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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Book Of The Thousand Nights And One
+Night, Volume I, by Anonymous
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
+other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
+the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
+www.gutenberg.org.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
+to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
+
+Title: The Book Of The Thousand Nights And One Night, Volume I
+
+Author: Anonymous
+
+Translator: John Payne
+
+Posting Date: February 26, 2015 [EBook #8655]
+Release Date: August, 2005
+First Posted: July 30, 2003
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 1001 NIGHTS, VOL I ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by JC Byers, Janelle Maiu, Coralee Sheehan, and Cameron Fruit
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+         THE BOOK OF THE THOUSAND NIGHTS AND ONE NIGHT:
+
+             Now First Completely Done Into English
+           Prose and Verse, From The Original Arabic,
+
+                         By John Payne
+(Author of "The Masque of Shadows," "Intaglios: Sonnets," "Songs
+                      of Life and Death,"
+ "Lautrec," "The Poems of Master Francis Villon of Paris," "New
+                      Poems," Etc, Etc.).
+
+                        In Nine Volumes:
+
+
+
+                       VOLUME THE FIRST.
+
+
+
+                             London
+                  Printed For Subscribers Only
+
+                              1901
+
+                         Delhi Edition
+
+
+                 Contents of The First Volume.
+
+Introduction.  Story of King Shehriyar and his Brother
+     a.   Story of the Ox and the Ass
+1.   The Merchant and the Genie
+     a.   The First Old Man's Story
+     b.   The Second Old Man's Story
+     c.   The Third Old Man's Story
+2.   The Fisherman and the Genie
+     a.   Story of The Physician Douban
+          ab.  Story of King Sindbad and his Falcon
+          ac.  Story of The King's Son and the Ogress
+     b.   Story of the Enchanted Youth
+3.   The Porter and the Three Ladies of Baghdad
+     a.   The First Calender's Story
+     b.   The Second Calender's Story
+          ba.  Story of the Envier and the Envied
+     c.   The Third Calender's Story
+     d.   The Eldest Lady's Story
+     e.   The Story of the Portress
+4.   The Three Apples
+5.   Noureddin Ali of Cairo and His Son Bedreddin Hassan
+6.   Story of the Hunchback
+     a.   The Christian Broker's Story
+     b.   The Controller's Story
+     c.   The Jewish Physician's Story
+     d.   The Tailor's Story
+     e.   The Barber's Story
+          ea.  Story of the Barber's First Brother
+          eb.  Story of the Barber's Second Brother
+          ec.  Story of the Barber's Third Brother
+          ed.  Story of the Barber's Fourth Brother
+          ee.  Story of the Barber's Fifth Brother
+          ef.  Story of the Barber's Sixth Brother
+7.   Noureddin Ali and the Damsel Enis El Jelis
+8.   Ghanim Ben Eyoub the Slave of Love
+     a.   Story of the Eunuch Bekhit
+     b.   Story of the Eunich Kafour
+
+
+
+
+                        PREFATORY NOTE.
+
+
+
+The present is, I believe, the first complete translation of the
+great Arabic compendium of romantic fiction that has been
+attempted in any European language comprising about four times as
+much matter as that of Galland and three times as much as that of
+any other translator known to myself; and a short statement of
+the sources from which it is derived may therefore be acceptable
+to my readers. Three printed editions, more or less complete,
+exist of the Arabic text of the Thousand and One Nights; namely,
+those of Breslau, Boulac (Cairo) and Calcutta (1839), besides an
+incomplete one, comprising the first two hundred nights only,
+published at Calcutta in 1814. Of these, the first is horribly
+corrupt and greatly inferior, both in style and completeness, to
+the others, and the second (that of Boulac) is also, though in a
+far less degree, incomplete, whole stories (as, for instance,
+that of the Envier and the Envied in the present volume) being
+omitted and hiatuses, varying in extent from a few lines to
+several pages, being of frequent occurrence, whilst in addition
+to these defects, the editor, a learned Egyptian, has played
+havoc with the style of his original, in an ill-judged attempt to
+improve it, producing a medley, more curious than edifying, of
+classical and semi-modern diction and now and then, in his
+unlucky zeal, completely disguising the pristine meaning of
+certain passages. The third edition, that which we owe to Sir
+William Macnaghten and which appears to have been printed from a
+superior copy of the manuscript followed by the Egyptian editor,
+is by far the most carefully printed and edited of the three and
+offers, on the whole, the least corrupt and most comprehensive
+text of the work. I have therefore adopted it as my standard or
+basis of translation and have, to the best of my power, remedied
+the defects (such as hiatuses, misprints, doubtful or corrupt
+passages, etc.) which are of no infrequent occurrence even in
+this, the best of the existing texts, by carefully collating it
+with the editions of Boulac and Breslau (to say nothing of
+occasional references to the earlier Calcutta edition of the
+first two hundred nights), adopting from one and the other such
+variants, additions and corrections as seemed to me best
+calculated to improve the general effect and most homogeneous
+with the general spirit of the work, and this so freely that the
+present version may be said, in great part, to represent a
+variorum text of the original, formed by a collation of the
+different printed texts; and no proper estimate can, therefore,
+be made of the fidelity of the translation, except by those who
+are intimately acquainted with the whole of these latter. Even
+with the help of the new lights gained by the laborious process
+of collation and comparison above mentioned, the exact sense of
+many passages must still remain doubtful, so corrupt are the
+extant texts and so incomplete our knowledge, as incorporated in
+dictionaries, etc, of the peculiar dialect, half classical and
+half modern, in which the original work is written.
+
+One special feature of the present version is the appearance,
+for the first time, in English metrical shape, preserving the
+external form and rhyme movement of the originals, of the
+whole of the poetry with which the Arabic text is so freely
+interspersed. This great body of verse, equivalent to at least
+ten thousand twelve-syllable English lines, is of the most
+unequal quality, varying from poetry worthy of the name to the
+merest doggrel, and as I have, in pursuance of my original scheme,
+elected to translate everything, good and bad (with a very few
+exceptions in cases of manifest mistake or misapplication), I can
+only hope that my readers will, in judging of my success, take
+into consideration the enormous difficulties with which I have
+had to contend and look with indulgence upon my efforts to render,
+under unusually irksome conditions, the energy and beauty of the
+original, where these qualities exist, and in their absence, to
+keep my version from degenerating into absolute doggrel.
+
+The present translation being intended as a purely literary
+work produced with the sole object of supplying the general
+body of cultivated readers with a fairly representative and
+characteristic version of the most famous work of narrative
+fiction in existence, I have deemed it advisable to depart, in
+several particulars, from the various systems of transliteration
+of Oriental proper names followed by modern scholars, as,
+although doubtless admirably adapted to works having a scientific
+or non-literary object, they rest mainly upon devices (such as
+the use of apostrophes, accents, diacritical points and the
+employment of both vowels and consonants in unusual groups and
+senses) foreign to the genius of the English language and
+calculated only to annoy the reader of a work of imagination. Of
+these points of departure from established usage I need only
+particularize some of the more important; the others will, in
+general, be found to speak for themselves. One of the most salient
+is the case of the short vowel fet-heh, which is usually written
+[a breve], but which I have thought it better to render, as a
+rule, by [e breve], as in "bed" (a sound practically equivalent
+to that of a, as in "beggar," adopted by the late Mr. Lane to
+represent this vowel), reserving the English a, as in "father,"
+to represent the alif of prolongation or long Arabic a, since I
+should else have no means of differentiating the latter from the
+former, save by the use of accents or other clumsy expedients, at
+once, to my mind, foreign to the purpose and vexatious to the
+reader of a work of pure literature. In like manner, I have
+eschewed the use of the letter q, as an equivalent for the dotted
+or guttural kaf (choosing to run the risk of occasionally
+misleading the reader as to the original Arabic form of a word
+by leaving him in ignorance whether the k used is the dotted
+or undotted one,--a point of no importance whatever to the
+non-scientific public,--rather than employ an English letter in a
+manner completely unwarranted by the construction of our
+language, in which q has no power as a terminal or as moved by
+any vowel other than u, followed by one of the four others) and
+have supplied its place, where the dotted kaf occurs as a
+terminal or as preceding a hard vowel, by the hard c, leaving k
+to represent it (in common with the undotted kaf generally) in
+those instances where it is followed by a soft vowel. For
+similar reasons, I have not attempted to render the Arabic
+quasi-consonant aïn, save by the English vowel corresponding to
+that by which it is moved, preferring to leave the guttural
+element of its sound (for which we have no approach to an
+equivalent in English) unrepresented, rather than resort to the
+barbarous and meaningless device of the apostrophe. Again, the
+principle, in accordance with which I have rendered the proper
+names of the original, is briefly (and subject to certain
+variations on the ground of convenience and literary fitness) to
+preserve unaltered such names as Tigris, Bassora, Cairo, Aleppo,
+Damascus, etc., which are familiar to us otherwise than by the
+Arabian Nights and to alter which, for the sake of mere
+literality, were as gratuitous a piece of pedantry as to insist
+upon writing Copenhagen Kjobenhavn, or Canton Kouang-tong, and to
+transliterate the rest as nearly as may consist with a due regard
+to artistic considerations. The use of untranslated Arabic words,
+other than proper names, I have, as far as possible, avoided,
+rendering them, with very few exceptions, by the best English
+equivalents in my power, careful rather to give the general
+sense, where capable of being conveyed by reasonable substitution
+of idiom or otherwise, than to retain the strict letter at the
+expense of the spirit; nor, on the other hand, have I thought it
+necessary to alter the traditional manner of spelling certain
+words which have become incorporated with our language, where
+(as in the case of the words genie, houri, roe, khalif, vizier,
+cadi, Bedouin, etc. etc.) the English equivalent is fairly
+representative of the original Arabic.
+
+I have to return my cordial thanks to Captain Richard F. Burton,
+the well-known traveller and author, who has most kindly
+undertaken to give me the benefit of his great practical
+knowledge of the language and customs of the Arabs in revising
+the manuscript of my translation for the press.
+
+
+
+
+                THE BOOK OF THE THOUSAND NIGHTS
+                         AND ONE NIGHT
+
+
+
+In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful! Praise be to
+God, the Lord of the two worlds,[FN#1] and blessing and peace
+upon the Prince of the Prophets, our lord and master Mohammed,
+whom God bless and preserve with abiding and continuing peace and
+blessing until the Day of the Faith! Of a verity, the doings of
+the ancients become a lesson to those that follow after, so that
+men look upon the admonitory events that have happened to others
+and take warning, and come to the knowledge of what befell bygone
+peoples and are restrained thereby. So glory be to Him who hath
+appointed the things that have been done aforetime for an example
+to those that come after! And of these admonitory instances are
+the histories called the Thousand Nights and One Night, with all
+their store of illustrious fables and relations.
+
+
+It is recorded in the chronicles of the things that have been
+done of time past that there lived once, in the olden days and in
+bygone ages and times, a king of the kings of the sons of Sasan,
+who reigned over the Islands[FN#2] of India and China and was
+lord of armies and guards and servants and retainers. He had two
+sons, an elder and a younger, who were both valiant cavaliers,
+but the elder was a stouter horseman than the younger. When their
+father died, he left his empire to his elder son, whose name was
+Shehriyar, and he took the government and ruled his subjects
+justly, so that the people of the country and of the empire loved
+him well, whilst his brother Shahzeman became King of Samarcand
+of Tartary. The two kings abode each in his own dominions, ruling
+justly over their subjects and enjoying the utmost prosperity and
+happiness, for the space of twenty years, at the end of which
+time the elder king yearned after his brother and commanded his
+Vizier to repair to the latter's court and bring him to his own
+capital. The Vizier replied, "I hear and obey," and set out at
+once and journeyed till he reached King Shahzeman's court in
+safety, when he saluted him for his brother and informed him that
+the latter yearned after him and desired that he would pay him a
+visit, to which King Shahzeman consented gladly and made ready
+for the journey and appointed his Vizier to rule the country in
+his stead during his absence. Then he caused his tents and camels
+and mules to be brought forth and encamped, with his guards and
+attendants, without the city, in readiness to set out next
+morning for his brother's kingdom. In the middle of the night,
+it chanced that he bethought him of somewhat he had forgotten
+in his palace; so he returned thither privily and entered his
+apartments, where he found his wife asleep in his own bed, in the
+arms of one of his black slaves. When he saw this, the world grew
+black in his sight, and he said to himself, "If this is what
+happens whilst I am yet under the city walls, what will be
+the condition of this accursed woman during my absence at my
+brother's court?" Then he drew his sword and smote the twain and
+slew them and left them in the bed and returned presently to his
+camp, without telling any one what had happened. Then he gave
+orders for immediate departure and set out a'once and travelled
+till he drew near his brother's capital when he despatched
+vaunt-couriers to announce his approach. His brother came forth
+to meet him and saluted him and rejoiced exceedingly and caused
+the city to be decorated in his honour. Then he sat down with him
+to converse and make merry; but King Shahzeman could not forget
+the perfidy of his wife and grief grew on him more and more and
+his colour changed and his body became weak. Shehriyar saw his
+condition, but attributed it to his separation from his country
+and his kingdom, so let him alone and asked no questions of him,
+till one day he said to him, "O my brother, I see that thou art
+grown weak of body and hast lost thy colour." And Shahzeman
+answered, "O my brother, I have an internal wound," but did not
+tell him about his wife. Said Shehriyar, "I wish thou wouldst
+ride forth with me a-hunting; maybe it would lighten thy heart."
+But Shahzeman refused; so his brother went out to hunt without
+him. Now there were in King Shahzeman's apartments lattice-windows
+overlooking his brother's garden, and as the former
+was sitting looking on the garden, behold a gate of the
+palace opened, and out came twenty damsels and twenty black
+slaves, and among them his brother's wife, who was wonderfully
+fair and beautiful. They all came up to a fountain, where the
+girls and slaves took off their clothes and sat down together.
+Then the queen called out, "O Mesoud!" And there came to her a
+black slave, who embraced her and she him. Then he lay with her,
+and on likewise did the other slaves with the girls. And they
+ceased not from kissing and clipping and cricketing and carousing
+until the day began to wane. When the King of Tartary saw this,
+he said to himself, "By Allah, my mischance was lighter than
+this!" And his grief and chagrin relaxed from him and he said,
+"This is more grievous than what happened to me!" So he put away
+his melancholy and ate and drank. Presently, his brother came
+back from hunting and they saluted each other: and Shehriyar
+looked at Shahzeman and saw that his colour had returned and his
+face was rosy and he ate heartily, whereas before he ate but
+little. So he said to him, "O my brother, when I last saw thee,
+thou wast pale and wan, and now I see that the colour has
+returned to thy face. Tell me how it is with thee." Quoth
+Shahzeman, "I will tell thee what caused my loss of colour, but
+excuse me from acquainting thee with the cause of its return to
+me." Said Shehriyar, "Let me hear first what was the cause of thy
+pallor and weakness." "Know then, O my brother," rejoined
+Shahzeman, "that when thou sentest thy vizier to bid me to thee,
+I made ready for the journey and had actually quitted my capital
+city, when I remembered that I had left behind me a certain
+jewel, that which I gave thee. So I returned to my palace, where
+I found my wife asleep in my bed, in the arms of a black slave. I
+slew them both and came to thee; and it was for brooding over
+this affair, that I lost my colour and became weak. But forgive
+me if I tell thee not the cause of my restoration to health."
+When his brother heard this, he said to him, "I conjure thee by
+Allah, tell me the reason of thy recovery!" So he told him all
+that he had seen, and Shehriyar said, "I must see this with my
+own eyes." "Then," replied Shahzeman, "feign to go forth to hunt
+and hide thyself in my lodging and thou shalt see all this and
+have ocular proof of the truth." So Shehriyar ordered his
+attendants to prepare to set out at once; whereupon the troops
+encamped without the city and he himself went forth with them and
+sat in his pavilion, bidding his servants admit no one. Then he
+disguised himself and returned secretly to King Shahzeman's
+palace and sat with him at the lattice overlooking the garden,
+until the damsels and their mistress came out with the slaves and
+did as his brother had reported, till the call to afternoon
+prayer. When King Shehriyar saw this, he was as one distraught
+and said to his brother, "Arise, let us depart hence, for we have
+no concern with kingship, and wander till we find one to whom the
+like has happened as to us, else our death were better than
+our life." Then they went out by a postern of the palace and
+journeyed days and nights till they came to a tree standing in
+the midst of a meadow, by a spring of water, on the shore of the
+salt sea, and they drank of the stream and sat down by it to
+rest. When the day was somewhat spent, behold, the sea became
+troubled and there rose from it a black column that ascended to
+the sky and made towards the meadow. When the princes saw this,
+they were afraid and climbed up to the top of the tree, which was
+a high one, that they might see what was the matter; and behold,
+it was a genie of lofty stature, broad-browed and wide-cheated,
+bearing on his head a coffer of glass with seven locks of steel.
+He landed and sat down under the tree, where he set down the
+coffer, and opening it, took out a smaller one. This also he
+opened, and there came forth a damsel slender of form and
+dazzlingly beautiful, as she were a shining sun, as says the poet
+Uteyeh:
+
+She shines out in the dusk, and lo! the day is here, And all the
+     trees flower forth with blossoms bright and clear,
+The sun from out her brows arises, and the moon, When she unveils
+     her face, cloth hide for shame and fear.
+All living things prostrate themselves before her feet, When she
+     unshrouds and all her hidden charms appear;
+And when she flashes forth the lightnings of her glance, She
+     maketh eyes to rain, like showers, with many a tear.
+
+When the genie saw her, he said to her, "O queen of noble ladies,
+thou whom indeed I stole away on thy wedding night, I have a mind
+to sleep awhile." And he laid his head on her knees and fell
+asleep. Presently the lady raised her eyes to the tree and saw
+the two kings among the branches; so she lifted the genie's head
+from her lap and laid it on the ground, then rose and stood
+beneath the tree and signed to them to descend, without heeding
+the Afrit.[FN#3] They answered her, in the same manner, "God on
+thee [FN#4] excuse us from this." But she rejoined by signs, as
+who should say, "If you do not come down, I will wake the Afrit
+on you, and he will kill you without mercy." So they were afraid
+and came down to her, whereupon she came up to them and offered
+them her favours, saying, "To it, both of you, and lustily; or I
+will set the Afrit on you." So for fear of him, King Shehriyar
+said to his brother Shahzeman, "O brother, do as she bids thee."
+But he replied, "Not I; do thou have at her first." And they made
+signs to each other to pass first, till she said, "Why do I see
+you make signs to each other? An you come not forward and fall
+to, I will rouse the Afrit on you." So for fear of the genie,
+they lay with her one after the other, and when they had done,
+she bade them arise, and took out of her bosom a purse containing
+a necklace made of five hundred and seventy rings, and said to
+them, "Know ye what these are?" They answered, "No." And she
+said, "Every one of the owners of these rings has had to do with
+me in despite of this Afrit. And now give me your rings, both of
+you." So each of them took off a ring and gave it to her. And she
+said to them, "Know that this genie carried me off on my wedding
+night and laid me in a box and shut the box up in a glass chest,
+on which he clapped seven strong locks and sank it to the bottom
+of the roaring stormy sea, knowing not that nothing can hinder a
+woman, when she desires aught, even as says one of the poets:
+
+I rede thee put no Faith in womankind, Nor trust the oaths they
+     lavish all in vain:
+For on the satisfaction of their lusts Depend alike their love
+     and their disdain.
+They proffer lying love, but perfidy Is all indeed their garments
+     do contain.
+Take warning, then, by Joseph's history, And how a woman sought
+     to do him bane;
+And eke thy father Adam, by their fault To leave the groves of
+     Paradise was fain.
+
+Or as another says:
+
+Out on yon! blame confirms the blamed one in his way. My fault is
+     not so great indeed as you would say.
+If I'm in love, forsooth, my case is but the same As that of
+     other men before me, many a day.
+For great the wonder were if any man alive From women and their
+     wiles escape unharmed away!"
+
+When the two kings heard this, they marvelled and said, "Allah!
+Allah! There is no power and no virtue save in God the Most High,
+the Supreme! We seek aid of God against the malice of women, for
+indeed their craft is great!" Then she said to them, "Go your
+ways." So they returned to the road, and Shehriyar said to
+Shahzeman, "By Allah, O my brother, this Afrit's case is more
+grievous than ours. For this is a genie and stole away his
+mistress on her wedding night and clapped her in a chest, which
+he locked with seven locks and sank in the midst of the sea,
+thinking to guard her from that which was decreed by fate, yet
+have we seen that she has lain with five hundred and seventy men
+in his despite, and now with thee and me to boot. Verily, this is
+a thing that never yet happened to any, and it should surely
+console us. Let us therefore return to our kingdoms and resolve
+never again to take a woman to wife; and as for me, I will show
+thee what I will do." So they set out at once and presently came
+to the camp outside Shehriyar's capital and, entering the royal
+pavilion, sat down on their bed of estate. Then the chamberlains
+and amirs and grandees came in to them and Shehriyar commanded
+them to return to the city. So they returned to the city and
+Shehriyar went up to his palace, where he summoned his Vizier and
+bade him forthwith put his wife to death. The Vizier accordingly
+took the queen and killed her, whilst Shehriyar, going into the
+slave girls and concubines, drew his sword and slew them all.
+Then he let bring others in their stead and took an oath that
+every night he would go in to a maid and in the morning put her
+to death, for that there was not one chaste woman on the face of
+the earth. As for Shahzeman, he sought to return to his kingdom
+at once; so his brother equipped him for the journey and he set
+out and fared on till he came to his own dominions. Meanwhile,
+King Shehriyar commanded his Vizier to bring him the bride of the
+night, that he might go in to her; so he brought him one of the
+daughters of the amirs and he went in to her, and on the morrow
+he bade the Vizier cut off her head. The Vizier dared not disobey
+the King's commandment, so he put her to death and brought him
+another girl, of the daughters of the notables of the land. The
+King went in to her also, and on the morrow he bade the Vizier
+kill her; and he ceased not to do thus for three years, till the
+land was stripped of marriageable girls, and all the women and
+mothers and fathers wept and cried out against the King, cursing
+him and complaining to the Creator of heaven and earth and
+calling for succour upon Him who heareth prayer and answereth
+those that cry to Him; and those that had daughters left fled
+with them, till at last there remained not a single girl in the
+city apt for marriage. One day the King ordered the Vizier to
+bring him a maid as of wont; so the Vizier went out and made
+search for a girl, but found not one and returned home troubled
+and careful for fear of the king's anger. Now this Vizier had two
+daughters, the elder called Shehrzad and the younger Dunyazad,
+and the former had read many books and histories and chronicles
+of ancient kings and stories of people of old time; it is said
+indeed that she had collected a thousand books of chronicles of
+past peoples and bygone kings and poets. Moreover, she had read
+books of science and medicine; her memory was stored with verses
+and stories and folk-lore and the sayings of kings and sages, and
+she was wise, witty, prudent and well-bred. She said to her
+father, "How comes it that I see thee troubled and oppressed with
+care and anxiety? Quoth one of the poets:
+
+'Tell him that is of care oppressed, That grief shall not endure
+     alway,
+But even as gladness fleeteth by, So sorrow too shall pass
+     away.'"
+
+When the Vizier heard his daughter's words, he told her his case,
+and she said, "By Allah, O my father, marry me to this king, for
+either I will be the means of the deliverance of the daughters of
+the Muslims from slaughter or I will die and perish as others
+have perished." "For God's sake," answered the Vizier, "do not
+thus adventure thy life!" But she said, "It must be so."
+Whereupon her father was wroth with her and said to her, "Fool
+that thou art, dost thou not know that the ignorant man who
+meddles in affairs falls into grievous peril, and that he who
+looks not to the issue of his actions finds no friend in time of
+evil fortune? As says the byword, 'I was sitting at my ease, but
+my officiousness would not let me rest.' And I fear lest there
+happen to thee what happened to the ox and the ass with the
+husbandman." "And what happened to them?" asked she. Quoth the
+Vizier, "Know, O my daughter, that
+
+
+
+
+               Story of the Ox[FN#5] and the Ass
+
+
+
+There was once a merchant who was rich in goods and cattle, and
+he had a wife and children and dwelt in the country and was
+skilled in husbandry. Now God had gifted him to understand the
+speech of beasts and birds of every kind, but under pain of death
+if he divulged his gift to any one; so he kept it secret for fear
+of death. He had in his byre an ox and an ass, each tied up in
+his stall, hard by the other. One day, as the merchant was
+sitting near at hand, he heard the ox say to the ass, 'I give
+thee joy, O Father Wakeful![FN#6] Thou enjoyest rest and
+attention and they keep thy stall always swept and sprinkled, and
+thine eating is sifted barley and thy drink fresh water, whilst I
+am always weary, for they take me in the middle of the night and
+gird the yoke on my neck and set me to plough and I toil without
+ceasing from break of morn till sunset. I am forced to work more
+than my strength and suffer all kinds of indignities, such as
+blows and abuse, from the cruel ploughman; and I return home at
+the end of the day, and indeed my sides are torn and my neck is
+flayed. Then they shut me up in the cow-house and throw me beans
+and straw mixed with earth and husks, and I lie all night in dung
+and stale. But thy place is always swept and sprinkled and thy
+manger clean and full of sweet hay and thou art always resting,
+except that, now and then, our master hath occasion to ride thee
+and returns speedily with thee; and but for this thou art always
+resting and I toiling, and thou sleeping and I waking; thou art
+full and I hungry and thou honoured and I despised.' 'O
+broadhead,' answered the ass,' he was in the right who dubbed
+thee ox [FN#7], for thou art stupid in the extreme, nor is there
+in thee thought or craft but thou showest zeal and cost thine
+utmost endeavour before thy master and fearest and killest
+thyself for the benefit of another. Thou goest forth at the time
+of morning prayer and returnest not till sundown and endurest all
+day all manner of afflictions, now blows now fatigue and now
+abuse. When thou returnest, the ploughman ties thee to a stinking
+manger, and thou friskest and pawest the ground and buttest with
+thy horns and bellowest greatly, and they think thou art content.
+No sooner have they thrown thee thy fodder than thou fallest on
+it greedily and hastenest to fill thy belly with it. But if thou
+wilt follow my counsel, it will be the better for thee and thou
+wilt get twice as much rest as I. When thou goest forth to the
+furrow and they lay the yoke on thy neck, lie down, and do not
+rise, even if they beat thee, or only rise and lie down again;
+and when they bring thee home, fall prostrate on thy back and
+refuse thy fodder, when they throw it thee and feign to be sick.
+Do this for a day or two and thou wilt have rest from toil and
+weariness.' The ox thanked the ass greatly for his advice and
+called down blessings on him; and the merchant heard all that
+passed between them.
