and behold, he saw beasts and birds coming to
that fount to drink; but when they caught sight of the devotee sitting
there, they took fright and fled from before his face. Then said he,
"There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah! I rest not
here but to the hurt of these beasts and fowls." So he arose, blaming
himself and saying, "Verily my tarrying here this day hath wronged these
animals, and what excuse have I towards my Creator and the Creator of
these birds and beasts for that I was the cause of their flight from
their drink and their daily food and their place of pasturage? Alas for
my shame before my Lord on the day when He shall avenge the hornless
sheep on the sheep with horns!"[147] And he wept and began repeating
these couplets:—
Now an, by Allah, unto man were fully known ✿ Why he is made, in
careless sleep he ne'er would wone:
First Death, then cometh Wake and dreadful Day of Doom ✿ Reproof with
threats, sore terror, frightful malison.
Bid we or else forbid we, all of us are like ✿ The Cave-companions[148]
when at length their sleep was done.
Then he again wept for that he had driven the birds and beasts from the
spring by sitting down under the tree, and he fared on till he came to
the shepherd's dwelling and going in, saluted him. The shepherd returned
his salutation and embraced him, weeping and saying, "What hath brought
thee to this place where no man hath ever yet come to me." Quoth the
other devotee, "I saw in my sleep one who described to me this thy stead
and bade me repair to thee and salute thee: so I came, in obedience to
the commandment." The shepherd welcomed him, rejoicing in his company
and the twain abode upon that mountain, worshipping Allah with the best
of worship; and they ceased not serving their Lord in the cavern and
living upon the flesh and milk of their sheep, having clean put away
from them riches and children and what not, till the Certain, the
Inevitable became their lot. And this is the end of their story. Then
said King Shahyrar, "O Shahrazad, thou wouldst cause me to renounce my
kingdom and thou makest me repent of having slain so many women and
maidens. Hast thou any bird-stories?" "Yes," replied she, and began to
tell the
-----
Footnote 145:
The pigeon is usually made to say, "Wahhidú Rabba-kumu 'llazi
khalaka-kum, yaghfiru lakum zamba-kum" = "Unify (Assert the
Unity of) your Lord who created you; so shall He forgive your
sin!" As might be expected this "language" is differently
interpreted. Pigeon-superstitions are found in all religions and
I have noted (Pilgrimage iii. 218) how the Hindu deity of
Destruction-reproduction, the third Person of their Triad, Shiva
and his Spouse (or active Energy), are supposed to have dwelt at
Meccah under the titles of Kapoteshwara (Pigeon-god) and
Kapoteshí (Pigeon-goddess).
Footnote 146:
I have seen this absolute horror of women amongst the Monks of the
Coptic Convents.
Footnote 147:
After the Day of Doom, when men's actions are registered, that of
mutual retaliation will follow and all creatures (brutes included)
will take vengeance on one another.
Footnote 148:
The Comrades of the Cave, famous in the Middle Ages of Christianity
(Gibbon chapt. xxxiii.), is an article of faith with Moslems, being
part subject of chapter xviii., the Koranic Surah termed the Cave.
These Ripp Van Winkle-tales begin with Endymion so famous amongst the
Classics and Epimenides of Crete who slept fifty-seven years; and they
extend to modern days as La Belle au Bois dormant. The Seven Sleepers
are as many youths of Ephesus (six royal councillors and a shepherd,
whose names are given on the authority of Ali); and, accompanied by
their dog, they fled the persecutions of Dakianús (the Emperor Decius)
to a cave near Tarsús in Natolia where they slept for centuries. The
Caliph Mu'awiyah when passing the cave sent into it some explorers who
were all killed by a burning wind. The number of the sleepers remains
uncertain, according to the Koran (ibid. v. 21) three, five or seven;
and their sleep lasted either three hundred or three hundred and nine
years. The dog (ibid. v. 17) slept at the cave-entrance with paws
outstretched and, according to the general, was called "Katmir" or
"Kitmir;" but Al-Rakím (v. 8) is also applied to it by some. Others
hold this to be the name of the valley or mountain and others of a
stone or leaden tablet on which their names were engraved by their
countrymen who built a chapel on the spot (v. 20). Others again make
the Men of Al-Rakím distinct from the Cave-men, and believe (with
Bayzáwi) that they were three youths who were shut up in a grotto by a
rock-slip. Each prayed for help through the merits of some good deed:
when the first had adjured Allah the mountain cracked till light
appeared; at the second petition it split so that they saw one another
and after the third it opened. However that may be, Kitmir is one of
the seven favoured animals; the others being the Hudhud (hoopoe) of
Solomon (Koran xxii. 20); the she-camel of Sálih (chapt. lxxxvii.);
the cow of Moses which named the Second Surah; the fish of Jonah; the
serpent of Eve; and the peacock of Paradise. For Koranic revelations
of the Cave see the late Thomas Chenery (p. 414 The Assemblies of
Al-Hariri: Williams and Norgate, 1870) who borrows from the historian
Tabari.
TALE OF THE WATER-FOWL AND THE TORTOISE.
It is related by truthful men, O King, that a certain bird flew high up
firmament-wards and presently lit on a rock in the midst of water which
was running. And as he sat there, behold, the current carried to him the
carcass of a man, and lodged it against the rock, for being swollen it
floated. The bird, which was a water-fowl, drew near and examining it,
found that it was the dead body of a son of Adam and saw in it sign of
spear and stroke of sword. So he said to himself, "I presume that this
man who hath been slain was some evil-doer, and that a company banded
themselves together against him and put him to death and were at peace
from him and his evil-doing." And as he continued marvelling at this,
suddenly the vultures and kites came down upon the carcass from all
sides and gat round it; which when the water-fowl saw, he feared with
sore affright and said, "I cannot abide here any longer." So he flew
away in quest of a place where he might wone, till that carcass should
come to an end and the birds of prey leave it; and he stayed not in his
flight, till he found a river with a tree in its midst. So he alighted
on the tree, troubled and distraught and sore grieved for departing from
his birth-place, and said to himself, "Verily sorrows cease not to
follow me: I was at my ease when I saw that carcass, and rejoiced
therein with much joy, saying, "This is a gift of daily bread which
Allah hath dealt to me: but my joy became annoy and my gladness turned
to sadness, for the ravenous birds, which are like lions, seized upon it
and tare it to pieces and came between me and my prize. So how can I
hope to be secure from misfortune in this world; or put any trust
therein? Indeed, the proverb saith:—The world is the dwelling of him who
hath no dwelling: he who hath no wits is cozened by it and entrusteth it
with his wealth and his child and his family and his folk; and whoso is
cozened ceaseth not to rely upon it, pacing proudly upon earth until he
is laid under earth and the dust is cast over his corpse by him who of
all men was dearest to him and nearest. But naught is better for
generous youth than patience under its cares and miseries. I have left
my native place and it is abhorrent to me to quit my brethren and
friends and loved ones." Now whilst he was thus musing lo! a
male-tortoise descended into the river and, approaching the water-fowl,
saluted him, saying, "O my lord, what hath exiled thee and driven thee
so far from thy place?" Replied the water-fowl, "The descent of enemies
thereon; for the wise brooketh not the neighbourhood of his foe; and how
well saith the poet:—
Whenas on any land the oppressor doth alight, ✿ There's nothing left for
those, that dwell therein, but flight.[149]
Quoth the tortoise, "If the matter be as thou sayest and the case as
thou describest, I will not leave thee nor cease to stand before thee,
that I may do thy need and fulfil thy service; for it is said that there
is no sorer desolation than that of him who is an exile, cut off from
friends and home; and it is also said that no calamity equalleth that of
severance from the good; but the best solace for men of understanding is
to seek companionship in strangerhood and be patient under sorrows and
adversity. Wherefore I hope that thou wilt approve of my company, for I
will be to thee a servant and a helper." Now when the water-fowl heard
the tortoise's words he answered, "Verily, thou art right in what thou
sayest for, by my life, I have found grief and pain in separation, what
while I have been parted from my place and sundered from my brethren and
friends; seeing that in severance is an admonition to him who will be
admonished and matter of thought for him who will take thought. If the
generous youth find not a companion to console him, weal is for ever cut
off from him and ill is eternally established with him; and there is
nothing for the sage but to solace himself in every event with brethren
and be constant in patience and endurance: indeed these two are
praiseworthy qualities, and both uphold one under calamities and
vicissitudes of the world and ward off startling sorrows and harrowing
cares, come what will." Rejoined the tortoise, "Beware of sorrow, for it
will spoil thy life and waste thy manliness." And the two gave not over
conversing till the bird said, "Never shall I cease fearing the shifts
of time and vicissitudes of events." When the tortoise heard this, he
came up to him and, kissing him between the eyes, said to him, "Never
may the company of the birds cease to be blest in thee and through thee,
and find wisdom in thy good counsel! How shalt thou be burdened with
care and harm?" And he went on to comfort the water-fowl and soothe his
terrors till he became re-assured. Then he flew to the place where the
carcass was and found on arriving there the birds of prey gone, and they
had left nothing of the body but bones; whereupon he returned to the
tortoise and acquainted him with the fact that the foe had disappeared
from his place, saying, "Know that of a truth I long for return
homewards to enjoy the society of my friends; for the sage cannot endure
separation from his native place." So they both went thither and found
naught to affright them; whereupon the water-fowl began repeating:—
And haply whenas strait descends on lot of generous youth ✿ Right sore,
with Allah only lies his issue from annoy:
He's straitened, but full oft when rings and meshes straitest clip, ✿ He
'scapes his strait and joyance finds, albe I see no joy.
So the twain abode in that island; and while the water-fowl was enjoying
a life of peace and gladness, suddenly Fate led thither a hungry falcon,
which drove its talons into the bird's belly and killed him, nor did
caution avail him when his term of life was ended. Now the cause of his
death was that he neglected to use the formula of praise, and it is said
that his form of adoration was as follows, "Praised be our Lord in that
He ordereth and ordaineth; and praised be our Lord in that He enricheth
and impoverisheth!" Such was the water-fowl's end and the tale of the
ravenous birds. And when it was finished quoth the Sultan, "O Shahrazad,
verily thou overwhelmest me with admonitions and salutary instances.
Hast thou any stories of beasts?" "Yes," answered she; and began to tell
the
-----
Footnote 149:
These lines have occurred in Night cxlvi.: I quote Mr. Payne by way of
variety.
TALE OF THE WOLF AND THE FOX.[150]
Know, O King, that a fox and a wolf once cohabited in the same den,
harbouring therein together by day and resorting thither by night; but
the wolf was cruel and oppressive to the fox. They abode thus awhile,
till it so befel that the fox exhorted the wolf to use gentle dealing
and leave off his ill deeds, saying, "If thou persist in thine
arrogance, belike Allah will give the Son of Adam power over thee, for
he is past master in guile and wile; and by his artifice he bringeth
down the birds from the firmament and he haleth the mighty fish forth of
the flood-waters: and he cutteth the mountain and transporteth it from
place to place. All this is of his craft and wiliness: wherefore do thou
betake thyself to equity and fair dealing and leave frowardness and
tyranny; and thou shalt fare all the better for it." But the wolf would
not accept his counsel and answered him roughly, saying, "What right
hast thou to speak of matters of weight and importance?" And he dealt
the fox a cuff that laid him senseless; but, when he revived, he smiled
in the wolf's face and, excusing himself for his unseemly speech,
repeated these two couplets:—
If any sin I sinned, or did I aught ✿ In love of you, which hateful
mischief wrought;
My sin I sore repent and pardon sue; ✿ So give the sinner gift of pardon
sought.
The wolf accepted his excuse and held his hand from further
ill-treatment, saying, "Speak not of whatso concerneth thee not, lest
thou hear what will please thee not." Answered the fox, "To hear is to
obey!"——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Forty-ninth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth the wolf to
the fox, "Speak not of whatso concerneth thee not, lest thou hear what
will please thee not!" Answered the fox, "To hear is to obey! I will
abstain henceforth from what pleaseth thee not; for the sage saith:—Have
a care that thou speak not of that whereof thou art not asked; leave
that which concerneth thee not for that which concerneth thee, and by no
means lavish good counsel on the wrongous, for they will repay it to
thee with wrong." And reflecting on the words of the wolf he smiled in
his face, but in his heart he meditated treachery against him and
privily said, "There is no help but that I compass the destruction of
this wolf." So he bore with his injurious usage, saying to himself,
"Verily insolence and evil-speaking are causes of perdition and cast
into confusion, and it is said:—The insolent is shent and the ignorant
doth repent; and whoso feareth, to him safety is sent: moderation
marketh the noble and gentle manners are of gains the grandest. It
behoveth me to dissemble with this tyrant and needs must he be cast
down." Then quoth he to the wolf, "Verily, the Lord pardoneth his erring
servant and relenteth towards him, if he confess his offences; and I am
a weak slave and have offended in presuming to counsel thee. If thou
knewest the pain that befel me by thy buffet, thou wouldst ken that even
the elephant could not stand against it nor endure it: but I complain
not of this blow's hurt, because of the joy and gladness that hath
betided me through it; for though it was to me exceeding sore yet was
its issue of the happiest. And with sooth saith the sage:—The blow of
the teacher is at first right hurtful, but the end of it is sweeter than
strained honey." Quoth the wolf, "I pardon thine offence and I cancel
thy fault; but beware of my force and avow thyself my thrall; for thou
hast learned my severity unto him who showeth his hostility!" Thereupon
the fox prostrated himself before the wolf, saying, "Allah lengthen thy
life and mayst thou never cease to overthrow thy foes!" And he stinted
not to fear the wolf and to wheedle him and dissemble with him. Now it
came to pass that one day, the fox went to a vineyard and saw a breach
in its walls; but he mistrusted it and said to himself, "Verily, for
this breach there must be some cause and the old saw saith:—Whoso seeth
a cleft in the earth and shunneth it not and is not wary in approaching
it, the same is self-deluded and exposeth himself to danger and
destruction. Indeed, it is well known that some folk make the figure of
a fox in their vineyards; nay, they even set before the semblance grapes
in plates, that foxes may see it and come to it and fall into perdition.
In very sooth I regard this breach as a snare and the proverb
saith:—Caution is one half of cleverness. Now prudence requireth that I
examine this breach and see if there be aught therein which may lead to
perdition; and coveting shall not make me cast myself into destruction."
So he went up to the hole and walked round it right warily, and lo! it
was a deep pit, which the owner of the vineyard had dug to trap therein
the wild beasts which laid waste his vines. Then he said to himself,
"Thou hast gained, for that thou hast refrained!"; and he looked and saw
that the hole was lightly covered with dust and matting. So he drew back
from it saying, "Praised be Allah that I was wary of it! I hope that my
enemy, the wolf, who maketh my life miserable, will fall into it; so
will the vineyard be left to me and I shall enjoy it alone and dwell
therein at peace." Saying thus, he shook his head and laughed a loud
laugh and began versifying:—
Would Heaven I saw at this hour ✿ The Wolf fallen down in this well,
He who anguisht my heart for so long, ✿ And garred me drain eisel and
fell!
Heaven grant after this I may live ✿ Free of Wolf for long fortunate
spell,
When I've rid grapes and vineyard of him, ✿ And in bunch-spoiling
happily dwell.
His verse being finished he returned in haste to the wolf and said to
him, "Allah hath made plain for thee the way into the vineyard without
toil and moil. This is of thine auspicious fortune; so good luck to thee
and mayest thou enjoy the plentiful plunder and the profuse provaunt
which Allah hath opened up to thee without trouble!" Asked the wolf,
"What proof hast thou of what thou assertest?": and the fox answered, "I
went up to the vineyard and found that the owner was dead, having been
torn to pieces by wolves: so I entered the orchard and saw the fruit
shining upon the trees." The wolf doubted not the fox's report and his
gluttony gat hold of him; so he arose and repaired to the cleft, for
that greed blinded him; whilst the fox falling behind him lay as one
dead, quoting to the case the following couplet:—
For Layla's[151] favour dost thou greed? But, bear in mind ✿ Greed is a
yoke of harmful weight on neck of man.
And when the wolf had reached the breach the fox said, "Enter the
vineyard: thou art spared the trouble of climbing a ladder, for the
garden-wall is broken down, and with Allah it resteth to fulfil the
benefit." So the wolf went on walking and thought to enter the vineyard;
but when he came to the middle of the pit-covering he fell through;
whereupon the fox shook for joy and gladness; his care and concern left
him and he sang out for delight and improvised these couplets:—
Fortune had mercy on the soul of me, ✿ And for my torments now shows
clemency,
Granting whatever gift my heart desired, ✿ And far removing what I
feared to see:
I will, good sooth, excuse her all her sins ✿ She sinned in days gone by
and much sinned she:
Yea, her injustice she hath shown in this, ✿ She whitened locks that
were so black of blee:
But now for this same wolf escape there's none, ✿ Of death and doom he
hath full certainty.
Then all the vineyard comes beneath my rule, ✿ I'll brook no partner
who's so fond a fool.
Then the fox looked into the cleft and, seeing the wolf weeping in
repentance and sorrow for himself, wept with him; whereupon the wolf
raised his head to him and asked, "Is it of pity for me thou weepest, O
Father of the Fortlet[152]?" Answered the fox, "No, by Him who cast thee
into this pit! I weep for the length of thy past life and for regret
that thou didst not fall into the pit before this day; for hadst thou
done so before I foregathered with thee, I had rested and enjoyed
repose: but thou wast spared till the fulfilment of thine allotted term
and thy destined time." Then the wolf said to him as one jesting, "O
evil-doer, go to my mother and tell her what hath befallen me; haply she
may devise some device for my release." Replied the fox, "Of a truth
thou hast been brought to destruction by the excess of thy greed and
thine exceeding gluttony, since thou art fallen into a pit whence thou
wilt never escape. Knowest thou not the common proverb, O thou witless
wolf:—Whoso taketh no thought as to how things end, him shall Fate never
befriend nor shall be safe from perils wend." "O Reynard," quoth the
wolf, "thou wast wont to show me fondness and covet my friendliness and
fear the greatness of my strength. Hate me not rancorously because of
that I did with thee; for he who hath power and forgiveth, his reward
Allah giveth; even as saith the poet:—
Sow kindness-seed in the unfittest stead; ✿ 'Twill not be wasted whereso
thou shalt sow:
For kindness albe buried long, yet none ✿ Shall reap the crop save sower
who garred it grow."
Rejoined the fox, "O witlessest of beasts of prey and stupidest of the
wild brutes which the wolds over-stray! Hast thou forgotten thine
arrogance and insolence and tyranny, and thy disregarding the due of
good-fellowship and thy refusing to be advised by what the poet saith?—
Wrong not thy neighbour e'en if thou have power; ✿ The wronger alway
vengeance-harvest reaps:
Thine eyes shall sleep, while bides the wronged on wake ✿ A-cursing
thee; and Allah's eye ne'er sleeps."
"O Abu 'l-Hosayn," replied the wolf, "twit me not with my past sins; for
forgiveness is expected of the generous and doing kind deeds is the
truest of treasures. How well saith the poet:—
Haste to do kindness while thou hast much power, ✿ For at all seasons
thou hast not such power."
And he ceased not to humble himself before the fox and say, "Haply, thou
canst do somewhat to deliver me from destruction." Replied the fox, "O
thou wolf, thou witless, deluded, deceitful trickster! hope not for
deliverance, for this is but the just reward of thy foul dealing and its
due retaliation." Then he laughed with chops wide open and repeated
these two couplets:—
No longer beguile me, ✿ Thou'lt fail of thy will!
What can't be thou seekest; ✿ Thou hast sown so reap Ill!
Quoth the wolf, "O gentlest of ravenous beasts, I fain hold thee too
faithful to leave me in this pit." Then he wept and complained and, with
tears streaming from his eyes, recited these two couplets:—
O thou whose favours have been out of compt, ✿ Whose gifts are more than
may be numberèd!
Never mischance befel me yet from time ✿ But that I found thy hand right
fain to aid.
"O thou ninny foe," quoth the fox, "how art thou reduced to humiliation
and prostration and abjection and submission, after insolence and pride
and tyranny and arrogance! Verily, I kept company with thee only for
fear of thy fury and I cajoled thee without one hope of fair treatment
from thee: but now trembling is come upon thee and vengeance hath
overtaken thee." And he repeated these two couplets:—
O thou who seekest innocence to 'guile, ✿ Thou'rt caught in trap of
thine intentions vile:
Now drain the draught of shamefullest mischance, ✿ And be with other
wolves cut off, thou scroyle!
Replied the wolf, "O thou clement one, speak not with the tongue of
enemies nor look with their eyes; but fulfil the covenant of fellowship
with me, ere the time of applying remedy cease to be. Rise and make
ready to get me a rope and tie one end of it to a tree; then let the
other down to me, that I may lay hold of it, so haply I shall from this
my strait win free, and I will give thee all my hand possesseth of
wealth and fee." Quoth the fox, "Thou persistest in conversation
concerning what will not procure thy liberation. Hope not for this, for
thou shalt never, never get of me wherewithal to set thee at liberty;
but call to mind thy past misdeeds and the craft and perfidy thou didst
imagine against me and bethink thee how near thou art to being stoned to
death. For know that thy soul is about the world to quit and cease in it
and depart from it; so shalt thou to destruction hie and ill is the
abiding-place thou shalt aby!"[153] Rejoined the wolf, "O Father of the
Fortlet, hasten to return to amity and persist not in this rancorous
enmity. Know that whoso from ruin saveth a soul, is as if he had
quickened it and made it whole; and whoso saveth a soul alive, is as if
he had saved all mankind.[154] Follow not frowardness, for the wise
forbid it: and it were most manifest frowardness to leave me in this pit
draining the agony of death and dight to look upon mine own doom, whenas
it lieth in thy power to deliver me from my stowre. So do thy best to
release me and deal with me benevolently." Answered the fox, "O thou
base and barbarous wretch, I compare thee, because of the fairness of
thy professions and expressions, and the foulness of thy intentions and
thy inventions to the Falcon and the Partridge." Asked the wolf, "How
so?"; and the fox began to tell the
_TALE OF THE FALCON[155] AND THE PARTRIDGE.[156]_
Once upon a time I entered a vineyard to eat of its grapes; and, whilst
so doing behold, I saw a falcon stoop upon a partridge and seize him;
but the partridge escaped from the seizer and, entering his nest, hid
himself there. The falcon followed apace and called out to him, saying,
"O imbecile, I saw thee an-hungered in the wold and took pity on thee;
so I picked up for thee some grain and took hold of thee that thou
mightest eat; but thou fleddest from me; and I wot not the cause of thy
flight, except it were to put upon me a slight. Come out, then, and take
the grain I have brought thee to eat and much good may it do thee, and
with thy health agree." When the partridge heard these words, he
believed and came out to him, whereupon the falcon struck his talons
into him and seized him. Cried the partridge, "Is this that which thou
toldest me thou hadst brought me from the wold, and whereof thou badest
me eat, saying:—Much good may it do thee, and with thy health agree?
Thou hast lied to me, and may Allah cause what thou eatest of my flesh
to be a killing poison in thy maw!" So when the falcon had eaten the
partridge, his feathers fell off and his strength failed and he died on
the spot. Know, then, O wolf! (pursued the fox), "that he who diggeth
for his brother a pit himself soon falleth into it, and thou first
deceivedst me in mode unfit." Quoth the wolf, "Spare me this discourse
nor saws and tales enforce, and remind me not of my former ill course,
for sufficeth me the sorry plight I endure perforce, seeing that I am
fallen into a place, in which even my foe would pity me, much more a
true friend. Rather find some trick to deliver me and be thou thereby my
saviour. If this cause thee trouble, remember that a true friend will
undertake the sorest travail for his true friend's sake and will risk
his life to deliver him from evil; and indeed it hath been said:—A leal
friend is better than a real brother. So if thou stir thyself to save me
and I be saved, I will forsure gather thee such store as shall be a
provision for thee against want however sore; and truly I will teach
thee rare tricks whereby to open whatso bounteous vineyards thou please
and strip the fruit-laden trees." Rejoined the fox, laughing, "How
excellent is what the learned say of him who aboundeth in ignorance like
unto thee!" Asked the wolf, "What do the wise men say?" And the fox
answered, "They have observed that the gross of body are gross of mind,
far from intelligence and nigh unto ignorance. As for thy saying, O thou
stupid, cunning idiot! that a true friend should undertake sore travail
for his true friend's sake, it is sooth as thou sayest, but tell me, of
thine ignorance and poverty of intelligence, how can I be a true friend
to thee, considering thy treachery. Dost thou count me thy true friend?
Nay, I am thy foe who joyeth in thy woe; and couldst thou trow it, this
word were sorer to thee than slaughter by shot of shaft. As for thy
promise to provide me a store against want however sore and teach me
tricks, to plunder whatso bounteous vineyards I please, and spoil
fruit-laden trees, how cometh it, O guileful traitor, that thou knowest
not a wile to save thyself from destruction? How far art thou from
profiting thyself and how far am I from accepting thy counsel! If thou
have any tricks, make shift for thyself to save thee from the risk,
wherefrom I pray Allah to make thine escape far distant! So look, O
fool, if there be any trick with thee; and therewith save thyself from
death ere thou lavish instruction upon thy neighbours. But thou art like
a certain man attacked by a disease, who went to another diseased with
the same disease, and said to him:—Shall I heal thee of thy disease?
Replied the sick man, Why dost thou not begin by healing thyself? So he
left him and went his way. And thou, O ignorant wolf, art like this; so
stay where thou art and under what hath befallen thee be of good heart!"
When the wolf heard what the fox said, he knew that from him he had no
hope of favour; so he wept for himself, saying, "Verily, I have been
heedless of my weal; but if Allah deliver me from this ill I will
assuredly repent of my arrogance towards those who are weaker than I,
and will wear woollens[157] and go upon the mountains, celebrating the
praises of Almighty Allah and fearing His punishment. And I will
withdraw from the company of other wild beasts and forsure will I feed
the poor fighters for the Faith." Then he wept and wailed, till the
heart of the fox softened when he heard his humble words and his
professions of penitence for his past insolence and arrogance. So he
took pity upon him and sprang up joyfully and, going to the brink of the
breach, squatted down on his hind quarters and let his tail hang in the
hole; whereupon the wolf arose and putting out his paw, pulled the fox's
tail, so that he fell down in the pit with him. Then said the wolf, "O
fox of little mercy, why didst thou exult in my misery, thou that wast
my companion and under my dominion? Now thou art fallen into the pit
with me and retribution hath soon overtaken thee. Verily, the sages have
said:—If one of you reproach his brother with sucking the dugs of a
bitch, he also shall suck her. And how well quoth the poet:—
When Fortune weighs heavy on some of us, ✿ And makes camel kneel by some
other one,[158]
Say to those who rejoice in our ills:—Awake! ✿ The rejoicer shall suffer
as we have done!
And death in company is the best of things;[159] wherefore I will
certainly and assuredly hasten to slay thee ere thou see me slain." Said
the fox to himself, "Ah! Ah! I am fallen into the snare with this
tyrant, and my case calleth for the use of craft and cunning; for indeed
it is said that a woman fashioneth her jewellery for the day of display,
and quoth the proverb:—I have not kept thee, O my tear, save for the
time when distress draweth near. And unless I make haste to circumvent
this prepotent beast I am lost without recourse; and how well saith the
poet:—
Make thy game by guile, for thou'rt born in a Time ✿ Whose sons are
lions in forest lain;
And turn on the leat[160] of thy knavery ✿ That the mill of subsistence
may grind thy grain;
And pluck the fruits or, if out of reach, ✿ Why, cram thy maw with the
gras on plain."
Then said the fox to the wolf, "Hasten not to slay me, for that is not
the way to pay me and thou wouldst repent it, O thou valiant wild beast,
lord of force and exceeding prowess! An thou accord delay and consider
what I shall say, thou wilt ken what purpose I proposed; but if thou
hasten to kill me it will profit thee naught and we shall both die in
this very place." Answered the wolf "O thou wily trickster, what garreth
thee hope to work my deliverance and thine own, that thou prayest me to
grant thee delay? Speak and propound to me thy purpose." Replied the
fox, "As for the purpose I proposed, it was one which deserveth that
thou guerdon me handsomely for it; for when I heard thy promises and thy
confessions of thy past misdeeds and regrets for not having earlier
repented and done good; and when I heard thee vowing, shouldst thou
escape from this strait, to leave harming thy fellows and others;
forswear the eating of grapes and of all manner fruits; devote thyself
to humility; cut thy claws and break thy dog-teeth; don woollens and
offer thyself as an offering to Almighty Allah, then indeed I had pity
upon thee, for true words are the best words. And although before I had
been anxious for thy destruction, whenas I heard thy repenting and thy
vows of amending should Allah vouchsafe to save thee, I felt bound to
free thee from this thy present plight. So I let down my tail, that thou
mightest grasp it and be saved. Yet wouldest thou not quit thy wonted
violence and habit of brutality; nor soughtest thou to save thyself by
fair means, but thou gavest me a tug which I thought would sever body
from soul, so that thou and I are fallen into the same place of distress
and death. And now there is but one thing can save us and, if thou
accept it of me, we shall both escape; and after it behoveth thee to
fulfil the vows thou hast made and I will be thy veritable friend."
Asked the wolf, "What is it thou proposest for mine acceptance?"
Answered the fox, "It is that thou stand up at full height till I come
nigh on a level with the surface of the earth. Then will I give a spring
and reach the ground; and, when out of the pit, I will bring thee what
thou mayst lay hold of, and thus shalt thou make thine escape." Rejoined
the wolf, "I have no faith in thy word, for sages have said:—Whoso
practiseth trust in the place of hate, erreth; and:—Whoso trusteth in
the untrustworthy is a dupe; he who re-trieth him who hath been tried
shall reap repentance and his days shall go waste; and he who cannot
distinguish between case and case, giving each its due, and assigneth
all the weight to one side, his luck shall be little and his miseries
shall be many. How well saith the poet:—
Let thy thought be ill and none else but ill; ✿ For suspicion is best of
the worldling's skill:
Naught casteth a man into parlous place ✿ But good opinion and (worse)
good-will!
And the saying of another:—
Be sure all are villains and so bide safe; ✿ Who lives wide awake on few
Ills shall light:
Meet thy foe with smiles and a smooth fair brow, ✿ And in heart raise a
host for the battle dight!
And that of yet another:[161]—
He thou trusted most is thy worst unfriend; ✿ 'Ware all and take heed
with whom thou wend:
Fair opinion of Fortune is feeble sign; ✿ So believe her ill and her
Ills perpend!"
Quoth the fox, "Verily mistrust and ill opinion of others are not to be
commended in every case; nay trust and confidence are the
characteristics of a noble nature and the issue thereof is freedom from
stress of fear. Now it behoveth thee, O thou wolf, to devise some device
for thy deliverance from this thou art in, and our escape will be better
to us both than our death: so quit thy distrust and rancour; for if thou
trust in me one of two things will happen; either I shall bring thee
something whereof to lay hold and escape from this case, or I shall
abandon thee to thy doom. But this thing may not be, for I am not safe
from falling into some such strait as this thou art in, which, indeed,
would be fitting punishment of perfidy. Of a truth the adage
saith:—Faith is fair and faithlessness is foul.[162] So it behoveth thee
to trust in me, for I am not ignorant of the haps and mishaps of the
world; and delay not to contrive some device for our deliverance, as the
case is too close to allow further talk." Replied the wolf, "For all my
want of confidence in thy fidelity, verily I knew what was in thy mind
and that thou wast moved to deliver me whenas thou heardest my
repentance, and I said to myself:—If what he asserteth be true, he will
have repaired the ill he did; and if false, it resteth with the Lord to
requite him. So, look'ee, I have accepted thy proposal and, if thou
betray me, may thy traitorous deed be the cause of thy destruction!"
Then the wolf stood bolt upright in the pit and, taking the fox upon his
shoulders, raised him to the level of the ground, whereupon Reynard gave
a spring from his back and lighted on the surface of the earth. When he
found himself safely out of the cleft he fell down senseless and the
wolf said to him, "O my friend! neglect not my case and delay not to
deliver me." The fox laughed with a loud haw-haw and replied, "O dupe,
naught threw me into thy hands save my laughing at thee and making mock
of thee; for in good sooth when I heard thee profess repentance, mirth
and gladness seized me and I frisked about and made merry and danced, so
that my tail hung low into the pit and thou caughtest hold of it and
draggedst me down with thee. And the end was that Allah Almighty
delivered me from thy power. Then why should I be other than a helper in
thy destruction, seeing that thou art of Satan's host? I dreamt
yesterday that I danced at thy wedding and I told my dream to an
interpreter who said to me:—Verily thou shalt fall into imminent deadly
danger and thou shalt escape therefrom. So now I know that my falling
into thy hand and my escape are the fulfilment of my dream, and thou, O
imbecile, knowest me for thy foe; so how couldest thou, of thine
ignorance and unintelligence, nurse desire of deliverance at my hands,
after all thou hast heard of harsh words from me; and wherefore should I
attempt thy salvation whenas the sages have said:—In the death of the
wicked is rest for mankind and a purge for the earth? But, were it not
that I fear to bear more affliction by keeping faith with thee than the
sufferings which follow perfidy, I had done mine endeavour to save
thee." When the wolf heard this, he bit his forehand for
repentance.——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say
her permitted say.
NOW WHEN IT WAS THE HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH NIGHT,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the wolf
heard the fox's words he bit his forehand for repentance. Then he gave
the fox fair words, but this availed naught and he was at his wits' end
for what to do; so he said to him in soft, low accents, "Verily, you
tribe of foxes are the most pleasant people in point of tongue and the
subtlest in jest, and this is but a joke of thine; but all times are not
good for funning and jesting." The fox replied, "O ignoramus, in good
sooth jesting hath a limit which the jester must not overpass; and deem
not that Allah will again give thee possession of me after having once
delivered me from thy hand." Quoth the wolf, "It behoveth thee to
compass my release, by reason of our brotherhood and good fellowship;
and, if thou release me, I will assuredly make fair thy recompense."
Quoth the fox, "Wise men say:—Take not to brother the wicked fool, for
he will disgrace thee in lieu of gracing thee; nor take to brother the
liar for, if thou do good, he will conceal it; and if thou do ill he
will reveal it. And again, the sages have said:—There is help for
everything but death: all may be warded off, except Fate. As for the
reward thou declarest to be my due from thee, I compare thee herein with
the serpent which fled from the charmer.[163] A man saw her affrighted
and said to her:—What aileth thee, O thou serpent? Replied she, I am
fleeing from the snake-charmer, for he seeketh to trap me and, if thou
wilt save me and hide me with thee, I will make fair thy reward and do
thee all manner of kindness. So he took her, incited thereto by lust for
the recompense and eager to find favour with Heaven, and set her in his
breast-pocket. Now when the charmer had passed and had wended his way
and the serpent had no longer any cause to fear, he said to her:—Where
is the reward thou didst promise me? Behold, I have saved thee from that
thou fearedest and soughtest to fly. Replied she:—Tell me in what limb
or in what place shall I strike thee with my fangs, for thou knowest we
exceed not that recompense. So saying, she gave him a bite whereof he
died. And I liken thee, O dullard, to the serpent in her dealings with
that man. Hast thou not heard what the poet saith?—
Trust not to man when thou hast raised his spleen ✿ And wrath, nor that
'twill cool do thou misween:
Smooth feels the viper to the touch and glides ✿ With grace, yet hides
she deadliest venene."
Quoth the wolf, "O thou glib of gab and fair of face, ignore not my case
and men's fear of me; and well thou weetest how I assault the strongly
walled place and uproot the vines from base. Wherefore, do as I bid
thee, and stand before me even as the thrall standeth before his lord."
Quoth the fox, "O stupid dullard who seekest a vain thing, I marvel at
thy folly and thy front of brass in that thou biddest me serve thee and
stand up before thee as I were a slave bought with thy silver; but soon
shalt thou see what is in store for thee, in the way of cracking thy
sconce with stones and knocking out thy traitorous dog-teeth." So saying
the fox clomb a hill overlooking the vineyard and standing there,
shouted out to the vintagers; nor did he give over shouting till he woke
them and they, seeing him, all came up to him in haste. He stood his
ground till they drew near him and close to the pit wherein was the
wolf; and then he turned and fled. So the folk looked into the cleft
and, spying the wolf, set to pelting him with heavy stones, and they
stinted not smiting him with stones and sticks, and stabbing him with
spears, till they killed him and went away. Thereupon the fox returned
to that cleft and, standing over the spot where his foe had been slain,
saw the wolf dead: so he wagged his head for very joyance and began to
recite these couplets:—
Fate the Wolf's soul snatched up from worldly stead; ✿ Far be from bliss
his soul that perishèd!
Abú Sirhán![164] how sore thou sought'st my death; ✿ Thou, burnt this
day in fire of sorrow dread:
Thou'rt fallen into pit, where all who fall ✿ Are blown by Death-blast
down among the dead.
Thenceforward the aforesaid fox abode alone in the vineyard unto the
hour of his death secure and fearing no hurt. And such are the
adventures of the wolf and the fox. But men also tell a
-----
Footnote 150:
The wolf (truly enough to nature) is the wicked man without redeeming
traits; the fox of Arab folk-lore is the cunning man who can do good
on occasion. Here the latter is called "Sa'alab" which may, I have
noted, mean the jackal; but further on "Father of a Fortlet" refers
especially to the fox. Herodotus refers to the gregarious Canis Aureus
when he describes Egyptian wolves as being "not much bigger than
foxes" (ii. 67). Canon Rawlinson, in his unhappy version, does not
perceive that the Halicarnassian means the jackal and blunders about
the hyena.
Footnote 151:
The older "Leila" or "Leyla": it is a common name and is here applied
to woman in general. The root is evidently "layl" = nox, with,
probably, the idea, "She walks in beauty like the night."
Footnote 152:
Arab. Abu 'l-Hosayn; his hole being his fort (Unexplored Syria, ii.
18).
Footnote 153:
A Koranic phrase often occurring.
Footnote 154:
Koran v. 35.
Footnote 155:
Arab. "Bází," Pers. "Báz" (here Richardson is wrong _s. v._); a term
to a certain extent generic, but specially used for the noble
Peregrine (_F. Peregrinator_) whose tiercel is the Sháhín (or "Royal
Bird"). It is sometimes applied to the goshawk (_Astur palumbarius_)
whose proper title, however, is Shah-báz (King-hawk). The Peregrine
extends from the Himalayas to Cape Comorin and the best come from the
colder parts: in Iceland I found that the splendid white bird was
sometimes trapped for sending to India. In Egypt "Bazi" is applied to
the kite or buzzard and "Hidyah" (a kite) to the falcon (Burckhardt's
Prov. 159, 581 and 602). Burckhardt translates "Hidáyah," the Egyptian
corruption, by "an ash-grey falcon of the smaller species common
throughout Egypt and Syria."
Footnote 156:
Arab. "Hijl," the bird is not much prized in India because it feeds on
the roads. For the Shinnár (caccabis) or magnificent partridge of
Midian as large as a pheasant, see "Midian Revisited" ii. 18.
Footnote 157:
Arab. "Súf;" hence "Súfi," = (etymologically) one who wears woollen
garments, a devotee, a Santon; from σοφὸς = wise; from σαφής = pure,
or from Safá = he was pure. This is not the place to enter upon such a
subject as "Tasawwuf," or Sufism; that singular reaction from arid
Moslem realism and materialism, that immense development of gnostic
and Neo-platonic transcendentalism which is found only germinating in
the Jewish and Christian creeds. The poetry of Omar-i-Khayyám, now
familiar to English readers, is a fair specimen; and the student will
consult the last chapter of the Dabistan "On the religion of the
Sufiahs." The first Moslem Sufi was Abu Háshim of Kufah, ob. A. H. 150
= 767, and the first Convent of Sufis called "Takiyah" (Pilgrimage i.
124) was founded in Egypt by Saladin the Great.
Footnote 158:
_i.e._ when she encamps with a favourite for the night.
Footnote 159:
The Persian proverb is "Marg-i-amboh jashni dárad"—death in a crowd is
as good as a feast.
Footnote 160:
Arab. "Kanát," the subterranean water-course called in Persia
"Kyáriz." Lane (ii. 66) translates it "brandish around the spear
(Kanát is also a cane-lance) of artifice," thus making rank nonsense
of the line. Al-Hariri uses the term in the Ass. of the Banu Haram
where "Kanát" may be a pipe or bamboo laid underground.
Footnote 161:
From Al-Tughrái, the author of the Lámiyat al-Ajam, the "Lay of the
Outlander;" a Kasidah (Ode) rhyming in Lám (the letter "l" being the
ráwi or binder). The student will find a new translation of it by Mr.
J. W. Redhouse and Dr. Carlyle's old version (No. liii.) in Mr.
Clouston's "Arabian Poetry." Muyid al-Din al-Hasan Abu Ismail (nat.
Ispahan ob. Baghdad A.H. 182) derived his surname from the Tughrá,
cypher or flourish (over the "Bismillah" in royal and official papers)
containing the name of the prince. There is an older "Lamiyat al-Arab"
a pre-Islamitic L-poem by the "brigand-poet" Shanfara, of whom Mr. W.
G. Palgrave has given a most appreciative account in his "Essays on
Eastern Questions," noting the indomitable self-reliance and the
absolute individualism of a mind defying its age and all around it.
Al-Hariri quotes from both.
Footnote 162:
The words of the unfortunate Azízah, vol. ii., p. 323.
Footnote 163:
Arab. "Háwí" = a juggler who plays tricks with snakes: he is mostly a
Gypsy. The "recompense" the man expects is the golden treasure which
the ensorcelled snake is supposed to guard. This idea is as old as the
Dragon in the Garden of the Hesperides—and older.
Footnote 164:
The "Father of going out (to prey) by morning"; for dawn is called
Zanab Sirhán, the Persian Dum-i-gurg = wolf's tail, _i.e._ the first
brush of light; the Zodiacal Light shown in morning. Sirhán is a
nickname of the wolf—Gaunt Grim or Gaffer Grim, the German Isengrin or
Eisengrinus (icy grim or iron grim) whose wife is Hersent, as Richent
or Hermeline is Mrs. Fox. In French we have lopez, luppe, leu, _e.g._
Venant à la queue, leu, leu,
_i.e._ going in Indian file. Hence the names D'Urfé and Saint-Loup. In
Scandinavian, the elder sister of German, Ulf and in German (where the
Jews were forced to adopt the name) Wolff whence "Guelph." He is also
known to the Arabs as the "sire of a she-lamb," the figure metonymy
called "Kunyat bi 'l-Zidd" (lucus a non lucendo), a patronymic or
by-name given for opposition and another specimen of "inverted
speech."
TALE OF THE MOUSE AND THE ICHNEUMON.[165]
A mouse and an ichneumon once dwelt in the house of a peasant who was
very poor; and when one of his friends sickened, the doctor prescribed
him husked sesame. So the hind sought of one of his comrades sesame to
be husked by way of healing the sick man; and, when a measure thereof
was given to him, he carried it home to his wife and bade her dress it.
So she steeped it and husked it and spread it out to dry. Now when the
ichneumon saw the grain, she went up to it and fell to carrying it away
to her hole, and she toiled all day, till she had borne off the most of
it. Presently, in came the peasant's wife and, seeing much of the grain
gone, stood awhile wondering; after which she sat down to watch and find
out who might be the intruder and make him account for her loss. After a
while, out crept the ichneumon to carry off the grain as was her wont,
but spying the woman seated there, knew that she was on the watch for
her and said in her mind, "Verily, this affair is like to end blameably;
and sore I fear me this woman is on the look-out for me, and Fortune is
no friend to who attend not to issue and end: so there is no help for it
but that I do a fair deed, whereby I may manifest my innocence and wash
out all the ill-doings I have done." So saying, she began to take the
sesame out of her hole and carry it forth and lay it back upon the rest.
The woman stood by and, seeing the ichneumon do thus, said to herself,
"Verily this is not the cause of our loss, for she bringeth it back from
the hole of him who stole it and returneth it to its place; and of a
truth she hath done us a kindness in restoring us the sesame, and the
reward of those who do us good is that we do them the like good. It is
clear that it is not she who stole the grain; but I will not cease my
watching till he fall into my hands and I find out who is the thief."
The ichneumon guessed what was in her mind, so she went to the mouse and
said to her, "O my sister, there is no good in one who observeth not the
claims of neighbourship and who showeth no constancy in friendship." The
mouse replied, "Even so, O my friend, and I delight in thee and in thy
neighbourhood; but what be the motive of this speech?" Quoth the
ichneumon, "The house-master hath brought home sesame and hath eaten his
fill of it, he and his family, and hath left much; every living being
hath eaten of it and, if thou take of it in thy turn, thou art worthier
thereof than any other." This pleased the mouse and she squeaked for joy
and danced and frisked her ears and tail, and greed for the grain
deluded her; so she rose at once and issuing forth of her home, saw the
sesame husked and dry, shining with whiteness, and the woman sitting at
watch and ward. The mouse, taking no thought to the issue of the affair
(for the woman had armed herself with a cudgel), and unable to contain
herself, ran up to the sesame and began turning it over and eating of
it; whereupon the woman smote her with that club and cleft her head: so
the cause of her destruction were her greed and heedlessness of
consequences. Then said the Sultan, "O Shahrazad, by Allah! this be a
goodly parable! Say me, hast thou any story bearing upon the beauty of
true friendship and the observance of its duty in time of distress and
rescuing from destruction?" Answered she:—Yes, it hath reached me that
they tell a tale of
-----
Footnote 165:
Arab. Bint 'Arús = daughter of the bridegroom, the Hindustani Mungus
(vulg. Mongoose); a well-known weasel-like rodent often kept tame in
the house to clear it of vermin. It is supposed to know an antidote
against snake-poison, as the weasel eats rue before battle (Pliny x.
84; xx. 13). In Modern Egypt this viverra is called "Kitt (or Katt)
Far'aun" = Pharaoh's cat: so the Percnopter becomes Pharaoh's hen and
the unfortunate (?) King has named a host of things, alive and dead.
It was worshipped and mummified in parts of Ancient Egypt _e.g._
Heracleopolis, on account of its antipathy to serpents and because it
was supposed to destroy the crocodile, a feat which Ælian and others
have overloaded with fable. It has also a distinct antipathy to cats.
The ichneumon as a pet becomes too tame and will not leave its master:
when enraged it emits an offensive stench. I brought home for the
Zoological Gardens a Central African specimen prettily barred.
Burckhardt (Prov. 455) quotes a line:—
Rakas 'Ibn Irsin wa zamzama 'l-Nimsu,
(Danceth Ibn Irs whileas Nims doth sing)
and explains Nims by ichneumon and Ibn Irs as a "species of small
weasel, or ferret, very common in Egypt: it comes into the houses,
feeds upon meat, is of gentle disposition, although not domesticated
and full of gambols and frolic."
THE CAT[166] AND THE CROW.
Once upon a time, a crow and a cat lived in brotherhood; and one day as
they were together under a tree, behold, they spied a leopard making
towards them, and they were not aware of his approach till he was close
upon them. The crow at once flew up to the tree-top; but the cat abode
confounded and said to the crow, "O my friend, hast thou no device to
save me, even as all my hope is in thee?" Replied the crow, "Of very
truth it behoveth brethren, in case of need, to cast about for a device
when peril overtaketh them, and how well saith the poet!—
A friend in need is he who, ever true, ✿ For thy well-doing would
himself undo:
One who when Fortune gars us parting rue ✿ Victimeth self reunion to
renew."
Now hard by that tree were shepherds with their dogs; so the crow flew
towards them and smote the face of the earth with his wings, cawing and
crying out. Furthermore he went up to one of the dogs and flapped his
wings in his face and flew up a little way, whilst the dog ran after him
thinking to catch him. Presently, one of the shepherds raised his head
and saw the bird flying near the ground and lighting alternately; so he
followed him, and the crow ceased not flying just high enough to save
himself and to throw out the dogs; and yet tempting them to follow for
the purpose of tearing him to pieces. But as soon as they came near him,
he would fly up a little; and so at last he brought them to the tree,
under which was the leopard. And when the dogs saw him they rushed upon
him and he turned and fled. Now the leopard thought to eat the cat who
was saved by the craft of his friend the crow. This story, O King,
showeth that the friendship of the Brothers of Purity[167] delivereth
and saveth from difficulties and from falling into mortal dangers. And
they also tell a tale of
-----
Footnote 166:
Arab. "Sinnaur" (also meaning a prince). The common name is Kitt which
is pronounced Katt or Gatt; and which Ibn Dorayd pronounces a foreign
word (Syriac?). Hence, despite Freitag, Catus (which Isidore derives
from catare, to look for) Κάττα or Τάτα, gatto, chat, cat, an animal
unknown to the Classics of Europe who used the _mustela_ or _putorius
vulgaris_ and different species of viverræ. The Egyptians, who kept
the cat to destroy vermin, especially snakes, called it Mau, Mai, Miao
(onomatopoetic): this descendant of the _Felis maniculata_ originated
in Nubia; and we know from the mummy pits and Herodotus that it was
the same in species as ours. The first portraits of the cat are on the
monuments of "Beni Hasan," B.C. 2500. I have ventured to derive the
familiar "Puss" from the Arab. "Biss" (fem. "Bissah"), which is a
congener of Pasht (Diana), the cat-faced goddess of Bubastis
(Pi-Pasht), now Zagázig. Lastly "tabby (brindled)-cat" is derived from
the Attábi (Prince Attab's) quarter at Baghdad where watered silks
were made. It is usually attributed to the Tibbie, Tibalt, Tybalt,
Thibert or Tybert (who is also executioner), various forms of Theobald
in the old Beast Epic; as opposed to Gilbert the gib-cat, either a
tom-cat or a gibbed (castrated) cat.
Footnote 167:
Arab. "Ikhwán al-Safá," a popular term for virtuous friends who
perfectly love each other in all purity: it has also a mystic meaning.
Some translate it "Brethren of Sincerity," and hold this brotherhood
to be Moslem Freemasons, a mere fancy (see the Mesnevi of Mr.
Redhouse, Trubner 1881). There is a well-known Hindustani book of this
name printed by Prof. Forbes in Persian character and translated by
Platts and Eastwick.
THE FOX AND THE CROW.
A Fox once dwelt in a cave of a certain mountain and, as often as a cub
was born to him and grew stout, he would eat the young one, for he had
died of hunger, had he instead of so doing left the cub alive and bred
it by his side and preserved and cherished his issue. Yet was this very
grievous to him. Now on the crest of the same mountain a crow had made
his nest, and the fox said to himself, "I have a mind to set up a
friendship with this crow and make a comrade of him, that he may help me
to my daily bread; for he can do in such matters what I cannot." So he
drew near the crow's home and, when he came within sound of speech, he
saluted him and said, "O my neighbour, verily a true-believer hath two
claims upon his true-believing neighbour, the right of neighbourliness
and the right of Al-Islam, our common faith; and know, O my friend, that
thou art my neighbour and thou hast a claim upon me which it behoveth me
to observe, the more that I have long been thy neighbour. Also, there be
implanted in my breast a store of love to thee, which biddeth me speak
thee fair and obligeth me to solicit thy brothership. What sayest thou
in reply?" Answered the crow, "Verily, the truest speech is the best
speech; and haply thou speakest with thy tongue that which is not in thy
heart; so I fear lest thy brotherhood be only of the tongue, outward,
and thy enmity be in the heart, inward; for that thou art the Eater and
I the Eaten, and faring apart were apter to us than friendship and
fellowship. What, then, maketh thee seek that which thou mayst not gain
and desire what may not be done, seeing that I be of the bird-kind and
thou be of the beast-kind? Verily, this thy proffered brotherhood[168]
may not be made, neither were it seemly to make it." Rejoined the fox,
"Of a truth whoso knoweth the abiding-place of excellent things, maketh
better choice in what he chooseth therefrom, so perchance he may
advantage his brethren; and indeed I should love to wone near thee and I
have sued for thine intimacy, to the end that we may help each other to
our several objects; and success shall surely wait upon our amity. I
have a many tales of the goodliness of true friendship, which I will
relate to thee if thou wish the relating." Answered the crow, "Thou hast
my leave to let me hear thy communication; so tell thy tale, and relate
it to me that I may hearken to it and weigh it and judge of thine intent
thereby." Rejoined the fox, "Hear then, O my friend, that which is told
of a flea and a mouse and which beareth out what I have said to thee."
Asked the crow, "How so?" and the fox answered:—They tell this tale of
_THE FLEA AND THE MOUSE_.
Once upon a time a mouse dwelt in the house of a merchant who owned much
merchandise and great store of monies. One night, a flea took shelter in
the merchant's carpet-bed and, finding his body soft, and being thirsty
drank of his blood. The merchant was awakened by the smart of the bite
and sitting up called to his slave-girls and serving men. So they
hastened to him and, tucking up their sleeves, fell to searching for the
flea; but as soon as the bloodsucker was aware of the search, he turned
to flee and coming on the mouse's home, entered it. When the mouse saw
him, she said to him, "What bringeth thee in to me, thou who art not of
my nature nor of my kind, and who canst not be assured of safety from
violence or of not being expelled with roughness and ill usage?"
Answered the flea, "Of a truth, I took refuge in thy dwelling to save me
from slaughter; and I have come to thee seeking thy protection and on
nowise coveting thy house; nor shall any mischief betide thee from me to
make thee leave thy home. Nay, I hope right soon to repay thy favours to
me with all good and then shalt thou see and praise the issue of my
words." And when the mouse heard the speech of the flea,——And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Fifty-first Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the mouse
heard the words of the flea, she said, "If the case be as thou dost
relate and describe, then be at thine ease here; for naught shall befal
thee save the rain of peace and safety; nor shall aught betide thee but
what shall joy thee and shall not annoy thee, nor shall it annoy me. I
will lavish on thee my affections without stint; and do not thou regret
having lost the merchant's blood nor lament for thy subsistence from
him, but be content with what sustenance thou canst obtain; for indeed
that is the safer for thee. And I have heard, O flea, that one of the
gnomic poets saith as follows in these couplets:—
I have fared content in my solitude ✿ With whate'er befel, and led life
of ease,
On a water-draught and a bite of bread, ✿ Coarse salt and a gown of
tattered frieze:
Allah might, an He pleased, give me easiest life, ✿ But with whatso
pleaseth Him self I please."
Now when the flea heard these words of the mouse, he rejoined, "I
hearken to thy charge and I submit myself to obey thee, nor have I power
to gainsay thee, till life be fulfilled in this righteous intention."
Replied the mouse, "Pure intention sufficeth to sincere affection." So
the tie of love arose and was knitted between them twain and, after
this, the flea used to visit the merchant's bed by night and not exceed
in his diet, and house him by day in the hole of the mouse. Now it came
to pass one night, the merchant brought home great store of dinars and
began to turn them over. When the mouse heard the chink of the coin, she
put her head out of her hole and fell to gazing at it, till the merchant
laid it under his pillow and went to sleep, when she said to the flea,
"Seest thou not the proffered occasion and the great good fortune? Hast
thou any device to bring us to our desire of yonder dinars?" Quoth the
flea, "Verily, it is not good that one strive for aught, unless he be
able to win his will; because, if he lack ability thereto, he falleth
into that which he should avoid and he attaineth not his wish by reason
of his weakness, albeit he use all power of cunning, like the sparrow
which picketh up grain and falleth into the net and is caught by the
fowler. Thou hast no strength to take the dinars and to transport them
out of this house, nor have I force sufficient to do this; on the
contrary, I could not carry a single ducat of them; so what hast thou to
do with them?" Quoth the mouse, "I have made me for my house these
seventy openings, whence I may go out at my desire, and I have set apart
a place strong and safe, for things of price; and, if thou can contrive
to get the merchant out of the house, I doubt not of success, an so be
that Fate aid me." Answered the flea, "I will engage to get him out of
the house for thee;" and, going to the merchant's bed, bit him a fearful
bite, such as he had never before felt, then fled to a place of safety,
where he had no fear of the man. So the merchant awoke and sought for
the flea, but finding him not, lay down again on his other side. Then
the flea bit him a second time more painfully than before. So he lost
patience and, leaving his bed, went out and lay down on the bench before
his door and slept there and awoke not till the morning. Meanwhile the
mouse came out and fell to carrying the dinars into her hole, till she
left not a single one; and when day dawned the merchant began to suspect
the folk and fancy all manner of fancies. And (continued the fox) know
thou, O wise and experienced crow with the clear-seeing eyes, that I
tell thee this only to the intent that thou mayst reap the recompense of
thy kindness to me, even as the mouse reaped the reward of her kindness
to the flea; for see how he repaid her and requited her with the
goodliest of requitals. Said the crow, "It lies with the benefactor to
show benevolence or not to show it; nor is it incumbent on us to entreat
kindly one who seeketh a connection that entaileth separation from kith
and kin. If I show thee favour who art my foe by kind, I am the cause of
cutting myself off from the world; and thou, O fox, art full of wiles
and guiles. Now those whose characteristics are craft and cunning, must
not be trusted upon oath; and whoso is not to be trusted upon oath, in
him there is no good faith. The tidings lately reached me of thy
treacherous dealing with one of thy comrades, which was a wolf; and how
thou didst deceive him until thou leddest him into destruction by thy
perfidy and stratagems; and this thou diddest after he was of thine own
kind and thou hadst long consorted with him: yet didst thou not spare
him; and if thou couldst deal thus with thy fellow which was of thine
own kind, how can I have trust in thy truth and what would be thy
dealing with thy foe of other kind than thy kind? Nor can I compare thee
and me but with the saker and the birds." "How so?" asked the fox.
Answered the crow:—They relate this tale of
_THE SAKER[169] AND THE BIRDS._
There was once a saker who was a cruel tyrant——And Shahrazad perceived
the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Fifty-second Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the crow pursued,
"They relate that there was once a saker who was a cruel tyrant in the
days of his youth, so that the raveners of the air and the scavengers of
the earth feared him, none being safe from his mischief; and many were
the haps and mishaps of his tyranny and his violence, for this saker was
ever in the habit of oppressing and injuring all the other birds. As the
years passed over him, he grew feeble and his force failed him, so that
he was often famished; but his cunning waxed stronger with the waning of
his strength and he redoubled in his endeavour and determined to be
present at the general assembly of the birds, that he might eat of their
orts and leavings; so in this manner he fed by fraud instead of feeding
by fierceness and force. And thou, O fox, art like this: if thy might
fail thee, thy sleight faileth thee not; and I doubt not that thy
seeking my society is a fraud to get thy food; but I am none of those
who fall to thee and put fist into thy fist;[170] for that Allah hath
vouchsafed force to my wings and caution to my mind and sharp sight to
my eyes; and I know that whoso apeth a stronger than he, wearieth
himself and haply cometh to ruin. Wherefore I fear for thee lest, if
thou ape a stronger than thyself, there befal thee what befel the
sparrow." Asked the fox, "What befel the sparrow? Allah upon thee, tell
me his tale." And the crow began to relate the story of
_THE SPARROW AND THE EAGLE._
I have heard that a sparrow was once flitting over a sheep-fold, when he
looked at it carefully and behold, he saw a great eagle swoop down upon
a newly yeaned lamb and carry it off in his claws and fly away.
Thereupon the sparrow clapped his wings and said, "I will do even as
this one did;" and he waxed proud in his own conceit and mimicked a
greater than he. So he flew down forthright and lighted on the back of a
fat ram with a thick fleece, that was become matted by his lying in his
dung and stale till it was like woollen felt. As soon as the sparrow
pounced upon the sheep's back he flapped his wings to fly away, but his
feet became tangled in the wool and, however hard he tried, he could not
set himself free. While all this was doing the shepherd was looking on,
having seen what happened first with the eagle and afterwards with the
sparrow; so he came up to the wee birdie in a rage and seized him. Then
he plucked out his wing-feathers and, tying his feet with a twine,
carried him to his children and threw him to them. "What is this?"
asked, one of them; and he answered, "This is he that aped a greater
than himself and came to grief." Now thou, O fox, art like this and I
would have thee beware of aping a greater than thou, lest thou perish.
This is all I have to say to thee; so fare from me in peace! When the
fox despaired of the crow's friendship, he turned away, groaning for
sorrow and gnashing teeth upon teeth in his disappointment; and the
crow, hearing the sound of weeping and seeing his grief and profound
melancholy, said to him, "O fox, what dole and dolour make thee gnash
thy canines?" Answered the fox, "I gnash my canines because I find thee
a greater rascal than myself;" and so saying he made off to his house
and ceased not to fare till he reached his home. Quoth the Sultan, "O
Shahrazad, how excellent are these thy stories, and how delightsome!