+
+
+Next day the ploughman took the ox and yoked him to the plough
+and set him to work as usual. The ox began to fall short in his
+work, and the ploughman beat him till he broke the yoke and fled,
+following out the ass's precepts; but the man overtook him and
+beat him till he despaired of life. Yet for all that, he did
+nothing but stand still and fall down till the evening. Then the
+ploughman took him home and tied him in his stall; but he
+withdrew from the manger and neither frisked nor stamped nor
+bellowed as usual, and the man wondered at this. Then he brought
+him the beans and straw, but he smelt at them and left them and
+lay down at a distance and passed the night without eating. Next
+morning, the ploughman came and found the straw and beans
+untouched and the ox lying on his back, with his stomach swollen
+and his legs in the air; so he was concerned for him and said to
+himself, 'He has certainly fallen ill, and this is why he would
+not work yesterday.' Then he went to his master and told him that
+the ox was ill and would not touch his fodder. Now the farmer
+knew what this meant, for that he had overheard the talk between
+the ox and the ass as before mentioned. So he said, 'Take that
+knave of an ass and bind the yoke on his neck and harness him to
+the plough and try and make him do the ox's work.' So the
+ploughman took the ass and made him work all day beyond his
+strength to accomplish the ox's task; and he beat him till his
+skin and ribs were sore and his neck flayed with the yoke. When
+the evening came and the ass resumed home, he could hardly drag
+himself along. But as for the ox, he had lain all day, resting,
+and had eaten his fodder cheerfully and with a good appetite; and
+all day long he had called down blessings on the ass for his good
+counsel, not knowing what had befallen him on his account. So
+when the night came and the ass returned to the stable, the ox
+arose and said to him, 'Mayst thou be gladdened with good news, O
+Father Wakeful! Through thee, I have rested today and have eaten
+my food in peace and comfort.' The ass made him no answer, for
+rage and vexation and fatigue and the beating he had undergone;
+but he said to himself, 'All this comes of my folly in giving
+another good advice; as the saying goes, "I was lying at full
+length, but my officiousness would not let me be." But I will go
+about with him and return him to his place, else I shall perish.'
+Then he went to his manger weary, whilst the ox thanked him and
+blessed him. "And thou, O my daughter," said the Vizier, "like
+the ass, wilt perish through thy lack of sense, so do thou oft
+quiet and cast not thyself into perdition; indeed I give thee
+good counsel and am affectionately solicitous for thee." "O my
+father," answered she, "nothing will serve me but I must go up to
+this king and become his wife." Quoth he, "An thou hold not thy
+peace and bide still, I will do with thee even as the merchant
+did with his wife." "And what was that?" asked she. "Know,"
+answered he, "that the merchant and his wife and children came
+out on the terrace, it being a moonlit night and the moon at its
+full. Now the terrace overlooked the byre; and presently, as he
+sat, with his children playing before him, the merchant heard the
+ass say to the ox, 'Tell me, O Father Stupid, what dost thou mean
+to do tomorrow?' 'What but that thou advisest me?' answered the
+ox. 'Thine advice was as good as could be and has gotten me
+complete rest, and I will not depart from it in the least; so
+when they bring me my fodder, I will refuse it and feign sickness
+and swell out my belly.' The ass shook his head and said, 'Beware
+of doing that I' 'Why?' asked the ox, and the ass answered, 'Know
+that I heard our master say to the labourer, "If the ox do not
+rise and eat his fodder today, send for the butcher to slaughter
+him, and give his flesh to the poor and make a rug of his skin."
+And I fear for thee on account of this. So take my advice, ere
+ill-hap betide thee, and when they bring thee the fodder, eat it
+and arise and bellow and paw the ground with thy feet, or our
+master will assuredly slaughter thee.' Whereupon the ox arose and
+bellowed and thanked the ass, and said, 'Tomorrow, I will go with
+them readily.' Then he ate up all his fodder, even to licking the
+manger with his tongue.
+
+When the merchant heard this, he was amused at the ass's trick,
+and laughed, till he fell backward. 'Why dost thou laugh?' asked
+his wife; and he said, 'I laughed at something that I saw and
+heard, but it is a secret and I cannot disclose it, or I shall
+die.' Quoth she, 'There is no help for it but thou must tell me
+the reason of thy laughter, though thou die for it.' 'I cannot
+reveal it,' answered he, 'for fear of death.' 'It was at me thou
+didst laugh,' said she, and ceased not to importune him till he
+was worn out and distracted. So he assembled all his family and
+kinsfolk and summoned the Cadi and the witnesses, being minded to
+make his last dispositions and impart to her the secret and die,
+for indeed he loved her with a great love, and she was the
+daughter of his father's brother and the mother of his children.
+Moreover, he sent for all her family and the neighbours, and when
+they were all assembled, he told them the state of the case and
+announced to them the approach of his last hour. Then he gave his
+wife her portion and appointed guardians of his children and
+freed his slave girls and took leave of his people. They all
+wept, and the Cadi and the witnesses wept also and went up to the
+wife and said to her, 'We conjure thee, by Allah, give up this
+matter, lest thy husband and the father of thy children die. Did
+he not know that if he revealed the secret, he would surely die,
+he would have told thee.' But she replied, 'By Allah, I will not
+desist from him, till he tell me, though he die for it.' So they
+forbore to press her. And all who were present wept sore, and
+there was a general mourning in the house. Then the merchant rose
+and went to the cow-house, to make his ablutions and pray,
+intending after to return and disclose his secret and die.
+
+Now he had a cock and fifty hens and a dog, and he heard the
+latter say in his lingo to the cock, 'How mean is thy wit, O
+cock! May he be disappointed who reared thee! Our master is in
+extremity and thou clappest thy wings and crowest and fliest from
+one hen's back to another's! God confound thee! Is this a time
+for sport and diversion? Art thou not ashamed of thyself?' 'And
+what ails our master, O dog?' asked the cock. The dog told him
+what had happened and how the merchant's wife had importuned him,
+till he was about to tell her his secret and die, and the cock
+said, 'Then is our master little of wit and lacking in sense; if
+he cannot manage his affairs with a single wife, his life is not
+worth prolonging. See, I have fifty wives. I content this one and
+anger that, stint one and feed another, and through my good
+governance they are all under my control. Now, our master
+pretends to sense and accomplishments, and he has but one wife
+and yet knows not how to manage her.' Quoth the dog, 'What, then,
+should our master do?' 'He should take a stick,' replied the
+cock, 'and beat her soundly, till she says, "I repent, O my lord!
+I will never again ask a question as long as I live." And when
+once he has done this, he will be free from care and enjoy life.
+But he has neither sense nor judgment.'
+
+When the merchant heard what the cock said, he went to his wife
+(after he had hidden a rattan in an empty store-room) and said to
+her, 'Come with me into this room, that I may tell thee my secret
+and die and none see me.' So she entered gladly, thinking that he
+was about to tell her his secret, and he locked the door; then he
+took the rattan and brought it down on her back and ribs and
+shoulders, saying, 'Wilt thou ask questions about what is none of
+thy business?' He beat her till she was well-nigh senseless, and
+she cried out, 'By Allah, I will ask thee no more questions, and
+indeed I repent sincerely!' And she kissed his hands and feet.
+Then he unlocked the door and went out and told the company what
+had happened, whereat they rejoiced, and mourning was changed
+into joy and gladness. So the merchant learnt good management
+from a cock, and he and his wife lived happily until death.
+
+And thou, O my daughter," added the Vizier, "except thou desist
+from this thing, I will do with thee even as the merchant did
+with his wife." "I will never desist," answered she, "nor is it
+this story that can turn me from my purpose; and an thou yield
+not to me, I will go up myself to the King and complain to him of
+thee, in that thou grudges the like of me to the like of him."
+Quoth her father, "Must it be so?" And she answered "Yes." So
+being weary of striving with her and despairing of turning her
+from her purpose, he went up to King Shehriyar and kissing the
+earth before him, told him about his daughter and how she would
+have him give her to him that next night; whereat the King
+marvelled and said to him, "How is this? By Him who raised up the
+heavens, if thou bring her to me, I shall say to thee on the
+morrow, 'Take her and put her to death.' And if thou kill her
+not, I will kill thee without fail." "O king of the age,"
+answered the Vizier, "it is she who will have it so; and I told
+her all this, but she will not hear me and insists upon passing
+this night with thy highness." "It is well," answered Shehriyar;
+"go and make her ready, and tonight bring her to me." So the
+Vizier returned to his daughter and told her what had passed,
+saying, "May God not bereave us of thee!" But Shehrzad rejoiced
+with an exceeding joy and made ready all that she needed, and
+said to her sister Dunyazad, "O my sister, note well what I shall
+enjoin thee. When I go up to the Sultan, I will send after thee,
+and when thou comest to me and seest that the King has done his
+will of me, do thou say to me, 'O my sister, an thou be not
+asleep, tell us some of thy delightful stories, to pass away the
+watches of this our night.' Do this and (God willing) it shall be
+the means of my deliverance and of the ridding of the folk of
+this calamity, and by it I will turn the King from his custom."
+Dunyazad answered, "It is well." And the Vizier carried Shehrzad
+to the King, who took her to his bed and fell to toying with her.
+But she wept, and he said to her, "Why dost thou weep?" "O king
+of the age," answered she, "I have a young sister and I desire to
+take leave of her this night and that she may take leave of me
+before the morning." So he sent for Dunyazad, and she waited till
+the Sultan had done his desire of her sister and they were all
+three awake, when she coughed and said, "O my sister, an thou be
+not asleep, tell us one of thy pleasant stories, to beguile the
+watches of our night, and I will take leave of thee before the
+morning." "With all my heart," answered Shehrzad, "if the good
+king give me leave." The King being wakeful, was pleased to hear
+a story and said, "Tell on." Whereat she rejoiced greatly and
+said, "It is related, O august king, that
+
+
+
+
+                  THE MERCHANT AND THE GENIE.
+
+
+
+There was once a merchant, who had much substance and traded
+largely in foreign countries. One day, as he was riding through a
+certain country, whither he had gone to collect what was due to
+him, there overtook him the heat of the day and presently he
+espied a garden[FN#8] before him; so he made towards it for
+shelter and alighting, sat down under a walnut tree, by a spring
+of water. Then he put his hand to his saddle bags and took out a
+cake of bread and a date and ate them and threw away the date
+stone, when behold, there started up before him a gigantic Afrit,
+with a naked sword in his hand, who came up to him and said,
+'Arise, that I may slay thee, even as thou hast slain my son.'
+'How did I slay thy son?' asked the merchant, and the genie
+replied, 'When thou threwest away the date stone, it smote my
+son, who was passing at the time, on the breast, and he died
+forthright.' When the merchant heard this, he said, 'Verily we
+are God's and to Him we return! There is no power and no virtue
+but in God, the Most High, the Supreme! If I killed him, it was
+by misadventure, and I prithee pardon me.' But the genie said,
+'There is no help for it but I must kill thee.' Then he seized
+him and throwing him down, raised his sword to strike him:
+whereupon the merchant wept and said, 'I commit my affair to
+God!' and recited the following verses:
+
+Fate has two days, untroubled one, the other lowering, And life
+     two parts, the one content, the other sorrowing.
+Say unto him that taunteth us with fortune's perfidy, 'At whom
+     but those whose heads are high doth Fate its arrows fling?'
+If that the hands of Time have made their plaything of our life,
+     Till for its long protracted kiss ill-hap upon us spring,
+Dost thou not see the hurricane, what time the wild winds blow,
+     Smite down the stately trees alone and spare each lesser
+     thing?
+Lo! in the skies are many stars, no one can tell their tale, But
+     to the sun and moon alone eclipse brings darkening.
+The earth bears many a pleasant herb and many a plant and tree:
+     But none is stoned save only those to which the fair fruit
+     cling.
+Look on the sea and how the waifs float up upon the foam, But in
+     its deepest depths of blue the pearls have sojourning.
+
+'Cut short thy speech,' said the genie, 'for, by Allah, there is
+no help for it but I must kill thee.' 'Know, O Afrit,' replied
+the merchant, 'that I have a wife and children and much
+substance, and I owe debts and hold pledges: so let me return
+home and give every one his due, and I vow by all that is most
+sacred that I will return to thee at the end of the year, that
+thou mayest do with me as thou wilt, and God is witness of what I
+say.' The genie accepted his promise and released him, whereupon
+he returned to his dwelling-place and paid his debts and settled
+all his affairs. Moreover, he told his wife and children what had
+happened and made his last dispositions, and tarried with his
+family till the end of the year. Then he rose and made his
+ablutions[FN#9] and took his winding sheet under his arm and
+bidding his household and kinsfolk and neighbours farewell, set
+out, much against his will, to perform his promise to the genie;
+whilst his family set up a great noise of crying and lamentation.
+He journeyed on till he reached the garden, where he had met with
+the genie, on the first day of the new year, and there sat down
+to await his doom. Presently, as he sat weeping over what had
+befallen him, there came up an old man, leading a gazelle by a
+chain, and saluted the merchant, saying, 'What ails thee to sit
+alone in this place, seeing that it is the resort of the
+Jinn?'[FN#10] The merchant told him all that had befallen him
+with the Afrit, and he wondered and said, 'By Allah, O my
+brother, thy good faith is exemplary and thy story is a
+marvellous one! If it were graven with needles on the corners of
+the eye, it would serve as a warning to those that can profit by
+example.' Then he sat down by his side, saying, 'By Allah, O my
+brother, I will not leave thee till I see what befalls thee with
+this Afrit.' So they sat conversing, and fear and terror got hold
+upon the merchant and trouble increased upon him, notwithstanding
+the old man's company. Presently another old man came up, leading
+two black dogs, and saluting them, inquired why they sat in a
+place known to be haunted by Jinn, whereupon the merchant
+repeated his story to him. He had not sat long with them when
+there came up a third old man leading a dappled she-mule, and
+after putting to them the same question and receiving a like
+answer, sat down with them to await the issue of the affair. They
+had sat but a little while longer, when behold, there arose a
+cloud of dust and a great whirling column approached from the
+heart of the desert. Then the dust lifted and discovered the
+genie, with a drawn sword in his hand and sparks of fire issuing
+from his eyes. He came up to them and dragged the merchant from
+amongst them, saying, 'Rise, that I may slay thee as thou slewest
+my son, the darling of my heart!' Whereupon the merchant wept and
+bewailed himself and the three old men joined their cries and
+lamentations to his. Then came forward the first old man, he of
+the gazelle, and kissed the Afrit's hand and said to him, 'O
+genie and crown of the kings of the Jinn, if I relate to thee my
+history with this gazelle and it seem to thee wonderful, wilt
+thou grant me a third of this merchant's blood?' 'Yes, O old
+man,' answered the genie, 'if thou tell me thy story and I find
+it wonderful, I will remit to thee a third of his blood.' Then
+said the old man, 'Know, O Afrit, that
+
+
+
+
+                   The First Old Man's Story.
+
+
+
+This gazelle is the daughter of my father's brother and my own
+flesh and blood. I married her whilst she was yet of tender age
+and lived with her near thirty years, without being blessed with
+a child by her. So I took me a concubine and had by her a son
+like the rising full moon, with eyes and eyebrows of perfect
+beauty; and he grew up and flourished till he reached the age of
+fifteen, when I had occasion to journey to a certain city, and
+set out thither with great store of merchandise. Now my wife had
+studied sorcery and magic from her youth: so, I being gone, she
+turned my son into a calf and his mother into a cow and delivered
+them both to the cowherd: and when, after a long absence, I
+returned from my journey and inquired after my son and his
+mother, my wife said to me, "Thy slave died and her son ran
+away, whither I know not." I abode for the space of a year,
+mournful-hearted and weeping-eyed, till the coming of the Greater
+Festival, when I sent to the herdsman and bade him bring me a fat
+cow for the purpose of sacrifice. So he brought me the very cow
+into which my wife had changed my concubine by her art; and I
+tucked up my skirts and taking the knife in my hand, went up to
+the cow to slaughter her; but she lowed and moaned so piteously,
+that I was seized with wonder and compassion and held my hand
+from her and said to the herd, "Bring me another cow." "Not so!"
+cried my wife. "Slaughter this one, for we have no finer nor
+fatter." So I went up to her again, but she cried out, and I left
+her and ordered the herdsman to kill her and skin her. So he
+killed her and flayed her, but found on her neither fat nor
+flesh, only skin and bone. Then I was sorry for having slain her,
+when repentance availed me not; and I gave her to the herd and
+said to him, "Bring me a fat calf." So he brought me my son in
+the guise of a calf; and when he saw me, he broke his halter and
+came up to me and fawned on me and moaned and wept, till I took
+pity on him and said to the man, "Bring me a cow and let this
+calf go." But my wife cried out at me and said, "Not so: thou
+must sacrifice this calf and none other to-day: for it is a holy
+and a blessed day, on which it behoves us to offer up none but a
+good thing, and we have no calf fatter or finer than this one."
+Quoth I, "Look at the condition of the cow I slaughtered by thine
+order; we were deceived in her, and now I will not be persuaded
+by thee to slay this calf this time." "By the great God, the
+Compassionate, the Merciful," answered she, "thou must without
+fail sacrifice this calf on this holy day! Else thou art no
+longer my husband nor am I thy wife." When I heard this harsh
+speech from her, I went up to the calf, knowing not what she
+aimed at, and took the knife in my hand.'" Here Shehrzad perceived
+the day and was silent; and her sister said to her, "What a
+charming and delightful story!" Quoth Shehrzad, "This is nothing
+to what I will tell thee to-morrow night, if the King let me
+live." And the King said to himself, "By Allah, I will not kill
+her, till I hear the rest of the story!" So they lay together
+till morning, when the King went out to his hall of audience and
+the Vizier came in to him, with the winding-sheet under his arm.
+Then the King ordered and appointed and deposed, without telling
+the Vizier aught of what had happened, much to the former's
+surprise, until the end of the day, when the Divan broke up and
+he retired to his apartments.
+
+                And when it was the second night
+
+Dunyazad said to her sister Shehrzad, "O my sister, finish us thy
+story of the merchant and the genie." "With all my heart,"
+answered she, "if the King give me leave." The king bade her "Say
+on." So she began as follows: "It has reached me, O august king
+and wise governor, that the first old man continued his story as
+follows: 'O lord of the Kings of the Jinn, as I was about to kill
+the calf, my heart failed me and I said to the herdsman, "Keep
+this calf with the rest of the cattle." So he took it and went
+away. Next day the herd came to me, as I was sitting by myself,
+and said to me, "O my lord, I have that to tell thee will rejoice
+thee, and I claim a reward for good news." Quoth I, "It is well."
+And he said, "O merchant, I have a daughter, who learnt the art
+of magic in her youth from an old woman who lived with us, and
+yesterday, when I took home the calf that thou gavest me, she
+looked at it and veiled her face and fell a-weeping. Then she
+laughed and said to me, 'O my father, am I become of so little
+account in thine eyes that thou bringest in to me strange men?'
+'Where are the strange men?' asked I. 'And why dost thou weep and
+laugh?' Quoth she, 'The calf thou hast there is our master's son,
+who has been enchanted, as well as his mother, by his father's
+wife. This is why I laughed: and I wept for his mother, because
+his father slaughtered her.' I wondered exceedingly at this and
+the day had no sooner broken than I came to tell thee." When
+(continued the old man) I heard the herdsman's story, O genie, I
+went out with him, drunken without wine for stress of joy and
+gladness, and accompanied him to his house, where his daughter
+welcomed me and kissed my hand; and the calf came up to me and
+fawned on me. Said I to the girl, "Is it true what I hear about
+this calf?" "Yes, O my lord," answered she, "this is indeed thy
+son and the darling of thy heart." So I said to her, "O damsel,
+if thou wilt release him, all that is under thy father's hand of
+beasts and goods shall be thine!" But she smiled and said, "O my
+lord, I care not for wealth, but I will do what thou desirest
+upon two conditions, the first that thou marry me to this thy
+son, and the second that thou permit me to bewitch the sorceress
+and imprison her (in the shape of a beast); else I shall not be
+safe from her craft." I answered, "Besides what thou seekest,
+thou shalt have all that is under thy father's hand, and as to my
+wife, it shall be lawful to thee to shed her blood, if thou
+wilt." When she heard this, she took a cup full of water, and
+conjured over it; then sprinkled the calf with the water, saying,
+"If thou be a calf by the creation of the Almighty, abide in that
+form and change not: but if thou be enchanted, return to thine
+original form, with the permission of God the Most High!" With
+that he shook and became a man: and I fell upon him and said to
+him, "For God's sake, tell me what my wife did with thee and thy
+mother." So he told me what had befallen them and I said to
+him, "O my son, God hath sent thee one to deliver and avenge
+thee." Then I married him to the herdsman's daughter, and she
+transformed my wife into this gazelle, saying to me, "I have
+given her this graceful form for thy sake, that thou mayest look
+on her without aversion." She dwelt with us days and nights and
+nights and days, till God took her to Himself; and after her
+death, my son set out on a journey to the land of Ind, which is
+this merchant's native country; and after awhile, I took the
+gazelle and travelled with her from place to place, seeking news
+of my son, till chance led me to this garden, where I found this
+merchant sitting weeping; and this is my story.' Quoth the genie,
+'This is indeed a rare story, and I remit to thee a third part of
+his blood.' Then came forward the second old man, he of the two
+greyhounds, and said to the genie, 'I will tell thee my story
+with these two dogs, and if thou find it still rarer and more
+marvellous, do thou remit to me another third part of his blood.
+Quoth the genie, 'I agree to this.' Then said the second old man,
+'Know, O lord of the Kings of the Jinn, that
+
+
+
+
+                  The Second Old Man's Story.
+
+
+
+These two dogs are my elder brothers. Our father died and left us
+three thousand dinars,[FN#11] and I opened a shop that I might
+buy and sell therein, and my brothers did each the like. But
+before long, my eldest brother sold his stock for a thousand
+dinars and bought goods and merchandise and setting out on his
+travels, was absent a whole year. One day, as I was sitting in my
+shop, a beggar stopped before me and I said to him, "God assist
+thee!"[FN#12] But he said to me, weeping, "Dost thou not
+recognize me?" I took note of him, and behold, it was my brother.
+So I rose and welcomed him and made him sit down by me and
+inquired how he came in such a case: but he answered, "Do not ask
+me: my wealth is wasted and fortune has turned her back on me."
+Then I carried him to the bath and clad him in one of my own
+suits and took him to live with me. Moreover, I cast up my
+accounts and found that I had made a thousand dinars profit, so
+that my capital was now two thousand dinars. I divided this
+between my brother and myself, saying to him, "Put it that thou
+hast never travelled nor been abroad." He took it gladly and
+opened a shop with it. Presently, my second brother arose like
+the first and sold his goods and all that belonged to him and
+determined to travel. We would have dissuaded him, but he would
+not be dissuaded and bought merchandise with which he set out on
+his travels, and we saw no more of him for a whole year; at the
+end of which time he came to us as had done his elder brother,
+and I said to him, "O my brother, did I not counsel thee not to
+travel?" And he wept and said, "O my brother, it was decreed: and
+behold, I am poor, without a dirhem [FN#13] or a shirt to my
+back." Then I carried him to the bath and clad him in a new suit
+of my own and brought him back to my shop, where we ate and drank
+together; after which, I said to him, "O my brother, I will make
+up the accounts of my shop, as is my wont once a year, and the
+increase shall be between thee and me." So I arose and took stock
+and found I was worth two thousand dinars increase, in excess of
+capital, wherefore I praised the Divine Creator and gave my
+brother a thousand dinars, with which he opened a shop. In this
+situation we remained for some time, till one day, my brothers
+came to me and would have me go on a voyage with them; but I
+refused and said to them, "What did your travels profit you, that
+I should look to profit by the same venture?" And I would not
+listen to them; so we abode in our shops, buying and selling, and
+every year they pressed me to travel, and I declined, until six
+years had elapsed. At last I yielded to their wishes and said to
+them, "O my brothers, I will make a voyage with you, but first
+let me see what you are worth." So I looked into their affairs
+and found they had nothing left, having wasted all their
+substance in eating and drinking and merrymaking. However, I said
+not a word of reproach to them, but sold my stock and got in all
+I had and found I was worth six thousand dinars. So I rejoiced
+and divided the sum into two equal parts and said to my brothers,
+"These three thousand dinars are for you and me to trade with."
+The other three thousand I buried, in case what befell them
+should befall me also, so that we might still have, on our
+return, wherewithal to open our shops again. They were content
+and I gave them each a thousand dinars and kept the like myself.
+Then we provided ourselves with the necessary merchandise and
+equipped ourselves for travel and chartered a ship, which we
+freighted with our goods. After a month's voyage, we came to a
+city, in which we sold our goods at a profit of ten dinars on
+every one (of prime cost). And as we were about to take ship
+again, we found on the beach a damsel in tattered clothes, who
+kissed my hand and said to me, "O my lord, is there in thee
+kindness and charity? I will requite thee for them." Quoth I,
+"Indeed I love to do courtesy and charity, though I be not
+requited." And she said, "O my lord, I beg thee to marry me and
+clothe me and take me back to thy country, for I give myself to
+thee. Entreat me courteously, for indeed I am of those whom it
+behoves to use with kindness and consideration; and I will
+requite thee therefor: do not let my condition prejudice thee."
+When I heard what she said, my heart inclined to her, that what
+God (to whom belong might and majesty) willed might come to pass.
+So I carried her with me and clothed her and spread her a goodly
+bed in the ship and went in to her and made much of her. Then we
+set sail again and indeed my heart clove to her with a great love
+and I left her not night nor day and occupied myself with her to
+the exclusion of my brothers. Wherefore they were jealous of me
+and envied me my much substance; and they looked upon it with
+covetous eyes and took counsel together to kill me and to take my
+goods, saying, "Let us kill our brother, and all will be ours."
+And Satan made this to seem good in their eyes. So they took me
+sleeping beside my wife and lifted us both up and threw us into
+the sea. When my wife awoke, she shook herself and becoming an
+Afriteh,[FN#14] took me up and carried me to an island, where she
+left me for awhile. In the morning, she returned and said to me,
+"I have paid thee my debt, for it is I who bore thee up out of
+the sea and saved thee from death, by permission of God the Most
+High. Know that I am of the Jinn who believe in God and His
+Apostle (whom God bless and preserve!) and I saw thee and loved
+thee for God's sake. So I came to thee in the plight thou knowest
+of and thou didst marry me, and now I have saved thee from
+drowning. But I am wroth with thy brothers, and needs must I kill
+them." When I heard her words, I wondered and thanked her for
+what she had done and begged her not to kill my brothers. Then I
+told her all that had passed between us, and she said, "This very
+night will I fly to them and sink their ship and make an end of
+them." "God on thee," answered I, "do not do this, for the
+proverb says, 'O thou who dost good to those who do evil, let his
+deeds suffice the evil doer!' After all, they are my brothers."
+Quoth she, "By Allah, I must kill them." And I besought her till
+she lifted me up and flying away with me, set me down on the roof
+of my own house, where she left me. I went down and unlocked the
+doors and brought out what I had hidden under the earth and
+opened my shop, after I had saluted the folk and bought goods. At
+nightfall, I returned home and found these two dogs tied up in
+the courtyard: and when they saw me, they came up to me and wept
+and fawned on me. At the same moment, my wife presented herself
+and said to me, "These are thy brothers." "Who has done this
+thing unto them?" asked I; and she answered, "I sent to my
+sister, who turned them into this form, and they shall not be
+delivered from the enchantment till after ten years." Then she
+left me, after telling me where to find her; and now, the ten
+years having expired, I was carrying the dogs to her, that she
+might release them, when I fell in with this merchant, who
+acquainted me with what had befallen him. So I determined not to
+leave him, till I saw what passed between thee and him: and this
+is my story.' 'This is indeed a rare story,' said the genie, 'and
+I remit to thee a third part of his blood and his crime.' Then
+came forward the third old man, he of the mule, and said, 'O
+genie, I will tell thee a story still more astonishing than the
+two thou hast heard, and do thou remit to me the remainder of his
+blood and crime.' The genie replied, 'It is well.' So the third
+old man said, 'Know, O Sultan and Chief of the Jinn, that
+
+
+
+
+                   The Third Old Man's Story.
+
+
+
+This mule was my wife. Some time ago, I had occasion to travel
+and was absent from her a whole year; at the end of which time I
+returned home by night and found my wife in bed with a black
+slave, talking and laughing and toying and kissing and dallying.
+When she saw me, she made haste and took a mug of water and
+muttered over it; then came up to me and sprinkled me with the
+water, saying, "Leave this form for that of a dog!" And
+immediately I became a dog. She drove me from the house, and I
+went out of the door and ceased not running till I came to a
+butcher's shop, where I stopped and began to eat the bones. The
+butcher took me and carried me into his house; but when his
+daughter saw me, she veiled her face and said to her father, "How
+is it that thou bringest a man in to me?" "Where is the man?"
+asked he; and she replied, "This dog is a man, whose wife has
+enchanted him, and I can release him." When her father heard
+this, he said, "I conjure thee by Allah, O my daughter, release
+him!" So she took a mug of water and muttered over it, then
+sprinkled a little of it on me, saying, "Leave this shape and
+return to thy former one." And immediately I became a man again
+and kissed her hand and begged her to enchant my wife as she had
+enchanted me. So she gave me a little of the water and said to
+me, "When thou seest her asleep, sprinkle her with this water and
+repeat the words thou hast heard me use, naming the shape thou
+wouldst have her take, and she will become whatever thou
+wishest." So I took the water and returned home and went in to my
+wife. I found her asleep and sprinkled the water upon her,
+saying, "Quit this form for that of a mule." And she at once
+became a mule; and this is she whom thou seest before thee, O
+Sultan and Chief of the Kings of the Jinn!' Then he said to the
+mule, 'Is it true?' And she nodded her head and made signs as who
+should say, 'Yes, indeed: this is my history and what befell
+me.'" Here Shehrzad perceived the day and was silent. And
+Dunyazad said to her, "O my sister, what a delightful story is
+this of thine!" "This is nothing," answered Shehrzad, "to what I
+will tell thee to-morrow night, if the King let me live." Quoth
+the King to himself, "By Allah, I will not put her to death till
+I hear the rest of her story, for it is wonderful." And they lay
+together till the morning. Then the King rose and betook himself
+to his audience-chamber, and the Vizier and the troops presented
+themselves and the Court was full. The King judged and appointed
+and deposed and ordered and forbade till the end of the day, when
+the Divan broke up and he returned to his apartments.
+
+                And when it was the third night
+
+and the King had taken his will of the Vizier's daughter,
+Dunyazad said to her sister, "O my sister, finish us thy story."
+"With all my heart," answered Shehrzad. "Know, O august King,
+that when the genie heard the third old man's story, he marvelled
+exceedingly and shook with delight and said, 'I remit to thee the
+remainder of his crime.' Then he released the merchant, who went
+up to the three old men and thanked them; and they gave him joy
+of his escape and returned, each to his own country. Nor is this
+more wonderful than the story of the Fisherman and the Genie."
+"What is that?" asked the King: and she said, "I have heard tell,
+O august King, that
+
+
+
+
+
+                  THE FISHERMAN AND THE GENIE.
+
+
+
+There was once a poor fisherman, who was getting on in years and
+had a wife and three children; and it was his custom every day to
+cast his net four times and no more. One day he went out at the
+hour of noon and repaired to the sea-shore, where he set down his
+basket and tucked up his skirts and plunging into the sea, cast
+his net and waited till it had settled down in the water. Then he
+gathered the cords in his hand and found it heavy and pulled at
+it, but could not bring it up. So he carried the end of the cords
+ashore and drove in a stake, to which he made them fast. Then he
+stripped and diving round the net, tugged at it till he brought
+it ashore. Whereat he rejoiced and landing, put on his clothes;
+but when he came to examine the net, he found in it a dead ass;
+and the net was torn. When he saw this, he was vexed and said:
+'There is no power and no virtue save in God the Most High, the
+Supreme! This is indeed strange luck!' And he repeated the
+following verses:
+
+O thou that strivest in the gloom of darkness and distress, Cut
+     short thine efforts, for in strife alone lies not success!
+Seest not the fisherman that seeks his living in the sea, Midmost
+     the network of the stars that round about him press!
+Up to his midst he plunges in: the billows buffet him; But from
+     the bellying net his eyes cease not in watchfulness;
+Till when, contented with his night, he carries home a fish,
+     Whose throat the hand of Death hath slit with trident
+     pitiless,
+Comes one who buys his prey of him, one who has passed the night,
+     Safe from the cold, in all delight of peace and blessedness.
+Praise be to God who gives to this and cloth to that deny! Some
+     fish, and others eat the fish caught with such toil and
+     stress.
+
+Then he said, 'Courage! I shall have better luck next time,
+please God!' And repeated the following verses:
+
+If misfortune assail thee, clothe thyself thereagainst With
+     patience, the part of the noble: 'twere wiselier done.
+Complain not to men: that were indeed to complain, To those that
+     have no mercy, of the Merciful One.
+
+So saying, he threw out the dead ass and wrung the net and spread
+it out. Then he went down into the sea and cast again, saying,
+'In the name of God!' and waited till the net had settled down in
+the water, when he pulled the cords and finding it was heavy and
+resisted more than before, thought it was full of fish. So he
+made it fast to the shore and stripped and dived into the water
+round the net, till he got it free. Then he hauled at it till he
+brought it ashore, but found in it nothing but a great jar full
+of sand and mud. When he saw this, he groaned aloud and repeated
+the following verses:
+
+Anger of Fate, have pity and forbear, Or at the least hold back
+     thy hand and spare!
+I sally forth to seek my daily bread And find my living vanished
+     into air.
+How many a fool's exalted to the stars, Whilst sages hidden in
+     the mire must fare!
+
+Then he threw out the jar and wrung out and cleansed his net:
+after which he asked pardon of God the Most High[FN#15] and
+returning to the sea a third time, cast the net. He waited till
+it had settled down, then pulled it up and found in it potsherds
+and bones and broken bottles: whereat he was exceeding wroth and
+wept and recited the following verses:
+
+Fortune's with God: thou mayst not win to bind or set it free:
+     Nor letter-lore nor any skill can bring good hap to thee.
+Fortune, indeed, and benefits by Fate are lotted out: One
+     country's blest with fertile fields, whilst others sterile
+     be.
+The shifts of evil chance cast down full many a man of worth And
+     those, that merit not, uplift to be of high degree.
+So come to me, O Death! for life is worthless verily; When
+     falcons humbled to the dust and geese on high we see.
+'Tis little wonder if thou find the noble-minded poor, What while
+     the loser by main force usurps his sovranty.
+One bird will traverse all the earth and fly from East to West:
+     Another hath his every wish although no step stir he.
+
+Then he lifted his eyes to heaven and said, 'O my God, Thou
+knowest that I cast my net but four times a day; and now I have
+cast it three times and have taken nothing. Grant me then, O my
+God, my daily bread this time!' So he said, 'In the name of God!'
+and cast his net and waited till it had settled down in the
+water, then pulled it, but could not bring it up, for it was
+caught in the bottom Whereupon, 'There is no power and no virtue
+but in God!' said he and repeated the following verses:
+
+Away with the world, if it be like this, away! My part in it's
+     nought but misery and dismay!
+Though the life of a man in the morning be serene, He must drink
+     of the cup of woe ere ended day.
+And yet if one asked, 'Who's the happiest man alive?' The people
+     would point to me and 'He' would say.
+
+Then he stripped and dived down to the net and strove with it
+till he brought it to shore, where he opened it and found in it a
+brazen vessel, full and stoppered with lead, on which was
+impressed the seal of our lord Solomon, son of David (on whom be
+peace!). When he saw this, he was glad and said, 'I will sell
+this in the copper market, for it is worth half a score diners.'
+Then he shook it and found it heavy and said to himself, 'I
+wonder what is inside! I will open it and see what is in it,
+before I sell it.' So he took out a knife and worked at the
+leaden seal, till he extracted it from the vessel and laid it
+aside. Then he turned the vase mouth downward and shook it, to
+turn out its contents; but nothing came out, and he wondered
+greatly and laid it on the ground. Presently, there issued from
+it a smoke, which rose up towards the sky and passed over the
+face of the earth; then gathered itself together and condensed
+and quivered and became an Afrit, whose head was in the clouds
+and his feet in the dust. His head was like a dome, his hands
+like pitchforks, his legs like masts, his mouth like a cavern,
+his teeth like rocks, his nostrils like trumpets, his eyes like
+lamps, and he was stern and lowering of aspect. When the
+fisherman saw the Afrit, he trembled in every limb; his teeth
+chattered and his spittle dried up and he knew not what to do.
+When the Afrit saw him, he said, 'There is no god but God, and
+Solomon is His prophet! O prophet of God, do not kill me, for I
+will never again disobey thee or cross thee, either in word or
+deed !' Quoth the fisherman, 'O Marid,[FN#16] thou sayest,
+"Solomon is the prophet of God." Solomon is dead these eighteen
+hundred years, and we are now at the end of time. But what is thy
+history and how comest thou in this vessel?' When the Marid heard
+this, he said, 'There is no god but God! I have news for thee, O
+fisherman!' 'What news?' asked he, and the Afrit answered, 'Even
+that I am about to slay thee without mercy.' 'O chief of the
+Afrits,' said the fisherman, 'thou meritest the withdrawal of
+God's protection from thee for saying this! Why wilt thou kill me
+and what calls for my death? Did I not deliver thee from the
+abysses of the sea and bring thee to land and release thee from
+the vase?' Quoth the Afrit, 'Choose what manner of death thou
+wilt die and how thou wilt be killed.' 'What is my crime?' asked
+the fisherman. 'Is this my reward for setting thee free?' The
+Afrit answered, 'Hear my story, O fisherman!' 'Say on and be
+brief,' quoth he, 'for my heart is in my mouth.' Then said the
+Afrit, 'Know, O fisherman, that I was of the schismatic Jinn and
+rebelled against Solomon son of David (on whom be peace!), I and
+Sekhr the genie; and he sent his Vizier Asef teen Berkhiya, who
+took me by force and bound me and carried me, in despite of
+myself, before Solomon, who invoked God's aid against me and
+exhorted me to embrace the Faith[FN#17] and submit to his
+authority: but I refused. Then he sent for this vessel and shut
+me up in it and stoppered it with lead and sealed it with the
+Most High Name and commanded the Jinn to take me and throw me
+into the midst of the sea. There I remained a hundred years, and
+I said in my heart, "Whoso releaseth me, I will make him rich for
+ever." But the hundred years passed and no one came to release
+me, and I entered on another century and said, "Whoso releaseth
+me, I will open to him the treasures of the earth" But none
+released me, and other four hundred years passed over me, and I
+said, "Whoso releaseth me, I will grant him three wishes." But no
+one set me free. Then I was exceeding wroth and said to myself,
+"Henceforth, whoso releaseth me, I will kill him and let him
+choose what death he will die." And now, thou hast released me,
+and I give thee thy choice of deaths.' When the fisherman heard
+this, he exclaimed, 'O God, the pity of it that I should not have
+come to release thee till now!' Then he said to the Afrit, 'Spare
+me, that God may spare thee, and do not destroy me, lest God set
+over thee one who will destroy thee.' But he answered, 'There is
+no help for it, I must kill thee: so choose what death thou wilt
+die.' The fisherman again returned to the charge, saying, 'Spare
+me for that I set thee free.' 'Did I not tell thee,' replied the
+Marid, 'that is why I kill thee?' 'O head of the Afrits,' said
+the fisherman, 'I did thee a kindness, and thou repayest me with
+evil: indeed the proverb lieth not that saith:
+
+"We did them good, and they the contrary returned: And this, upon
+     my life, is what the wicked do!
+Who helps those, that deserve it not, shall be repaid As the
+     hyæna paid the man that helped her through."'
+
+'Make no more words about it,' said the Afrit; 'thou must die.'
+Quoth the fisherman to himself, 'This is a genie, and I am a man;
+and God hath given me a good wit. So I will contrive for his
+destruction by my wit and cunning, even as he plotted mine of his
+craft and perfidy.' Then he said to the Afrit, 'Is there no help
+for it, but thou must kill me?' He answered, 'No,' and the
+fisherman said, 'I conjure thee, by the Most High Name graven
+upon the ring of Solomon son of David (on whom be peace!), answer
+me one question truly.' When the Afrit heard him mention the Most
+High Name, he was agitated and trembled and replied, 'It is well:
+ask and be brief.' Quoth the fisherman, 'This vessel would not
+suffice for thy hand or thy foot: so how could it hold the whole
+of thee?' Said the Afrit, 'Dost thou doubt that I was in it?'
+'Yes,' answered the fisherman; 'nor will I believe it till I see
+it with my own eyes.'" Here Shehrzad perceived the day and was
+silent.
+
+            And when it was the fourth night[FN#18]
+
+Dunyazad said to her sister, "O sister, an thou be not asleep,
+finish us thy story." So Shehrzad began, "I have heard tell, O
+august King, that, when he heard what the fisherman said, the
+Afrit shook and became a smoke over the sea, which drew together
+and entered the vessel little by little, till it was all inside.
+Whereupon the fisherman made haste to take the leaden stopper and
+clapping it on the mouth of the vessel, called out to the Afrit,
+saying, 'Choose what death thou wilt die! By Allah, I will throw
+thee back into the sea and build myself a house hard by, and all
+who come hither I will warn against fishing here, and say to
+them, "There is an Afrit in these waters, that gives those who
+pull him out their choice of deaths and how he shall kill them."'
+When the Afrit heard this and found himself shut up in the
+vessel, he knew that the fisherman had outwitted him and strove
+to get out, but could not, for Solomon's seal prevented him; so
+he said to the fisherman, 'I did but jest with thee.' 'Thou
+liest, O vilest and meanest and foulest of Afrits!' answered he,
+and rolled the vessel to the brink of the sea; which when the
+Afrit felt, he cried out, 'No! No!' And the fisherman said, 'Yes!
+Yes!' Then the Afrit made his voice small and humbled himself and
+said, 'What wilt thou do with me, O fisherman?' 'I mean to throw
+thee back into the sea,' replied he; 'since thou hast lain there
+already eighteen hundred years, thou shalt lie there now till the
+hour of judgment. Did I not say to thee, "Spare me, so God may
+spare thee; and do not kill me, lest God kill thee?" but thou
+spurnedst my prayers and wouldst deal with me no otherwise than
+perfidiously. So I used cunning with thee and now God has
+delivered thee into my hand.' Said the Afrit, 'Let me out, that I
+may confer benefits on thee.' The fisherman answered, 'Thou
+liest, O accursed one! Thou and I are like King Younan's Vizier
+and the physician Douban.' 'Who are they,' asked the Afrit, 'and
+what is their story?' Then said the fisherman, 'Know, O Afrit,
+that
+
+
+
+
+                 Story of the Physician Douban.
+
+
+
+There was once in a city of Persia a powerful and wealthy king,
+named Younan, who had guards and troops and auxiliaries of every
+kind: but he was afflicted with a leprosy, which defied the
+efforts of his physicians and wise men. He took potions and
+powders and used ointments, but all to no avail, and not one of
+the doctors could cure him. At last, there came to the King's
+capital city a great physician, stricken in years, whose name was
+Douban: and he had studied many books, Greek, ancient and modern,
+and Persian and Turkish and Arabic and Syriac and Hebrew, and was
+skilled in medicine and astrology, both theoretical and
+practical. Moreover he was familiar with all plants and herbs and
+grasses, whether harmful or beneficial, and was versed in the
+learning of the philosophers; in brief, he had made himself
+master of all sciences, medical and other. He had not been long
+in the town before he heard of the leprosy with which God had
+afflicted the King, and of the failure of the physicians and men
+of science to cure him; whereupon he passed the night in study;
+and when the day broke and the morning appeared and shone, he
+donned his richest apparel and went in to the King and kissing
+the ground before him, wished him enduring honour and fair
+fortune, in the choicest words at his command. Then he told him
+who he was and said to him, "O King, I have learnt what has
+befallen thee in thy person and how a multitude of physicians
+have failed to find a means of ridding thee of it: but I will
+cure thee, O King, and that without giving thee to drink of
+medicine or anointing thee with ointment." When the King heard
+this, he wondered and said to him, "How wilt thou do this? By
+Allah, if thou cure me, I will enrich thee, even to thy
+children's children, and I will heap favours on thee, and
+whatever thou desirest shalt be shine, and thou shalt be my
+companion and my friend." Then he gave him a dress of honour and
+made much of him, saying, "Wilt thou indeed cure me without drugs
+or ointment?" "Yes," answered Douban, "I will cure thee from
+without." Whereat the King marvelled exceedingly and said, "O
+physician, when wilt thou do as thou hast said? Make haste, O my
+son!" Quoth Douban, "I hear and obey: it shall be done tomorrow."
+And he went down into the city and hired a house, in which he
+deposited his books and medicines. Then he took certain drugs and
+simples and fashioned them into a mall, which he hollowed out and
+made thereto a handle and a ball, adapted to it by his art. Next
+morning he presented himself before the King and kissing the
+ground before him, ordered him to repair to the tilting ground
+and play at mall there. So the King mounted and repaired thither
+with his amirs and chamberlains and viziers, and hardly had he
+reached the appointed place when the physician Douban came up and
+presented him with the mall and ball he had prepared, saying,
+"Take this mall and grip the handle thus and drive into the plain
+and stretch thyself well and strike this ball till thy hand and
+thy body sweat, when the drugs will penetrate thy hand and
+permeate thy body. When thou hast done and the medicine has
+entered into thee, return to thy palace and enter the bath and
+wash. Then sleep awhile and thou wilt awake cured, and peace be
+on thee!" The King took the mall and mounting a swift horse,
+threw the ball before him and drove after it with all his might
+and smote it: and his hand gripped the mall firmly. And he ceased
+not to drive after the bail and strike it, till his hand and all
+his body sweated, and Douban knew that the drugs had taken effect
+upon him and ordered him to return and enter the bath at once. So
+the King returned immediately and ordered the bath to be emptied
+for him. They turned the people out of the bath, and his servants
+and attendants hastened thither and made him ready change of
+linen and all that was necessary: and he went in and washed
+himself well and put on his clothes. Then he came out of the bath
+and went up to his palace and slept there. When he awoke, he
+looked at his body and found it clean as virgin silver, having no
+trace left of the leprosy: whereat he rejoiced exceedingly and his
+breast expanded with gladness. Next morning, he repaired to the
+Divan and sat down on his chair of estate, and the chamberlains
+and grandees attended on him. Presently, the physician Douban
+presented himself and kissed the earth before the king and
+repeated the following verses:
+
+The virtues all exalted are, when thou art styled their sire:
+     None else the title dares accept, of all that men admire.
+Lord of the radiant brow, whose light dispels the mists of doubt
+     From every goal of high emprize whereunto folk aspire,
+Ne'er may thy visage cease to shine with glory and with joy,
+     Although the face of Fate should gloom with unremitting ire!
+Even as the clouds pour down their dews upon the thirsting hills,
+     Thy grace pours favour on my head, outrunning my desire.
+With liberal hand thou casteth forth thy bounties far and nigh,
+     And so hast won those heights of fame thou soughtest to
+     acquire.
+
+The King rose to him in haste and embraced him and made him sit
+down and clad him in a splendid dress of honour. Then tables of
+rich food were brought in, and Douban ate with the King and
+ceased not to bear him company all that day. When it was night,
+the King gave him two thousand diners, besides other presents,
+and mounted him on his own horse; and the physician returned to
+his lodging, leaving the King astonished at his skill and saying,
+"This man cured me from without, without using ointments. By
+Allah, this is none other than consummate skill! And it behoves
+me to honour and reward him and make him my companion and bosom
+friend to the end of time." The King passed the night in great
+content, rejoicing in the soundness of his body and his
+deliverance from his malady. On the morrow, he went out and sat
+down on his throne; and the grandees stood before him, whilst the
+amirs and viziers sat on his right hand and on his left. Then he
+sent for the physician, who came and kissed the ground before
+him, whereupon the King rose to him and made him sit by his side
+and eat with him, and ceased not to converse with him and make
+much of him till night; when he commanded five dresses of honour
+and a thousand diners to be given to him, and he returned to his
+house, well contented with the King. Next morning, the King
+repaired as usual to his council-chamber, and the amirs and
+viziers and chamberlains took their places round him. Now he had
+among his viziers one who was forbidding of aspect, sordid,
+avaricious and envious: a man of ill omen, naturally inclined to
+malevolence: and when he saw the esteem in which the King held
+Douban and the favours he bestowed on him, he envied him and
+plotted evil against him; for, as says the byword, "Nobody is
+free from envy"--and again--"Tyranny is latent in the soul:
+weakness hides it and strength reveals it." So he came to the
+King and kissed the earth before him and said to him "O King of
+the age, thou in whose bounties I have grown up, I have a grave
+warning to give thee, which did I conceal from thee, I were a son
+of shame: wherefore, if thou command me to impart it to thee, I
+will do so." Quoth the King (and indeed the Vizier's words
+troubled him), "What is thy warning?" "O illustrious King,"
+answered the Vizier, "the ancients have a saying, 'Whoso looks
+not to the issue of events, fortune is no friend of his :' and
+indeed I see the King in other than the right way, in that he
+favours his enemy, who seeks the downfall of his kingdom, and
+makes much of him and honours him exceedingly and is beyond
+measure familiar with him: and of a truth I am fearful for the
+King." Quoth King Younan (and indeed he was troubled and his
+colour changed), "Of whom dost thou speak?" The Vizier answered,
+"If thou sleepest, awake. I mean the physician Douban." "Out on
+thee!" said the King. "He is my true friend and the dearest of
+all men to me; seeing that he medicined me by means of a thing I
+held in my hand and cured me of my leprosy, which the doctors
+were unable to cure; and there is not his like to be found in
+this time, no, not in the whole world, East nor West; and it is
+of him that thou speakest thus! But from to-day I will assign him
+stipends and allowances and appoint him a thousand diners a
+month: and if I should share my kingdom with him, it were but a
+little thing. Methinks thou sayest this out of pure envy and
+wouldst have me kill him and after repent, as King Sindbad
+repented the killing of his falcon." "Pardon me, O King of the
+age," said the Vizier, "but how was that! Quoth the King, "It is
+said that
+
+
+
+
+King Sindbad and His Falcon.
+
+
+
+There was once a King of Persia, who delighted in hunting; and he
+had reared a falcon, that left him not day or night, but slept
+all night long, perched upon his hand. Whenever he went out to
+hunt, he took the falcon with him; and he let make for it a cup
+of gold to hang round its neck, that he might give it to drink
+therein. One day, his chief falconer came in to him and said, 'O
+King, now is the time to go a-hunting.' So the King gave orders
+accordingly and took the falcon on his wrist and set out,
+accompanied by his officers and attendants. They rode on till
+they reached a valley, where they formed the circle of the chase,
+and behold, a gazelle entered the ring; whereupon quoth the King,
+'Whoso lets the gazelle spring over his head, I will kill him.'
+Then they drew the ring closelier round her, and behold, she came
+to the King's station and standing still, put her forelegs to her
+breast, as if to kill the earth before him. He bowed to her, but
+she sprang over his head and was off into the desert. The King
+saw his attendants nodding and winking to one another about him
+and said to his Vizier, 'O Vizier, what say my men?' 'They say,'
+answered the Vizier,  that thou didst threaten to kill him over
+whose head the gazelle should spring.' 'As my head liveth,'
+rejoined the King, 'I will follow her up, till I bring her back!'
+So he pricked on after her and followed her till he came to a
+mountain and she made for her lair; but the King cast off the
+falcon, which swooped down on her and pecked at her eyes, till he
+blinded her and dazed her; whereupon the King threw his mace at
+her and brought her down. Then he alighted and cut her throat and
+skinned her and made her fast to his saddle-bow. Now it was the
+hour of midday rest and the place, where he was, was desert, and
+the King was athirst and so was his horse. So he searched till he
+saw a tree, with water dripping slowly, like oil, from its
+branches. Now the King's hands were gloved with leather;[FN#19]
+so he took the cup from the falcon's neck and filled it with the
+liquid and set it before himself, when behold, the falcon smote
+the cup and overturned it. The King took it and refilled it with
+the falling drops and set it before the bird, thinking that it
+was athirst: but it smote it again and overturned it. At this,
+the King was vexed with the falcon and rose and filled the cup a
+third time and set it before the horse: but the falcon again
+overturned it with its wing. Then said the King, 'God confound
+thee, thou most mischievous of fowls, thou wilt neither drink
+thyself nor let me nor the horse drink!' And he smote it with his
+sword and cut off its wings: whereupon it erected its head and
+made signs as who should say, 'Look what is at the top of the
+tree.' The King raised his eyes and saw at the top of the tree a
+brood of snakes, and this was their venom dripping, which he had
+taken for water. So he repented him of having cut off the
+falcon's wings and mounting, rode on till he reached his tents
+and gave the gazelle to the cook to roast. Then he sat down on
+his chair, with the falcon on his wrist: and presently the bird
+gasped and died: whereupon the King cried out in sorrow and
+lament for having slain the bird that had saved him from death,
+and repented him when repentance availed him not. This, then, is
+the story of King Sindbad; and as for thee, O Vizier, envy hath
+entered into thee, and thou wouldst have me kill the physician
+and after repent, even as King Sindbad repented." "O mighty
+King," answered the Vizier, "what harm has this physician done me
+that I should wish his death? Indeed I only do this thing in
+compassion for thee and that thou mayst know the truth of the
+matter: else may I perish as perished the Vizier who plotted to
+destroy the king his master's son." "How was that? asked the
+King, and the Vizier replied, "Know, O King, that
+
+
+
+
+The King's Son and the Ogress.