Hast thou more of such edifying tales?" Answered she:—They tell this
legend concerning
-----
Footnote 168:
Among Eastern men there are especial forms for "making brotherhood."
The "Munh-bolá-bhái" (mouth-named brother) of India is well-known. The
intense "associativeness" of these races renders isolation terrible to
them, and being defenceless in a wild state of society has special
horrors. Hence the origin of Caste for which see Pilgrimage (i. 52).
Moslems, however, cannot practise the African rite of drinking a few
drops of each other's blood. This, by the by, was also affected in
Europe, as we see in the Gesta Romanorum, Tale lxvii., of the wise and
foolish knights who "drew blood (to drink) from the right arm."
Footnote 169:
The F. Sacer in India is called "Laghar" and her tiercel "Jaghar." Mr.
T. E. Jordan (catalogue of Indian Birds, 1839) says it is rare; but I
found it the contrary. According to Mr. R. Thompson it is flown at
kites and antelope; in Sind it is used upon night-heron (_nyctardea
nycticorax_), floriken or Hobara (_Otis aurita_), quail, partridge,
curlew and sometimes hare: it gives excellent sport with crows but
requires to be defended. Indian sportsmen, like ourselves, divide
hawks into two orders: the "Siyáh-chasm," or black-eyed birds,
long-winged and noble; the "Gulábi-chasm" or yellow-eyed (like the
goshawk) round-winged and ignoble.
Footnote 170:
_i.e._ put themselves at thy mercy.
THE HEDGEHOG AND THE WOOD-PIGEONS.
A hedgehog once took up his abode by the side of a date-palm, whereon
roosted a wood-pigeon and his wife that had built their nest there and
lived a life of ease and enjoyment. So he said to himself, "This
pigeon-pair eateth of the fruit of the date-tree and I have no means of
getting at it; but needs must I find some fashion of tricking them."
Upon this he dug a hole at the foot of the palm-tree and took up his
lodging there, he and his wife; moreover, he built an oratory beside the
hole and went into retreat there and made a show of devotion and
edification and renunciation of the world. The male pigeon saw him
praying and worshipping, and his heart was softened towards him for his
excess of devoutness; so he said to him, "How many years hast thou been
thus?" Replied the hedgehog, "During the last thirty years." "What is
thy food?" "That which falleth from the palm-tree." "And what is thy
clothing?" "Prickles! and I profit by their roughness." "And why hast
thou chosen this for place rather than another?" "I chose it and
preferred it to all others that I might guide the erring into the right
way and teach the ignorant!" "I had fancied thy case," quoth the
wood-pigeon, "other than this, but now I yearn for that which is with
thee." Quoth the hedgehog,"I fear lest thy deed contradict thy word and
thou be even as the husbandman who, when the seed-season came, neglected
to sow, saying, Verily I dread lest the days bring me not to my desire,
and by making haste to sow I shall only waste my substance! When
harvest-time came and he saw the folk earing their crops, he repented
him of what he had lost by his tardiness and he died of chagrin and
vexation." Asked the wood-pigeon, "What then shall I do that I may be
freed from the bonds of the world and cut myself loose from all things
save the service of my Lord?" Answered the hedgehog, "Betake thee to
preparing for the next world and content thyself with a pittance of
provision." Quoth the pigeon, "How can I do this, I that am a bird and
unable to go beyond the date-tree whereon is my daily bread? And even
could I do so, I know of no other place wherein I may wone." Quoth the
hedgehog, "Thou canst shake down of the fruit of the date-tree what
shall suffice thee and thy wife for a year's provaunt; then do ye take
up your abode in a nest under the trunk, that ye may prayerfully seek to
be guided in the right way, and then turn thou to what thou hast shaken
down and transport it all to thy home and store it up against what time
the dates fail; and when the fruits are spent and the delay is longsome
upon you, address thyself to total abstinence." Exclaimed the pigeon,
"Allah requite thee with good for the righteous intention wherewith thou
hast reminded me of the world to come and hast directed me into the
right way!" Then he and his wife worked hard at knocking down the dates,
till nothing was left on the palm-tree, whilst the hedgehog, finding
whereof to eat, rejoiced and filled his den with the fruit, storing it
up for his subsistence and saying in his mind, "When the pigeon and his
wife have need of their provision, they will seek it of me and covet
what I have, relying upon my devoutness and abstinence; and, from what
they have heard of my counsels and admonitions, they will draw near unto
me. Then will I make them my prey and eat them, after which I shall have
the place and all that drops from the date-tree to suffice me."
Presently, having shaken down the fruits, the pigeon and his wife
descended from the tree-top and finding that the hedgehog had removed
all the dates to his own place, said to him, "O hedgehog! thou pious
preacher and of good counsel, we can find no sign of the dates and know
not on what else we shall feed." Replied the hedgehog, "Probably the
winds have carried them away; but the turning from the provisions to the
Provider is of the essence of salvation, and He who the mouth-corners
cleft, the mouth without victual hath never left." And he gave not over
improving the occasion to them on this wise, and making a show of piety
and cozening them with fine words and false till they put faith in him
and accepted him and entered his den and had no suspicion of his deceit.
Thereupon he sprang to the door and gnashed his teeth, and the
wood-pigeon, seeing his perfidy manifested, said to him, "What hath
to-night to do with yesternight? Knowest thou not that there is a Helper
for the oppressed? Beware of craft and treachery, lest that mishap befal
thee which befel the sharpers who plotted against the merchant." "What
was that?" asked the hedgehog. Answered the pigeon:—I have heard tell
this tale of
_THE MERCHANT AND THE TWO SHARPERS._
In a city called Sindah there was once a very wealthy merchant, who made
ready his camel-loads and equipped himself with goods and set out with
his outfit for such a city, purposing to sell it there. Now he was
followed by two sharpers, who had made up into bales what merchandise
they could get; and, giving out to the merchant that they also were
merchants, wended with him by the way. So halting at the first
halting-place they agreed to play him false and take all he had; but at
the same time, each inwardly plotted foul play to the other, saying in
his mind, "If I can cheat my comrade, times will go well with me and I
shall have all these goods to myself." So after planning this perfidy,
one of them took food and putting therein poison, brought it to his
fellow; the other did the same and they both ate of the poisoned mess
and they both died. Now they had been sitting with the merchant; so when
they left him and were long absent from him, he sought for tidings of
them and found the twain lying dead; whereby he knew that they were
sharpers who had plotted to play him foul, but their foul play had
recoiled upon themselves. So the merchant was preserved and took what
they had. Then quoth the Sultan, "O Shahrazad, verily thou hast aroused
me to all whereof I was negligent! So continue to edify me with these
fables." Quoth she:—It hath reached me, O King, that men tell this tale
of
THE THIEF AND HIS MONKEY.[171]
A certain man had a monkey and that man was a thief, who never entered
any of the street-markets of the city wherein he dwelt, but he made off
with great profit. Now it came to pass one day that he saw a man
offering for sale worn clothes, and he went calling them in the market,
but none bid for them and all to whom he showed them refused to buy of
him. Presently the thief who had the monkey saw the man with the ragged
clothes set them in a wrapper and sit down to rest for weariness; so he
made the ape sport before him to catch his eye and, whilst he was busy
gazing at it, stole the parcel from him. Then he took the ape and made
off to a lonely place, where he opened the wrapper and, taking out the
old clothes, folded them in a piece of costly stuff. This he carried to
another bazar and exposed for sale together with what was therein,
making it a condition that it should not be opened, and tempting the
folk with the lowness of the price he set on it. A certain man saw the
wrapper and its beauty pleased him; so he bought the parcel on these
terms and carried it home, doubting not that he had done well. When his
wife saw it she asked, "What is this?" and he answered, "It is costly
stuff, which I have bought at lowest price, meaning to sell it again and
take the profit." Rejoined she, "O dupe, would this stuff be sold under
its value, unless it had been stolen? Dost thou not know that whoso
buyeth aught without examining it, falleth into error, and becometh like
unto the weaver?" Quoth he, "And what is the story of the weaver?"; and
quoth she:—I have heard this tale of
-----
Footnote 171:
I have remarked (Pilgrimage iii. 307) that all the popular ape-names
in Arabic and Persian, Sa'adán, Maymún, Shádi, etc., express
propitiousness—probably euphemistically applied to our "poor
relation."
_THE FOOLISH WEAVER._
There was once in a certain village a weaver who worked hard but could
not earn his living save by overwork. Now it chanced that one of the
richards of the neighbourhood made a marriage feast and invited the folk
thereto: the weaver also was present and found the guests, who wore rich
gear, served with delicate viands and made much of by the house-master
for what he saw of their fine clothes. So he said in his mind, "If I
change this my craft for another craft easier to compass and better
considered and more highly paid, I shall amass great store of money and
I shall buy splendid attire, so I may rise in rank and be exalted in
men's eyes and become even with these." Presently, he beheld one of the
mountebanks, who was present at the feast, climbing up to the top of a
high and towering wall and throwing himself down to the ground and
alighting on his feet. Whereupon the weaver said to himself, "Needs must
I do as this one hath done, for surely I shall not fail of it. So he
arose and swarmed up the wall and casting himself down, broke his neck
against the ground and died forthright. Now I tell thee this that thou
mayst get thy living by what way thou knowest and thoroughly
understandest, lest peradventure greed enter into thee and thou lust
after what is not of thy condition." Quoth the woman's husband, "Not
every wise man is saved by his wisdom, nor is every fool lost by his
folly. I have seen it happen to a skilful charmer, well versed in the
ways of serpents, to be struck by the fangs of a snake[172] and killed,
and others prevail over serpents who had no skill in them and no
knowledge of their ways." And he went contrary to his wife and persisted
in buying stolen goods below their value till he fell under suspicion
and perished therefor: even as perished the sparrow in the tale of
-----
Footnote 172:
The serpent does not "sting" nor does it "bite;" it strikes with the
poison-teeth like a downward stab with a dagger. These fangs are
always drawn by the jugglers but they grow again and thus many lives
are lost. The popular way of extracting the crochets is to grasp the
snake firmly behind the neck with one hand and with the other to
tantalise it by offering and withdrawing a red rag. At last the animal
is allowed to strike it and a sharp jerk tears out both eye-teeth as
rustics used to do by slamming a door. The head is then held downwards
and the venom drains from its bag in the shape of a few drops of
slightly yellowish fluid which, as conjurers know, may be drunk
without danger. The patient looks faint and dazed, but recovers after
a few hours and feeds as if nothing had happened. In India I took
lessons from a snake-charmer but soon gave up the practice as too
dangerous.
THE SPARROW AND THE PEACOCK.
There was once upon a time a sparrow, that used every day to visit a
certain king of the birds and ceased not to wait upon him in the
mornings and not to leave him till the evenings, being the first to go
in and the last to go out. One day, a company of birds chanced to
assemble on a high mountain and one of them said to another, "Verily, we
are waxed many, and many are the differences between us, and there is no
help for it but we have a king to look into our affairs; so shall we all
be at one and our differences will disappear." Thereupon up came that
sparrow and counselled them to choose for King the peacock (that is, the
prince he used to visit). So they chose the peacock to their King and
he, become their sovereign, bestowed largesse on them and made the
sparrow his secretary and Prime Minister. Now the sparrow was wont
bytimes to quit his assiduous service in the presence and look into
matters in general. So one day he absented himself at the usual time,
whereat the peacock was sore troubled; and, while things stood thus, he
returned and the peacock said to him, "What hath delayed thee, and thou
the nearest to me of all my servants and the dearest of all my
dependents?" Replied the sparrow, "I have seen a thing which is doubtful
to me and whereat I am affrighted." Asked the peacock, "What was it thou
sawest?"; and the sparrow answered, "I saw a man set up a net, hard by
my nest, peg down its pegs, strew grain in its midst and withdraw afar
off. And I sat watching what he would do when behold, fate and fortune
drave thither a crane and his wife, which fell into the midst of the net
and began to cry out; whereupon the fowler rose up and took them. This
troubled me, and such is the reason of my absence from thee, O King of
the Age, but never again will I abide in that nest for fear of the net."
Rejoined the peacock, "Depart not thy dwelling, for against fate and lot
forethought will avail thee naught." And the sparrow obeyed his bidding
and said, "I will forthwith arm myself with patience and forbear to
depart in obedience to the King." So he ceased not taking care of
himself, and carrying food to his sovereign, who would eat what sufficed
him and after feeding drink his water and dismiss the sparrow. Now one
day as he was looking into matters, lo and behold! he saw two sparrows
fighting on the ground and said in his mind, "How can I, who am the
King's Wazir, look on and see sparrows fighting in my neighbourhood? By
Allah, I must make peace between them!" So he flew down to reconcile
them; but the fowler cast the net over the whole number and the sparrow
happened to be in their very midst. Then the fowler arose and took him
and gave him to his comrade, saying, "Take care of him, I never saw
fatter or finer." But the sparrow said to himself "I have fallen into
that which I feared and none but the peacock inspired me with false
confidence. It availed me naught to beware of the stroke of fate and
fortune, since even he who taketh precaution may never flee from
destiny. And how well said the poet in this poetry:—
Whatso is not to be shall ne'er become; ✿ No wise! and that to be must
come to pass;
Yea, it shall come to pass at time ordained, ✿ And th' Ignoramus[173]
aye shall cry 'Alas!'"
Whereupon quoth the King, "O Shahrazad, recount me other of these
tales!"; and quoth she, "I will do so during the coming night, if life
be granted to me by the King whom Allah bring to honour!"——And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
-----
Footnote 173:
Arab. "Akh al-Jahálah" = brother of ignorance, an Ignorantin; one
"really and truly" ignorant; which is the value of "Akh" in such
phrases as "a brother of poverty," or, "of purity."
Footnote 174:
Lane (ii. I) writes "Abu-l-Hasan;" Payne (iii. 49) "Aboulhusn" which
would mean "Father of Beauty (Husn)" and is not a Moslem name. Hasan
(beautiful) and its dimin. Husayn, names now so common, were (it is
said), unknown to the Arabs, although Hassán was that of a Tobba King,
before the days of Mohammed who so called his two only grandsons. In
Anglo-India they have become "Hobson and Jobson." The Bresl. Edit.
(ii. 305) entitles this story "Tale of Abu 'l Hasan the Attár
(druggist and perfumer) with Ali ibn Bakkár and what befel them with
the handmaid (= járiyah) Shams al-Nahár."
Now when it was the Hundred and Fifty-third Night,
She said:—I will relate the
TALE OF ALI BIN BAKKAR AND OF SHAMS AL-NAHAR.
It hath reached me, O august King, that in days of yore and in times and
ages long gone before, during the Caliphate of Harun al-Rashid, there
was a merchant who named his son Abú al-Hasan[174] Ali bin Táhir; and
the same was great of goods and grace, while his son was fair of form
and face and held in favour by all folk. He used to enter the royal
palace without asking leave, for all the Caliph's concubines and
slave-girls loved him, and he was wont to be companion with Al-Rashid in
his cups and recite verses to him and tell him curious tales and witty.
Withal he sold and bought in the merchants' bazar, and there used to sit
in his shop a youth named Ali bin Bakkár, of the sons of the Persian
Kings[175] who was formous of form and symmetrical of shape and perfect
of figure, with cheeks red as roses and joined eyebrows; sweet of
speech, laughing-lipped and delighting in mirth and gaiety. Now it
chanced one day, as the two sat talking and laughing behold, there came
up ten damsels like moons, every one of them complete in beauty and
loveliness, and elegance and grace; and amongst them was a young lady
riding on a she-mule with a saddle of brocade and stirrups of gold. She
wore an outer veil of fine stuff, and her waist was girt with a girdle
of gold-embroidered silk; and she was even as saith the poet:—
Silky her skin and silk that zonèd waist; ✿ Sweet voice; words not o'er
many nor too few:
Two eyes quoth Allah "Be," and they became; ✿ And work like wine on
hearts they make to rue:
O love I feel! grow greater every night: ✿ O solace! Doom-day bring our
interview.
And when the cortège reached Abu al-Hasan's shop, she alighted from her
mule, and sitting down on the front board,[176] saluted him, and he
returned her salam. When Ali bin Bakkar saw her, she ravished his
understanding and he rose to go away; but she said to him, "Sit in thy
place. We came to thee and thou goest away: this is not fair!" Replied
he, "O my lady, by Allah, I flee from what I see; for the tongue of the
case saith:—
She is a sun which towereth high a-sky; ✿ So ease thy heart with cure by
Patience lent:
Thou to her skyey height shalt fail to fly; ✿ Nor she from skyey height
can make descent."
When she heard this, she smiled and asked Abu al-Hasan, "What is the
name of this young man?"; who answered, "He is a stranger;" and she
enquired, "What countryman is he?"; whereto the merchant replied, "He is
a descendant of the Persian Kings; his name is Ali son of Bakkar and the
stranger deserveth honour." Rejoined she, "When my damsel comes to thee,
come thou at once to us and bring him with thee, that we may entertain
him in our abode, lest he blame us and say:—There is no hospitality in
the people of Baghdad; for niggardliness is the worst fault a man can
have. Thou hearest what I say to thee and, if thou disobey me, thou wilt
incur my displeasure and I will never again visit thee or salute thee."
Quoth Abu al-Hasan, "On my head and my eyes: Allah preserve me from thy
displeasure, fair lady!" Then she rose and went her way. Such was her
case; but as regards Ali bin Bakkar he remained in a state of
bewilderment. Now after an hour the damsel came to Abu al-Hasan and said
to him, "Of a truth my lady Shams al-Nahár, the favourite of the
Commander of the Faithful, Harun al-Rashid, biddeth thee to her, thee
and thy friend, my lord Ali bin Bakkar." So he rose and, taking Ali with
him, followed the girl to the Caliph's palace, where she carried them
into a chamber and made them sit down. They talked together awhile, when
behold, trays of food were set before them, and they ate and washed
their hands. Then she brought them wine, and they drank deep and made
merry; after which she bade them rise and carried them into another
chamber, vaulted upon four columns, furnished after the goodliest
fashion with various kinds of furniture, and adorned with decorations as
it were one of the pavilions of Paradise. They were amazed at the
rarities they saw; and, as they were enjoying a review of these marvels,
suddenly up came ten slave-girls, like moons, swaying and swimming in
beauty's pride, dazzling the sight and confounding the sprite; and they
ranged themselves in two ranks as if they were of the black-eyed Brides
of Paradise. And after a while in came other ten damsels, bearing in
their hands lutes and divers instruments of mirth and music; and these,
having saluted the two guests, sat down and fell to tuning their
lute-strings. Then they rose and standing before them, played and sang
and recited verses: and indeed each one of them was a seduction to the
servants of the Lord. Whilst they were thus busied there entered other
ten damsels like unto them, high-bosomed maids and of an equal age, with
black eyes and cheeks like the rose, joined eyebrows and looks
languorous; a very fascination to every faithful wight and to all who
looked upon them a delight; clad in various kinds of coloured silks,
with ornaments that amazed man's intelligence. They took up their
station at the door, and there succeeded them yet other ten damsels even
fairer than they, clad in gorgeous array, such as no tongue can say; and
they also stationed themselves by the doorway. Then in came a band of
twenty damsels and amongst them the lady, Shams al-Nahar hight, as she
were the moon among the stars swaying from side to side, with luring
gait and in beauty's pride. And she was veiled to the middle with the
luxuriance of her locks, and clad in a robe of azure blue and a mantilla
of silk embroidered with gold and gems of price; and her waist was girt
with a zone set with various kinds of precious stones. She ceased not to
advance with her graceful and coquettish swaying, till she came to the
couch that stood at the upper end of the chamber and seated herself
thereon. But when Ali bin Bakkar saw her, he versified with these
verses:—
Source of mine evils, truly, she alone 's, ✿ Of long love-longing and my
groans and moans;
Near her I find my soul in melting mood, ✿ For love of her and wasting
of my bones.
And finishing his poetry he said to Abu al-Hasan, "Hadst thou dealt more
kindly with me thou haddest forewarned me of these things ere I came
hither, that I might have made up my mind and taken patience to support
what hath befallen me." And he wept and groaned and complained. Replied
Abu al-Hasan, "O my brother, I meant thee naught but good; but I feared
to tell thee this, lest such transport should betide thee as might
hinder thee from foregathering with her, and be a stumbling-block
between thee and her. But be of good cheer and keep thine eyes cool and
clear;[177] for she to thee inclineth and to favour thee designeth."
Asked Ali bin Bakkar, "What is this young lady's name?" Answered Abu al
Hasan, "She is hight Shams al-Nahar, one of the favourites of the
Commander of the Faithful, Harun al-Rashid, and this is the palace of
the Caliphate." Then Shams al-Nahar sat gazing upon the charms of Ali
bin Bakkar and he upon hers, till both were engrossed with love for each
other. Presently she commanded the damsels, one and all, to be seated,
each in her rank and place, and all sat on a couch before one of the
windows, and she bade them sing; whereupon one of them took up the lute
and began carolling:—
Give thou my message twice ✿ Bring clear reply in trice!
To thee, O Prince of Beau- ✿ ty[178] with complaint I rise:
My lord, as heart-blood dear ✿ And Life's most precious prize!
Give me one kiss in gift ✿ Or loan, if thou devise:
And if thou crave for more ✿ Take all that satisfies.[179]
Thou donn'st me sickness-dress ✿ Thee with health's weed I bless.
Her singing charmed Ali bin Bakkar, and he said to her, "Sing me more of
the like of these verses." So she struck the strings and began to chaunt
these lines:—
By stress of parting, O beloved one, ✿ Thou mad'st these eyelids
torrent-race to run:
Oh gladness of my sight and dear desire, ✿ Goal of my wishes, my
religion!
Pity the youth whose eyne are drowned in tears ✿ Of lover gone
distraught and clean undone.
When she had finished her verses, Shams al-Nahar said to another damsel,
"Let us hear something from thee!" So she played a lively measure and
began these couplets:—
His[180] looks have made me drunken, not his wine; ✿ His grace of gait
disgraced sleep to these eyne:
Dazed me no cup, but cop with curly crop; ✿ His gifts overcame me not
the gifts of vine:
His winding locks my patience-clue unwound: ✿ His robèd beauties robbed
all wits of mine.
When Shams Al-Nahar heard this recital from the damsel, she sighed
heavily and the song pleased her. Then she bade another damsel sing; so
she took the lute and began chanting:—
Face that with Sol in Heaven lamping vies; ✿ Youth-tide's fair fountain
which begins to rise;
Whose curly side-beard writeth writ of love, ✿ And in each curl
concealeth mysteries:
Cried Beauty, "When I met this youth I knew ✿ 'Tis Allah's loom such
gorgeous robe supplies."
When she had finished her song, Ali bin Bakkar said to the slave-maiden
nearest him, "Sing us somewhat, thou O damsel." So she took the lute and
began singing:—
"Our trysting-time is all too short ✿ For this long coyish coquetry:
How long this 'Nay, Nay!' and 'Wait, wait?' ✿ This is not old nobility!
And now that Time deigns lend delight ✿ Profit of th' opportunity."
When she ended, Ali bin Bakkar followed up her song with flowing tears;
and, as Shams al-Nahar saw him weeping and groaning and complaining, she
burned with love-longing and desire; and passion and transport consumed
her. So she rose from the sofa and came to the door of the alcove, where
Ali met her and they embraced with arms round the neck, and fell down
fainting in the doorway; whereupon the damsels came to them and carrying
them into the alcove, sprinkled rose-water upon them both. When they
recovered, they found not Abu al-Hasan who had hidden himself by the
side of a couch, and the young lady said, "Where is Abu al-Hasan?" So he
showed himself to her from beside the couch and she saluted him, saying,
"I pray Allah to give me the means of requiting thee, O kindest of men!"
Then she turned to Ali bin Bakkar and said to him, "O my lord, passion
hath not reached this extreme pass with thee without my feeling the
like; but we have nothing to do save to bear patiently what calamity
hath befallen us." Replied he, "By Allah, O my lady, union with thee may
not content me nor gazing upon thee assuage the fire thou hast lighted,
nor shall leave me the love of thee which hath mastered my heart but
with the leaving of my life." So saying, he wept and the tears ran down
upon his cheeks like thridded pearls; and when Shams al-Nahar saw him
weep, she wept for his weeping. But Abu al-Hasan exclaimed, "By Allah, I
wonder at your case and am confounded at your condition; of a truth,
your affair is amazing and your chance dazing. What! this weeping while
ye are yet together: then how will it be what time ye are parted and far
separated?" And he continued, "Indeed, this is no tide for weeping and
wailing, but a season for meeting and merry-making; rejoice, therefore,
and take your pleasure and shed no more tears!" Then Shams al-Nahar
signed to a slave-girl, who arose and presently returned with handmaids
bearing a table, whose dishes of silver were full of various rich
viands. They set the table before the pair and Shams al-Nahar began to
eat[181] and to place tid-bits in the mouth of Ali bin Bakkar; and they
ceased not so doing till they were satisfied, when the table was removed
and they washed their hands. Then the waiting-women fetched censers with
all manner of incense, aloe-wood and ambergris and mixed scents; and
sprinkling-flasks full of rose-water were also brought and they were
fumigated and perfumed. After this the slaves set on vessels of graven
gold, containing all kinds of sherbets, besides fruits fresh and dried,
that heart can desire and eye delight in; and lastly one brought a
flagon of carnelion full of old wine. Then Shams al-Nahar chose out ten
handmaids to attend on them and ten singing women; and, dismissing the
rest to their apartments, bade some of those who remained strike the
lute. They did as she bade them and one of them began to sing:—
My soul to him who smiled back my salute, ✿ In breast reviving hopes
that were no mo'e:
The hand o' Love my secret brought to light, ✿ And censor's tongues what
lies my ribs below:[182]
My tear-drops ever press twixt me and him, ✿ As though my tear-drops
showing love would flow.
When she had finished her singing, Shams al-Nahar rose and, filling a
goblet, drank it off, then crowned it again and handed it to Ali bin
Bakkar;——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Fifty-fourth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Shams al-Nahar
filled a goblet and handed it to Ali bin Bakkar; after which she bade
another damsel sing; and she began singing these couplets:—
My tears thus flowing rival with my wine, ✿ Pouring the like of what
fills cup to brink:[183]
By Allah wot I not an run these eyne ✿ Wi' wine, or else it is of tears
I drink.
And when she ended her recitation, Ali bin Bakkar drained his cup and
returned it to Shams al-Nahar. She filled it again and gave it to Abu
al-Hasan who tossed it off. Then she took the lute, saying, "None shall
sing over my cup save myself;" so she screwed up the strings and intoned
these verses:—
The tears run down his cheeks in double row, ✿ And in his breast high
flameth lover-lowe:
He weeps when near, a-fearing to be far; ✿ And, whether far or near, his
tear-drops flow.
And the words of another:—
Our life to thee, O cup-boy Beauty-dight! ✿ From parted hair to calves;
from black to white:
Sol beameth from thy hands, and from thy lips ✿ Pleiads, and full Moon
through thy collar's night,[184]
Good sooth the cups, which made our heads fly round, ✿ Are those thine
eyes pass round to daze the sight:
No wonder lovers hail thee as full moon ✿ Waning to them, for self e'er
waxing bright:
Art thou a deity to kill and quicken, ✿ Bidding this fere, forbidding
other wight?
Allah from model of thy form made Beau- ✿ ty and the Zephyr scented with
thy sprite.
Thou art not of this order of human- ✿ ity but angel lent by Heaven to
man.
When Ali bin Bakkar and Abu al-Hasan and those present heard Shams
al-Nahar's song, they were like to fly for joy, and sported and laughed;
but while they were thus enjoying themselves lo! up came a damsel,
trembling for fear and said, "O my lady, the Commander of the Faithful's
eunuchs are at the door, Afíf and Masrúr and Marján[185] and others whom
wot I not." When they heard this they were like to die with fright, but
Shams al-Nahar laughed and said, "Have no fear!" Then quoth she to the
damsel, "Keep answering them whilst we remove hence." And she caused the
doors of the alcove to be closed upon Ali and Abu al-Hasan, and let down
the curtains over the entrance (they being still within); after which
she shut the door of the saloon and went out by the privy wicket into
the flower-garden, where she seated herself on a couch she had there and
made one of the damsels knead her feet.[186] Then she dismissed the rest
of her women to their rooms and bade the portress admit those who were
at the door; whereupon Masrur entered, he and his company of twenty with
drawn swords. And when they saluted her, she asked, "Wherefore come
ye?"; whereto they answered, "The Commander of the Faithful saluteth
thee. Indeed he is desolated for want of thy sight; he letteth thee know
that this be to him a day of joy and great gladness and he wisheth to
seal his day and complete his pleasure with thy company at this very
hour. So say, wilt go to him or shall he come to thee?" Upon this she
rose and, kissing the earth, replied, "I hear and I obey the commandment
of the Prince of True Believers!" Then she summoned the women guards of
her household and other slave-damsels, who lost no time in attending
upon her and made a show of obeying the Caliph's orders. And albeit
everything about the place was in readiness, she said to the eunuchs,
"Go to the Commander of the Faithful and tell him that I await him after
a little space, that I may make ready for him a place with carpets and
other matters." So they returned in haste to the Caliph, whilst Shams
al-Nahar, doffing her outer gear, repaired to her lover, Ali bin Bakkar,
and drew him to her bosom and bade him farewell, whereat he wept sore
and said, "O my lady, this leave-taking will cause the ruin of my very
self and the loss of my very soul; but I pray Allah grant me patience to
support the passion wherewith he hath afflicted me!" Replied she, "By
Allah, none shall suffer perdition save I; for thou wilt fare forth to
the bazar and consort with those that shall divert thee, and thy life
will be sound and thy love hidden forsure; but I shall fall into trouble
and tristesse nor find any to console me, more by token that I have
given the Caliph a tryst, wherein haply great peril shall betide me by
reason of my love for thee and my longing for thee and my grief at being
parted from thee. For with what tongue shall I sing and with what heart
shall I present myself before the Caliph? and with what speech shall I
company the Commander of the Faithful in his cups? and with what eyes
shall I look upon a place where thou art absent? and with what taste
shall I drink wine of which thou drinkest not?" Quoth Abu al-Hasan, "Be
not troubled but take patience and be not remiss in entertaining the
Commander of the Faithful this night, neither show him any neglect, but
be of good heart." Now at this juncture, behold, up came a damsel, who
said to Shams al-Nahar, "O my lady, the Caliph's pages are come." So she
hastily rose to her feet and said to the maid, "Take Abu al-Hasan and
his friend and carry them to the upper balcony[187] giving upon the
garden and there leave them till darkness came on; when do thou contrive
to carry them forth." Accordingly the girl led them up to the balcony
and, locking the door upon them both, went her way. As they sat looking
on the garden lo! the Caliph appeared escorted by near an hundred
eunuchs, with drawn swords in hand and girt about with a score of
damsels, as they were moons, all clad in the richest of raiment and on
each one's head was a crown set with jewels and rubies; while each
carried a lighted flambeau. The Caliph walked in their midst, they
encompassing him about on all sides, and Masrur and Afíf and Wasíf[188]
went before him and he bore himself with a graceful gait. So Shams
al-Nahar and her maidens rose to receive him and, meeting him at the
garden-door, kissed ground between his hands; nor did they cease to go
before him till they brought him to the couch whereon he sat down,
whilst all the waiting-women who were in the garden and the eunuchs
stood before him and there came fair handmaids and concubines holding in
hand lighted candles and perfumes and incense and instruments of mirth
and music. Then the Sovereign bade the singers sit down, each in her
place, and Shams al-Nahar came up and, seating herself on a stool by the
side of the Caliph's couch, began to converse with him; all this
happening whilst Abu al-Hasan and Ali bin Bakkar looked on and listened,
unseen of the King. Presently the Caliph fell to jesting and toying with
Shams al-Nahar and both were in the highest spirits, glad and gay, when
he bade them throw open the garden pavilion. So they opened the doors
and windows and lighted the tapers till the place shone in the season of
darkness even as the day. Then the eunuchs removed thither the
wine-service and (quoth Abu al-Hasan) "I saw drinking-vessels and
rarities whose like mine eyes never beheld, vases of gold and silver and
all manner of noble metals and precious stones, such as no power of
description can describe, till indeed it seemed to me I was dreaming,
for excess of amazement at what I saw!" But as for Ali bin Bakkar, from
the moment Shams al-Nahar left him, he lay strown on the ground for
stress of love and desire; and, when he revived, he fell to gazing upon
these things that had not their like and saying to Abu al-Hasan, "O my
brother, I fear lest the Caliph see us or come to know of our case; but
the most of my fear is for thee. For myself, of a truth I know that I am
about to be lost past recourse, and the cause of my destruction is
naught but love and longing and excess of desire and distraction, and
disunion from my beloved after union with her; but I beseech Allah to
deliver us from this perilous predicament." And they ceased not to look
out of the balcony on the Caliph who was taking his pleasure, till the
banquet was spread before him, when he turned to one of the damsels and
said to her, "O Gharám,[189] let us hear some of thine enchanting
songs." So she took the lute and tuning it, began singing:—
The longing of a Bedouin maid, whose folks are far away, ✿ Who yearns
after the willow of the Hejaz and the bay,[190]—
Whose tears, when she on travellers lights, might for their water serve
✿ And eke her her passion, with its heat, their bivouc-fire purvey,—
Is not more fierce nor ardent than my longing for my love, ✿ Who deems
that I commit a crime in loving him alway.[191]
Now when Shams al-Nahar heard these verses she slipped off the stool
whereon she sat and fell to the earth fainting and became insensible to
the world around her; upon which the damsels came and lifted her up. And
when Ali Bin Bakkar saw this from the balcony he also slipped down
senseless, and Abu al-Hasan said, "Verily Fate hath divided love-desire
equally upon you twain!"[192] As he spoke lo! in came the damsel who had
led them up to the balcony and said to him, "O Abu al-Hasan, arise thou
and thy friend and come down, for of a truth the world hath waxed strait
upon us and I fear lest our case be discovered or the Caliph become
aware of you; unless you descend at once we are dead ones." Quoth he,
"And how shall this youth descend with me seeing that he hath no
strength to rise?" Thereupon the damsel began sprinkling rose-water on
Ali bin Bakkar till he came to his senses, when Abu al-Hasan lifted him
up and the damsel made him lean upon her. So they went down from the
balcony and walked on awhile till the damsel opened a little iron door,
and made the two friends pass through it, and they came upon a bench by
the Tigris' bank. Thereupon the slave-girl clapped her hands[193] and
there came up a man with a little boat to whom said she, "Take up these
two young men and land them on the opposite side." So both entered the
boat and, as the man rowed off with them and they left the garden behind
them, Ali bin Bakkar looked back towards the Caliph's palace and the
pavilion and the grounds; and bade them farewell with these two
couplets:—
I offered _this_ weak hand as last farewell, ✿ While to heart-burning
fire _that_ hand is guided:
O let not this end union! Let not this ✿ Be last provision for long road
provided!
Thereupon the damsel said to the boatman, "Make haste with them both."
So he plied his oars deftly (the slave-girl being still with them);——And
Shahrazad perceived the dawning day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Fifty-fifth Night
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the boatman rowed
them towards the other bank till they reached it and landed, whereupon
she took leave of them, saying, "It were my wish not to abandon you, but
I can go no farther than this." Then she turned back, whilst Ali bin
Bakkar lay prostrate on the ground before Abu al-Hasan and by no manner
of means could he rise, till his friend said to him, "Indeed this place
is not sure and I fear lest we lose our lives in this very spot, by
reason of the lewd fellows who infest it and highwaymen and men of
lawlessness." Upon this Ali bin Bakkar arose and walked a little but
could not continue walking. Now Abu al-Hasan had friends in that
quarter; so he made search for one of them, in whom he trusted, and who
was of his intimates, and knocked at the door. The man came out quickly
and seeing them, bade them welcome and brought them into his house,
where he seated them and talked with them and asked them whence they
came. Quoth Abu al-Hasan, "We came out but now, being obliged thereto by
a person with whom I had dealings and who hath in his hands dirhams of
mine. And it reached me that he designed to flee into foreign parts with
my monies; so I fared forth to-night in quest of him, taking with me for
company this youth, Ali bin Bakkar; but, when we came hoping to see the
debtor, he hid from us and we could get no sight of him. Accordingly we
turned back, empty-handed without a doit, but it was irksome to us to
return home at this hour of the night; so weeting not whither to go, we
came to thee, well knowing thy kindness and wonted courtesy." "Ye are
welcome and well come!" answered the host, and studied to do them
honour; so the twain abode with him the rest of their night and as soon
as the daylight dawned, they left him and made their way back without
aught of delay to the city. When they came to the house of Abu al-Hasan,
he conjured his comrade to enter; so they went in and lying down on the
bed, slept awhile. As soon as they awoke, Abu al-Hasan bade his servants
spread the house with rich carpets, saying in his mind, "Needs must I
divert this youth and distract him from thinking of his affliction, for
I know his case better than another." Then he called for water for Ali
bin Bakkar who, when it was brought, rose up from his bed and making his
ablutions, prayed the obligatory prayers which he had omitted for the
past day and night[194]; after which he sat down and began to solace
himself by talking with his friend. When Abu al-Hasan saw this, he
turned to him and said, "O my lord, it were fitter for thy case that
thou abide with me this night, so thy breast may be broadened and the
distress of love-longing that is upon thee be dispelled and thou make
merry with us, so haply the fire of thy heart may thus be quenched." Ali
replied, "O my brother, do what seemeth good to thee; for I may not on
any wise escape from what calamity hath befallen me; so act as thou
wilt." Accordingly, Abu al-Hasan arose and bade his servants summon some
of the choicest of his friends and sent for singers and musicians who
came; and meanwhile he made ready meat and drink for them; so they sat
eating and drinking and making merry through the rest of the day till
nightfall. Then they lit the candles, and the cups of friendship and
good fellowship went round amongst them and the time passed pleasantly
with them. Presently, a singing-woman took the lute and began singing:—
I've been shot by Fortune, and shaft of eye ✿ Down struck me and parted
from fondest friend:
Time has proved him foe and my patience failed, ✿ Yet I ever expected it
thus would end.
When Ali bin Bakkar heard her words, he fell to the earth in a swoon and
ceased not lying in his fainting fit till daybreak; and Abu al-Hasan
despaired of him. But, with the dawning, he came to himself and sought
to go home; nor could his friend hinder him, for fear of the issue of
his affair. So he made his servants bring a she-mule and, mounting Ali
thereon, carried him to his lodgings, he and one of his men. When he was
safe at home; Abu al-Hasan thanked Allah for his deliverance from that
sore peril and sat awhile with him, comforting him; but Ali could not
contain himself, for the violence of his love and longing. So Abu
al-Hasan rose to take leave of him and return to his own place.——And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Fifty-sixth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Abu al-Hasan
rose to take leave of him, Ali son of Bakkar exclaimed, "O my brother,
leave me not without news." "I hear and obey," replied the other; and
forthwith went away and, repairing to his shop, opened it and sat there
all day, expecting news of Shams al-Nahar. But none came. He passed the
night in his own house and, when dawned the day, he walked to Ali bin
Bakkar's lodging and went in and found him thrown on his bed, with his
friends about him and physicians around him prescribing something or
other, and the doctors feeling his pulse. When he saw Abu al-Hasan enter
he smiled, and the visitor, after saluting him, enquired how he did and
sat with him till the folk withdrew, when he said to him, "What plight
is this?" Quoth Ali bin Bakkar, "It was bruited abroad that I was ill
and my comrades heard the report; and I have no strength to rise and
walk so as to give him the lie who noised abroad my sickness, but
continue lying strown here as thou seest. So my friends came to visit
me; say, however, O my brother, hast thou seen the slave-girl or heard
any news of her?" He replied, "I have not seen her, since the day we
parted from her on Tigris' bank;" and he presently added, "O my brother,
beware thou of scandal and leave this weeping." Rejoined Ali, "O my
brother, indeed, I have no control over myself;" and he sighed and began
reciting:—
She gives her woman's hand a force that fails the hand of me, ✿ And with
red dye on wrist she gars my patience fail and flee:
And for her hand she fears so sore what shafts her eyes discharge, ✿
She's fain to clothe and guard her hand with mail-ring panoply:[195]
The leach in ignorance felt my pulse the while to him I cried, ✿ "Sick
is my heart, so quit my hand which hath no malady:"
Quoth she to that fair nightly vision favoured me and fled, ✿ "By Allah
picture him nor add nor 'bate in least degree!"
Replied the Dream, "I leave him though he die of thirst," I cry, ✿
"Stand off from water-pit and say why this persistency."
Rained tear-pearls her Narcissus-eyes, and rose on cheek belit ✿ She
made my sherbet, and the lote with bits of hail she bit.[196]
And when his recital was ended he said, "O Abu al-Hasan, I am smitten
with an affliction from which I deemed myself in perfect surety, and
there is no greater ease for me than death." Replied he, "Be patient,
haply Allah will heal thee!" Then he went out from him and repairing to
his shop opened it, nor had he sat long, when suddenly up came the
handmaid who saluted him. He returned her salam and looking at her, saw
that her heart was palpitating and that she was in sore trouble and
showed signs of great affliction: so he said to her, "Thou art welcome
and well come! How is it with Shams al-Nahar?" She answered, "I will
presently tell thee, but first let me know how doth Ali bin Bakkar." So
he told her all that had passed and how his case stood, whereat she
grieved and sighed and lamented and marvelled at his condition. Then
said she, "My lady's case is still stranger than this; for when you went
away and fared homewards, I turned back, my heart beating hard on your
account and hardly crediting your escape. On entering I found her lying
prostrate in the pavilion, speaking not nor answering any, whilst the
Commander of the Faithful sat by her head not knowing what ailed her and
finding none who could make known to him aught of her ailment. She
ceased not from her swoon till midnight, when she recovered and the
Prince of the Faithful said to her, What harm hath happened to thee, O
Shams al-Nahar, and what hath befallen thee this night? Now when she
heard the Caliph's words she kissed his feet and said, Allah make me thy
ransom, O Prince of True Believers! Verily a sourness of stomach lighted
a fire in my body, so that I lost my senses for excess of pain, and I
know no more of my condition. Asked the Caliph, What hast thou eaten
to-day?; and she answered, I broke my fast on something I had never
tasted before. Then she feigned to be recovered and calling for a
something of wine, drank it, and begged the Sovereign to resume his
diversion. So he sat down again on his couch in the pavilion and the
sitting was resumed; but when she saw me, she asked me how you fared. I
told her what I had done with you both and repeated to her the verses
which Ali bin Bakkar had composed at parting-tide, whereat she wept
secretly, but presently held her peace. After awhile, the Commander of
the Faithful ordered a damsel to sing, and she began reciting:—
Life has no sweet for me since forth ye fared; ✿ Would Heaven I wot how
fare ye who forsake:
'Twere only fit my tears were tears of blood, ✿ Since you are weeping
for mine absence sake.
But when my lady heard this verse she fell back on the sofa in a
swoon,"——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Fifty-seventh Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the slave-girl
continued to Abu al-Hasan, "But when my lady heard this verse, she fell
back on the sofa in a swoon, and I seized her hand and sprinkled
rose-water on her face, till she revived, when I said to her:—O my lady,
expose not thyself and all thy palace containeth. By the life of thy
beloved, be thou patient! She replied:—Can aught befal me worse than
death which indeed I seek, for by Allah, my ease is therein?" Whilst we
were thus talking, another damsel sang these words of the poet:—
Quoth they, "Maybe that Patience lend thee ease!" ✿ Quoth I, "Since
fared he where is Patience' place?"
Covenant he made 'twixt me and him, to cut ✿ The cords of Patience at
our last embrace![197]
And as soon as she had finished her verse Shams al-Nahar swooned away
once more, which when the Caliph saw, he came to her in haste and
commanded the wine to be removed and each damsel to return to her
chamber. He abode with her the rest of the night, and when dawned the
day, he sent for chirurgeons and leaches and bade them medicine her,
knowing not that her sickness arose from love and longing. "I tarried
with her till I deemed her in a way of recovery, and this is what kept
me from thee. I have now left her with a number of her body-women, who
were greatly concerned for her, when she bade me go to you two and bring
her news of Ali bin Bakkar and return to her with the tidings." When Abu
al-Hasan heard her story, he marvelled and said, "By Allah, I have
acquainted thee with his whole case; so now return to thy mistress; and
salute her for me and diligently exhort her to have patience and say to
her:—Keep thy secret!; and tell her that I know all her case which is
indeed hard and one which calleth for nice conduct." She thanked him and
taking leave of him, returned to her mistress. So far concerning her;
but as regards Abu al-Hasan, he ceased not to abide in his shop till the
end of the day, when he arose and shut it and locked it and betaking
himself to Ali bin Bakkar's house knocked at the door. One of the
servants came out and admitted him; and when Ali saw him, he smiled and
congratulated himself on his coming, saying, "O Abu al-Hasan, thou hast
desolated me by thine absence this day; for indeed my soul is pledged to
thee during the rest of my time." Answered the other, "Leave this talk!
Were thy healing at the price of my hand, I would cut it off ere thou
couldst ask me; and, could I ransom thee with my life, I had already
laid it down for thee. Now this very day, Shams al-Nahar's handmaid hath
been with me and told me that what hindered her coming ere this was the
Caliph's sojourn with her mistress; and she acquainted me with
everything which had betided her." And he went on to repeat to him all
that the girl had told him of Shams al-Nahar; at which Ali bin Bakkar
lamented sore and wept and said to him, "Allah upon thee, O my brother,
help me in this affliction and teach me what course I shall take.
Moreover, I beg thee of thy grace to abide with me this night, that I
may have the solace of thy society." Abu al-Hasan agreed to this
request, replying that he would readily night there; so they talked
together till eventide darkened, when Ali bin Bakkar groaned aloud and
lamented and wept copious tears, reciting these couplets:—
Thine image in these eyne, a-lip thy name, ✿ My heart thy home; how
couldst thou disappear?
How sore I grieve for life which comes to end, ✿ Nor see I boon of union
far or near.
And these the words of another:—
She split my casque of courage with eye-swords that sorely smite; ✿ She
pierced my patience' ring-mail with her shape like cane-spear light:
Patched by the musky mole on cheek was to our sight displayed ✿ Camphor
set round with ambergris, light dawning through the night.[198]
Her soul was sorrowed and she bit carnelion stone with pearls ✿ Whose
unions in a sugred tank ever to lurk unite:[199]
Restless she sighed and smote with palm the snows that clothe her
breast, ✿ And left a mark whereon I looked and ne'er beheld such
sight.
Pens, fashioned of her coral nails with ambergris for ink, ✿ Five lines
on crystal page of breast did cruelly indite:
O swordsmen armed with trusty steel! I bid you all beware ✿ When she on
you bends deadly glance which fascinates the sprite:
And guard thyself, O thou of spear! whenas she draweth near ✿ To tilt
with slender quivering shape, likest the nut-brown spear.
And when Ali bin Bakkar ended his verse, he cried out with a great cry
and fell down in a fit. Abu al-Hasan thought that his soul had fled his
body and he ceased not from his swoon till daybreak, when he came to
himself and talked with his friend, who continued to sit with him till
the forenoon. Then he left him and repaired to his shop; and hardly had
he opened it, when lo! the damsel came and stood by his side. As soon as
he saw her, she made him a sign of salutation which he returned; and she
delivered to him the greeting message of her mistress and asked, "How
doth Ali bin Bakkar?" Answered he, "O handmaid of good, ask me not of
his case nor what he suffereth for excess of love-longing; he sleepeth
not by night neither resteth he by day; wakefulness wasteth him and care
hath conquered him and his condition is a consternation to his friend."
Quoth she, "My lady saluteth thee and him, and she hath written him a
letter, for indeed she is in worse case than he; and she entrusted the
same to me, saying:—Do not return save with the answer; and do thou obey
my bidding. Here now is the letter, so say, wilt thou wend with me to
him that we may get his reply?" "I hear and obey," answered Abu
al-Hasan, and locking his shop and taking with him the girl he went, by
a way different from that whereby he came, to Ali bin Bakkar's house,
where he left her standing at the door and walked in——And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Fifty-eighth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Abu al-Hasan went
with the girl to the house of Ali son of Bakkar, where he left her
standing at the door and walked in to his great joy. And Abu al-Hasan
said to him, "The reason of my coming is that such an one hath sent his
handmaid to thee with a letter, containing his greeting to thee and
mentioning therein that the cause of his not coming to thee was a matter
that hath betided him. The girl standeth even now at the door: shall she
have leave to enter?"; and he signed to him that it was Shams al-Nahar's
slave-girl. Ali understood his signal and answered, "Bring her in," and
when he saw her, he shook for joy and signed to her, "How doth thy
lord?; Allah grant him health and healing!" "He is well," answered she
and pulling out the letter gave it to him. He took it and kissing it,
opened and read it; after which he handed it to Abu al-Hasan, who found
these verses written therein:—
This messenger shall give my news to thee; ✿ Patience what while my
sight thou canst not see:
A lover leav'st in love's insanity, ✿ Whose eyne abide on wake
incessantly:
I suffer patience-pangs in woes that none ✿ Of men can medicine;—such my
destiny!
Keep cool thine eyes; ne'er shall my heart forget, ✿ Nor without dream
of thee one day shall be.
Look what befel thy wasted frame, and thence ✿ Argue what I am doomed
for love to dree!
"And afterwards[200]: Without fingers[201] I have written to thee, and
without tongue I have spoken to thee ✿ to resume my case, I have an eye
wherefrom sleeplessness departeth not ✿ and a heart whence sorrowful
thought stirreth not ✿ It is with me as though health I had never known
✿ nor in sadness ever ceased to wone ✿ nor spent an hour in pleasant
place ✿ but it is as if I were made up of pine and of the pain of
passion and chagrin ✿ Sickness unceasingly troubleth ✿ and my yearning
ever redoubleth ✿ desire still groweth ✿ and longing in my heart still
gloweth ✿ I pray Allah to hasten our union ✿ and dispel of my mind the
confusion ✿ And I would fain thou favour me ✿ with some words of thine ✿
that I may cheer my heart in pain and repine ✿ Moreover, I would have
thee put on a patience lief, until Allah vouchsafe relief ✿ And His
peace be with thee."[202] When Ali bin Bakkar had read this letter he
said in weak accents and feeble voice, "With what hand shall I write and
with what tongue shall I make moan and lament? Indeed she addeth
sickness to my sickness and draweth death upon my death!" Then he sat up
and taking in hand ink-case and paper, wrote the following reply:—"In
the name of Allah, the Compassionating, the Compassionate![203] Thy
letter hath reached me, O my lady, and hath given ease to a sprite worn
out with passion and love-longing, and hath brought healing to a wounded
heart cankered with languishment and sickness; for indeed I am become
even as saith the poet:—
Straitenèd bosom; reveries dispread; ✿ Slumberless eyelids; body
wearièd;
Patience cut short; disunion longsomest; ✿ Reason deranged and heart
whose life is fled!
And know that complaining is unavailing; but it easeth him whom
love-longing disordereth and separation destroyeth and, with
repeating:—Union, I keep myself comforted and how fine is the saying of
the poet who said:—
Did not in love-plight joys and sorrows meet, ✿ How would the message or
the writ be sweet?"
When he had made an end of this letter, he handed it to Abu al-Hasan,
saying, "Read it and give it to the damsel." So he took it and read it
and its words stirred his soul and its meaning wounded his vitals. Then
he committed it to the girl, and when she took it Ali bin Bakkar said to
her, "Salute thy lady for me and acquaint her with my love and longing
and how passion is blended with my flesh and my bones; and say to her
that in very deed I need a woman who shall snatch me from the sea of
destruction and save me from this dilemma; for of a truth Fortune
oppresseth me with her vicissitudes; and is there any helper to free me
from her turpitudes?" And he wept and the damsel wept for his weeping.
Then she took leave of him and went forth and Abu al-Hasan went out with
her and farewelled her. So she ganged her gait and he returned to his
shop, which he opened and sat down there, as was his wont;——And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Fifty-ninth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Abu al-Hasan
farewelled the slave-girl and returned to his shop which he opened and
sat down there according to his custom; but as he tarried, he found his
heart oppressed and his breast straitened, and he was perplexed about
his case. So he ceased not from melancholy the rest of that day and
night, and on the morrow he betook himself to Ali bin Bakkar, with whom
he sat till the folk withdrew, when he asked him how he did. Ali began
to complain of desire and to descant upon the longing and distraction
which possessed him, and repeated these words of the poet:—
Men have 'plained of pining before my time, ✿ Live and dead by parting
been terrified:
But such feelings as those which my ribs immure ✿ I have never heard of
nor ever espied.
And these of another poet:—
I have borne for thy love what never bore ✿ For his fair, Kays the "Daft
one"[204] hight of old:
Yet I chase not the wildlings of wold and wild ✿ Like Kays, for madness
is manifold.
Thereupon quoth Abu al-Hasan, "Never did I see or hear of one like unto
thee in thy love! When thou sufferest all this transport and sickness
and trouble being enamoured of one who returneth thy passion, how would
it be with thee if she whom thou lovest were contrary and contumelious,
and thy case were discovered through her perfidy?" And Ali the son of
Bakkar (says Abu al-Hasan) was pleased with my words and he relied upon
them and he thanked me for what I had said and done. I had a friend
(continued Abu al-Hasan), to whom I discovered my affair and that of Ali
and who knew that we were intimates; but none other than he was
acquainted with what was betwixt us. He was wont to come to me and
enquire how Ali did and after a little, he began to ask me about the
damsel; but I fenced him off, saying, "She invited him to her and there
was between him and her as much as can possibly take place, and this is
the end of their affair; but I have devised me a plan and an idea which
I would submit to thee." Asked his friend, "And what is that?" Answered
Abu al-Hasan, "I am a person well known to have much dealing among men
and women, and I fear, O my brother, lest the affair of these twain come
to light and this lead to my death and the seizure of my goods and the
rending of my repute and that of my family. Wherefore I have resolved to
get together my monies and make ready forthright and repair to the city
of Bassorah and there abide, till I see what cometh of their case, that
none may know of me; for love hath lorded over both and correspondence
passeth between them. At this present their go-between and confidante is
a slave-girl who hath till now kept their counsel, but I fear lest haply
anxiety get the better of her and she discover their secret to some one
and the matter, being bruited abroad, might bring me to great grief and
prove the cause of my ruin; for I have no excuse to offer my accusers."
Rejoined his friend, "Thou hast acquainted me with a parlous affair,
from the like of which the wise and understanding will shrink with fear.
Allah avert from thee the evil thou dreadest with such dread and save
thee from the consequences thou apprehendest! Assuredly thy recking is
aright." So Abu al-Hasan returned to his place and began ordering his
affairs and preparing for his travel; nor had three days passed ere he
made an end of his business and fared forth Bassorah-wards. His friend
came to visit him three days after but finding him not, asked of him
from the neighbours who answered, "He set out for Bassorah three days
ago, for he had dealings with its merchants and he is gone thither to
collect monies from his debtors; but he will soon return." The young man
was confounded at the news and knew not whither to wend; and he said in
his mind, "Would I had not parted from Abu al-Hasan!" Then he bethought
him of some plan whereby he should gain access to Ali bin Bakkar; so he
went to his lodging, and said to one of his servants, "Ask leave for me
of thy lord that I may go in and salute him." The servant entered and
told his master and presently returning, invited the man to walk in. So
he entered and found Ali bin Bakkar thrown back on the pillow and
saluted him. Ali returned his greeting and bade him welcome; whereupon
the young man began to excuse himself for having held aloof from him all
that while and added, "O my lord, between Abu al-Hasan and myself there
was close friendship, so that I used to trust him with my secrets and
could not sever myself from him an hour. Now it so chanced that I was
absent three days' space on certain business with a company of my
friends; and, when I came back and went to him, I found his shop locked
up; so I asked the neighbours about him and they replied:—He is gone to
Bassorah. Now I know he had no surer friend than thou; so, by Allah,
tell me what thou knowest of him." When Ali bin Bakkar heard this, his
colour changed and he was troubled and answered, "I never heard till
this day of his departure and, if the case be as thou sayest, weariness
is come upon me." And he began repeating:—
For joys that are no more I wont to weep, ✿ While friends and lovers
stood by me unscattered;
This day when disunited me and them ✿ Fortune, I weep lost loves and
friendship shattered.
Then he hung his head groundwards in thought awhile and presently
raising it and looking to one of his servants, said, "Go to Abu
al-Hasan's house and enquire anent him whether he be at home or
journeying abroad. If they say:—He is abroad; ask whither he be gone."
The servant went out and returning after a while said to his master,
"When I asked for Abu al-Hasan, his people told me that he was gone on a
journey to Bassorah; but I saw a damsel standing at the door who,
knowing me by sight, though I knew her not, said to me:—Art thou not
servant to Ali bin Bakkar? Even so, answered I; and she rejoined:—I bear
a message for him from one who is the dearest of all folk to him. So she
came with me and she is now standing at the door." Quoth Ali bin Bakkar,
"Bring her in." The servant went out to her and brought her in, and the
man who was with Ali looked at her and found her pretty. Then she
advanced to the son of Bakkar and saluted him——And Shahrazad perceived
the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Sixtieth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the
slave-girl came in to Ali bin Bakkar, she advanced to him and saluted
him and spake with him secretly; and from time to time during the
dialogue he exclaimed with an oath and swore that he had not talked and
tattled of it. Then she took leave of him and went away. Now Abu
al-Hasan's friend was a jeweller,[205] and when she was gone, he found a
place for speech and said to Ali bin Bakkar, "Doubtless and assuredly
the Caliph's household have some demand upon thee or thou hast dealings
therewith?" "Who told thee of this?" asked Ali; and the jeweller
answered, "I know it by yonder damsel who is Shams al-Nahar's
slave-girl; for she came to me a while since with a note wherein was
written that she wanted a necklace of jewels; and I sent her a costly
collar." But when Ali bin Bakkar heard this, he was greatly troubled, so
that the jeweller feared to see him give up the ghost, yet after a while
he recovered himself and said, "O my brother, I conjure thee by Allah to
tell me truly how thou knowest her." Replied he, "Do not press this
question upon me;" and Ali rejoined, "Indeed, I will not turn from thee
till thou tell me the whole truth." Quoth the jeweller, "I will tell
thee all, on condition that thou distrust me not, and that my words
cause thee no restraint; nor will I conceal aught from thee by way of
secret but will discover to thee the truth of the affair, provided that
thou acquaint me with the true state of thy case and the cause of thy
sickness." Then he told him all that had passed from first to last
between Abu al-Hasan and himself, adding, "I acted thus only out of
friendship for thee and of my desire to serve thee;" and assured him
that he would keep his secret and venture life and good in his service.
So Ali in turn told him his story and added, "By Allah, O my brother,
naught moved me to keep my case secret from thee and from others but my
fear lest folk should lift the veils of protection from certain
persons." Rejoined the jeweller, "And I desired not to foregather with
thee but of the great affection I bear thee and my zeal for thee in
every case, and my compassion for the anguish thy heart endureth from
severance. Haply I may be a comforter to thee in the room of my friend,
Abu al-Hasan, during the length of his absence: so be thou of good cheer
and keep thine eyes cool and clear." Thereupon Ali thanked him and
repeated these couplets:—
"An say I:—Patient I can bear his faring, ✿ My tears and sighings give
my say the lie;
How can I hide these tears that course adown ✿ This plain, my cheek, for
friend too fain to fly?"
Then he was silent awhile, and presently said to the jeweller "Knowest
thou what secret the girl whispered to me?" Answered he, "Not I, by
Allah, O my lord!" Quoth Ali, "She fancied that I directed Abu al-Hasan
to go to Bassorah and that I had devised this device to put a stop to
our correspondence and consorting. I swore to her that this was on
nowise so; but she would not credit me and went away to her mistress,
persisting in her injurious suspicions; for she inclined to Abu al-Hasan
and gave ear to his word." Answered the young jeweller, "O my brother, I
understood as much from the girl's manner; but I will win for thee thy
wish, Inshallah!" Rejoined Ali bin Bakkar, "Who can be with me in this
and how wilt thou do with her, when she shies and flies like a wildling
of the wold?" Cried the jeweller "By Allah, needs must I do my utmost to
help thee and contrive to scrape acquaintance with her without exposure
or mischief!" Then he asked leave to depart and Ali bin Bakkar said, "O
my brother, mind thou keep my counsel;" and he looked at him and wept.