+
+
+
+There was once a King's son who was passionately fond of the
+chase; and his father had charged one of his Viziers to attend
+him wherever he went. One day, the prince went out to hunt,
+accompanied by the Vizier, and as they were going along, they saw
+a great wild beast, whereupon the Vizier said to the prince, 'Up
+and after yonder beast!' So the prince rode after the beast and
+followed it, till he was lost to sight. After awhile, the beast
+disappeared in the desert, and the prince found himself alone,
+not knowing which way to turn. Presently he came upon a damsel,
+weeping, and said to her, 'Who art thou?' Quoth she, 'I am the
+daughter of one of the Kings of India, and I was journeying
+through this country, with a company of people, when sleep
+overcame me and I fell from my horse, not knowing what I did. My
+people did not note my fall and went on and left me; and now I am
+alone and bewildered.' When the prince heard this, he had pity on
+her case and took her up behind himself and they rode on, till
+they came to some ruins; when she said to him, 'O my lord, I wish
+to do an occasion here.' So he put her down, and she entered the
+ruins and tarried there till he became impatient and went in
+search of her; when he was ware that she was an ogress, and heard
+her say to her children, 'O my children, I have brought you to
+day a fat youth.' 'O mother,' answered they, 'bring him to us,
+that we may browse on him our bellyful.' When the prince heard
+this their talk, he trembled in every nerve and made sure of
+destruction and turned back. The ogress came out after him and
+finding him terrified and trembling, said to him, 'Why dost thou
+fear?' Quoth he, 'I have an enemy, of whom I am in fear.' 'Didst
+thou not say that thou wast a King's son?' asked she, and he
+answered 'Yes.' 'Then,'said she, 'why dost thou not give thine
+enemy money and so appease him?' He replied, 'Indeed he will not
+be satisfied with money nor with aught but life; and I fear him
+and am an oppressed man.' 'If thou be oppressed as thou sayst,'
+rejoined she, 'ask help of God; surely He will protect thee from
+thine enemy and from the mischief thou fearest from him.' So the
+prince raised his eyes to heaven and said, 'O Thou that answerest
+the prayer of the distressed, when they call on Thee, and
+dispellest evil from them, O my God, succour me against mine
+enemy and turn him back from me, for Thou indeed canst do
+whatsoever Thou wilt.' When the ogress heard his prayer, she
+departed from him and he resumed to the King his father and
+informed him of the Vizier's conduct: whereupon the King sent for
+the latter and put him to death. And thou, O King" (continued the
+envious Vizier), "if thou put thy trust in this physician, he
+will kill thee in the foulest fashion. He, verily, whom thou hast
+favoured and admitted to thy friendship, plots thy destruction:
+for know that he is a spy come from a far land with intent to
+destroy thee. Seest thou not that he cured thee of thy distemper
+from without, by means of a thing held in thy hand, and how canst
+thou be sure that he will not kill thee by some like means?"
+"Thou speakest sooth, O Vizier of good counsel!" said the King.
+"It must indeed be as thou sayst; this physician doubtless comes
+as a spy, seeking to destroy me; and indeed, if he could cure me
+by means of a handle held in my hand, he can kill me by means of
+something I shall smell. But what is to be done with him?" "Send
+after him at once," answered the Vizier, "and when he comes,
+strike off his head and play him false, ere he play thee false;
+and so shalt thou ward off his mischief and be at peace from
+him." "Thou art right, O Vizier," rejoined the King and sent for
+the physician, who came, rejoicing, for he knew not what the
+Compassionate had decreed unto him. As the saying runs:
+
+Thou that fearest ill fortune, be of good heart and hope! Trust
+     thine affairs to Him who fashioned the earth and sea!
+What is decreed of God surely shall come to pass; That which is
+     not decreed never shall trouble thee.
+
+When Douban entered, he recited the following verses:
+
+If all the thanks I speak come short of that which is your due,
+     Say for whom else my verse and prose I make except for you?
+You have indeed prevented me with many an unasked boon, Blest me,
+     unhindered of excuse, with favours not a few.
+How then should I omit to give your praise its full desert And
+     celebrate with heart and voice your goodness ever new?
+I will indeed proclaim aloud the boons I owe to you, Favours,
+     that, heavy to the hack, are light the thought unto.
+
+And also the following:
+
+Avert thy face from trouble and from care And trust in God to
+     order thine affair.
+Rejoice in happy fortune near at hand, In which thou shalt forget
+     the woes that were.
+Full many a weary and a troublous thing Is, in its issue,
+     solaceful and fair.
+God orders all according to His will: Oppose Him not in what He
+     doth prepare.
+
+And these also:
+
+Trust thine affairs to the Subtle, to God that knoweth all, And
+     rest at peace from the world, for nothing shall thee appal.
+Know that the things of the world not, as thou wilt, befall, But
+     as the Great God orders, to whom all kings are thrall!
+
+And lastly these:
+
+Take heart and rejoice and forget thine every woe, For even the
+     wit of the wise is eaten away by care.
+What shall thought-taking profit a helpless, powerless slave?
+     Leave it and be at peace in joy enduring fore'er!
+
+
+When he had finished, the King said to him, "Dost thou know why I
+have sent for thee?" And the physician answered, "None knoweth
+the hidden things save God the Most High." Quoth the King, "I
+have sent for thee to kill thee and put an end to thy life."
+Douban wondered greatly at these words and said, "O King,
+wherefore wilt thou kill me and what offence have I committed?"
+"I am told," replied Younan, "that thou art a spy and comest to
+kill me, but I will kill thee first." Then he cried out to his
+swordbearer, saying, "Strike off the head of this traitor and rid
+us of his mischief!" "Spare me," said Douban; "so may God spare
+thee; and kill me not, lest God kill thee!" And he repeated these
+words to him, even as I did to thee, O Afrit, and thou wouldst
+not spare me, but persistedst in thine intent to put me to death.
+Then the King said to Douban, "Verily I shall not be secure
+except I kill thee: for thou curedst me by means of a handle I
+held in my hand, and I have no assurance but thou wilt kill me by
+means of perfumes or otherwise." "O King," said Douban, "is this
+my reward from thee? Thou returnest evil for good?" The King
+replied, "It boots not: thou must die and that without delay."
+When the physician saw that the King was irrevocably resolved to
+kill him, he wept and lamented the good he had done to the
+undeserving, blaming himself for having sown in an ungrateful
+soil and repeating the following verses:
+
+Maimouneh has no wit to guide her by, Although her sire among the
+wise ranks high.
+The man, who has no sense to rule his steps, Slips, he the ground
+he treads on wet or dry.
+
+Then the swordbearer came forward and bandaged his eyes and
+baring his sword, said to the King, "Have I thy leave to strike?"
+Whereupon the physician wept and said, "Spare me, so God may
+spare thee: and kill me not, lest God kill thee!" And he recited
+the following verses:
+
+I acted in good faith and they betrayed: I came to nought: They
+     prospered, whilst my loyalty brought me to evil case.
+If that I live, I will to none good counsel give again: And if I
+     die, good counsellors be curst of every race!
+
+And he said to the King, "Is this my reward from thee? Thou
+givest me the crocodile's recompense." Quoth the King, "What is
+the story of the crocodile?" "I cannot tell it," answered Douban,
+"and I in this case; but, God on thee, spare me, so may He spare
+thee!" And he wept sore. Then one of the King's chief officers
+rose and said, "O King, grant me this man's life, for we see not
+that he has committed any offence against thee nor that he has
+done aught but cure thee of thy disorder, which baffled the
+doctors and sages." "Ye know not why I put him to death,"
+answered the King: "it is because I believe him to be a spy, who
+hath been suborned to kill me and came hither with that intent:
+and verily he who cured me by means of a handle held in my hand
+can easily poison me in like manner. If I spare him, he will
+infallibly destroy me: so needs must I kill him, and then I shall
+feel myself safe." When the physician was convinced that there
+was no hope for him, but that the King would indeed put him to
+death, he said to the latter, "O King, if thou must indeed kill
+me, grant me a respite, that I may go to my house and discharge
+my last duties and dispose of my medical books and give my people
+and friends directions for my burial. Among my books is one that
+is a rarity of rarities, and I will make thee a present of it,
+that thou mayst lay it up in thy treasury." "And what is in this
+book?" asked the King. Quoth Douban, "It contains things without
+number: the least of its secret virtues is that if, when thou
+hast cut off my head, thou open the book, turn over six leaves
+and read three lines of the left-hand page, my head will speak
+and answer whatever questions thou shalt ask it." At this the
+King marvelled greatly and shook with delight and said, "O
+physician, will thy head indeed speak to me, after it is cut
+off?" And he answered, "Yes, O King." Quoth the King, "This is
+indeed wonderful!" And sent him under guard to his house, where
+Douban spent the remainder of the day in setting his affairs in
+order. Next day, the amirs and viziers and chamberlains and all
+the great officers and notables of the kingdom came to the court,
+and the presence chamber was like a flower garden. Presently the
+physician entered, bearing an old book and a small pot full of
+powder; and sitting down, called for a dish. So they brought him
+a dish, and he poured the powder therein and levelled it. Then he
+said, "O King, take this book, but do not open it till my head
+has been cut off, placed on this dish and pressed down on the
+powder, when the blood will cease to flow: then open the book and
+do as I have enjoined thee." The King took the book and gave the
+signal to the headsman, who rose and struck off the physician's
+head and set it on the dish, pressing it down upon the powder,
+when the blood immediately ceased to flow, and the head unclosed
+its eyes and said, "Open the book, O King!" Younan opened the
+book and found the leaves stuck together; so he put his finger to
+his mouth and took of his spittle and loosened them therewith and
+turned over the pages in this manner, one after another, for the
+leaves would not come apart but with difficulty, till he came to
+the seventh page, but found nothing written thereon and said to
+the head, "O physician, there is nothing here." Quoth the head,
+"Open more leaves." So the King turned over more leaves in the
+same manner. Now the book was as poisoned, and before long the
+poison began to work upon the King, and he fell back in
+convulsions and cried out, "I am poisoned!" Whereupon the head
+repeated the following verses:
+
+Lo, these once were kings who governed with a harsh and haughty
+     sway! In a little, their dominion was as if it ne'er had
+     been.
+Had they swayed the sceptre justly, they had been repaid the
+     like, But they were unjust, and Fortune guerdoned them with
+     dole and teen.
+Now they're passed away, the moral of their case bespeaks them
+     thus, "This is what your sins have earnt you: Fate is not to
+     blame, I ween."
+
+No sooner had it done speaking, than the King fell down dead and
+the head also ceased to live. And know, O Afrit (continued the
+fisherman), that if King Younan had spared the physician Douban,
+God would have spared him; but he refused and sought his death;
+so God killed him. And thou, O Afrit, if thou hadst spared me, I
+would spare thee; but nothing would serve thee but thou must put
+me to death; so now I will kill thee by shutting thee up in this
+vessel and throwing thee into the sea.' At this the Marid roared
+out and said, 'God on thee, O fisherman, do not do that! Spare me
+and bear me not malice for what I did, for men's wit is still
+better than that of Jinn. If I did evil, do thou good, in
+accordance with the adage, "O thou that dost good to him that
+does evil, the deed of the evil-doer suffices him." Do not thou
+deal with me as did Umameh with Aatikeh.' 'And what did Umameh
+with Aatikeh?' asked the fisherman. But the Afrit answered, 'This
+is no time to tell stories, and I in this duresse: let me out,
+and I will tell thee.' Quoth the fisherman, 'Leave this talk: I
+must and will throw thee into the sea, and thou shalt never win
+out again; for I besought thee and humbled myself to thee, but
+nothing would serve thee but thou must kill me, who had committed
+no offence against thee deserving this nor done thee any ill, but
+only kindness, in that I delivered thee from duresse. When thou
+didst thus by me, I knew thee for an incorrigible evil-doer; and
+know that, when I have thrown thee back into the sea, I will tell
+every one what happened between me and thee and warn him, to the
+end that whoever fishes thee up may throw thee in again; and thou
+shalt remain in the sea till the end of time and suffer all
+manner of torments.' Quoth the Afrit, 'Let me out, for this is
+the season of generosity; and I will make a compact with thee
+never to do thee hurt and to help thee to what shall enrich
+thee.' The fisherman accepted his proposal and unsealed the
+vessel, after he had taken the Afrit's pledge and made him swear
+by the Most High Name never to hurt him, but on the contrary to
+do him service. Then the smoke ascended as before and gathered
+itself together and became an Afrit, who gave the vessel a kick
+and sent it into the sea. When the fisherman saw this, he let fly
+in his clothes and gave himself up for lost, saying, 'This bodes
+no good.' But he took courage and said to the Afrit, 'O Afrit,
+quoth God the Most High, "Be ye faithful to your covenants, for
+they shall be enquired of:" and verily thou madest a pact with me
+and sworest to me that thou wouldst do me no hurt. So play me not
+false, lest God do the like with thee: for indeed He is a jealous
+God, who delayeth to punish, yet letteth not the evil-doer
+escape. And I say to thee, as said the physician Douban to King
+Younan, "Spare me, so God may spare thee!"' The Afrit laughed and
+started off inland, saying to the fisherman, 'Follow me.' So he
+followed him, trembling and not believing that he should escape,
+and the Afrit led him to the backward of the town: then crossing
+a hill, descended into a spacious plain, in the midst of which
+was a lake of water surrounded by four little hills. He led the
+fisherman into the midst of the lake, where he stood still and
+bade him throw his net and fish. The fisherman looked into the
+water and was astonished to see therein fish of four colours,
+white and red and blue and yellow. Then he took out his net and
+cast and drawing it in, found in it four fish, one of each
+colour. At this he rejoiced, and the Afrit said to him, 'Carry
+them to the Sultan and present them to him, and he will give thee
+what shall enrich thee. And accept my excuse, for I know not any
+other way to fulfil my pro mise to thee, having lain in yonder
+sea eighteen hundred years and never seen the surface of the
+earth till this time. But do not fish here more than once a day;
+and I commend thee to God's care!' So saying, he struck the earth
+with his foot, and it opened and swallowed him up, whilst the
+fisherman returned, wondering at all that had befallen him, to
+his house, where he took a bowl of water and laid therein the
+fish, which began to frisk about. Then he set the bowl on his
+head and going up to the palace, as the Afrit had bidden him,
+presented the fish to the King, who wondered at them greatly, for
+that he had never seen their like, in shape or kind, and said to
+his Vizier, 'Give these fish to the cookmaid that the King of the
+Greeks sent us, and tell her to fry them.' Now this was a damsel
+that he had received as a present from the King of the Greeks
+three days before and of whom he had not yet made trial in
+cookery. So the Vizier carried the fish to the cookmaid and said
+to her, 'These fish have been brought as a present to the Sultan
+and he says to thee, "O my tear, I have reserved thee against my
+stress!" So do thou show us to-day thy skill and the excellence
+of thy cookery.' Then he returned to the Sultan, who bade him
+give the fisherman four hundred diners. So he gave them to him
+and he took the money in his lap and set off home, running and
+stumbling and falling and rising again and thinking that he was
+dreaming. And he bought what was needful for his family and
+returned to his wife, glad and happy. Meanwhile the cookmaid took
+the fish and cleaned them and set the frying-pan on the fire.
+Then she poured in oil of sesame and waited till it was hot, when
+she put in the fish. As soon as one side was done, she fumed
+them, when lo, the wall of the kitchen opened and out came a
+handsome and well-shaped young lady, with smooth cheeks and
+liquid black eyes.[FN#20] She was clad in a tunic of satin,
+yarded with spangles of Egyptian gold, and on her head she had a
+silken kerchief, fringed with blue. She wore rings in her ears
+and bracelets on her wrists and rings on her fingers, with
+beazels of precious stones, and held in her hand a rod of Indian
+cane. She came up to the brazier and thrust the rod into the
+frying-pan saying 'O fish, are you constant to your covenant?'
+And when the cookmaid heard this she swooned away. Then the
+damsel repeated her question a second and a third time; and the
+fish lifted up their heads and cried out with one voice, 'Yes,
+yes:
+
+Return, and we return: keep faith, and so will we: Or, if thou
+     wilt, forsake, and we'll do like to thee!'
+
+With this the damsel overturned the frying-pan and went out by
+the way she had come, and the wall closed up again as before.
+Presently the cookmaid came to herself and seeing the four fish
+burnt black as coal, said, 'My arms are broken in my first
+skirmish!' And fell down again in a swoon. Whilst she was in this
+state, in came the Vizier, to seek the fish, and found her
+insensible, not knowing Saturday from Thursday. So he stirred her
+with his foot and she came to herself and wept and told him what
+had passed. He marvelled and said, 'This is indeed a strange
+thing !' Then he sent for the fisherman and said to him, 'O
+fisherman, bring us four more fish of the same kind.' So the
+fisherman repaired to the lake and cast his net and hauling it
+in, found in it four fish like the first and carried them to the
+Vizier, who took them to the cookmaid and said to her, 'Come, fry
+them before me, that I may see what happens.' So she cleaned the
+fish and setting the frying-pan on the fire, threw them into it:
+and they had not lain long before the wall opened and the damsel
+appeared, after the same fashion, and thrust the rod into the
+pan, saying, 'O fish, O fish, are you constant to the old
+covenant?' And behold the fish all lifted up their heads and
+cried out as before, 'Yes, yes:
+
+Return, and we return: keep faith, and so will we: Or, if thou
+     wilt, forsake, and we'll do like to thee!'
+
+Then she overturned the pan and went out as she had come and the
+wall closed up again. When the Vizier saw this, he said, 'This is
+a thing that must not be kept from the King. So he went to him
+and told him what he had witnessed; and the King said, 'I must
+see this with my own eyes.' Then he sent for the fisherman and
+commanded him to bring him other four fish like the first; and
+the fisherman went down at once to the lake and casting his net,
+caught other four fish and returned with them to the King, who
+ordered him other four hundred diners and set a guard upon him
+till he should see what happened. Then he turned to the Vizier
+and said to him, 'Come thou and fry the fish before me.' Quoth
+the Vizier, 'I hear and obey.' So he fetched the frying-pan and
+setting it on the fire, cleaned the fish and threw them in: but
+hardly had he turned them, when the wall opened, and out came a
+black slave, as he were a mountain or one of the survivors of the
+tribe of Aad,[FN#21] with a branch of a green tree in his hand:
+and he said, in a terrible voice, 'O fish, O fish, are you
+constant to the old covenant?' Whereupon they lifted up their
+heads and cried out' 'Yes, yes; we are constant:
+
+Return, and we return: keep faith, and so will we: Or, if thou
+     wilt,  forsake, and we'll do like to thee!'
+
+Then the slave went up to the pan and overturning it with the
+branch, went out as he had come, and the wall closed up as
+before. The King looked at the fish and found them black as coal;
+whereat he was bewildered and said to the Vizier, 'This is a
+thing about which it is impossible to keep silence; and indeed
+there must be some strange circumstance connected with these
+fish.' Then he sent for the fisherman and said to him, 'Hark ye,
+sirrah, whence hadst thou those fish?' 'From a lake between four
+hills,' answered he, 'on the thither side of the mountain behind
+the city.' 'How many days' journey hence?' asked the King; and
+the fisherman said, 'O my lord Sultan, half an hour's journey.'
+At this the King was astonished and ordering the troops to mount,
+set out at once, followed by his suite and preceded by the
+fisherman, who began to curse the Afrit. They rode on over the
+mountain and descended into a wide plain, that they had never
+before set eyes on, whereat they were all amazed. Then they fared
+on till they came to the lake lying between the four hills and
+saw the fish therein of four colours, red and white and yellow
+and blue. The King stood and wondered and said to his attendants,
+'Has any one of you ever seen this lake before?' But they
+answered, 'Never did we set eyes on it in all our lives, O King
+of the age.' Then he questioned those stricken in years, and they
+made him the same answer. Quoth he, 'By Allah, I will not return
+to my capital nor sit down on my chair of estate till I know the
+secret of this pond and its fish!' Then he ordered his people to
+encamp at the foot of the hills and called his Vizier, who was a
+man of learning and experience, sagacious and skilful in
+business, and said to him, 'I mean to go forth alone to-night and
+enquire into the matter of the lake and these fish: wherefore do
+thou sit down at the door of my pavilion and tell the amirs and
+viziers and chamberlains and officers and all who ask after me
+that the Sultan is ailing and hath ordered thee to admit no one,
+and do thou acquaint none with my purpose.' The Vizier dared not
+oppose his design; so the King disguised himself and girt on his
+sword and going forth privily, took a path that led over one of
+the hills and fared on all that night and the next day, till the
+heat overcame him and he paused to rest. Then he set out again
+and fared on the rest of that day and all the next night, till on
+the morning of the second day, he caught sight of some black
+thing in the distance, whereat he rejoiced and said, 'Belike I
+shall find some one who can tell me the secret of the lake and
+the fish.' So he walked on, till he came to the black object,
+when he found it a palace built of black stone, plated with iron;
+and one leaf of its gate was open and the other shut. At this the
+King rejoiced and went up to the gate and knocked lightly, but
+heard no answer. So he knocked a second time and a third time,
+with the same result. Then he knocked loudly, but still no one
+answered; and he said to himself, 'It must be deserted.' So he
+took courage and entering the vestibule, cried out, 'Ho, people
+of the palace! I am a stranger and a wayfarer and hungry. Have ye
+any victual?' He repeated these words a second and a third time,
+but none answered. So he took heart and went on boldly into the
+interior of the palace, which he found hung and furnished with
+silken stuffs, embroidered with stars of gold, and curtains let
+down before the doors. In the midst was a spacious courtyard,
+with four estrades, one on each side, and a bench of stone.
+Midmost the courtyard was a great basin of water, from which
+sprang a fountain, and at the corners stood four lions of red
+gold, spouting forth water as it were pearls and jewels; and the
+place was full of birds, which were hindered from flying away by
+a network of gold stretched overhead. The King looked right and
+left, but there was no one to be seen; whereat he marvelled and
+was vexed to find none of whom he might enquire concerning the
+lake and the fish and the palace itself. So he returned to the
+vestibule and sitting down between the doors, fell to musing upon
+what he had seen, when lo, he heard a moaning that came from a
+sorrowful heart, and a voice chanted the following verses:
+
+I hid what I endured from thee: it came to light, And sleep was
+     changed to wake thenceforward to my sight.
+O Fate, thou sparest not nor dost desist from me; Lo, for my
+     heart is racked with dolour and affright!
+Have pity, lady mine, upon the great laid low, Upon the rich made
+     poor by love and its despite!
+Once, jealous of the breeze that blew on thee, I was, Alas! on
+     whom Fate falls, his eyes are veiled with night.
+What boots the archer's skill, if, when the foe draws near, His
+     bow-string snap and leave him helpless in the fight?
+So when afflictions press upon the noble mind, Where shall a man
+     from Fate and Destiny take flight?
+
+When the King heard this, he rose and followed the sound and
+found that it came from behind a curtain let down before the
+doorway of a sitting-chamber. So he raised the curtain and saw a
+young man seated upon a couch raised a cubit from the ground. He
+was a handsome well-shaped youth, with flower-white forehead and
+rosy cheeks and a black mole, like a grain of ambergris, on the
+table of his cheek, as says the poet:
+
+The slender one! From his brow and the night of his jetty hair,
+     The world in alternate gloom and splendour of day doth fare.
+Blame not the mole on his cheek. Is an anemone's cup Perfect,
+     except in its midst an eyelet of black it wear?
+
+He was clad in a robe of silk, laced with Egyptian gold, and had
+on his head a crown set with jewels, but his face bore traces of
+affliction. The King rejoiced when he saw him and saluted him;
+and the youth returned his salute in the most courteous wise,
+though without rising, and said to him, 'O my lord, excuse me if
+I do not rise to thee, as is thy due; indeed, I am unable to do
+so.' 'I hold thee excused, O youth!' answered the King. 'I am thy
+guest and come to thee on a pressing errand, beseeching thee to
+expound to me the mystery of the lake and the fish and of this
+palace, and why thou sittest here alone and weeping.' When the
+young man heard this, the tears ran down his cheeks and he wept
+sore, till his breast was drenched, and repeated the following
+verses:
+
+Say unto those that grieve, at whom doth Fate her arrows cast,
+     "How many an one hath she raised up but to lay low at last!
+Lo, if ye sleep, the eye of God is never closed in sleep. For
+     whom indeed is life serene, for whom is Fortune fast?"
+
+Then he gave a heavy sigh and repeated the following:
+
+Trust thine affair to the Ruler of all that be
+     And put thought-taking and trouble away from thee:
+Say not of aught that is past, "How came it so?"
+     All things depend upon the Divine decree.
+
+The King marvelled and said to him, 'What makes thee weep, O
+youth?' 'How should I not weep,' answered he 'being in such a
+plight?' Then he put out his hand and lifted the skirt of his
+robe, and behold, he was stone from the waist downward. When the
+King saw this his condition, he grieved sore and lamented and
+cried out, 'Alas! alas!' and said, 'Verily, O youth, thou addest
+trouble to my trouble. I came to enquire concerning the fish; and
+now I am concerned to know thy history also. But there is no
+power and no virtue save in God the Most High, the Supreme!
+Hasten therefore, O youth, and expound to me thy story.' Quoth
+the youth, 'Give me thine ears and understanding:' and the King
+replied, 'I am all attention.' Then said the youth, 'There hangs
+a strange story by these fish and by myself, a story which, were
+it graven with needles on the corners of the eye,[FN#22] would
+serve as a warning to those who can profit by example. 'How so ?'
+asked the King and the youth replied, 'Know, O my lord, that
+
+
+
+
+                 Story of the Enchanted Youth.
+
+
+
+My father was King of the city that stood in this place, and his
+name was Mohammed, Lord of the Black Islands, which are no other
+than the four hills of which thou wottest. He reigned seventy
+years, at the end of which time God took him to Himself, and I
+succeeded to his throne and took to wife the daughter of my
+father's brother, who loved me with an exceeding love, so that,
+whenever I was absent from her, she would neither eat nor drink
+till she saw me again. With her I lived for five years, till one
+day she went out to go to the bath, and I bade the cook hasten
+supper for us against her return. Then I entered the palace and
+lay down on the bed where we were wont to lie and ordered two
+slave-girls to sit, one at my head and the other at my feet, and
+fan me. Now I was disturbed at my wife's absence and could not
+sleep, but remained awake, although my eyes were closed.
+Presently I heard the damsel at my head say to the other one, "O
+Mesoudeh, how unhappy is our lord and how wretched is his youth,
+and oh, the pity of him with our accursed harlot of a mistress!"