The jeweller bade him good-bye and fared forth——And Shahrazad perceived
the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Sixty-first Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the jeweller bade
him good-bye and fared forth not knowing what he should do to win for
him his wishes; and he ceased not walking, while over-musing the matter,
till he spied a letter lying in the road. He took it up and looked at
its direction and superscription, then read it and behold, it ran:—"From
the least worthy of lovers to the most worthy of beloveds." So he opened
it and found these words written therein:—
"A messenger from thee came bringing union-hope, ✿ But that he erred
somehow with me the thought prevailed;
So I rejoiced not; rather grew my grief still more; ✿ Weeting my
messenger of wits and wit had failed.
"But afterwards: Know, O my lord! that I ken not the reason why our
correspondence between thee and me hath been broken off: but, if the
cruelty arise from thy part, I will requite it with fidelity, and if thy
love have departed, I will remain constant to my love of the parted, for
I am with thee even as says the poet:—
Be proud; I'll crouch! Bully; I'll bear! Despise; I'll pray! ✿ Go; I
will come! Speak; I will hear! Bid; I'll obey!"
As he was reading lo! up came the slave-girl, looking right and left,
and seeing the paper in the jeweller's hand, said to him, "O my master,
this letter is one I let fall." He made her no answer, but walked on,
and she walked behind him, till he came to his house, when he entered
and she after him, saying, "O my master, give me back this letter, for
it fell from me." Thereupon he turned to her and said, "O handmaid of
good, fear not neither grieve, for verily Allah the Protector loveth
those who protect; but tell me in truthful way thy case, as I am one who
keepeth counsel. I conjure thee by an oath not to hide from me aught of
thy lady's affairs; for haply Allah shall help me to further her wishes
and make easy by my hand that which is hard." When the slave-girl heard
these words she said, "O my lord, indeed a secret is not lost whereof
thou art the secretist; nor shall any affair come to naught for which
thou strivest. Know that my heart inclineth to thee and would interest
thee with my tidings, but do thou give me the letter." Then she told him
the whole story, adding, "Allah is witness to whatso I say." Quoth he,
"Thou hast spoken truly, for I am acquainted with the root of the
matter." Then he told her his tale of Ali bin Bakkar and how he had
learned his state of mind; and related to her all that had passed from
first to last, whereat she rejoiced; and they two agreed that she should
take the letter and carry it to Ali and return and acquaint the jeweller
with all that happened. So he gave her the letter and she took it and
sealed it up as it was before, saying, "My mistress Shams al-Nahar gave
it to me sealed; and when he hath read it and given me its reply, I will
bring it to thee." Then she took leave and repaired to Ali bin Bakkar,
whom she found waiting, and gave him the letter. He read it and writing
a paper by way of reply, gave it to her; and she carried it to the
jeweller, who tore asunder the seal[206] and read it and found written
therein these two couplets:—
"The messenger, who kept our commerce hid, ✿ Hath failed, and showeth
wrath without disguise;[207]
Choose one more leal from your many friends ✿ Who, truth approving,
disapproves of lies.
"To proceed: Verily, I have not entered upon perfidy ✿ nor have I
abandoned fidelity ✿ I have not used cruelty ✿ neither have I put off
lealty ✿ no covenant hath been broken by me ✿ nor hath love-tie been
severed by me ✿ I have not parted from penitence ✿ nor have I found
aught but misery and ruin after severance ✿ I know nothing of that thou
avouchest ✿ nor do I love aught but that which thou lovest ✿ By Him who
knoweth the secret of hidden things none discover ✿ I have no desire
save union with my lover ✿ and my one business is my passion to conceal
✿ albeit with sore sickness I ail ✿ This is the exposition of my case
and now all hail!" When the jeweller read this letter and learnt its
contents he wept with sore weeping, and the slave-girl said to him,
"Leave not this place till I return to thee; for he suspecteth me of
such and such things, in which he is excusable; so it is my desire to
bring about a meeting between thee and my mistress, Shams al-Nahar,
howsoever I may trick you to it. For the present I left her prostrate,
awaiting my return with the reply." Then she went away and the jeweller
passed the night with a troubled mind. And when day dawned he prayed his
dawn-prayer and sat expecting the girl's coming; and behold, she came in
to him rejoicing with much joy and he asked her, "What news, O damsel?"
She answered, "After leaving thee I went to my mistress and gave her the
letter written by Ali bin Bakkar; and, when she read it and understood
it, she was troubled and confounded; but I said to her:—O my lady, have
no fear of your affair being frustrated by Abu al-Hasan's disappearance,
for I have found one to take his place, better than he and more of worth
and a good man to keep secrets. Then I told her what was between thyself
and Abu al-Hasan and how thou camest by his confidence and that of Ali
bin Bakkar and how that note was dropped and thou camest by it; and I
also showed her how we arranged matters betwixt me and thee." The
jeweller marvelled with much wonder, when she resumed, "And now my
mistress would hear whatso thou sayest, that she may be assured by thy
speech of the covenants between thee and him; so get thee ready to go
with me to her forthwith." When the jeweller heard the slave-girl's
words, he saw that the proposed affair was grave and a great peril to
brave, not lightly to be undertaken or suddenly entered upon, and he
said to her, "O my sister, verily, I am of the ordinary and not like
unto Abu al-Hasan; for he being of high rank and of well-known repute,
was wont to frequent the Caliph's household, because of their need of
his merchandise. As for me, he used to talk with me and I trembled
before him the while. So, if thy mistress would speak with me, our
meeting must be in some place other than the Caliph's palace and far
from the abode of the Commander of the Faithful; for my common sense
will not let me consent to what thou proposest." On this wise he refused
to go with her and she went on to say that she would be surety for his
safety, adding, "Take heart and fear no harm!" and pressed him to
courage till he consented to accompany her; withal, his legs bent and
shivered and his hands quivered and he exclaimed, "Allah forbid that I
should go with thee! Indeed, I have not strength to do this thing!"
Replied she, "Hearten thy heart, if it be hard for thee to go to the
Caliph's palace and thou canst not muster up courage to accompany me, I
will make her come to thee; so budge not from thy place till I return to
thee with her." Then the slave-girl went away and was absent for a
while, but a short while, after which she returned to the jeweller and
said to him, "Take thou care that there be with thee none save thyself,
neither man-slave nor girl-slave." Quoth he, "I have but a negress, who
is in years and who waiteth on me."[208] So she arose and locked the
door between his negress and the jeweller and sent his manservants out
of the place; after which she fared forth and presently returned,
followed by a lady who, entering the house, filled it with the sweet
scent of her perfumes. When the jeweller saw her, he sprang up and set
her a couch and a cushion; and she sat down while he seated himself
before her. She abode awhile without speaking till she had rested
herself, when she unveiled her face and it seemed to the jeweller's
fancy as if the sun had risen in his home. Then she asked her
slave-girl, "Is this the man of whom thou spakest to me?" "Yes,"
answered she; whereupon the lady turned to the jeweller and said to him,
"How is it with thee?" Replied he, "Right well! I pray Allah for thy
preservation and that of the Commander of the Faithful." Quoth she,
"Thou hast moved us to come to thee and possess thee with what we hold
secret." Then she questioned him of his household and family; and he
disclosed to her all his circumstance and his condition and said to her,
"I have a house other than this; and I have set it apart for gathering
together my friends and brethren; and there is none there save the old
negress, of whom I spoke to thy handmaid." She asked him on what wise he
came first to know how the affair began and the matter of Abu al-Hasan
and the cause of his wayfaring: accordingly he told her all he knew and
how he had advised the journey. Thereupon she bewailed the loss of Abu
al-Hasan and said to the jeweller, "Know, O such an one,[209] that men's
souls are active in their lusts and that men are still men; and that
deeds are not done without words nor is end ever reached without
endeavour. Rest is won only by work"——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn
of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Sixty-second Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Shams al-Nahar
thus addressed the jeweller, "Rest is gained only by work and success is
gendered only by help of the generous. Now I have acquainted thee with
our affair and it is in thy hand to expose us or to shield us; I say no
more, because thy generosity requireth naught. Thou knowest that this my
handmaiden keepeth my counsel and therefore occupieth high place in my
favour; and I have selected her to transact my affairs of importance. So
let none be worthier in thy sight than she and acquaint her with thine
affair; and be of good cheer, for on her account thou art safe from all
fear, and there is no place shut upon thee but she shall open it to
thee. She shall bring thee my messages to Ali bin Bakkar and thou shalt
be our intermediary." So saying, she rose, scarcely able to rise, and
fared forth, the jeweller faring before her to the door of her house,
after which he returned and sat down again in his place, having seen of
her beauty and heard of her speech what dazzled him and dazed his wit,
and having witnessed of her grace and courtesy what bewitched his
sprite. He sat musing on her perfections till his mind waxed tranquil,
when he called for food and ate enough to keep soul and body together.
Then he changed his clothes and went out; and, repairing to the house of
the youth Ali bin Bakkar, knocked at the door. The servants hastened to
admit him and walked before him till they had brought him to their
master, whom he found strown upon his bed. Now when he saw the jeweller,
he said to him, "Thou hast tarried long from me, and that hath heaped
care upon my care." Then he dismissed his servants and bade the doors be
shut; after which he said to the jeweller, "By Allah, O my brother, I
have not closed my eyes since the day I saw thee last; for the
slave-girl came to me yesterday with a sealed letter from her mistress
Shams al-Nahar;" and went on to tell him all that had passed with her,
adding, "By the Lord, I am indeed perplexed concerning mine affair and
my patience faileth me: for Abu al-Hasan was a comforter who cheered me
because he knew the slave-girl." When the jeweller heard his words, he
laughed; and Ali said, "Why dost thou laugh at my words, thou on whose
coming I congratulated myself and to whom I looked for provision against
the shifts of fortune?" Then he sighed and wept and repeated these
couplets:[210]—
Full many laugh at tears they see me shed ✿ Who had shed tears an bore
they what I bore;
None feeleth pity for th' afflicted's woe, ✿ Save one as anxious and in
woe galore:
My passion, yearning, sighing, thought, repine ✿ Are for me cornered in
my heart's deep core:
He made a home there which he never quits, ✿ Yet rare our meetings, not
as heretofore:
No friend to stablish in his place I see; ✿ No intimate but only he
and——he.
Now when the jeweller heard these lines and understood their
significance, he wept also and told him all that had passed betwixt
himself and the slave-girl and her mistress since he left him. And Ali
bin Bakkar gave ear to his speech, and at every word he heard his colour
shifted from white to red and his body grew now stronger and then weaker
till the tale came to an end, when he wept and said, "O my brother, I am
a lost man in any case: would mine end were nigh, that I might be at
rest from all this! But I beg thee, of thy favour, to be my helper and
comforter in all my affairs till Allah fulfil whatso be His will; and I
will not gainsay thee with a single word." Quoth the jeweller, "Nothing
will quench thy fire save union with her whom thou lovest; and the
meeting must be in other than this perilous place. Better it were in a
house of mine where the girl and her mistress met me; which place she
chose for herself, to the intent that ye twain may there meet and
complain each to other of what you have suffered from the pangs of
love." Quoth Ali bin Bakkar, "O good Sir, do as thou wilt and with Allah
be thy reward!; and what thou deemest is right do it forthright: but be
not long in doing it, lest I perish of this anguish." So I abode with
him (said the jeweller) that night conversing with him till the morning
morrowed,——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Sixty-third Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the jeweller
continued:—So I abode with him that night conversing with him till the
morning morrowed, when I prayed the dawn-prayers and, going out from
him, returned to my house. Hardly had I settled down when the damsel
came up and saluted me; and I returned her salutation and told her what
had passed between myself and Ali bin Bakkar, and she said, "Know that
the Caliph hath left us and there is no one in our place and it is safer
for us and better." Replied I, "Sooth thou sayest; yet is it not like my
other house which is both fitter and surer for us;" and the slave-girl
rejoined, "Be it as thou seest fit. I am now going to my lady and will
tell her what thou sayest and acquaint her with all thou hast
mentioned." So she went away and sought her mistress and laid the
project before her, and presently returned and said to me, "It is to be
as thou sayest: so make us ready the place and expect us." Then she took
out of her breast-pocket a purse of dinars and gave this message, "My
lady saluteth thee and saith to thee:—Take this and provide therewith
what the case requireth." But I swore that I would accept naught of it;
so she took the purse and returning to her mistress, told her, "He would
not receive the money, but gave it back to me." "No matter," answered
Shams al-Nahar. As soon as the slave-girl was gone (continued the
jeweller), I arose and betook myself to my other house and transported
thither all that was needful, by way of vessels and furniture and rich
carpets; and I did not forget china vases and cups of glass and gold and
silver; and I made ready meat and drink required for the occasion. When
the damsel came and saw what I had done, it pleased her and she bade me
fetch Ali bin Bakkar; but I said, "None shall bring him save thou."
Accordingly she went to him and brought him back perfectly dressed and
looking his best. I met him and greeted him and then seated him upon a
divan befitting his condition, and set before him sweet-scented flowers
in vases of china and vari-coloured glass.[211] Then I set on a tray of
many-tinted meats such as broaden the breast with their sight, and sat
talking with him and diverting him, whilst the slave-girl went away and
was absent till after sundown-prayers, when she returned with Shams
al-Nahar, attended by two maids and none else. Now as soon as she saw
Ali bin Bakkar and he saw her, he rose and embraced her, and she on her
side embraced him and both fell in a fit to the ground. They lay for a
whole hour insensible; then, coming to themselves, they began mutually
to complain of the pains of separation. Thereupon they drew near to each
other and sat talking charmingly, softly, tenderly; after which they
somewhat perfumed themselves and fell to thanking me for what I had done
for them. Quoth I, "Have ye a mind for food?" "Yes," quoth they. So I
set before them a small matter of food and they ate till they were
satisfied and then washed their hands; after which I led them to another
sitting-room and brought them wine. So they drank and drank deep and
inclined to each other; and presently Shams al-Nahar said to me, "O my
master, complete thy kindness by bringing us a lute or other instrument
of mirth and music that the measure of our joy may be fully filled." I
replied, "On my head and eyes!" and rising brought her a lute, which she
took and tuned; then laying it in her lap she touched it with a masterly
touch, at once exciting to sadness and changing sorrow to gladness;
after which she sang these two couplets:—
My sleeplessness would show I love to bide on wake; ✿ And would my
leanness prove that sickness is my make:
And tear-floods course adown the cheeks they only scald; ✿ Would I knew
union shall disunion overtake!
Then she went on to sing the choicest and most affecting poesy to many
and various modes, till our senses were bewitched and the very room
danced with excess of delight and surprise at her sweet singing; and
neither thought nor reason was left in us. When we had sat awhile and
the cup had gone round amongst us, the damsel took the lute and sang to
a lively measure these couplets:—
My love a meeting promised me and kept it faithfully, ✿ One night as
many I shall count in number and degree:
O Night of joyance Fate vouchsafed to faithful lovers tway, ✿ Uncaring
for the railer loon and all his company!
My lover lay the Night with me and clipt me with his right, ✿ While I
with left embraced him, a-faint for ecstasy;
And hugged him to my breast and sucked the sweet wine of his lips, ✿
Full savouring the honey-draught the honey-man sold to me.
Whilst we were thus drowned in the sea of gladness (continued the
jeweller) behold, there came in to us a little maid trembling and said,
"O my lady, look how you may go away for the folk have found you out and
have surrounded the house; and we know not the cause of this!" When I
heard her words, I arose startled and lo! in rushed a slave-girl who
cried, "Calamity hath come upon you." At the same moment the door was
burst open and there rushed in upon us ten men masked in kerchiefs with
hangers in their hands and swords by their sides, and as many more
behind them. When I saw this, the world was straitened on me for all its
wideness, and I looked to the door but saw no issue; so I sprang from
the terrace into the house of one of my neighbours and there hid myself.
Thence I found that folk had entered my lodgings and were making a
mighty hubbub; and I concluded that the Caliph had got wind of us and
had sent his Chief of the Watch to seize us and bring us before him. So
I abode confounded and ceased not remaining in my place, without any
possibility of quitting it till midnight. And presently the house-master
arose, for he had heard me moving, and he feared with exceeding great
fear of me; so he came forth from his room with drawn brand in hand and
made at me, saying, "Who is this in my house?" Quoth I, "I am thy
neighbour the jeweller;" and he knew me and retired. Then he fetched a
light and coming up to me, said, "O my brother, indeed that which hath
befallen thee this night is no light matter to me." I replied, "O my
brother, tell me who was in my house and entered it breaking in my door;
for I fled to thee not knowing what was to do." He answered, "Of a truth
the robbers who attacked our neighbours yesterday and slew such an one
and took his goods, saw thee on the same day bringing furniture into
this house; so they broke in upon thee and stole thy goods and slew thy
guests." Then we arose (pursued the jeweller), I and he, and repaired to
my house, which we found empty without a stick remaining in it; so I was
confounded at the case and said to myself, "As for the gear I care
naught about its loss, albeit I borrowed part of the stuff from my
friends and it hath come to grief; yet there is no harm in that, for
they know my excuse in the plunder of my property and the pillage of my
place. But as for Ali bin Bakkar and the Caliph's favourite concubine, I
fear lest their case get bruited abroad and this cause the loss of my
life." So I turned to my neighbour and said to him, "Thou art my brother
and my neighbour and wilt cover my nakedness; what then dost thou advise
me to do?" The man answered, "What I counsel thee to do is to keep quiet
and wait; for they who entered thy house and took thy goods have
murdered the best men of a party from the palace of the Caliphate and
have killed not a few of the watchmen: the government officers and
guards are now in quest of them on every road and haply they will hit
upon them, whereby thy wish will come about without effort of thine."
The jeweller hearing these words returned to his other house, that
wherein he dwelt,——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to
say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Sixty-fourth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the jeweller
heard these words he returned to his other house wherein he dwelt, and
said to himself, "Indeed this that hath befallen me is what Abu al-Hasan
feared and from which he fled to Bassorah. And now I have fallen into
it." Presently the pillage of his pleasure-house was noised abroad among
the folk, and they came to him from all sides and places, some exulting
in his misfortune and others excusing him and condoling with his sorrow;
whilst he bewailed himself to them and for grief neither ate meat nor
drank drink. And as he sat, repenting him of what he had done, behold
one of his servants came in to him and said, "There is a person at the
door who asketh for thee; and I know him not." The jeweller went forth
to him and saluted him who was a stranger; and the man whispered to him,
"I have somewhat to say between our two selves." Thereupon he brought
him in and asked him, "What hast thou to tell me?" Quoth the man, "Come
with me to thine other house;" and the jeweller enquired, "Dost thou
then know my other house?" Replied the other, "I know all about thee and
I know that also whereby Allah will dispel thy dolours." So I said to
myself (continued the jeweller) "I will go with him whither he will;"
and went out and walked on till we came to my second house; and when the
man saw it he said to me, "It is without door or door-keeper, and we
cannot possibly sit in it; so come thou with me to another place." Then
the man continued passing from stead to stead (and I with him) till
night overtook us. Yet I put no question to him of the matter in hand
and we ceased not to walk on, till we reached the open country. He kept
saying, "Follow me," and quickened his pace to a trot, whilst I trotted
after him heartening my heart to go on, until we reached the river,
where he took boat with me, and the boatman rowed us over to the other
bank. Then he landed from the boat and I landed after him; and he took
my hand and led me to a street which I had never entered in all my days,
nor do I know in what quarter it was. Presently the man stopped at the
door of a house, and opening it entered and made me enter with him;
after which he locked the door with an iron padlock,[212] and led me
along the vestibule, till he brought me in the presence of ten men who
were as though they were one and the same man; they being brothers. We
saluted them (continued the jeweller) and they returned our greeting and
bade us be seated; so we sat down. Now I was like to die for excess of
weariness; but they brought me rose-water and sprinkled it on my face;
after which they gave me a sherbet to drink and set before me food
whereof some of them ate with me. Quoth I to myself, "Were there aught
harmful in the food, they would not eat with me." So I ate, and when we
had washed our hands, each of us returned to his place. Then they asked
me, "Dost thou know us?" and I answered, "No! nor in my life have I ever
seen you; nay, I know not even him who brought me hither." Said they,
"Tell us thy tidings and lie not at all." Replied I, "Know then that my
case is wondrous and my affair marvellous; but wot ye anything about
me?" They rejoined, "Yes! it was we took thy goods yesternight and
carried off thy friend and her who was singing to him." Quoth I, "Allah
let down His veil over you! Where be my friend and she who was singing
to him?" They pointed with their hands to one side and replied, "Yonder,
but, by Allah, O our brother, the secret of their case is known to none
save to thee, for from the time we brought the twain hither up to this
day, we have not looked upon them nor questioned them of their
condition, seeing them to be persons of rank and dignity. Now this and
this only it was that hindered our killing them: so tell us the truth of
their case and thou shalt be assured of thy safety and of theirs." When
I heard this (continued the jeweller) I almost died of fright and
horror, and I said to them, "Know ye, O my brethren, that if generosity
were lost, it would not be found save with you; and had I a secret which
I feared to reveal, none but your breasts would conceal it." And I went
on exaggerating their praises in this fashion, till I saw that frankness
and readiness to speak out would profit me more than concealing facts;
so I told them all that had betided me to the very end of the tale. When
they heard it, they said, "And is this young man Ali Bakkar-son and this
lady Shams al-Nahar?" I replied "Yes." Now this was grievous to them and
they rose and made their excuses to the two and then they said to me,
"Of what we took from thy house part is spent, but here is what is left
of it." So speaking, they gave me back most of my goods and they engaged
to return them to their places in my house, and to restore me the rest
as soon as they could. My heart was set at ease till they split into two
parties, one with me and the other against me; and we fared forth from
that house and such was my case. But as regards Ali bin Bakkar and Shams
al-Nahar; they were well-nigh dying for excess of fear, when I went up
to them and saluting them, asked, "What happened to the damsel and the
two maids, and where be they gone?"; and they answered only, "We know
nothing of them." Then we walked on and stinted not till we came to the
river-bank where the barque lay; and we all boarded it, for it was the
same which had brought me over on the day before. The boatman rowed us
to the other side; but hardly had we landed and taken seat on the bank
to rest, when a troop of horse swooped down on us like eagles and
surrounded us on all sides and places, whereupon the robbers with us
sprang up in haste like vultures, and the boat put back for them and
took them in and the boatman pushed off into mid-stream, leaving us on
the river bank, unable to move or to stand still. Then the chief
horseman said to us, "Whence be ye!"; and we were perplexed for an
answer, but I said (continued the jeweller), "Those ye saw with us are
rogues; we know them not. As for us, we are singers, and they intended
taking us to sing for them, nor could we get free of them, save by
subtlety and soft words; so on this occasion they let us go, their works
being such as you have seen." But they looked at Shams al-Nahar and Ali
bin Bakkar and said to me, "Thou hast not spoken sooth but, if thy tale
be true, tell us who ye are and whence ye are; and what be your place
and in what quarter you dwell." I knew not what to answer them, but
Shams al-Nahar sprang up and approaching the Captain of the horsemen
spoke with him privily, whereupon he dismounted from his steed and,
setting her on horseback, took the bridle and began to lead his beast.
And two of his men did the like with the youth, Ali bin Bakkar, and it
was the same with myself. The Commandant of the troop ceased not faring
on with us, till they reached a certain part of the river bank, when he
sang out in some barbarous jargon[213] and there came to us a number of
men with two boats. Then the Captain embarked us in one of them (and he
with us) whilst the rest of his men put off in the other, and rowed on
with us till we arrived at the palace of the Caliphate where Shams
al-Nahar landed. And all the while we endured the agonies of death for
excess of fear, and they ceased not faring till they came to a place
whence there was a way to our quarter. Here we landed and walked on,
escorted by some of the horsemen, till we came to Ali bin Bakkar's
house; and when we entered it, our escort took leave of us and went
their way. We abode there, unable to stir from the place and not knowing
the difference between morning and evening; and in such case we
continued till the dawn of the next day. And when it was again
nightfall, I came to myself and saw Ali bin Bakkar and the women and men
of his household weeping over him, for he was stretched out without
sense or motion. Some of them came to me and thoroughly arousing me
said, "Tell us what hath befallen our son and say how came he in this
plight?" Replied I, "O folk, hearken to me"——And Shahrazad perceived the
dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Sixty-fifth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the jeweller
answered them, "O folk, hearken to my words and give me no trouble and
annoyance! but be patient and he will come to and tell you his tale for
himself." And I was hard upon them and made them afraid of a scandal
between me and them, but as we were thus, behold, Ali bin Bakkar moved
on his carpet-bed; whereat his friends rejoiced and the stranger folk
withdrew from him; but his people forbade me to go away. Then they
sprinkled rose-water on his face and he presently revived and sensed the
air; whereupon they questioned him of his case, and he essayed to answer
them but his tongue could not speak forthright and he signed to them to
let me go home. So they let me go, and I went forth hardly crediting my
escape and returned to my own house, supported by two men. When my
people saw me thus, they rose up and set to shrieking and slapping their
faces; but I signed to them with my hand to be silent and they were
silent. Then the two men went their way and I threw myself down on my
bed, where I lay the rest of the night and awoke not till the forenoon,
when I found my people gathered round me and saying, "What calamity
befel thee, and what evil with its mischief did fell thee?" Quoth I,
"Bring me somewhat to drink." So they brought me drink, and I drank of
it what I would and said to them, "What happened, happened." Thereupon
they went away and I made my excuses to my friends, and asked if any of
the goods that had been stolen from my other house had been returned.
They answered, "Yes! some of them have come back; by token that a man
entered and threw them down within the doorway and we saw him not." So I
comforted myself and abode in my place two days, unable to rise and
leave it; and presently I took courage and went to the bath, for I was
worn out with fatigue and troubled in mind for Ali bin Bakkar and Shams
al-Nahar, because I had no news of them all this time and could neither
get to Ali's house nor, out of fear for my life, take my rest in mine
own. And I repented to Almighty Allah of what I had done and praised Him
for my safety. Presently my fancy suggested to me to go to such and such
a place and see the folk and solace myself; so I went on foot to the
cloth-market and sat awhile with a friend of mine there. When I rose to
go, I saw a woman standing over against me; so I looked at her, and lo!
it was Shams al-Nahar's slave-girl. When I saw her, the world grew dark
in my eyes and I hurried on. She followed me, but I was seized with
affright and fled from her, and whenever I looked at her, a trembling
came upon me whilst she pursued me, saying, "Stop, that I may tell thee
somewhat!" But I heeded her not and never ceased walking till I reached
a mosque, and she entered after me. I prayed a two-bow prayer, after
which I turned to her and, sighing, said, "What dost thou want?" She
asked me how I did, and I told her all that had befallen myself and Ali
bin Bakkar and besought her for news of herself. She answered, "Know
that when I saw the robbers break open thy door and rush in, I was in
sore terror, for I doubted not but that they were the Caliph's officers
and would seize me and my mistress and we should perish forthwith: so we
fled over the roofs, I and the maids; and, casting ourselves down from a
high place, came upon some people with whom we took refuge; and they
received us and brought us to the palace of the Caliphate, where we
arrived in the sorriest of plights. We concealed our case and abode on
coals of fire till nightfall, when I opened the river-gate and, calling
the boatman who had carried us the night before, said to him:—I know not
what is become of my mistress; so take me in the boat, that we may go
seek her on the river: haply I shall chance on some news of her.
Accordingly he took me into the boat and went about with me and ceased
not wending till midnight, when I spied a barque making towards the
water gate, with one man rowing and another standing up and a woman
lying prostrate between them twain. And they rowed on till they reached
the shore when the woman landed, and I looked at her, and behold, it was
Shams al-Nahar. Thereupon I got out and joined her, dazed for joy to see
her after having lost all hopes of finding her alive."——And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Sixty-sixth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the slave-girl
went on telling the jeweller, "I was dazed for joy to see her, after
having lost all hopes of finding her alive. When I came up to her, she
bade me give the man who had brought her thither a thousand gold pieces;
and we carried her in, I and the two maids, and laid her on her bed;
where she passed that night in a sorely troubled state; and, when
morning dawned, I forbade the women and eunuchs to go in to her, or even
to draw near her for the whole of that day; but on the next she revived
and somewhat recovered and I found her as if she had come out of her
grave. I sprinkled rose-water upon her face and changed her clothes and
washed her hands and feet; nor did I cease to coax her, till I brought
her to eat a little and drink some wine, though she had no mind to any
such matter. As soon as she had breathed the fresh air and strength
began to return to her, I took to upbraiding her, saying:—O my lady,
consider and have pity on thyself; thou seest what hath betided us:
surely, enough and more than enough of evil hath befallen thee; for
indeed thou hast been nigh upon death. She said:—By Allah, O good
damsel, in sooth death were easier to me than what hath betided me; for
it seemed as though I should be slain and no power could save me. When
the robbers took us from the jeweller's house they asked me, Who mayst
thou be? and hearing my answer:—I am a singing girl, they believed me.
Then they turned to Ali bin Bakkar and made enquiries about him:—And who
art thou and what is thy condition?; whereto he replied:—I am of the
common kind. So they took us and carried us along, without our
resisting, to their abode; and we hurried on with them for excess of
fear; but when they had us set down with them in the house, they looked
hard at me and seeing the clothes I wore and my necklaces and jewellery,
believed not my account of myself and said to me:—Of a truth these
necklaces belong to no singing-girl; so be soothfast and tell us the
truth of thy case. I returned them no answer whatever, saying in my
mind:—Now will they slay me for the sake of my apparel and ornaments;
and I spoke not a word. Then the villains turned to Ali bin Bakkar,
asking:—And thou, who art thou and whence art thou? for thy semblance
seemeth not as that of the common kind. But he was silent and we ceased
not to keep our counsel and to weep, till Allah softened the rogues'
hearts to pity and they said to us:—Who is the owner of the house
wherein ye were? We answered:—Such an one, the jeweller; whereupon quoth
one of them:—I know him right well and I wot the other house where he
liveth and I will engage to bring him to you this very hour. Then they
agreed to set me in a place by myself and Ali bin Bakkar in a place by
himself, and said to us:—Be at rest ye twain and fear not lest your
secret be divulged; ye are safe from us. Meanwhile their comrade went
away and returned with the jeweller, who made known to them our case,
and we joined company with him; after which a man of the band fetched a
barque, wherein they embarked us all three and, rowing us over the
river, landed us with scant ceremony on the opposite bank and went their
ways. Thereupon up came a horse-patrol and asked us who we were; so I
spoke with the Captain of the watch and said to him:—I am Shams
al-Nahar, the Caliph's favourite; I had drunken strong wine and went out
to visit certain of my acquaintance of the wives of the Wazirs, when
yonder rogues came upon me and laid hold of me and brought me to this
place; but when they saw you, they fled as fast as they could. I met
these men with them; so do thou escort me and them to a place of safety
and I will requite thee as I am well able to do. When the Captain of the
watch heard my speech, he knew me and alighting, mounted me on his
horse; and in like manner did two of his men with Ali bin Bakkar. So I
spoke to her (continued the handmaid) and blamed her doings, and bade
her beware, and said to her:—O my lady, have some care for thy life! But
she was angered at my words and cried out at me; accordingly I left her
and came forth in quest of thee, but found thee not and dared not go to
the house of Ali bin Bakkar; so stood watching for thee, that I might
ask thee of him and wot how it goes with him. And I pray thee, of thy
favour, to take of me some money, for thou hast doubtless borrowed from
thy friends part of the gear and as it is lost, it behoveth thee to make
it good with folk." I replied, "To hear is to obey! go on;" and I walked
with her till we drew near my house, when she said to me, "Wait here
till I come back to thee."——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Sixty-seventh Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that after the
slave-girl had addressed the jeweller, "Wait here till I come back to
thee!" she went away and presently returned with the money, which she
put (continued the jeweller) into my hand, saying, "O my master, in what
place shall we meet?" Quoth I, "I will start and go to my house at once
and suffer hard things for thy sake and contrive how thou mayst win
access to him, for such access is difficult at this present." Said she,
"Let me know some spot, where I shall come to thee," and I answered, "In
my other house; I will go thither forthright and have the doors mended
and the place made safe again, and henceforth we will meet there." Then
she took leave of me and went her way, whilst I carried the money home,
and counting it, found it five thousand dinars. So I gave my people some
of it and to all who had lent me aught I made good their loss, after
which I arose and took my servants and repaired to my other house whence
the things had been stolen; and I brought builders and carpenters and
masons who restored it to its former state. Moreover, I placed my
negress-slave there and forgot the mishaps which had befallen me. Then I
fared forth and repaired to Ali bin Bakkar's house and, when I reached
it, his slave-servants accosted me, saying, "Our lord calleth for thee
night and day, and hath promised to free whichever of us bringeth thee
to him; so they have been wandering about in quest of thee everywhere
but knew not in what part to find thee. Our master is by way of
recovering strength, but at times he reviveth and at times he relapseth;
and whenever he reviveth he nameth thee, and saith:—Needs must ye bring
him to me, though but for the twinkling of an eye; and then he sinketh
back into his torpor." Accordingly (continued the jeweller) I
accompanied the slave and went in to Ali bin Bakkar; and, finding him
unable to speak, sat down at his head, whereupon he opened his eyes and
seeing me, wept and said, "Welcome and well come!" I raised him and
making him sit up, strained him to my bosom, and he said, "Know, O my
brother, that, from the hour I took to my bed, I have not sat up till
now: praise to Allah that I see thee again!" And I ceased not to prop
him and support him until I made him stand on his feet and walk a few
steps, after which I changed his clothes and he drank some wine: but all
this he did for my satisfaction. Then, seeing him somewhat restored, I
told him what had befallen me with the slave-girl (none else hearing
me), and said to him, "Take heart and be of good courage, I know what
thou sufferest." He smiled and I added, "Verily nothing shall betide
thee save what shall rejoice thee and medicine thee." Thereupon he
called for food, which being brought, he signed to his pages, and they
withdrew. Then quoth he to me, "O my brother, hast thou seen what hath
befallen me?"; and he made excuses to me and asked how I had fared all
that while. I told him everything that had befallen me, from beginning
to end, whereat he wondered and calling his servants, said, "Bring me
such and such things." They brought in fine carpets and hangings and,
besides that, vessels of gold and silver, more than I had lost, and he
gave them all to me; so I sent them to my house and abode with him that
night. When the day began to yellow, he said to me, "Know thou that as
to all things there is an end, so the end of love is either death or
accomplishment of desire. I am nearer unto death, would I had died ere
this befel!; and had not Allah favoured us, we had been found out and
put to shame. And now I know not what shall deliver me from this my
strait, and were it not that I fear Allah, I would hasten my own death;
for know, O my brother, that I am like bird in cage and that my life is
of a surety perished, choked by the distresses which have befallen me;
yet hath it a period stablished firm and an appointed term." And he wept
and groaned and began repeating:—
Enough of tears hath shed the lover-wight, ✿ When grief outcast all
patience from his sprite:
He hid the secrets which united us, ✿ But now His eye parts what He did
unite!
When he had finished his verses, the jeweller said to him, "O my lord, I
now intend returning to my house." He answered, "There be no harm in
that; go and come back to me with news as fast as possible, for thou
seest my case." So I took leave of him (continued the jeweller) and went
home, and hardly had I sat down, when up came the damsel, choked with
long weeping. I asked, "What is the matter?"; and she answered, "O my
lord, know then that what we feared hath befallen us; for, when I left
thee yesterday and returned to my lady, I found her in a fury with one
of the two maids who were with us the other night, and she ordered her
to be beaten. The girl was frightened and ran away; but, as she was
leaving the house, one of the door-porters and guards of the gate met
her and took her up and would have sent her back to her mistress.
However, she let fall some hints, which were a disclosure to him; so he
cajoled her and led her on to talk, and she tattled about our case and
let him know of all our doings. This affair came to the ears of the
Caliph, who bade remove my mistress, Shams al-Nahar, and all her gear to
the palace of the Caliphate; and set over her a guard of twenty eunuchs.
Since then to the present hour he hath not visited her nor hath given
her to know the reason of his action, but I suspect this to be the
cause; wherefore I am in fear for my life and am sore troubled, O my
lord, knowing not what I shall do, nor with what contrivance I shall
order my affair and hers; for she hath none by her more trusted or more
trustworthy than myself."——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Sixty-eighth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the slave-girl
thus addressed the jeweller, "And in very sooth my lady hath none by her
more trusted or more trustworthy in matter of secrecy than myself. So go
thou, O my master, and speed thee without delay to Ali bin Bakkar; and
acquaint him with this, that he may be on his guard and ward; and, if
the affair be discovered, we will cast about for some means whereby to
save our lives." On this (continued the jeweller), I was seized with
sore trouble and the world grew dark in my sight for the slave-girl's
words; and when she was about to wend, I said to her, "What reckest thou
and what is to be done?" Quoth she, "My counsel is that thou hasten to
Ali bin Bakkar, if thou be indeed his friend and desire to save him;
thine be it to carry him this news at once without aught of stay and
delay, or regard for far and near; and mine be it to sniff about for
further news." Then she took her leave of me and went away: so I rose
and followed her track and, betaking myself to Ali bin Bakkar, found him
flattering himself with impossible expectations. When he saw me
returning to him so soon, he said, "I see thou hast come back to me
forthwith and only too soon." I answered, "Patience, and cut short this
foolish connection and shake off the pre-occupation wherein thou art,
for there hath befallen that which may bring about the loss of thy life
and good." Now when he heard this, he was troubled and strongly moved;
and he said to me, "O my brother, tell me what hath happened." Replied
I, "O my lord, know that such and such things have happened and thou art
lost without recourse, if thou abide in this thy house till the end of
the day." At this, he was confounded and his soul well-nigh departed his
body, but he recovered himself and said to me, "What shall I do, O my
brother, and what counsel hast thou to offer?" Answered I, "My advice is
that thou take what thou canst of thy property and whom of thy slaves
thou trustest, and flee with us to a land other than this, ere this very
day come to an end." And he said, "I hear and I obey." So he rose,
confused and dazed like one in epilepsy, now walking and now falling,
and took what came under his hand. Then he made an excuse to his
household and gave them his last injunctions, after which he loaded
three camels and mounted his beast; and I did likewise. We went forth
privily in disguise and fared on and ceased not our wayfare the rest of
that day and all its night, till nigh upon morning, when we unloaded
and, hobbling our camels, lay down to sleep. But we were worn with
fatigue and we neglected to keep watch, so that there fell upon us
robbers, who stripped us of all we had and slew our slaves, when these
would have beaten them off, leaving us naked and in the sorriest of
plights, after they had taken our money and lifted our beasts and
disappeared. As soon as they were gone, we arose and walked on till
morning dawned, when we came to a village which we entered, and finding
a mosque took refuge therein for we were naked. So we sat in a corner
all that day and we passed the next night without meat or drink; and at
daybreak we prayed our dawn-prayer and sat down again. Presently behold,
a man entered and saluting us prayed a two-bow prayer, after which he
turned to us and said, "O folk, are ye strangers?" We replied, "Yes: the
bandits waylaid us and stripped us naked, and we came to this town but
know none here with whom we may shelter." Quoth he, "What say ye? will
you come home with me?" And (pursued the jeweller) I said to Ali bin
Bakkar, "Up and let us go with him, and we shall escape two evils; the
first, our fear lest some one who knoweth us enter this mosque and
recognise us, so that we come to disgrace; and the second, that we are
strangers and have no place wherein to lodge." And he answered
helplessly, "As thou wilt." Then the man said to us again, "O ye poor
folk, give ear unto me and come with me to my place," and I replied,
"Hearkening and obedience;" whereupon he pulled off a part of his own
clothes and covered us therewith and made his excuses to us and spoke
kindly to us. Then we arose and accompanied him to his house and he
knocked at the door, whereupon a little slave-boy came out and opened to
us. The host entered and we followed him;[214] when he called for a
bundle of clothes and muslins for turbands, and gave us each a suit and
a piece; so we dressed and turbanded ourselves and sat us down.
Presently, in came a damsel with a tray of food and set it before us,
saying, "Eat." We ate some small matter and she took away the tray:
after which we abode with our host till nightfall, when Ali bin Bakkar
sighed and said to me, "Know, O my brother, that I am a dying man past
hope of life and I would charge thee with a charge: it is that, when
thou seest me dead, thou go to my parent[215] and tell her of my decease
and bid her come hither that she may be here to receive the visits of
condolence and be present at the washing of my corpse; and do thou
exhort her to bear my loss with patience." Then he fell down in a
fainting fit and, when he recovered he heard a damsel singing afar off
and making verses as she sang. Thereupon he addressed himself to give
ear to her and hearken to her voice; and now he was insensible, absent
from the world, and now he came to himself; and anon he wept for grief
and mourning at the love which had befallen him. Presently, he heard the
damsel who was singing repeat these couplets:—
Parting ran up to part from lover-twain ✿ Free converse, perfect
concord, friendship fain:
The Nights with shifting drifted us apart, ✿ Would heaven I wot if we
shall meet again:
How bitter after meeting 'tis to part, ✿ May lovers ne'er endure so
bitter pain!
Death-grip, death-choke, lasts for an hour and ends, ✿ But
parting-tortures aye in heart remain:
Could we but trace where Parting's house is placed, ✿ We would make
Parting eke of parting taste!
When Ali son of Bakkar heard the damsel's song, he sobbed one sob and
his soul quitted his body. As soon as I saw that he was dead (continued
the jeweller), I committed his corpse to the care of the house-master
and said to him "Know thou, that I am going to Baghdad, to tell his
mother and kinsfolk, that they may come hither and conduct his burial."
So I betook myself to Baghdad and, going to my house, changed my
clothes; after which I repaired to Ali bin Bakkar's lodging. Now when
his servants saw me, they came to me and questioned me of him, and I
bade them ask permission for me to go in to his mother. She gave me
leave; so I entered and saluting her, said, "Verily Allah ordereth the
lives of all creatures by His commandment and when He decreeth aught,
there is no escaping its fulfilment; nor can any soul depart but by
leave of Allah, according to the Writ which affirmeth the appointed
term."[216] She guessed by these words that her son was dead and wept
with sore weeping, then she said to me, "Allah upon thee! tell me, is my
son dead?" I could not answer her for tears and excess of grief, and
when she saw me thus, she was choked with weeping and fell to the ground
in a fit. As soon as she came to herself she said to me, "Tell me how it
was with my son." I replied, "May Allah abundantly compensate thee for
his loss!" and I told her all that had befallen him from beginning to
end. She then asked, "Did he give thee any charge?"; and I answered,
"Yes," and told her what he had said, adding, "Hasten to perform his
funeral." When she heard these words, she swooned away again; and, when
she recovered, she addressed herself to do as I charged her. Then I
returned to my house; and as I went along musing sadly upon the fair
gifts of his youth, behold, a woman caught hold of my hand;——And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Sixty-ninth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the jeweller thus
continued:—A woman caught hold of my hand; and I looked at her and lo!
it was the slave-girl who used to come from Shams al-Nahar, and she
seemed broken by grief. When we knew each other we both wept and ceased
not weeping till we reached my house, and I said to her, "Knowest thou
the news of the youth, Ali bin Bakkar?" She replied, "No, by Allah!"; so
I told her the manner of his death and all that had passed, whilst we
both wept; after which quoth I to her, "How is it with thy mistress?"
Quoth she, "The Commander of the Faithful would not hear a single word
against her; but, for the great love he bore her, saw all her actions in
a favourable light, and said to her:—O Shams al-Nahar, thou art dear to
me and I will bear with thee and bring the noses of thy foes to the
grindstone. Then he bade them furnish her an apartment decorated with
gold and a handsome sleeping-chamber, and she abode with him in all ease
of life and high favour. Now it came to pass that one day, as he sat at
wine according to his custom, with his favourite concubines in presence,
he bade them be seated in their several ranks and made Shams al-Nahar
sit by his side. But her patience had failed and her disorder had
redoubled upon her. Then he bade one of the damsels sing: so she took a
lute and tuning it struck the chords, and began to sing these verses:—
One craved my love and I gave all he craved of me, ✿ And tears on cheek
betray how 'twas I came to yield:
Tear-drops, meseemeth, are familiar with our case, ✿ Revealing what I
hide, hiding what I revealed:
How can I hope in secret to conceal my love, ✿ Which stress of passion
ever showeth unconcealed:
Death, since I lost my lover, is grown sweet to me; ✿ Would I knew what
their joys when I shall quit the field!"
Now when Shams al-Nahar heard these verses sung by the slave-girl, she
could not keep her seat; but fell down in a fainting-fit whereupon the
Caliph cast the cup from his hand and drew her to him crying out; and
the damsels also cried out, and the Prince of True Believers turned her
over and shook her, and lo and behold! she was dead. The Caliph grieved
over her death with sore grief and bade break all the vessels and
dulcimers[217] and other instruments of mirth and music which were in
the room; then carrying her body to his closet, he abode with her the
rest of the night. When the day broke, he laid her out and commanded to
wash her and shroud her and bury her. And he mourned for her with sore
mourning, and questioned not of her case nor of what caused her
condition. And I beg thee in Allah's name (continued the damsel) to let
me know the day of the coming of Ali bin Bakkar's funeral procession
that I may be present at his burial." Quoth I, "For myself, where thou
wilt thou canst find me; but thou, where art thou to be found, and who
can come at thee where thou art?" She replied, "On the day of Shams
al-Nahar's death, the Commander of the Faithful freed all her women,
myself among the rest;[218] and I am one of those now abiding at the
tomb in such a place." So I rose and accompanied her to the
burial-ground and piously visited Shams al-Nahar's tomb; after which I
went my way and ceased not to await the coming of Ali bin Bakkar's
funeral. When it arrived, the people of Baghdad went forth to meet it
and I went forth with them; and I saw the damsel among the women and she
the loudest of them in lamentation, crying out and wailing with a voice
that rent the vitals and made the heart ache. Never was seen in Baghdad
a finer funeral than his; and we ceased not to follow in crowds till we
reached the cemetery and buried him to the mercy of Almighty Allah; nor
from that time to this have I ceased to visit the tombs of Ali son of
Bakkar and of Shams al-Nahar. This, then, is their story, and Allah
Almighty have mercy upon them!"[219] And yet is not their tale
(continued Shahrazad) more wonderful than that of King Shahrimán. The
King asked her "And what was his tale?"——And Shahrazad perceived the
dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Seventieth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, as regards the
-----
Footnote 175:
_i.e._ a descendant, not a Prince.
Footnote 176:
The Arab shop is a kind of hole in the wall and buyers sit upon its
outer edge. (Pilgrimage i. 99).
Footnote 177:
By a similar image the chamæleon is called Abú Kurrat = Father of
coolness; because it is said to have the "coldest" eye of all animals
and insensible to heat and light, since it always looks at the sun.
Footnote 178:
This dividing the hemistich words is characteristic of certain tales;
so I have retained it although inevitably suggesting:—
I left Matilda at the U-
niversity of Gottingen.
Footnote 179:
These naïve offers in Eastern tales mostly come from the true
seducer—Eve. Europe, and England especially, still talks endless
absurdity upon the subject. A man of the world may "seduce" an utterly
innocent (which means an ignorant) girl. But to "seduce" a married
woman! What a farce!
Footnote 180:
Masculine again for feminine: the lines are as full of word-plays,
vulgarly called puns, as Sanskrit verses.
Footnote 181:
The Eastern heroine always has a good appetite and eats well. The
sensible Oriental would infinitely despise that _maladive_ Parisienne
in whom our neighbours delight, and whom I long to send to the
Hospital.
Footnote 182:
_i.e._ her rivals have discovered the secret of her heart.
Footnote 183:
_i.e._ blood as red as wine.
Footnote 184:
The wine-cup (sun-like) shines in thy hand; thy teeth are bright as
the Pleiads and thy face rises like a moon from the darkness of thy
dress-collar.
Footnote 185:
The masculine of Marjánah (Morgiana) "the she coral-branch;" and like
this a name generally given to negroes. We have seen white applied to
a blackamoor by way of metonomy and red is also connected with black
skins by way of fun. A Persian verse says:
"If a black wear red, e'en an ass would grin."
Footnote 186:
Suggesting that she had been sleeping.
Footnote 187:
Arab. "Raushan," a window projecting and latticed: the word is orig.
Persian: so Raushaná (splendour) = Roxana. It appears to me that this
beautiful name gains beauty by being understood.
Footnote 188:
The word means any servant, but here becomes a proper name. "Wasífah"
usually = a concubine.
Footnote 189:
_i.e._ eagerness, desire, love-longing.
Footnote 190:
Arab. "Rind," which may mean willow (oriental), bay or aloes wood:
Al-Asma'i denies that it ever signifies myrtle.
Footnote 191:
These lines occur in Night cxiv: by way of variety I give (with
permission) Mr. Payne's version (iii. 59).
Footnote 192:
Referring to the proverb "Al-Khauf maksúm" = fear (cowardice) is
equally apportioned: _i.e._ If I fear you, you fear me.
Footnote 193:
The fingers of the right band are struck upon the palm of the left.
Footnote 194:
There are intricate rules for "joining" the prayers; but this is
hardly the place for a subject discussed in all religious treatises.
(Pilgrimage iii. 239.)
Footnote 195:
The hands being stained with Henna and perhaps indigo in stripes are
like the ring-rows of chain armour. See Lane's illustration (Mod.
Egypt, chapt. i.)
Footnote 196:
She made rose-water of her cheeks for my drink and she bit with teeth
like grains of hail those lips like the lotus-fruit, or jujube: Arab.
"Unnab" or "Nabk," the plum of the Sidr or Zizyphus lotus.
Footnote 197:
Meaning to let Patience run away like an untethered camel.
Footnote 198:
_i.e._ her fair face shining through the black hair. "Camphor" is a
favourite with Arab poets; the Persians hate it because connected in
their minds with death; being used for purifying the corpse. We read
in Burckhardt (Prov. 464) "Singing without siller is like a corpse
without Hanút"—this being a mixture of camphor and rose-water
sprinkled over the face of the dead before shrouded. Similarly
Persians avoid speaking of coffee, because they drink it at funerals
and use tea at other times.
Footnote 199:
_i.e._ she is angry and bites her carnelion lips with pearly teeth.
Footnote 200:
Arab. "Wa ba'ad;" the formula which follows "Bismillah"—In the name of
Allah. The French translate it _or sus_, etc. I have noticed the
legend about its having been first used by the eloquent Koss, Bishop
of Najrán.
Footnote 201:
_i.e._ Her mind is so troubled she cannot answer for what she writes.
Footnote 202:
The Bul. Edit. (i. 329) and the Mac. Edit. (i. 780) give to Shams
al-Nahar the greater part of Ali's answer, as is shown by the Calc.
Edit. (230 _et seq._) and the Bresl. Edit. (ii. 366 _et seq._). Lane
mentions this (ii. 74) but in his usual perfunctory way gives no
paginal references to the Calc, or Bresl.; so that those who would
verify the text may have the displeasure of hunting for it.
Footnote 203:
Arab. "Bi'smi 'lláhi' r-Rahmáni'r-Rahím." This auspicatory formula was
borrowed by Al-Islam not from the Jews but from the Guebre
"Ba nám-i-Yezdán bakhsháishgar-i-dádár!" (in the name of
Yezdan—God—All-generous, All-just!) The Jews have, "In the name of the
Great God;" and the Christians, "In the name of the Father, etc." The
so-called Sir John Mandeville begins his book, In the name of God,
Glorious and Almighty. The sentence forms the first of the Koran and
heads every chapter except only the ninth, an exception for which
recondite reasons are adduced. Hence even in the present day it begins
all books, letters and writings in general; and it would be a sign of
Infidelity (_i.e._ non-Islamism) to omit it. The difference between
"Rahmán" and "Rahím" is that the former represents an accidental
(compassionating), the latter a constant quality (compassionate). Sale
therefore renders it very imperfectly by "In the name of the most
merciful God;" the Latinists better, "In nomine Dei misericordis,
clementissimi" (Gottwaldt in Hamza Ispahanensis); Mr. Badger much
better, "In the name of God, the Pitiful, the Compassionate"—whose
only fault is not preserving the assonance: and Maracci best, "In
nomine Dei miseratoris, misericordis."
Footnote 204:
Arab. Majnún (_i.e._ one possessed by a Jinni) the well-known model
lover of Layla, a fictitious personage for whom see D'Herbelot (_s.
v._ Megnoun). She was celebrated by Abu Mohammed Nizam al-Din of
Ganjah (ob. A.H. 597 = 1200) pop. known as Nizámi, the caustic and
austere poet who wrote:—
The weals of this world are the ass's meed!
Would Nizámi were of the ass's breed.
The series in the East begins chronologically with Yúsuf and Zulaykhá
(Potiphar's wife) sung by Jámi (nat. A.H. 817 = 1414); the next in
date is Khusraw and Shirin (also by Nizami); Farhad and Shirin; and
Layla and Majnun (the Night-black maid and the Maniac-man) are the
last. We are obliged to compare the lovers with "Romeo and Juliet,"
having no corresponding instances in modern days: the classics of
Europe supply a host as Hero and Leander, Theagenes and Charicleia,
etc. etc.
Footnote 205:
The jeweller of Eastern tales from Marocco to Calcutta, is almost
invariably a rascal: here we have an exception.
Footnote 206:
This must not be understood of sealing-wax, which, however, is of
ancient date. The Egyptians (Herod. ii. 38) used "sealing earth" (γῆ
σημαντρίς) probably clay, impressed with a signet (δακτὺλιον); the
Greeks mud-clay (πηλός); and the Romans first cretula and then wax
(Beckmann). Mediæval Europe had bees-wax tempered with Venice
turpentine and coloured with cinnabar or similar material. The modern
sealing-wax, whose distinctive is shell-lac, was brought by the Dutch
from India to Europe; and the earliest seals date from about A.D.
1560. They called it Ziegel-lak, whence the German Siegel-lack, the
French preferring _cire-à-cacheter_, as distinguished from
_cire-à-sceller_, the softer material. The use of sealing-wax in India
dates from old times and the material, though coarse and unsightly, is
still preferred by Anglo-Indians because it resists heat whereas the
best English softens like pitch.
Footnote 207:
Evidently referring to the runaway Abu al-Hasan, not to the
she-Mercury.
Footnote 208:
An unmarried man is not allowed to live in a respectable quarter of a
Moslem city unless he takes such precaution. Lane (Mod. Egypt.
_passim_) has much to say on this point; and my excellent friend the
late Professor Spitta at Cairo found the native prejudice very
troublesome.
Footnote 209:
Arab. "Yá fulán" = O certain person (fulano in Span. and Port.) a
somewhat contemptuous address.
Footnote 210:
Mr. Payne remarks, "These verses apparently relate to Aboulhusn, but
it is possible that they may be meant to refer to Shemsennehar." (iii.
80.)
Footnote 211:
Arab. and Pers. "Bulúr" (vulg. billaur) retaining the venerable
tradition of the Belus-river. In Al-Hariri (Ass. of Halwán) it means
crystal and there is no need of proposing to translate it by onyx or
to identify it with the Greek βήρυλλος, the beryl.
Footnote 212:
The door is usually shut with a wooden bolt.
Footnote 213:
Arab. "Ritánah," from "Ratan," speaking any tongue not Arabic, the
allusion being to foreign mercenaries, probably Turks. In later days
Turkish was called Muwalla', a pied horse, from its mixture of
languages.
Footnote 214:
This is the rule; to guard against the _guet-apens_.
Footnote 215:
Arab. "Wálidati," used when speaking to one not of the family in lieu
of the familiar "Ummi" = my mother. So the father is Wálid = the
begetter.
Footnote 216:
This is one of the many euphemistic formulæ for such occasions: they
usually begin "May thy head live," etc.
Footnote 217:
Arab. "Kánún" Gr. κανὼν, an instrument not unlike the Austrian zither;
it is illustrated in Lane (ii. 77).
Footnote 218:
This is often done, the merit of the act being transferred to the soul
of the deceased.
Footnote 219:
The two amourists were martyrs; and their amours, which appear
exaggerated to the Western mind, have many parallels in the East. The
story is a hopeless affair of love; with only one moral (if any be
wanted) viz., there may be too much of a good thing. It is given very
concisely in the Bul. Edit. vol. i.; and more fully in the Mac. Edit.
aided in places by the Bresl. (ii. 320) and the Calc. (ii. 230).
TALE OF KAMAR AL-ZAMAN,
That there was in times of yore and in ages long gone before a King
called Shahrimán,[220] who was lord of many troops and guards, and
officers, and who reigned over certain islands, known as the Khálidán
Islands,[221] on the borders of the land of the Persians. But he was
stricken in years and his bones were wasted, without having been blessed
with a son, albeit he had four wives, daughters of Kings, and threescore
concubines, with each of whom he was wont to lie one night in turn.[222]
This preyed upon his mind and disquieted him, so that he complained
thereof to one of his Wazirs, saying, "Verily I fear lest my kingdom be
lost when I die, for that I have no son to succeed me." The Minister
answered, "O King, peradventure Allah shall yet bring something to pass;
so rely upon the Almighty and be instant in prayer. It is also my
counsel that thou spread a banquet and invite to it the poor and needy,
and let them eat of thy food; and supplicate the Lord to vouchsafe thee
a son; for perchance there may be among thy guests a righteous soul
whose prayers find acceptance; and thereby thou shalt win thy wish." So
the King rose, made the lesser ablution, and prayed a two-bow
prayer,[223] then he cried upon Allah with pure intention; after which
he called his chief wife to bed and lay with her forthright. By grace of
God she conceived and, when her months were accomplished, she bore a
male child, like the moon on the night of fulness. The King named him
Kamar al-Zamán,[224] and rejoiced in him with extreme joy and bade the
city be dressed out in his honour; so they decorated the streets seven
days, whilst the drums beat and the messengers bore the glad tidings
abroad. Then wet and dry nurses were provided for the boy and he was
reared in splendour and delight, until he reached the age of fifteen. He
grew up of surpassing beauty and seemlihead and symmetry, and his father
loved him so dear that he could not brook to be parted from him day or
night. One day he complained to a certain of his Ministers anent the
excess of his love for his only child, saying, "O thou the Wazir, of a
truth I fear for my son, Kamar al-Zaman, the shifts and accidents which
befal man and fain would I marry him in my lifetime." Answered the
Wazir, "O King, know thou that marriage is one of the most honourable of
moral actions, and thou wouldst indeed do well and right to marry thy
son in thy lifetime, ere thou make him Sultan." On this quoth the King,
"Hither with my son Kamar al-Zaman;" so he came and bowed his head to
the ground in modesty before his sire. "O Kamar al-Zaman," said King
Shahriman, "of a truth I desire to marry thee and rejoice in thee during
my lifetime." Replied he, "O my father, know that I have no lust to
marry nor doth my soul incline to women; for that concerning their craft
and perfidy I have read many books and heard much talk, even as saith
the poet:—
Now, an of women ask ye, I reply:— ✿ In their affairs I'm versed a
doctor rare!
When man's head grizzles and his money dwindles, ✿ In their affections
he hath naught for share."
And another said:—
Rebel against women and so shalt thou serve Allah the more; ✿ The youth
who gives women the rein must forfeit all hope to soar.
They'll baulk him when seeking the strange device, Excelsior, ✿ Tho'
waste he a thousand of years in the study of science and lore.
And when he had ended his verses he continued, "O my father, wedlock is
a thing whereto I will never consent; no, not though I drink the cup of
death." When Sultan Shahriman heard these words from his son, light
became darkness in his sight and he grieved thereat with great
grief.——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Seventy-first Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when King
Shahriman heard these words from his son, the light became darkness in
his sight and he grieved over his son's lack of obedience to his
directions in the matter of marriage; yet, for the great love he bore
him, he was unwilling to repeat his wishes and was not wroth with him,
but caressed him and spake him fair and showed him all manner of
kindness such as tendeth to induce affection. All this, and Kamar
al-Zaman Increased daily in beauty and loveliness and amorous grace; and
the King bore with him for a whole year till he became perfect in
eloquence and elegant wit. All men were ravished with his charms; and
every breeze that blew bore the tidings of his gracious favour; his fair
sight was a seduction to the loving and a garden of delight to the
longing, for he was honey-sweet of speech and the sheen of his face
shamed the full moon; he was a model of symmetry and blandishment and
engaging ways; his shape was as the willow-wand or the rattan-cane and
his cheeks might take the place of rose or red anemone. He was, in fine
the pink of perfection, even as the poet hath said of him:—
He came and cried they, "Now be Allah blest! ✿ Praise Him that clad that
soul in so fair vest!"
He's King of Beauty where the beauteous be; ✿ All are his Ryots,[225]
all obey his hest:
His lip-dew's sweeter than the virgin honey; ✿ His teeth are pearls in
double row close prest:
All charms are congregate in him alone, ✿ And deals his loveliness to
man unrest.