+"Yes, indeed," replied Mesoudeh; "may God curse all unfaithful
+women and adulteresses! Indeed, it befits not that the like of
+our lord should waste his youth with this harlot, who lies abroad
+every night." Quoth the other, "Is our lord then a fool, that,
+when he wakes in the night and finds her not by his side, he
+makes no enquiry after her?" "Out on thee," rejoined Mesoudeh;
+"has our lord any knowledge of this or does she leave him any
+choice? Does she not drug him every night in the cup of drink she
+gives him before he sleeps, in which she puts henbane? So he
+sleeps like a dead man and knows nothing of what happens. Then
+she dresses and scents herself and goes forth and is absent till
+daybreak, when she returns and burns a perfume under his nose and
+he awakes." When I heard the girls' talk, the light in my eyes
+became darkness, and I thought the night would never come.
+Presently, my wife returned from the bath, and they served up
+supper and we ate and sat awhile drinking and talking as usual.
+Then she called for my sleeping-draught and gave me the cup: and
+I feigned to drink it, but made shift to pour it into my bosom
+and lay down at once and began to snore as if I slept. Then said
+she, "Sleep out thy night and never rise again! By Allah, I hate
+thee and I hate thy person; I am sick of thy company and I know
+not when God will take away thy life!" Then she rose and donned
+her richest clothes and perfumed herself and girt on my sword and
+opened the palace gate and went out. I rose and followed her, and
+she passed through the streets of the city, till she came to the
+gate, when she muttered words I understood not: and straight-way
+the locks fell off and the gate opened. She went forth and fared
+on among the rubbish heaps, I still following her without her
+knowledge, till she came to a reed fence, within which was a hut
+of brick. She entered the hut and I climbed up on the roof and
+looking down, saw my wife standing by a scurvy black slave, with
+blubber lips, one of which overlapped the other, like a coverlet,
+and swept up the sand from the gravel floor, lying upon a bed of
+sugar-cane refuse and wrapped in an old cloak and a few rags. She
+kissed the earth before him, and he raised his head to her and
+said, "Out on thee! why hast thou tarried till now? There have
+been some of my kinsmen the blacks here, drinking; and they have
+gone away, each with his wench; but I refused to drink on account
+of thine absence." "O my lord and my love and solace of my eyes,"
+answered she, "dost thou not know that I am married to my cousin,
+and that I hate to look upon him and abhor myself in his company.
+Did I not fear for thy sake, I would not let the sun rise again
+till his city was a heap of ruins wherein the owl and the raven
+should hoot and wolves and foxes harbour; and I would transport
+its stones behind the mountain Caf."[FN#23] "Thou liest, O
+accursed one!" said the black, "and I swear by the valour of the
+blacks (else may our manhood be as that of the whites!) that if
+thou tarry again till this hour, I will no longer keep thee
+company nor join my body to thine! O accursed one, wilt thou play
+fast and loose with us at thy pleasure, O stinkard, O bitch, O
+vilest of whites?" When I heard and saw what passed between them,
+the world grew dark in my eyes and I knew not where I was; whilst
+my wife stood weeping and humbling herself to him and saying, "O
+my love and fruit of my heart, if thou be angry with me, who is
+left me, and if thou reject me, who shall shelter me, O my
+beloved and light of mine eyes?" And she ceased not to weep and
+implore him till he forgave her. Then she was glad and rose and
+putting off her clothes, said to the slave, "O my lord, hast thou
+aught here for thy handmaid to eat?" "Take the cover off yonder
+basin," answered he; "thou wilt find under it cooked rats' bones,
+and there is a little millet beer left in this pot. Eat and
+drink." So she ate and drank and washed her hands and mouth; then
+lay down, naked, upon the rushes, beside the slave, and covered
+herself with the rags. When I saw this, I became as one
+distraught and coming down from the roof, went in by the door.
+Then I took the sword she had brought and drew it, thinking to
+kill them both. I struck first at the slave's neck and thought I
+had made an end of him; but the blow only severed the flesh and
+the gullet, without dividing the jugulars. He gave a loud
+gurgling groan and roused my wife, whereupon I drew back, after I
+had restored the sword to its place, and resuming to the palace,
+lay down on my bed till morning, when my wife came and awoke me,
+and I saw that she had cut off her hair and put on mourning
+garments. "O my cousin," said she, "do not blame me for this I
+have done; for I have news that my mother is dead, that my father
+has fallen in battle and that both my brothers are dead also, one
+of a snake-bite and the other of a fall from a precipice, so that
+I have good reason to weep and lament." When I heard this, I did
+not reproach her, but said to her, "Do what thou wilt: I will not
+baulk thee." She ceased not to mourn and lament for a whole year,
+at the end of which time she said to me, "I wish to build me in
+thy palace a tomb with a cupola and set it apart for mourning and
+call it House of Lamentations." Quoth I, "Do what seemeth good to
+thee." So she built herself a house of mourning, roofed with a
+dome, and a monument in the midst like the tomb of a saint.
+Thither she transported the slave and lodged him in the tomb. He
+was exceeding weak and from the day I wounded him he had remained
+unable to do her any service or to speak or do aught but drink;
+but he was still alive, because his hour was not yet come. She
+used to visit him morning and evening in the mausoleum and carry
+him wine and broths to drink and weep and make moan over him; and
+thus she did for another year, whilst I ceased not to have
+patience with her and pay no heed to her doings, till one day I
+came upon her unawares and found her weeping and saying, "Why art
+thou absent from my sight, O delight of my heart? Speak to me, O
+my life! speak to me, O my love!" And she recited the following
+verses:
+
+My patience fails me for desire: if thou forgettest me, My heart
+     and all my soul can love none other after thee.
+Carry me with thee, body and soul, wherever thou dost fare, And
+     where thou lightest down to rest, there let me buried be.
+Speak but my name above my tomb; the groaning of my bones,
+     Turning towards thy voice's sound, shall answer drearily.
+
+And she wept and recited the following:
+
+My day of bliss is that whereon thou drawest near to me; And that
+     whereon thou turn'st away, my day of death and fear.
+What though I tremble all the night and be in dread of death, Yet
+     thine embraces are to me than safety far more dear.
+
+And again the following:
+
+Though unto me were given all that can make life sweet, Though
+     the Chosroes empire, yea, and the world were mine,
+All were to me in value less than a midge's wing, If that mine
+     eyes must never look on that face of thine!
+
+When she had finished, I said to her, "O my cousin, let thy
+mourning suffice thee: for weeping profiteth nothing." She
+replied, "Thwart me not, or I will kill myself." So I held my
+peace and let her go her way: and she ceased not to mourn and
+weep for the space of another year. At the end of the third year,
+I came into the mausoleum one day, vexed at something that had
+crossed me and weary of this excessive affliction, and found her
+by the tomb under the dome, saying, "O my lord, I never hear thee
+speak to me, no, not one word. Why dost thou not answer me, O my
+lord?" And she recited the following verses:
+
+O tomb, O tomb, have his beauties ceased, or does thy light
+     indeed, The sheen of the radiant countenance, no more in
+     thee abound?
+O tomb, O tomb, thou art neither earth nor heaven unto me: How
+     comes it then that sun and moon at once in thee are found?
+
+When I heard this, it added wrath to my wrath, and I said, "Alas!
+how much more of this mourning?" and I repeated the following
+[parody of her] verses:
+
+O tomb, O tomb, has his blackness ceased, or does thy light
+     indeed, The sheen of the filthy countenance, no more in thee
+     abound?
+O tomb, thou art neither kitchen-stove nor sewer-pool for me! How
+     comes it then that mire and coal at once in thee are found?
+
+When she heard this, she sprang to her feet and said, "Out on
+thee, thou dog! it was thou that didst thus with me and woundedst
+the beloved of my heart and hast afflicted me and wasted his
+youth, so that these three years he hath lain, neither dead nor
+alive!" "O foulest of harlots and filthiest of whorish doxies of
+hired slaves," answered I, "it was indeed I who did this!" And I
+drew my sword and made at her to kill her; but she laughed and
+said, "Avaunt, thou dog! Thinkst thou that what is past can recur
+or the dead come back to life? Verily, God has given into my hand
+him who did this to me and against whom there was in my heart
+fire that might not be quenched and insatiable rage." Then she
+stood up and pronouncing some words I did not understand, said to
+me, "Let one half of thee by my enchantments become stone and the
+other half remain man." And immediately I became as thou seest me
+and have remained ever since neither sitting nor standing and
+neither dead nor alive. Then she enchanted the city with all its
+streets and gardens and turned it into the lake thou wottest of,
+and the inhabitants, who were of four religions, Muslims,
+Christians, Magians and Jews, she changed to fish of various
+colours, the Muslims white, the Christians blue, the Magians red
+and the Jews yellow; and the four islands she turned into four
+mountains encompassing the lake. Moreover, the condition to which
+she has reduced me does not suffice her: but every day she strips
+me and gives me a hundred lashes with a whip, so that the blood
+runs down me and my shoulders are torn. Then she clothes my upper
+half in a shirt of hair-cloth and over that she throws these rich
+robes.' And he wept and repeated the following verses:
+
+Lord, I submit myself to Thee and eke to Fate, Content, if so
+     Thou please, to suffer and to wait.
+My enemies oppress and torture me full sore: But Paradise at
+     last, belike, shall compensate.
+Though Fate press hard on me, I trust in the Elect,[FN#24] The
+     Accepted One of God, to be my advocate.
+
+With this the King turned to him and said, 'O youth, after having
+rid me of one trouble, thou addest another to me: but tell me,
+where is thy wife and where is the wounded slave?' 'The slave
+lies in the tomb under the dome,' answered the youth, 'and she is
+in the chamber over against the gate. Every day at sunrise, she
+comes out and repairs first to me and strips off my clothes and
+gives me a hundred strokes with the whip; and I weep and cry out,
+but cannot stir to keep her off. When she has done torturing me,
+she goes down to the slave with the wine and broth on which she
+feeds him; and to-morrow at sunrise she will come.' 'O youth,'
+rejoined the King, 'by Allah, I will assuredly do thee a service
+by which I shall be remembered and which men shall chronicle to
+the end of time!' Then he sat down by the youth and talked with
+him till nightfall, when they went to sleep. At peep of day, the
+King rose and put off his clothes and drawing his sword, repaired
+to the mausoleum, where, after noting the paintings of the place
+and the candles and Lamps and perfumes burning there, he sought
+for the slave till he came upon him and slew him with one blow of
+the sword; after which he took the body on his back and threw it
+into a well that was in the palace. Then he returned to the dome
+and wrapping himself in the black's clothes, lay down in his
+place, with his drawn sword by his side. After awhile, the
+accursed enchantress came out and, going first to her husband,
+stripped him and beat him with the whip, whilst he cried out,
+'Alas! the state I am in suffices me. Have mercy on me, O my
+cousin!' But she replied, 'Didst thou show me any mercy or spare
+my beloved?' And beat him till she was tired and the blood ran
+from his sides. Then she put the hair shirt on him and the royal
+robes over it, and went down to the dome with a goblet of wine
+and a bowl of broth in her hands. When she came to the tomb, she
+fell a-weeping and wailing and said, 'O my lord, speak to me!'
+And repeated the following verse:
+
+How long ere this rigour pass sway and thou relent? Is it not yet
+     enough of the tears that I have spent?'
+
+And she wept and said again, 'O my lord, speak to me!' The King
+lowered his voice and knotting his tongue, spoke after the
+fashion of the blacks and said, 'Alack! alack! there is no power
+and no virtue but in God the Most High the Supreme!' When she
+heard this, she screamed out for joy and swooned away; and when
+she revived, she said, 'O my lord, can it be true and didst thou
+indeed speak to me?' The King made his voice small and said, 'O
+accursed woman, thou deservest not that I should speak to thee!'
+'Why so?' asked she; and he replied, 'Because all day thou
+tormentest thy husband and his cries disturb me, and all night
+long he calls upon God for help and invokes curses on thee and me
+and keeps me awake from nightfall to daybreak and disquiets me;
+and but for this, I had been well long ago. This is what has
+hindered me from answering thee.' Quoth she, 'With thy leave, I
+will release him from his present condition.' 'Do so,' said the
+King, 'and rid us of his noise.' 'I hear and obey,' answered she,
+and going out into the palace, took a cup full of water and spoke
+over it certain words, whereupon the water began to boil and
+bubble as the cauldron bubbles over the fire. Then she went up to
+the young King and sprinkled him with it, saying, 'By the virtue
+of the words I have spoken, if thou art thus by my spells, quit
+this shape for thy former one.' And immediately he shook and rose
+to his feet, rejoicing in his deliverance, and said, 'I testify
+that there is no god but God and that Mohammed is His apostle,
+may God bless and preserve him!' Then she said to him, 'Depart
+hence and do not return, or I will kill thee.' And she screamed
+out in his face. So he went out from before her, and she returned
+to the dome and going down into the tomb, said, 'O my lord, come
+forth to me, that I may see thy goodly form!' The King replied in
+a weak voice, 'What hast thou done? Thou hast rid me of the
+branch, but not of the root.' 'O my beloved, O my little black,'
+said she, 'what is the root?' 'Out on thee, O accursed one!'
+answered he. 'Every night, at the middle hour, the people of the
+city, whom thou by thine enchantments didst change into fish,
+lift up their heads from the water and cry to God for help and
+curse thee and me; and this is what hinders my recovery: so do
+thou go quickly and set them free, and after return and take me
+by the hand and raise me up; for indeed health returns to me.'
+When she heard this speech of the King, whom she supposed to be
+the slave, she rejoiced and said, 'O my lord, on my head and eyes
+be it, in the name of God!' Then she went out, full of joy, and
+ran to the lake and taking a little of the water in her hand,
+spoke over it words that might not be understood, whereupon there
+was a great stir among the fish; and they raised their heads to
+the surface and stood upright and became men as before. Thus was
+the spell dissolved from the people of the city and the lake
+became again a populous city, with its streets and bazaars, in
+which the merchants bought and sold, and every one returned to
+his employment; whilst the four hills were restored to their
+original form of islands. Then the enchantress returned to the
+King and said to him, 'O my lord, give me thy noble hand and
+arise.' 'Come nearer to me,' answered he, in a faint voice. So
+she came close to him, and he took his sword and smote her in the
+breast, that the steel came forth, gleaming, from her back. He
+smote her again and cut her in twain, and she fell to the ground
+in two halves. Then he went out and found the young King standing
+awaiting him and gave him joy of his deliverance, whereupon the
+youth rejoiced and thanked him and kissed his hand. Quoth the
+Sultan, 'Wilt thou abide in this thy city or come with me to
+mine?' 'O King of the age,' rejoined he, 'dost thou know how far
+it is from here to thy capital?' And the Sultan replied, 'Two
+and a half days' journey.' 'O King,' said the other, 'if thou
+sleepest, awake! Between thee and thy capital is a full year's
+journey to a diligent traveller; and thou hadst not come hither
+in two days and a half, save that the city was enchanted. But, O
+King, I will never leave thee, no, not for the twinkling of an
+eye!' The Sultan rejoiced at his words and said, 'Praised be God,
+who hath bestowed thee upon me! Thou shalt be my son, for in all
+my life I have never been blessed with a son.' And they embraced
+each other and rejoiced with exceeding great joy. Then they
+returned to the palace, and the young King bade his officers make
+ready for a journey and prepare his baggage and all that he
+required. The preparations occupied ten days, at the end of which
+time the young King set out in company of the Sultan, whose heart
+burned within him at the thought of his long absence from his
+capital, attended by fifty white slaves and provided with
+magnificent presents. They journeyed day and night for a whole
+year, and God ordained them safety, till they drew near the
+Sultan's capital and sent messengers in advance to acquaint the
+Vizier with his safe arrival. Then came out the Vizier and the
+troops, who had given up all hope of the Sultan's return, and
+kissed the ground before him and gave him joy of his safety. So
+he entered his palace and sat down on his throne and the Vizier
+came in to him, to whom he related all that had befallen him with
+the young King: and the Vizier gave the latter joy of his
+deliverance. Then all things being set in order, the Sultan gave
+largesse to many of his people and sending for the fisherman who
+had brought him the enchanted fish and had thus been the first
+cause of the delivery of the people of the Black Islands,
+bestowed on him a dress of honour and enquired of his condition
+and whether he had any children, to which he replied that he had
+three children, two daughters and one son. So the King sent for
+them and taking one daughter to wife, married the other to the
+young King and made the son his treasurer. Moreover, he invested
+his Vizier with the sovereignty of the Black Islands and
+despatched him thither with the fifty officers, who had
+accompanied the young King thence, giving him robes of honour for
+all the amirs. So the Vizier kissed hands and set out for the
+Black Islands. The fisherman became the richest man of his time,
+and he and his daughters and the two Kings their husbands abode
+in peace till death came to them.
+
+
+
+
+
+               THE PORTER AND THE THREE LADIES OF
+                            BAGHDAD.
+
+
+
+
+There was once a porter of Baghdad who was a bachelor. One day,
+as he stood in the market, leant upon his basket, there came to
+him a lady, swathed in a wrapper of gold embroidered muslin,
+fringed with gold lace, and wearing embroidered boots and
+floating tresses plaited with silk and gold. She stopped before
+him and raising her kerchief, showed a pair of languishing black
+eyes of perfect beauty, bordered with long drooping lashes. Then
+she turned to the porter and said, in a clear sweet voice, 'Take
+thy basket and follow me.' No sooner had she spoken than he took
+up his basket in haste, saying, 'O day of good luck! O day of
+God's grace!' and followed her till she stopped and knocked at
+the door of a house, when there came out a Nazarene, to whom she
+gave a dinar, and he gave her in return an olive-green bottle,
+full of wine, which she put into the basket, saying to the
+porter, 'Hoist up and follow me.' Said he, 'By Allah, this is
+indeed a happy and fortunate day!' And shouldering the basket,
+followed her till she came to a fruiterer's, where she bought
+Syrian apples and Turkish quinces and Arabian peaches and autumn
+cucumbers and Sultani oranges and citrons, beside jessamine of
+Aleppo and Damascus water-lilies and myrtle and basil and
+henna-blossoms and blood-red anemones and violets and sweet-briar
+and narcissus and camomile and pomegranate flowers, all of which
+she put into the porter's basket, saying, 'Hoist up!' So he
+shouldered the basket and followed her, till she stopped at a
+butcher's shop and said to him, 'Cut me off ten pounds of meat.'
+He gave her the meat, wrapped in a banana leaf, and she put it in
+the basket, saying, 'Hoist up, O porter!' and went on to a
+grocer's, of whom she took pistachio kernels and shelled almonds
+and hazel-nuts and walnuts and sugar cane and parched peas and
+Mecca raisins and all else that pertains to dessert. Thence to a
+pastry-cook's, where she bought a covered dish and put therein
+open-work tarts and honey-fritters and tri-coloured jelly and
+march-pane, flavoured with lemon and melon, and Zeyneb's combs
+and ladies' fingers and Cadi's mouthfuls and widow's bread and
+meat-and-drink[FN#25] and some of every kind of sweetmeat in the
+shop and laid the dish in the basket of the porter, who said to
+her, 'Thou shouldst have told me, that I might have brought a
+mule or a camel to carry all these good things.' She smiled and
+gave him a tap on the nape, saying, 'Make haste and leave
+chattering and God willing, thou shalt have a good wage.' She
+stopped next at the shop of a druggist, where she bought
+rose-water and water-lily water and orange-flower water and
+willow-flower water and six other kinds of sweet waters and a
+casting bottle of rose-water mingled with musk, besides two
+loaves of sugar and frankincense and aloes-wood and ambergris and
+musk and saffron and candles of Alexandrian wax, all of which she
+put into the basket. Then she went on to a greengrocer's, of whom
+she bought pickled safflower and olives, in brine and fresh, and
+tarragon and juncates and Syrian cheese and put them all into the
+basket and said to the porter, 'Take up thy basket and follow
+me.' So he shouldered his load and followed her till she came to
+a tall handsome house, with a spacious court before it and a
+two-leaved door of ebony, inlaid with plates of glittering gold.
+The lady went up to the door and throwing back her kerchief,
+knocked softly, whilst the porter stood behind her, musing upon
+her beauty and grace. After awhile the door opened and both the
+leaves swung back; whereupon he looked to see who opened it, and
+behold, it was a damsel of dazzling beauty and symmetry,
+high-bosomed, with flower-white forehead and rosy cheeks, eyes
+like those of gazelles or wild oxen and eyebrows like the
+crescent of the new moon of Ramazan[FN#26], cheeks like blood-red
+anemones, mouth like Solomon's seal, lips red as coral and teeth
+like clustered pearls or camomile-petals, neck like an antelope's
+and bosom like a fountain, breasts like double pomegranates,
+belly like brocade and navel holding an ounce of benzoin
+ointment, even as says of her the poet:
+
+Look at her, with her slender shape and radiant beauty! this Is
+     she who is at once the sun and moon of palaces!
+Thine eyes shall ne'er see grace combine so featly black and
+     white As in her visage and the locks that o'er her forehead
+     kiss.
+She in whose cheeks the red flag waves, her beauty testifies Unto
+     her name, if that to paint her sweet seductions miss.
+With swimming gait she walks: I laugh for wonder at her hips, But
+     weep to see her waist, that all too slight to bear them is.
+
+When the porter saw her, his mind and heart were taken by storm,
+so that he well-nigh let fall the basket and exclaimed, 'Never in
+all my life saw I a more blessed day than this!' Then said the
+portress to the cateress, 'O my Sister, why tarriest thou? Come
+in from the gate and ease this poor man of his burden.' So the
+cateress entered, followed by the portress and the porter, and
+went on before them to a spacious saloon, elegantly built and
+handsomely decorated with all manner of colours and carvings and
+geometrical figures, with balconies and galleries and cupboards
+and benches and closets with curtains drawn before them. In the
+midst was a great basin of water, from which rose a fountain, and
+at the upper end stood a couch of juniper wood, inlaid with
+precious stones and surmounted by a canopy of red satin, looped
+up with pearls as big as hazel-nuts or bigger. Thereon sat a lady
+of radiant countenance and gentle and demure aspect, moonlike in
+face, with eyes of Babylonian witchcraft and arched eyebrows,
+sugared lips like cornelian and a shape like the letter I. The
+radiance of her countenance would have shamed the rising sun, and
+she resembled one of the chief stars of heaven or a pavilion of
+gold or a high-born Arabian bride on the night of her unveiling,
+even as says of her the poet:
+
+Her teeth, when she smiles, like pearls in a cluster show, Or
+     shredded camomile-petals or flakes of snow:
+Her ringlets seem, as it were, the fallen night, And her beauty
+     shames the dawn and its ruddy glow.
+
+Then she rose and coming with a stately gait to meet her sisters
+in the middle of the saloon, said to them, 'Why stand ye still?
+Relieve this poor porter of his burden.' So the cateress came and
+stood before and the portress behind him and with the help of the
+third damsel, lifted the basket from his head and emptying it,
+laid everything in its place. Then they gave him two dinars,
+saying, 'Go, O porter!' But he stood, looking at the ladies and
+admiring, their beauty and pleasant manners, never had he seen
+goodlier, and wondering greatly at the profusion of wine and meat
+and fruits and flowers and so forth that they had provided and to
+see no man with them, and made no movement to go. So the eldest
+lady said to him, 'What ails thee that thou dost not go away?
+Belike, thou grudgest at thy pay?' And she turned to the cateress
+and said to her, 'Give him another dinar.' 'No, by Allah, O
+lady!' answered the porter. 'I do not indeed grudge at my pay,
+for my right hire is scarce two dirhems; but of a truth my heart
+and soul are taken up with you and how it is that ye are alone
+and have no man with you and no one to divert you, although ye
+know that women's sport is little worth without men, nor is an
+entertainment complete without four at the table, and ye have no
+fourth. What says the poet?
+
+Dost thou not see that for pleasure four several things combine,
+     Instruments four, harp, hautboy and gittern and psaltery?
+And unto these, four perfumes answer and correspond, Violets,
+     roses and myrtle and blood-red anemone.
+Nor is our pleasure perfect, unless four things have we, Money
+     and wine and gardens and mistress fair and free.
+
+And ye are three and need a fourth, who should be a man, witty,
+sensible and discreet, one who can keep counsel.' When they heard
+what he said, it amused them and they laughed at him and replied,
+'What have we to do with that, we who are girls and fear to
+entrust our secrets to those who will not keep them? For we have
+read, in such and such a history, what says Ibn eth Thumam:
+
+Tell not thy secrets: keep them with all thy might. A secret
+     revealed is a secret lost outright.
+If thine own bosom cannot thy secrets hold, Why expect more
+     reserve from another wight?
+
+Or, as well says Abou Nuwas on the same subject:
+
+The fool, that to men doth his secrets avow, Deserves to be
+     marked with a brand on the brow.'
+
+'By your lives,' rejoined the porter, 'I am a man of sense and
+discretion, well read in books and chronicles. I make known what
+is fair and conceal what is foul, and as says the poet:
+
+None keeps a secret but the man who's trusty and discreet. A
+     secret's ever safely placed with honest folk and leal;
+And secrets trusted unto me are in a locked-up house Whose keys
+     are lost and on whose door is set the Cadi's seal.
+
+When the girls heard this, the eldest one said to him, 'Thou
+knowest that we have laid out much money in preparing this
+entertainment: hast thou aught to offer us in return? For we will
+not let thee sit with us and be our boon companion and gaze on
+our bright fair faces, except thou pay down thy share of the
+cost. Dost thou not know the saying:
+
+     Love without money
+     Is not worth a penny?'
+
+'If thou have aught, my friend,' added the portress, 'then art
+thou something: but if thou have nothing, be off without
+anything.' Here the cateress interposed, saying, 'O sisters, let
+him be: for by Allah, he has not failed us to-day: another had
+not been so patient with us. I will pay his share for him.'
+Whereupon the porter, overjoyed, kissed the earth and thanked
+her, saying, 'By Allah, it was thou didst handsel me this day!
+Here are the two dinars I had of you: take them and admit me to
+your company, not as a guest, but as a servant.' 'Sit down,'
+answered they; 'thou art welcome.' But the eldest lady said,
+'By Allah, we will not admit thee to our society but on one
+condition; and it is that thou enquire not of what does not
+concern thee; and if thou meddle, thou shalt be beaten.' Said the
+porter, 'I agree to this, O my lady, on my head and eyes!
+Henceforth I am dumb.' Then arose the cateress and girding her
+middle, laid the table by the fountain and set out the cups and
+flagons, with flowers and sweet herbs and all the requisites for
+drinking. Moreover, she strained the wine and set it on; and they
+sat down, she and her sisters, with the porter, who fancied
+himself in a dream. The cateress took the flagon of wine and
+filled a cup and drank it off. Then she filled again and gave it
+to one of her sisters, who drank and filled another cup and gave
+it to her other sister: then she filled a fourth time and gave it
+to the porter, saying:
+
+Drink and fare well and health attend thee still. This drink
+     indeed's a cure for every ill.