Beauty wrote on those cheeks for worlds to see ✿ "I testify there is
none good but He."[226]
When the year came to an end, the King called his son to him and said,
"O my son, wilt thou not hearken to me?" Whereupon Kamar al-Zaman fell
down for respect and shame before his sire and replied, "O my father,
how should I not hearken to thee, seeing that Allah commandeth me to
obey thee and not gainsay thee?" Rejoined King Shahriman, "O my son,
know that I desire to marry thee and rejoice in thee whilst yet I live,
and make thee King over my realm, before my death." When the Prince
heard his sire pronounce these words he bowed his head awhile, then
raised it and said, "O my father, this is a thing which I will never do;
no, not though I drink the cup of death! I know of a surety that the
Almighty hath made obedience to thee a duty in religion; but, Allah upon
thee! press me not in this matter of marriage, nor fancy that I will
ever marry my life long; for that I have read the books both of the
ancients and the moderns, and have come to know all the mischiefs and
miseries which have befallen them through women and their endless
artifices. And how excellent is the saying of the poet:—
He whom the randy motts entrap ✿ Shall never see deliverance!
Though build he forts a thousand-fold, ✿ Whose mighty strength
lead-plates enhance,[227]
Their force shall be of no avail; ✿ These fortresses have not a chance!
Women aye deal in treachery ✿ To far and near o'er earth's expanse;
With fingers dipt in Henna-blood ✿ And locks in braids that mad the
glance;
And eyelids painted o'er with Kohl ✿ They gar us drink of dire
mischance.
And how excellently saith another:—
Women, for all the chastity they claim, ✿ Are offal cast by kites
where'er they list:
This night their talk and secret charms are thine; ✿ That night another
joyeth calf and wrist:
Like inn, whence after night thou far'st at dawn, ✿ And lodges other
wight thou hast not wist."[228]
Now when King Shahriman heard these his son's words and learnt the
import of his verses and poetical quotations, he made no answer, of his
excessive love for him, but redoubled in graciousness and kindness to
him. He at once broke up the audience and, as soon as the seance was
over, he summoned his Minister and taking him apart, said to him, "O
thou the Wazir! tell me how I shall deal with my son in the matter of
marriage."——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying
her permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Seventy-second Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the King summoned
his Minister; and, taking him apart, said to him, "O thou the Wazir,
tell me what I shall do with my son in the matter of marriage. Of a
truth I took counsel with thee thereon and thou didst counsel me to
marry him, before making him King. I have spoken with him of wedlock
time after time and he still gainsaid me; so do thou, O Wazir,
forthright advise me what to do." Answered the Minister, "O King, wait
another year and, if after that thou be minded to speak to him on the
matter of marriage, speak not to him privily, but address him on a day
of state, when all the Emirs and Wazirs are present with the whole of
the army standing before thee. And when all are in crowd then send for
thy son, Kamar al-Zaman, and summon him; and, when he cometh, broach to
him the matter of marriage before the Wazirs and Grandees and Officers
of state and Captains; for he will surely be bashful and daunted by
their presence and will not dare to oppose thy will." Now when King
Shahriman heard his Wazir's words, he rejoiced with exceeding joy,
seeing success in the project, and bestowed on him a splendid robe of
honour. Then he took patience with his son another year, whilst, with
every day that passed over him, Kamar al-Zaman increased in beauty and
loveliness, and elegance and perfect grace, till he was nigh twenty
years old. Indeed Allah had clad him in the cloak of comeliness and had
crowned him with the crown of completion: his eye-glance was more
bewitching than Hárút and Marút[229] and the play of his luring looks
more misleading than Tághút;[230] and his cheeks shone like the dawn
rosy-red and his eyelashes stormed the keen-edged blade: the whiteness
of his brow resembled the moon shining bright, and the blackness of his
locks was as the murky night; and his waist was more slender than the
gossamer[231] and his back parts than two sand-heaps bulkier, making a
Babel of the heart with their softness; but his waist complained of the
weight of his hips and loins; and his charms ravished all mankind, even
as one of the poets saith in these couplets:—
"By his eyelash tendril curled, by his slender waist I swear,
By the dart his witchery feathers, fatal hurtling through the air;
By the just roundness of his shape, by his glances bright and keen,
By the swart limning of his locks, and his fair forehead shining sheen;
By his eyebrows which deny that she who looks on them should sleep,
Which now commanding, now forbidding, o'er me high dominion keep;
By the roses of his cheek, his face as fresh as myrtle wreath,
His tulip lips, and those pure pearls that hold the places of his teeth;
By his noble form, which rises featly turned in even swell
To where upon his jutting chest two young pomegranates seem to dwell;
By his supple moving hips, his taper waist, and silky skin,
By all he robbed Perfection of, and holds enchained his form within;
By his tongue of steadfastness, his nature true, and excellent,
By the greatness of his rank, his noble birth, and high descent,
Musk from my love her savour steals, who musk exhales from every limb
And all the airs ambergris breathes are but the Zephyr's blow o'er him.
The sun, methinks, the broad bright sun, as low before my love should
quail
As would my love himself transcend the paltry paring of his nail!"[232]
So King Shahriman, having accepted the counsel of his Wazir, waited for
another year and a great festival,——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of
day and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Seventy-third Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Shahriman having
accepted the counsel of his Wazir, waited for another year and a great
festival, a day of state when the audience hall was filled with his
Emirs and Wazirs and Grandees of his reign and Officers of State and
Captains of might and main. Thereupon he sent for his son Kamar al-Zaman
who came, and kissing the ground before him three times, stood in
presence of his sire with his hands behind his back the right grasping
the left.[233] Then said the King to him, "Know O my son, that I have
not sent for thee on this occasion and summoned thee to appear before
this assembly and all these officers of estate here awaiting our orders
save and except that I may lay a commandment on thee, wherein do thou
not disobey me; and my commandment is that thou marry, for I am minded
to wed thee to a King's daughter and rejoice in thee ere I die." When
the Prince heard this much from his royal sire, he bowed his head
groundwards awhile, then raising it towards his father and being moved
thereto at that time by youthful folly and boyish ignorance, replied,
"But for myself I will never marry; no, not though I drink the cup of
death! As for thee, thou art great in age and small of wit: hast thou
not, twice ere this day and before this occasion, questioned me of the
matter of marriage, and I refused my consent? Indeed thou dotest and are
not fit to govern a flock of sheep!" So saying Kamar al-Zaman unclasped
his hands from behind his back and tucked up his sleeves above his
elbows before his father, being in a fit of fury; moreover, he added
many words to his sire, knowing not what he said in the trouble of his
spirits. The King was confounded and ashamed, for that this befel in the
presence of his grandees and soldier-officers assembled on a high
festival and a state occasion; but presently the majesty of Kingship
took him, and he cried out at his son and made him tremble. Then he
called to the guards standing before him and said, "Seize him!" So they
came forward and laid hands on him and, binding him, brought him before
his sire, who bade them pinion his elbows behind his back and in this
guise make him stand before the presence. And the Prince bowed down his
head for fear and apprehension, and his brow and face were beaded and
spangled with sweat; and shame and confusion troubled him sorely.
Thereupon his father abused him and reviled him and cried, "Woe to thee,
thou son of adultery and nursling of abomination![234] How durst thou
answer me on this wise before my captains and soldiers? But hitherto
none hath chastised thee."——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Seventy-fourth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that King Shahriman
cried out to his son Kamar al-Zaman, "How durst thou answer me on this
wise before my captains and soldiers? But hitherto none hath chastised
thee. Knowest thou not that this deed thou hast done were a disgrace to
him had it been done by the meanest of my subjects?" And the King
commanded his Mamelukes to loose his elbow bonds and imprison him in one
of the bastions of the citadel. So they took the Prince and thrust him
into an old tower, wherein there was a dilapidated saloon and in its
middle a ruined well, after having first swept it and cleansed its
floor-flags and set therein a couch on which they laid a mattress, a
leathern rug and a cushion; and then they brought a great lanthorn and a
wax candle, for that place was dark, even by day. And lastly the
Mamelukes led Kamar al-Zaman thither, and stationed an eunuch at the
door. And when all this was done, the Prince threw himself on the couch,
sad-spirited, and heavy-hearted; blaming himself and repenting of his
injurious conduct to his father, whenas repentance availed him naught,
and saying, "Allah curse marriage and marriageables and married women,
the traitresses all! Would I had hearkened to my father and accepted a
wife! Had I so done it had been better for me than this jail." This is
how it fared with him; but as regards King Shahriman, he remained seated
on his throne all through the day until sundown; then he took the
Minister apart and said to him, "Know thou, O Wazir, that thou and thou
only wast the cause of all this that hath come to pass between me and my
son by the advice thou wast pleased to devise; and so what dost thou
counsel me to do now?" Answered he, "O King, leave thy son in limbo for
the space of fifteen days: then summon him to thy presence and bid him
wed; and assuredly he shall not gainsay thee again."——And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Seventy-fifth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Wazir said to
King Shahriman, "Leave thy son in limbo for the space of fifteen days;
then summon him to thy presence and bid him wed; and assuredly he shall
not gainsay thee again." The King accepted the Wazir's opinion and lay
down to sleep that night troubled at heart concerning his son; for he
loved him with dearest love because he had no other child but this; and
it was his wont every night not to sleep, save after placing his arm
under his son's neck. So he passed that night in trouble and unease on
the Prince's account, tossing from side to side, as he were laid on
coals of Artemisia-wood[235]; for he was overcome with doubts and fears
and sleep visited him not all that livelong night; but his eyes ran over
with tears and he began repeating:
While slanderers slumber, longsome is my night; ✿ Suffice thee a heart
so sad in parting-plight;
I say, while night in care slow moments by, ✿ "What! no return for thee,
fair morning light?"
And the saying of another:—
When saw I Pleiad-stars his glance escape ✿ And Pole-star draught of
sleep upon him pour;
And the Bier-daughters[236] wend in mourning dight, ✿ I knew that
morning was for him no more!
Such was the case with King Shahriman; but as regards Kamar al-Zaman,
when the night came upon him the eunuch set the lanthorn before him and
lighting the wax-candle, placed it in the candlestick; then brought him
somewhat of food. The Prince ate a little and continually reproached
himself for his unseemly treatment of his father, saying to himself, "O
my soul, knowest thou not that a son of Adam is the hostage of his
tongue, and that a man's tongue is what casteth him into deadly perils?"
Then his eyes ran over with tears and he bewailed that which he had
done, from anguished vitals and aching heart, repenting him with
exceeding repentance of the wrong wherewith he had wronged his father
and repeating:—
Fair youth shall die by stumbling of the tongue: ✿ Stumble of foot works
not man's life such wrong:
The slip of lip shall oft smite off the head, ✿ While slip of foot shall
never harm one long.
Now when he had made an end of eating, he asked for the wherewithal to
wash his hands and when the Mameluke had washed them clean of the
remnants of food, he arose and made the Wuzu-ablution and prayed the
prayers of sundown and nightfall, conjoining them in one; after which he
sat down.——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Seventy-sixth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Prince
Kamar al-Zaman had prayed (conjoining them in one) the prayers of
sundown and nightfall, he sat down on the well and began reciting the
Koran, and he repeated "The Cow," the "House of Imrán," and "Y. S.;" The
"Compassionate," "Blessed be the King," "Unity" and "The two
Talismans"[237]; and he ended with blessing and supplication and with
saying, "I seek refuge with Allah from Satan the stoned."[238] Then he
lay down upon his couch which was covered with a mattress of satin from
al-Ma'adin town, the same on both sides and stuffed with the raw silk of
Irak; and under his head was a pillow filled with ostrich-down. And when
ready for sleep, he doffed his outer clothes and drew off his
bag-trousers and lay down in a shirt of delicate stuff smooth as wax;
and he donned a head-kerchief of azure Marázi[239] cloth; and at such
time and on this guise Kamar al-Zaman was like the full-orbed moon, when
it riseth on its fourteenth night. Then, drawing over his head a
coverlet of silk, he fell asleep with the lanthorn burning at his feet
and the wax-candle over his head, and he ceased not sleeping through the
first third of the night, not knowing what lurked for him in the womb of
the Future, and what the Omniscient had decreed for him. Now, as Fate
and Fortune would have it, both tower and saloon were old and had been
many years deserted; and there was therein a Roman well inhabited by a
Jinníyah of the seed of Iblis[240] the Accursed, by name Maymúnah,
daughter of Al-Dimiryát, a renowned King of the Jánn.——And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
[Illustration]
Now when it was the Hundred and Seventy-seventh Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the name of the
Jinniyah in question was Maymunah, daughter of Al-Dimiryat; a renowned
King of the Jann. And as Kamar al-Zaman continued sleeping till the
first third of the night, Maymunah came up out of the Roman well and
made for the firmament, thinking to listen by stealth to the converse of
the angels; but when she reached the mouth of the well, she saw a light
shining in the tower, contrary to custom; and having dwelt there many
years without seeing the like, she said to herself "Never have I
witnessed aught like this"; and, marvelling much at the matter,
determined that there must be some cause therefor. So she made for the
light and found the eunuch sleeping within the door; and inside she saw
a couch spread, whereon was a human form with the wax-candle burning at
his head and the lanthorn at his feet, and she wondered to see the light
and stole towards it little by little. Then she folded her wings and
stood by the bed and, drawing back the coverlid, discovered Kamar
al-Zaman's face. She was motionless for a full hour in admiration and
wonderment; for the lustre of his visage outshone that of the candle;
his face beamed like a pearl with light; his eyelids were languorous
like those of the gazelle; the pupils of his eyes were intensely black
and brilliant[241]; his cheeks were rosy red; his eyebrows were arched
like bows and his breath exhaled a scent of musk, even as saith of him
the poet:—
I kissed him: darker grew those pupils,[242] which ✿ Seduce my soul, and
cheeks flushed rosier hue;
O heart, if slanderers dare to deem there be ✿ His like in charms; Say
"Bring him hither, you!"
Now when Maymunah saw him, she pronounced the formula of praise,[243]
and said, "Blessed be Allah, the best of Creators!"; for she was of the
true-believing Jinn; and she stood awhile gazing on his face, exclaiming
and envying the youth his beauty and loveliness. And she said in
herself, "By Allah! I will do no hurt to him nor let any harm him; nay,
from all of evil will I ransom him, for this fair face deserveth not but
that folk should gaze upon it and for it praise the Lord. Yet how could
his family find it in their hearts to leave him in such desert place
where, if one of our Márids came upon him at this hour, he would
assuredly slay him." Then the Ifritah Maymunah bent over him and kissed
him between the eyes, and presently drew back the sheet over his face
which she covered up; and after this she spread her wings and soaring
into the air, flew upwards. And after rising high from the circle of the
saloon she ceased not winging her way through air and ascending skywards
till she drew near the heaven of this world, the lowest of the heavens.
And behold, she heard the noisy flapping of wings cleaving the welkin
and, directing herself by the sound, she found when she drew near it
that the noise came from an Ifrit called Dahnash. So she swooped down on
him like a sparrow-hawk and, when he was aware of her and knew her to be
Maymunah, the daughter of the King of the Jinn, he feared her and his
side-muscles quivered; and he implored her forbearance, saying, "I
conjure thee by the Most Great and August Name and by the most noble
talisman graven upon the seal-ring of Solomon, entreat me kindly and
harm me not!" When she heard these words her heart inclined to him and
she said, "Verily, thou conjurest me, O accursed, with a mighty
conjuration. Nevertheless, I will not let thee go, till thou tell me
whence thou comest at this hour." He replied, "O Princess, Know that I
come from the uttermost end of China-land and from among the Islands,
and I will tell thee of a wonderful thing I have seen this night. If
thou find my words true, let me wend my way and write me a patent under
thy hand and with thy sign manual that I am thy freedman, so none of the
Jinn-hosts, whether of the upper who fly or of the lower who walk the
earth or of those who dive beneath the waters, do me let or hindrance."
Rejoined Maymunah, "And what is it thou hast seen this night, O liar, O
accursed! Tell me without leasing and think not to escape from my hand
with falses, for I swear to thee by the letters graven upon the bezel of
the seal-ring of Solomon David-son (on both of whom be peace!), except
thy speech be true, I will pluck out thy feathers with mine own hand and
strip off thy skin and break thy bones!" Quoth the Ifrit Dahnash son of
Shamhúrish[244] the Flyer, "I accept, O my lady, these conditions."——And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Seventy-eighth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Dahnash spoke thus
to Maymunah, "I accept, O my lady, these conditions." Then he resumed,
"Know, O my mistress, that I come to-night from the Islands of the
Inland Sea in the parts of China, which are the realms of King Ghayúr,
lord of the Islands and the Seas and the Seven Palaces. There I saw a
daughter of his, than whom Allah hath made none fairer in her time: I
cannot picture her to thee, for my tongue would fail to describe her
with her due of praise; but I will name to thee a somewhat of her charms
by way of approach. Now her hair is like the nights of disunion and
separation and her face like the days of union and delectation; and
right well hath the poet said when picturing her:—
She dispread the locks from her head one night, ✿ Showing four-fold
nights into one night run;
And she turned her visage towards the moon, ✿ And two moons showèd at
moment one.
She hath a nose like the edge of the burnished blade and cheeks like
purple wine or anemones blood-red: her lips as coral and cornelian shine
and the water of her mouth is sweeter than old wine; its taste would
quench Hell's fiery pain. Her tongue is moved by wit of high degree and
ready repartee: her breast is a seduction to all that see it (glory be
to Him who fashioned it and finished it!); and joined thereto are two
upper arms smooth and rounded; even as saith of her the poet
Al-Walahán:[245]—
She hath wrists which, did her bangles not contain, ✿ Would run from out
her sleeves in silvern rain.
She hath breasts like two globes of ivory, from whose brightness the
moons borrow light, and a stomach with little waves as it were a figured
cloth of the finest Egyptian linen made by the Copts, with creases like
folded scrolls, ending in a waist slender past all power of imagination;
based upon back parts like a hillock of blown sand, that force her to
sit when she would lief stand, and awaken her, when she fain would
sleep, even as saith of her and describeth her the poet:—
She hath those hips conjoined by thread of waist, ✿ Hips that o'er me
and her too tyrannise;
My thoughts they daze whene'er I think of them, ✿ And weigh her down
whene'er she would uprise.[246]
And those back parts are upborne by thighs smooth and round and by a
calf like a column of pearl, and all this reposeth upon two feet,
narrow, slender and pointed like spear-blades,[247] the handiwork of the
Protector and Requiter, I wonder how, of their littleness, they can
sustain what is above them. But I cut short my praises of her charms
fearing lest I be tedious."——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Seventy-ninth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Ifrit Dahnash
bin Shamhurish said to the Ifritah Maymunah, "Of a truth I cut short my
praises fearing lest I be tedious." Now when Maymunah heard the
description of that Princess and her beauty and loveliness, she stood
silent in astonishment; whereupon Dahnash resumed, "The father of this
fair maiden is a mighty King, a fierce knight, immersed night and day in
fray and fight; for whom death hath no fright and the escape of his foe
no dread, for that he is a tyrant masterful and a conqueror
irresistible, lord of troops and armies and continents and islands, and
cities and villages, and his name is King Ghayur, Lord of the Islands
and of the Seas and of the Seven Palaces. Now he loveth his daughter,
the young maiden whom I have described to thee, with dearest love and,
for affection of her, he hath heaped together the treasures of all the
kings and built her therewith seven palaces, each of a different
fashion; the first of crystal, the second of marble, the third of China
steel, the fourth of precious stones and gems of price, the fifth of
porcelain and many-hued onyxes and ring-bezels, the sixth of silver and
the seventh of gold. And he hath filled the seven palaces with all sorts
of sumptuous furniture, rich silken carpets and hangings and vessels of
gold and silver and all manner of gear that kings require; and hath
bidden his daughter to abide in each by turns for a certain season of
the year; and her name is the Princess Budur.[248] Now when her beauty
became known and her name and fame were bruited abroad in the
neighbouring countries, all the kings sent to her father to demand her
of him in marriage, and he consulted her on the matter, but she disliked
the very word wedlock with a manner of abhorrence and said, O my father,
I have no mind to marry; no, not at all; for I am a sovereign Lady and a
Queen suzerain ruling over men, and I have no desire for a man who shall
rule over me. And the more suits she refused, the more her suitors'
eagerness increased and all the Royalties of the Inner Islands of China
sent presents and rarities to her father with letters asking her in
marriage. So he pressed her again and again with advice on the matter of
espousals; but she ever opposed to him refusals, till at last she turned
upon him angrily and cried, O my father, if thou name matrimony to me
once more, I will go into my chamber and take a sword and, fixing its
hilt in the ground, will set its point to my waist; then will I press
upon it, till it come forth from my back, and so slay myself. Now when
the King heard these her words, the light became darkness in his sight
and his heart burned for her as with a flame of fire, because he feared
lest she should kill herself; and he was filled with perplexity
concerning her affair and the kings her suitors. So he said to her, If
thou be determined not to marry and there be no help for it: abstain
from going and coming in and out. Then he placed her in a house and shut
her up in a chamber, appointing ten old women as duennas to guard her,
and forbade her to go forth to the Seven Palaces; moreover, he made it
appear that he was incensed against her, and sent letters to all the
kings, giving them to know that she had been stricken with madness by
the Jinns; and it is now a year since she hath thus been secluded." Then
continued the Ifrit Dahnash, addressing the Ifritah Maymunah, "And I, O
my lady, go to her every night and take my fill of feeding my sight on
her face and I kiss her between the eyes: yet, of my love to her, I do
her no hurt neither mount her, for that her youth is fair and her grace
surpassing: every one who seeth her jealouseth himself for her. I
conjure thee, therefore, O my lady, to go back with me and look on her
beauty and loveliness and stature and perfection of proportion; and
after, if thou wilt, chastise me or enslave me; and win to thy will, for
it is thine to bid and to forbid." So saying, the Ifrit Dahnash bowed
his head towards the earth and drooped his wings downwards; but Maymunah
laughed at his words and spat in his face and answered, "What is this
girl of whom thou pratest but a potsherd wherewith to wipe after making
water?[249] Faugh! Faugh! By Allah, O accursed, I thought thou hadst
some wondrous tale to tell me or some marvellous news to give me. How
would it be if thou were to sight my beloved? Verily, this night I have
seen a young man, whom if thou saw though but in a dream, thou wouldst
be palsied with admiration and spittle would flow from thy mouth." Asked
the Ifrit, "And who and what is this youth?"; and she answered, "Know, O
Dahnash, that there hath befallen the young man the like of what thou
tellest me befel thy mistress; for his father pressed him again and
again to marry, but he refused, till at length his sire waxed wroth at
being opposed and imprisoned him in the tower where I dwell: and I came
up to-night and saw him." Said Dahnash, "O my lady, shew me this youth,
that I may see if he be indeed handsomer than my mistress, the Princess
Budur, or not; for I cannot believe that the like of her liveth in this
our age." Rejoined Maymunah, "Thou liest, O accursed, O most ill-omened
of Marids and vilest of Satans![250] Sure am I that the like of my
beloved is not in this world."——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day
and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Eightieth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Ifritah
Maymunah spake thus to the Ifrit Dahnash, "Sure am I that the like of my
beloved is not in this world! Art thou mad to fellow thy beloved with my
beloved?" He said, "Allah upon thee, O my lady, go back with me and look
upon my mistress, and after I will return with thee and look upon thy
beloved." She answered, "It must needs be so, O accursed, for thou art a
knavish devil; but I will not go with thee nor shalt thou come with me,
save upon condition of a wager which is this. If the lover thou lovest
and of whom thou boastest so bravely, prove handsomer than mine whom I
mentioned and whom I love and of whom I boast, the bet shall be thine
against me; but if my beloved prove the handsomer the bet shall be mine
against thee." Quoth Dahnash the Ifrit, "O my lady, I accept this thy
wager and am satisfied thereat; so come with me to the Islands." Quoth
Maymunah; "No! for the abode of my beloved is nearer than the abode of
thine: here it is under us; so come down with me to see my beloved and
after we will go look upon thy mistress." "I hear and I obey," said
Dahnash. So they descended to earth and alighted in the saloon which the
tower contained; then Maymunah stationed Dahnash beside the bed and,
putting out her hand, drew back the silken coverlet from Kamar
al-Zaman's face, when it glittered and glistened and shimmered and shone
like the rising sun. She gazed at him for a moment, then turning sharply
round upon Dahnash said, "Look, O accursed, and be not the basest of
madmen; I am a maid, yet my heart he hath waylaid." So Dahnash looked at
the Prince and long continued gazing steadfastly on him then, shaking
his head, said to Maymunah, "By Allah, O my lady, thou art excusable;
but there is yet another thing to be considered, and this is, that the
estate female differeth from the male. By Allah's might, this thy
beloved is the likest of all created things to my mistress in beauty and
loveliness and grace and perfection; and it is as though they were both
cast alike in the mould of seemlihead." Now when Maymunah heard these
words, the light became darkness in her sight and she dealt him with her
wing so fierce a buffet on the head as well-nigh made an end of him.
Then quoth she to him, "I conjure thee, by the light of his glorious
countenance, go at once, O accursed, and bring hither thy mistress whom
thou lovest so fondly and foolishly, and return in haste that we may lay
the twain together and look on them both as they lie asleep side by
side; so shall it appear to us which be the goodlier and more beautiful
of the two. Except thou obey me this very moment, O accursed, I will
dart my sparks at thee with my fire and consume thee; yea, in pieces I
will rend thee and into the deserts cast thee, that to stay-at-home and
wayfarer an example thou be!" Quoth Dahnash, "O my lady, I will do thy
behests, for I know forsure that my mistress is the fairer and the
sweeter." So saying the Ifrit flew away and Maymunah flew with him to
guard him. They were absent awhile and presently returned, bearing the
young lady, who was clad in a shift of fine Venetian silk, with a double
edging of gold and purfled with the most exquisite of embroidery having
these couplets worked upon the ends of the sleeves:—
Three matters hinder her from visiting us, in fear ✿ Of hate-full,
slandering envier and his hirèd spies:
The shining light of brow, the trinkets' tinkling voice, ✿ And scent of
essences that tell whene'er she hies:
Gi'en that she hide her brow with edge of sleeve, and leave ✿ At home
her trinketry, how shall her scent disguise?[251]
And Dahnash and Maymunah stinted not bearing that young lady till they
had carried her into the saloon and had laid her beside the youth Kamar
al-Zaman.——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Eighty-first Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Ifrit Dahnash
and the Ifritah Maymunah stinted not bearing Princess Budur till they
descended and laid her on the couch beside Kamar al-Zaman. Then they
uncovered both their faces, and they were the likest of all folk, each
to other, as they were twins or an only brother and sister; and indeed
they were a seduction to the pious, even as saith of them the poet
Al-Mubín:—
O heart! be not thy love confined to one, ✿ Lest thou by doting or
disdain be undone:
Love all the fair, and thou shalt find with them ✿ If this be lost, to
thee that shall be won.
And quoth another:—
Mine eyes beheld two lying on the ground; ✿ Both had I loved if on these
eyne they lay!
So Dahnash and Maymunah gazed on them awhile, and he said, "By Allah, O
my lady, it is good! My mistress is assuredly the fairer." She replied,
"Not so, my beloved is the fairer; woe to thee, O Dahnash! Art blind of
eye and heart that lean from fat thou canst not depart? Wilt thou hide
the truth? Dost thou not see his beauty and loveliness and fine stature
and symmetry? Out on thee, hear what I purpose to say in praise of my
beloved and, if thou be a lover true to her thou dost love, do thou the
like for her thou lovest." Then she kissed Kamar al-Zaman again and
again between the eyes and improvised this ode:—
How is this? Why should the blamer abuse thee in his pride?
What shall console my heart for thee, that art but slender bough?
A Nature-Kohl'd[252] eye thou hast that witcheth far and wide;
From pure platonic love[253] of it deliverance none I trow!
Those glances, fell as plundering Turk, to heart such havoc deal
As never havocked scymitar made keenest at the curve.
On me thou layest load of love the heaviest while I feel
So feeble grown that under weight of chemisette I swerve.
My love for thee as wottest well is habit, and my lowe
Is nature; to all others false is all the love I tender:
Now were my heart but like to thine I never would say No;
Only my wasted form is like thy waist so gracious-slender:
Out on him who in Beauty's robe for moon-like charms hath fame,
And who is claimed by mouth of men as marvel of his tribe!
"Of man what manner may he be" (ask they who flyte and blame)
"For whom thy heart is so distressed?" I only cry "Describe!"
Oh stone-entempered heart of him! learn of his yielding grace
And bending form to show me grace and yielding to consent.
Oh my Prince Beautiful, thou hast an Overseer in place[254]
Who irketh me; and eke a Groom whose wrong doth ne'er relent.
Indeed he lieth who hath said that all of loveliness
Was pent in Joseph: in thy charms there's many and many a Joe!
The Genii dread me when I stand and face to face address;
But meeting thee my fluttering heart its shame and terror show.
I take aversion semblance and I turn from thee in fright,
But more aversion I assume, more love from me dost claim;
That hair of jetty black! That brow e'er raying radiant light!
Those eyne wherein white jostles black![255] That dearling dainty frame!
When Dahnash heard the poesy which Maymunah spake in praise of her
beloved, he joyed with exceeding joy and marvelled with excessive
wonderment.——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say
her permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Eighty-second Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Ifrit
Dahnash heard the poesy which Maymunah spake in praise of her beloved,
he shook for exceeding joy and said, "Thou hast celebrated thy beloved
in song and thou hast indeed done well in praise of him whom thou
lovest! And there is no help for it but that I also in my turn do my
best to enfame my mistress, and recite somewhat in her honour." Then the
Ifrit went up to the lady Budur; and, kissing her between the eyes,
looked at Maymunah and at his beloved Princess and recited the following
verses, albeit he had no skill in poesy:—
Love for my fair they chide in angry way; ✿ Unjust for ignorance, yea
unjustest they!
Ah lavish favours on the love-mad, whom ✿ Taste of thy wrath and parting
woe shall slay:
In sooth for love I'm wet with railing tears, ✿ That rail mine eyelids
blood thou mightest say:
No marvel what I bear for love, 'tis marvel ✿ That any know my "me"
while thou'rt away:
Unlawful were our union did I doubt ✿ Thy love, or heart incline to
other May.
And eke these words:—
I feed eyes on their stead by the valley's side, ✿ And I'm slain and my
slayer[256] aside hath hied:
Grief-wine have I drunken, and down my cheeks ✿ Dance tears to the song
of the camel-guide:
For union-blessing I strive though sure, ✿ In Budur and Su'ád all my
bliss shall bide:[257]
Wot I not which of three gave me most to 'plain, ✿ So hear them numbered
ere thou decide:
Those Sworders her eyne, that Lancer her fig- ✿ ure, or ring-mail'd
Locks which her forehead hide.
Quoth she (and I ask of her what so wights ✿ Or abide in towns or in
desert ride[258])
To me, "In thy heart I dwell; look there!" ✿ Quoth I, "Where's my heart,
ah where? ah where?"
When Maymunah heard these lines from the Ifrit, she said, "Thou hast
done well, O Dahnash! But say thou which of the two is the handsomer?"
And he answered, "My mistress Budur is handsomer than thy beloved!"
Cried Maymunah, "Thou liest, O accursed. Nay, my beloved is more
beautiful than thine!" But Dahnash persisted, "Mine is the fairer." And
they ceased not to wrangle and challenge each other's words till
Maymunah cried out at Dahnash and would have laid violent hands on him;
but he humbled himself to her and, softening his speech, said, "Let not
the truth be a grief to thee, and cease we this talk, for all we say is
to testify in favour of our lovers; rather let each of us withdraw the
claim and seek we one who shall judge fairly between us which of the two
be fairer; and by his sentence we will abide." "I agree to this,"
answered she and smote the earth with her foot, whereupon there came out
of it an Ifrit blind of an eye, humpbacked and scurvy-skinned, with
eye-orbits slit up and down his face.[259] On his head were seven horns
and four locks of hair fell to his heels; his hands were pitchfork-like
and his legs mast-like and he had nails as the claws of a lion, and feet
as the hoofs of the wild ass.[260] When that Ifrit rose out of the earth
and sighted Maymunah, he kissed the ground before her and, standing with
his hands clasped behind him, said, "What is thy will, O my mistress, O
daughter of my King?"[261] She replied, "O Kashkash, I would have thee
judge between me and this accursed Dahnash." And she made known to him
the matter, from first to last, whereupon the Ifrit Kashkash looked at
the face of the youth and then at the face of the girl; and saw them
lying asleep, embraced, each with an arm under the other's neck, alike
in beauty and loveliness and equal in grace and goodliness. The Marid
gazed long upon them, marvelling at their seemlihead; and, after
carefully observing the twain, he turned to Maymunah and Dahnash, and
repeated these couplets:—
Go, visit her thou lovest, and regard not
The words detractors utter; envious churls
Can never favour love. Oh! sure the Merciful
Ne'er made a thing more fair to look upon,
Than two fond lovers in each others' arms,
Speaking their passion in a mute embrace.
When heart has turned to heart, the fools would part them
Strike idly on cold steel. So when thou 'st found
One purely, wholly thine, accept her true heart,
And live for her alone. Oh! thou that blamest
The love-struck for their love, give o'er thy talk,
How canst thou minister to a mind diseased?[262]
Then he turned again to Maymunah and Dahnash and said to them, "By
Allah, if you will have the truth, I tell you fairly the twain be equal
in beauty, and loveliness and perfect grace and goodliness, nor can I
make any difference between them on account of their being man and
woman. But I have another thought which is that we wake each of them in
turn, without the knowledge of the other, and whichever is the more
enamoured shall be held inferior in seemlihead and comeliness." Quoth
Maymunah, "Right is this recking," and quoth Dahnash, "I consent to
this." Then Dahnash changed himself to the form of a flea and bit Kamar
al-Zaman, whereupon he started from sleep in a fright——And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Eighty-third Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Dahnash changed
himself to the form of a flea and bit Kamar al-Zaman who started from
sleep in a fright and rubbed the bitten part, his neck, and scratched it
hard because of the smart. Then turning sideways, he found lying by him
something whose breath was sweeter than musk and whose skin was softer
than cream. Hereat marvelled he with great marvel and he sat up and
looked at what lay beside him; when he saw it to be a young lady like an
union pearl, or a shining sun, or a dome seen from afar on a well-built
wall; for she was five feet tall, with a shape like the letter[263] ا,
bosomed high and rosy-cheeked; even as saith of her the poet:—
Four things which ne'er conjoin, unless it be ✿ To storm my vitals and
to shed my blood:
Brow white as day and tresses black as night ✿ Cheeks rosy red and lips
which smiles o'erflood.
And also quoth another:—
A Moon she rises, Willow-wand she waves, ✿ Breathes Ambergris, and
gazes, a Gazelle:
Meseems that sorrow wooes my heart and wins ✿ And, when she wendeth
hastes therein to dwell!
And when Kamar al-Zaman saw the lady Budur, daughter of King Ghayur, and
her beauty and comeliness, she was sleeping clad in a shift of Venetian
silk, without her petticoat-trousers, and wore on her head a kerchief
embroidered with gold and set with stones of price: her ears were hung
with twin earrings which shone like constellations and round her neck
was a collar of union pearls, of size unique, past the competence of any
King. When he saw this, his reason was confounded and natural heat began
to stir in him; Allah awoke in him the desire of coition and he said to
himself, "Whatso Allah willeth, that shall be, and what He willeth not
shall never be!" So saying, he put out his hand and, turning her over,
loosed the collar of her chemise; then arose before his sight her bosom,
with its breasts like double globes of ivory; whereat his inclination
for her redoubled and he desired her with exceeding hot desire. He would
have awakened her but she would not awake, for Dahnash had made her
sleep heavy; so he shook her and moved her, saying, "O my beloved, awake
and look on me; I am Kamar al-Zaman." But she awoke not, neither moved
her head; whereupon he considered her case for a long hour and said to
himself, "If I guess aright, this is the damsel to whom my father would
have married me and these three years past I have refused her; but
Inshallah!—God willing—as soon as it is dawn, I will say to him:—Marry
me to her, that I may enjoy her."——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of
day and ceased to say her permitted say,
Now when it was the Hundred and Eighty-fourth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Kamar al-Zaman
said to himself, "By Allah, when I see dawn I will say to my sire:—Marry
me to her that I may enjoy her; nor will I let half the day pass ere I
possess her and take my fill of her beauty and loveliness." Then he bent
over Budur to buss her, whereat the Jinniyah Maymunah trembled and was
abashed and Dahnash, the Ifrit, was like to fly for joy. But, as Kamar
al-Zaman was about to kiss her upon the mouth, he was ashamed before
Allah and turned away his head and averted his face, saying to his
heart, "Have patience." Then he took thought awhile and said, "I will be
patient; haply my father when he was wroth with me and sent me to this
jail, may have brought my young lady and made her lie by my side to try
me with her, and may have charged her not to be readily awakened when I
would arouse her, and may have said to her:—Whatever thing Kamar
al-Zaman do to thee, make me ware thereof; or belike my sire standeth
hidden in some stead whence (being himself unseen) he can see all I do
with this young lady; and to-morrow he will scold me and cry:—How cometh
it that thou sayest, I have no mind to marry; and yet thou didst kiss
and embrace yonder damsel? So I will withhold myself lest I be ashamed
before my sire; and the right and proper thing to do is not to touch her
at this present, nor even to look upon her, except to take from her
somewhat which shall serve as a token to me and a memorial of her; that
some sign endure between me and her." Then Kamar al-Zaman raised the
young lady's hand and took from her little finger a seal-ring worth an
immense amount of money, for that its bezel was a precious jewel and
around it were graven these couplets:—
Count not that I your promises forgot, ✿ Despite the length of your
delinquencies:
Be generous, O my lord, to me inclining; ✿ Haply your mouth and cheeks
these lips may kiss:
By Allah, ne'er will I relinquish you ✿ Albe you _will_ transgress
love's boundaries.
Then Kamar al-Zaman took the seal-ring from the little finger of Queen
Budur and set it on his own; then, turning his back to her, went to
sleep.[264] When Maymunah the Jinniyah saw this, she was glad and said
to Dahnash and Kashkash, "Saw ye how my beloved Kamar al-Zaman bore
himself chastely towards this young lady? Verily, this was of the
perfection of his good gifts; for observe you twain how he looked on her
and noted her beauty and loveliness, and yet embraced her not neither
kissed her nor put his hand to her, but turned his back and slept."
Answered they, "Even so!" Thereupon Maymunah changed herself into a flea
and entering into the raiment of Budur, the loved of Dahnash, crept up
her calf and came upon her thigh and, reaching a place some four
carats[265] below her navel, there bit her. Thereupon she opened her
eyes and sitting up in bed, saw a youth lying beside her and breathing
heavily in his sleep, the loveliest of Almighty Allah's creatures, with
eyes that put to shame the fairest Houris of Heaven; and a mouth like
Solomon's seal, whose water was sweeter to the taste and more
efficacious than a theriack, and lips the colour of coral-stone, and
cheeks like the blood-red anemone, even as saith one, describing him in
these couplets:—
My mind's withdrawn from Zaynab and Nawár[266] ✿ By rosy cheeks that
growth of myrtle bear;
I love a fawn, a tunic-vested boy, ✿ And leave the love of
bracelet-wearing Fair:
My mate in hall and closet is unlike ✿ Her that I play with, as at home
we pair.
Oh thou, who blam'st my flight from Hind and Zaynab, ✿ The cause is
clear as dawn uplighting air!
Would'st have me fare[267] a slave, the thrall of thrall, ✿ Cribbed,
pent, confined behind the bar and wall?
Now when Princess Budur saw him, she was seized by a transport of
passion and yearning and love-longing,——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn
of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Eighty-fifth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Princess
Budur saw Kamar al-Zaman she was forthwith seized with a transport of
passion and yearning and love-longing, and she said to herself, "Alas,
my shame! This is a strange youth and I know him not. How cometh he to
be lying by my side on one bed?" Then she looked at him a second time
and noting his beauty and loveliness, said, "By Allah, he is indeed a
comely youth and my heart[268] is well-nigh torn in sunder with longing
for him! But alas, how am I shamed by him! By the Almighty, had I known
it was this youth who sought me in marriage of my father, I had not
rejected him, but had wived with him and enjoyed his loveliness!" Then
she gazed in his face and said, "O my lord and light of mine eyes, awake
from sleep and take thy pleasure in my beauty and grace." And she moved
him with her hand; but Maymunah the Jinniyah let down sleep upon him as
it were a curtain, and pressed heavily on his head with her wings so
that Kamar al-Zaman awoke not. Then Princess Budur shook him with her
hands and said, "My life on thee, hearken to me; awake and up from thy
sleep and look on the narcissus and the tender down thereon, and enjoy
the sight of naked waist and navel; and touzle me and tumble me from
this moment till break of day! Allah upon thee, O my lord, sit up and
prop thee against the pillow and slumber not!" Still Kamar al-Zaman made
her no reply but breathed hard in his sleep. Continued she, "Alas! Alas!
thou art insolent in thy beauty and comeliness and grace and loving
looks! But if thou art handsome, so am I handsome; what then is this
thou dost? Have they taught thee to flout me or hath my father, the
wretched old fellow,[269] made thee swear not to speak to me to-night?"
But Kamar al-Zaman opened not his mouth neither awoke, whereat her
passion for him redoubled and Allah inflamed her heart with love of him.
She stole one glance of eyes that cost her a thousand sighs: her heart
fluttered, and her vitals throbbed and her hands and feet quivered; and
she said to Kamar al-Zaman "Talk to me, O my lord! Speak to me, O my
friend! Answer me, O my beloved, and tell me thy name, for indeed thou
hast ravished my wit!" And during all this time he abode drowned in
sleep and answered her not a word, and Princess Budur sighed and said,
"Alas! Alas! why art thou so proud and self-satisfied?" Then she shook
him and turning his hand over, saw her seal-ring on his little finger,
whereat she cried a loud cry, and followed it with a sigh of passion and
said, "Alack! Alack! By Allah, thou art my beloved and thou lovest me!
Yet thou seemest to turn thee away from me out of coquetry, for all, O
my darling, thou camest to me, whilst I was asleep and knew not what
thou didst with me, and tookest my seal-ring; and yet I will not pull it
off thy finger." So saying, she opened the bosom of his shirt and bent
over him and kissed him and put forth her hand to him, seeking somewhat
that she might take as a token, but found nothing. Then she thrust her
hand into his breast and, because of the smoothness of his body, it
slipped down to his waist and thence to his navel and thence to his
yard, whereupon her heart ached and her vitals quivered and lust was
sore upon her, for that the desire of women is fiercer than the desire
of men,[270] and she was ashamed of her own shamelessness. Then she
plucked his seal-ring from his finger, and put it on her own instead of
the ring he had taken, and bussed his inner lips and hands, nor did she
leave any part of him unkissed; after which she took him to her breast
and embraced him and, laying one of her hands under his neck and the
other under his armpit, nestled close to him and fell asleep by his
side——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Eighty-sixth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Princess
Budur fell asleep by the side of Kamar al-Zaman, after doing that which
she did, quoth Maymunah to Dahnash, "Sawst thou, O accursed, how proudly
and coquettishly my beloved bore himself, and how hotly and passionately
thy mistress showed herself to my dearling? There can be no doubt that
my beloved is handsomer than thine; nevertheless I pardon thee." Then
she wrote him a document of manumission and turned to Kashkash and said,
"Go, help Dahnash to take up his mistress and aid him to carry her back
to her own place, for the night waneth apace and there is but little
left of it." "I hear and I obey;" answered Kashkash. So the two Ifrits
went forward to Princess Budur and upraising her flew away with her;
then, bearing her back to her own place, they laid her on her bed,
whilst Maymunah abode alone with Kamar al-Zaman, gazing upon him as he
slept, till the night was all but spent, when she went her way. As soon
as morning morrowed, the Prince awoke from sleep and turned right and
left, but found not the maiden by him and said in his mind, "What is
this business? It is as if my father would incline me to marriage with
the damsel who was with me and have now taken her away by stealth, to
the intent that my desire for wedlock may redouble." Then he called out
to the eunuch who slept at the door, saying, "Woe to thee, O damned one,
arise at once!" So the eunuch rose, bemused with sleep, and brought him
basin and ewer, whereupon Kamar al-Zaman entered the water-closet and
did his need;[271] then, coming out made the Wuzu-ablution and prayed
the dawn-prayer, after which he sat telling on his beads the
ninety-and-nine names of Almighty Allah. Then he looked up and, seeing
the eunuch standing in service upon him, said, "Out on thee, O Sawáb!
Who was it came hither and took away the young lady from my side and I
still sleeping?" Asked the eunuch, "O my lord, what manner of young
lady?" "The young lady who lay with me last night," replied Kamar
al-Zaman. The eunuch was startled at his words and said to him, "By
Allah, there hath been with thee neither young lady nor other! How
should young lady have come in to thee, when I was sleeping in the
doorway and the door was locked? By Allah, O my lord, neither male nor
female hath come in to thee!" Exclaimed the Prince, "Thou liest, O
pestilent slave!: is it of thy competence also to hoodwink me and refuse
to tell me what is become of the young lady who lay with me last night
and decline to inform me who took her away?" Replied the eunuch (and he
was affrighted at him), "By Allah, O my lord, I have seen neither young
lady nor young lord!" His words only angered Kamar al-Zaman the more and
he said to him, "O accursed one, my father hath indeed taught thee
deceit! Come hither." So the eunuch came up to him, and the Prince took
him by the collar and dashed him to the ground; whereupon he let fly a
loud fart[272] and Kamar al-Zaman, kneeling upon him, kicked him and
throttled him till he fainted away. Then he dragged him forth and tied
him to the well-rope, and let him down like a bucket into the well and
plunged him into the water, then drew him up and lowered him down again.
Now it was hard winter weather, and Kamar al-Zaman ceased not to plunge
the eunuch into the water and pull him up again and douse him and haul
him whilst he screamed and called for help; and the Prince kept on
saying "By Allah, O damned one, I will not draw thee up out of this well
till thou tell me and fully acquaint me with the story of the young lady
and who it was took her away, whilst I slept."——And Shahrazad perceived
the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Eighty-seventh Night,
She said it hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Kamar al-Zaman said
to the eunuch, "By Allah! I will not draw thee up out of this well until
thou tell me the story of the young lady and who it was took her away
whilst I slept." Answered the eunuch, after he had seen death staring
him in the face; "O my lord, let me go and I will relate to thee the
truth and the whole tale." So Kamar al-Zaman pulled him up out of the
well, all but dead for suffering, what with cold and the pain of dipping
and dousing, drubbing and dread of drowning. He shook like cane in
hurricane, his teeth were clenched as by cramp and his clothes were
drenched and his body befouled and torn by the rough sides of the well:
briefly he was in a sad pickle. Now when Kamar al-Zaman saw him in this
sorry plight, he was concerned for him; but, as soon as the eunuch found
himself on the floor, he said to him,"O my lord, let me go and doff my
clothes and wring them out and spread them in the sun to dry, and don
others; after which I will return to thee forthwith and tell thee the
truth of the matter." Answered the Prince, "O rascal slave! hadst thou
not seen death face to face, never hadst thou confessed to fact nor told
me a word; but go now and do thy will, and then come back to me at once
and tell me the truth." Thereupon the eunuch went out, hardly crediting
his escape, and ceased not running, stumbling and rising in his haste,
till he came in to King Shahriman, whom he found sitting at talk with
his Wazir of Kamar al-Zaman's case. The King was saying to the Minister,
"I slept not last night, for anxiety concerning my son, Kamar al-Zaman,
and indeed I fear lest some harm befal him in that old tower. What good
was there in imprisoning him?" Answered the Wazir, "Have no care for
him. By Allah, no harm will befal him! None at all! Leave him in prison
for a month till his temper yield and his spirit be broken and he return
to his senses." As the two spoke behold, up rushed the eunuch, in the
aforesaid plight, making the King who was troubled at sight of him; and
he cried "O our lord the Sultan! Verily, thy son's wits are fled and he
hath gone mad; he hath dealt with me thus and thus, so that I am become
as thou seest me, and he kept saying:—A young lady lay with me this
night and stole away secretly whilst I slept. Where is she? And he
insisteth on my letting him know where she is and on my telling him who
took her away. But I have seen neither girl nor boy: the door was locked
all through the night, for I slept before it with the key under my head,
and I opened to him in the morning with my own hand." When King
Shahriman heard this, he cried out, saying, "Alas, my son!;" and he was
enraged with sore rage against the Wazir, who had been the cause of all
this case and said to him, "Go up, bring me news of my son and see what
hath befallen his mind." So the Wazir rose and, stumbling over his long
skirts, in his fear of the King's wrath, hastened with the slave to the
tower. Now the sun had risen and when the Minister came in to Kamar
al-Zaman, he found him sitting on the couch reciting the Koran; so he
saluted him and seated himself by his side, and said to him, "O my lord,
this wretched eunuch brought us tidings which troubled and alarmed us
and which incensed the King." Asked Kamar al-Zaman, "And what hath he
told you of me to trouble my father? In good sooth he hath troubled none
but me." Answered the Wazir, "He came to us in fulsome state and told us
of thee a thing which Heaven forfend; and the slave added a lie which it
befitteth not to repeat, Allah preserve thy youth and sound sense and
tongue of eloquence, and forbid to come from thee aught of offence!"
Quoth the Prince,"O Wazir, and what thing did this pestilent slave say
of me?" The Minister replied, "He told us that thy wits had taken leave
of thee and thou wouldst have it that a young lady lay with thee last
night, and thou wast instant with him to tell thee whither she went and
thou diddest torture him to that end." But when Kamar al-Zaman heard
these words, he was enraged with sore rage and he said to the Wazir,
"'Tis manifest to me in very deed that you people taught the eunuch to
do as he did"——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say
her permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Eighty-eighth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Kamar
al-Zaman heard the words of the Wazir he was enraged with sore rage and
said to him, "'Tis manifest to me in very deed that you people taught
the eunuch to do as he did and forbade him to tell me what became of the
young lady who lay with me last night. But thou, O Wazir, art cleverer
than the eunuch; so do thou tell me without stay or delay, whither went
the young lady who slept on my bosom last night; for it was you who sent
her and bade her sleep in my embrace and we lay together till dawn; but,
when I awoke, I found her not. So where is she now?" Said the Wazir, "O
my lord Kamar al-Zaman, Allah's name encompass thee about! By the
Almighty, we sent none to thee last night, but thou layest alone, with
the door locked on thee and the eunuch sleeping behind it, nor did there
come to thee young lady or any other. Regain thy reason, O my lord, and
stablish thy senses and occupy not thy mind with vanities." Rejoined
Kamar al-Zaman who was incensed at his words, "O Wazir, the young lady
in question is my beloved, the fair one with the black eyes and rosy
cheeks, whom I held in my arms all last night." So the Minister wondered
at his words and asked him, "Didst thou see this damsel last night with
thine own eyes on wake or in sleep?" Answered Kamar al-Zaman, "O
ill-omened old man, dost thou fancy I saw her with my ears? Indeed, I
saw her with my very eyes and awake, and I touched her with my hand, and
I watched by her full half the night, feeding my vision on her beauty
and loveliness and grace and tempting looks. But you had schooled her
and charged her to speak no word to me; so she feigned sleep and I lay
by her side till dawn, when I awoke and found her gone." Rejoined the
Wazir, "O my lord Kamar al-Zaman, haply thou sawest this in thy sleep;
it must have been a delusion of dreams or a deception caused by eating
various kinds of food, or a suggestion of the accursed devils." Cried
the Prince, "O pestilent old man! wilt thou too make a mock of me and
tell me this was haply a delusion of dreams, when that eunuch confessed
to the young lady, saying:—At once I will return to thee and tell thee
all about her?" With these words, he sprang up and rushed at the Wazir
and gripped hold of his beard (which was long[273]) and, after gripping
it, he twisted his hand in it and haling him off the couch, threw him on
the floor. It seemed to the Minister as though his soul departed his
body for the violent plucking at his beard; and Kamar al-Zaman ceased
not kicking the Wazir and basting his breast and ribs and cuffing him
with open hand on the nape of his neck till he had well-nigh beaten him
to death. Then said the old man in his mind, "Just as the eunuch-slave
saved his life from this lunatic youth by telling him a lie, thus it is
even fitter that I do likewise; else he will destroy me. So now for my
lie to save myself, he being mad beyond a doubt." Then he turned to
Kamar al-Zaman and said, "O my lord, pardon me; for indeed thy father
charged me to conceal from thee this affair of the young lady; but now I
am weak and weary and wounded with tunding; for I am an old man and lack
strength and bottom to endure blows. Have, therefore, a little patience
with me and I will tell thee all and acquaint thee with the story of the
young woman." When the Prince heard this, he left off drubbing him and
said, "Wherefore couldst thou not tell me the tale until after shame and
blows? Rise now, unlucky old man that thou art, and tell me her story."
Quoth the Wazir, "Say, dost thou ask of the young lady with the fair
face and perfect form?" Quoth Kamar al-Zaman, "Even so! Tell me, O
Wazir, who it was that led her to me and laid her by my side, and who
was it that took her away from me by night; and let me know forthright
whither she is gone, that I myself may go to her at once. If my father
did this deed to me that he might try me by means of that beautiful
girl, with a view to our marriage, I consent to wed her and free myself
of this trouble; for he did all these dealings with me only because I
refused wedlock. But now I consent and I say again, I consent to
matrimony: so tell this to my father, O Wazir, and advise him to marry
me to that young lady; for I will have none other and my heart loveth
none save her alone. Now rise up at once and haste thee to my father and
counsel him to hurry on our wedding and bring me his answer within this
very hour." Rejoined the Wazir, "'Tis well!" and went forth from him,
hardly believing himself out of his hands. Then he set off from the
tower, walking and tripping up as he went, for excess of fright and
agitation, and he ceased not hurrying till he came in to King
Shahriman.——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying
her permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Eighty-ninth Night,
She said, it hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Wazir fared
forth from the tower, and ceased not running till he came in to King
Shahriman, who said to him as he sighted him, "O thou Wazir, what man
hath brought thee to grief and whose mischief hath treated thee in way
unlief; how happeneth it that I see thee dumb-foundered and coming to me
thus astounded?" Replied the Wazir, "O King! I bring thee good news."
"And what is it?" quoth Shariman, and quoth the Wazir, "Know that thy
son Kamar al-Zaman's wits are clean gone and that he hath become stark
mad." Now when the King heard these words of the Minister, light became
darkness in his sight and he said, "O Wazir, make clear to me the nature
of his madness." Answered the Wazir, "O my lord, I hear and I obey."
Then he told him that such and such had passed and acquainted him with
all that his son had done; whereupon the King said to him, "Hear, O
Wazir, the good tidings which I give thee in return for this thy fair
news of my son's insanity; and it shall be the cutting off of thy head
and the forfeiture of my favour, O most ill-omened of Wazirs and foulest
of Emirs! for I feel that thou hast caused my son's disorder by the
wicked advice and the sinister counsel thou hast given me first and
last. By Allah, if aught of mischief or madness have befallen my son I
will most assuredly nail thee upon the palace-dome and make thee drain
the bitterest draught of death!" Then he sprang up and, taking the Wazir
with him, fared straight for the tower and entered it. And when Kamar
al-Zaman saw the two, he rose to his father in haste from the couch
whereon he sat and kissing his hands drew back and hung down his head
and stood before him with his arms behind him, and thus remained for a
full hour. Then he raised his head towards his sire; the tears gushed
from his eyes and streamed down his cheeks and he began repeating:—
"Forgive the sin 'neath which my limbs are trembling,
For the slave seeks for mercy from his master;
I've done a fault, which calls for free confession,
Where shall it call for mercy, and forgiveness?"[274]
When the King heard this, he arose and embraced his son, and kissing him
between the eyes, made him sit by his side on the couch; then he turned
to the Wazir and, looking on him with eyes of wrath, said, "O dog of
Wazirs, how didst thou say of my son such and such things and make my
heart quake for him?" Then he turned to the Prince and said, "O my son,
what is to-day called?" He answered, "O my father, this day is the
Sabbath, and to-morrow is First day: then come Second day, Third,
Fourth, Fifth day and lastly Friday."[275] Exclaimed the King, "O my
son, O Kamar al-Zaman, praised be Allah for the preservation of thy
reason! What is the present month called in our Arabic?" "Zú'l-Ka'adah,"
answered Kamar al-Zaman, "and it is followed by Zú'l-hijjah; then cometh
Muharram, then Safar, then Rabí'a the First and Rabí'a the Second, the
two Jamádás, Rajab, Sha aban, Ramazán and Shawwál." At this the King
rejoiced exceedingly and spat in the Wazir's face, saying, "O wicked old
man, how canst thou say that my son is mad? And now none is mad but
thou." Hereupon the Minister shook his head and would have spoken, but
bethought himself to wait awhile and see what might next befal. Then the
King said to his child, "O my son, what words be these thou saidest to
the eunuch and the Wazir, declaring:—I was sleeping with a fair damsel
this night?[276] What damsel is this of whom thou speakest?" Then Kamar
al-Zaman laughed at his father's words and replied, "O my father, know
that I can bear no more jesting; so add me not another mock or even a
single word on the matter, for my temper hath waxed short by that you
have done with me. And know, O my father, with assured knowledge, that I
consent to marry, but on condition that thou give me to wife her who lay
by my side this night; for I am certain it was thou sentest her to me
and madest me in love with her and then despatchedst a message to her
before the dawn and tookest her away from beside me." Rejoined the King,
"The name of Allah encompass thee about, O my son, and be thy wit
preserved from witlessness!"——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day
and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Ninetieth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth King
Shahriman to his son Kamar al-Zaman, "The name of Allah encompass thee
about, O my son, and be thy wit preserved from witlessness! What thing
be this young lady whom thou fanciest I sent to thee last night and then
again that I sent to withdraw her from thee before dawn? By the Lord, O
my son, I know nothing of this affair, and Allah upon thee, tell me if
it be a delusion of dreaming or a deception caused by indisposition. For
verily thou layest down to sleep last night with thy mind occupied anent
marriage and troubled with the talk of it (Allah damn marriage and the
hour when I spake of it and curse him who counselled it!); and without
doubt or diffidence I can say that being moved in mind by the mention of
wedlock thou dreamedst that a handsome young lady embraced thee and
didst fancy thou sawest her when awake. But all this, O my son, is but
an imbroglio of dreams." Replied Kamar al-Zaman, "Leave this talk and
swear to me by Allah, the All-creator, the Omniscient; the Humbler of
the tyrant Cæsars and the Destroyer of the Chosroes, that thou knowest
naught of the young lady nor of her woning-place." Quoth the King, "By
the Might of Allah Almighty, the God of Moses and Abraham, I know naught
of all this and never even heard of it; it is assuredly a delusion of
dreams thou hast seen in sleep." Then the Prince replied to his sire, "I
will give thee a self-evident proof that it happened to me when on
wake."——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Ninety-first Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Kamar al-Zaman
said to his sire, "I will give thee a self-evident proof that this
happened to me when on wake. Now let me ask thee, did it ever befal any
man to dream that he was battling a sore battle and after to awake from
sleep and find in his hand a sword-blade besmeared with blood? Answered
the King, "No, by Allah, O my son, this hath never been." Rejoined Kamar
al-Zaman, "I will tell thee what happened to me and it was this.
Meseemed I awoke from sleep in the middle of the past night and found a
girl lying by my side, whose form was like mine and whose favour was as
mine. I embraced her and turned her about with my hand and took her
seal-ring, which I put on my finger, and she pulled off my ring and put
it on hers. Then I went to sleep by her side, but refrained from her for
shame of thee, deeming that thou hadst sent her to me, intending to
tempt me with her and incline me to marriage, and suspecting thee to be
hidden somewhere whence thou couldst see what I did with her. And I was
ashamed even to kiss her on the mouth for thy account, thinking over
this temptation to wedlock; and, when I awoke at point of day, I found
no trace of her, nor could I come at any news of her, and there befel me
what thou knowest of with the eunuch and with the Wazir. How then can
this case have been a dream and a delusion, when the ring is a reality?
Save for her ring on my finger I should indeed have deemed it a dream;
but here is the ring on my little finger: look at it, O King, and see
what is its worth." So saying, he handed the ring to his father, who
examined it and turned it over, then looked to his son and said,
"Verily, there is in this ring some mighty mystery and some strange
secret. What befel thee last night with the girl is indeed a hard nut to
crack, and I know not how intruded upon us this intruder. None is the
cause of all this pother save the Wazir; but, Allah upon thee, O my son,
take patience, so haply the Lord may turn to gladness this thy grief and
to thy sadness bring complete relief: as quoth one of the poets:—
Haply shall Fortune draw her rein, and bring ✿ Fair chance, for she is
changeful, jealous, vain:
Still I may woo my want and wishes win, ✿ And see on heels of care
unfain, the fain.
And now, O my son, I am certified at this hour that thou art not mad;
but thy case is a strange one which none can clear up for thee save the
Almighty." Cried the Prince, "By Allah, O my father, deal kindly with me
and seek out this young lady and hasten her coming to me; else I shall
die of woe and of my death shall no one know." Then he betrayed the
ardour of his passion; and turned towards his father and repeated these
two couplets:—
If your promise of personal call prove untrue, ✿ Deign in vision to
grant me an interview:
Quoth they, "How can phantom[277] appear to the sight ✿ Of a youth,
whose sight is fordone, perdue?"
Then, after ending his poetry, Kamar al-Zaman again turned to his
father, with submission and despondency, and shedding tears in flood,
began repeating these lines——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Ninety-second Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Kamar
al-Zaman had repeated to his father these verses, he wept and complained
and groaned from a wounded heart; and added these lines:—
Beware that eye-glance which hath magic might; ✿ Wherever turn those
orbs it bars our flight:
Nor be deceived by low sweet voice, that breeds ✿ A fever festering in
the heart and sprite:
So soft that silky skin, were rose to touch it ✿ She'd cry and
tear-drops rain for pain and fright:
Did Zephyr e'en in sleep pass o'er her land, ✿ Scented he'd choose to
dwell in scented site:
Her necklets vie with tinkling of her belt; ✿ Her wrists strike either
wristlet dumb with spite:
When would her bangles buss those rings in ear, ✿ Upon the lover's eyne
high mysteries 'light:
I'm blamed for love of her, nor pardon claim; ✿ Eyes are not profiting
which lack foresight:
Heaven strip thee, blamer mine! unjust art thou; ✿ Before this fawn must
every eye low bow.[278]
After which he said, "By Allah, O my father, I cannot endure to be
parted from her even for an hour." The King smote hand upon hand and
exclaimed, "There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the
Glorious, the Great! No cunning contrivance can profit us in this
affair." Then he took his son by the hand and carried him to the palace,
where Kamar al-Zaman lay down on the bed of languor and the King sat at
his head, weeping and mourning over him and leaving him not, night or
day, till at last the Wazir came in to him and said, "O King of the age
and the time, how long wilt thou remain shut up with thy son and hide
thyself from thy troops? Haply, the order of thy realm may be deranged,
by reason of thine absence from thy Grandees and Officers of State. It
behoveth the man of understanding, if he have various wounds in his
body, to apply him first to medicine the most dangerous; so it is my
counsel to thee that thou remove thy son from this place to the pavilion
which is in the palace overlooking the sea; and shut thyself up with him
there, setting apart in every week two days, Thursday and Monday, for
state receptions and progresses and reviews. On these days let thine
Emirs and Wazirs and Chamberlains and Viceroys and high Officials and
Grandees of the realm and the rest of the levies and the lieges have
access to thee and submit their affairs to thee; and do thou their needs
and judge among them and give and take with them and bid and forbid. And
the rest of the week thou shalt pass with thy son, Kamar al-Zaman, and
cease not thus doing till Allah shall vouchsafe relief to you twain.
Think not, O King, that thou art safe from the shifts of Time and the
strokes of Change which come like a traveller in the night; for the wise
man is ever on his guard and how well saith the poet:—
Thou deemedst well of Time when days went well, ✿ And fearedst not what
ills might bring thee Fate:
The Nights so fair and restful cozened thee, ✿ For peaceful Nights bring
woes of heavy weight.
Oh children of mankind whom Time befriends, ✿ Beware of Time's deceits
or soon or late!"[279]
When the Sultan heard his Wazir's words he saw that they were right and
deemed his counsel wise, and it had effect upon him for he feared lest
the order of the state be deranged; so he rose at once and bade
transport his son from his sick room to the pavilion in the palace
overlooking the sea. Now this palace was girt round by the waters and
was approached by a causeway twenty cubits wide. It had windows on all
sides commanding an ocean-view; its floor was paved with parti-coloured
marbles and its ceiling was painted in the richest pigments and figured
with gold and lapis-lazuli. They furnished it for Kamar al-Zaman with
splendid upholstery, embroidered rugs and carpets of the richest silk;
and they clothed the walls with choice brocades and hung curtains
bespangled with gems of price. In the midst they set him a couch of
juniper[280]-wood inlaid with pearls and jewels, and Kamar al-Zaman sat
down thereon, but the excess of his concern and passion for the young
lady had wasted his charms and emaciated his body; he could neither eat
nor drink nor sleep; and he was like a man who had been sick twenty
years of sore sickness. His father seated himself at his head, grieving
for him with the deepest grief, and every Monday and Thursday he gave
his Wazirs and Emirs and Chamberlains and Viceroys and Lords of the
realm and levies and the rest of his lieges leave to come up to him in
that pavilion. So they entered and did their several service and duties
and abode with him till the end of the day, when they went their ways
and the King returned to his son in the pavilion whom he left not night
nor day; and he ceased not doing on this wise for many days and nights.
Such was the case with Kamar al-Zaman, son of King Shahriman; but as
regards Princess Budur, daughter of King Ghayur, Lord of the Isles and
the Seven Palaces, when the two Jinns bore her up and laid her on her
bed, she slept till daybreak, when she awoke and sitting upright looked
right and left, but saw not the youth who had lain in her bosom. At this
her vitals fluttered, her reason fled and she shrieked a loud shriek
which awoke all her slave-girls and nurses and duennas. They flocked in
to her; and the chief of them came forward and asked, "What aileth thee,
O my lady?" Answered the Princess, "O wretched old woman, where is my
beloved, the handsome youth who lay last night in my bosom? Tell me
whither he is gone." Now when the duenna heard this, the light starkened
in her sight and she feared from her mischief with sore affright, and
said to her, "O my Lady Budur, what unseemly words are these?" Cried the
Princess, "Woe to thee, pestilent crone that thou art! I ask thee again
where is my beloved, the goodly youth with the shining face and the
slender form, the jetty eyes and the joined eyebrows, who lay with me
last night from supper-tide until near daybreak?" She rejoined, "By
Allah, O my lady, I have seen no young man nor any other. I conjure
thee, carry not this unseemly jest too far lest we all lose our lives;
for perhaps the joke may come to thy father's ears and who shall then
deliver us from his hand?"——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Ninety-third Night,
She said, "It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the duenna
bespake the Lady Budur in these words, 'Allah upon thee, O my lady!
carry not this unseemly jest too far; for perhaps it may come to thy
father's ears, and who shall then deliver us from his hand?'" The
Princess rejoined, "In very sooth a youth lay with me last night, one of
the fairest-faced of men." Exclaimed the duenna, "Heaven preserve thy
reason! indeed no one lay with thee last night." Thereupon the Princess
looked at her hand and, finding Kamar al-Zaman's seal-ring on her finger
in stead of her own, said to her, "Woe to thee, thou accursed! thou
traitress! wilt thou lie to me and tell me that none lay with me last
night and swear to me a falsehood in the name of the Lord?" Replied the
duenna, "By Allah, I do not lie to thee nor have I sworn falsely." Then
the Princess was incensed by her words and, drawing a sword she had by
her, she smote the old woman with it and slew her;[281] whereupon the
eunuch and the waiting-women and the concubines cried out at her, and
ran to her father and, without stay or delay, acquainted him with her
case. So the King went to her, and asked her, "O my daughter, what
aileth thee?"; and she answered, "O my father, where is the youth who
lay with me last night?" Then her reason fled from her head and she cast
her eyes right and left and rent her raiment even to the skirt. When her
sire saw this, he bade the women lay hands on her; so they seized her
and manacled her, then putting a chain of iron about her neck, made her
fast to one of the palace-windows and there left her.[282] Thus far
concerning Princess Budur; but as regards her father, King Ghayur, the
world was straitened upon him when he saw what had befallen his
daughter, for that he loved her and her case was not a little grievous
to him. So he summoned on it the doctors and astrologers and men skilled
in talisman-writing and said to them, "Whoso healeth my daughter of what
ill she hath, I will marry him to her and give him half of my kingdom;
but whoso cometh to her and cureth her not, I will strike off his head
and hang it over her palace-gate." Accordingly, all who went in to her,
but failed to heal her, he beheaded and hung their heads over the
palace-gates, till he had beheaded on her account forty doctors and
crucified forty astrologers; wherefor the general held aloof from her,
all the physicians having failed to medicine her malady; and her case
was a puzzle to the men of science and the adepts in cabalistic
characters. And as her longing and passion redoubled and love and
distraction were sore upon her, she poured forth tears and repeated
these couplets:—
My fondness, O my moon, for thee my foeman is, ✿ And to thy comradeship
the nights my thought compel:
In gloom I bide with fire that flames below my ribs, ✿ Whose lowe I make
comparison with heat of Hell:
I'm plagued with sorest stress of pine and ecstasy; ✿ Nor clearest
noontide can that horrid pain dispel.
Then she sighed and repeated these also:—
Salams fro' me to friends in every stead; ✿ Indeed to all dear friends
do I incline:
Salams, but not salams that bid adieu; ✿ Salams that growth of good for
you design:
I love you dear, indeed, nor less your land, ✿ But bide I far from every
need of mine!
And when the lady Budur ceased repeating her poetry, she wept till her
eyes waxed sore and her cheeks changed form and hue, and in this
condition she continued three years. Now she had a foster-brother, by
name Marzawán,[283] who was travelling in far lands and absent from her
the whole of this time. He loved her with an exceeding love, passing the
love of brothers; so when he came back he went in to his mother and
asked for his sister, the Princess Budur. She answered him, "O my son,
thy sister hath been smitten with madness and hath passed these three
years with a chain of iron about her neck; and all the physicians and
men of science have failed of healing her." When Marzawan heard these
words he said, "I must needs go in to her; peradventure I may discover
what she hath, and be able to medicine her;" and his mother replied,
"Needs must thou visit her, but wait till to-morrow, that I may contrive
some thing to suit thy case." Then she went a-foot to the palace of the
Lady Budur and, accosting the eunuch in charge of the gates, made him a
present and said to him, "I have a daughter, who was brought up with thy
mistress and since then I married her; and, when that befel the Princess
which befel her, she became troubled and sore concerned, and I desire of
thy favour that my daughter may go in to her for an hour and look on
her; and then return whence she came, so shall none know of it." Quoth
the eunuch, "This may not be except by night, after the King hath
visited his child and gone away; then come thou and thy daughter." So
she kissed the eunuch's hand and, returning home, waited till the morrow
at nightfall; and when it was time she arose and sought her son Marzawan
and attired him in woman's apparel; then, taking his hand in hers, led
him towards the palace, and ceased not walking with him till she came
upon the eunuch after the Sultan had ended his visit to the Princess.
Now when the eunuch saw her, he rose to her, and said, "Enter, but do
not prolong thy stay!" So they went in and when Marzawan beheld the Lady
Budur in the aforesaid plight, he saluted her, after his mother had
doffed his woman's garb: then he took out of their satchel books he had
brought with him; and, lighting a wax-candle, he began to recite certain
conjurations. Thereupon the Princess looked at him and recognising him,
said, "O my brother, thou hast been absent on thy travels, and thy news
have been cut off from us." He replied, "True! but Allah hath brought me
back safe and sound, I am now minded to set out again nor hath aught
delayed me but the news I hear of thee; wherefore my heart burned for
thee and I came to thee, so haply I may free thee of thy malady." She
rejoined, "O my brother, thinkest thou it is madness aileth me?" "Yes,"
answered he, and she said, "Not so, by Allah! 'tis even as saith the
poet:—
Quoth they "Thou rav'st on him thou lov'st:" quoth I, ✿ "The sweets of
love are only for th' insane!"
Love never maketh Time his friend befriend; ✿ Only the Jinn-struck wight
such boon can gain:
Well! yes, I'm mad: bring him who madded me ✿ And, if he cure my
madness, blame restrain!"
Then she let Marzawan know that she was love-daft and he said, "Tell me
concerning thy tale and what befel thee: haply there may be in my hand
something which shall be a means of deliverance for thee."——And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Ninety-fourth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Marzawan thus
addressed Princess Budur, "Tell me concerning thy tale and what befel
thee: haply Allah may inspire me with a means of deliverance for thee."
Quoth she, "O my brother, hear my story which is this. One night I awoke
from sleep, in the last third of the night[284] and, sitting up, saw by
my side the handsomest of youths that be, and tongue faileth to describe
him, for he was as a willow-wand or an Indian rattan-cane. So methought
it was my father who had done on this wise in order thereby to try me,
for that he had consulted me concerning wedlock, when the Kings sought
me of him to wife, and I had refused. It was this thought withheld me
from arousing him, for I feared that, if I did aught or embraced him, he
would peradventure inform my father of my doings. But in the morning, I
found on my finger his seal-ring, in place of my own which he had taken.
And, O my brother, my heart was seized with love of him at first sight;
and, for the violence of my passion and longing, I have never savoured
the taste of sleep and have no occupation save weeping alway and
repeating verses night and day. And this, O my brother, is my story and
the cause of my madness." Then she poured forth tears and repeated these
couplets:—
"Now Love hast banished all that bred delight; ✿ With that
heart-nibbling fawn my joys took flight:
Lightest of trifles lover's blood to him ✿ Who wastes the vitals of the
hapless wight!
For him I'm jealous of my sight and thought; ✿ My heart acts spy upon my
thought and sight:
Those long-lashed eyelids rain on me their shafts ✿ Guileful, destroying
hearts where'er they light:
Now, while my portion in the world endures, ✿ Shall I behold him ere I
quit world-site?
What bear I for his sake I'd hide, but tears ✿ Betray my feelings to the
spy's despight.
When near, our union seemeth ever far; ✿ When far, my thoughts to him
aye nearest are."
And presently she continued, "See then, O my brother, how thou mayest
aid me in mine affliction." So Marzawan bowed his head groundwards
awhile, wondering and not knowing what to do, then he raised it and said
to her, "All thou hast spoken to me I hold to be true, though the case
of the young man pass my understanding: but I will go round about all
lands and will seek for what may heal thee; haply Allah shall appoint
thy healing to be at my hand. Meanwhile, take patience and be not
disquieted." Thereupon Marzawan farewelled her, praying that she might
be constant and left her repeating these couplets:—
Thine image ever companies my sprite, ✿ For all thou'rt distant from
then pilgrim's sight;
But my heart-wishes e'er attract thee near: ✿ What is the lightning's
speed to Thought's swift flight?
Then go not thou, my very light of eyes ✿ Which, when thou'rt gone, lack
all the Kohl of light.
Then Marzawan returned to his mother's house, where he passed the night.
And when the morrow dawned, having equipped himself for his journey, he
fared forth and ceased not faring from city to city and from island to
island for a whole month, till he came to a town named Al-Tayrab.[285]
Here he went about scenting news of the townsfolk, so haply he might
light on a cure for the Princess's malady, for in every capital he
entered or passed by, it was reported that Queen Budur, daughter of King
Ghayur, had lost her wits. But arriving at Al-Tayrab city, he heard that
Kamar al-Zaman, son of King Shahriman, was fallen sick and afflicted
with melancholy madness. So Marzawan asked the name of the Prince's
capital and they said to him, "It is on the Islands of Khalidan and it
lieth distant from our city a whole month's journey by sea, but by land
it is six months' march." So he went down to the sea in a ship which was
bound for the Khalidan Isles, and she sailed with a favouring breeze for
a whole month, till they came in sight of the capital; and there
remained for them but to make the land when, behold, there came out on
them a tempestuous wind which carried away the masts and rent the
canvas, so that the sails fell into the sea and the ship capsized, with
all on board,——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say
her permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Ninety-fifth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the ship
capsized with all on board, each sought his own safety; and as for
Marzawan the set of the sea carried him under the King's palace, wherein
was Kamar al-Zaman. And by the decree of destiny it so happened that
this was the day on which King Shahriman gave audience to his Grandees
and high officers, and he was sitting, with his son's head on his lap,
whilst an eunuch fanned away the flies; and the Prince had not spoken
neither had he eaten nor drunk for two days, and he was grown thinner
than a spindle.[286] Now the Wazir was standing respectfully a-foot near
the latticed window giving on the sea and, raising his eyes, saw
Marzawan being beaten by the billows and at his last gasp; whereupon his
heart was moved to pity for him, so he drew near to the King and moving
his head towards him said, "I crave thy leave, O King, to go down to the
court of the pavilion and open the water-gate that I may rescue a man
who is at the point of drowning in the sea and bring him forth of danger
into deliverance; peradventure, on this account Allah may free thy son
from what he hath!" The King replied, "O thou Wazir, enough is that
which hath befallen my son through thee and on thine account. Haply, if
thou rescue this drowning man, he will come to know our affairs, and
look on my son who is in this state and exult over me; but I swear by
Allah, that if this half-drowned wretch come hither and learn our
condition and look upon my son and then fare forth and speak of our
secrets to any, I will assuredly strike off thy head before his; for
thou, O my Minister, art the cause of all that hath betided us, first
and last. Now do as thou wilt." Thereupon the Wazir sprang up and,
opening the private postern which gave upon the sea, descended to the
causeway; then walked on twenty steps and came to the water where he saw
Marzawan nigh unto death. So he put out his hand to him and, catching
him by his hair, drew him ashore in a state of insensibility, with belly
full of water and eyes half out of his head. The Wazir waited till he
came to himself, when he pulled off his wet clothes and clad him in a
fresh suit, covering his head with one of his servants' turbands; after
which he said to him, "Know that I have been the means of saving thee
from drowning: do not thou requite me by causing my death and thine
own."——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Ninety-sixth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Wazir did
to Marzawan what he did, he thus addressed him, "Know that I have been
the cause of saving thee from drowning, so requite me not by causing my
death and thine own." Asked Marzawan, "And how so?"; and the Wazir
answered, "Thou art at this hour about to go up and pass among Emirs and
Wazirs, all of them silent and none speaking, because of Kamar al-Zaman,
the son of the Sultan." Now when Marzawan heard the name of Kamar
al-Zaman, he knew that this was he whom he had heard spoken of in sundry
cities and of whom he came in search, but he feigned ignorance and asked
the Wazir, "And who is Kamar al-Zaman?" Answered the Minister, "He is
the son of Sultan Shahriman and he is sore sick and lieth strown on his
couch restless alway, eating not nor drinking neither sleeping night or
day; indeed he is nigh upon death and we have lost hope of his living
and are certain that he is dying. Beware lest thou look too long on him,
or thou look on any place other than that where thou settest thy feet:
else thou art a lost man, and I also." He replied, "Allah upon thee, O
Wazir, I implore thee, of thy favour, acquaint me touching this youth
thou describest, what is the cause of the condition in which he is." The
Wazir replied, "I know none, save that, three years ago, his father
required him to wed, but he refused; whereat the King was wroth and
imprisoned him. And when he awoke on the morrow, he fancied that during
the night he had been roused from sleep and had seen by his side a young
lady of passing loveliness, whose charms tongue can never express; and
he assured us that he had plucked off her seal-ring from her finger and
had put it on his own and that she had done likewise; but we know not
the secret of all this business. So by Allah, O my son, when thou comest
up with me into the palace, look not on the Prince, but go thy way; for
the Sultan's heart is full of wrath against me." So said Marzawan to
himself, "By Allah; this is the one I sought!" Then he followed the
Wazir up to the palace, where the Minister seated himself at the
Prince's feet; but Marzawan found forsooth nothing to do but go up to
Kamar al-Zaman and stand before him at gaze. Upon this the Wazir died of
affright in his skin, and kept looking at Marzawan and signalling him to
wend his way; but he feigned not to see him and gave not over gazing
upon Kamar al-Zaman, till he was well assured that it was indeed he whom
he was seeking,——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to
say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Ninety-seventh Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Marzawan
looked upon Kamar al-Zaman and knew that it was indeed he whom he was
seeking, he cried, "Exalted be Allah, Who hath made his shape even as
her shape and his complexion as her complexion and his cheek as her
cheek!" Upon this Kamar al-Zaman opened his eyes and gave earnest ear to
his speech; and, when Marzawan saw him inclining to hear, he repeated
these couplets[287]:—
I see thee full of song and plaint and love's own ecstasy;
Delighting in describing all the charms of loveliness:
Art smit by stroke of Love or hath shaft-shot wounded thee?
None save the wounded ever show such signals of distress!
Ho thou! crown the wine-cup and sing me singular
Praises to Sulaymá, Al-Rabáb, Tan'oum addrest;[288]
Go round the grape-vine sun[289] which for mansion hath a jar;
Whose East the cup-boy is, and here my mouth that opes for West.
I'm jealous of the very clothes that dare her sides enroll
When she veils her dainty body of the delicatest grace:
I envy every goblet of her lips that taketh toll,
When she sets the kissing-cup on that sweetest kissing-place.
But deem not by the keen-edged scymitar I'm slain—
The hurts and harms I dree are from arrows of her eyes.
I found her finger-tips, as I met her once again,
Deep-reddened with the juice of the wood that ruddy dyes;[290]
And cried, "Thy palms thou stainedst when far away was I
And this is how thou payest one distracted by his pine!"
Quoth she (enkindling in my heart a flame that burnèd high
Speaking as one who cannot hide of longing love the sign),
"By thy life, this is no dye used for dyeing; so forbear
Thy blame, nor in charging me with falsing Love persist!"
"But when upon our parting-day I saw thee haste to fare,
The while were bared my hand and my elbow and my wrist;"
"I shed a flood of blood-red tears and with fingers brushed away;
Hence blood-reddened were the tips and still blood-red they remain."
Had I wept before she wept, to my longing-love a prey,
Before repentance came, I had quit my soul of pain;
But she wept before I wept and I wept to see her care
And I said, "All the merit appertains to precedent;"[291]
Blame me not for loving her; now on self of Love I swear
For her sake, for her only, these pains my soul torment.
She hath all the lere of Lukmán[292] and Yúsuf's beauty lief;
Sweet singer David's voice and Maryam's chastity:
While I've all Jacob's mourning and Jonah's prison-grief,
And the sufferings of Job and old Adam's history:
Yet kill her not, albeit of my love for her I die;
But ask her why my blood to her was lawful, ask her why?
When Marzawan recited this ode, the words fell upon Kamar al-Zaman's
heart as freshness after fever and returning health; and he sighed and,
turning his tongue in his mouth, said to his sire, "O my father, let
this youth come and sit by my side."——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn
of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Ninety-eighth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Kamar al-Zaman
said to his sire, "O my father, allow this youth to come and sit by my
side." Now when the King heard these words from his son, he rejoiced
with exceeding joy, though at the first his heart had been set against
Marzawan and he had determined that the stranger's head needs must be
stricken off: but when he heard Kamar al-Zaman speak, his anger left him
and he arose and drawing Marzawan to him, seated him by his son and
turning to him said, "Praised be Allah for thy safety!" He replied,
"Allah preserve thee! and preserve thy son to thee!" and called down
blessings on the King. Then the King asked, "From what country art
thou?"; and he answered, "From the Islands of the Inland Sea, the
kingdom of King Ghayur, Lord of the Isles and the Seas and the Seven
Palaces." Quoth King Shahriman, "Maybe thy coming shall be blessed to my
son and Allah vouchsafe to heal what is in him." Quoth Marzawan,
"Inshallah, naught shall be save what shall be well!" Then turning to
Kamar al-Zaman, he said to him in his ear unheard of the King and his
court, "O my lord! be of good cheer, and hearten thy heart and let thine
eyes be cool and clear and, with respect to her for whose sake thou art
thus, ask not of her case on thine account. But thou keptest thy secret
and fellest sick, while she told her secret and they said she had gone
mad; so she is now in prison, with an iron chain about her neck, in most
piteous plight; but, Allah willing, the healing of both of you shall
come from my hand." Now when Kamar al-Zaman heard these words, his life
returned to him and he took heart and felt a thrill of joy and signed to
his father to help him sit up; and the King was like to fly for gladness
and rose hastily and lifted him up. Presently, of his fear for his son,
he shook the kerchief of dismissal[293]; and all the Emirs and Wazirs
withdrew; then he set two pillows for his son to lean upon, after which
he bade them perfume the palace with saffron and decorate the city,
saying to Marzawan, "By Allah, O my son, of a truth thine aspect be a
lucky and a blessed!" And he made as much of him as he might and called
for food, and when they brought it, Marzawan came up to the Prince and
said, "Rise, eat with me." So he obeyed him and ate with him, and all
the while the King invoked blessings on Marzawan and said, "How
auspicious is thy coming, O my son!" And when the father saw his boy
eat, his joy and gladness redoubled, and he went out and told the
Prince's mother and all the household. Then he spread throughout the
palace the good news of the Prince's recovery and the King commanded the
decoration of the city and it was a day of high festival. Marzawan
passed that night with Kamar al-Zaman, and the King also slept with them
in joy and delight for his son's recovery.——And Shahrazad perceived the
dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Ninety-ninth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that King Shahriman
also passed that night with them in the excess of his joy for his son's
recovery. And when the next morning dawned, and the King had gone away
and the two young men were left alone, Kamar al-Zaman told his story
from beginning to end to Marzawan who said, "In very sooth I know her
with whom thou didst foregather; her name is the Princess Budur and she
is daughter to King Ghayur." Then he related to him all that had passed
with the Princess from first to last and acquainted him with the
excessive love she bore him, saying, "All that befel thee with thy
father hath befallen her with hers, and thou art without doubt her
beloved, even as she is thine; so brace up thy resolution and take
heart, for I will bring thee to her and unite you both anon and deal
with you even as saith the poet:—
Albe to lover adverse be his love, ✿ And show aversion howso may he
care;
Yet will I manage that their persons[294] meet, ✿ E'en as the pivot of a
scissor-pair."
And he ceased not to comfort and solace and encourage Kamar al-Zaman and
urge him to eat and drink till he ate food and drank wine, and life
returned to him and he was saved from his ill case; and Marzawan cheered
him and diverted him with talk and songs and stories, and in good time
he became free of his disorder and stood up and sought to go to the
Hammam.[295] So Marzawan took him by the hand and both went to the bath,
where they washed their bodies and made them clean.——And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundredth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Kamar
al-Zaman, son of King Shahriman, went to the Hammam, his father in his
joy at this event freed the prisoners, and presented splendid dresses to
his grandees and bestowed large alm-gifts upon the poor and bade
decorate the city seven days. Then quoth Marzawan to Kamar al-Zaman,
"Know, O my lord, that I came not from the Lady Budur save for this
purpose, and the object of my journey was to deliver her from her
present case; and it remaineth for us only to devise how we may get to
her, since thy father cannot brook the thought of parting from thee. So
it is my counsel that to-morrow thou ask his leave to go abroad hunting.
Then do thou take with thee a pair of saddle-bags full of money and
mount a swift steed, and lead a spare horse, and I will do the like, and
say to thy sire:—I have a mind to divert myself with hunting the desert
and to see the open country and there to pass one night. Suffer not any
servant to follow us, for as soon as we reach the open country, we will
go our ways." Kamar al-Zaman rejoiced in this plan with great joy and
cried, "It is good." Then he stiffened his back and, going in to his
father, sought his leave and spoke as he had been taught, and the King
consented to his going forth a-hunting and said, "O my son, blessed be
the day that restoreth thee to health! I will not gainsay thee in this;
but pass not more than one night in the desert and return to me on the
morrow; for thou knowest that life is not good to me without thee, and
indeed I can hardly believe thee to be wholly recovered from what thou
hadst,[296] because thou art to me as he of whom quoth the poet:—
Albe by me I had through day and night ✿ Solomon's carpet and the
Chosroes' might,
Both were in value less than wing of gnat, ✿ Unless these eyne could
hold thee aye in sight."[297]
Then the King equipped his son Kamar al-Zaman and Marzawan for the
excursion, bidding make ready for them four horses, together with a
dromedary to carry the money and a camel to bear the water and
belly-timber; and Kamar al-Zaman forbade any of his attendants to follow
him. His father farewelled him and pressed him to his breast and kissed
him, saying, "I ask thee in the name of Allah, be not absent from me
more than one night, wherein sleep will be unlawful to me, for I am even
as saith the poet:—
Thou present, in the Heaven of heavens I dwell; ✿ Bearing thine absence
is of hells my Hell:
Pledged be for thee my soul! If love for thee ✿ Be crime, my crime is of
the fellest fell.
Does love-lowe burn thy heart as burns it mine, ✿ Doomed night and day
Gehenna-fire to smell?"
Answered Kamar al-Zaman, "O my father, Inshallah, I will lie abroad but
one night!" Then he took leave of him, and he and Marzawan mounted and
leading the spare horses, the dromedary with the money and the camel
with the water and victual, turned their faces towards the open
country;——And Shahrazad perceived the dawning day and ceased saying her
permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and First Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Kamar al-Zaman and
Marzawan fared forth and turned their faces towards the open country;
and they travelled from the first of the day till nightfall, when they
halted and ate and drank and fed their beasts and rested awhile; after
which they again took horse and ceased not journeying for three days,
and on the fourth they came to a spacious tract wherein was a thicket.
They alighted in it and Marzawan, taking the camel and one of the
horses, slaughtered them and cut off their flesh and stripped their
bones. Then he doffed from Kamar al-Zaman his shirt and trousers which
he smeared with the horse's blood and he took the Prince's coat which he
tore to shreds and befouled with gore; and he cast them down in the fork
of the road. Then they ate and drank and mounting set forward again;
and, when Kamar al-Zaman asked why this was done, and said, "What is
this O my brother, and how shall it profit us?"; Marzawan replied, "Know
that thy father, when we have outstayed the second night after the night
for which we had his leave, and yet we return not, will mount and follow
in our track till he come hither; and, when he happeneth upon this blood
which I have spilt and he seeth thy shirt and trousers rent and
gore-fouled, he will fancy that some accident befel thee from bandits or
wild-beasts; so he will give up hope of thee and return to his city, and
by this device we shall win our wishes." Quoth Kamar al-Zaman, "By
Allah, this be indeed a rare device! Thou hast done right well."[298]
Then the two fared on days and nights and all that while Kamar al-Zaman
did naught but complain when he found himself alone, and he ceased not
weeping till they drew near their journey's end, when he rejoiced and
repeated these verses:—
Wilt tyrant play with truest friend who thinks of thee each hour, ✿ And
after showing love-desire betray indifference?
May I forfeit every favour if in love I falsed thee, ✿ If thee I left,
abandon me by way of recompense:
But I've been guilty of no crime such harshness to deserve, ✿ And if I
aught offended thee I bring my penitence;
Of Fortune's wonders one it is thou hast abandoned me; ✿ But Fortune
never wearieth of showing wonderments.
When he had made an end of his verses, Marzawan said to him, "Look!
these be King Ghayur's Islands;" whereat Kamar al-Zaman joyed with
exceeding joy and thanked him for what he had done, and kissed him
between the eyes and strained him——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of
day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Second Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Marzawan said
"Look! these be the Islands of King Ghayur;" Kamar al-Zaman joyed with
exceeding joy and thanked him for what he had done and kissed him
between the eyes and strained him to his bosom. And after reaching the
Islands and entering the city they took up their lodging in a khan,
where they rested three days from the fatigues of their wayfare; after
which Marzawan carried Kamar al-Zaman to the bath and, clothing him in
merchant's gear, provided him with a geomantic tablet of gold,[299] with
a set of astrological instruments and with an astrolabe of silver,
plated with gold. Then he said to him, "Arise, O my lord, and take thy
stand under the walls of the King's palace and cry out:—I am the ready
Reckoner; I am the Scrivener; I am he who weeteth the Sought and the
Seeker; I am the finished man of Science; I am the Astrologer
accomplished in experience! Where then is he that seeketh? As soon as
the King heareth this, he will send after thee and carry thee in to his
daughter the Princess Budur, thy lover; but when about going in to her
do thou say to him:—Grant me three days' delay, and if she recover, give
her to me to wife; and if not, deal with me as thou dealtest with those
who forewent me. He will assuredly agree to this, so as soon as thou art
alone with her, discover thyself to her; and when she seeth thee, she
will recover strength and her madness will cease from her and she will
be made whole in one night. Then do thou give her to eat and drink, and
her father, rejoicing in her recovery, will marry thee to her and share
his kingdom with thee; for he hath imposed on himself this condition and
so peace be upon thee." Now when Kamar al-Zaman heard these words he
exclaimed, "May I never lack thy benefits!", and, taking the set of
instruments aforesaid, sallied forth from the caravanserai in the dress
of his order. He walked on till he stood under the walls of King
Ghayur's palace, where he began to cry out, saying, "I am the Scribe, I
am the ready Reckoner, I am he who knoweth the Sought and the Seeker; I
am he who openeth the Volume and summeth up the Sums;[300] who Dreams
can expound whereby the sought is found! Where then is the seeker?" Now
when the city people heard this, they flocked to him, for it was long
since they had seen Scribe or Astrologer, and they stood round him and,
looking upon him, they saw one in the prime of beauty and grace and
perfect elegance, and they marvelled at his loveliness, and his fine
stature and symmetry. Presently one of them accosted him and said,
"Allah upon thee, O thou fair and young, with the eloquent tongue! incur
not this affray; nor throw thy life away in thine ambition to marry the
Princess Budur. Only cast thine eyes upon yonder heads hung up; all
their owners have lost their lives in this same venture." Yet Kamar
al-Zaman paid no heed to them, but cried out at the top of his voice,
saying, "I am the Doctor, the Scrivener! I am the Astrologer, the
Calculator!" And all the townsfolk forbade him from this, but he
regarded them not at all, saying in his mind, "None knoweth desire save
whoso suffereth it." Then he began again to cry his loudest, shouting,
"I am the Scrivener, I am the Astrologer!"——And Shahrazad perceived the
dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Third Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Kamar al-Zaman in
no wise heeded the words of the citizens, but continued to cry out, "I
am the Calculator! I am the Astrologer!" Thereupon all the townsfolk
were wroth with him and said to him, "Thou art nothing but an imbecile,
silly, self-willed lad! Have pity on thine own youth and tender years
and beauty and loveliness." But he cried all the more, "I am the
Astrologer, I am the Calculator! Is there any one that seeketh?" As he
was thus crying and the people forbidding him, behold, King Ghayur heard
his voice and the clamour of the lieges and said to his Wazir, "Go down
and bring me yon Astrologer." So the Wazir went down in haste, and
taking Kamar al-Zaman from the midst of the crowd led him up to the
King; and when in the presence he kissed the ground and began
versifying:—
Eight glories meet, all, all conjoined in thee, ✿ Whereby may Fortune
aye thy servant be:
Lere, lordliness, grace, generosity; ✿ Plain words, deep meaning,
honour, victory!
When the King looked upon him, he seated him by his side and said to
him, "By Allah, O my son, an thou be not an astrologer, venture not thy
life nor comply with my condition; for I have bound myself that whoso
goeth in to my daughter and healeth her not of that which hath befallen
her I will strike off his head; but whoso healeth her him I will marry
to her. So let not thy beauty and loveliness delude thee: for, by Allah!
and again, by Allah! if thou cure her not, I will assuredly cut off thy
head." And Kamar al-Zaman replied, "This is thy right; and I consent,
for I wot of this ere came I hither." Then King Ghayur took the Kazis to
witness against him and delivered him to the eunuch, saying, "Carry this
one to the Lady Budur." So the eunuch took him by the hand and led him
along the passage; but Kamar al-Zaman outstripped him and pushed on
before, whilst the eunuch ran after him, saying, "Woe to thee! Hasten
not to thine own ruin: never yet saw I astrologer so eager for his
proper destruction; but thou weetest not what calamities are before
thee." Thereupon Kamar al-Zaman turned away his face from the
eunuch——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Fourth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the eunuch
thus addressed Kamar al-Zaman, "Patience, and no indecent hurry!"; the
Prince turned away his face and began repeating these couplets:—
A Sage, I feel a fool before thy charms; ✿ Distraught, I wot not what
the words I say:
If say I "Sun," away thou dost not pass ✿ From eyes of me, while suns go
down with day:
Thou hast completed Beauty, in whose praise ✿ Speech-makers fail, and
talkers lose their way.
Then the eunuch stationed Kamar al-Zaman behind the curtain of the
Princess's door and the Prince said to him, "Which of the two ways will
please thee more; treat and cure thy lady from here or go in and heal
her within the curtain?" The eunuch marvelled at his words and answered,
"An thou heal her from here it were better proof of thy skill." Upon
this Kamar al-Zaman sat down behind the curtain and, taking out
ink-case, pen and paper, wrote the following: "This is the writ of one
whom passion swayeth. ✿ and whom longing waylayeth ✿ and wakeful misery
slayeth ✿ one who despaireth of living ✿ and looketh for naught but
dying ✿ with whose mourning heart ✿ nor comforter nor helper taketh part
✿ One whose sleepless eyes ✿ none succoureth from anxieties ✿ whose day
is passed in fire ✿ and his night in torturing desire ✿ whose body is
wasted for much emaciation ✿ and no messenger from his beloved bringeth
him consolation." And after this he indited the following couplets:—
I write with heart devoted to thy thought, ✿ And eyelids chafed by tears
of blood they bled;
And body clad, by loving pine and pain, ✿ In shirt of leanness, and worn
down to thread,
To thee complain I of Love's tormentry, ✿ Which ousted hapless Patience
from her stead:
_A toi!_ show favour and some mercy deign, ✿ For Passion's cruel hands
my vitals shred.
And beneath his lines he wrote these cadenced sentences, "The heart's
pain is removed ✿ by union with the beloved ✿ and whomso his lover
paineth ✿ only Allah assaineth! ✿ If we or you have wrought deceit ✿ may
the deceiver win defeat! ✿ There is naught goodlier than a lover who
keeps faith ✿ with the beloved who works him scathe." Then, by way of
subscription, he wrote, "From the distracted and despairing man ✿ whom
love and longing trepan ✿ from the lover under passion's ban ✿ the
prisoner of transport and distraction ✿ from this Kamar al-Zaman ✿ son
of Shahriman ✿ to the peerless one ✿ of the fair Houris the pearl-union
✿ to the Lady Budur ✿ daughter of King Al-Ghayur ✿ Know thou that by
night I am sleepless ✿ and by day in distress ✿ consumed with increasing
wasting and pain ✿ and longing and love unfain ✿ abounding in sighs ✿
with tear-flooded eyes ✿ by passion captive ta'en ✿ of Desire the slain
✿ with heart seared by the parting of us twain ✿ the debtor of
longing-bane, of sickness cup-companion ✿ I am the sleepless one, who
never closeth eye ✿ the slave of love, whose tears run never dry ✿ for
the fire of my heart is still burning ✿ and never hidden is the flame of
my yearning." Then on the margin Kamar al-Zaman wrote this admired
verse:—
Salam from graces hoarded by my Lord ✿ To her, who holds my heart and
soul in hoard!
And also these:—
Pray'ee grant me some words from your lips, belike ✿ Such mercy may
comfort and cool these eyne:
From the stress of my love and my pine for you, ✿ I make light of what
makes me despised, indign:
Allah guard a folk whose abode was far, ✿ And whose secret I kept in the
holiest shrine:
Now Fortune in kindness hath favoured me ✿ Thrown on threshold dust of
this love o' mine:
By me bedded I looked on Budúr, whose sun ✿ The moon of my fortunes hath
made to shine.
Then, having affixed his seal-ring to the missive, he wrote these
couplets in the place of address:—
Ask of my writ what wrote my pen in dole, ✿ And hear my tale of misery
from this scroll;
My hand is writing while my tears down flow, ✿ And to the paper 'plains
my longing soul:
My tears cease not to roll upon this sheet, ✿ And if they stopped I'd
cause blood-gouts to roll.
And at the end he added this other verse:—
I've sent the ring from off thy finger bore ✿ I when we met, now deign
my ring restore!
Then Kamar al-Zaman set the Lady Budur's ring inside the letter and
sealed it and gave it to the eunuch, who took it and went in with it to
his mistress.——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say
her permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Fifth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Kamar al-Zaman,
after setting the seal-ring inside the epistle, gave it to the eunuch
who took it and went in with it to his mistress; and, when the Lady
Budur opened it, she found therein her own very ring. Then she read the
paper and when she understood its purport and knew that it was from her
beloved, and that he in person stood behind the curtain, her reason
began to fly and her breast swelled for joy and rose high; and she
repeated these couplets:—
Long, long have I bewailed the sev'rance of our loves, ✿ With tears that
from my lids streamed down like burning rain;
And vowed that, if the days deign reunite us two, ✿ My lips should never
speak of severance again:
Joy hath o'erwhelmed me so that, for the very stress ✿ Of that which
gladdens me to weeping I am fain.
Tears are become to you a habit, O my eyes, ✿ So that ye weep as well
for gladness as for pain.[301]
And having finished her verse, the Lady Budur stood up forthwith and,
firmly setting her feet to the wall, strained with all her might upon
the collar of iron, till she brake it from her neck and snapped the
chains. Then going forth from behind the curtain she threw herself on
Kamar al-Zaman and kissed him on the mouth, like a pigeon feeding its
young.[302] And she embraced him with all the stress of her love and
longing and said to him, "O my lord, do I wake or sleep and hath the
Almighty indeed vouchsafed us reunion after disunion? Laud be to Allah
who hath our loves repaired, even after we despaired!" Now when the
eunuch saw her in this case, he went off running to King Ghayur and,
kissing the ground before him, said, "O my lord, know that this
Astrologer is indeed the Shaykh of all astrologers, who are fools to
him, all of them; for verily he hath cured thy daughter while standing
behind the curtain and without going in to her." Quoth the King, "Look
well to it, is this news true?" Answered the Eunuch, "O my lord, rise
and come and see for thyself how she hath found strength to break the
iron chains and is come forth to the Astrologer, kissing and embracing
him." Thereupon the King arose and went in to his daughter who, when she
saw him, stood up in haste and covered her head,[303] and recited these
two couplets:—
The tooth-stick love I not; for when I say, ✿ "Siwák,"[304] I miss thee,
for it sounds "Siwá-ka":
The caper-tree I love; for when I say, ✿ "Arák"[305] it sounds I look on
thee, "Ará-ka."
Thereupon the King was so transported for joy at her recovery that he
felt like to fly and kissed her between the eyes, for he loved her with
dearest love; then, turning to Kamar al-Zaman, he asked him who he was,
and said, "What countryman art thou?" So the Prince told him his name
and rank, and informed him that he was the son of King Shahriman, and
presently related to him the whole story from beginning to end; and
acquainted him with what happened between himself and the Lady Budur;
and how he had taken her seal-ring from her finger and had placed it on
his own; whereat Ghayur marvelled and said, "Verily your story deserveth
in books to be chronicled, and when you are dead and gone age after age
be read." Then he summoned Kazis and witnesses forthright and married
the Lady Budur to Prince Kamar al-Zaman; after which he bade decorate
the city seven days long. So they spread the tables with all manner of
meats, whilst the drums beat and the criers announced the glad tidings,
and all the troops donned their richest clothes; and they illuminated
the city and held high festival. Then Kamar al-Zaman went in to the Lady
Budur and the King rejoiced in her recovery and in her marriage; and
praised Allah for that He had made her to fall in love with a goodly
youth of the sons of Kings. So they unveiled her and displayed the bride
before the bridegroom; and both were the living likeness of each other
in beauty and comeliness and grace and love-allurement. Then Kamar
al-Zaman lay with her that night and took his will of her, whilst she in
like manner fulfilled her desire of him and enjoyed his charms and
grace; and they slept in each other's arms till the morning. On the
morrow, the King made a wedding-feast to which he gathered all comers
from the Islands of the Inner and Outer Seas, and he spread the tables
with choicest viands nor ceased the banquetting for a whole month. Now
when Kamar al-Zaman had thus fulfilled his will and attained his inmost
desire, and whenas he had tarried awhile with the Princess Budur, he
bethought him of his father, King Shahriman, and saw him in a dream,
saying, "O my son, is it thus thou dealest with me?" and reciting in the
vision these two couplets:—
Indeed to watch the darkness-moon he blighted me, ✿ And to star-gaze
through longsome night he plighted me:
Easy, my heart! for haply he'll unite with thee; ✿ And patience, Sprite!
with whatso ills he dight to thee.
Now after seeing his father in the dream and hearing his reproaches,
Kamar al-Zaman awoke in the morning, afflicted and troubled, whereupon
the Lady Budur questioned him and he told her what he had seen——And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Sixth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Kamar
al-Zaman acquainted the Lady Budur with what he had seen in his dream,
she and he went in to her sire and, telling him what had passed,
besought his leave to travel. He gave the Prince the permission he
sought; but the Princess said, "O my father, I cannot bear to be parted
from him." Quoth Ghayur, her sire, "Then go thou with him," and gave her
leave to be absent a whole twelvemonth and afterwards to visit him in
every year once; so she kissed his hand and Kamar al-Zaman did the like.
Thereupon King Ghayur proceeded to equip his daughter and her bridegroom
for the journey, and furnished them with outfit and appointments for the
march; and brought out of his stables horses marked with his own brand,
blood-dromedaries[306] which can journey ten days without water, and
prepared a litter for his daughter, besides loading mules and camels
with victual; moreover, he gave them slaves and eunuchs to serve them
and all manner of travelling gear; and on the day of departure, when
King Ghayur took leave of Kamar al-Zaman, he bestowed on him ten
splendid suits of cloth of gold embroidered with stones of price,
together with ten riding horses and ten she-camels, and a treasury of
money;[307] and he charged him to love and cherish his daughter the Lady
Budur. Then the King accompanied them to the farthest limits of his
Islands where, going in to his daughter Budur in the litter, he kissed
her and strained her to his bosom, weeping and repeating:—
O thou who wooest Severance, easy fare! ✿ For love-embrace belongs to
lover-friend:
Fare softly! Fortune's nature falsehood is, ✿ And parting shall love's
every meeting end.
Then leaving his daughter, he went to her husband and bade him farewell
and kissed him; after which he parted from them and, giving the order
for the march he returned to his capital with his troops. The Prince and
Princess and their suite fared on without stopping through the first day
and the second and the third and the fourth; nor did they cease faring
for a whole month till they came to a spacious champaign, abounding in
pasturage, where they pitched their tents; and they ate and drank and
rested, and the Princess Budur lay down to sleep. Presently, Kamar
al-Zaman went in to her and found her lying asleep clad in a shift of
apricot-coloured silk that showed all and everything; and on her head
was a coif of gold-cloth embroidered with pearls and jewels. The breeze
raised her shift which laid bare her navel and showed her breasts and
displayed a stomach whiter than snow, each one of whose dimples would
contain an ounce of benzoin-oinment.[308] At this sight, his love and
longing redoubled, and he began reciting:—
An were it asked me when by hell-fire burnt, ✿ When flames of heart my
vitals hold and hem,
"Which wouldst thou chose, say wouldst thou rather them, ✿ Or drink
sweet cooling draught?" I'd answer, "Them!"
Then he put his hand to the band of her petticoat-trousers and drew it
and loosed it, for his soul lusted after her, when he saw a jewel, red
as dye-wood, made fast to the band. He untied it and examined it and,
seeing two lines of writing graven thereon, in a character not to be
read, marvelled and said in his mind, "Were not this bezel something to
her very dear she had not bound it to her trousers-band nor hidden it in
the most privy and precious place about her person, that she might not
be parted from it. Would I knew what she doth with this and what is the
secret that is in it." So saying, he took it and went outside the tent
to look at it in the light,——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day,
and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Seventh Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when he took the
bezel to look at it in the light, the while he was holding it behold, a
bird swooped down on him and, snatching the same from his hand, flew off
with it and then lighted on the ground. Thereupon Kamar al-Zaman fearing
to lose the jewel, ran after the bird; but it flew on before him,
keeping just out of his reach, and ceased not to draw him on from dale
to dale and from hill to hill, till the night starkened and the
firmament darkened, when it roosted on a high tree. So Kamar al-Zaman
stopped under the tree confounded in thought and faint for famine and
fatigue, and giving himself up for lost, would have turned back, but
knew not the way whereby he came, for that darkness had overtaken him.
Then he exclaimed, "There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in
Allah, the Glorious, the Great!"; and laying him down under the tree
(whereon was the bird) slept till the morning, when he awoke and saw the
bird also wake up and fly away. He arose and walked after it, and it
flew on little by little before him, after the measure of his faring; at
which he smiled and said, "By Allah, a strange thing! Yesterday, this
bird flew before me as fast as I could run, and to-day, knowing that I
have awoke tired and cannot run, he flieth after the measure of my
faring. By Allah, this is wonderful! But I must needs follow this bird
whether it lead me to death or to life; and I will go wherever it goeth,
for at all events it will not abide save in some inhabited land."[309]
So he continued to follow the bird which roosted every night upon a
tree; and he ceased not pursuing it for a space of ten days, feeding on
the fruits of the earth and drinking of its waters. At the end of this
time, he came in sight of an inhabited city, whereupon the bird darted
off like the glance of the eye and, entering the town, disappeared from
Kamar al-Zaman, who knew not what it meant or whither it was gone; so he
marvelled at this and exclaimed, "Praise be to Allah who hath brought me
in safety to this city!" Then he sat down by a stream and washed his
hands and feet and face and rested awhile; and, recalling his late easy
and pleasant life of union with his beloved and contrasting it with his
present plight of trouble and fatigue and distress and strangerhood and
famine and severance, the tears streamed from his eyes and he began
repeating these cinquains:—
Fain had I hid thy handwork, but it showed, ✿ Changed sleep for wake,
and wake with me abode:
When thou didst spurn my heart I cried aloud ✿ Fate, hold thy hand and
cease to gird and goad:
In dole and danger aye my sprite I spy!
An but the Lord of Love were just to me, ✿ Sleep fro' my eyelids ne'er
were forced to flee.
Pity, my lady, one for love o' thee ✿ From his tribe's darling brought
to low degree:
Love came and doomed Wealth beggar-death to die.
The railers chide at thee: I ne'er gainsay, ✿ But stop my ears and
dumbly sign them Nay:
"Thou lov'st a slender may," say they; I say, ✿ "I've picked her out and
cast the rest away:"
Enough; when Fate descends she blinds man's eye![310]
And as soon as he had finished his poetry and had taken his rest, he
rose and walked on little by little, till he entered the city——And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Eighth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that as soon as Kamar
al-Zaman had finished his poetry and had taken his rest, he arose and
entered the city-gate[311] not knowing whither he should wend. He
crossed the city from end to end, entering by the land-gate, and ceased
not faring on till he came out at the sea-gate, for the city stood on
the sea-shore. Yet he met not a single one of its citizens. And after
issuing from the land-gate he fared forwards and ceased not faring till
he found himself among the orchards and gardens of the place; and,
passing among the trees presently came to a garden and stopped before
its door; whereupon the keeper came out to him and saluted him. The
Prince returned his greeting and the gardener bade him welcome, saying,
"Praised be Allah that thou hast come off safe from the dwellers of this
city! Quick, come into the garth, ere any of the townfolk see thee."
Thereupon Kamar al-Zaman entered that garden, wondering in mind, and
asked the keeper, "What may be the history of the people of this city
and who may they be?" The other answered, "Know that the people of this
city are all Magians: but Allah upon thee, tell me how thou camest to
this city and what caused thy coming to our capital." Accordingly Kamar
al-Zaman told the gardener all that had befallen him from beginning to
end, whereat he marvelled with great marvel and said, "Know, O my son,
that the cities of Al-Islam lie far from us; and between us and them is
a four months' voyage by sea and a whole twelve months' journey by land.
We have a ship which saileth every year with merchandise to the nearest
Moslem country and which entereth the seas of the Ebony Islands and
thence maketh the Khalidan Islands, the dominions of King Shahriman."
Thereupon Kamar al-Zaman considered awhile and concluded that he could
not do better than abide in the garden with the gardener and become his
assistant, receiving for pay one fourth of the produce. So he said to
him, "Wilt thou take me into thy service, to help thee in this garden?"
Answered the gardener, "To hear is to consent;" and began teaching him
to lead the water to the roots of the trees. So Kamar al-Zaman abode
with him, watering the trees and hoeing up the weeds and wearing a short
blue frock which reached to his knees. And he wept floods of tears; for
he had no rest day or night, by reason of his strangerhood and he ceased
not to repeat verses upon his beloved, amongst others the following
couplets:—
Ye promised us and will ye not keep plight? ✿ Ye said a say and shall
not deed be dight?
We wake for passion while ye slumber and sleep; ✿ Watchers and wakers
claim not equal right:
We vowed to keep our loves in secrecy, ✿ But spake the meddler and you
spoke forthright:
O friend in pain and pleasure, joy and grief, ✿ In all case you, you
only, claim my sprite!
'Mid folk is one who holds my prisoned heart; ✿ Would he but show some
ruth for me to sight.
Not every eye like mine is wounded sore, ✿ Not every heart like mine
love-pinings blight:
Ye wronged me saying, Love is wrongous aye ✿ Yea! ye were right, events
have proved that quite.
Forget they one love-thralled, whose faith the world ✿ Robs not, though
burn the fires in heart alight:
If an my foeman shall become my judge, ✿ Whom shall I sue to remedy his
despight?
Had not I need of love nor love had sought, ✿ My heart forsure were not
thus love-distraught.
Such was the case with Kamar al-Zaman; but as regards his wife, the Lady
Budur, when she awoke she sought her husband and found him not: then she
saw her petticoat-trousers undone, for the band had been loosed and the
bezel lost, whereupon she said to herself, "By Allah, this is strange!
Where is my husband? It would seem as if he had taken the talisman and
gone away, knowing not the secret which is in it. Would to Heaven I knew
whither can he have wended! But it must needs have been some
extraordinary matter that drew him away, for he cannot brook to leave me
a moment. Allah curse the stone and damn its hour!" Then she considered
awhile and said in her mind, "If I go out and tell the varlets and let
them learn that my husband is lost, they will lust after me: there is no
help for it but that I use a stratagem." So she rose and donned some of
her husband's clothes and riding-boots, and a turband like his, drawing
one corner of it across her face for a mouth-veil.[312] Then, setting a
slave-girl in her litter, she went forth from the tent and called to the
pages who brought her Kamar al-Zaman's steed; and she mounted and bade
them load the beasts and resume the march. So they bound on the burdens
and departed; and she concealed her trick, none doubting but she was
Kamar al-Zaman, for she favoured him in face and form; nor did she cease
journeying, she and her suite, days and nights, till they came in sight
of a city overlooking the Salt Sea, where they pitched their tents
without the walls and halted to rest. The Princess asked the name of the
town and was told, "It is called the City of Ebony; its King is named
Armanús, and he hath a daughter Hayát al-Nufús[313] hight,"——And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Ninth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Lady
Budur halted within sight of the Ebony City to take her rest, King
Armanus sent a messenger, to learn what King it was who had encamped
without his capital; so the messenger, coming to the tents, made enquiry
anent their King, and was told that she was a King's son who had lost
the way being bound for the Khalidan Islands; whereupon he returned to
King Armanus with the tidings; and, when the King heard them, he
straightway rode out with the lords of his land to greet the stranger on
arrival. As he drew near the tents the Lady Budur came to meet him on
foot, whereupon the King alighted and they saluted each other. Then he
took her to the city and, bringing her up to the palace, bade them
spread the tables and trays of food and commanded them to transport her
company and baggage to the guest-house. So they abode there three days;
at the end of which time the King came in to the Lady Budur. Now she had
that day gone to the Hammam and her face shone as the moon at its full,
a seduction to the world and a rending of the veil of shame to mankind;
and Armanus found her clad in a suit of silk, embroidered with gold and
jewels; so he said to her, "O my son, know that I am a very old man,
decrepit withal, and Allah hath blessed me with no child save one
daughter, who resembleth thee in beauty and grace; and I am now waxed
unfit for the conduct of the state. She is thine, O my son; and, if this
my land please thee and thou be willing to abide and make thy home here,
I will marry thee to her and give thee my kingdom and so be at rest."
When Princess Budur heard this, she bowed her head and her forehead
sweated for shame, and she said to herself, "How shall I do, and I a
woman? If I refuse and depart from him, I cannot be safe but that haply
he send after me troops to slay me; and if I consent, belike I shall be
put to shame. I have lost my beloved Kamar al-Zaman and know not what is
become of him; nor can I escape from this scrape save by holding my
peace and consenting and abiding here, till Allah bring about what is to
be." So she raised her head and made submission to King Armanus, saying,
"Hearkening and obedience!"; whereat he rejoiced and bade the herald
make proclamation throughout the Ebony Islands to hold high festival and
decorate the houses. Then he assembled his Chamberlains and Nabobs, and
Emirs and Wazirs and his officers of state and the Kazis of the city;
and, formally abdicating his Sultanate, endowed Budur therewith and
invested her in all the vestments of royalty. The Emirs and Grandees
went in to her and did her homage, nothing doubting but that she was a
young man, and all who looked on her bepissed their bag-trousers, for
the excess of her beauty and loveliness. Then, after the lady Budur had
been made Sultan and the drums had been beaten in announcement of the
glad event, and she had been ceremoniously enthroned, King Armanus
proceeded to equip his daughter Hayat al-Nufus for marriage, and in a
few days, they brought the Lady Budur in to her, when they seemed as it
were two moons risen at one time or two suns in conjunction. So they
entered the bridal-chamber and the doors were shut and the curtains let
down upon them, after the attendants had lighted the wax-candles and
spread for them the carpet-bed. When Budur found herself alone with the
Princess Hayat al-Nufus, she called to mind her beloved Kamar al-Zaman
and grief was sore upon her. So she wept for his absence, and
estrangement and she began repeating:—
O ye who fled and left my heart in pain low li'en, ✿ No breath of life
is found within this frame of mine:
I have an eye which e'er complains of wake, but lo! ✿ Tears occupy it;
would that wake content these eyne!
After ye marchèd forth the lover 'bode behind; ✿ Question of him what
pains your absence could design!
But for the floods of tears mine eyelids rail and rain, ✿ My fires would
flame on high and every land calcine.
To Allah make I moan of loved ones lost for aye, ✿ Who for my pine and
pain no more shall pain and pine:
I never wronged them save that over-love I nurst: ✿ But Love departs us
lovers into blest and curst.
And when she had finished her repeating, the Lady Budur sat down beside
the Princess Hayat al-Nufus and kissed her on the mouth; after which
rising abruptly, she made the minor ablution and betook herself to her
devotions; nor did she leave praying till Hayat al-Nufus fell asleep,
when she slipt into bed and lay with her back to her till morning. And
when day had broke the King and Queen came in to their daughter and
asked her how she did, whereupon she told them what she had seen, and
repeated to them the verses she had heard. Thus far concerning Hayat
al-Nufus and her father; but as regards Queen Budur she went forth and
seated herself upon the royal throne and all the Emirs and Captains and
Officers of state came up to her and wished her joy of the kingship,
kissing the earth before her and calling down blessings upon her. And
she accosted them with smiling face and clad them in robes of honour,
augmenting the fiefs of the high officials and giving largesse to the
levies; wherefore all the people loved her and offered up prayers for
the long endurance of her reign, doubting not but that she was a man.
And she ceased not sitting all day in the hall of audience, bidding and
forbidding; dispensing justice, releasing prisoners and remitting the
customs-dues, till nightfall, when she withdrew to the apartment
prepared for her. Here she found Hayat al-Nufus seated; so she sat down
by her side and, clapping her on the back, coaxed and caressed her and
kissed her between the eyes, and fell to versifying in these couplets:—
What secret kept I these my tears have told, ✿ And my waste body must my
love unfold:
Though hid my pine, my plight on parting-day ✿ To every envious eye my
secret sold:
O ye who broke up camp, you've left behind ✿ My spirit wearied and my
heart a-cold:
In my heart's core ye dwell, and now these eyne ✿ Roll blood-drops with
the tears they whilome rolled:
The absent will I ransom with my soul; ✿ All can my yearning for their
sight behold:
I have an eye whose babe,[314] for love of thee, ✿ Rejected sleep nor
hath its tears controlled.
The foeman bids me patient bear his loss, ✿ Ne'er may mine ears accept
the ruth he doled!
I trickt their deme of me, and won my wish ✿ Of Kamar al-Zaman's joys
manifold:
He joins all perfect gifts like none before; ✿ Boasted such might and
main no King of old:
Seeing his gifts, Bin Zá'ïdah's[315] largesse ✿ Forget we, and Mu'áwiyah
mildest-soul'd:[316]
Were verse not feeble and o'er short the time ✿ I had in laud of him
used all of rhyme.