+
+He took the cup in his hand and bowed and returned thanks,
+reciting the following verses:
+
+Quaff not the cup except with one who is of trusty stuff, One who
+     is true of thought and deed and eke of good descent.
+Wine's like the wind, that, if it breathe on perfume, smells as
+     sweet, But, if o'er carrion it pass, imbibes its evil scent.
+
+And again:
+
+Drink not of wine except at the hands of a maiden fair, Who, like
+     unto thee and it, is joyous and debonair.
+
+Then he kissed their hands and drank and was merry with wine and
+swayed from side to side and recited the following verses:
+
+Hither, by Allah, I conjure thee! Goblets that full of the grape
+     juice be!
+And brim up, I prithee, a cup for me, For this is the water of
+     life, perdie!
+
+Then the cateress filled the cup and gave it to the portress, who
+took it from her hand and thanked her and drank. Then she filled
+again and gave it to the eldest, who filled another cup and
+handed it to the porter. He gave thanks and drank and recited the
+following verses:
+
+It is forbidden us to drink of any blood Except it be of that
+     which gushes from the vine.
+So pour it out to me, an offering to thine eyes, To ransom from
+     thy hands my soul and all that's mine.
+
+Then he turned to the eldest lady, who was the mistress of the
+house, and said to her, 'O my lady, I am thy slave and thy
+servant and thy bondman!' And repeated the following verses:
+
+There is a slave of all thy caves now standing at thy gate Who
+     ceases not thy bounties all to sing and celebrate.
+May he come in, O lady fair, to gaze upon thy charms? Desire and
+     I from thee indeed may never separate.
+
+
+And she said to him, 'Drink, and health and prosperity attend
+thee!' So he took the cup and kissed her hand and sang the
+following verses:
+
+
+I brought my love old wine and pure, the likeness of her cheeks,
+     Whose glowing brightness called to mind a brazier's heart of
+     red.
+She touched the wine-cup with her lips, and laughing roguishly,
+     "How canst thou proffer me to drink of my own cheeks?" she
+     said.
+"Drink!" answered I, "it is my tears; its hue is of my blood; And
+     it was heated at a fire that by my sighs was fed."
+
+And she answered him with the following verse:
+
+If, O my friend, thou hast indeed wept tears of blood for me, I
+     prithee, give them me to drink, upon thine eyes and head!
+
+Then she took the cup and drank it off to her sisters' health;
+and they continued to drink and make merry, dancing and laughing
+and singing and reciting verses and ballads. The porter fell to
+toying and kissing and biting and handling and groping and
+dallying and taking liberties with them: whilst one put a morsel
+into his mouth and another thumped him, and this one gave him a
+cuff and that pelted him with flowers; and he led the most
+delightful life with them, as if he sat in paradise among the
+houris. They ceased not to drink and carouse thus, till the wine
+sported in their heads and got the better of their senses, when
+the portress, arose, and putting off her clothes, let down her
+hair over her naked body, for a veil. Then she threw herself into
+the basin and sported in the water and swam about and dived like
+a duck and took water in her mouth and spurted it at the porter
+and washed her limbs and the inside of her thighs. Then she came
+up out of the water and throwing herself into the porter's lap,
+pointed to her commodity and said to him, 'O my lord O my friend,
+what is the name of this?' 'Thy kaze,' answered he; but she said,
+'Fie! art thou not ashamed!' And cuffed him on the nape of the
+neck. Quoth he, 'Thy catso.' And she dealt him a second cuff,
+saying, 'Fie! what an ugly word! Art thou not ashamed?' 'Thy
+commodity,' said he; and she, 'Fie! is there no shame in thee?'
+And thumped him and beat him. Then said he, 'Thy coney.'
+Whereupon the eldest fell on him and beat him, saying, 'Thou
+shalt not say that.' And whatever he said, they beat him more and
+more, till his neck ached again; and they made a laughing-stock
+of him amongst them, till he said at last, 'Well, what is its
+name amongst you women?' 'The sweet basil of the dykes,' answered
+they. 'Praised be God for safety!' cried he. 'Good, O sweet basil
+of the dikes!' Then they passed round the cup and presently the
+cateress rose and throwing herself into the porter's lap, pointed
+to her kaze and said to him, 'O light of mine eyes, what is the
+name of this?' 'Thy commodity,' answered he. 'Art thou not
+ashamed?' said she, and dealt him a buffet that made the place
+ring again, repeating, 'Fie! Fie! art thou not ashamed?' Quoth
+he, 'The sweet basil of the dykes.' 'No! No!' answered she, and
+beat him and cuffed him on the nape. Then said he, 'Thy kaze, thy
+tout, thy catso, thy coney.' But they replied, 'No! No!' And he
+said again, 'The sweet basil of the dykes.' Whereupon they
+laughed till they fell backward and cuffed him on the neck,
+saying, 'No; that is not its name.' At last he said, 'O my
+sisters, what is its name?' And they answered, 'What sayest thou
+to the peeled barleycorn?' Then the cateress put on her clothes
+and they sat down again to carouse, whilst the porter lamented
+over his neck and shoulders. The cup passed round among them
+awhile, and presently the eldest and handsomest of the ladies
+rose and put off her clothes; whereupon the porter took his neck
+in his hand and said, 'My neck and shoulders are in the way of
+God!' Then she threw herself into the basin and plunged and
+sported and washed; whilst the porter looked at her, naked, as
+she were a piece of the moon or the full moon when she waxes or
+the dawn at its brightest, and noted her shape and breasts and
+her heavy quivering buttocks, for she was naked as God created
+her. And he said, 'Alack!' Alack!' and repeated the following
+verses:
+
+If to the newly-budded branch thy figure I compare, I lay upon my
+     heart a load of wrong too great to bear;
+For that the branch most lovely is, when clad upon with green,
+     But thou, when free of every veil, art then by far most
+     fair.
+
+When she heard this, she came up out of the water and sitting
+down on his knees, pointed to her kaze and said, 'O my little
+lord, what is the name of this?' 'The sweet basil of the dykes,'
+answered he; but she said, 'No! No!' Quoth he, 'The peeled
+barleycorn.' And she said, 'Pshaw!' Then said he, 'Thy kaze.'
+Fie! Fie!' cried she. 'Art thou not ashamed?' And cuffed him on
+the nape of the neck. And whatever name he said, they beat him,
+saying, 'No! No!' till at last he said, 'O my sisters, what is
+its name?' 'The khan[FN#27] of Abou Mensour,' answered they. And
+he said, 'Praised be God for safety! Bravo! Bravo! O khan of Abou
+Mensour!' Then the damsel rose and put on her clothes and they
+returned to their carousing and the cup passed round awhile.
+Presently, the porter rose and putting off his clothes, plunged
+into the pool and swam about and washed under his chin and
+armpits, even as they had done. Then he came out and threw
+himself into the eldest lady's lap and putting his arms into the
+portress's lap and his feet into that of the cateress pointed to
+his codpiece and said, 'O my mistresses, what is the name of
+this?' They laughed till they fell backward and one of them
+answered, 'Thy yard.' 'Art thou not ashamed?' said he. 'A
+forfeit!' and took of each a kiss. Quoth another, 'Thy pintle.'
+But he replied, 'No,' and gave each of them a bite in play. Then
+said they, 'Thy pizzle.' 'No,' answered he, and gave each of them
+a hug; and they kept saying, 'Thy yard, thy pintle, thy pizzle,
+thy codpiece!' whilst he kissed and hugged and fondled them to
+his heart's content, and they laughed till they were well nigh
+dead. At last they said, 'O our brother, and what is its name?'
+'Don't you know?' asked he; and they said, 'No.' Quoth he, 'This
+is the mule Break-all, that browses on the basil of the dykes and
+gobbles up the peeled barleycorn and lies by night in the khan of
+Abou Mensour.' And they laughed till they fell backward. Then
+they fell again to drinking and continued after this fashion till
+the night came upon them, when they said to the porter, 'In the
+name of God, put on thy sandals and be off and let us see the
+breadth of thy shoulders!' Quoth he, 'By Allah, the leaving life
+were easier to me than the leaving you! Let us join the night to
+the day, and to-morrow we will each go our own way.' 'My life on
+you!' said the cateress, 'let him pass the night with us, that we
+may laugh at him, for he is a pleasant rogue; and we may never
+again chance upon the like of him.' So the mistress of the house
+said to the porter, 'Thou shalt pass the night with us on
+condition that thou submit to our authority and that, whatever
+thou seest, thou ask no questions about it nor enquire the reason
+of it.' 'It is well,' answered he; and they said, 'Go and read
+what is written over the door.' So he went to the door and found
+the following words written thereon in letters of gold, 'He who
+speaks of what concerns him not, shall hear what will not please
+him.' And he said, 'Be ye witness against me that I will not
+speak of what concerns me not.' Then rose the cateress and
+prepared food, and they ate: after which they lighted the lamps
+and candles and strewed on the latter ambergris and aloes-wood;
+then changed the service and set on fresh fruits and flowers and
+wine and so forth and sat down again to drink. They ceased not to
+eat and drink and make merry, hobnobbing and laughing and talking
+and frolicking, till there came a knocking at the door: whereupon
+one of them rose and went to the door, without disturbing the
+party, and presently returned, saying, 'Verily, our pleasure is
+to be complete to-night.' 'How so?' asked the others, and she
+replied, 'There are three foreign Calenders[FN#28] at the door,
+with shaven heads and chins and eyebrows and every one blind of
+the right eye, which is a most extraordinary coincidence.
+Apparently they are fresh from a journey and indeed the traces of
+travel are evident on them; and the reason of their knocking at
+the door is this. They are strangers to Baghdad and this is their
+first coming to our city: the night surprised them and they could
+not find a lodging in the city and know no one with whom to take
+shelter: so they said to each other, "Perhaps the owner of this
+house will give us the key of a stable or outhouse and let us
+sleep there." And, O my sisters, each of them is a laughing-stock
+after his own fashion; and if we let them in, they will make us
+sport this night, and on the morrow each shall go his own way.'
+And she ceased not to persuade them, till they said, 'Let them
+come in, on condition that they ask no questions of what does not
+concern them, on pain of hearing what will not please them.' So
+she rejoiced and going to the door, returned with the three
+Calenders, who saluted and bowed low and held back; but the
+ladies rose to them and welcomed them and gave them joy of their
+safety and made them sit down. The Calenders looked about them
+and seeing a pleasant place and a table elegantly spread with
+flowers and fruits and green herbs and dessert and wine, with
+candles burning and perfumes smoking, and the three maidens, with
+their faces unveiled, said with one voice ''Fore Allah, it is
+good!' Then they turned to the porter and saw that he was tipsy
+and jaded with drinking and dalliance. So they took him for one
+of themselves and said, 'He is a Calender like ourselves, either
+an Arab or a foreigner.' When the porter heard this, he rose and
+fixing his eyes on them, said, 'Sit still and do not meddle. Have
+you not read what is written on the door? It befits not folk,
+like yourselves, who come to us as mendicants, to loose your
+tongues on us.' 'We ask pardon of God, O fakir!' answered they.
+'Our heads are before thee.' The ladies laughed and making peace
+between them, set food before the Calenders. When they had eaten,
+they all sat down again to carouse, the portress serving the new
+comers, and the cup passed round awhile, till the porter said to
+the Calenders, 'O brothers, have ye no story or rare trait to
+divert us withal?' The Calenders, being warm with wine, called
+for musical instruments; so the portress brought them a
+tambourine and a lute and a Persian harp; and each Calender took
+one and tuned it and played and sang; and the girls joined in
+lustily and made a great noise. Whilst they were thus engaged,
+some one knocked at the gate and the portress rose and went to
+see who it was. Now the cause of this knocking was that, that
+very night, the Khalif Haroun er Reshid had gone down into the
+City, as was his wont, every now and then, to walk about for his
+diversion and hear what news was stirring, attended by his Vizier
+Jaafer and Mesrour his headsman, all three, as usual, disguised
+as merchants. Their way brought them to the house of the three
+ladies, where they heard the noise of musical instruments and of
+singing and merriment, and the Khalif said to Jaafer, 'I have a
+mind to enter this house and listen to this music and see the
+singers.' 'O Commander of the Faithful,' answered Jaafer, 'these
+people are certainly drunk, and I fear lest some mischief betide
+us at their hands.' 'It matters not,' rejoined the Khalif; 'I
+must and will go in and I desire that thou contrive some pretext
+to that end.' 'I hear and obey,' replied the Vizier and going up
+to the gate, knocked, whereupon the portress came down and
+opened. Jaafer came forward and kissing the earth before her,
+said, 'O lady, we are merchants from Tiberias: we reached Baghdad
+ten days ago and sold our merchandise and took up our lodging at
+the khan of the merchants. Now we were bidden to-night to an
+entertainment at the house of a certain merchant, who set food
+before us and we ate and caroused with him awhile, till he gave
+us leave to depart and we went out, intending for our lodging;
+but being strangers in Baghdad, we lost ourselves and could not
+find our way back to our khan: so we hope, of your courtesy, that
+you will admit us to pass the night with you, and God will
+requite you.' The portress looked at them and saw that they were
+dressed like merchants and appeared respectable; so she returned
+to her sisters and repeated to them Jaafer's story, and they took
+compassion on the supposed strangers and bade her admit them. So
+she resumed and opened the gate to them, and they said, 'Have we
+thy leave to enter?' 'Enter,' answered she; whereupon the Khalif
+and Jaafer and Mesrour entered; and when the girls saw them, they
+rose and welcomed them and made them sit down and served them,
+saying, 'Ye are welcome as our guests, but on one condition.'
+'What is that?' asked they; and the mistress of the house
+answered, 'It is that you be eyes without tongues and that,
+whatever you see, you enquire not thereof nor speak of that which
+concerns you not, lest you hear what will not please you.'
+'Good,' answered they: 'we are no meddlers.' Then they sat down
+to carouse; whilst the Khalif looked at the three Calenders and
+marvelled for that they were all blind of the right eye, and
+gazed upon the ladies and was amazed at their beauty and
+goodliness. They fell to drinking and talking and said to the
+Khalif, 'Drink.' But he answered, 'Excuse me, for I am vowed to
+the pilgrimage.'[FN#29] Whereupon the portress rose and spreading
+a gold-embroidered cloth before him, set thereon a china bowl,
+into which she poured willow-flower water, with a spoonful of
+snow and some pounded sugar-candy. The Khalif thanked her and
+said to himself, 'By Allah, I will reward her to-morrow for her
+kind office!' Then they addressed themselves to carousel, till
+the wine began to work upon them, when the eldest lady rose and
+making an obeisance to her guests, took the cateress by the hand
+and said, 'Come, sisters, let us do our duty.' And they answered,
+'It is well.' So the portress rose and cleared the middle of the
+saloon, after she had removed the table service and thrown away
+the remains of the banquet. Then she renewed the perfumes in the
+censers and made the Calenders sit down on a sofa by the dais and
+the Khalif and his companions on a sofa at the other end; after
+which she called to the porter, saying, 'How dull and slothful
+thou art! Come and help us: thou art no stranger, but one of the
+household!' So he rose and girt his middle and said, 'What would
+you have me do?' And she answered, 'Stay where thou art.' Then
+the cateress rose and setting a chair in the middle of the room,
+went to a closet, which she opened, saying to the porter, 'Come
+and help me.' So he went to her and she brought out two black
+bitches, with chains round their necks, and gave them to him,
+saying, 'Take them.' So he took them and carried them to the
+middle of the saloon; whereupon the mistress of the house tucked
+up her sleeves and taking a whip, said to the porter, 'Bring me
+one of the bitches.' So he brought it to her by the chain; and
+the bitch wept and shook its head at the damsel, who brought the
+whip down on it, whilst the porter held it by the chain. The
+bitch howled and whined, but the lady ceased not to beat it till
+her arm was tired; when she threw away the whip and pressing the
+bitch to her bosom, kissed it on the head and wiped away its
+tears. Then she said to the porter, 'Take it back and bring the
+other.' He did as she bade him, and she did with the second bitch
+as she had done with the first. The Khalif's mind was troubled at
+her doings and his breast contracted and he could not restrain
+his impatience to know the meaning of all this. So he winked to
+Jaafer to ask, but the latter turned and signed to him as who
+should say, 'Be silent: this is no time for impertinent
+curiosity.' Then said the portress to the mistress of the house,
+'O my lady, rise and go up to thy place, that I in turn may do my
+part.' 'It is well,' answered she and went up and sat down on the
+couch of juniper-wood, at the upper end of the dais; whilst the
+portress sat down on a chair and said to the cateress, 'Do what
+thou hast to do.' So the latter rose and going to a closet,
+brought out a bag of yellow satin, with cords of green silk and
+tassels of gold, and came and sat down before the portress. Then
+she opened the bag and took out a lute, which she tuned, and sang
+the following verses, accompanying herself on the lute:
+
+Thou art my wish, thou art my end; And in thy presence, O my
+     friend,
+There is for me abiding joy: Thine absence sets my heart a-flame
+For thee distraught, with thee possest, Thou reignest ever in my
+     breast,
+Nor in the love I bear to thee Is there for me reproach or shame.
+Life's veil for me was torn apart, When Love gat hold upon my
+     heart
+For Love still rends the veils in twain And brings dishonour on
+     fair fame.
+The cloak of sickness I did on; And straight my fault appeared
+     and shone.
+Since that my heart made choice of thee And love and longing on
+     me came,
+My eyes are ever wet with tears, And all my secret thought
+     appears,
+When with my tears' tumultuous flow Exhales the secret of thy
+     name.
+Heal thou my pains, for thou to me Art both disease and remedy.
+Yet him, whose cure is in thy hand, Affliction shall for ever
+     claim,
+Thy glances set my heart on fire, Slay me with swords of my
+     desire:
+How many, truly, of the best Have fallen beneath Love's sword of
+     flame?
+Yet may I not from passion cease Nor in forgetting seek release;
+For love's my comfort, pride and law, Public and private, aye the
+     same.
+Blest eyes that have of thee their fill And look upon thee at
+     their will!
+Ay, of my own unforced intent, The slave of passion I became.
+
+When the portress heard this foursome song, she cried out, 'Alas!
+Alas! Alas!' and tore her clothes and fell down in a swoon; and
+the Khalif saw on her body the marks of beating with rods and
+whips, and wondered greatly. Then the cateress rose and sprinkled
+water upon her and brought her a fresh dress and put it on her.
+When the company saw this, their minds were troubled, for they
+understood not the reason of these things. And the Khalif said to
+Jaafer, 'Didst thou not see the marks of beating with rods upon
+the girl's body! I cannot keep silence nor be at rest, except I
+come at the truth of all this and know the story of this damsel
+and the two bitches.' 'O my lord,' answered Jaafer, 'they made it
+a condition with us that we should not speak of what concerns us
+not, under pain of hearing what should not please us.' Then said
+the portress 'By Allah! O my sister, come and complete thy
+service to me.' 'With all my heart!' answered the cateress and
+took the lute and leant it against her breasts. Then she swept
+the strings with her finger-tips and sang the following verses:
+
+If we complain of absence, what alas! shall we say? Or if longing
+     assail us, where shall we take our way?
+If, to interpret for us, we trust to a messenger, How can a
+     message rightly a lover's plaint convey?
+Or if we put on patience, short is a lover's life, After his
+     heart's beloved is torn from him away.
+Nothing, alas! is left me but sorrow and despair And tears that
+     adown my cheeks without cessation stray.
+Thou that art ever absent from my desireful sight, Thou that art
+     yet a dweller within my heart alway,
+Hast thou kept troth, I wonder, with one who loves thee dear,
+     Whose faith, whilst time endureth, never shall know decay?
+Or hast thou e'en forgotten her who for love of thee, In tears
+     and sickness and passion, hath wasted many a day?
+Alas! though Love unite us again in one embrace, Reproach for thy
+     past rigour with me full long shall stay.
+
+When the portress heard this second song, she gave a loud scream
+and exclaimed, 'By Allah! it is good!' and putting her hand to
+her clothes, tore them as before and fell down in a swoon.
+Whereupon the cateress rose and brought her another dress, after
+she had sprinkled water on her. Then she sat up again and said to
+the cateress 'To it again and help me to do the rest of my duty;
+for there remains but one more song.' So the cateress took the
+lute and sang the following verses:
+
+How long, ah me! shall this rigour last and this inhumanity? Are
+     not the tears that I have shed enough to soften thee?
+If thou, of thy relentless will, estrangement do prolong,
+     Intending my despite, at last, I pray, contented be!
+If treacherous fortune were but just to lovers and their woe,
+     They would not watch the weary night in sleepless agony.
+Have ruth on me, for thy disdain is heavy on my heart; Is it not
+     time that thou relent at last, my king, to me?
+To whom but thee that slayest me should I reveal my pain? What
+     grief is theirs who love and prove the loved one's perfidy!
+Love and affliction hour by hour redouble in my breast: The days
+     of exile are prolonged; no end to them I see.
+Muslims, avenge a slave of love, the host of wakefulness, Whose
+     patience hath been trampled out by passion's tyranny!
+Can it be lawful, O my wish, that thou another bless With thine
+     embraces, whilst I die, in spite of Love's decree?
+Yet in thy presence, by my side, what peace should I enjoy, Since
+     he I love doth ever strive to heap despite on me?
+
+When the portress heard this third song, she screamed out and
+putting forth her hand, tore her clothes even to the skirt and
+fell down in a swoon for the third time, and there appeared once
+more on her body the marks of beat ing with rods. Then said the
+three Calenders, 'Would God we had never entered this house, but
+had slept on the rubbish-heaps! for verily our entertainment hath
+been troubled by things that rend the heart.' The Khalif turned
+to them and said, 'How so?' And they answered, 'Indeed, our minds
+are troubled about this matter.' Quoth he, 'Are you not then of
+the household?' 'No,' replied they; 'nor did we ever see the
+place till now.' Said the Khalif, 'There is the man by you: he
+will surely know the meaning of all this.' And he winked at the
+porter. So they questioned the latter and he replied, 'By the
+Almighty, we are all in one boat! I was brought up at Baghdad,
+but never in my life did I enter this house till to-day, and the
+manner of my coming in company with them was curious.' 'By
+Allah,' said they, 'we thought thee one of them, and now we see
+thou art but as one of ourselves.' Then said the Khalif, 'We are
+here seven men, and they are but three women: so let us question
+them of their case, and if they do not answer willingly, they
+shall do so by force.' They all agreed to this, except Jaafer,
+who said, 'This is not well-advised: let them be, for we are
+their guests, and as ye know, they imposed on us a condition, to
+which we all agreed. Wherefore it is better that we keep silence
+concerning this affair, for but a little remains of the night,
+and each go about his business.' And he winked to the Khalif and
+whispered to him, 'There is but a little longer to wait, and
+to-morrow I will bring them before thee and thou canst then
+question them of their story.' But the Khalif lifted his head
+and cried out angrily, 'I have not patience to wait till then:
+let the Calenders ask them.' And Jaafer said, 'This is not
+well-advised.' Then they consulted together, and there was much
+talk and dispute between them, who should put the question,
+before they fixed upon the porter. The noise drew the notice of
+the lady of the house, who said to them, 'O guests, what is the
+matter and what are you talking about?' Then the porter came
+forward and said to her, 'O lady, the company desire that thou
+acquaint them with the history of the two bitches and why thou
+didst beat them and after fellest to kissing and weeping over
+them and also concerning thy sister and why she has been beaten
+with rods, like a man. This is what they charge me to ask thee,
+and peace be on thee.' When she heard this, she turned to the
+others and said to them 'Is this true that he says of you?' And
+they all replied 'Yes;' except Jaafer, who held his peace. Then
+said she, 'By Allah! O guests, ye have done us a grievous wrong,
+for we made it a previous condition with you that whoso spoke of
+what concerned him not, should hear what should not please him.
+Is it not enough that we have taken you into our house and fed
+you with our victual! But the fault is not so much yours as that
+of her who brought you in to us.' Then she tucked up her sleeves
+and smote three times on the floor, saying, 'Come quickly!'
+Whereupon the door of a closet opened and out came seven black
+slaves, with drawn swords in their hands, to whom said the lady,
+'Bind these babblers' hands behind them and tie them one with
+another.' The slaves did as she bade, and said, 'O noble lady, is
+it thy will that we strike off their heads?' 'Hold your hands
+awhile,' answered she, 'till I question them of their condition,
+before ye strike off their heads.' 'By Allah, O my lady,'
+exclaimed the porter 'do not slay me for another's fault, for all
+have erred and offended save myself. And by Allah, our night
+would have been a pleasant one, had we not been afflicted with
+these Calenders, whose presence is enough to lay a flourishing
+city in ruins.' And he repeated the following verses:
+
+How fair a thing is mercy to the great! And how much more to
+     those of low estate!
+By all the love that has between us been, Doom not the guiltless
+     to the guilty's fate!
+
+When the lady heard this, she laughed, in spite of her anger, and
+coming up to the guests, said to them, 'Tell me who you are, for
+ye have but a little while to live, and were you not men of rank
+and consideration, you had never dared to act thus.' Then the
+Khalif said to Jaafer, 'Out on thee! Tell her who we are, or we
+shall be slain in a mistake, and speak her fair, ere an
+abomination befall us.' 'It were only a part of thy deserts,'
+replied Jaafer. Whereupon the Khalif cried out at him in anger
+and said, 'There is a time to jest and a time to be serious.'
+Then the lady said to the Calenders, 'Are ye brothers?' 'Not so,'
+answered they; 'we are only poor men and strangers.' And she said
+to one of them, 'Wast thou born blind of one eye?' 'No, by
+Allah!' replied he; 'but there hangs a rare story by the loss of
+my eye, a story which, were it graven with needles on the corners
+of the eye, would serve as a lesson to those that can profit by
+example.' She questioned the two other Calenders, and they made a
+like reply, saying, 'By Allah! O our mistress, each one of us
+comes from a different country and is the son of a king and a
+sovereign prince ruling over lands and subjects.' Then she turned
+to the others and said to them, 'Let each of you come forward in
+turn and tell us his history and the manner of his coming hither
+and after go about his business; but whoso refuses, I will cut
+off his head.' The first to come forward was the porter, who
+said, 'O my lady, I am a porter. This lady, the cateress, hired
+me and took me first to the vintner's, then to the butcher's,
+from the butcher's to the fruiterer's, from the fruiterer's to
+the grocer's, from the grocer's to the greengrocer's, from the
+greengrocer's to the confectioner's and the druggist's, and
+thence to this place, where there happened to me with you what
+happened. This is my story; and peace be on thee!' At this the
+lady laughed and said to him, 'Begone about thy business.' But he
+said, 'By Allah, I will not budge 'till I hear the others'
+stories.' Then came forward the first Calender and said, 'Know, O
+lady, that
+
+
+
+
+                  The First Calender's Story.