Then Queen Budur stood up and wiped away her tears and, making the
lesser ablution,[317] applied her to pray: nor did she give over praying
till drowsiness overcame the Lady Hayat al-Nufus and she slept,
whereupon the Lady Budur came and lay by her till the morning. At
daybreak, she arose and prayed the dawn-prayer; and presently seated
herself on the royal throne and passed the day in ordering and
counterordering and giving laws and administering justice. This is how
it fared with her; but as regards King Armanus he went in to his
daughter and asked her how she did; so she told him all that had
befallen her and repeated to him the verses which Queen Budur had
recited, adding, "O my father, never saw I one more abounding in sound
sense and modesty than my husband, save that he doth nothing but weep
and sigh." He answered, "O my daughter, have patience with him yet this
third night, and if he go not in unto thee and do away thy maidenhead,
we shall know how to proceed with him and oust him from the throne and
banish him the country." And on this wise he agreed with his daughter
what course he would take——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Tenth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when King Armanus
had agreed with his daughter on this wise and had determined what course
he would take and night came on, Queen Budur arose from the throne of
her kingdom and betaking herself to the palace, entered the apartment
prepared for her. There she found the wax-candles lighted and the
Princess Hayat al-Nufus seated and awaiting her; whereupon she bethought
her of her husband and what had betided them both of sorrow and
severance in so short a space; she wept and sighed and groaned groan
upon groan, and began improvising these couplets:—
News of my love fill all the land, I swear, ✿ As suns on Ghazá[318]-wold
rain heat and glare:
Speaketh his geste but hard its sense to say; ✿ Thus never cease to grow
my cark and care:
I hate fair Patience since I lovèd thee; ✿ E'er sawest lover hate for
love to bear?
A glance that dealt love-sickness dealt me death, ✿ Glances are
deadliest things with torments rare:
He shook his love-locks down and bared his chin, ✿ Whereby I spied his
beauties dark and fair:
My care, my cure are in his hands; and he ✿ Who caused their dolour can
their dole repair:
His belt went daft for softness of his waist; ✿ His hips, for envy, to
uprise forbear:
His brow curl-diademed is murky night; ✿ Unveil't and lo! bright Morn
shows brightest light.
When she had finished her versifying, she would have risen to pray, but,
lo and behold! Hayat al-Nufus caught her by the skirt and clung to her
saying, "O my lord, art thou not ashamed before my father, after all his
favour, to neglect me at such a time as this?" When Queen Budur heard
her words, she sat down in the same place and said, "O my beloved, what
is this thou sayest?" She replied, "What I say is that I never saw any
so proud of himself as thou. Is every fair one so disdainful? I say not
this to incline thee to me; I say it only of my fear for thee from King
Armanus; because he purposeth, unless thou go in unto me this very
night, and do away my maidenhead, to strip thee of the kingship on the
morrow and banish thee his kingdom; and peradventure his excessive anger
may lead him to slay thee. But I, O my lord, have ruth on thee and give
thee fair warning; and it is thy right to reck."[319] Now when Queen
Budur heard her speak these words, she bowed her head groundwards awhile
in sore perplexity and said in herself, "If I refuse I'm lost; and if I
obey I'm shamed. But I am now Queen of all the Ebony Islands and they
are under my rule, nor shall I ever again meet my Kamar al-Zaman save in
this place; for there is no way for him to his native land but through
the Ebony Islands. Verily, I know not what to do in my present case, but
I commit my care to Allah who directeth all for the best, for I am no
man that I should arise and open this virgin girl." Then quoth Queen
Budur to Hayat al-Nufus, "O my beloved, that I have neglected thee and
abstained from thee is in my own despite." And she told her her whole
story from beginning to end and showed her person to her, saying, "I
conjure thee by Allah to keep my counsel, for I have concealed my case
only that Allah may reunite me with my beloved Kamar al-Zaman and then
come what may."——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to
say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Eleventh Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Lady
Budur acquainted Hayat al-Nufus with her history and bade her keep it
secret, the Princess heard her with extreme wonderment and was moved to
pity and prayed Allah to reunite her with her beloved, saying, "Fear
nothing, O my sister; but have patience till Allah bring to pass that
which must come to pass:" and she began repeating:—
None but the men of worth a secret keep;
With worthy men a secret's hidden deep;
As in a room, so secrets lie with me,
Whose door is sealed, lock shot and lost the key.[320]
And when Hayat al-Nufus had ended her verses, she said, "O my sister,
verily the breasts of the noble and brave are of secrets the grave; and
I will not discover thine." Then they toyed and embraced and kissed and
slept till near the Mu'ezzin's call to dawn-prayer, when Hayat al-Nufus
arose and took a pigeon-poult,[321] and cut its throat over her smock
and besmeared herself with its blood. Then she pulled off her
petticoat-trousers and cried aloud, whereupon her people hastened to her
and raised the usual lullilooing and outcries of joy and gladness.
Presently her mother came in to her and asked her how she did and busied
herself about her and abode with her till evening; whilst the Lady Budur
arose with the dawn, and repaired to the bath and, after washing herself
pure, proceeded to the hall of audience, where she sat down on her
throne and dispensed justice among the folk. Now when King Armanus heard
the loud cries of joy, he asked what was the matter and was informed of
the consummation of his daughter's marriage; whereat he rejoiced and his
breast swelled with gladness and he made a great marriage-feast whereof
the merry-making lasted a long time. Such was their case: but as regards
King Shahriman it was on this wise. After his son had fared forth to the
chase accompanied by Marzawan, as before related, he tarried patiently
awaiting their return at nightfall; but when his son did not appear, he
passed a sleepless night and the dark hours were longsome upon him; his
restlessness was excessive, his excitement grew upon him and he thought
the morning would never dawn. And when day broke he sat expecting his
son and waited till noon, but he came not; whereat his heart forebode
separation and was fired with fears for Kamar al-Zaman; and he cried,
"Alas! my son!" and he wept till his clothes were drenched with tears,
and repeated with a beating heart:—
Love's votaries I ceased not to oppose, ✿ Till doomed to taste Love's
bitter and Love's sweet:
I drained his rigour-cup to very dregs, ✿ Self-humbled at its slaves'
and freemen's feet:
Fortune had sworn to part the loves of us; ✿ She kept her word how
truly, well I weet!
And when he ended his verse, he wiped away his tears and bade his troops
make ready for a march and prepare for a long expedition. So they all
mounted and set forth, headed by the Sultan, whose heart burnt with
grief and was fired with anxiety for his son Kamar al-Zaman; and they
advanced by forced marches. Now the King divided his host into six
divisions, a right wing and a left wing, a vanguard and a
rear-guard;[322] and bade them rendezvous for the morrow at the
cross-roads. Accordingly they separated and scoured the country all the
rest of that day till night, and they marched through the night and at
noon of the ensuing day they joined company at the place where four
roads met. But they knew not which the Prince followed, till they saw
the sign of torn clothes and sighted shreds of flesh and beheld blood
still sprinkled by the way and they noted every piece of the clothes and
fragment of mangled flesh scattered on all sides. Now when King
Shahriman saw this, he cried from his heart-core a loud cry, saying,
"Alas, my son!"; and buffetted his face and pluckt his beard and rent
his raiment, doubting not but his son was dead. Then he gave himself up
to excessive weeping and wailing, and the troops also wept for his
weeping, all being assured that Prince Kamar al-Zaman had perished. They
threw dust on their heads, and the night surprised them shedding tears
and lamenting till they were like to die. Then the King with a heart on
fire and with burning sighs spake these couplets:—
Chide not the mourner for bemourning woe; ✿ Enough is yearning every Ill
to show:
He weeps for stress of sorrow and of pain, ✿ And these to thee best
evidence his lowe:
Happy![323] of whom Love-sickness swore that ne'er ✿ Should cease his
eyelids loving tears to flow:
He mourns the loss of fairest, fullest Moon, ✿ Shining o'er all his
peers in glorious glow:
But death made drink a brimming cup, what day ✿ He fared from natal
country fain to go:
His home left he and went from us to grief; ✿ Nor to his brethren could
he say adieu:
Yea, his loss wounded me with parting pangs, ✿ And separation cost me
many a throe:
He fared farewelling, as he fared, our eyes; ✿ Whenas his Lord
vouchsafed him Paradise.
And when King Shahriman had ended his verses, he returned with the
troops to his capital,——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Twelfth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when King
Shahriman had ended his verses, he returned with the troops to his
capital, giving up his son for lost, and deeming that wild beasts or
banditti had set upon him and torn him to pieces; and made proclamation
that all in the Khalidan Islands should don black in mourning for him.
Moreover, he built, in his memory, a pavilion, naming it House of
Lamentations; and on Mondays and Thursdays he devoted himself to the
business of the state and ordering the affairs of his levies and lieges;
and the rest of the week he was wont to spend in the House of
Lamentations, mourning for his son and bewailing him with elegiac
verses,[324] of which the following are some:—
My day of bliss is that when thou appearest; ✿ My day of bale[325] is
that whereon thou farest:
Though through the night I quake in dread of death; ✿ Union wi' thee is
of all bliss the dearest.
And again he said:—
My soul be sacrifice for one, whose going ✿ Afflicted hearts with
sufferings sore and dread:
Let joy her widowed term[326] fulfil, for I ✿ Divorcèd joy with the
divorce thrice-said.[327]
Such was the case with King Shahriman; but as regards Queen Budur
daughter of King Ghayur, she abode as ruler in the Ebony Islands, whilst
the folk would point to her with their fingers, and say, "Yonder is the
son-in-law of King Armanus." And every night she lay with Hayat
al-Nufus, to whom she lamented her desolate state and longing for her
husband Kamar al-Zaman, weeping and describing to her his beauty and
loveliness, and yearning to enjoy him though but in a dream: And at
times she would repeat:—
Well Allah wots that since my severance from thee, ✿ I wept till forced
to borrow tears at usury:
"Patience!" my blamer cried, "Heartsease right soon shalt see!" ✿ Quoth
I, "Say, blamer, where may home of Patience be?"
This is how it fared with Queen Budur; but as regards Kamar al-Zaman, he
abode with the gardener in the garden for no short time, weeping night
and day and repeating verses bewailing the past time of enjoyment and
delight; whilst the gardener kept comforting him and assuring him that
the ship would set sail for the land of the Moslems at the end of the
year. And in this condition he continued till one day he saw the folk
crowding together and wondered at this; but the gardener came in to him
and said, "O my son, give over work for this day nor lead water to the
trees; for it is a festival day, whereon folk visit one another. So take
thy rest and only keep thine eye on the garden, whilst I go look after
the ship for thee; for yet but a little while and I send thee to the
land of the Moslems." Upon this, he went forth from the garden leaving
to himself Kamar al-Zaman, who fell to musing upon his case till his
heart was like to break and the tears streamed from his eyes. So he wept
with excessive weeping till he swooned away and, when he recovered, he
rose and walked about the garden, pondering what Time had done with him
and bewailing the long endurance of his estrangement and separation from
those he loved. As he was thus absorbed in melancholy thought, his foot
stumbled and he fell on his face, his forehead striking against the
projecting root of a tree; and the blow cut it open and his blood ran
down and mingled with his tears. Then he rose and, wiping away the
blood, dried his tears and bound his brow with a piece of rag; then
continued his walk about the garden engrossed by sad reverie. Presently,
he looked up at a tree and saw two birds quarrelling thereon, and one of
them rose up and smote the other with its beak on the neck and severed
from its body its head, wherewith it flew away, whilst the slain bird
fell to the ground before Kamar al-Zaman. As it lay, behold, two great
birds swooped down upon it alighting, one at the head and the other at
the tail, and both drooped their wings and bowed their bills over it
and, extending their necks towards it, wept. Kamar al-Zaman also wept
when seeing the birds thus bewail their mate, and called to mind his
wife and father,——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to
day her permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Thirteenth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Kamar al-Zaman
wept and lamented his separation from spouse and sire, when he beheld
those two birds weeping over their mate. Then he looked at the twain and
saw them dig a grave and therein bury the slain bird; after which they
flew away far into the firmament and disappeared for a while; but
presently they returned with the murtherer-bird and, alighting on the
grave of the murthered, stamped on the slayer till they had done him to
death. Then they rent his belly and tearing out his entrails, poured the
blood on the grave of the slain[328]: moreover, they stripped off his
skin and tare his flesh in pieces and, pulling out the rest of the
bowels, scattered them hither and thither. All this while Kamar al-Zaman
was watching them wonderingly; but presently, chancing to look at the
place where the two birds had slain the third, he saw therein something
gleaming. So he drew near to it and noted that it was the crop of the
dead bird. Whereupon he took it and opened it and found the talisman
which had been the cause of his separation from his wife. But when he
saw it and knew it, he fell to the ground a-fainting for joy; and, when
he revived, he said, "Praised be Allah! This is a foretaste of good and
a presage of reunion with my beloved." Then he examined the jewel and
passed it over his eyes[329]; after which he bound it to his forearm,
rejoicing in coming weal, and walked about till nightfall awaiting the
gardener's return; and when he came not, he lay down and slept in his
wonted place. At daybreak he rose to his work and, girding his middle
with a cord of palm-fibre, took hatchet and basket and walked down the
length of the garden, till he came to a carob-tree and struck the axe
into its roots. The blow rang and resounded; so he cleared away the soil
from the place and discovered a trap-door and raised it.——And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Fourteenth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Kamar
al-Zaman raised the trap-door, he found a winding stair, which he
descended and came to an ancient vault of the time of Ad and
Thamúd,[330] hewn out of the rock. Round the vault stood many brazen
vessels of the bigness of a great oil-jar which he found full of
gleaming red gold: whereupon he said to himself, "Verily sorrow is gone
and solace is come!" Then he mounted from the souterrain to the garden
and, replacing the trap-door as it was before, busied himself in
conducting water to the trees till the last of the day, when the
gardener came back and said to him, "O my son, rejoice at the good
tidings of a speedy return to thy native land: the merchants are ready
equipped for the voyage and the ship in three days' time will set sail
for the City of Ebony, which is the first of the cities of the Moslems;
and after making it, thou must travel by land a six months' march till
thou come to the Islands of Khalidan, the dominions of King Shahriman."
At this Kamar al-Zaman rejoiced and began repeating:—
Part not from one whose wont is not to part from you; ✿ Nor with your
cruel taunts an innocent mortify:
Another so long-parted had ta'en heart from you, ✿ And had his whole
condition changed,—but not so I.
Then he kissed the gardener's hand and said, "O my father, even as thou
hast brought me glad tidings, so I also have great good news for thee,"
and told him anent his discovery of the vault; whereat the gardener
rejoiced and said, "O my son, fourscore years have I dwelt in this
garden and have never hit on aught; whilst thou, who hast not sojourned
with me a year, hast discovered this thing; wherefore it is Heaven's
gift to thee, which shall end thy crosses and aid thee to rejoin thy
folk and foregather with her thou lovest." Quoth Kamar al-Zaman, "There
is no help but it must be shared between me and thee." Then he carried
him to the underground-chamber and showed him the gold, which was in
twenty jars: he took ten and the gardener ten, and the old man said to
him, "O my son, fill thyself leather bottles[331] with the
sparrow-olives[332] which grow in this garden, for they are not found
except in our land; and the merchants carry them to all parts. Lay the
gold in the bottles and strew it over with olives: then stop them and
cover them and take them with thee in the ship." So Kamar al-Zaman arose
without stay or delay and took fifty leather bottles and stored in each
somewhat of the gold, and closed each one after placing a layer of
olives over the gold; and at the bottom of one of the bottles he laid
the talisman. Then sat he down to talk with the gardener, confident of
speedy reunion with his own people and saying to himself, "When I come
to the Ebony Islands I will journey thence to my father's country and
enquire for my beloved Budur. Would to Heaven I knew whether she
returned to her own land or journeyed on to my father's country or
whether there befel her any accident by the way." And he began
versifying:—
Love in my breast they lit and fared away, ✿ And far the land wherein my
love is pent:
Far lies the camp and those who camp therein; ✿ Far is her tent-shrine,
where I ne'er shall tent.
Patience far fled me when from me they fled; ✿ Sleep failed mine eyes,
endurance was forspent:
They left and with them left my every joy, ✿ Wending with them, nor find
I peace that went:
They made these eyes roll down love-tears in flood, ✿ And lacking them
these eyne with tears are drent.
When my triste spirit once again would see them, ✿ When pine and
expectation but augment,
In my heart's core their counterfeits I trace, ✿ With love and yearning
to behold their grace.
Then, while he awaited the end of the term of days, he told the gardener
the tale of the birds and what had passed between them; whereat the
hearer wondered; and they both lay down and slept till the morning. The
gardener awoke sick and abode thus two days; but on the third day, his
sickness increased on him, till they despaired of his life and Kamar
al-Zaman grieved with sore grief for him. Meanwhile behold, the Master
and his crew came and enquired for the gardener; and, when Kamar
al-Zaman told them that he was sick, they asked, "Where be the youth who
is minded to go with us to the Ebony Islands?" "He is your servant and
he standeth before you!" answered the Prince and bade them carry the
bottles of olives to the ship; so they transported them, saying, "Make
haste, thou, for the wind is fair;" and he replied, "I hear and obey."
Then he carried his provaunt on board and, returning to bid the gardener
farewell, found him in the agonies of death; so he sat down at his head
and closed his eyes, and his soul departed his body; whereupon he laid
him out and committed him to the earth unto the mercy of Allah Almighty.
Then he made for the ship but found that she had already weighed anchor
and set sail; nor did she cease to cleave the seas till she disappeared
from his sight. So he went back to whence he came heavy-hearted with
whirling head; and neither would he address a soul nor return a reply;
and reaching the garden and sitting down in cark and care he threw dust
on his head and buffeted his cheeks.——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn
of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Fifteenth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the ship sped
on her course, Kamar al-Zaman returned to the garden in cark and care;
but anon he rented the place of its owner and hired a man to help him in
irrigating the trees. Moreover, he repaired the trap-door and he went to
the underground chamber and bringing the rest of the gold to grass,
stowed it in other fifty bottles which he filled up with a layer of
olives. Then he enquired of the ship and they told him that it sailed
but once a year; at which his trouble of mind redoubled and he cried
sore for that which had betided him, above all for the loss of the
Princess Budur's talisman, and spent his nights and days weeping and
repeating verses. Such was his case; but as regards the ship she sailed
with a favouring wind till she reached the Ebony Islands. Now by decree
of destiny, Queen Budur was sitting at a lattice-window overlooking the
sea and saw the galley cast anchor upon the strand. At this sight, her
heart throbbed and she took horse with the Chamberlains and Nabobs and,
riding down to the shore, halted by the ship, whilst the sailors broke
bulk and bore the bales to the storehouses; after which she called the
captain to her presence and asked what he had with him. He answered "O
King, I have with me in this ship aromatic drugs and cosmetics and
healing powders and ointments and plasters and precious metals and rich
stuffs and rugs of Yemen leather, not to be borne of mule or camel, and
all manner of ottars and spices and perfumes, civet and ambergris and
camphor and Sumatra aloes-wood, and tamarinds[333] and sparrow-olives to
boot, such as are rare to find in this country." When she heard talk of
sparrow-olives her heart longed for them and she said to the
ship-master, "How much of olives hast thou?" He replied, "Fifty bottles
full, but their owner is not with us; so the King shall take what he
will of them." Quoth she, "Bring them ashore, that I may see them."
Thereupon he called to the sailors, who brought her the fifty bottles;
and she opened one and, looking at the olives, said to the captain, "I
will take the whole fifty and pay you their value, whatso it be." He
answered, "By Allah, O my lord, they have no value in our country;
moreover their shipper tarried behind us, and he is a poor man." Asked
she, "And what are they worth here?" and he answered "A thousand
dirhams." "I will take them at a thousand," she said and bade them carry
the fifty bottles to the palace. When it was night, she called for a
bottle of olives and opened it, there being none in the room but herself
and the Princess Hayat al-Nufus. Then, placing a dish before her she
turned into it the contents of the jar, when there fell out into the
dish with the olives a heap of red gold; and she said to the Lady Hayat
al-Nufus, "This is naught but gold!" So she sent for the rest of the
bottles and found them all full of precious metal and scarce enough
olives to fill a single jar. Moreover, she sought among the gold and
found therein the talisman, which she took and examined and behold, it
was that which Kamar al-Zaman had taken from off the band of her
petticoat trousers. Thereupon she cried out for joy and slipped down in
a swoon;——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Sixteenth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when King Budur
saw the talisman she cried out for joy and slipped down in a swoon; and
when she recovered she said to herself, "Verily, this talisman was the
cause of my separation from my beloved Kamar al-Zaman; but now it is an
omen of good." Then she showed it to Hayat al-Nufus and said to her,
"This was the cause of disunion and now, please Allah, it shall be the
cause of reunion." As soon as day dawned she seated herself on the royal
throne and sent for the ship-master, who came into the presence and
kissed the ground before her. Quoth she, "Where didst thou leave the
owner of these olives?" Quoth he, "O King of the age, we left him in the
land of the Magians and he is a gardener there." She rejoined, "Except
thou bring him to me, thou knowest not the harm which awaiteth thee and
thy ship." Then she bade them seal up the magazines of the merchants and
said to them, "Verily the owner of these olives hath borrowed of me and
I have a claim upon him for debt and, unless ye bring him to me, I will
without fail do you all die and seize your goods." So they went to the
captain and promised him the hire of the ship, if he would go and return
a second time, saying, "Deliver us from this masterful tyrant."
Accordingly the skipper embarked and set sail and Allah decreed him a
prosperous voyage, till he came to the Island of the Magians and,
landing by night, went up to the garden. Now the night was long upon
Kamar al-Zaman, and he sat, bethinking him of his beloved, and bewailing
what had befallen him and versifying:—
A night whose stars refused to run their course, ✿ A night of those
which never seem outworn:
Like Resurrection-day, of longsome length[334] ✿ To him that watched and
waited for the morn.
Now at this moment, the captain knocked at the garden-gate, and Kamar
al-Zaman opened and went out to him, whereupon the crew seized him and
went down with him on board the ship and set sail forthright; and they
ceased not voyaging days and nights, whilst Kamar al-Zaman knew not why
they dealt thus with him; but when he questioned them they replied,
"Thou hast offended against the Lord of the Ebony Islands, the
son-in-law of King Armanus, and thou hast stolen his monies, miserable
that thou art!" Said he, "By Allah! I never entered that country nor do
I know where it is!" However, they fared on with him, till they made the
Ebony Islands and landing, carried him up to the Lady Budur, who knew
him at sight and said, "Leave him with the eunuchs, that they may take
him to the bath." Then she relieved the merchants of the embargo and
gave the captain a robe of honour worth ten thousand pieces of gold;
and, after returning to the palace, she went in that night to the
Princess Hayat al-Nufus and told her what had passed, saying, "Keep thou
my counsel, till I accomplish my purpose, and do a deed which shall be
recorded and shall be read by Kings and commoners after we be dead and
gone." And when she gave orders that they bear Kamar al-Zaman to the
bath, they did so and clad him in a royal habit so that, when he came
forth, he resembled a willow-bough or a star which shamed the greater
and lesser light[335] and its glow, and his life and soul returned to
his frame. Then he repaired to the palace and went in to the Princess
Budur; and when she saw him she schooled her heart to patience, till she
should have accomplished her purpose; and she bestowed on him Mamelukes
and eunuchs, camels and mules. Moreover, she gave him a treasury of
money and she ceased not advancing him from dignity to dignity, till she
made him Lord High Treasurer and committed to his charge all the
treasures of the state; and she admitted him to familiar favour and
acquainted the Emirs with his rank and dignity. And all loved him, for
Queen Budur did not cease day by day to increase his allowances. As for
Kamar al-Zaman, he was at a loss anent the reason of her thus honouring
him; and he gave gifts and largesse out of the abundance of the wealth;
and he devoted himself to the service of King Armanus; so that the King
and all the Emirs and people, great and small, adored him and were wont
to swear by his life. Nevertheless, he ever marvelled at the honour and
favour shown him by Queen Budur and said to himself, "By Allah, there
needs must be a reason for this affection! Peradventure, this King
favoureth me not with these immoderate favours save for some ill purpose
and, therefore, there is no help but that I crave leave of him to depart
his realm." So he went in to Queen Budur and said to her, "O King, thou
hast overwhelmed me with favours, but it will fulfil the measure of thy
bounties if thou take from me all thou hast been pleased to bestow upon
me, and permit me to depart." She smiled and asked, "What maketh thee
seek to depart and plunge into new perils, whenas thou art in the
enjoyment of the highest favour and greatest prosperity?" Answered Kamar
al-Zaman, "O King, verily this favour, if there be no reason for it, is
indeed a wonder of wonders, more by token that thou hast advanced me to
dignities such as befit men of age and experience, albeit I am as it
were a young child." And Queen Budur rejoined, "The reason is that I
love thee for thine exceeding loveliness and thy surpassing beauty; and
if thou wilt but grant me my desire of thy body, I will advance thee yet
farther in honour and favour and largesse; and I will make thee Wazir,
for all thy tender age, even as the folk made me Sultan over them and I
no older than thou; so that nowadays there is nothing strange when
children take the head and by Allah, he was a gifted man who said:—
It seems as though of Lot's tribe were our days, ✿ And crave with love
to advance the young in years."[336]
When Kamar al-Zaman heard these words, he was abashed and his cheeks
flushed till they seemed a-flame; and he said, "I need not these favours
which lead to the commission of sin; I will live poor in wealth but
wealthy in virtue and honour." Quoth she, "I am not to be duped by thy
scruples, arising from prudery and coquettish ways; and Allah bless him
who saith:—
To him I spake of coupling, but he said to me, ✿ 'How long this noyous
long persistency?'
But when gold piece I showèd him, he cried, ✿ 'Who from the Almighty
Sovereign e'er shall flee?'"
Now when Kamar al-Zaman, heard these words and understood her verses and
their import, he said, "O King, I have not the habit of these doings,
nor have I strength to bear these heavy burthens for which elder than I
have proved unable; then how will it be with my tender age?" But she
smiled at his speech and retorted, "Indeed, it is a matter right
marvellous how error springeth from the disorder of man's intendiment!
Since thou art a boy, why standest thou in fear of sin or the doing of
things forbidden, seeing that thou art not yet come to years of
canonical responsibility; and the offences of a child incur neither
punishment nor reproof? Verily, thou hast committed thyself to a quibble
for the sake of contention, and it is thy duty to bow before a proposal
of fruition, so henceforward cease from denial and coyness, for the
commandment of Allah is a decree foreordained:[337] indeed, I have more
reason than thou to fear falling and by sin to be misled; and
well-inspired was he who said:—
My prickle is big and the little one said, ✿ Thrust boldly in vitals
with lion-like stroke!
Then I, 'Tis a sin!; and he, No sin to me! ✿ So I had him at once with a
counterfeit poke."[338]
When Kamar al-Zaman heard these words, the light became darkness in his
sight and he said, "O King, thou hast in thy household fair women and
female slaves, who have not their like in this age: shall not these
suffice thee without me? Do thy will with them and let me go!" She
replied, "Thou sayest sooth, but it is not with them that one who loveth
thee can heal himself of torment and can abate his fever; for, when
tastes and inclinations are corrupted by vice, they hear and obey other
than good advice. So leave arguing and listen to what the poet saith:—
Seest not the bazar with its fruit in rows? ✿ These men are for figs and
for sycomore[339] those!"
And what another saith:—
Many whose anklet-rings are dumb have tinkling belts, ✿ And this hath
all content while that for want must wail:
Thou bidd'st me be a fool and quit thee for her charms; ✿ Allah forfend
I leave The Faith, turn Infidel!
Nay, by thy rights of side-beard mocking all her curls, ✿ Nor mott nor
maid[340] from thee my heart shall spell.
And yet another:—
O beauty's Union! love for thee's my creed; ✿ Free choice of Faith and
eke my best desire:
Women I have forsworn for thee; so may ✿ Deem me all men this day a
shaveling friar.[341]
And yet another:—
Even not beardless one with girl, nor heed ✿ The spy who saith to thee
"'Tis an amiss!"
Far different is the girl whose feet one kisses ✿ And that gazelle whose
feet the earth must kiss.
And yet another:—
A boy of twice ten is fit for a King!
And yet another:—
The penis smooth and round was made with anus best to match it; ✿ Had it
been made for cunnus' sake it had been formed like hatchet!
And yet another said:—
My soul thy sacrifice! I chose thee out ✿ Who art not menstruous nor
oviparous:
Did I with woman mell, I should beget ✿ Brats till the wide wide world
grew strait for us.
And yet another:—
She saith (sore hurt in sense the most acute ✿ For she had proffered
what did not besuit):—
"Unless thou stroke as man should swive his wife ✿ Blame not when horns
thy brow shall incornùte!"
"Thy wand seems waxen, to a limpo grown, ✿ And more I palm it, softer
grows the brute!"
And yet another:—
Quoth she (for I to lie with her forbore), ✿ "O folly-following fool, O
fool to core:
If thou my coynte for Kiblah[342] to thy coigne ✿ Reject, we'll show
thee what shall please thee more."[343]
And yet another:—
She proffered me a tender coynte ✿ Quoth I "I will not roger thee!"
She drew back, saying, "From the Faith ✿ He turns, who's turned by
Heaven's decree!"[344]
And front-wise futtering, in one day, ✿ "Is obsolete persistency!"
Then swung she round and shining rump ✿ Like silvern lump she showèd me!
I cried: "Well done, O mistress mine! ✿ No more am I in pain for thee;
O thou of all that Allah oped[345] ✿ Showest me fairest victory!"
And yet another:—
Men craving pardon will uplift their hands; ✿ Women pray pardon with
their legs on high:
Out on it for a pious, prayerful work! ✿ The Lord shall raise it in the
depths to lie.[346]
When Kamar al-Zaman heard her quote this poetry, and was certified that
there was no escaping compliance with what willed she, he said, "O King
of the age, if thou must needs have it so, make covenant with me that
thou wilt do this thing with me but once, though it avail not to correct
thy depraved appetite; and that thou wilt never again require this thing
of me to the end of time; so perchance shall Allah purge me of the sin."
She replied, "I promise thee this same, hoping that Allah of His favour
will relent towards us and blot out our mortal offence; for the girdle
of heaven's forgiveness is not indeed so strait, but it may compass us
around and absolve us of the excess of our heinous sins and bring us to
the light of salvation out of the darkness of error; and indeed
excellently well saith the poet:—
Of evil thing the folk suspect us twain; ✿ And to this thought their
hearts and souls are bent:
Come, dear! let's justify and free their souls ✿ That wrong us; one good
bout and then—repent!"[347]
Thereupon she made with him an agreement and a covenant and swore a
solemn oath by Him who is Self-existent, that this thing should befal
betwixt them but once and never again for all time, and that the desire
of him was driving her to death and perdition. So he rose up with her,
on this condition, and went with her to her own boudoir, that she might
quench the lowe of her lust, saying, "There is no Majesty, and there is
no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great! This is the fated
decree of the All-powerful, the All-wise!"; and he doffed his
bag-trousers, shamefull and abashed, with the tears running from his
eyes for stress of affright. Thereat she smiled and making him mount
upon a couch with her, said to him, "After this night, thou shalt see
naught that will offend thee." Then she turned to him bussing and
bosoming him and bending calf over calf, and said to him, "Put thy hand
between my thighs to the accustomed place; so haply it may stand up to
prayer after prostration." He wept and cried, "I am not good at aught of
this," but she said, "By my life, an thou do as I bid thee, it shall
profit thee!" So he put out his hand, with vitals a-fire for confusion,
and found her thighs cooler than cream and softer than silk. The
touching of them pleasured him and he moved his hand hither and thither,
till it came to a dome abounding in good gifts and movements and shifts,
and said in himself, "Perhaps this King is an hermaphrodite,[348]
neither man nor woman quite;" so he said to her, "O King, I cannot find
that thou hast a tool like the tools of men; what then moved thee to do
this deed?" Then loudly laughed Queen Budur till she fell on her
back,[349] and said, "O my dearling, how quickly thou hast forgotten the
nights we have lain together!" Then she made herself known to him, and
he knew her for his wife, the Lady Budur, daughter of King al-Ghayur,
Lord of the Isles and the Seas. So he embraced her and she embraced him,
and he kissed her and she kissed him; then they lay down on the bed of
pleasure voluptuous, repeating the words of the poet:—
When his softly bending shape bid him close to my embrace ✿ Which clipt
him all about like the tendrils of the vine,
And shed a flood of softness on the hardness of his heart, ✿ He yielded;
though at first he was minded to decline;
And dreading lest the railer's eye should light upon his form, ✿ Came
armourèd with caution to baffle his design:
His waist makes moan of hinder cheeks that weigh upon his feet ✿ Like
heavy load of merchandise upon young camel li'en;
Girt with his glances' scymitar which seemed athirst for blood, ✿ And
clad in mail of dusky curls that show the sheeniest shine,
His fragrance wafted happy news of footstep coming nigh, ✿ And to him
like a bird uncaged I flew in straightest line:
I spread my cheek upon his path, beneath his sandal-shoon, ✿ And lo! the
stibium[350] of their dust healed all my hurt of eyne.
With one embrace again I bound the banner of our loves,[351] ✿ And
loosed the knot of my delight that bound in bonds malign:
Then bade I make high festival, and straight came flocking in ✿ Pure
joys that know not grizzled age[352] nor aught of pain and pine:
The full moon dotted with the stars the lips and pearly teeth ✿ That
dance right joyously upon the bubbling face of wine:
So in the prayer-niche of their joys I yielded me to what ✿ Would make
the humblest penitent of sinner most indign.
I swear by all the signs[353] of those glories in his face ✿ I'll ne'er
forget the Chapter entituled Al-Ikhlas.[354]
Then Queen Budur told Kamar al-Zaman all that had befallen her from
beginning to end and he did likewise; after which he began to upbraid
her, saying, "What moved thee to deal with me as thou hast done this
night?" She replied, "Pardon me! for I did this by way of jest, and that
pleasure and gladness might be increased." And when dawned the morn and
day arose with its sheen and shone, she sent to King Armanus, sire of
the Lady Hayat al-Nufus, and acquainted him with the truth of the case
and that she was wife to Kamar al-Zaman. Moreover, she told him their
tale and the cause of their separation, and how his daughter was a
virgin, pure as when she was born. He marvelled at their story with
exceeding marvel and bade them chronicle it in letters of gold. Then he
turned to Kamar al-Zaman and said, "O King's son, art thou minded to
become my son-in-law by marrying my daughter?" Replied he, "I must
consult the Queen Budur, as she hath a claim upon me for benefits
without stint." And when he took counsel with her, she said, "Right is
thy recking; marry her and I will be her handmaid; for I am her debtor
for kindness and favour and good offices, and obligations manifold,
especially as we are here in her place and as the King her father hath
whelmed us with benefits."[355] Now when he saw that she inclined to
this and was not jealous of Hayat al-Nufus, he agreed with her upon this
matter——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Seventeenth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Kamar al-Zaman
agreed with his wife, Queen Budur, upon this matter and told King
Armanus what she had said; whereat he rejoiced with great joy. Then he
went out and, seating himself upon his chair of estate, assembled all
the Wazirs, Emirs, Chamberlains and Grandees, to whom he related the
whole story of Kamar al-Zaman and his wife, Queen Budur, from first to
last; and acquainted them with his desire to marry his daughter Hayat
al-Nufus to the Prince and make him King in the stead of Queen Budur.
Whereupon said they all, "Since he is the husband of Queen Budur, who
hath been our King till now, whilst we deemed her son-in-law to King
Armanus, we are all content to have him to Sultan over us; and we will
be his servants, nor will we swerve from his allegiance." So Armanus
rejoiced hereat and, summoning Kazis and witnesses and the chief
officers of state, bade draw up the contract of marriage between Kamar
al-Zaman and his daughter, the Princess Hayat al-Nufus. Then he held
high festival, giving sumptuous marriage-feasts and bestowing costly
dresses of honour upon all the Emirs and Captains of the host; moreover
he distributed alms to the poor and needy and set free all the
prisoners. The whole world rejoiced in the coming of Kamar al-Zaman to
the throne, blessing him and wishing him endurance of glory and
prosperity, renown and felicity; and, as soon as he became King, he
remitted the customs-dues and released all men who remained in gaol.
Thus he abode a long while, ordering himself worthily towards his
lieges; and he lived with his two wives in peace, happiness, constancy
and content, lying the night with each of them in turn. He ceased not
after this fashion during many years, for indeed all his troubles and
afflictions were blotted out from him and he forgot his father King
Shahriman and his former estate of honour and favour with him. After a
while Almighty Allah blessed him with two boy children, as they were two
shining moons, through his two wives; the elder whose name was Prince
Amjad,[356] by Queen Budur, and the younger whose name was Prince As'ad
by Queen Hayat al-Nufus; and this one was comelier than his brother.
They were reared in splendour and tender affection, in respectful
bearing and in the perfection of training; and they were instructed in
penmanship and science and the arts of government and horsemanship, till
they attained the extreme of accomplishments and the utmost limit of
beauty and loveliness; both men and women being ravished by their
charms. They grew up side by side till they reached the age of
seventeen, eating and drinking together and sleeping in one bed, nor
ever parting at any time or tide; wherefore all the people envied them.
Now when they came to man's estate and were endowed with every
perfection, their father was wont, as often as he went on a journey, to
make them sit in his stead by turns in the hall of judgement; and each
did justice among the folk one day at a time. But it came to pass, by
confirmed fate and determined lot, that love for As'ad (son of Queen
Hayat al-Nufus) rose in the heart of Queen Budur, and that affection for
Amjad (son of Queen Budur) rose in the heart of Queen Hayat
al-Nufus.[357] Hence it was that each of the women used to sport and
play with the son of her sister-wife, kissing him and straining him to
her bosom, whilst each mother thought that the other's behaviour arose
but from maternal affection. On this wise passion got the mastery of the
two women's hearts and they became madly in love with the two youths, so
that when the other's son came in to either of them, she would press him
to her breast and long for him never to be parted from her; till, at
last, when waiting grew longsome to them and they found no path to
enjoyment, they refused meat and drink and banished the solace of sleep.
Presently, the King fared forth to course and chase, bidding his two
sons sit to do justice in his stead, each one day in turn, as was their
wont.——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Eighteenth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the King fared
forth to sport and hunt, bidding his two sons sit to do justice in his
stead, each one day by turn, as was their wont. Now Prince Amjad sat in
judgement the first day, bidding and forbidding, appointing and
deposing, giving and refusing; and Queen Hayat al-Nufus, mother of
As'ad, wrote to him a letter suing for his favour and discovering to him
her passion and devotion; altogether putting off the mask and giving him
to know that she desired to enjoy him. So she took a scroll and thereon
indited these cadences:—From the love deranged ✿ the sorrowful and
estranged ✿ whose torment is prolonged for the longing of thee! ✿ Were I
to recount to thee the extent of my care ✿ and what of sadness I bear ✿
the passion which my heart doth tear ✿ and all that I endure for weeping
and unrest ✿ and the rending of my sorrowful breast ✿ my unremitting
grief ✿ and my woe without relief ✿ and all my suffering for severance
of thee ✿ and sadness and love's ardency ✿ no letter could contain it;
nor calculation could compass it ✿ Indeed earth and heaven upon me are
strait; and I have no hope and no trust but what from thee I await ✿
Upon death I am come nigh ✿ and the horrors of dissolution I aby ✿
Burning upon me is sore ✿ with parting pangs and estrangement galore ✿
Were I to set forth the yearnings that possess me more and more ✿ no
scrolls would suffice to hold such store ✿ and of the excess of my pain
and pine, I have made the following lines:—
Were I to dwell on heart-consuming heat, ✿ Unease and transports in my
spirit meet,
Nothing were left of ink and reeden pen ✿ Nor aught of paper; no, not
e'en a sheet.
Then Queen Hayat al-Nufus wrapped up her letter in a piece of costly
silk scented with musk and ambergris; and folded it up with her silken
hair-strings[358] whose cost swallowed down treasures; laid it in a
handkerchief and gave it to a eunuch bidding him bear it to Prince
Amjad.——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Nineteenth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that she gave her
missive to the eunuch in waiting and bade him bear it to Prince Amjad.
And that eunuch went forth ignoring what the future hid for him (for the
Omniscient ordereth events even as He willeth); and, going in to the
Prince, kissed the ground between his hands and handed to him the
letter. On receiving the kerchief he opened it and, reading the epistle
and recognising its gist he was ware that his father's wife was
essentially an adulteress and a traitress at heart to her husband, King
Kamar al-Zaman. So he waxed wroth with exceeding wrath and railed at
women and their works, saying, "Allah curse women, the traitresses, the
imperfect in reason and religion!"[359] Then he drew his sword and said
to the eunuch, "Out on thee, thou wicked slave! Dost thou carry messages
of disloyalty for thy lord's wife? By Allah, there is no good in thee, O
black of hue and heart, O foul of face and Nature's forming!" So he
smote him on the neck and severed his head from his body; then, folding
the kerchief over its contents he thrust it into his breast-pocket and
went in to his own mother and told her what had passed, reviling and
reproaching her, and saying, "Each one of you is viler than the other;
and, by Allah the Great and Glorious, did I not fear ill-manneredly to
transgress against the rights of my father, Kamar al-Zaman, and my
brother, Prince As'ad, I would assuredly go in to her and cut off her
head, even as I cut off that of her eunuch!" Then he went forth from his
mother in a mighty rage; and when the news reached Queen Hayat al-Nufus
of what he had done with her eunuch, she abused him[360] and cursed him
and plotted perfidy against him. He passed the night, sick with rage,
wrath and concern; nor found he pleasure in meat, drink or sleep. And
when the next morning dawned Prince As'ad fared forth in his turn to
rule the folk in his father's stead, whilst his mother, Hayat al-Nufus,
awoke in feeble plight because of what she had heard from Prince Amjad
concerning the slaughter of her eunuch. So Prince As'ad sat in the
audience-chamber that day, judging and administering justice, appointing
and deposing, bidding and forbidding, giving and bestowing. And he
ceased not thus till near the time of afternoon-prayer, when Queen Budur
sent for a crafty old woman and, discovering to her what was in her
heart, wrote a letter to Prince As'ad, complaining of the excess of her
affection and desire for him in these cadenced lines:—"From her who
perisheth for passion and love-forlorn ✿ to him who in nature and
culture is goodliest born ✿ to him who is conceited of his own
loveliness ✿ and glories in his amorous grace ✿ who from those that seek
to enjoy him averteth his face ✿ and refuseth to show favour unto the
self abasing and base ✿ him who is cruel and of disdainful mood ✿ from
the lover despairing of good ✿ to Prince As'ad ✿ with passing beauty
endowed ✿ and of excelling grace proud ✿ of the face moon-bright ✿ and
the brow flower-white ✿ and dazzling splendid light ✿ This is my letter
to him whose love melteth my body ✿ and rendeth my skin and bones! ✿
Know that my patience faileth me quite ✿ and I am perplexed in my plight
✿ longing and restlessness weary me ✿ and sleep and patience deny
themselves to me ✿ but mourning and watching stick fast to me ✿ and
desire and passion torment me ✿ and the extremes of languor and sickness
have shent me ✿ Yet may my life be a ransom for thee ✿ albeit thy
pleasure be to slay her who loveth thee ✿ and Allah prolong the life of
thee ✿ and preserve thee from all infirmity!" And after these cadences
she wrote these couplets:—
Fate hath commanded I become thy fere, ✿ O shining like full moon when
clearest clear!
All beauty dost embrace, all eloquence; ✿ Brighter than aught within our
worldly sphere:
Content am I my torturer thou be: ✿ Haply shalt alms me with one lovely
leer!
Happy her death who dieth for thy love! ✿ No good in her who holdeth
thee undear!
And also the following couplets:—
Unto thee, As'ad! I of passion-pangs complain; ✿ Have ruth on slave of
love so burnt with flaming pain:
How long, I ask, shall hands of Love disport with me, ✿ With longings,
dolour, sleepliness and bale and bane?
Anon I 'plain of sea in heart, anon of fire ✿ In vitals, O strange case,
dear wish, my fainest fain!
O blamer, cease thy blame, and seek thyself to fly ✿ From Love, which
makes these eyne a rill of tears to rain.
How oft I cry for absence and desire, Ah grief! ✿ But all my crying
naught of gain for me shall gain:
Thy rigours dealt me sickness passing power to bear, ✿ Thou art my only
leach, assain me an thou deign!
O chider, chide me not in caution, for I doubt ✿ That plaguey Love to
thee shall also deal a bout.
Then Queen Budur perfumed the letter-paper with a profusion of
odoriferous musk and, winding it in her hair-strings which were of Iráki
silk, with pendants of oblong emeralds, set with pearls and stones of
price, delivered it to the old woman, bidding her carry it to Prince
As'ad.[361] She did so in order to pleasure her, and going in to the
Prince, straightway and without stay, found him in his own rooms and
delivered to him the letter in privacy; after which she stood waiting an
hour or so for the answer. When As'ad had read the paper and knew its
purport, he wrapped it up again in the ribbons and put it in his
bosom-pocket: then (for he was wroth beyond all measure of wrath) he
cursed false women and sprang up and drawing his sword, smote the old
trot on the neck and cut off her pate. Thereupon he went in to his
mother, Queen Hayat al-Nufus, whom he found lying on her bed in feeble
case, for that which had betided her with Prince Amjad, and railed at
her and cursed her; after which he left her and foregathered with his
brother, to whom he related all that had befallen him with Queen Budur,
adding, "By Allah, O my brother, but that I was ashamed before thee, I
had gone in to her forthright and had smitten her head off her
shoulders!" Replied Prince Amjad, "By Allah, O my brother, yesterday
when I was sitting upon the seat of judgement, the like of what hath
befallen thee this day befel me also with thy mother who sent me a
letter of similar purport." And he told him all that had passed, adding,
"By Allah, O my brother, naught but respect for thee withheld me from
going in to her and dealing with her even as I dealt with the eunuch!"
They passed the rest of the night conversing and cursing false
womankind, and agreed to keep the matter secret, lest their father
should hear of it and kill the two women. Yet they ceased not to suffer
trouble and foresee affliction. And when the morrow dawned, the King
returned with his suite from hunting and sat awhile in his chair of
estate; after which he sent the Emirs about their business and went up
to his palace, where he found his two wives lying a-bed and both
exceeding sick and weak. Now they had made a plot against their two sons
and concerted to do away their lives, for that they had exposed
themselves before them and feared to be at their mercy and dependent
upon their forbearance. When Kamar al-Zaman saw them on this wise, he
said to them, "What aileth you?" Whereupon they rose to him and kissing
his hands answered, perverting the case and saying, "Know, O King, that
thy two sons, who have been reared in thy bounty, have played thee false
and have dishonoured thee in the persons of thy wives." Now when he
heard this, the light became darkness in his sight, and he raged with
such wrath that his reason fled: then said he to them, "Explain me this
matter." Replied Queen Budur, "O King of the age, know that these many
days past thy son As'ad hath been in the persistent habit of sending me
letters and messages to solicit me to lewdness and adultery while I
still forbade him from this, but he would not be forbidden; and, when
thou wentest forth to hunt, he rushed in on me, drunk and with a drawn
sword in his hand, and smiting my eunuch, slew him. Then he mounted on
my breast, still holding the sword, and I feared lest he should slay me,
if I gainsaid him, even as he had slain my eunuch; so he took his wicked
will of me by force. And now if thou do me not justice on him, O King, I
will slay myself with my own hand, for I have no need of life in the
world after this foul deed." And Queen Hayat al-Nufus, choking with
tears, told him respecting Prince Amjad a story like that of her
sister-wife.——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say
her permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Twentieth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Queen Hayat
al-Nufus told her husband, King Kamar al-Zaman, a story like that of her
sister in wedlock, Budur, and, quoth she, "The same thing befel me with
thy son Amjad;" after which she took to weeping and wailing and said,
"Except thou do me justice on him I will tell my father, King Armanus."
Then both women wept with sore weeping before King Kamar al-Zaman who,
when he saw their tears and heard their words, concluded that their
story was true and, waxing wroth beyond measure of wrath, went forth
thinking to fall upon his two sons and put them to death. On his way he
met his father-in-law, King Armanus who, hearing of his return from the
chase, had come to salute him at that very hour; and, seeing him with
naked brand in hand and blood dripping from his nostrils, for excess of
rage, asked what ailed him. So Kamar al-Zaman told him all that his sons
Amjad and As'ad had done and added, "And here I am now going in to them
to slay them in the foulest way and make of them the most shameful of
examples." Quoth King Armanus (and indeed he too was wroth with them),
"Thou dost well, O my son, and may Allah not bless them nor any sons
that do such deed against their father's honour. But, O my son, the
sayer of the old saw saith:—Whoso looketh not to the end hath not
Fortune to friend. In any case, they are thy sons, and it befitteth not
that thou kill them with thine own hand, lest thou drink of their
death-agony,[362] and anon repent of having slain them whenas repentance
availeth thee naught. Rather do thou send them with one of thy Mamelukes
into the desert and let him kill them there out of thy sight, for, as
saith the adage:—Out of sight of my friend is better and
pleasanter."[363] And when Kamar al-Zaman heard his father-in-law's
words, he knew them to be just; so he sheathed his sword and turning
back, sat down upon the throne of his realm. There he summoned his
treasurer, a very old man, versed in affairs and in fortune's
vicissitudes, to whom he said, "Go in to my sons, Amjad and As'ad; bind
their hands behind them with strong bonds, lay them in two chests and
load them upon a mule. Then take horse thou and carry them into
mid-desert, where do thou kill them both and fill two vials with their
blood and bring the same to me in haste." Replied the treasurer, "I hear
and I obey," and he rose up hurriedly and went out forthright to seek
the Princes; and, on his road, he met them coming out of the
palace-vestibule, for they had donned their best clothes and their
richest; and they were on their way to salute their sire and give him
joy of his safe return from his going forth to hunt. Now when he saw
them, he laid hands on them, saying, "O my sons, know ye that I am but a
slave commanded, and that your father hath laid a commandment on me;
will ye obey his commandment?" They said, "Yes"; whereupon he went up to
them and, after pinioning their arms, laid them in the chests which he
loaded on the back of a mule he had taken from the city. And he ceased
not carrying them into the open country till near noon, when he halted
in a waste and desolate place and, dismounting from his mare, let down
the two chests from the mule's back. Then he opened them and took out
Amjad and As'ad; and when he looked upon them he wept sore for their
beauty and loveliness; then drawing his sword he said to them, "By
Allah, O my lords, indeed it is hard for me to deal so evilly by you;
but I am to be excused in this matter, being but a slave commanded, for
that your father King Kamar al-Zaman hath bidden me strike off your
heads." They replied, "O Emir, do the King's bidding, for we bear with
patience that which Allah (to Whom be Honour, Might and Glory!) hath
decreed to us; and thou art quit of our blood." Then they embraced and
bade each other farewell, and As'ad said to the treasurer, "Allah upon
thee, O uncle, spare me the sight of my brother's death-agony and make
me not drink of his anguish, but kill me first, for that were the easier
for me." And Amjad said the like and entreated the treasurer to kill him
before As'ad, saying, "My brother is younger than I; so make me not
taste of his anguish." And they both wept bitter tears whilst the
treasurer wept for their weeping;——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of
day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Twenty-first Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the treasurer wept
for their weeping; then the two brothers embraced and bade farewell and
one said to the other, "All this cometh of the malice of those
traitresses, my mother and thy mother; and this is the reward of my
forbearance towards thy mother and of thy forbearance towards my mother!
But there is no Might and there is no Majesty save in Allah, the
Glorious, the Great! Verily, we are Allah's and unto Him we are
returning."[364] And As'ad embraced his brother, sobbing and repeating
these couplets:—
O Thou to whom sad trembling wights in fear complain! ✿ O ever ready
whatso cometh to sustain!
The sole resource for me is at Thy door to knock; ✿ At whose door knock
an Thou to open wilt not deign?
O Thou whose grace is treasured in the one word, Be![365] ✿ Favour me, I
beseech, in Thee all weals contain.
Now when Amjad heard his brother's weeping he wept also and pressing him
to his bosom repeated these two couplets:—
O Thou whose boons to me are more than one! ✿ Whose gifts and favours
have nor count nor bound!
No stroke of all Fate's strokes e'er fell on me, ✿ But Thee to take me
by the hand I found.
Then said Amjad to the treasurer, "I conjure thee by the One,
Omnipotent, the Lord of Mercy, the Beneficent! slay me before my brother
As'ad, so haply shall the fire be quencht in my heart's core and in this
life burn no more." But As'ad wept and exclaimed, "Not so: I will die
first;" whereupon quoth Amjad, "It were best that I embrace thee and
thou embrace me, so the sword may fall upon us and slay us both at a
single stroke." Thereupon they embraced, face to face and clung to each
other straitly, whilst the treasurer tied up the twain and bound them
fast with cords, weeping the while. Then he drew his blade and said to
them, "By Allah, O my lords, it is indeed hard to me to slay you! But
have ye no last wishes that I may fulfil or charges which I may carry
out, or message which I may deliver?" Replied Amjad, "We have no wish;
and my only charge to thee is that thou set my brother below and me
above him, that the blow may fall on me first; and when thou hast killed
us and returnest to the King and he asketh thee:—What heardest thou from
them before their death?; do thou answer:—Verily thy sons salute thee
and say to thee, Thou knewest not if we were innocent or guilty, yet
hast thou put us to death and hast not certified thyself of our sin nor
looked into our case. Then do thou repeat to him these two couplets:—
Women are Satans made for woe o' men; ✿ I fly to Allah from their
devilish scathe:
Source of whatever bale befel our kind, ✿ In worldly matters and in
things of Faith."
Continued Amjad, "We desire of thee naught but that thou repeat to our
sire these two couplets"——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Twenty-second Night,
She said, It hath reached me O auspicious King, that Amjad added,
speaking to the treasurer, "We desire of thee naught but that thou
repeat to our sire these two couplets which thou hast just now heard;
and I conjure thee by Allah to have patience with us, whilst I cite to
my brother this other pair of couplets." Then he wept with sore weeping
and began:—
"The Kings who fared before us showed ✿ Of instances full many a show:
Of great and small and high and low ✿ How many this one road have trod!"
Now when the treasurer heard these words from Amjad, he wept till his
beard was wet, whilst As'ad's eyes brimmed with tears and he in turn
repeated these couplets:—
Fate frights us when the thing is past and gone; ✿ Weeping is not for
form or face alone[366]:
What ails the Nights?[367] Allah blot out our sin, ✿ And be the Nights
by other hand undone!
Ere this Zubayr-son[368] felt their spiteful hate, ✿ Who fled for refuge
to the House and Stone:
Would that when Khárijah was for Amru slain[369] ✿ They had ransomed Ali
with all men they own.
Then, with cheeks stained by tears down railing he recited also these
verses:—
In sooth the Nights and Days are charactered ✿ By traitor falsehood and
as knaves they lie;
The Desert-reek[370] recalls their teeth that shine; ✿ All horrid
blackness is their Kohl of eye:
My sin anent the world which I abhor ✿ Is sin of sword when sworders
fighting hie.
Then his sobs waxed louder and he said:—
O thou who woost a World[371] unworthy, learn ✿ 'Tis house of evils,
'tis Perdition's net:
A house where whoso laughs this day shall weep ✿ The next: then perish
house of fume and fret!
Endless its frays and forays, and its thralls ✿ Are ne'er redeemed,
while endless risks beset.
How many gloried in its pomps and pride, ✿ Till proud and pompous did
all bounds forget,
Then showing back of shield she made them swill[372] ✿ Full draught, and
claimèd all her vengeance debt.
For know her strokes fall swift and sure, altho' ✿ Long bide she and
forslow the course of Fate:
So look thou to thy days lest life go by ✿ Idly, and meet thou more than
thou hast met;
And cut all chains of world-love and desire ✿ And save thy soul and rise
to secrets higher.
Now when As'ad made an end of these verses, he strained his brother
Amjad in his arms, till they twain were one body, and the treasurer,
drawing his sword, was about to strike them, when behold, his steed took
fright at the wind of his upraised hand, and breaking its tether, fled
into the desert. Now the horse had cost a thousand gold pieces and on
its back was a splendid saddle worth much money; so the treasurer threw
down his sword, and ran after his beast.——And Shahrazad perceived the
dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say,
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Twenty-third Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when his horse ran
away, the treasurer ran after it in huge concern, and ceased not running
to catch the runaway till it entered a thicket. He followed it whilst it
dashed through the wood, smiting the earth with its hoofs till it raised
a dust-cloud which towered high in air; and snorting and puffing and
neighing and waxing fierce and furious. Now there happened to be in this
thicket a lion of terrible might; hideous to sight, with eyes sparkling
light: his look was grim and his aspect struck fright into man's sprite.
Presently the treasurer turned and saw the lion making towards him; but
found no way of escape nor had he his sword with him. So he said in
himself, "There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the
Glorious, the Great! This strait is come upon me for no other cause but
because of Amjad and As'ad; and indeed this journey was unblest from the
first!" Meanwhile the two Princes were grievously oppressed by the heat
and grew sore athirst, so that their tongues hung out and they cried for
succour, but none came to their relief and they said, "Would to Heaven
we had been slain and were at peace from this pain! But we know not
whither the horse hath fled, that the treasurer is gone and hath left us
thus pinioned. If he would but come back and do us die, it were easier
to us than this torture to aby." Said As'ad, "O my brother, be patient,
and the relief of Allah (extolled and exalted be He!) shall assuredly
come to us; for the horse started not away save of His favour towards
us, and naught irketh us but this thirst." Upon this he stretched and
shook himself and strained right and left, till he burst his
pinion-bonds; then he rose and unbound his brother and catching up the
Emir's sword, said, "By Allah, we will not go hence, till we look after
him and learn what is become of him." Then they took to following on the
trail till it led them to the thicket and they said to each other, "Of a
surety, the horse and the treasurer have not passed out of this wood."
Quoth As'ad, "Stay thou here, whilst I enter the thicket and search it;"
and Amjad replied, "I will not let thee go in alone: nor will we enter
it but together; so if we escape, we shall escape together and if we
perish, we shall perish together." Accordingly both entered and found
that the lion had sprang upon the treasurer, who lay like a sparrow in
his grip, calling upon Allah for aid and signing with his hands to
Heaven. Now when Amjad saw this, he took the sword and, rushing upon the
lion, smote him between the eyes and laid him dead on the ground. The
Emir sprang up, marvelling at this escape and seeing Amjad and As'ad,
his master's sons, standing there, cast himself at their feet and
exclaimed, "By Allah, O my lords, it were intolerable wrong in me to do
you to death. May the man never be who would kill you! Indeed, with my
very life, I will ransom you"——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day
and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Twenty-fourth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth the
treasurer to Amjad and As'ad, "With my life will I ransom you both!"
Then he hastily rose and, at once embracing them, enquired how they had
loosed their bonds and come thither; whereupon they told him how the
bonds of one of them had fallen loose and he had unbound the other,
whereto they were helped by the purity of their intentions, and how they
had tracked his trail till they came upon him. So he thanked them for
their deed and went with them forth of the thicket; and, when they were
in the open country, they said to him, "O uncle, do our father's
bidding." He replied, "Allah forbid that I should draw near to you with
hurt! But know ye that I mean to take your clothes and clothe you with
mine; then will I fill two vials with the lion's blood and go back to
the King and tell him I have put you to death. But as for you two, fare
ye forth into the lands, for Allah's earth is wide; and know, O my
lords, that it paineth me to part from you." At this, they all fell
a-weeping; then the two youths put off their clothes and the treasurer
habited them with his own. Moreover he made two parcels of their dress
and, filling two vials with the lion's blood, set the parcels before him
on his horse's back. Presently he took leave of them and, making his way
to the city, ceased not faring till he went in to King Kamar al-Zaman
and kissed the ground between his hands. The King saw him changed in
face and troubled (which arose from his adventure with the lion) and,
deeming this came of the slaughter of his two sons, rejoiced and said to
him, "Hast thou done the work?" "Yes, O our lord," replied the treasurer
and gave him the two parcels of clothes and the two vials full of blood.
Asked the King, "What didst thou observe in them; and did they give thee
any charge?" Answered the treasurer, "I found them patient and resigned
to what came down upon them and they said to me:—Verily, our father is
excusable; bear him our salutation and say to him, Thou art quit of our
killing. But we charge thee repeat to him these couplets:—
Verily women are devils created for us. We seek refuge with God from the
artifice of the devils.
They are the source of all the misfortunes that have appeared among
mankind in the affairs of the world and of religion."[373]
When the King heard these words of the treasurer, he bowed his head
earthwards, a long while and knew his sons' words to mean that they had
been wrongfully put to death. Then he bethought himself of the perfidy
of women and the calamities brought about by them; and he took the two
parcels and opened them and fell to turning over his sons' clothes and
weeping,——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Twenty-fifth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when King Kamar
al-Zaman opened the two bundles and fell to turning over his sons'
clothes and weeping, it so came to pass that he found, in the pocket of
his son As'ad's raiment, a letter in the hand of his wife enclosing her
hair-strings; so he opened and read it and understanding the contents
knew that the Prince had been falsely accused and wrongously. Then he
searched Amjad's parcel of dress and found in his pocket a letter in the
handwriting of Queen Hayat al-Nufus enclosing also her hair-strings; so
he opened and read it and knew that Amjad too had been wronged;
whereupon he beat hand upon hand and exclaimed, "There is no Majesty and
there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great! I have slain
my sons unjustly." And he buffeted his face, crying out, "Alas, my sons!
Alas, my long grief!" Then he bade them build two tombs in one house,
which he styled "House of Lamentations," and had graved thereon his
sons' names; and he threw himself on Amjad's tomb, weeping and groaning
and lamenting, and improvised these couplets:—
O moon for ever set this earth below, ✿ Whose loss bewail the stars
which stud the sky!
O wand, which broken, ne'er with bend and wave ✿ Shall fascinate the
ravisht gazer's eye;
These eyne for jealousy I 'reft of thee, ✿ Nor shall they till next life
thy sight descry:
I'm drowned in sea of tears for insomny ✿ Wherefore, indeed in
Sáhirah-stead[374] I lie.
Then he threw himself on As'ad's tomb, groaning and weeping and
lamenting and versifying with these couplets:—
Indeed I longed to share unweal with thee, ✿ But Allah than my will
willed otherwise:
My grief all blackens 'twixt mine eyes and space, ✿ Yet whitens all the
blackness from mine eyes:[375]
Of tears they weep these eyne run never dry, ✿ And ulcerous flow in
vitals never dries:
Right sore it irks me seeing thee in stead[376] ✿ Where slave with
sovran for once levelled lies.
And his weeping and wailing redoubled; and, after he had ended his
lamentations and his verse, he forsook his friends and intimates, and
denying himself to his women and his family, cut himself off from the
world in the House of Lamentations, where he passed his time in weeping
for his sons. Such was his case; but as regards Amjad and As'ad they
fared on into the desert eating of the fruits of the earth and drinking
of the remnants of the rain for a full month, till their travel brought
them to a mountain of black flint[377] whose further end was unknown;
and here the road forked, one line lying along the midway height and the
other leading to its head. They took the way trending to the top and
gave not over following it five days, but saw no end to it and were
overcome with weariness, being unused to walking upon the mountains or
elsewhere.[378] At last, despairing of coming to the last of the road,
they retraced their steps and, taking the other, that led over the
midway heights,——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to
say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Twenty-sixth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Princes Amjad and
As'ad returned from the path leading to the Mountain-head and took that
which ran along the midway heights, and walked through all that day till
nightfall, when As'ad, weary with much travel, said to Amjad, "O my
brother, I can walk no farther, for I am exceeding weak." Replied Amjad,
"O my brother, take courage! May be Allah will send us relief." So they
walked on part of the night, till the darkness closed in upon them, when
As'ad became weary beyond measure of weariness and cried out, "O my
brother, I am worn out and spent with walking," and threw himself upon
the ground and wept. Amjad took him in his arms and walked on with him,
bytimes sitting down to rest till break of day, when they came to the
mountain-top and found there a stream of running water and by it a
pomegranate-tree and a prayer-niche.[379] They could hardly believe
their eyes when they saw it; but, sitting down by that spring, drank of
its water and ate of the fruit of that granado-tree; after which they
lay on the ground and slept till sunrise, when they washed and bathed in
the spring and, eating of the pomegranates, slept again till the time of
mid-afternoon prayer. Then they thought to continue their journey, but
As'ad could not walk, for both his feet were swollen. So they abode
there three days till they were rested, after which they set out again
and fared on over the mountain days and nights, tortured by and like to
die of thirst, till they sighted a city gleaming afar off, at which they
rejoiced and made towards it. When they drew near it, they thanked Allah
(be His Name exalted!) and Amjad said to As'ad, "O my brother, sit here,
whilst I go to yonder city and see what it is and whose it is and where
we are in Allah's wide world, that we may know through what lands we
have passed in crossing this mountain, whose skirts had we followed, we
had not reached this city in a whole year. So praised be Allah for
safety!" Replied As'ad, "By Allah, O my brother, none shall go down into
that city save myself, and may I be thy ransom! If thou leave me alone,
be it only for an hour, I shall imagine a thousand things and be drowned
in a torrent of anxiety on thine account, for I cannot brook thine
absence from me." Amjad rejoined, "Go then and tarry not." So As'ad took
some gold pieces, and leaving his brother to await him, descended the
mountain and ceased not faring on till he entered the city. As he
threaded the streets he was met by an old man age-decrepit, whose beard
flowed down upon his breast and forked in twain;[380] he bore a
walking-staff in his hand and was richly clad, with a great red turband
on his head. When As'ad saw him, he wondered at his dress and his mien;
nevertheless, he went up to him and saluting him said, "Where be the way
to the market, O my master?" Hearing these words the Shaykh smiled in
his face and replied, "O my son, meseemeth thou art a stranger?" As'ad
rejoined, "Yes, I am a stranger."——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of
day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Twenty-seventh Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Shaykh who met
As'ad smiled in his face and said to him, "O my son, meseemeth thou art
a stranger?" and As'ad replied, "Yes, I am a stranger." Then rejoined
the old man, "Verily, thou gladdenest our country with thy presence, O
my son, and thou desolatest thine own land by reason of thine absence.
What wantest thou of the market?" Quoth As'ad, "O uncle, I have a
brother, with whom I have come from a far land and with whom I have
journeyed these three months; and, when we sighted this city, I left
him, who is my elder brother, upon the mountain and came hither,
purposing to buy victual and what else, and return therewith to him,
that we might feed thereon." Said the old man, "Rejoice in all good, O
my son, and know thou that to-day I give a marriage-feast, to which I
have bidden many guests, and I have made ready plenty of meats, the best
and most delicious that heart can desire. So if thou wilt come with me
to my place, I will give thee freely all thou lackest without asking
thee a price or aught else. Moreover I will teach thee the ways of this
city; and, praised be Allah, O my son, that I, and none other have
happened upon thee." "As thou wilt," answered As'ad, "do as thou art
disposed, but make haste, for indeed my brother awaiteth me and his
whole heart is with me." The old man took As'ad by the hand and carried
him to a narrow lane, smiling in his face and saying, "Glory be to Him
who hath delivered thee from the people of this city!" And he ceased not
walking till he entered a spacious house, wherein was a saloon and
behold, in the middle of it were forty old men, well stricken in years,
collected together and forming a single ring as they sat round about a
lighted fire, to which they were doing worship and prostrating
themselves.[381] When As'ad saw this, he was confounded and the hair of
his body stood on end though he knew not what they were; and the Shaykh
said to them, "O Elders of the Fire, how blessed is this day!" Then he
called aloud, saying, "Hallo, Ghazbán!" Whereupon there came out to him
a tall black slave of frightful aspect, grim-visaged and flat nosed as
an ape who, when the old man made a sign to him, bent As'ad's arms
behind his back and pinioned them; after which the Shaykh said to him,
"Let him down into the vault under the earth and there leave him and say
to my slave-girl Such-an-one:—Torture him night and day and give him a
cake of bread to eat morning and evening against the time come of the
voyage to the Blue Sea and the Mountain of Fire, whereon we will
slaughter him as a sacrifice." So the black carried him out at another
door and, raising a flag in the floor, discovered a flight of twenty
steps leading to a chamber[382] under the earth, into which he descended
with him and, laying his feet in irons, gave him over to the slave-girl
and went away. Meanwhile, the old men said to one another, "When the day
of the Festival of the Fire cometh, we will sacrifice him on the
mountain, as a propitiatory offering whereby we shall pleasure the
Fire." Presently the damsel went down to him and beat him a grievous
beating, till streams of blood flowed from his sides and he fainted;
after which she set at his head a scone of bread and a cruse of brackish
water and went away and left him. In the middle of the night, he revived
and found himself bound and beaten and sore with beating: so he wept
bitter tears; and recalling his former condition of honour and
prosperity, lordship and dominion, and his separation from his sire and
his exile from his native land——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day
and ceased to say her permitted say.
[Illustration]
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Twenty-eight Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when As'ad found
himself bound and beaten and sore with beating he recalled his whilome
condition of honour and prosperity and dominion and lordship, and he
wept and groaned aloud and recited these couplets:—
Stand by the ruined stead and ask of us; ✿ Nor deem we dwell there as
was state of us:
The World, that parter, hath departed us; ✿ Yet soothes not hate-full
hearts the fate of us:
With whips a cursèd slave-girl scourges us, ✿ And teems her breast with
rancorous hate of us:
Allah shall haply deign to unpart our lives, ✿ Chastise our foes, and
end this strait of us.
And when As'ad had spoken his poetry, he put out his hand towards his
head and finding there the crust and the cruse full of brackish water he
ate a bittock, just enough to keep life in him, and drank a little
water, but could get no sleep till morning for the swarms of bugs[383]
and lice. As soon as it was day, the slave-girl came down to him and
changed his clothes, which were drenched with blood and stuck to him, so
that his skin came off with the shirt; wherefor he shrieked aloud and
cried, "Alas!" and said, "O my God, if this be Thy pleasure, increase it
upon me! O Lord, verily Thou art not unmindful of him that oppresseth
me; do Thou then avenge me upon him!" And he groaned and repeated the
following verses:—
Patient, O Allah! to Thy destiny ✿ I bow, suffice me what Thou deign
decree:
Patient to bear Thy will, O Lord of me, ✿ Patient to burn on coals of
Ghazátree:
They wrong me, visit me with hurt and harm; ✿ Haply Thy grace from them
shall set me free:
Far be't, O Lord, from thee to spare the wronger ✿ O Lord of Destiny my
hope's in Thee!
And what another saith:—
Bethink thee not of worldly state, ✿ Leave everything to course of Fate;
For oft a thing that irketh thee ✿ Shall in content eventuate;
And oft what strait is shall expand, ✿ And what expanded is wax strait.
Allah will do what wills His will, ✿ So be not thou importunate!
But 'joy the view of coming weal ✿ Shall make forget past bale and bate.
And when he had ended his verse, the slave-girl came down upon him with
blows till he fainted again; and, throwing him a flap of bread and a
gugglet of saltish water, went away and left him sad and lonely, bound
in chains of iron, with the blood streaming from his sides and far from
those he loved. So he wept and called to mind his brother and the
honours he erst enjoyed——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Twenty-ninth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that As'ad called to
mind his brother and the honours he erst enjoyed; so he wept and groaned
and complained and poured forth tears in floods and improvised these
couplets:—
Easy, O Fate! how long this wrong, this injury, ✿ Robbing each morn and
eve my brotherhood fro' me?
Is't not time now thou deem this length sufficiency ✿ Of woes and, O
thou Heart of Rock, show clemency?
My friends thou wrongedst when thou madst each enemy ✿ Mock and exult me
for thy wrongs, thy tyranny:
My foeman's heart is solaced by the things he saw ✿ In me, of
strangerhood and lonely misery:
Suffice thee not what came upon my head of dole, ✿ Friends lost for
evermore, eyes wan and pale of blee?
But must in prison cast so narrow there is naught ✿ Save hand to bite,
with bitten hand for company;
And tears that tempest down like goodly gift of cloud, ✿ And longing
thirst whose fires weet no satiety.
Regretful yearnings, singulfs and unceasing sighs, ✿ Repine, remembrance
and pain's very ecstacy:
Desire I suffer sore and melancholy deep, ✿ And I must bide a prey to
endless phrenesy:
I find me ne'er a friend who looks with piteous eye, ✿ And seeks my
presence to allay my misery:
Say, liveth any intimate with trusty love ✿ Who for mine ills will
groan, my sleepless malady?
To whom moan I can make and, peradventure, he ✿ Shall pity eyes that
sight of sleep can never see?
The flea and bug suck up my blood, as wight that drinks ✿ Wine from the
proffering hand of fair virginity:
Amid the lice my body aye remindeth me ✿ Of orphan's good in Kázi's claw
of villainy:
My home's a sepulchre that measures cubits three, ✿ Where pass I morn
and eve in chainèd agony:
My wines are tears, my clank of chains takes music's stead; ✿ Cares my
dessert of fruit and sorrows are my bed.
And when he had versed his verse and had prosed his prose, he again
groaned and complained and remembered what he had been and how he had
been parted from his brother. Thus far concerning him; but as regards
his brother Amjad, he awaited As'ad till mid-day yet he returned not to
him: whereupon Amjad's vitals fluttered, the pangs of parting were sore
upon him and he poured forth abundant tears,——And Shahrazad perceived
the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Thirtieth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Amjad awaited
his brother As'ad till mid-day and he returned not to him, Amjad's
vitals fluttered; the pangs of parting were sore upon him and he poured
forth abundant tears, exclaiming, "Alas, my brother! Alas, my friend!
Alas my grief! How I feared me we should be separated!" Then he
descended from the mountain-top with the tears running down his cheeks;
and, entering the city, ceased not walking till he made the market. He
asked the folk the name of the place and concerning its people and they
said, "This is called the City of the Magians, and its citizens are
mostly given to Fire-worshipping in lieu of the Omnipotent King." Then
he enquired of the City of Ebony and they answered, "Of a truth it is a
year's journey thither by land and six months by sea: it was governed
erst by a King called Armanus; but he took to son-in-law and made King
in his stead a Prince called Kamar al-Zaman distinguished for justice
and munificence, equity and benevolence." When Amjad heard tell of his
father, he groaned and wept and lamented and knew not whither to go.
However, he bought a something of food and carried it to a retired spot
where he sat down thinking to eat; but, recalling his brother, he fell
a-weeping and swallowed but a morsel to keep breath and body together,
and that against his will. Then he rose and walked about the city,
seeking news of his brother, till he saw a Moslem tailor sitting in his
shop; so he sat down by him and told him his story; whereupon quoth the
tailor, "If he have fallen into the hands of the Magians, thou shalt
hardly see him again: yet it may be Allah will reunite you twain. But
thou, O my brother," he continued, "wilt thou lodge with me?" Amjad
answered, "Yes"; and the tailor rejoiced at this. So he abode with him
many days, what while the tailor comforted him and exhorted him to
patience and taught him tailoring, till he became expert in the craft.
Now one day he went forth to the sea-shore and washed his clothes; after
which he entered the bath and put on clean raiment; then he walked about
the city, to divert himself with its sights and presently there met him
on the way a woman of passing beauty and loveliness, without peer for
grace and comeliness. When she saw him she raised her face-veil and
signed to him by moving her eyebrows and her eyes with luring glances,
and versified these couplets:—
I drooped my glance when seen thee on the way ✿ As though, O slim-waist!
felled by Sol's hot ray:
Thou art the fairest fair that e'er appeared, ✿ Fairer to-day than fair
of yesterday:[384]
Were Beauty parted, a fifth part of it ✿ With Joseph or a part of fifth
would stay;
The rest would fly to thee, thine ownest own; ✿ Be every soul thy
sacrifice, I pray!
When Amjad heard these her words, they gladdened his heart which
inclined to her and his bowels yearned towards her and the hands of love
sported with him; so he sighed to her in reply and spoke these
couplets:—
Above the rose of cheek is thorn of lance;[385] ✿ Who dareth pluck it,
rashest chevisance?
Stretch not thy hand towards it, for night long ✿ Those lances marred
because we snatched a glance!
Say her, who tyrant is and tempter too ✿ (Though justice might her
tempting power enhance):—
Thy face would add to errors were it veiled; ✿ Unveiled I see its guard
hath best of chance!
Eye cannot look upon Sol's naked face; ✿ But can, when mist-cloud dims
his countenance:
The honey-hive is held by honey-bee;[386] ✿ Ask the tribe-guards what
wants their vigilance?
An they would slay me, let them end their ire ✿ Rancorous, and grant us
freely to advance:
They're not more murderous, an charge the whole ✿ Than charging glance
of her who wears the mole.
And hearing these lines from Amjad she sighed with the deepest sighs
and, signing to him again, repeated these couplets:—
'Tis thou hast trodden coyness-path not I: ✿ Grant me thy favours for
the time draws nigh:
O thou who makest morn with light of brow, ✿ And with loosed brow-locks
night in lift to stye!
Thine idol-aspect made of me thy slave, ✿ Tempting as temptedst me in
days gone by:
'Tis just my liver fry with hottest love: ✿ Who worship fire for God
must fire aby:
Thou sellest like of me for worthless price; ✿ If thou must sell, ask
high of those who buy.
When Amjad heard these her words he said to her, "Wilt thou come to my
lodging or shall I go with thee to thine?" So she hung her head in shame
to the ground and repeated the words of Him whose Name be exalted, "Men
shall have the pre-eminence above women, because of those advantages
wherein Allah hath caused the one of them to excel the other."[387] Upon
this, Amjad took the hint——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Thirty-first Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Amjad took the
woman's hint and understood that she wished to go with him whither he
was going; he felt himself bounden to find a place wherein to receive
her, but was ashamed to carry her to the house of his host, the tailor.
So he walked on and she walked after him, and the two ceased not walking
from street to street and place to place, till she was tired and said to
him, "O my lord, where is thy house?" Answered he, "Before us a little
way." Then he turned aside into a handsome by-street, followed by the
young woman, and walked on till he came to the end, when he found it was
no thoroughfare and exclaimed, "There is no Majesty and there is no
Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great!" Then raising his eyes, he
saw, at the upper end of the lane a great door with two stone benches;
but it was locked. So Amjad sat down on one of the benches and she on
the other; and she said to him, "O my lord, wherefore waitest thou?" He
bowed his head awhile to the ground then raised it and answered, "I am
awaiting my Mameluke who hath the key; for I bade him make me ready meat
and drink and flowers, to deck the wine-service against my return from
the bath." But he said to himself, "Haply the time will be tedious to
her and she will go about her business, leaving me here, when I will
wend my own way." However, as soon as she was weary of long waiting, she
said, "O my lord, thy Mameluke delayeth; and here are we sitting in the
street;" and she arose and took a stone and went up to the lock. Said
Amjad, "Be not in haste, but have patience till the servant come."
However, she hearkened not to him, but smote the wooden bolt with the
stone and broke it in half, whereupon the door opened. Quoth he, "What
possessed thee to do this deed?" Quoth she, "Pooh, pooh, my lord! what
matter it? Is not the house thy house and thy place?" He said, "There
was no need to break the bolt." Then the damsel entered, to the
confusion of Amjad, who knew not what to do for fear of the people of
the house; but she said to him, "Why dost thou not enter, O light of
mine eyes and core of my heart?" Replied he, "I hear and obey; but my
servant tarrieth long and I know not if he have done aught of what I
bade him and specially enjoined upon him, or not." Hereupon he entered,
sore in fear of the people of the house, and found himself in a handsome
saloon with four daïs'd recesses, each facing other, and containing
closets and raised seats, all bespread with stuffs of silk and brocade;
and in the midst was a jetting fountain of costly fashion, on whose
margin rested a covered tray of meats, with a leather tablecloth hanging
up and gem-encrusted dishes, full of fruits and sweet-scented flowers.
Hard by stood drinking vessels and a candlestick with a single
wax-candle therein; and the place was full of precious stuffs and was
ranged with chests and stools, and on each seat lay a parcel of clothes
upon which was a purse full of monies, gold and silver. The floor was
paved with marble and the house bore witness in every part to its
owner's fortune. When Amjad saw all this, he was confounded at his case
and said to himself, "I am a lost man! Verily we are Allah's and to
Allah we are returning!" As for the damsel, when she sighted the place
she rejoiced indeed with a joy nothing could exceed, and said to him,
"By Allah, O my lord, thy servant hath not failed of his duty; for see,
he hath swept the place and cooked the meat and set on the fruit; and
indeed I come at the best of times." But he paid no heed to her, his
heart being taken up with fear of the house-folk; and she said, "Fie, O
my lord, O my heart! What aileth thee to stand thus?" Then she sighed;
and, giving him a buss which sounded like the cracking of a walnut,
said, "O my lord, an thou have made an appointment with other than with
me, I will gird my middle and serve her and thee." Amjad laughed from a
heart full of rage and wrath and came forwards and sat down, panting and
saying to himself, "Alack, mine ill death and doom when the owner of the
place shall return!" Then she seated herself by him and fell to toying
and laughing, whilst Amjad sat careful and frowning, thinking a thousand
thoughts and communing with himself, "Assuredly the master of the house
cannot but come, and then what shall I say to him? he needs must kill me
and my life will be lost thus foolishly." Presently she rose and,
tucking up her sleeves, took a tray of food on which she laid the cloth
and then set it before Amjad and began to eat, saying, "Eat, O my lord."
So he came forward and ate; but the food was not pleasant to him; on the
contrary he ceased not to look towards the door, till the damsel had
eaten her fill, when she took away the tray of the meats and, setting on
the dessert, fell to eating of the dried fruits. Then she brought the
wine-service and opening the jar, filled a cup and handed it to Amjad,
who took it from her hand saying to himself, "Ah, ah! and well-away,
when the master of the house cometh and seeth me!"; and he kept his eyes
fixed on the threshold, even with cup in hand. While he was in this
case, lo! in came the master of the house, who was a white slave, one of
the chief men of the city, being Master of the Horse[388] to the King.
He had fitted up this saloon for his pleasures, that he might make merry
therein and be private with whom he would, and he had that day bidden a
youth whom he loved and had made this entertainment for him. Now the
name of this slave was Bahádur,[389] and he was open of hand, generous,
munificent and fain of alms-giving and charitable works.——And Shahzarad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Thirty-second Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Bahadur, the
Master of the Horse and the owner of the house, came to the door of the
saloon and found it open, he entered slowly and softly and looking in,
with head advanced and outstretched neck, saw Amjad and the girl sitting
before the dish of fruit and the wine-jar in front of them. Now Amjad at
that moment had the cup in his hand and his face turned to the door; and
when his glance met Bahadur's eyes his hue turned pale yellow and his
side-muscles quivered, so seeing his trouble Bahadur signed to him with
his finger on his lips, as much as to say, "Be silent and come hither to
me." Whereupon he set down the cup and rose and the damsel cried,
"Whither away?" He shook his head and, signing to her that he wished to
make water, went out into the passage barefoot. Now when he saw Bahadur
he knew him for the master of the house; so he hastened to him and,
kissing his hands, said to him, "Allah upon thee, O my lord, ere thou do
me a hurt, hear what I have to say." Then he told him who he was from
first to last and acquainted him with what caused him to quit his native
land and royal state, and how he had not entered his house of his free
will, but that it was the girl who had broken the lock-bolt and done all
this.[390] When Bahadur heard his story and knew that he was a King's
son, he felt for him and, taking compassion on him, said, "Hearken to
me, O Amjad, and do what I bid thee and I will guarantee thy safety from
that thou fearest; but, if thou cross me, I will kill thee." Amjad
replied, "Command me as thou wilt: I will not gainsay thee in aught; no,
never, for I am the freedman of thy bounty." Rejoined Bahadur, "Then go
back forthwith into the saloon, sit down in thy place and be at peace
and at thine ease; I will presently come in to thee, and when thou seest
me (remember my name is Bahadur) do thou revile me and rail at me,
saying:—What made thee tarry till so late? And accept no excuse from me;
nay, so far from it, rise and beat me; and, if thou spare me, I will do
away thy life. Enter now and make merry and whatsoever thou seekest of
me at this time I will bring thee forthwith; and do thou spend this
night as thou wilt and on the morrow wend thy way. This I do in honour
of thy strangerhood, for I love the stranger and hold myself bounden to
do him devoir." So Amjad kissed his hand, and, returning to the saloon
with his face clad in its natural white and red, at once said to the
damsel, "O my mistress, thy presence hath gladdened this thine own place
and ours is indeed a blessed night." Quoth the girl, "Verily I see a
wonderful change in thee, that thou now welcomest me so cordially!" So
Amjad answered, "By Allah, O my lady, methought my servant Bahadur had
robbed me of some necklaces of jewels, worth ten thousand dinars each;
however, when I went out but now in concern for this, I sought for them
and found them in their place. I know not why the slave tarrieth so long
and needs must I punish him for it." She was satisfied with his answer,
and they sported and drank and made merry and ceased not to be so till
near sundown, when Bahadur came in to them, having changed his clothes
and girt his middle and put on shoes, such as are worn of Mamelukes. He
saluted and kissed the ground; then held his hands behind him and stood,
with his head hanging down, as one who confesseth to a fault. So Amjad
looked at him with angry eyes and asked, "Why hast thou tarried till
now, O most pestilent of slaves?" Answered Bahadur, "O my lord, I was
busy washing my clothes and knew not of thy being here; for our
appointed time was nightfall and not day-tide." But Amjad cried out at
him, saying, "Thou liest, O vilest of slaves! By Allah, I must needs
beat thee." So he rose and, throwing Bahadur prone on the ground, took a
stick and beat him gently; but the damsel sprang up and, snatching the
stick from his hand, came down upon Bahadur so lustily, that in extreme
pain the tears ran from his eyes and he ground his teeth together and
called out for succour; whilst Amjad cried out to the girl "Don't"; and
she cried out, "Let me satisfy my anger upon him!" till at last he
pulled the stick out of her hand and pushed her away. So Bahadur rose
and, wiping away his tears from his cheeks, waited upon them the while;
after which he swept the hall and lighted the lamps; but as often as he
went in and out, the lady abused him and cursed him till Amjad was wroth
with her and said, "For Almighty Allah's sake leave my Mameluke; he is
not used to this." Then they sat and ceased not eating and drinking (and
Bahadur waiting upon them) till midnight when, being weary with service
and beating, he fell asleep in the midst of the hall and snored and
snorted; whereupon the damsel, who was drunken with wine, said to Amjad,
"Arise, take the sword hanging yonder and cut me off this slave's head;
and, if thou do it not, I will be the death of thee!" "What possesseth
thee to slay my slave?" asked Amjad; and she answered, "Our joyaunce
will not be complete but by his death. If thou wilt not kill him, I will
do it myself." Quoth Amjad, "By Allah's rights to thee, do not this
thing!" Quoth she, "It must perforce be;" and, taking down the sword,
drew it and made at Badahur to kill him; but Amjad said in his mind,
"This man hath entreated us courteously and sheltered us and done us
kindness and made himself my slave: shall we requite him by slaughtering
him? This shall never be!" Then he said to the woman, "If my Mameluke
must be killed, better I should kill him than thou." So saying, he took
the sword from her and, raising his hand, smote her on the neck and made
her head fly from her body. It fell upon Bahadur who awoke and sat up
and opened his eyes, when he saw Amjad standing by him and in his hand
the sword dyed with blood, and the damsel lying dead. He enquired what
had passed, and Amjad told him all she had said, adding, "Nothing would
satisfy her but she must slay thee; and this is her reward." Then
Bahadur rose and, kissing the Prince's hand, said to him, "Would to
Heaven thou hadst spared her! but now there is nothing for it but to rid
us of her without stay or delay, before the day break." Then he girded
his loins and took the body, wrapped it in an Abá-cloak and, laying it
in a large basket of palm-leaves, he shouldered it saying, "Thou art a
stranger here and knowest no one: so sit thou in this place and await my
return till daybreak. If I come back to thee, I will assuredly do thee
great good service and use my endeavours to have news of thy brother;
but if by sunrise I return not, know that all is over with me; and peace
be on thee, and the house and all it containeth of stuffs and money are
thine." Then he fared forth from the saloon bearing the basket; and,
threading the streets, he made for the salt sea, thinking to throw it
therein: but as he drew near the shore, he turned and saw that the Chief
of Police and his officers had ranged themselves around him; and, on
recognising him, they wondered and opened the basket, wherein they found
the slain woman. So they seized him and laid him in bilboes all that
night till the morning, when they carried him and the basket, as it was,
to the King and reported the case. The King was sore enraged when he
looked upon the slain and said to Bahadur, "Woe to thee! Thou art always
so doing; thou killest folk and castest them into the sea and takest
their goods. How many murders hast thou done ere this?" Thereupon
Bahadur hung his head——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Thirty-third Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Bahadur hung down
his head groundwards before the King, who cried out at him, saying, "Woe
to thee! Who killed this girl?" He replied, "O my lord! I killed her,
and there is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the
Glorious, the Great!"[391] So the King in his anger, commanded to hang
him; and the hangman went down with him by the King's commandment, and
the Chief of Police accompanied him with a crier who called upon all the
folk to witness the execution of Bahadur, the King's Master of the
Horse; and on this wise they paraded him through the main streets and
the market-streets. This is how it fared with Bahadur; but as regards
Amjad, he awaited his host's return till the day broke and the sun rose,
and when he saw that he came not, he exclaimed, "There is no Majesty and
there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great! Would I knew
what is become of him?" And, as he sat musing behold, he heard the crier
proclaiming Bahadur's sentence and bidding the people to see the
spectacle of his hanging at mid-day; whereat he wept and exclaimed,
"Verily, we are Allah's and to Him we are returning! He meaneth to
sacrifice himself unjustly for my sake, when I it was who slew her. By
Allah, this shall never be!" Then he went from the saloon and, shutting
the door after him, hurriedly threaded the streets till he overtook
Bahadur, when he stood before the Chief of Police and said to him, "O my
lord, put not Bahadur to death, for he is innocent. By Allah, none
killed her but I." Now when the Captain of Police heard these words, he
took them both and, carrying them before the King, acquainted him with
what Amjad had said; whereupon he looked at the Prince and asked him,
"Didst thou kill the damsel?" He answered, "Yes" and the King said,
"Tell me why thou killedst her, and speak the truth." Replied Amjad, "O
King, it is indeed a marvellous event and a wondrous matter that hath
befallen me: were it graven with needles on the eye-corners, it would
serve as a warner to whoso would be warned!" Then he told him his whole
story and informed him of all that had befallen him and his brother,
first and last; whereat the King was much startled and surprised and
said to him, "Know that now I find thee to be excusable; but list, O
youth! Wilt thou be my Wazír?" "Hearkening and obedience," answered
Amjad; whereupon the King bestowed magnificent dresses of honour on him
and Bahadur and gave him a handsome house, with eunuchs and officers and
all things needful, appointing him stipends and allowances and bidding
him make search for his brother As'ad. So Amjad sat down in the seat of
the Wazirate and governed and did justice and invested and deposed and
took and gave. Moreover, he sent out a crier to cry his brother
throughout the city, and for many days made proclamation in the main
streets and market-streets, but heard no news of As'ad nor happened on
any trace of him. Such was his case; but as regards his brother, the
Magi ceased not to torture As'ad night and day and eve and morn for a
whole year's space, till their festival drew near, when the old man
Bahram[392] made ready for the voyage and fitted out a ship for
himself.——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Thirty-fourth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Bahram, the
Magian, having fitted out a ship for the voyage, took As'ad and put him
in a chest which he locked and had it transported on board. Now it so
came to pass that, at the very time of shipping it, Amjad was standing
to divert himself by looking upon the sea; and when he saw the men
carrying the gear and shipping it, his heart throbbed and he called to
his pages to bring him his beast. Then, mounting with a company of his
officers, he rode down to the sea-side and halted before the Magian's
ship, which he commanded his men to board and search. They did his
bidding, and boarded the vessel and rummaged in every part, but found
nothing; so they returned and told Amjad, who mounted again and rode
back. But he felt troubled in mind; and when he reached his place and
entered his palace, he cast his eyes on the wall and saw written thereon
two lines which were these couplets:——
"My friends! if ye are banisht from mine eyes, ✿ From heart and mind ye
ne'er go wandering:
But ye have left me in my woe, and rob ✿ Rest from my eyelids while ye
are slumbering."
And seeing them Amjad thought of his brother and wept. Such was his
case; but as for Bahram, the Magian, he embarked and shouted and bawled
to his crew to make sail in all haste. So they shook out the sails and
departed and ceased not to fare on many days and nights; and, every
other day, Bahram took out As'ad and gave him a bit of bread and made
him drink a sup of water, till they drew near the Mountain of Fire. Then
there came out on them a storm-wind and the sea rose against them, so
that the ship was driven out of her course till she took a wrong line
and fell into strange waters; and, at last they came in sight of a city
builded upon the shore, with a castle whose windows overlooked the main.
Now the ruler of this city was a Queen called Marjánah, and the captain
said to Bahram, "O my lord, we have strayed from our course and come to
the island of Queen Marjanah, who is a devout Moslemah; and, if she know
that we are Magians, she will take our ship and slay us to the last man.
Yet needs must we put in here to rest and refit." Quoth Bahram, "Right
is thy recking, and whatso thou seest fit that will I do!" Said the
ship-master, "If the Queen summon us and question us, how shall we
answer her?"; and Bahram replied, "Let us clothe this Moslem we have
with us in a Mameluke's habit and carry him ashore with us, so that when
the Queen sees him, she will suppose and say, This is a slave. As for me
I will tell her that I am a slave-dealer[393] who buys and sells white
slaves, and that I had with me many but have sold all save this one,
whom I retained to keep my accounts, for he can read and write." And the
captain said, "This device should serve." Presently they reached the
city and slackened sail and cast the anchors; and the ship lay still,
when behold, Queen Marjanah came down to them, attended by her guards
and, halting before the vessel, called out to the captain, who landed
and kissed the ground before her. Quoth she, "What is the lading of this
thy ship and whom hast thou with thee?" Quoth he, "O Queen of the Age, I
have with me a merchant who dealeth in slaves." And she said, "Hither
with him to me"; whereupon Bahram came ashore to her, with As'ad walking
behind him in a slave's habit, and kissed the earth before her. She
asked, "What is thy condition?"; and he answered, "I am a dealer in
chattels." Then she looked at As'ad and, taking him for a Mameluke,
asked him, "What is thy name, O youth?" He answered, "Dost thou ask my
present or my former name?" "Hast thou then two names?" enquired she,
and he replied (and indeed his voice was choked with tears), "Yes; my
name aforetime was Al-As'ad, the most happy, but now it is
Al-Mu'tarr—Miserrimus." Her heart inclined to him and she said, "Canst
thou write?" "Yes," answered he, and she gave him ink-case and reed-pen
and paper and said to him, "Write somewhat that I may see it." So he
wrote these two couplets:—
What can the slave do when pursued by Fate, ✿ O justest Judge! whatever
be his state?[394]
Whom God throws hand-bound in the depths and says, ✿ Beware lest water
should thy body wet?[395]
[Illustration:
A. Lalauze Pinæ et Sc.
]
Now when she read these lines, she had ruth upon him and said to Bahram,
"Sell me this slave." He replied, "O my lady, I cannot sell him, for I
have parted with all the rest and none is left with me but he." Quoth
the Queen, "I must need have him of thee, either by sale or way of
gift." But quoth Bahram, "I will neither sell him nor give him." Whereat
she was wroth and, taking As'ad by the hand, carried him up to the
castle and sent to Bahram, saying, "Except thou set sail and depart our
city this very night, I will seize all thy goods and break up thy ship."
Now when the message reached the Magian, he grieved with sore grief and
cried, "Verily this voyage is on no wise to be commended." Then he arose
and made ready and took all he needed and awaited the coming of the
night to resume his voyage, saying to the sailors, "Provide yourselves
with your things and fill your water-skins, that we may set sail at the
last of the night." So the sailors did their business and awaited the
coming of darkness. Such was their case; but as regards Queen Marjanah,
when she had brought As'ad into the castle, she opened the casements
overlooking the sea and bade her handmaids bring food. They set food
before As'ad and herself and both ate, after which the Queen called for
wine——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Thirty-fifth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Queen
Marjanah bade her handmaids bring wine and they set it before her, she
fell to drinking with As'ad. Now, Allah (be He extolled and exalted!)
filled her heart with love for the Prince and she kept filling his cup
and handing it to him till his reason fled; and presently he rose and
left the hall to satisfy a call of nature. As he passed out of the
saloon he saw an open door through which he went and walked on till his
walk brought him to a vast garden full of all manner fruits and flowers;
and, sitting down under a tree, he did his occasion. Then he rose and
went up to a jetting fountain in the garden and made the lesser ablution
and washed his hands and face, after which he would have risen to go
away; but the air smote him and he fell back, with his clothes undone
and slept, and night overcame him thus. So far concerning him; but as
concerns Bahram, the night being come, he cried out to his crew, saying,
"Set sail and let us away!"; and they answered, "We hear and obey, but
wait till we fill our water-skins and then we will set sail." So they
landed with their water-skins and went round about the castle, and found
nothing but garden-walls: whereupon they climbed over into the garden
and followed the track of feet, which led them to the fountain; and
there they found As'ad lying on his back. They knew him and were glad to
find him; and, after filling their water-skins, they bore him off and
climbed the wall again with him and carried him back in haste to Bahram
to whom they said, "Hear the good tidings of thy winning thy wish; and
gladden thy heart and beat thy drums and sound thy pipes; for thy
prisoner, whom Queen Marjanah took from thee by force, we have found and
brought back to thee"; and they threw As'ad down before him. When Bahram
saw him, his heart leapt for joy and his breast swelled with gladness.
Then he bestowed largesse on the sailors and bade them set sail in
haste. So they sailed forthright, intending to make the Mountain of Fire
and stayed not their course till the morning. This is how it fared with
them; but as regards Queen Marjanah, she abode awhile, after As'ad went
down from her, awaiting his return in vain for he came not; thereupon
she rose and sought him, yet found no trace of him. Then she bade her
women light flambeaux and look for him, whilst she went forth in person
and, seeing the garden-door open, knew that he had gone thither. So she
went out into the garden and finding his sandals lying by the fountain,
searched the place in every part, but came upon no sign of him; and yet
she gave not over the search till morning. Then she enquired for the
ship and they told her, "The vessel set sail in the first watch of the
night"; wherefor she knew that they had taken As'ad with them, and this
was grievous to her and she was sore angered. She bade equip ten great
ships forthwith and, making ready for fight, embarked in one of the ten
with her Mamelukes and slave-women and men-at-arms, all splendidly
accoutred and weaponed for war. They spread the sails and she said to
the captains, "If you overtake the Magian's ship, ye shall have of me
dresses of honour and largesse of money; but if you fail so to do, I
will slay you to the last man." Whereat fear and great hope animated the
crews and they sailed all that day and the night and the second day and
the third day till, on the fourth they sighted the ship of Bahram, the
Magian, and before evening fell the Queen's squadron had surrounded it
on all sides, just as Bahram had taken As'ad forth of the chest and was
beating and torturing him, whilst the Prince cried out for help and
deliverance, but found neither helper nor deliverer: and the grievous
bastinado sorely tormented him. Now while so occupied, Bahram chanced to
look up and, seeing himself encompassed by the Queen's ships, as the
white of the eye encompasseth the black, he gave himself up for lost and
groaned and said, "Woe to thee, O As'ad! This is all out of thy head."
Then taking him by the hand he bade his men throw him overboard and
cried, "By Allah I will slay thee before I die myself!" So they carried
him along by the hands and feet and cast him into the sea and he sank;
but Allah (be He extolled and exalted!) willed that his life be saved
and that his doom be deferred; so He caused him to sink and rise again
and he struck out with his hands and feet, till the Almighty gave him
relief, and sent him deliverance; and the waves bore him far from the
Magian's ship and threw him ashore. He landed, scarce crediting his
escape, and once more on land he doffed his clothes and wrung them and
spread them out to dry; whilst he sat naked and weeping over his
condition, and bewailing his calamities and mortal dangers, and
captivity and strangerhood. And presently he repeated these two
couplets:—
Allah, my patience fails: I have no ward; ✿ My breast is straitened and
clean cut my cord;
To whom shall wretched slave of case complain, ✿ Save to his Lord? O
thou of lords the Lord!
Then, having ended his verse, he rose and donned his clothes but he knew
not whither to go or whence to come; so he fed on the herbs of the earth
and the fruits of the trees and he drank of the streams, and fared on
night and day till he came in sight of a city; whereupon he rejoiced and
hastened his pace; but when he reached it——And Shahrazad perceived the
dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Thirty-sixth Night,
She said, it hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when he reached
the city the shades of evening closed around him and the gates were
shut. Now by the decrees of Fate and man's lot this was the very city
wherein he had been a prisoner and to whose King his brother Amjad was
Minister. When As'ad saw the gate was locked, he turned back and made
for the burial-ground, where finding a tomb without a door, he entered
therein and lay down and fell asleep, with his face covered by his long
sleeve.[396] Meanwhile, Queen Marjanah, coming up with Bahram's ship,
questioned him of As'ad. Now the Magian, when Queen Marjanah overtook
him with her ships, baffled her by his artifice and gramarye; swearing
to her that he was not with him and that he knew nothing of him. She
searched the ship, but found no trace of her friend, so she took Bahram
and, carrying him back to her castle, would have put him to death, but
he ransomed himself from her with all his good and his ship; and she
released him and his men. They went forth from her hardly believing in
their deliverance, and fared on ten days' journey till they came to
their own city and found the gate shut, it being eventide. So they made
for the burial-ground, thinking to lie the night there and, going round
about the tombs, as Fate and Fortune would have it, saw the building
wherein As'ad lay wide open; whereat Bahram marvelled and said, "I must
look into this sepulchre." Then he entered and found As'ad lying in a
corner fast asleep, with his head covered by his sleeve; so he raised
his head, and looking in his face, knew him for the man on whose account
he had lost his goods and his ship, and cried, "What! art thou yet
alive?" Then he bound him and gagged him without further parley, and
carried him to his house, where he clapped heavy shackles on his feet
and lowered him into the underground dungeon aforesaid prepared for the
tormenting of Moslems, and he bade his daughter by name Bostán,[397]
torture him night and day, till the next year, when they would again
visit the Mountain of Fire and there offer him up as a sacrifice. Then
he beat him grievously and locking the dungeon door upon him, gave the
keys to his daughter. By and by, Bostan opened the door and went down to
beat him, but finding him a comely youth and a sweet-faced with arched
brows and eyes black with nature's Kohl,[398] she fell in love with him
and asked him, "What is thy name?" "My name is As'ad," answered he;
whereat she cried, "Mayst thou indeed be happy as thy name,[399] and
happy be thy days! Thou deservest not torture and blows, and I see thou
hast been injuriously entreated." And she comforted him with kind words
and loosed his bonds. Then she questioned him of the religion of
Al-Islam and he told her that it was the true and right Faith and that
our lord Mohammed had approved himself by surpassing miracles[400] and
signs manifest, and that fire-worship is harmful and not profitable; and
he went on to expound to her the tenets of Al-Islam till she was
persuaded and the love of the True Faith entered her heart. Then, as
Almighty Allah had mixed up with her being a fond affection for As'ad,
she pronounced the Two Testimonies[401] of the Faith and became of the
people of felicity. After this, she brought him meat and drink and
talked with him and they prayed together: moreover, she made him chicken
stews and fed him therewith, till he regained strength and his sickness
left him and he was restored to his former health. Such things befel him
with the daughter of Bahram, the Magian; and so it happened that one day
she left him and stood at the house-door when behold, she heard the
crier crying aloud and saying, "Whoso hath with him a handsome young
man, whose favour is thus and thus, and bringeth him forth, shall have
all he seeketh of money; but if any have him and deny it, he shall be
hanged over his own door and his property shall be plundered and his
blood go for naught." Now As'ad had acquainted Bostan bint Bahram with
his whole history: so, when she heard the crier, she knew that it was he
who was sought for and, going down to him, told him the news. Then he
fared forth and made for the mansion of the Wazir, whom, when As'ad saw,
he exclaimed, "By Allah, this Minister is my brother Amjad!" Then he
went up (and the damsel walking behind him) to the Palace, where he
again saw his brother, and threw himself upon him; whereupon Amjad also
knew him and fell upon his neck and they embraced each other, whilst the
Wazir's Mamelukes dismounted and stood round them. They lay awhile
insensible and, when they came to themselves, Amjad took his brother and
carried him to the Sultan, to whom he related the whole story, and the
Sultan charged him to plunder Bahram's house.——And Shahrazad perceived
the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Thirty-Seventh Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Sultan ordered
Amjad to plunder Bahram's house and to hang its owner. So Amjad
despatched thither for that purpose a company of men, who sacked the
house and took Bahram and brought his daughter to the Wazir by whom she
was received with all honour, for As'ad had told his brother the
torments he had suffered and the kindness she had done him. Thereupon
Amjad related in his turn to As'ad all that had passed between himself
and the damsel; and how he had escaped hanging and had become Wazir; and
they made moan, each to other, of the anguish they had suffered for
separation. Then the Sultan summoned Bahram and bade strike off his
head; but he said, "O most mighty King, art thou indeed resolved to put
me to death?" Replied the King, "Yes, except thou save thyself by
becoming a Moslem." Quoth Bahram, "O King, bear with me a little while!"
Then he bowed his head groundwards and presently raising it again, made
profession of The Faith and islamised at the hands of the Sultan. They
all rejoiced at his conversion and Amjad and As'ad told him all that had
befallen them, whereat he wondered and said, "O my lords, make ready for
the journey and I will depart with you and carry you back to your
father's court in a ship." At this they rejoiced and wept with sore
weeping; but he said, "O my lords, weep not for your departure, for it
shall reunite you with those you love, even as were Ni'amah and Naomi."
"And what befel Ni'amah and Naomi?" asked they. "They tell," replied
Bahram, (but Allah alone is All-knowing) the following tale of
-----
Footnote 220:
Lane is in error (vol. ii. 78) when he corrects this to "Sháh Zemán";
the name is fanciful and intended to be old Persian, on the "weight"
of Kahramán. The Bul. Edit. has by misprint "Shahramán."
Footnote 221:
The "topothesia" is worthy of Shakespeare's day. "Khálidán" is
evidently a corruption of "Khálidatáni" (for Khálidát), the Eternal,
as Ibn Wardi calls the Fortunate Islands, or Canaries, which owe both
their modern names to the classics of Europe. Their present history
dates from A.D. 1385, unless we accept the Dieppe-Rouen legend of
Labat which would place the discovery in A.D. 1326. I for one
thoroughly believe in the priority, on the West African Coast, of the
gallant descendants of the Northmen.
Footnote 222:
Four wives are allowed by Moslem law and for this reason. If you marry
one wife she holds herself your equal, answers you and "gives herself
airs"; two are always quarrelling and making a hell of the house;
three are "no company" and two of them always combine against the
nicest to make her hours bitter. Four _are_ company; they can quarrel
and "make it up" amongst themselves, and the husband enjoys
comparative peace. But the Moslem is bound by his law to deal equally
with the four; each must have her dresses, her establishment and her
night, like her sister wives. The number is taken from the Jews (Arbah
Turim Ev. Hazaer, i.) "the wise men have given good advice that a man
should not marry more than four wives." Europeans, knowing that Moslem
women are cloistered and appear veiled in public, begin with believing
them to be mere articles of luxury; and only after long residence they
find out that nowhere has the sex so much real liberty and power as in
the Moslem East. They can possess property and will it away without
the husband's leave: they can absent themselves from the house for a
month without his having a right to complain; and they assist in all
his counsels for the best of reasons: a man can rely only on his wives
and children, being surrounded by rivals who hope to rise by his ruin.
As regards political matters the Circassian women of Constantinople
really rule the Sultanate and there _soignez la femme!_ is the first
lesson of getting on in the official world.
Footnote 223:
This two-bow prayer is common on the bride-night; and at all times
when issue is desired.
Footnote 224:
The older Camaralzaman = "Moon of the age." Kamar is the moon between
her third and twenty-sixth day: Hilál during the rest of the month:
Badr (plur. Budúr, whence the name of the Princess) is the full moon.
Footnote 225:
Arab. "Ra'áyá" plur. of "Ra'íyat" our Anglo-Indian Ryot, lit. a liege,
a subject; secondarily a peasant, a Fellah.
Footnote 226:
Another audacious parody of the Moslem "testification" to the one God,
and to Mohammed the Apostle.
Footnote 227:
Showing how long ago forts were armed with metal plates which we have
applied to war-ships only of late years.
Footnote 228:
The comparison is abominably true—in the East.
Footnote 229:
Two fallen angels who taught men the art of magic. They are mentioned
in the Koran (chapt. ii.); and the commentators have extensively
embroidered the simple text. Popularly they are supposed to be hanging
by their feet in a well in the territory of Babel hence the frequent
allusions to "Babylonian sorcery" in Moslem writings; and those who
would study the black art at head-quarters are supposed to go there.
They are counterparts of the Egyptian Jamnes and Mambres, the Jannes
and Jambres of St. Paul (2 Tim. iii. 8).
Footnote 230:
An idol or idols of the Arabs (Allat and Ozza) before Mohammed (Koran
chapt. ii. 256). Etymologically the word means "error" and the
termination is rather Hebraic than Arabic.
Footnote 231:
Arab. "Khayt hamayán" (wandering threads of vanity), or Mukhát
al-Shaytan (Satan's snivel), = our "gossamer" = God's summer
(Mutter-Gottes-Sommer) or God's cymar (P).
Footnote 232:
These lines occur in Night xvii.; so I borrow from Torrens (p. 163) by
way of variety.
Footnote 233:
A posture of peculiar submission; contrasting strongly with the
attitude afterwards assumed by Prince Charming.
Footnote 234:
A mere term of vulgar abuse not reflecting on either parent: I have
heard a mother call her own son, "Child of adultery."
Footnote 235:
Arab. "Ghazá," the Artemisia (Euphorbia?) before noticed. If the word
be a misprint for Ghadá it means a kind of Euphorbia which, with the
Arák (wild caper-tree) and the Daum-palm (Crucifera thebiaca), is one
of the three normal growths of the Arabian desert (Pilgrimage iii.
22).
Footnote 236:
Arab. "Banát al-Na'ash," usually translated daughters of the bier, the
three stars which represent the horses in either Bear, "Charles'
Wain," or Ursa Minor, the waggon being supposed to be a bier. "Banát"
may be also sons, plur. of Ibn, as the word points to irrational
objects. So Job (ix. 9 and xxxviii. 32) refers to U. Major as "Ash" or
"Aysh" in the words, "Canst thou guide the bier with its sons?"
(erroneously rendered "Arcturus with his sons"). In the text the lines
are enigmatical, but apparently refer to a death-parting.
Footnote 237:
The Chapters are: 2, 3, 36, 55, 67 and the two last ("Daybreak" cxiii.
and "Men" cxiv.), which are called Al-Mu'izzatáni (vulgar
Al-Mu'izzatayn), the "Two Refuge-takings or Preventives," because they
obviate enchantment. I have translated the two latter as follows:—
"Say:—Refuge I take with the Lord of the Daybreak ✿ from mischief of
what He did make ✿ from mischief of moon eclipse-showing ✿ and from
mischief of witches on cord-knots blowing ✿ and from mischief of
envier when envying."
"Say:—Refuge I take with the Lord of men ✿ the sovran of men ✿ the God
of men ✿ from the Tempter, the Demon ✿ who tempteth in whisper the
breasts of men ✿ and from Jinnis and (evil) men."
Footnote 238:
The recitations were Náfilah, or superogatory, two short chapters only
being required; and the taking refuge was because he slept in a ruin,
a noted place in the East for Ghuls as in the West for ghosts.
Footnote 239:
Lane (ii. 222) first read "Múroozee" and referred it to the Murúz
tribe near Herat: he afterwards (iii. 748) corrected it to "Marwazee,"
of the fabric of Marw (Margiana), the place now famed for
"Mervousness." As a man of Rayy (Rhages) becomes Rází (_e.g._ Ibn
Fáris al-Rází), so a man of Marw is Marázi, not Murúzi nor Márwazi.
The "Mikna'" was a veil forming a kind of "respirator," defending from
flies by day and from mosquitos, dews and draughts by night. Easterns
are too sensible to sleep with bodies kept warm by bedding, and heads
bared to catch every blast. Our grandfathers and grandmothers did well
to wear bonnets-de-nuit, however ridiculous they may have looked.
Footnote 240:
Iblis, meaning the Despairer, is called in the Koran (chapt. xviii.
48) "One of the genii (Jinnis) who departed from the command of his
Lord." Mr. Rodwell (_in loco_) notes that the Satans and Jinnis
represent in the Koran (ii. 32, etc.) the evil-principle and finds an
admixture of the Semitic Satans and demons with the "Genii from the
Persian (Babylonian?) and Indian (Egyptian?) mythologies."
Footnote 241:
Of course she could not see his eyes when they were shut; nor is this
mere Eastern inconsequence. The writer means, "had she seen them, they
would have showed," etc.
Footnote 242:
The eyes are supposed to grow darker under the influence of wine and
sexual passion.
Footnote 243:
To keep off the evil eye.
Footnote 244:
Like Dahnash this is a fanciful P. N., fit only for a Jinni. As a rule
the appellatives of Moslem "genii" end in—ús (oos), as Tarnús,
Húliyánus; the Jewish in—nas, as Jattunas; those of the Tarsá (the
"funkers" _i.e._ Christians) in—dús, as Sidús; and the Hindus in—tús,
as Naktús (who entered the service of the Prophet Shays, or Seth, and
was converted to the Faith). The King of the Genii is Malik Katshán
who inhabits Mount Kaf; and to the west of him lives his son-in-law,
Abd al-Rahman with 33,000 domestics: these names were given by the
Apostle Mohammed. "Baktanús" is lord of three Moslem troops of the
wandering Jinns, which number a total of twelve bands and extend from
Sind to Europe. The Jinns, Divs, Peris ("fairies") and other
pre-Adamitic creatures were governed by seventy-two Sultans all known
as Sulayman and the last I have said was Ján bin Ján. The angel Háris
was sent from Heaven to chastise him, but in the pride of victory he
also revolted with his followers the Jinns whilst the Peris held
aloof. When he refused to bow down before Adam he and his chiefs were
eternally imprisoned but the other Jinns are allowed to range over
earth as a security for man's obedience. The text gives the three
orders, flyers, walkers and divers.
Footnote 245:
_i.e._ distracted (with love); the Lakab, or poetical name, of
apparently a Spanish poet.
Footnote 246:
Nothing is more "anti-pathetic" to Easterns than lean hips and flat
hinder-cheeks in women and they are right in insisting upon the
characteristic difference of the male and female figure. Our modern
sculptors and painters, whose study of the nude is usually most
perfunctory, have often scandalised me by the lank and greyhound-like
fining off of the frame, which thus becomes rather simian than human.
Footnote 247:
The small fine foot is a favourite with Easterns as well as Westerns.
Ovid (A. A.) is not ashamed "ad teneros Oscula (not basia or suavia)
ferre pedes." Ariosto ends the august person in
Il breve, asciutto, e ritondetto piede,
(The short-sized, clean-cut, roundly-moulded foot).
And all the world over it is a sign of "blood," _i.e._ the fine
nervous temperament.
Footnote 248:
_i.e._ "full moons"; the French have corrupted it to "Badoure"; we to
"Badoura," which is worse.
Footnote 249:
As has been said a single drop of urine renders the clothes
ceremoniously impure, hence a stone or a handful of earth must be used
after the manner of the torche-cul. Scrupulous Moslems, when squatting
to make water, will prod the ground before them with the point of
stick or umbrella, so as to loosen it and prevent the spraying of the
urine.
Footnote 250:
It is not generally known to Christians that Satan has a wife called
Awwá ("Hawwá" being the Moslem Eve) and, as Adam had three sons, the
Tempter has nine, viz., Zu 'lbaysun who rules in bazars; Wassin who
prevails in times of trouble; Awan who counsels kings; Haffan patron
of wine-bibbers; Marrah of musicians and dancers; Masbut of
newspreaders (and newspapers?); Dulhán who frequents places of worship
and interferes with devotion; Dasim, lord of mansions and dinner
tables, who prevents the Faithful saying "Bismillah" and "Inshallah,"
as commanded in the Koran (xviii. 23), and Lakís, lord of
Fire-worshippers (Herklots, chap. xxix. sect. 4).
Footnote 251:
Strong perfumes, such as musk (which we Europeans dislike and
suspect), are always insisted upon in Eastern poetry; and Mohammed's
predilection for them is well known. Moreover the young and the
beautiful are held (justly enough) to exhale a natural fragrance which
is compared with that of the blessed in Paradise. Hence in the
Mu'allakah of Imr al-Kays:—
Breathes the scent of musk when they rise to rove, ✿ As the Zephyr's
breath with the flavour o' clove.
It is made evident by dogs and other fine-nosed animals that every
human being has his, or her, peculiar scent which varies according to
age and health. Hence animals often detect the approach of death.
Footnote 252:
Arab. "Kahlá." This has been explained. Mohammed is said to have been
born with "Kohl'd eyes."
Footnote 253:
Hawá al-'uzrí, before noticed (Night cxiv.)
Footnote 254:
These lines, with the Názir (eye or steward), the Hájib (Groom of the
Chambers or Chamberlain) and Joseph, are also repeated from Night
cxiv. For the Nazir see Al-Hatiri (Nos. xiii. and xxii.)
Footnote 255:
The usual allusion to the Húr (Houris) from "Hawar," the white and
black of the eye shining in contrast. The Persian Magi also placed in
their Heaven (Bihisht or Minu) "Huran," or black-eyed nymphs, under
the charge of the angel Zamiyád.
Footnote 256:
In the first hemistich, "bi-shitt 'il wády" (by the wady-bank): in the
second, "wa shatta 'l wády" ("and my slayer"—_i.e._ wády act. part. of
wady, killing—"hath paced away").
Footnote 257:
The _double entendre_ is from the proper names Budúr and Su'ád
(Beatrice) also meaning "auspicious (or blessed) full moons."
Footnote 258:
Arab. "Házir" (also Ahl al-hazar, townsmen) and Bádi, a Badawi, also
called "Ahl al-Wabar," people of the camel's hair (tent) and A'aráb
(Nomadic) as opposed to Arab (Arab settled or not). They still boast
with Ibn Abbas, cousin of Mohammed, that they have kerchiefs (not
turbands) for crowns, tents for houses, loops for walls, swords for
scarves and poems for registers or written laws.
Footnote 259:
This is a peculiarity of the Jinn tribe when wearing hideous forms. It
is also found in the Hindu Rakshasa.
Footnote 260:
Which, by the by, are small and beautifully shaped. The animal is very
handy with them, as I learnt by experience when trying to "Rareyfy"
one at Bayrut.
Footnote 261:
She being daughter of Al-Dimiryát, King of the Jinns. Mr. W. F. Kirby
has made him the subject of a pretty poem.
Footnote 262:
These lines have occurred in Night xxii. I give Torrens's version (p.
223) by way of variety.
Footnote 263:
Arab. "Kámat Alfiyyah," like an Alif, the first of the Arabic
alphabet, the Heb. Aleph. The Arabs, I have said, took the flag or
water-leaf form and departed very far from the Egyptian original (we
know from Plutarch that the hieroglyphic abecedarium began with "a"),
which was chosen by other imitators, namely the bull's head; and which
in the cursive form, especially the Phœnician, became a yoke. In
numerals "Alif" denotes one or one thousand. It inherits the
traditional honours of Alpha (as opposed to Omega), and in books,
letters and writings generally it is placed as a monogram over the
"Bismillah," an additional testimony to the Unity. (See vol. i. p. 1).
In mediæval Christianity this place of honour was occupied by the
cross: none save the wildest countries have preserved it, but our
vocabulary still retains Criss' (Christ-)cross Row, for horn-book, on
account of the old alphabet and nine digits disposed in the form of a
Latin cross. Hence Tickell ("The Horn-book"):
——Mortals ne'er shall know
More than contained of old the Chris'-cross Row.
Footnote 264:
The young man must have been a demon of chastity.
Footnote 265:
Arab. "Kirát" from κεράτιον, _i.e._ bean, the seed of the Abrus
precatorius, in weight = two to three (English) grains; and in length
= one finger-breadth here; 24 being the total. The Moslem system is
evidently borrowed from the Roman "as" and "uncia."
Footnote 266:
Names of women.
Footnote 267:
Arab. "Amsa" (lit. he passed the evening) like "asbaha" (he rose in
the morning) "Azhá" (he spent the forenoon) and "báta" (he spent the
night), are idiomatically used for "to be in any state, to continue"
without specification of time or season.