+
+
+
+My father was a king, and he had a brother, who was also a king
+over another city. The latter had a son and a daughter, and it
+chanced that I and the son of my uncle were both born on the same
+day. In due time we grew up to man's estate and there was a great
+affection between us. Now it was my wont every now and then to
+visit my uncle and abide with him several months at a time.
+One day, I went to visit him as usual and found him absent
+a-hunting; but my cousin received me with the utmost courtesy and
+slaughtered sheep and strained wine for me and we sat down to
+drink. When the wine had got the mastery of us, my cousin said to
+me, "O son of my uncle I have a great service to ask of thee, and
+I beg of thee not to baulk me in what I mean to do." "With all my
+heart," answered I; and he made me swear by the most solemn oaths
+to do his will. Then he went away and returning in a little, with
+a lady veiled and perfumed and very richly clad, said to me,
+"Take this lady and go before me to the burial-ground and enter
+such and such a sepulchre," and he described it to me and I knew
+it, "and wait till I come." I could not gainsay him, by reason of
+the oath I had sworn to him; so I took the lady and carried her
+to the cemetery, and entering the tomb sat down to await my
+cousin, who soon rejoined us, carrying a vessel of water, a bag
+containing plaster and an adze. He went up to the tomb in the
+midst of the sepulchre and loosening its stones with the adze,
+laid them on one side after which he fell to digging with the
+adze in the earth till he uncovered a trap of iron, as big as a
+small door, and raised it, when there appeared beneath it a
+winding stair. Then he turned to the lady and said to her, "Up
+and make thy choice." So she descended the stair and was lost to
+sight; and he said to me, "O my cousin, when I have descended,
+complete thy kindness to me by replacing the trap-door and
+throwing back the earth on it: then mix the plaster in the bag
+with the water in this vessel and build up the tomb again with
+the stones and plaster it over as before, lest any see it and
+say, 'This tomb has been newly opened, albeit it is an old one;'
+for I have been at work here a whole year, unknown to any save
+God. This then is the service I had to ask of thee, and may God
+never bereave thy friends of thee, O my cousin!" Then he
+descended the stair; and when he was out of sight, I replaced the
+trap-door and did as he had bidden me, till the tomb was restored
+to its original condition, and I the while in a state of
+intoxication; after which I returned to the palace, and found my
+uncle still absent. Next morning I called to mind what had
+happened and repented of having obeyed my cousin, when repentance
+was of no avail, but thought that it must have been a dream. So I
+fell to enquiring after my cousin; but none could give me any
+news of him; and I went out to the burial-ground and sought for
+the tomb where I had left him, but could not find it, and ceased
+not to go from sepulchre to sepulchre and from tomb to tomb,
+without success, till nightfall. Then I returned to the palace
+and could neither eat nor drink, for my heart was troubled about
+my cousin, seeing I knew not what was come of him; and I was
+extremely chagrined and slept not that night, but lay awake for
+anxiety till morning. As soon as it was day, I repaired again to
+the cemetery, pondering what my cousin had done and repenting me
+of having hearkened to him, and vent round among all the tombs,
+but could not find the one I sought. Thus I did for the space of
+seven days, but with no better success, and my trouble and
+anxiety increased till I was well-nigh mad and could find nothing
+for it but to return to my father. So I set out and journeyed
+till I reached his capital; but as I entered the gate of the
+city, a number of men sprang out on me and tied my hands behind
+me. At this I was beyond measure amazed, seeing that I was the
+son of the Sultan and that they were his servants and my own; and
+great fear fell on me, and I said to myself, "I wonder what has
+befallen my father!" Then I questioned my captors; but they
+returned me no answer. However, after awhile, one of them, who
+had been my servant, said to me, "Fortune has played thy father
+false; and the troops deserted him. So the Vizier slew him and
+seized on his throne; and we laid wait for thee by his command."
+Then they took me and carried me before the Vizier, well-nigh
+distraught for this news of my father. Now between me and this
+Vizier was an old feud, the cause of which was as follows. I was
+fond of shooting with a pellet-bow, and one day, as I was
+standing on the terrace of my palace, a bird lighted on the
+terrace of the Vizier's house, where the latter chanced to be
+standing at the time. I let fly at the bird, but, as fate and
+destiny would have it, the pellet swerved and striking the Vizier
+on the eye, put it out. As says the poet:
+
+Our footsteps follow on in their predestined way, Nor from the
+     ordered track can any mortal stray:
+And he whom Fate appoints in any land to die, No other place on
+     earth shall see his dying day.
+
+
+The Vizier dared say nothing, at the time, because I was the
+Sultan's son of the city, but thenceforward he nourished a deadly
+hatred against me. So when they brought me bound before him, he
+commanded my head to be smitten off; and I said, "For what crime
+wilt thou put me to death?" "What crime could be greater than
+this?" answered he, and pointed to his ruined eye. Quoth I, "That
+I did by misadventure." And he replied, "If thou didst it by
+misadventure, I will do the like with intent." Then said he,
+"Bring him to me." So they brought me up to him, and he put his
+finger into my right eye and pulled it out; and thenceforward I
+became one-eyed as ye see me. Then he caused me to be bound hand
+and foot and put in a chest and said to the headsman, "Take this
+fellow and carry him forth of the city and slay him and leave him
+for the beasts and birds to eat." So the headsman carried me
+without the city to the midst of the desert, where he took me out
+of the chest, bound hand and foot as I was, and would have
+bandaged my eyes, that he might slay me. But I wept sore till I
+made him weep, and looking at him, repeated the following verses:
+
+I counted on you as a coat of dart-proof mail toward The foeman's
+     arrows from my breast. Alas! ye are his sword!
+I hoped in you to succour me in every evil chance, Although my
+     right hand to my left no more should help afford.
+Yet stand aloof nor cast your lot with those who do me hate, And
+     let my foemen shoot their shafts against your whilom lord!
+If you refuse to succour me against my enemies, At least be
+     neutral, nor to me nor them your aid accord.
+
+And these also:
+
+How many of my friends, methought, were coats of mail! And so
+     they were, indeed, but on my foeman's part.
+Unerring shafts and true I deemed them; and they were Unerring
+     shafts, indeed, alas, but in my heart!
+
+When the headsman heard this (now he had been my father's
+headsman and I had done him kindness) he said, "O my lord what
+can I do, being but a slave commanded?" Then he said, "Fly for
+thy life and never return to this country, or thou art lost and I
+with thee." As says one of the poets:
+
+Escape with thy life, if oppression betide thee, And let the
+     house tell of its builder's fate!
+Country for country thou'lt find, if thou seek it; Life for life
+     never, early or late.
+It is strange men should dwell in the house of abjection, When
+     the plain of God's world is so wide and so great!
+
+I kissed his hands, hardly crediting my escape; and recked little
+of the loss of my eye, in consideration of my deliverance from
+death. Then I repaired to my uncle's capital and going in to him,
+told him what had befallen my father and myself; whereat he wept
+sore and said, "Verily, thou addest affliction to my affliction
+and sorrow to my sorrow; for thy cousin has been missing these
+many days; I know not what is become of him, and none can give me
+any news of him." Then he wept till he swooned away, and my heart
+was sore for him. When he revived, he would have medicined my
+eye, but found there was but the socket left and said, "O my son,
+it is well that it was thine eye and not thy life!" I could not
+keep silence about my cousin; so I told him all that had passed,
+and he rejoiced greatly at hearing news of his son and said,
+"Come, show me the tomb." "By Allah, O my uncle," answered I, "I
+know it not, for I went after many times to seek for it, but
+could not find it." However, we went out to the burial-ground and
+looked right and left, till at last I discovered the tomb. At
+this we both rejoiced greatly and entering, removed the earth,
+raised the trapdoor and descended fifty steps, till we came to
+the foot of the stair, where we were met by a great smoke that
+blinded our eyes: and my uncle pronounced the words, which whoso
+says shall never be confounded, that is to say, "There is no
+power and no virtue but in God the Most High, the Supreme!" Then
+we went on and found ourselves in a saloon, raised upon columns,
+drawing air and light from openings communicating with the
+surface of the ground and having a cistern in its midst. The
+place was full of crates and sacks of flour and grain and other
+victual; and at the upper end stood a couch with a canopy over
+it. My uncle went up to the bed and drawing the curtains, found
+his son and the lady in each other's arms; but they were become
+black coal, as they had been cast into a well of fire. When he
+saw this, he spat in his son's face and taking off his shoe,
+smote him with it, exclaiming, "Swine that thou art, thou hast
+thy deserts! This is thy punishment in this world, but there
+awaits thee a far sorer and more terrible punishment in the world
+to come!" His behaviour amazed me, and I mourned for my cousin,
+for that he was become a black coal, and said to the king, "O my
+uncle, is not that which hath befallen him enough, but thou must
+beat him with thy shoe?" "O son of my brother," answered my
+uncle, "this my son was from his earliest youth madly enamoured
+of his sister, and I forbade him from her, saying in myself,
+'They are but children.' But, when they grew up, sin befell
+between them, notwithstanding that his attendants warned him to
+abstain from so foul a thing, which none had done before nor
+would do after him, lest the news of it should be carried abroad
+by the caravans and he become dishonoured and unvalued among
+kings to the end of time. I heard of this and believed it not,
+but took him and upbraided him severely, saying, 'Have a care
+lest this thing happen to thee; for I will surely curse thee and
+put thee to death.' Then I shut her up and kept them apart, but
+this accursed girl loved him passionately, and Satan got the
+upper hand of them and made their deeds to seem good in their
+eyes. So when my son saw that I had separated them, he made this
+place under ground and transported victual hither, as thou seest,
+and taking advantage of my absence a-hunting, came here with his
+sister, thinking to enjoy her a long while. But the wrath of God
+descended on them and consumed them; and there awaits them in the
+world to come a still sorer and more terrible punishment." Then
+he wept and I with him, and he looked at me and said, "Henceforth
+thou art my son in his stead." Then I bethought me awhile of the
+world and its chances and how the Vizier had slain my father and
+usurped his throne and put out my eye and of the strange events
+that had befallen my cousin and wept again, and my uncle wept
+with me. Presently we ascended, and replacing the trap-door,
+restored the tomb to its former condition. Then we resumed to the
+palace, but hardly had we sat down when we heard a noise of drums
+and trumpets and cymbals and galloping of cavalry and clamour of
+men and clash of arms and clank of bridles and neighing of
+horses, and the world was filled with clouds of dust raised by
+the horses' hoofs. At this we were amazed and knew not what could
+be the matter so we enquired and were told that the Vizier, who
+had usurped my father's throne, had levied troops and hired the
+wild Arabs and was come with an army like the sands of the sea,
+none could tell their number nor could any avail against them.
+They assaulted the city unawares, and the people, being unable to
+withstand them, surrendered the place to them. My uncle was slain
+and I took refuge in the suburbs, knowing that, if I fell into
+the Vizier's hands, he would put me to death. Wherefore trouble
+was sore upon me and I bethought me of all that had befallen me
+and my father and uncle and knew not what to do, for if I showed
+myself, the people of the city and my father's troops would know
+me and hasten to win the usurpers favour by putting me to death;
+and I could find no means of escape but by shaving my face. So I
+shaved off my beard and eyebrows and donning a Calender's habit,
+left the town, without being known of any, and made for this
+city, in the hope that perhaps some one would bring me to the
+presence of the Commander of the Faithful and Vicar of the Lord
+of the Two Worlds, that I might relate to him my story and lay my
+case before him. I arrived here today and was standing, perplexed
+where I should go, when I saw this second Calender; so I saluted
+him, saying "I am a stranger," and he replied, "And I also am a
+stranger." Presently up came our comrade, this other Calender,
+and saluted us, saying, "I am a stranger." "We also are
+strangers," answered we; and we walked on together, till darkness
+overtook us, and destiny led us to your house. This, then, is my
+history and the manner of the loss of my right eye and the
+shaving of my beard and eyebrows.' They all marvelled at his
+story, and the Khalif said to Jaafer, 'By Allah, I never heard or
+saw the like of what happened to this Calender.' Then the
+mistress of the house said to the Calender, 'Begone about thy
+business.' But he answered, 'I will not budge till I hear the
+others' stories.' Then came forth the second Calender and kissing
+the earth, said, 'O my lady, I was not born blind of one eye, and
+my story is a marvellous one; were it graven with needles on the
+corners of the eye, it would serve as a warning to those that can
+profit by example.
+
+
+
+
+                  The Second Calender's Story.
+
+
+
+I am a king, son of a king. My father taught me to read and
+write, and I got the Koran by heart, according to the seven
+readings, and read all manner of books under the guidance of
+learned professors; I studied the science of the stars and the
+sayings of poets and applied myself to all branches of knowledge,
+till I surpassed all the folk of my time. In particular, my skill
+in handwriting excelled that of all the scribes, and my fame was
+noised abroad in all countries and at the courts of all the
+kings. Amongst others, the King of Ind heard of me and sent to my
+father to seek me, with gifts and presents such as befit kings.
+So my father fitted out six ships for me, and we put to sea and
+sailed for a whole month, till we reached the land. Then we
+brought out the horses that were with us in the ships, together
+with ten camels laden with presents for the King of Ind. and set
+out inland, but had not gone far, before there arose a great
+dust, that grew till it covered the whole country. After awhile
+it lifted and discovered fifty steel-clad horsemen, as they were
+fierce lions, whom we soon found to be Arab highwaymen. When they
+saw that we were but a small company and had with us ten laden
+camels, they drove at us with levelled spears. We signed to them
+with our fingers to do us no hindrance, for that we were
+ambassadors to the mighty King of Ind; but they replied (in the
+same manner) that they were not in his dominions nor under his
+rule. Then they set on us and slew some of my attendants and put
+the rest to flight; and I also fled, after I had gotten a sore
+wound whilst the Arabs were taken up with the baggage. I knew not
+whither to turn, being reduced from high to low estate; so I fled
+forth at a venture till I came to the top of a mountain, where I
+took shelter for the night in a cavern. On the morrow, I
+continued my journey and fared on thus for a whole month, till I
+reached a safe and pleasant city. The winter had passed away from
+it with its cold and the spring was come with its roses; its
+flowers were blowing and its streams welling and its birds
+warbling. As says the poet, describing the city in question:
+
+A town, wherein who dwells is free from all affray; Security and
+     peace are masters there alway.
+Like Paradise itself, it seemeth, for its folk, With all its
+     beauties rare decked out in bright array.
+
+I was both glad and sorry to reach the city, glad for that I was
+weary with my journey and pale for weakness and anxiety, and
+grieved to enter it in such sorry case. However, I went in,
+knowing not whither to betake me, and fared on till I came to a
+tailor sitting in his shop. I saluted him, and he returned my
+salute and bade me a kindly welcome, and seeing me to be a
+stranger and noting marks of gentle breeding on me, enquired how
+I came thither. I told him all that had befallen me; and he was
+concerned for me and said, "O my son, do not discover thyself to
+any, for the King of this city is the chief of thy father's foes
+and hath a mortal feud against him." Then he set meat and drink
+before me, and I ate and he with me, and we talked together till
+nightfall, when he lodged me in a chamber beside his own, and
+brought me a bed and coverlet. I abode with him three days, at
+the end of which time he said to me, "Dost thou know any craft by
+which thou mayst earn thy living?" I replied, "I am a doctor of
+the law and a man of learning, a scribe, a grammarian, a poet, a
+mathematician and a skilled penman." Quoth he, "Thy trade is not
+in demand in this country nor are there in this city any who
+understand science or writing or aught but money-getting." "By
+Allah," said I, "I know nought but what I have told thee!" And he
+said, "Gird thy middle and take axe and cord and go and cut
+firewood in the desert for thy living, till God send thee relief,
+and tell none who thou art, or they will kill thee." Then he
+bought me an axe and a cord and gave me in charge to certain
+woodcutters; with whom I went out into the desert and cut wood
+all day and carried home a load on my head. I sold it for half a
+dinar, with part of which I bought victual and laid up the rest.
+On this wise I lived a whole year, at the end of which time I
+went out one day into the desert, according to my wont, and
+straying from my companions, happened on a tract full of trees
+and running streams, in which there was abundance of firewood; so
+I entered and coming on the gnarled stump of a great tree, dug
+round it with my axe and cleared the earth away from it.
+Presently, the axe struck upon a ring of brass; so I cleared away
+the earth, till I uncovered a wooden trap-door, which I raised
+and there appeared beneath it a stair I descended the stair, till
+I came to a door, which I opened and found myself in a vaulted
+hall of goodly structure, wherein was a damsel like a pearl of
+great price, whose aspect banished pain and care and anxiety from
+the heart and whose speech healed the troubled soul and
+captivated the wise and the intelligent. She was slender of shape
+and swelling-breasted, delicate-cheeked and bright of colour and
+fair of form; and indeed her face shone like the sun through the
+night of her tresses, and her teeth glittered above the snows of
+her bosom. As says the poet of her:
+
+Slender of waist, with streaming hair the hue of night, is she,
+     With hips like hills of sand and shape straight as the
+     balsam-tree.
+
+And as says another:
+
+There are four things that ne'er unite, except it be To shed my
+     heart's best blood and take my soul by storm.
+And these are night-black locks and brow as bright as day, Cheeks
+     ruddy as the rose and straight and slender form.
+
+When I looked on her, I prostrated myself before her Maker, for
+the grace and beauty He had created in her and she looked at me
+and said, "Art thou a man or a genie?" "I am a man," answered I;
+and she said, "And who brought thee to this place, where I have
+dwelt five-and-twenty years without seeing man?" Quoth I (and
+indeed her speech was sweet to me), "O my lady, my good star
+brought me hither for the dispelling of my grief and anxiety."
+And I told her all that had befallen me from first to last. My
+case was grievous to her and she wept: then she said, "I will
+tell thee my story in turn. I am the daughter of a King of
+Farther India, by name Efitamous, Lord of the Ebony Islands, who
+married me to my cousin, but on my wedding-night an Afrit called
+Jerjis ben Rejmous, the mother's sister's son of Iblis, carried
+me off and flying away with me, set me down in this place whither
+he transported all that I needed of clothes and ornaments and
+furniture and meat and drink and so forth. Once in every ten days
+he comes to me and lies the night here, then goes his way; for he
+took me without the consent of his family: and he has agreed with
+me that, in case I should ever have occasion for him in the
+interval between his visits, whether by night or by day, I have
+only to touch these two lines engraved upon the alcove, and he
+will be with me before I take away my hand. It is now four days
+since he was here, and there remain six before he comes again.
+Wilt thou therefore spend five days with me and depart the day
+before his coming?" "I will well," answered I. "O rare! if it be
+not all a dream." At this she rejoiced and taking me by the hand,
+led me through a vaulted doorway into a small but elegant
+bath-room, where we put off our clothes and she washed me. Then
+she clad me in a new suit and seated me by her side on a high
+divan and gave me to drink of sherbet of sugar flavoured with
+musk. Then she brought food, and we ate and conversed. After
+awhile, she said to me, "Lie down and rest, for thou art weary."
+So I lay down and slept and forgot all that had befallen me. When
+I awoke, I found her rubbing my feet:[FN#30] so I thanked her and
+blessed her, and we sat talking awhile. Quoth she, "By Allah, I
+was sad at heart, for that I have dwelt alone under ground these
+five-and-twenty years, without any to talk withal. So praised be
+God who hath sent thee to me!" Then she said, "O youth, art thou
+for wine?" And I answered, "As thou wilt." Whereupon she went to
+the cupboard and took out a sealed flask of old wine and decked
+the table with flowers and green herbs. Then she recited the
+following verses:
+
+Had we thy coming known, we would for sacrifice Have poured thee
+     forth heart's blood and blackness of the eyes:
+Ay, and we would have laid our cheeks within thy way, That so thy
+     feet might tread on eyelids, carpet-wise!
+
+I thanked her, for indeed love of her had taken hold of me, and
+my grief and anxiety left me. We sat carousing till nightfall,
+and I passed the night with her, never knew I such a night. On
+the morrow, delight succeeded delight till the middle of the day,
+when I drank wine, till I lost my senses and rose, staggering
+from side to side, and said to her, "Come, O fair one! I will
+carry thee up from under the earth and rid thee of this genie."
+She laughed and replied, "Be content and hold thy peace. One day
+in every ten is the genie's, and the other nine shall be thine."
+Quoth I (and indeed drunkenness had got the better of me), "This
+very moment will I break the alcove, on which is graven the
+talisman, and summon the Afrit hither, that I may kill him, for I
+am used to kill Afrits ten at a time." When she heard this, she
+conjured me by Allah to refrain and repeated the following
+verses:
+
+This is a thing wherein thine own destruction lies: I rede thee
+     keep thyself therefrom, if thou be wise.
+
+And also these:
+
+O thou that seek'st to hasten on the feet Of parting's steeds,
+     the matchless swift of flight,
+Forbear, for fortune's nature is deceit, And parting is the end
+     of love delight.
+
+I paid no heed to her words, but kicked the alcove with all my
+might, and immediately the place grew dark, it thundered and
+lightened, the earth trembled and the world was wrapped in gloom.
+When I saw this, the fumes of the wine left my head and I said to
+the lady, "What is the matter?" "The Afrit is upon us," answered
+she "Did I not warn thee of this! By Allah, thou hast ruined me!
+But fly for thy life and return whence thou camest." So I
+ascended the stair, but, in the excess of my fear I forgot my
+sandals and hatchet. When I had mounted two steps, I turned to
+look, and behold, the ground clove in sunder and out came an
+Afrit of hideous aspect, who said to the lady, "What is this
+commotion with which thou disturbest me? What misfortune has
+befallen thee?" "Nothing has befallen me," answered she, "except
+that I was heavy at heart and drank a little wine to hearten
+myself. Then I rose to do an occasion, but my head became heavy
+and I fell against the alcove." "Thou liest, O harlot!" said he,
+and looked right and left, till he caught sight of the axe and
+the sandals and said, "These are some man's gear. Who has been
+with thee?" Quoth she, "I never set eyes on them till this
+moment; they must have clung to thee as thou camest hither." But
+he said, "This talk is absurd and will not impose on me, O
+strumpet!" Then he stripped her naked and stretching her on the
+ground, tied her hands and feet to four stakes and proceeded to
+torture her to make her confess. I could not bear to hear her
+weeping; so I ascended the stair, quaking for fear. When I
+reached the top, I replaced the trap-door and covered it over
+with earth; and I thought of the lady and her beauty and what had
+befallen her through my folly and repented me sore of what I had
+done. Then I bethought me of my father and his kingdom and how I
+had become a woodcutter, and how, after my life had been awhile
+serene, it had again become troubled, and I wept and repeated the
+following verse:
+
+What time the cruelties of Fate o'erwhelm thee with distress,
+     Think that one day must bring thee ease, another day
+     duresse.
+
+Then I went on till I reached the house of my friend, whom I
+found awaiting me, as he were on coals of fire on my account.
+When he saw me, he rejoiced and said, "O my brother, where didst
+thou pass the night? My heart has been full of anxiety on thine
+account, fearing for thee from the wild beasts or other peril:
+but praised be God for thy safety!" I thanked him for his
+solicitude, and retiring to my chamber, fell a-musing on what had
+passed and reproached myself grievously for my meddlesomeness in
+kicking the alcove. Presently the tailor came in to me and said,
+"O my son, there is without an old man, a foreigner, who seeks
+thee. He has thine axe and sandals and came to the woodcutters
+and said to them, 'I went out at the hour of the call to morning
+prayer and happened on these and know not whose they are: direct
+me to their owner.' They knew thine axe and sent him to thee; and
+he is now sitting in my shop. So do thou go out to him and thank
+him and take thy gear." When I heard this, my colour changed and
+I was sick for terror but before I could think, the floor clove
+asunder and up came the stranger, and lo, it was the Afrit! Now
+he had tortured the lady in the most barbarous manner, without
+being able to make her confess: so he took the axe and sandals,
+saying, "As sure as I am Jerjis of the lineage of Iblis, I will
+bring back the owner of this axe and these sandals!" So he went
+to the woodcutters with the tale aforesaid, and they directed him
+to me. He snatched me up without parley and flew high into the
+air, but presently descended and plunged into the ground with me,
+and I the while unconscious. Then he came up with me in the
+underground palace, where I saw the lady stretched out naked,
+with the blood running from her sides. At this sight, my eyes ran
+over with tears; but the Afrit unbound her and veiling her, said
+to her, "O wanton, is not this thy lover?" She looked at me and
+said, "I know not this man, nor have I ever seen him till now."
+Quoth he, "Wilt thou not confess after all this torture?" And she
+answered, "I never saw him in my life, and God forbid that I
+should lie against him and thou kill him." "Then," said he, "if
+thou know him not, take this sword and cut off his head." She
+took the sword and came and stood at my head; and I made signs to
+her with my eyebrows whilst the tears ran down my cheeks. She
+understood me and signed to me with her eyes as who should say,
+"Thou hast brought all this upon us." And I answered her, in the
+same fashion, that it was a time for forgiveness; and the tongue
+of the case spoke[FN#31] the words of the poet:
+
+My looks interpret for my tongue and tell of what I feel: And all
+     the love appears that I within my heart conceal.
+When as we meet and down our cheeks our tears are running fast,
+     I'm dumb, and yet my speaking eyes my thought of thee
+     reveal.
+She signs to me; and I, I know the things her glances say: I with
+     my fingers sign, and she conceives the mute appeal.
+Our eyebrows of themselves suffice unto our intercourse: We're
+     mute; but passion none the less speaks in the looks we
+     steal.
+
+Then she threw down the sword and said, "How shall I strike off
+the head of one whom I know not and who has done me no hurt? My
+religion will not allow of this." Quoth the Afrit, "It is
+grievous to thee to kill thy lover. Because he hath lain a night
+with thee, thou endurest this torture and wilt not confess upon
+him. It is only like that pities like." Then he turned to me and
+said, "O mortal, dost thou not know this woman?" "Who is she?"
+answered I. "I never saw her till now." "Then," said he "take
+this sword and strike off her head and I will believe that thou
+knowest her not and will let thee go and do thee no hurt." Quoth
+I, "It is well;" and taking the sword, went up to her briskly and
+raised my hand. But she signed to me with her eyebrows, as who
+should say, "What hurt have I done thee? Is it thus thou
+requitest me?" I understood what she would say and replied in the
+same manner, "I will ransom thee with my life." And the tongue of
+the case repeated the following verses:
+
+How many a lover with his eyelids speaks And doth his thought
+     unto his mistress tell
+He flashes signals to her with his eyes, And she at once is ware
+     of what befell.