Footnote 268:
Lit. "my liver;" which viscus, and not the heart, is held the seat of
passion; a fancy dating from the oldest days. Theocritus says of
Hercules, "In his liver Love had fixed a wound" (Idyl. xiii). In the
Anthologia "Cease, Love, to wound my liver and my heart" (lib. vii.)
So Horace (Odes, i. 2); his Latin Jecur and the Persian "Jigar" being
evident congeners. The idea was long prevalent and we find in
Shakespeare:—
Alas, then Love may be called appetite,
No motion of the liver but the palate.
Footnote 269:
A marvellous touch of nature, love ousting affection; the same trait
will appear in the lover and both illustrate the deep Italian saying,
"Amor discende, non ascende." "The further it goes down the stronger
it becomes as of grand-parent for grand-child and _vice versâ_."
Footnote 270:
This tenet of the universal East is at once fact and unfact. As a
generalism asserting that women's passion is ten times greater than
man's (Pilgrimage, ii. 282), it is unfact. The world shows that while
women have more philoprogenitiveness, men have more amativeness;
otherwise the latter would not propose and would nurse the doll and
baby. Fact, however, in low-lying lands, like Persian Mazanderan
versus the Plateau; Indian Malabar compared with Marátha-land;
California as opposed to Utah and especially Egypt contrasted with
Arabia. In these hot-damp climates the venereal requirements and
reproductive powers of the female greatly exceed those of the male;
and hence the dissoluteness of morals would be phenomenal, were it not
obviated by seclusion, the sabre and the revolver. In cold-dry or
hot-dry mountainous lands the reverse is the case; hence polygamy
there prevails whilst the low countries require polyandry in either
form, legal or illegal (_i.e._ prostitution). I have discussed this
curious point of "geographical morality" (for all morality is, like
conscience, both geographical and chronological), a subject so
interesting to the lawgiver, the student of ethics and the
anthropologist, in "The City of the Saints." But strange and
unpleasant truths progress slowly, especially in England.
Footnote 271:
This morning evacuation is considered, in the East, a _sine quâ non_
of health; and old Anglo-Indians are unanimous in their opinion of the
"bari fajar" (as they mispronounce the dawn-clearance). The natives of
India, Hindús (pagans) and Hindís (Moslems), unlike Europeans,
accustom themselves to evacuate twice a day, evening as well as
morning. This may, perhaps, partly account for their mildness and
effeminacy; for:—
C'est la constipation qui rend l'homme rigoureux.
The English, since the first invasion of cholera, in October, 1831,
are a different race from their costive grandparents who could not
dine without a "dinner-pill." Curious to say the clyster is almost
unknown to the people of Hindostan although the barbarous West
Africans use it daily to "wash 'um belly," as the Bonney-men say. And,
as Sonnini notes, to propose the process in Egypt under the Beys might
have cost a Frankish medico his life.
Footnote 272:
The Egyptian author cannot refrain from this characteristic
_polissonnerie_; and reading it out is always followed by a roar of
laughter. Even serious writers like Al-Hariri do not, as I have noted,
despise the indecency.
Footnote 273:
"Long beard and little wits," is a saying throughout the East where
the Kausaj (= man with thin, short beard) is looked upon as cunning
and tricksy. There is a venerable Joe Miller about a schoolmaster who,
wishing to singe his long beard short, burnt it off and his face to
boot:—which reminded him of the saying. A thick beard is defined as
one which wholly conceals the skin; and in ceremonial ablution it must
be combed out with the fingers till the water reach the roots. The
Sunnat, or practice of the Prophet, was to wear the beard not longer
than one hand and two fingers' breadth. In Persian "Kúseh"
(thin-beard) is an insulting term opposed to "Khush-rísh," a
well-bearded man. The Iranian growth is perhaps the finest in the
world, often extending to the waist; but it gives infinite trouble,
requiring, for instance, a bag when travelling. The Arab beard is
often composed of two tufts on the chin-sides and straggling hairs
upon the cheeks; and this is a severe mortification, especially to
Shaykhs and elders, who not only look upon the beard as one of man's
characteristics, but attach a religious importance to the appendage.
Hence the enormity of Kamar al-Zaman's behaviour. The Persian festival
of the vernal equinox was called Kuseh-nishín (Thin-beard sitting). An
old man with one eye paraded the streets on an ass with a crow in one
hand and a scourge and fan in the other, cooling himself, flogging the
bystanders and crying heat! heat! (garmá! garmá!). For other
particulars see Richardson (Dissertation, p. lii.). This is the
Italian Giorno delle Vecchie, Thursday in Mid-Lent, March 12 (1885),
celebrating the death of Winter and the birth of Spring.
Footnote 274:
I quote Torrens (p. 400) as these lines have occurred in Night
xxxviii.
Footnote 275:
Moslems have only two names for week days, Friday, Al-Jum'ah or
meeting-day, and Al-Sabt, Sabbath-day, that is Saturday. The others
are known by numbers after Quaker fashion with us, the usage of
Portugal and Scandinavia.
Footnote 276:
Our last night.
Footnote 277:
Arab. "Tayf" = phantom, the nearest approach to our "ghost," that
queer remnant of Fetishism imbedded in Christianity; the phantasma,
the shade (not the soul) of the dead. Hence the accurate Niebuhr
declares, "apparitions (_i.e._, of the departed) are unknown in
Arabia." Haunted houses are there tenanted by Ghuls, Jinns and a host
of supernatural creatures; but not by ghosts proper; and a man may
live years in Arabia before he ever hears of the "Tayf." With the
Hindus it is otherwise (Pilgrimage iii. 144.) Yet the ghost, the
embodied fear of the dead and of death is common, in a greater or less
degree, to all peoples; and, as modern Spiritualism proves, that ghost
is not yet laid.
Footnote 278:
Mr. Payne (iii. 133,) omits the lines which are _à propos de rien_ and
read much like "nonsense verses." I retain them simply because they
are in the text.
Footnote 279:
The first two couplets are the quatrain (or octave) in Night xxxv.
Footnote 280:
Arab. "Ar'ar," the Heb. "Aroer," which Luther and the A. V. translate
"heath." The modern Aramaic name is "Lizzáb" (Unexplored Syria, i.
68).
Footnote 281:
In the old version and the Bresl. Edit. (iii. 220) the Princess beats
the "Kahramánah," but does not kill her.
Footnote 282:
This is still the popular Eastern treatment of the insane.
Footnote 283:
Pers. Marz-bán = Warden of the Marches, Margrave. The foster-brother
in the East is held dear as, and often dearer than, kith and kin.
Footnote 284:
—Quirinus
Post mediam noctem visus, quum somnia vera.
(Horace Sat. i. 10, 33.)
The moderns believe most in the dawn-dream.
Footnote 285:
The Bresl. Edit. (iii. 223) and Galland have "Torf:" Lane (ii. 115)
"El-Tarf."
Footnote 286:
Arab. "Maghzal;" a more favourite comparison is with a tooth-pick.
Both are used by Nizami and Al-Hariri, the most "elegant" of Arab
writers.
Footnote 287:
These form a Kasídah, Ode or Elegy = rhymed couplets numbering more
than thirteen: if shorter it is called a "Ghazal." I have not thought
it necessary to preserve the monorhyme.
Footnote 288:
Sulaymá dim. of Salmá = any beautiful woman: Rabáb = the viol mostly
single-stringed: Tan'oum = she who is soft and gentle. These
fictitious names are for his old flames.
Footnote 289:
_i.e._ wine. The distich is highly fanciful and the conceits would
hardly occur to a Western.
Footnote 290:
Arab. "Andam," a term applied to Brazil-wood (also called "Bakkam")
and to "dragon's blood," but not, I think, to tragacanth, the "goat's
thorn," which does not dye. Andam is often mentioned in The Nights.
Footnote 291:
The superior merit of the first (explorer, etc.) is a _lieu commun_
with Arabs. So Al-Hariri in Preface quotes his predecessor:—
Justly of praise the price I pay;
The praise is his who leads the way.
Footnote 292:
There were two Lukmans, of whom more in a future page.
Footnote 293:
This symbolic action is repeatedly mentioned in The Nights.
Footnote 294:
Arab. "Shakhs" = a person, primarily a dark spot. So "Sawád" =
blackness, in Al-Hariri means a group of people who darken the ground
by their shade.
Footnote 295:
The first bath after sickness, I have said, is called "Ghusl
al-Sihhah,"—the Washing of Health.
Footnote 296:
The words "malady" and "disease" are mostly avoided during these
dialogues as ill-omened words which may bring on a relapse.
Footnote 297:
Solomon's carpet of green silk which carried him and all his host
through the air is a Talmudic legend generally accepted in Al-Islam
though not countenanced by the Koran, chapt. xxvii. When the "gnat's
wing" is mentioned, the reference is to Nimrod who, for boasting that
he was lord of all, was tortured during four hundred years by a gnat
sent by Allah up his ear or nostril.
Footnote 298:
The absolute want of morality and filial affection in the chaste young
man are supposed to be caused by the violence of his passion, and he
would be pardoned because he "loved much."
Footnote 299:
I have noticed the geomantic process in my "History of Sindh" (chapt.
vii.). It is called "Zarb al-Raml" (strike of sand, the French say
"frapper le sable") because the rudest form is to make on the ground
dots at haphazard, usually in four lines one above the other: these
are counted and, if even-numbered, two are taken (* *); if odd one
(*); and thus the four lines will form a scheme say
* *
*
*
* *
This is repeated three times, producing the same number of figures;
and then the combination is sought in an explanatory table or, if the
practitioner be expert, he pronounces off-hand. The Nights speak of a
"Takht Raml" or a board, like a schoolboy's slate, upon which the dots
are inked instead of points in sand. The moderns use a "Kura'h," or
oblong die, upon whose sides the dots, odd and even, are marked; and
these dice are hand-thrown to form the figure. By way of complication
Geomancy is mixed up with astrology and then it becomes a most
complicated kind of ariolation and an endless study. "Napoleon's Book
of Fate," a chap-book which appeared some years ago, was Geomancy in
its simplest and most ignorant shape. For the rude African form see my
Mission to Dahome, i. 332; and for that of Darfour, pp. 360-69 of
Shaykh Mohammed's Voyage before quoted.
Footnote 300:
Translators understand this of writing marriage contracts; I take it
in a more general sense.
Footnote 301:
These lines are repeated from Night lxxv.: with Mr. Payne's permission
I give his rendering (iii. 153) by way of variety.
Footnote 302:
The comparison is characteristically Arab.
Footnote 303:
Not her "face": the head, and especially the back of the head, must
always be kept covered, even before the father.
Footnote 304:
Arab. "Siwák" = a tooth-stick; "Siwá-ka" = lit. other than thou.
Footnote 305:
Arab. "Arák" = tooth-stick of the wild caper-tree; "Ará-ka" lit. = I
see thee. The _capparis spinosa_ is a common desert-growth and the
sticks about a span long (usually called Miswák), are sold in
quantities at Meccah after being dipped in Zemzem water. In India many
other woods are used, date-tree, Salvadora, Achyrantes, phyllanthus,
etc. Amongst Arabs peculiar efficacy accompanies the tooth-stick of
olive, "the tree springing from Mount Sinai" (Koran xxiii. 20); and
Mohammed would use no other, because it prevents decay and scents the
mouth. Hence Koran, chapt. xcv. 1. The "Miswák" is held with the
unused end between the ring-finger and minimus, the two others grasp
the middle and the thumb is pressed against the back close to the
lips. These articles have long been sold at the Medical Hall near the
"Egyptian Hall," Piccadilly. They are better than our unclean
tooth-brushes because each tooth gets its own especial rubbing, not a
general sweep; at the same time the operation is longer and more
troublesome. In parts of Africa as well as Asia many men walk about
with the tooth-stick hanging by a string from the neck.
Footnote 306:
The "Mehari," of which the Algerine-French speak, are the dromedaries
bred by the Mahrah tribe of Al-Yaman, the descendants of Mahrat ibn
Haydán. They are covered by small wild camels (?) called Al-Húsh,
found between Oman and Al-Shihr: others explain the word to mean
"stallions of the Jinns," and term those savage and supernatural
animals, "Najáib al-Mahriyah"—nobles of the Mahrah.
Footnote 307:
Arab. "Khaznah" = a thousand purses; now about £5000. It denotes a
large sum of money, like the "Badrah," a purse containing 10,000
dirhams of silver (Al-Hariri), or 80,000 (Burckhardt Prov. 380);
whereas the "Nisáb" is a moderate sum of money, gen. 20 gold dinars =
200 silver dirhams.
Footnote 308:
As The Nights show, Arabs admire slender forms; but the hips and
hinder cheeks must be highly developed and the stomach fleshy rather
than lean. The reasons are obvious. The Persians who exaggerate
everything say _e.g._ (Husayn Váiz in the Anvár-i-Suhayli):—
How paint her hips and waist? Who saw
A mountain (Koh) dangling to a straw (káh)?
In Antar his beloved Abla is a tamarisk (_T. Orientalis_). Others
compare with the palm-tree (Solomon), the Cypress (Persian, esp. Hafiz
and Firdausi) and the Arák or wild Capparis (Arab.).
Footnote 309:
Ubi aves ibi angeli. All African travellers know that a few birds
flying about the bush, and a few palm-trees waving in the wind, denote
the neighbourhood of a village or a camp (where angels are scarce).
The reason is not any friendship for man but because food, animal and
vegetable, is more plentiful. Hence Albatrosses, Mother Carey's (Mater
Cara, the Virgin) chickens, and Cape pigeons follow ships.
Footnote 310:
The stanza is called Al-Mukhammas = cinquains; the quatrains and the
"bob," or "burden," always preserve the same consonance. It ends with
a Koranic _lieu commun_ of Moslem morality.
Footnote 311:
Moslem port towns usually have (or had) only two gates. Such was the
case with Bayrut, Tyre, Sidon and a host of others; the
faubourg-growth of modern days has made these obselete. The portals
much resemble the entrances of old Norman castles—Arques for instance.
Pilgrimage, i. 185.
Footnote 312:
Arab. "Lisám"; before explained.
Footnote 313:
_i.e._ Life of Souls (persons, etc.).
Footnote 314:
Arab. "Insánu-há" = her (_i.e._ their) man: _i.e._ the babes of the
eyes: the Assyrian Ishon, dim. of Ish = Man; which the Hebrews call
"Bábat" or "Bit" (the daughter); the Arabs "Bubu (or Hadakat) al-Ayn";
the Persians "Mardumak-i-chashm" (mannikin of the eye); the Greeks
κόρη and the Latins pupa, pupula, pupilla. I have noted this in the
Lyricks of Camoens (p. 449).
Footnote 315:
Ma'an bin Zá'idah, a soldier and statesman of the eighth century.
Footnote 316:
The mildness of the Caliph Mu'áwiyah, the founder of the Ommiades,
proverbial among the Arabs, much resembles the "meekness" of Moses the
Lawgiver, which commentators seem to think has been foisted into
Numbers xii. 3.
Footnote 317:
Showing that there had been no consummation of the marriage which
would have demanded "Ghusl", or total ablution, at home or in the
Hammam.
Footnote 318:
have noticed this notable desert-growth.
Footnote 319:
The "situation" is admirable, solution appearing so difficult and
catastrophe imminent.
Footnote 320:
This quatrain occurs in Night ix.: I have borrowed from Torrens (p.
79) by way of variety.
Footnote 321:
The belief that young pigeon's blood resembles the virginal discharge
is universal; but the blood most resembling man's is that of the pig
which in other points is so very human. In our day Arabs and Hindus
rarely submit to inspection the nuptial sheet as practised by the
Israelites and Persians. The bride takes to bed a white kerchief with
which she staunches the blood and next morning the stains are
displayed in the Harem. In Darfour this is done by the bridegroom.
"Prima Venus debet esse cruenta," say the Easterns with much truth,
and they have no faith in our complaisant creed which allows the
hymen-membrane to disappear by any but one accident.
Footnote 322:
Not meaning the two central divisions commanded by the King and his
Wazir.
Footnote 323:
_Ironicè._
Footnote 324:
Arab. "Rasy" = praising in a funeral sermon.
Footnote 325:
Arab. "Manáyá," plur. of Maniyat = death. Mr. R. S. Poole (the
Academy, April 26, 1879) reproaches Mr. Payne for confounding
"Muniyat" (desire) with "Maniyat" (death); but both are written the
same except when vowel-points are used.
Footnote 326:
Arab. "Iddat," alluding to the months of celibacy which, according to
Moslem law, must be passed by a divorced woman before she can
re-marry.
Footnote 327:
Arab. "Talák bi'l-Salásah" = a triple divorce which cannot be revoked;
nor can the divorcer re-marry the same woman till after consummation
with another husband. This subject will continually recur.
Footnote 328:
An allusion to a custom of the pagan Arabs in the days of ignorant
Heathenism. The blood or brain, soul or personality of the murdered
man formed a bird called Sady or Hámah (not the Humá or Humái, usually
translated "phœnix") which sprang from the head, where four of the
five senses have their seat, and haunted his tomb, crying continually,
"Uskúni!" = Give me drink (of the slayer's blood)! and which
disappeared only when the vendetta was accomplished. Mohammed forbade
the belief. Amongst the Southern Slavs the cuckoo is supposed to be
the sister of a murdered man ever calling for vengeance.
Footnote 329:
To obtain a blessing and show how he valued it.
Footnote 330:
Well-known tribes of proto-historic Arabs who flourished before the
time of Abraham: see Koran (chapt. xxvi. _et passim_). They will be
repeatedly mentioned in The Nights and notes.
Footnote 331:
Arab. "Amtár"; plur. of "Matr," a large vessel of leather or wood for
water, etc.
Footnote 332:
Arab. "Asáfírí," so called because they attract sparrows (asáfír) a
bird very fond of the ripe oily fruit. In the Romance of "Antar"
Asáfír camels are beasts that fly like birds in fleetness. The reader
must not confound the olives of the text with the hard unripe berries
("little plums pickled in stale") which appear at English tables; nor
wonder that bread and olives are the beef-steak and potatoes of many
Mediterranean peoples. It is an excellent diet, the highly oleaginous
fruit supplying the necessary carbon.
Footnote 333:
Arab. "Tamar al-Hindi" = the "Indian-date," whence our word
"Tamarind." A sherbet of the pods, being slightly laxative, is much
drunk during the great heats; and the dried fruit, made into small
round cakes, is sold in the bazars. The traveller is advised not to
sleep under the tamarind's shade, which is infamous for causing ague
and fever. In Sind I derided the "native nonsense," passed the night
under an "Indian date-tree" and awoke with a fine specimen of ague
which lasted me a week.
Footnote 334:
Moslems are not agreed upon the length of the Day of Doom when all
created things, marshalled by the angels, await final judgement; the
different periods named are 40 years, 70, 300 and 50,000. Yet the
trial itself will last no longer than while one may milk an ewe, or
than "the space between two milkings of a she-camel." This is bringing
down Heaven to Earth with a witness; but, after all, the Heaven of all
faiths, including "Spiritualism," the latest development, is only an
earth more or less glorified even as the Deity is humanity more or
less perfected.
Footnote 335:
Arab. "Al-Kamaráni," lit. "the two moons." Arab rhetoric prefers it to
"Shamsáni," or "two suns," because lighter (akhaff), to pronounce. So,
albeit Omar was less worthy than Abu-Bakr the two are called
"Al-Omaráni," in vulgar parlance, Omarayn.
Footnote 336:
Alluding to the angels who appeared to the Sodomites in the shape of
beautiful youths (Koran xi).
Footnote 337:
Koran xxxiii. 38.
Footnote 338:
"Niktu-hu taklídan" _i.e._ not the real thing (with a woman). It may
also mean "by his incitement of me." All this scene is written in the
worst form of Persian-Egyptian blackguardism, and forms a curious
anthropological study. The "black joke" of the true and modest wife is
inimitable.
Footnote 339:
Arab. "Jamíz" (in Egypt "Jammayz") = the fruit of the true sycomore
(F. Sycomorus) a magnificent tree which produces a small tasteless
fig, eaten by the poorer classes in Egypt and by monkeys. The "Tín" or
real fig here is the woman's parts; the "mulberry-fig," the anus.
Martial (i. 65) makes the following distinction:—
Dicemus ficus, quas scimus in arbore nasci,
Dicemus ficos, Cæciliane, tuos.
And Modern Italian preserves a difference between _fico_ and _fica_.
Footnote 340:
Arab. "Ghániyat Azárá" (plur. of Azrá = virgin): the former is
properly a woman who despises ornaments and relies on "beauty
unadorned" (_i.e._ in bed).
Footnote 341:
"Nihil usitatius apud monachos, cardinales, sacrificulos," says
_Johannes de la Casa Beneventius_ Episcopus, quoted by Burton Anat. of
Mel. lib. iii. Sect. 2; and the famous epitaph on the Jesuit,
Ci-gît un Jesuite:
Passant, serre les fesses et passe vite!
Footnote 342:
Arab. "Kiblah" = the fronting-place of prayer, Meccah for Moslems,
Jerusalem for Jews and early Christians. See Pilgrimage (ii. 321) for
the Moslem change from Jerusalem to Meccah and ibid. ii. 213 for the
way in which the direction was shown.
Footnote 343:
The Koran says (chapt. ii.): "Your wives are your tillage: go in
therefore unto your tillage in what manner so ever ye will." Usually
this is understood as meaning in any posture, standing or sitting,
lying, backwards or forwards. Yet there is a popular saying about the
man whom the woman rides (vulg. St. George, in France, le Postillon);
"Cursed he who maketh woman Heaven and himself earth!" Some hold the
Koranic passage to have been revealed in confutation of the Jews, who
pretended that if a man lay with his wife backwards, he would beget a
cleverer child. Others again understand it of preposterous venery,
which is absurd: every ancient lawgiver framed his code to increase
the true wealth of the people—population—and severely punished all
processes, like onanism, which impeded it. The Persians utilise the
hatred of women for such misuse when they would force a wife to demand
a divorce and thus forfeit her claim to Mahr (dowry); they convert
them into catamites till, after a month or so, they lose all patience
and leave the house.
Footnote 344:
Koran li. 9: "He will be turned aside from the Faith (or Truth) who
shall be turned aside by the Divine decree;" alluding, in the text, to
the preposterous venery her lover demands.
Footnote 345:
Arab. "Futúh" meaning openings, and also victories, benefits. The
lover congratulates her on her mortifying self in order to please him.
Footnote 346:
"And the righteous work will be exalt": (Koran xxxv. 11) applied
ironically.
Footnote 347:
A prolepsis of Tommy Moore:—
Your mother says, my little Venus,
There's something not quite right between us,
And you're in fault as much as I,
Now, on my soul, my little Venus,
I swear 'twould not be right between us,
To let your mother tell a lie.
But the Arab is more moral than Mr. Little, as he proposes to repent.
Footnote 348:
Arab. "Khunsa" flexible or flaccid, from Khans = bending inwards,
_i.e._ the mouth of a water-skin before drinking. Like Mukhannas, it
is also used for an effeminate man, a passive sodomite and even for a
eunuch. Easterns still believe in what Westerns know to be an
impossibility, human beings with the parts and proportions of both
sexes equally developed and capable of reproduction; and Al-Islam even
provides special rules for them (Pilgrimage iii. 237). We hold them to
be Buffon's fourth class of (duplicate) monsters, belonging
essentially to one or the other sex, and related to its opposite only
by some few characteristics. The old Greeks dreamed, after their
fashion, a beautiful poetic dream of a human animal uniting the
contradictory beauties of man and woman. The duality of the generative
organs seems an old Egyptian tradition; at least we find it in Genesis
(i. 27), where the image of the Deity is created male and female,
before man was formed out of the dust of the ground (ii. 7). The old
tradition found its way to India (if the Hindus did not borrow the
idea from the Greeks); and one of the forms of Mahadeva, the third
person of their triad, is entitled "Ardhanárí" = the Half-woman, which
has suggested to them some charming pictures. Europeans, seeing the
left breast conspicuously feminine, have indulged in silly surmises
about the "Amazons."
Footnote 349:
This is a mere phrase for our "dying of laughter": the queen _was_ on
her back. And as Easterns sit on carpets, their falling back is very
different from the same movement off a chair.
Footnote 350:
Arab. "Ismid," the eye-powder before noticed.
Footnote 351:
When the Caliph (_e.g._ Al-Tá'i li'llah) bound a banner to a spear and
handed it to an officer, he thereby appointed him Sultan or
Viceregent.
Footnote 352:
Arab. "Sháib al-ingház" = lit. a gray beard who shakes head in
disapproval.
Footnote 353:
Arab. "Ayát" = the Hebr. "Ototh," signs, wonders or Koranic verses.
Footnote 354:
The Chapter "Al-Ikhlás" _i.e._ clearing (oneself from any faith but
that of Unity) is No. cxii. and runs thus:—
Say, He is the One God!
The sempiternal God,
He begetteth not, nor is He begot,
And unto Him the like is not.
It is held to be equal in value to one-third of the Koran, and is
daily used in prayer. Mr. Rodwell makes it the tenth.
Footnote 355:
The Lady Budur shows her noble blood by not objecting to her friend
becoming her Zarrat (sister-wife). This word is popularly derived from
"Zarar" = injury; and is vulgarly pronounced in Egypt "Durrah"
sounding like Durrah = a parrot (see Burckhardt's mistake in Prov.
314). The native proverb says, "Ayshat al-durrah murrah," the
sister-wife hath a bitter life. We have no English equivalent; so I
translate indifferently co-wife, co-consort, sister-wife or sister in
wedlock.
Footnote 356:
Lane preserves the article "El-Amjad" and "El-As'ad;" which is as
necessary as to say "the John" or "the James," because neo-Latins have
"il Giovanni" or "il Giacomo." In this matter of the article, however,
it is impossible to lay down a universal rule: in some cases it must
be preserved and only practise in the language can teach its use. For
instance, it is always present in Al-Bahrayn and al-Yaman; but not
necessarily so with Irak and Najd.
Footnote 357:
It is hard to say why this ugly episode was introduced. It is a mere
false note in a tune pretty enough.
Footnote 358:
The significance of this action will presently appear.
Footnote 359:
An "Hadís."
Footnote 360:
Arab. "Sabb" = using the lowest language of abuse, chiefly concerning
women-relatives and their reproductive parts.
Footnote 361:
The reader will note in the narration concerning the two Queens the
parallelism of the Arab's style which recalls that of the Hebrew
poets. Strings of black silk are plaited into the long locks (an
"idiot-fringe" being worn over the brow) because a woman is cursed
"who joineth her own hair to the hair of another" (especially human
hair). Sending the bands is a sign of affectionate submission; and, in
extremest cases the hair itself is sent.
Footnote 362:
_i.e._, suffer similar pain at the spectacle, a phrase often
occurring.
Footnote 363:
_i.e._, when the eye sees not, the heart grieves not.
Footnote 364:
_i.e._, unto Him we shall return, a sentence recurring in almost every
longer chapter of the Koran.
Footnote 365:
Arab. "Kun," the creative Word (which, by the by, proves the Koran to
be an uncreated Logos); the full sentence being "Kun fa kána" = Be!
and it became. The origin is evidently, "And God said, Let there be
light: and there was light." (Gen. i. 3); a line grand in its
simplicity and evidently borrowed from the Egyptians; even as Yahveh
(Jehovah) from "Ankh" = He who lives (Brugsch Hist. ii. 34).
Footnote 366:
_i.e._ but also for the life and the so-called "soul."
Footnote 367:
Arab. "Layáli" = lit. nights which, I have said, is often applied to
the whole twenty-four hours. Here it is used in the sense of "fortune"
or "fate;" like "days" and "days and nights."
Footnote 368:
Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr a nephew of Ayishah, who had rebuilt the
Ka'abah in A.H. 64 (A.D. 683), revolted (A.D. 680) against Yezid and
was proclaimed Caliph at Meccah. He was afterwards killed (A.D. 692)
by the famous or infamous Hajjáj general of Abd al-Malik bin Marwan,
the fifth Ommiade, surnamed "Sweat of a stone" (skin-flint) and
"Father of Flies," from his foul breath. See my Pilgrimage, etc. iii.,
192-194, where are explained the allusions to the Ka'abah and the holy
Black Stone.
Footnote 369:
These lines are part of an elegy on the downfall of one of the Moslem
dynasties in Spain, composed in the twelfth century by Ibn Abdun
al-Andalúsi. The allusion is to the famous conspiracy of the
Khárijites (the first sectarians in Mohammedanism) to kill Ali,
Mu'awiyah and Amru (so written but pronounced "Amr") al-As, in order
to abate intestine feuds in Al-Islam. Ali was slain with a sword-cut
by Ibn Muljam a name ever damnable amongst the Persians; Mu'awiyah
escaped with a wound and Kharijah, the Chief of Police at Fustat or
old Cairo was murdered by mistake for Amru. After this the sectarian
wars began.
Footnote 370:
Arab. "Saráb" = (Koran, chapt. xxiv.) the reek of the Desert, before
explained. It is called "Lama," the shine, the loom, in Al-Hariri. The
world is compared with the mirage, the painted eye and the sword that
breaks in the sworder's hand.
Footnote 371:
Arab. "Dunyá," with the common alliteration "dániyah" (= Pers. "dún"),
in prose as well as poetry means the things or fortune of this life
opp. to "Akhirah" = future life.
Footnote 372:
Arab. "Walgh," a strong expression primarily denoting the lapping of
dogs; here and elsewhere "to swill, _saufen_."
Footnote 373:
The lines are repeated from Night ccxxi. I give Lane's version (ii.
162) by way of contrast and—warning.
Footnote 374:
"Sáhirah" is the place where human souls will be gathered on Doom-day:
some understand by it the Hell Sa'ír (No. iv.) intended for the
Sabians or the Devils generally.
Footnote 375:
His eyes are faded like Jacob's which, after weeping for Joseph,
"became white with mourning" (Koran, chapt. xxi.). It is a stock
comparison.
Footnote 376:
The grave.
Footnote 377:
Arab. "Sawwán" (popularly pronounced Suwán) = "Syenite" from Syrene;
generally applied to silex, granite or any hard stone.
Footnote 378:
A proceeding fit only for thieves and paupers: "Alpinism" was then
unknown. "You come from the mountain" (al-Jabal) means, "You are a
clod-hopper"; and "I will sit upon the mountain" = turn anchorite or
magician. (Pilgrimage i. 106).
Footnote 379:
Corresponding with wayside chapels in Catholic countries. The Moslem
form would be either a wall with a prayer-niche (Mihráb) fronting
Meccah-wards or a small domed room. These little oratories are often
found near fountains, streams or tree-clumps where travellers would be
likely to alight. I have described one in Sind ("Scinde or the Unhappy
Valley" i. 79); and have noted that scrawling on the walls is even
more common in the East than in the West; witness the monuments of old
Egypt bescribbled by the Greeks and Romans. Even the paws of the
Sphinx are covered with such _graffiti_; and those of Ipsambul or Abu
Simbal have proved treasures to epigraphists.
Footnote 380:
In tales this characterises a Persian; and Hero Rustam is always so
pictured.
Footnote 381:
The Parsis, who are the representatives of the old Guebres, turn
towards the sun and the fire as their Kiblah or point of prayer; all
deny that they worship it. But, as in the case of saints' images,
while the educated would pray before them for edification (Latria),
the ignorant would adore them (Dulia); and would make scanty
difference between the "reverence of a servant" and the "reverence of
a slave." The human sacrifice was quite contrary to Guebre, although
not to Hindu, custom; although hate and vengeance might prompt an
occasional murder.
Footnote 382:
These _oubliettes_ are common in old eastern houses as in the medieval
Castles of Europe, and many a stranger has met his death in them. They
are often so well concealed that even the modern inmates are not aware
of their existence.
Footnote 383:
Arab. "Bakk"; hence our "bug" whose derivation (like that of "cat"
"dog" and "hog") is apparently unknown to the dictionaries, always
excepting M. Littré's.
Footnote 384:
_i.e._ thy beauty is ever increasing.
Footnote 385:
Alluding, as usual, to the eyelashes, _e.g._
An eyelash arrow from an eyebrow bow.
Footnote 386:
Lane (ii. 168) reads:—"The niggardly female is protected by her
niggardness;" a change of "Nahílah" (bee-hive) into "Bakhílah" (she
skin-flint).
Footnote 387:
Koran iv. 38. The advantages are bodily strength, understanding and
the high privilege of Holy War. Thus far, and thus far only, woman
amongst Moslems is "lesser man."
Footnote 388:
Arab. "Amír Yákhúr," a corruption of "Akhor" = stable (Persian).
Footnote 389:
A servile name in Persian, meaning "the brave," and a title of honour
at the Court of Delhi when following the name. Many English officers
have made themselves ridiculous (myself amongst the number) by having
it engraved on their seal-rings, _e.g._ Brown Sáhib Bahádur. To write
the word "Behadir" or "Bahádir" is to adopt the wretched Turkish
corruption.
Footnote 390:
"Jerry Sneak" would be the English reader's comment; but in the East
all charges are laid upon women.
Footnote 391:
Here the formula means "I am sorry for it, but I couldn't help it."
Footnote 392:
A noble name of the Persian Kings (meaning the planet Mars) corrupted
in Europe to Varanes.
Footnote 393:
Arab. "Jalláb," one of the three muharramát or forbiddens; the Hárik
al-hajar (burner of stone), the Káti' al-shajar (cutter of trees,
without reference to Hawarden N. B.) and the Báyi' al-bashar (seller
of men, vulg. Jalláb). The two former worked, like the Italian
Carbonari, in desert places where they had especial opportunities for
crime. (Pilgrimage iii. 140). None of these things must be practised
during Pilgrimage on the holy soil of Al-Hijaz—not including Jeddah.
Footnote 394:
The verses contain the tenets of the Murjiy sect which attaches
infinite importance to faith and little or none to works. Sale (sect.
viii.) derives his "Morgians" from the "Jabrians" (Jabari), who are
the direct opponents of the "Kadarians" (Kadari), denying free will
and free agency to man and ascribing his actions wholly to Allah. Lane
(ii. 243) gives the orthodox answer to the heretical question:—
Water could wet him not if God please guard His own; ✿ Nor need man
care though bound of hands in sea he's thrown:
But if His Lord decree that he in sea be drowned; ✿ He'll drown albeit
in the wild and wold he wone.
It is the old quarrel between Predestination and Freewill which cannot
be solved except by assuming a Law without a Lawgiver.
Footnote 395:
Our proverb says: Give a man luck and throw him into the sea.
Footnote 396:
As a rule Easterns, I repeat, cover head and face when sleeping
especially in the open air and moonlight. Europeans find the practice
difficult, and can learn it only by long habit.
Footnote 397:
Pers. = a flower-garden. In Galland Bahram has two daughters, Bostama
and Cavama. In the Bres. Edit. the daughter is "Bostan" and the
slave-girl "Kawám."
Footnote 398:
Arab. "Kahíl" = eyes which look as if darkened with antimony: hence
the name of the noble Arab breed of horses "Kuhaylat" (Al-Ajuz, etc.).
Footnote 399:
"As'ad" = more (or most) fortunate.
Footnote 400:
This is the vulgar belief, although Mohammed expressly disclaimed the
power in the Koran (chapt. xiii. 8), "Thou art commissioned to be a
preacher only and not a worker of miracles." "Signs" (Arab. Ayát) may
here also mean verses of the Koran, which the Apostle of Allah held to
be his standing miracles. He despised the common miracula which in the
East are of everyday occurrence and are held to be easy for any holy
man. Hume does not believe in miracles because he never saw one. Had
he travelled in the East he would have seen (and heard of) so many
that his scepticism (more likely that testimony should be false than
miracles be true) would have been based on a firmer foundation. It is
one of the marvels of our age that whilst two-thirds of Christendom
(the Catholics and the "Orthodox" Greeks) believe in "miracles"
occurring not only in ancient but even in our present days, the
influential and intelligent third (Protestant) absolutely "denies the
fact."
Footnote 401:
Arab. "Al-Shahádatáni"; testifying the Unity and the Apostleship.
END OF VOL. III.
[Illustration: والسلام]
INDEX.
'Abd = servile, 44
Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan (Caliph), 319
Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr, 318
Abú Kurrat = father of coolness (Chameleon), 165
Abu 'l-Hasan (not Husn), 162
Abu 'l-Hosayn (father of the Fortlet) = fox, 132
Abú Sirhán = father of (going out to pray by) morning, 146
'Ad (pre-historic Arab tribe), 294
Adultery (son of, to one's own child), 219
Akh al-Jahálah = brother of ignorance, 162
Al (the article with Proper Names), 309
Alak = clotted blood, 26
Ali (murder of), 319
Alif (stature like), 236
Allah (give thee profit), 17
—— (unto, we are returning), 317
Allusions (far-fetched, fanciful and obscure), 58, 169, 176, 263
Alpinism (unknown), 324
Amor discende non ascende, 240
Amsa = he passed the evening, etc., 239
Amtár, pl. of Matr, _q.v._, 295
Andam = Brazil-wood, dragon's blood, 263
Angels (appearing to Sodomites), 301
Ape-names (expressing auspiciousness), 159
Arab (pathos), 55
—— (the noble merciful), 88
—— (shop), 163
Arák = (tooth-stick of the) wild caper-tree; Ará-ka = I see thee, 275
Ar'ar = Juniper-tree, "heath," 254
Ardhanárí = the half-woman, 306
Army (divided into six divisions), 290
As'ad = more (or most) fortunate, 346
Asáfírí = sparrow-olives, 295
Ass (goad), 116
—— (voice "most ungrateful"), 117
—— (the wild, "handy" with his hoof), 235
Ayát = signs, Koranic verses, 307
Ayshat al-durrah murrah = the sister-wife has a bitter life, 308
Awwá (name of Satan's wife), 229
Bábúnaj = white camomile, 58
Bachelor not admitted in Arab quarters, 191
Back-parts compared to revolving heavens, 18
Badawi (cannot swim), 69
—— (baser sort), 70
—— (shifting camp in spring), _ib._
—— (noble), 88
Baghdad = Garden of Justice, 100
Bahadur = the brave, 334
Bahram (varanes) = planet Mars, 339
Bakhshish naturalized as Anglo-Egyptian, 45
Bakk = bug, 328
Bulúr (Billaur) = crystal, etc., 194
Banát al-Na'ash = the Great Bear, 28, 221
Bands of bandits, 101
Banner (bound to a spear, sign of investiture), 307
Bárid (cold = silly, contemptible, foolish), 7
Báshik (small sparrow-hawk), 61
Bath (first after sickness), 266
Bází (Pers. Báz) = _F. peregrinator_, hawk, falcon, 138
Beard (long, and short wits), 247
—— (forked, characteristic of a Persian), 325
Beast-stories (oldest matter in The Nights), 114
Beauties of nature provoke hunger in Orientals, 32
Bhang (properties of the drug), 91
Bilád al-Súdán = Land of the blacks (our Soudan), 75
Bilál (benefits), name of Mohammed's Mu'ezzin, 106
Bint 'arús = daughter of the bridegroom (Ichneumon), 147
Birds denote the neighbourhood of a village, 280
Bismillah (Bi 'Smi 'lláh = in the name of God, etc.), 182
Blaze (_see_ Ghurrah), 118
Boasting of one's tribe (_see_ Renowning it), 80
Bostán (female Pr. N.) = flower-garden, 345
Braying of the ass, 117
Brothers of Purity, 150
—— of ignorance = Ignoramus, 163
Brotherhood (forms of making), 151
Bruising the testicles a feminine mode of murdering men, 3
Budúr (Badoura) = full moons, 228
Bukhti (two-humped camel), 67
Caliphs Tái li'llah, 51, 307
—— Walíd (Al-), 69
—— Mu'atasim bi 'llah, 81
—— Wásik (Al-), _ib._
—— Abd al-Malik bin Marwan, 319
—— Ali, _ib._
—— Mu'áwiyah, _ib._
Camels (breeds of), 67, 110
—— (names), 110
—— (haltered, nose-ring used for dromedaries), 120
—— (Mehari, Mahríyah), 277
Camphor (simile for a fair face), 174
Carat = Kirát, 239
Carnelion stone bitten with pearls = lips with teeth in sign of anger,
179
Cat (puss, etc.), 149
Cervantes and Arab Romance, 66
Chaff, 23
Chameleon (father of coolness), 165
Cheese a styptic, 3
Clapping hands to call servants, 173
Clogs = Kubkáb, 92
Coition (postures of), 93
Cold-of-countenance = a fool, 7
Cold speech = a silly or abusive tirade, _ib._
Comrades of the Cave, 128
Constipation (La) rend rigoureux, 242
Copulation (postures of), 93
Cowardice equally divided, 173
Criss 'cross Row, 236
Dalhamah (Romance of), 112
Dara' (dira) = habergeon, coat of ring-mail, etc., 109
Daughters of Sa'adah = zebras, 65
—— of the bier = Ursa major, 28, 221
Day of Doom (mutual retaliation), 128
—— (length of), 299
"Death in a crowd as good as a feast" (Persian proverb), 141
Divorce (triple), 292
Doors (usually shut with a wooden bolt), 198
Double entendre, 234
Dreams (true at later night), 258
Drinking at dawn, 20
—— their death agony = suffering similar pain, 315
Dromedary (_see_ Camel).
—— (guided by a nose-ring), 120
Dunyá (P. N.) = world, 7, 319
Durrah (vulg. for Zarrat _q.v._).
Easterns sleep with covered heads, 345
Eating together makes friends, 71
Egyptian (= archi-) polissonnerie, 243
Euphemy, 68, 102, 209, 267, 338
Evacuation (and Constipation), 242
Eve (the true seducer), 166
Eye (darkening from wine or passion), 224
—— (orbits slit up and down the face of a hideous Jinn), 235
Eye (man of the = pupil), 286
—— (white = blind), 323
Fables proper (oldest part of The Nights), 114
Fairer to-day than fair of yesterday = ever increasing in beauty, 331
Falak (clearing) = breaking forth of light from darkness, 22
Falcon (_see_ Hawk, Bází), 154
Falling on the back with laughter, 306
Farting for fear, 118
Fátin = tempter, seducer, 82
Firdausi, the Persian Homer, quoted, 83
Fire and sickness cannot cohabit (_see_ Kayy), 59
—— worshippers slandered, 326
First at the feast and last at the fray, 81
Fist (putting into fist = putting oneself at another's mercy), 155
Flying for delight, 26
Foot, smallness of, sign of "blood", 227
Formula of praise pronounced to avert the evil eye, 224
Fortune makes kneel her camel by some other one = encamps with a
favourite, 141
Foster-brother (dearer than kith and kin), 256
Fox, cunning man (_see_ Wolf), 132
Freeing slaves for the benefit of the souls of the departed, 211
Fulán (fulano in Span. and Port.) = a certain person, 191
Futúh = openings, victories, benefit, 304
Gamin (faire le), _ib._
Gates (two to port towns), 281
Geography in its bearings on Morality, 241
Geomantic process, 269
Gharám (Pr. N.) = eagerness, desire, love-longing, 172
Ghazá (Artemisia-shrub), 220
Ghost (phantom = Tayf), 252
Ghurrah = blaze on a horse's forehead, 118
Ghusl al-Sihhah = washing of health, 266
Give a man luck and throw him into the sea, 341
Goad (of the donkey-boy), 116
Gossamer (names for), 217
Grave (levelling slave and sovereign), 323
Hair-strings (of black silk), 311
—— (significance of), 313
Hájib = groom, chamberlain, 233
Hajín (tall camel), 67
Hámah (soul of a murdered man in form of a bird sprung from his head),
293
Hammam-bath a luxury as well as a necessity, 19
Hands behind the back (posture of submission), 218
—— stained in stripes like ring-rows of a chain-armour, 176
Hárút and Marút (sorcerer-angels), 217
Harwalah = pas gymnastique, 121
Hashsháshín = assassins, 91
Hashish, _see_ Bhang, _ib._
—— orgie in London, _ib._
Hawar = intensity of black and white in the eyes, 233
Háwí = juggler playing tricks with snakes, 145
Hawk, _see_ Báshik, Bazi, 61, 138
Hayát al-Nufús = Life of Souls, 283
Házir and Bádi = townsman and nomad, 234
Head (must always be kept covered), 275
Headsman delaying execution, 42
Hemistichs divided, 166
Hermaphrodites (Khunsa), 306
Heroine of Eastern Romance eats well, 168
Hijl = partridge, 138
"Him" for "her", 78
Hinges (of ancient doors), 41
Hips, leanness of, "anti-pathetic" to Easterns, 226
Hoof (of the wild ass), 235
Horripilation = gooseflesh, 2
Horse (names of the), 72
—— stealing honourable, 73
Host (enters first as safe-guard against guet-apens), 208
Houris, 233
Hudhud = hoopoe, 128
Húr, _see_ Houris, 233
Hurr = free, noble, independent opp. to 'Abd = servile, 44
Iblis = the Despairer, 223
Ibn Abdun al-Andalúsi (poet), 319
Ibn Muljam (murderer of the Caliph Ali), 319
Ibn Síná = Avicenna, 34
Ichneumon (mongoose), 147
Iddat = months of a woman's enforced celibacy after divorce, 292
Ikhlás (Al-) = chapter of unity, 307
Ikhwán al-Safá = Brethren of Purity, 150
Ilàh al-Arsh = the God of the Empyrean, 106
Ill is thy abiding place, 137
Insane (treatment of the), 256
Iron padlock (instead of the usual wooden bolt), 198
Irony, 291
Isengrin (wolf), 146
Ismid = stibium (eye-powder), 307
Jalláb = slave-dealer, 340
Jamal (Gamal) = camel, _q.v._, 110
Jamíz (Jammayz) = sycamore-fig, 302
Jannat al-Na'ím = Garden of Delight, 19
Jeweller (in Eastern tales generally a rascal), 186
Jihád = fighting for the faith, 39
Jinnis (names of), 225
Joining prayers, 174
Kahlil = whose eyes are kohl'd by nature, 346
Kahlá = nature-kohl'd, 232
Káma-Shástra (Ars Amoris Indica), 93
Kamar al-Zamán (Camaralzaman = Moon of the Age), 213
Kamaráni = the two moons for sun and moon, 300
Kámat Alfiyyah = a shape like the letter Alif, 236
Kanát = subterranean water-course, 141
Kánún (dulcimer, "zither"), 211
Kapoteshwara and Kapoteshí, 126
Kasídah = Ode, elegy, 262
Katúl (Al-) = the slayer, 72
Kausaj = man with a thin, short beard, cunning, tricksy, 246
Kaysún = yellow camomile, 58
Kayy (Al-) = cautery, the end of medicine-cure, 59
Kerchief of Dismissal, 295
Khálidán (for Khálidát) = the Canaries, 212
Khán (caravanserai) and its magazines, 14
Khanjar = dagger, hanger (poisoned), 90
Khassat-hu = she gelded him, 47
Khauf (Al-) maksúm = fear (cowardice) is equally apportioned, 173
Khayt hamayán = threads of vanity (gossamer), 217
Khaznah = treasury of money (£5,000), 278
Khizáb (dye used by women), 105
Khunsa = flexible, flaccid (hermaphrodite), 306
Kiblah = fronting-place of prayer
Kissing (like a pigeon feeding its young), 275
Kinchin lay (Arab form of), 102
Kirát (weight = 2-3 grains; length = one finger-breadth), 239
Kohl (applying of = takhíl), 57
—— -eyed = Kahlá, f., 232
Koka Pandit (Hindu ars Amandi), 93
Koran quoted (x. 10-12; lvi. 24-26; lxxxviii. 17-20), 19
—— (xii. 31), 21
—— (cxiii. 1), 22
—— (ii. 186; lx. 1), 39
—— (lxxvi.), 57
—— (ii. 23), 65
—— (xxxi. 18; lxvii. 7), 117
—— (ii. 191), 123
—— (xviii.; xxii. 20; lxxxvii.), 128
—— (ii. 96, 256), 217
—— (ii.; iii.; xxxvi.; lv.; lxvii.; cxiii.; cxiv.), 222
—— (ii. 32; xviii. 48), 223
—— (xxiii. 20; xcv. 1), 276
—— (xxvi.), 294
—— (xi.), 301
—— (xxiii. 38), 302
—— (ii.; li. 9; xxxv. 11), 304
—— (cxii.), 307
—— (xxiv. 39), 319
—— (xxi.), 323
—— (iv. 38), 332
Kubkáb = bath clogs, 92
Kuhailat (breed of Arab horses), 346
Kun = be, the creative word, 317
Kurds (Xenophon's and Strabo's Carduchi), 100
Lájuward, _see_ Lázuward, 33
Lámiyat = poem rhyming in _L_, 143
Layáli = nights, future, fate, 318
Layla (female Pr. N.), 135
—— (wa Majnún, love poem), 183
Lázuward = lapis lazuli, azure, 33
Letters and letter-writing, 24
Libdah (skull-cap of felt) sign of a religious mendicant, 62
Lisám = mouth-veil, 283
Liver (for heart), 240
Lizzat al-Nisá (erotic poem), 93
Love (pure, becomes prophetical), 6
—— (the ear conceiveth it before the eye), 9
—— (ten stages of), 36
—— (martyrs of), 211
—— (platonic, _see_ vol. ii. 104), 232
—— (ousting affection), 240
Lovers in Lazá (hell) as well as Na'ím (heaven), 58
—— (parting of, a stock-topic in poetry), 58
Lukmán (two of the name), 264
Ma'an bin Zá'idah, 236
Mahríyah (Mehari) = blood-dromedary, 277
Majlis = sitting (to a woman), 92
Majnún (Al-) = the mad, 72
Málik (door-keeper of Hell), 20
Malik (king) taken as title, 51
Man (extract of despicable water), 16
—— (is fire, woman tinder), 59
—— (shown to disadvantage in beast-stories), 115
—— (his destiny written on his skull), 123
—— (pre-eminence above women), 332
Maniyat = death; muniyat = desire, 291
Marba' = summer quarters, 79
Marján = Coral-branch (slave-name), 169
Marriage (if consummated demands Ghusl), 286
Married men profit nothing, 2
Martyrs of love, 211
Márwazi = of Marw (Margiana), 222
Marz-bán = Warden of the Marches, Margrave, 256
Má sháa 'llah (as Allah willeth) = well done!, 92
Matr = large vessel of leather or wood, 295
Maurid = desert-well and road to such, 33
Mercy (quality of the noble Arab), 88
Minaret (simile for a fair young girl), 69
Miracles (disclaimed by Mohammed but generally believed in), 346
Mirage = Saráb, 319
Mohammed ("born with Kohl'd eyes"), 232
Moon masc., Sun fem., 28
Moore (Thomas, anticipated), 305
Morality (geographical and chronological), 241
—— (want of, excused by passion), 269
Morning-draught, 20
Mountain, coming from the = being a clod-hopper, 324
—— sit upon the = turn anchorite, _ib._
Mourning, perfumes not used during, 63
Mu'atasim (Al-) bi'llah (Caliph), 81
Mu'áwiyah (his Moses-like "mildness"), 286
Muharramát (the three forbidden things), 340
Mujáhid (Al-) = fighter in Holy War, 51
Mujáhidún = who wage war against infidels, 39
Mukhammas = cinquains, 280
Mulberry-fig (for anus), 302
Murjiy (sect and tenets), 341
Náfilah = supererogatory Koran-recitation, 222
Na'ím (name for Heaven), 19
Naml (ant) simile for a young beard, 58
Názir = eye or steward, 233
Night (and day, not day and night with the Arabs), 121
—— cap, 222
—— "this" = our "last", 249
—— for day, 318
Nizámi (Persian Poet), 183
Nuptial sheet (inspection of the), 289
Núr al-Hudá (Pr. N. = Light of Guidance), 17
O Camphor (antiphrase = O snowball), 40
Oftentimes the ear loveth before the eye, 9
Oldest matter in The Nights the beast-stories, 114
Oubliettes (in old Eastern houses), 327
Out of sight of my friend is better and pleasanter, 315
Paradise of Mohammed not wholly sensual, 19
Parody of the Testification, 215
Partridge = Hijl, 138
Pathos (touch of), 55
Patience (cutting the cords of), 178
Payne quoted, 130, 172, 193, 252, 275
Penis (as to anus and cunnus), 303
Perfumes not used during mourning, 63
—— (natural), 231
Pigeon (language, etc.), 126
—— (blood of the young), 289
Pilgrimage quoted (ii. 22), 7
—— (iii. 77), 65
—— (iii. 14), 67
—— (i. 216), 81
—— (i. 64), 91
—— (iii. 185), 107
—— (iii. 270), 118
—— (iii. 208), 121
—— (iii. 218), 126
—— (i. 52), 151
—— (iii. 307), 159
—— (i. 99), 163
—— (iii. 239), 174
—— (iii. 22), 220
—— (ii. 282), 241
—— (iii. 144), 252
—— (ii. 213, 321), 304
—— (iii. 192-194), 319
—— (i. 106), 324
Plates as armature, 216
Plural of Majesty, 16
Poke (counterfeit), 302
Polissonnerie (characteristic), 243
Polygamy and Polyandry in relation to climate, 241
Postillon (Le), 304
Postures of coition, 93
Prayer (rules for joining in), 174
—— (two-bow), 213
—— niche = wayside chapel, 324
Precedent (merit appertains to), 264
Preposterous venery, 304
Preventives (the two), 222
Prima Venus debet esse cruenta, 289
Purity of love attains a prophetic strain, 6
Questions (indiscreet, the rule throughout Arabia), 105
Ra'áyá (pl. of Ra'íyat) = Ryot, 215
Rabite classical term for a noble Arab horse, 72
Rahíl (small dromedary), 67
Raising the tail sign of excitement in the Arab blood-horse, 84
Rasy = praising in a funeral sermon, 291
Ritánah = a jargon, 200
Raushan = window, 171
Raushaná (splendour) = Roxana, _ib._
Ready to fly for delight, 26
"Renowning it" (boasting of one's tribe), 80, 108
Return unto Allah, 317
Rihl = wooden saddle, 117
Rind (rand) = willow, bay, aloes, wood, 172
Rizwán (approbation) = key-keeper of Paradise, 15, 20
Rosary, 123
Royalty in the guise of merchants, 12
Rubber, _see_ Shampooer, 17
Ruhbah (townlet on the frontier of Syria), 52
Ryot = liege, subject; Fellah, peasant, 215
Sa'adah (female Pr. N.), 65
Sa'alabah (name of a tribe), 107
Sa'alab = fox, 132
Sabb = low abuse, 311
Sabbáh bin Rammáh bin Humám = the Comely, son of the Spearman, son of
the Lion, 67
Sadr = returning from the water (see Wárid), 56
Sady = Hámah, _q.v._, 293
Sáhirah = place for the gathering of souls on Doom-day, 323
Sáibah = she-camel freed from labour, 78
Salb = crucifying, 25
Salsabíl (fountains of Paradise), 57
Saráb = mirage, 319
Sawwán = Syenite, 324
Seal and Sealing-wax, 189
Seduction (the truth about it), 166
Serpent does not sting or bite, but strike, 160
Seven Sleepers, 128
Shahádatáni (Al-) = the two Testimonies, 346
Shahriman not Shah Zemán, 7, 212
Sháib al-Ingház = gray beard, shaking with disapproval, 307
Shakespearean "topothesia" out-Shakespeared, 212
Shakhs = a person, a black spot, 26
Shampooer (rubber) = Mukayyis or bagman, 17
Shanak = hanging, 25
Shanfara (poet), 143
Shaykhs (five, doubtful allusion), 30
Shaytán (Satan) term of abuse, 25
—— (his wife and nine sons), 229
Shop (Arab, a "but" and a "ben"), 163
Shovel-iron stirrup = spur, 119
Signs (of a Shaykh's tent), 104
—— (lucky in a horse), 118
Sinnaur = cat; prince, 149
Siwák = tooth-stick; Siwá-ka = other than thou, 275
Slaves (O Camphor), 40
—— (set free for the benefit of the dead), 211
—— (dealer in = Jalláb), 349
Sleeping (with covered head and face), 345
Sleepers (the Seven of Ephesus), 128
Solomon (his carpet), 267
Sodomites (angels appear to), 301, 304
Sodomy with women, _ib._
Son of Persian Kings (not Prince but descendant), 163
Spindle (thinner than a), 260
St. George (posture), 304
Stages (ten, of love-sickness), 36
"Stone-bow" not "Cross-bow", 116
Subhán a'llah pronounced to keep off the evil eye, 224
Súdán = our Soudan, 75
Súf (wool), Súfi (Gnostic), 140
Suhá (Sohá) star in the Ursa Major, 28
Sulaymá, dim. of Salmá = any beautiful woman, 263
Superiority of man above woman, 332
Sutures of the skull, 123
Sycomore fig (for anus), 302
Tághút (idol), 217
Tá'í (Al-) li 'llah (Caliph), 51, 307
Takhíl = adorning with Kohl, 57
Talák bi'l-Salásah = triple divorce, 292
Tamar al-Hindi (Tamarind) = the Indian date, 297
Tasbíh = saying Subhán Allah; Rosary, 125
Tayf = ghost, phantom, 252
Tayrab (Al-) a city, 259
Tears (pouring blood like red wine), 169
Ten stages of love-sickness, 36
Tent (signs of a Shaykh's), 104
Testicles (beating and bruising of, female mode of killing a man), 3
Thamúd (pre-historic Arab tribe), 294
Thorn of lance = eyelash, 331
Tín = fig, simile for a woman's parts, 302
Tiryák = theriack, treacle (antidote), 65
Torrens quoted, 218, 235, 249, 289
Tossing upon coals of fire, 61
Tughrái (Al-), poet, 143
Turk (provoked to hunger by beauties of nature), 32
—— (appears under the Abbasides), 81
Ubi aves ibi angeli, 280
Ukhuwán = camomile, 58
Urine (pollutes), 229
Urining (wiping after), _ib._
Ushári = camel travelling ten days, 67
Wa ba'ad (see Ammá ba'ad, vol. ii. 37) = and afterwards, 181
Waddle of "Arab ladies", 37
Wády = valley; slayer, 234
Waist (slender, hips large), 278
Walahán (Lakab of a poet = The distracted), 226
Walgh = lapping of a dog, 319
Walíd (Al-) Caliph, 69
Wálidati = my mother, speaking to one not of the family, 208
Wárid = resorting to the water, 56
Wasíf = servant; fem. wasífah = concubine, 171
Wásik (Al-), Caliph, 81
Waters flowing in Heaven, 65
Wayl-ak = Woe to thee, 82
Week-days (only two names for), 249
Weeping (not for form and face alone), 318
Wives (why four, _see_ Women), 212
—— (a man's tillage), 304
What happened, happened = fortune so willed it, 68
Wine (a sun with cup-bearer for East and the drinker's mouth for West),
263
Wolf (wicked man); fox (cunning man), 132
Women (peculiar waddle), 37
—— (proposing extreme measures), 39
—— (are tinder, men fire), 59
—— (monkish horror of), 126
—— (Layla, name of), 135
—— (true seducers), 166
—— (Wálidati = my mother), 208
—— (four wives, and why), 212
—— (compared to an inn), 216
—— (large hips and thighs), 226
—— (small fine foot), 227
—— (names of), 239, 263
—— (more passionate than men), 241
—— (head must always be kept covered), 275
—— (slender-waisted but full of hips, etc.), 278
—— (Sodomy with), 304
—— (all charges laid upon them), 335
Words (divided in a couplet), 166
Writing without fingers = being unable to answer for what is written,
181
Yá Abú Libdah = O father of a felt calotte, 62
Yá Abú Sumrah = O father of brownness, 40
Yá fulán = O certain person, 191
Yá Sátir, Yá Sattár = O veiler (of sins), 41
Yá Taljí = O snowy one, 40
Yaum al-tanádí = Resurrection Day, 74
Zabbál = dung-drawer, etc., 51
Zakar (penis) = that which betokens masculinity, 3
Zamiyád = guardian angel of Bihisht, _see_ Rizwán, 20, 233
Zanab Sirhán (wolf's tail) = early dawn, 146
Zarrat (vulg. Durrah) = co-wife, sister-wife, 308
Zebra (daughter of Sa'adah), 65
Zibl = dung, 51
Zibl Khán = Le Roi Crotte, 99
[Illustration]
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES
1. Inserted missing chapter heading on p. 1.
2. Inserted missing footnote anchor on p. 216.
3. Silently corrected simple spelling, grammar, and typographical
errors.
4. Retained anachronistic and non-standard spellings as printed.
5. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.
6. 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 (3 of 17)" ***
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