+How swift the looks that pass betwixt the twain! How fair,
+     indeed, and how delectable!
+One with his eyelids writes what he would say: The other with her
+     eyes the writ doth spell.
+
+Then my eyes ran over with tears and I said, "O mighty Afrit and
+doughty hero! if a woman, lacking sense and religion, deem it
+unlawful to strike off my head, how can I, who am a man, bring
+myself to slay her whom I never saw in my life? Never will I
+do it, though I drink the cup of death and ruin!" And I threw
+the sword from my hand. Quoth the Afrit, "Ye show the good
+understanding between you, but I will let you see the issue of
+your doings." Then he took the sword and cut off the lady's hands
+and feet at four strokes; whilst I looked on and made sure of
+death; and she signed me a farewell with her eyes. Quoth he,
+"Thou cuckoldest me with thine eyes!" And struck off her head
+with a blow of his sword. Then he turned to me and said, "O
+mortal, by our law; when our wives commit adultery, it is lawful
+to us to put them to death. As for this woman, I stole her away
+on her wedding-night, when she was a girl of twelve, and she has
+known no one but myself. I used to come to her once in every
+ten days in the habit of a man, a foreigner, and pass one night
+with her; and when I was assured that she had played me false,
+I slew her. But as for thee, I am not sure that thou west her
+accomplice: nevertheless, I must not let thee go unharmed; but I
+will grant thee a favour." At this I rejoiced greatly and said,
+"What favour wilt thou grant me?" "I will give thee thy choice,"
+replied he, "whether I shall change thee into a dog, an ass or an
+ape." Quoth I (and indeed I had hoped that he would pardon me),
+"By Allah, spare me, and God will reward thee for sparing a true
+believer, who hath done thee no harm." And I humbled myself
+before him to the utmost and wept, saying, "Indeed, thou dost me
+injustice." "Do not multiply words on me," answered he; "it is in
+my power to kill thee: but I give thee thy choice." "O Afrit,"
+rejoined I, "it would best become thee to pardon me, even as the
+envied pardoned the envier." Quoth he, "And how was that?" "They
+say, O Afrit," answered I, "that
+
+
+
+
+Story of the Envier and the Envied.
+
+
+
+There dwelt once in a certain city two men, who occupied
+adjoining houses, having a common party-wall; and one of them
+envied the other and looked on him with an evil eye and did his
+utmost endeavour to work him ill; and his envy grew on him till
+he could hardly eat or enjoy the delight of sleep for it. But the
+envied man did nought but prosper, and the more the other strove
+to do him hurt, the more he increased and throve and flourished.
+At last the hatred his neighbour bore him and his constant
+endeavour to do him hurt came to his knowledge and he said, 'By
+Allah, I will renounce the world on his account!' So he left his
+native place and settled in a distant city, where he bought a
+piece of land, in which was a dried-up well, that had once been
+used for watering the fields. Here he built him an oratory, which
+he fitted up with all that he required, and took up his abode
+therein, devoting himself with a sincere heart to the service of
+God the Most High. Fakirs[FN#32] and poor folk soon flocked to
+him from all sides, and his fame spread abroad in the city, so
+that the notables resorted to him. After awhile, the news reached
+the envious man of the good fortune that had befallen his old
+neighbour and the high consideration in which he was held: so he
+set out for the town in which the latter dwelt and repaired to
+the hermitage, where the envied man welcomed him and received him
+with the utmost honour. Quoth the envier, 'I have journeyed
+hither on purpose to tell thee a piece of good news. So order thy
+fakirs to retire to their cells and go with me apart, for I will
+not say what I have to tell thee, except privately where none may
+overhear us.' Accordingly the envied man ordered the fakirs to
+retire to their cells; and they did so. Then he took the other by
+the hand and walked on with him a little way, till they came to
+the deserted well, when the envious man gave the other a push and
+cast him into the well, unseen of any; after which, he went out
+and went his way thinking that he had killed him. Now this well
+was haunted by Jinn, who bore up the envied man and let him down
+little by little, so that he reached the bottom unhurt, and they
+seated him on a stone. Then said one of the Jinn to the others,
+'Know ye who this is?' And they answered, 'No.' Quoth he, 'This
+is the envied man who fled from him who envied him and settled in
+our city, where he built him this oratory and entertains us with
+his litanies and recitations of the Koran. But the envious man
+set out and journeyed till he rejoined him and contrived to throw
+him into this well. Now the news of him hath this very night come
+to the Sultan of the city and he purposes to visit him to-morrow,
+on account of his daughter. 'And what ails his daughter?' asked
+another. 'She is possessed of an evil spirit,' replied the first,
+'for the genie Meimoun ben Demdem has fallen in love with her;
+but if the pious man knew the remedy, he could cure her; and it
+is the easiest of things.' 'And what is the remedy?' asked the
+other. Quoth the first speaker 'The black cat that is with him in
+the oratory has a white spot, the size of a dirhem, at the end of
+her tail: he should take seven white hairs from this spot and
+fumigate the princess therewith; whereupon the Marid will leave
+her and never return, and she will be cured immediately.' And the
+envied man heard all this. When the day broke and the morning
+appeared and shone, the fakirs came to seek their chief and found
+him rising from the well, wherefore he was magnified in their
+eyes; and he took the black cat and plucking seven white hairs
+from the spot at the end of her tail, laid them aside. The sun
+had hardly risen when the King arrived and entered the hermitage,
+attended by his chief officers, leaving the rest of his suite
+without. The envied man bade him welcome and drawing near to him,
+said, 'Shall I tell thee the object of thy visit?' 'Yes,'
+answered the King. And he said, 'Thou comest to consult me
+concerning thy daughter.' Quoth the King, 'Thou sayst truly, O
+virtuous elder!' Then said the envied man, 'Send and fetch her,
+and (God willing) I trust to cure her at once.' The King rejoiced
+and sent for his daughter; and they brought her bound hand and
+foot. The envied man made her sit down behind a curtain and
+taking out the hairs, fumigated her with them; whereupon the
+Afrit that was in her roared out and departed from her. And she
+was restored to her right mind and veiled her face, saying, 'What
+has happened and who brought me hither?' At this, the Sultan
+rejoiced beyond measure and kissed her on the eyes and kissed the
+envied man's hand. Then he turned to his officers and said, 'How
+say you? What reward doth he deserve who cured my daughter?' They
+answered, 'He deserves to have her to wife;' and the King, 'Ye
+say well.' So he married him to her, and the envied man became
+the King's son-in-law. After awhile, the Vizier died, and the
+King said, 'Whom shall we make Vizier in his stead?' 'Thy
+son-in-law,' answered the courtiers. So the envied man was made
+Vizier. Presently the Sultan also died, and the grandees
+determined to appoint the Vizier King in his place. So they made
+him Sultan, and he became King regnant. One day, as he was riding
+forth in his royal state, surrounded by his Viziers and Amirs and
+grandees, his eyes fell on his old neighbour, the envious man; so
+he turned to one of his viziers and said to him, 'Bring me yonder
+man and frighten him not.' So the Vizier went and returned with
+the envious man: and the King said, 'Give him a thousand dinars
+from my treasury and twenty loads of merchandise and send him
+under an escort to his own city.' Then he bade him farewell and
+sent him away and forbore to punish him for what he had done with
+him See, O Afrit, how the envied man forgave his envier, who had
+always hated him and borne him malice and had journeyed to him
+and made shift to throw him into the well: yet did he not requite
+him his ill-doing, but on the contrary was bountiful to him and
+forgave him." Then I wept before him exceeding sore, and repeated
+the following verses:
+
+I prithee, pardon mine offence: for men of prudent mind To pardon
+     unto those that sin their sins are still inclined.
+If I, alas! contain in me all fashions of offence, Let there in
+     thee forgiveness fair be found in every kind.
+For men are bound to pardon those that are beneath their hand, If
+     they themselves with those that be above them grace would
+     find.
+
+Quoth the Afrit, "I will neither kill thee nor let thee go free,
+but I will assuredly enchant thee." Then he tore me from the
+ground and flew up with me into the air, till I saw the earth as
+it were a platter midmost the water. Presently he set me down on
+a mountain and took a little earth, over which he muttered some
+magical words, then sprinkled me with it, saying, "Quit this
+shape for that of an ape." And immediately I became an ape, a
+hundred years old. Then he went away and left me; and when I saw
+myself in this ugly shape, I wept, but resigned myself to the
+tyranny of fate, knowing that fortune is constant to no one, and
+descended to the foot of the mountain, where found a wide plain.
+I fared on for the space of a month till my course brought me to
+the shore of the salt sea: where I stood awhile and presently
+caught sight of a ship in the midst of the sea, making for the
+land with a fair wind. I hid myself behind a rock on the beach
+and waited till the ship drew near, when I sprang on board. Quoth
+one of the passengers, "Turn this unlucky brute out from amongst
+us!" And the captain said, "Let us kill him." And a third, "I
+will kill him with this sword." But I laid hold of the captain's
+skirts and wept, and the tears ran down my face. The captain took
+pity on me and said, "O merchants, this ape appeals to me for
+protection, and I will protect him: henceforth he is under my
+safeguard, and none shall molest or annoy him." Then he entreated
+me kindly and whatever he said I understood and ministered to all
+his wants and waited on him, so that he loved me. The ship sailed
+on with a fair wind for the space of fifty days, at the end of
+which time we cast anchor over against a great city, wherein were
+much people, none could tell their number save God. No sooner had
+we come to an anchor, than we were boarded by officers from the
+King of the city; who said to the merchants, "Our King gives you
+joy of your safety and sends you this scroll of paper, on which
+each one of you is to write a line. For know that the King's
+Vizier, who was an excellent penman, is dead and the King has
+sworn a solemn oath that he will make none Vizier in his stead
+who cannot write like him." Then they gave them a scroll, ten
+cubits long by one wide, and each of the merchants, who could
+write, wrote a line therein: after which I rose and snatched the
+scroll from their hands, and they cried out at me and rated me,
+fearing that I would tear it or throw it into the sea. But I made
+signs that I would write; whereat they marvelled, saying, "We
+never saw an ape write!" And the captain said to them, "Let him
+alone; if he scrabble, we will drive him away and kill him; but
+if he write well, I will adopt him as my son, for I never saw so
+intelligent and well-mannered an ape; and would God my son had
+his sense and good breeding!" So I took the pen and dipping it in
+the inkhorn, wrote in an epistolary hand the following verses:
+
+Time hath recorded the virtues of the great: But thine have
+     remained unchronicled till now.
+May God not orphan the human race of thee, For sire and mother of
+     all good deeds art thou.
+
+Then I wrote the following in a running hand:
+
+Thou hast a pen whose use confers good gifts on every clime; Upon
+     all creatures of the world its happy favours fall.
+What are the bounties of the Nile to thy munificence, Whose
+     fingers five extend to shower thy benefits on all?
+
+And in an engrossing hand the following:
+
+There is no writer but he shall pass away: Yet what he writes
+     shall last for ever and aye.
+Write, therefore, nought but that which shall gladden thee, When
+     as it meets thine eye on the Judgment Day.
+
+And in a transcribing hand the following:
+
+When separation is to us by destiny decreed And 'gainst the cruel
+     chance of Fate our efforts are in vain,
+Unto the inkhorn's mouth we fly that, by the tongues of pens, Of
+     parting and its bitterness it may for us complain.
+
+And in a large formal hand the following:
+
+The regal state endureth not to any mortal man. If thou deny
+     this, where is he who first on earth held sway?
+Plant therefore saplings of good deeds, whilst that thou yet art
+     great Though thou be ousted from thy stead, they shall not
+     pass away.
+
+And in a court hand the following:
+
+When thou the inkhorn op'st of power and lordship over men, Make
+     thou thine ink of noble thoughts and generous purpose; then
+Write gracious deeds and good therewith, whilst that thy power
+     endures. So shall thy virtues blazoned be at point of sword
+     and pen.
+
+Then I gave the scroll to the officers, who took it and returned
+with it to the King. When he saw it, no writing pleased him but
+mine; so he said to his officers, "Go to the writer of these
+lines and dress him in a splendid robe; then mount him on a mule
+and bring him to me with a band of music before him." At this
+they smiled, and the King was wroth with them and said, "O
+accursed ones, I give you an order, and ye laugh at me!" "O
+King," answered they, "we have good cause to laugh." Quoth he,
+"What is it?" And they replied, "O King, thou orderest us to
+bring thee the man who wrote these lines: now he who wrote them
+is no man, but an ape belonging to the captain of the ship."
+"Can this be true?" asked he; and they said, "Yea, by thy
+munificence!" The King was astonished at their report and shook
+with mirth and said, "I have a mind to buy this ape of the
+captain." Then he sent messengers to the ship and said to them,
+"Dress him none the less in the robe and mount him on the mule
+and bring him hither in state, with the band of music before
+him." So they came to the ship and took me and clad me in the
+robe and mounted me on the mule and carried me in procession
+through the city; whilst the people were astounded and crowded to
+gaze upon me, and the place was all astir on my account. When I
+reached the King's presence, I kissed the earth before him three
+times, and he bade me be seated; so I sat down on my heels; and
+all the bystanders marvelled at my good manners, and the King
+most of all. After awhile the King dismissed his courtiers, and
+there remained but myself, his highness the King, an eunuch and a
+little white slave. Then the King gave orders and they brought
+the table of food, containing all kinds of birds that hop and fly
+and couple in the nests, such as grouse and quails and so forth.
+He signed to me to eat with him; so I rose and kissed the earth
+before him then sat down and ate with him. When we had done
+eating, the table was removed, and I washed my hands seven times.
+Then I took pen and ink and wrote the following verses:
+
+Weep for the cranes that erst within the porringers did lie, And
+     for the stews and partridges evanished heave a sigh!
+Mourn for the younglings of the grouse; lament unceasingly, As,
+     for the omelettes and the fowls browned in the pan, do I.
+How my heart yearneth for the fish, that in its different kinds,
+     Upon a paste of wheaten flour lay hidden in the pie!
+Praised be God for the roast meat! As in the dish it lay, With
+     pot-herbs, soaked in vinegar, in porringers hard by!
+My hunger was appeased: I lay, intent upon the gleam Of arms that
+     in the frumenty were buried bracelet high.
+I woke my sleeping appetite to eat, as 'twere in jest, Of all the
+     tarts that, piled on trays, shone fair unto the eye.
+O soul, have patience! For indeed, Fate full of marvel is: If
+     fortune straiten thee one day, the next relief is nigh.
+
+Then I rose and seated myself at a distance, whilst the King read
+what I had written and marvelled and said "Strange that an ape
+should be gifted with such fluency and skill in penmanship! By
+Allah, this is a wonder of wonders!" Then they set choice wine
+before the King in flagons of glass; and he drank, then passed
+the cup to me; and I kissed the earth and drank and wrote the
+following verses:
+
+They burnt me[FN#33] with fire, to make me speak, And found me
+     patient and debonair.
+For this I am borne on men's hands on high And kiss the rosy lips
+     of the fair!
+
+And these also:
+
+Morn struggles through the dusk; so pour me out, I pray, Of wine,
+     such wine as makes the saddest-hearted gay!
+So pure and bright it is, that whether wine in glass Or glass in
+     wine be held, i' faith, 'tis hard to say.
+
+The King read them and said, with a sigh, "If a man had this
+quickness of wit, he would excel all the folk of his age and
+time." Then he called for a chess-board and said to me, "Wilt
+thou play with me?" I signed with my head as who should say,
+"Yes," and came forward and placed the men and played two games
+with him, each of which I won, much to his amazement. Then I took
+the pen and wrote the following verses:
+
+Two hosts throughout the live-long day contend in deadly fight,
+     That waxes ever till the shades of night upon them creep;
+Then, when the darkness puts an end at last unto their strife,
+     Upon one couch and side by side, they lay them down to
+     sleep.
+
+These verses filled the King with wonder and delight, and he said
+to the eunuch, "Go to thy mistress, the Lady of Beauty, and bid
+her come and amuse herself with the sight of this wonderful ape."
+So the eunuch went out and presently returned with the lady, who,
+when she saw me, veiled her face, and said, "O my father, how
+comes it that thou art pleased to send for me and show me to
+strange men?" "O my daughter," said he, "there is none here save
+the little slave and the eunuch who reared thee and myself, thy
+father. From whom then dost thou veil thy face?" Quoth she, "This
+that thou deemest an ape is a wise and learned man, the son of a
+king; the Afrit Jerjis of the lineage of Iblis enchanted him
+thus, after putting to death his own wife, the daughter of King
+Efitamous, Lord of the Ebony Islands." At this the King wondered
+and turning to me, said, "Is this true that she says of thee?"
+And I signed with my head, as who should say, "Yes;" and wept.
+Then said he to his daughter, "Whence knewest thou that he was
+enchanted?" "O my father," answered she, "there was with me, in
+my childhood, an old woman who was skilled in magic and taught me
+its rules and practice; and I became skilled therein and
+committed to memory a hundred and seventy magical formulas, by
+the least of which I could transport the stones of thy?? behind
+the mountain Caf and make its site an abyss of the sea and its
+people fishes swimming in its midst." "O my daughter," said her
+father, "I conjure thee, by my life, to disenchant this young
+man, that I may make him my Vizier, for he is a right pleasant
+and ingenious youth." "With all my heart," replied she, and
+taking a knife, on which were engraved Hebrew characters, drew
+therewith a circle in the midst of the hall and wrote there in
+names and talismans and muttered words and charms, some of which
+we understood and others not. Presently the world darkened upon
+us, and the Afrit presented himself before us in his own shape
+and aspect, with hands like pitchforks legs like masts and eyes
+like flames of fire. We were affrighted at him, but the princess
+said to him, "An ill welcome to thee, O dog!" Whereupon he took
+the form of a lion and said to her, "O traitress, thou hast
+broken thy compact with me! Did we not swear that neither of us
+should molest the other?" "O accursed one," answered she, "how
+could there be a compact between me and the like of thee?"
+"Then," said he, "take what thou hast brought on thyself." And
+opening his mouth, rushed upon her: but she made haste and
+plucked a hair from her head and waved it in the air, muttering
+the while; and it at once became a sharp sword, with which she
+smote the lion and cut him in two. His head became a scorpion,
+whereupon the princess transformed herself into a great serpent
+and fell upon the scorpion and there befell a sore battle between
+them. Presently the scorpion changed to an eagle, and the serpent
+at once became a griffin, which pursued the eagle a long while,
+till the latter became a black cat. Thereupon the griffin became
+a piebald wolf and they fought long and sore, till the cat
+finding itself beaten, changed into a worm and crept into a
+pomegranate which lay beside the fountain in the midst of the
+hall whereupon the pomegranate swelled till it was as big as a
+watermelon. The wolf ran to seize it, but it rose into the air
+and falling on the pavement, broke in pieces, and all the seeds
+fell out and rolled hither and thither, till the floor was
+covered with them. Then the wolf shook itself and became a cock,
+which fell to picking up the seeds, till they were all gone,
+except one that, by the decree of Fate, had rolled to the side of
+the basin and lay hidden there. The cock began to crow and clap
+its wings and signed to us with his beak, as who should say,
+"Are there any grains left?" But we understood him not; and he
+gave such a cry that we thought the palace would fall on us.
+Then he ran about all over the hall, till he saw the remaining
+pomegranate-seed, and rushed to pick it up, but it sprang into
+the midst of the water and became a fish, which sank to the
+bottom of the basin. Thereupon the cock became big fish and
+plunged in after the other; and we saw nothing of them for
+a time, but heard a loud crying and screaming and trembled.
+Presently the Afrit rose out of the water, as he were one great
+flame, with fire and smoke issuing from his mouth and eyes and
+nostrils. Immediately after, the princess rose also, like a great
+coal of fire, and they fought till they were wrapped in flames
+and the hall was filled with smoke. As for us, we were well-nigh
+suffocated and hid ourselves and would have plunged into the
+water, fearing lest we be burnt up and destroyed: and the King
+said, "There is no power and no virtue but in God the Most High,
+the Supreme! We are God's and to Him we return! Would God I had
+not urged my daughter to attempt the delivery of this ape,
+whereby I have imposed on her this fearful labour with yonder
+accursed Afrit, against whom all the other Afrits in the world
+could not prevail! And would we had never seen this ape, may
+God's blessing not be on him nor on the hour of his coming! We
+thought to do him a kindness for the love of God, by freeing him
+from this enchantment, and lo, we have brought this terrible
+travail upon ourselves!" But my tongue was tied and I could not
+say a word to him. Suddenly, the Afrit roared out from under the
+flames and coming up to us, as we stood on the dais, blew fire in
+our faces. The princess pursued him and blew flames at him, and
+the sparks from them both fell upon us; her sparks did us no
+hurt, but of his one lighted on my right eye and destroyed it;
+another fell on the King's face and scorched the lower part,
+burning away half his beard and making his under teeth drop out,
+and a third lighted on the eunuch's breast and set him on fire,
+so that he was consumed and died forthright. So we despaired of
+life and looked for nothing but death; but presently we heard a
+voice exclaiming, "God is most great! He giveth aid and victory
+to the true believer and abandoneth him who denieth the religion
+of Mohammed, the Moon of the Faith!" And lo, the King's daughter
+had burnt up the Afrit and he was become a heap of ashes! Then
+she came up to us and said, "Bring me a cup of water." They did
+so: and she spoke over the water words we understood not and
+sprinkled me with it, saying, "By the virtue of the Truth and of
+the Most Great Name of God, return to thine original shape!" And
+immediately I shook and became a man as before, save that I had
+lost my right eye. Then she cried out, "The fire! The fire! O my
+father, I have but an instant to live, for I am not used to fight
+with Jinn: had he been a man, I had slain him long ago. I had no
+travail till the time when the pomegranate burst asunder and I
+overlooked the seed in which was the genie's life. Had I picked
+it up, he would have died at once; but as fate and destiny would
+have it, I knew not of this, so that he came upon me unawares and
+there befell between us a sore strife under the earth and in the
+air and in the water: and as often as I opened on him a
+gate[FN#34] (of magic), he opened on me another, till at last he
+opened on me the gate of fire, and seldom does he on whom the
+gate of fire is opened escape alive. But Providence aided me
+against him, so that I consumed him first, after I had summoned
+him to embrace the faith of Islam. As for me, I am a dead woman
+and may God supply my place to you!" Then she called upon God for
+help and ceased not to implore relief from the fire, till
+presently a tongue of fierce flame broke out from her clothes and
+shot up to her breast and thence to her face. When it reached her
+face, she wept and said, "I testify that there is no god but God
+and that Mohammed is the apostle of God!" And we looked at her
+and behold, she was a heap of ashes beside those of the genie. We
+mourned for her and I wished I had been in her place, so had I
+not seen the fair-faced one who had done me this good office
+reduced to ashes; but there is no averting the decree of God.
+When the King saw what had befallen his daughter, he plucked out
+the rest of his beard and buffeted his face and rent his clothes;
+and I did the like, and we both wept for her. Then came in the
+chamberlains and grandees and were amazed to find two heaps of
+ashes and the Sultan in a swoon. So they stood round him till he
+revived and told them what had happened, whereat they were sore
+afflicted and the women and slave-girls shrieked aloud and kept
+up their lamentation for the space of seven days. Moreover, the
+King bade build a great dome over his daughter's ashes and burn
+therein candles and lamps: but the Afrit's ashes they scattered
+to the winds, committing them to the malediction of God. The King
+was sick, well-nigh unto death, for a month's space, after which
+health returned to him and His beard grew again. Then he sent for
+me and said to me, "O youth, verily we led the happiest of lives,
+safe from the vicissitudes of fortune, till thou camest to us,
+when troubles flocked upon us. O that we had never seen thee nor
+the ugly face of thee! For through our taking pity on thee, we
+are come to this state of bereavement. I have lost, on thine
+account, first, my daughter, who was worth a hundred men;
+secondly, I have suffered what befell me by the fire and the loss
+of my teeth, and my eunuch also is dead. I do not indeed blame
+thee for aught of this; for all was decreed of God to us and to
+thee; and praised be He that my daughter delivered thee, though
+at the cost of her own life! But now, O my son, depart from my
+city and let what has befallen us on thine account suffice.
+Depart in peace, and if I see thee again I will kill thee." And
+he cried out at me. So I went forth from his presence, knowing
+not whither I should go, and hardly believing in my escape. And I
+recalled all that had befallen me from first to last and thanked
+God that it was my eye that I had lost and not my life. Before I
+left the town, I entered the bath and shaved my head and put on a
+hair-cloth garment. Then I fared forth at a venture, and every
+day I recalled all the misfortunes that had befallen me and wept
+and repeated the following verses:
+
+By the Compassionate, I'm dazed and know not where I go. Griefs
+     flock on me from every side, I know not whence they grow.
+I will endure till patience' self less patient is than I: I will
+     have patience till it please the Lord to end my woe.
+A vanquished man, without complaint, my doom I will endure, As
+     the parched traveller in the waste endures the torrid glow.
+I will endure till aloes'[FN#35] self confess that I, indeed, Can
+     'gainst a bitt'rer thing abide than even it can show.
+There is no bitt'rer thing; and yet if patience play me false, It
+     were to me a bitt'rer thing than all the rest, I trow.
+The wrinkles graven on my heart would speak my hidden pain If
+     through my breast the thought could pierce and read what
+     lies below.
+Were but my load on mountains laid, they'd crumble into dust; On
+     fire it would be quenched outright; on wind, 'twould cease
+     to blow.
+Let who will say that life is sweet; to all there comes a day
+     When they must needs a bitt'rer thing than aloes[FN#36]
+     undergo.
+
+Then I journeyed through many lands and cities, intending for the
+Abode of Peace[FN#37], Baghdad, in the hope that I might get
+speech of the Commander of the Faithful and tell him all that had
+befallen me. I arrived here this night and found my brother, this
+first Calender, standing perplexed; so I saluted him and entered
+into converse with him. Presently up came our brother, this third
+Calender, and said to us, "Peace be on you! I am a stranger." "We
+also are strangers," answered we, "and have come hither this
+blessed night." So we all three walked on together, none of us
+knowing the others' story, till chance brought us to this door
+and we came in to you. This, then, is my story and the manner of
+the shaving of my face and the loss of my eye.' Quoth the
+mistress of the house, 'Thy story is indeed a rare one: and now
+begone about thy business.' But he replied, 'I will not stir till
+I hear the others' stories.' Then came forward the third Calender
+and said, 'O illustrious lady, my history is not like that of
+these my comrades, but still stranger and more marvellous, in
+that, whilst destiny and fore-ordained fate overcame them
+unawares, I with mine own hand drew fate and affliction upon
+myself, as thou shalt presently hear. Know that
+
+
+
+
+                  Story of the Third Calender.
+
+
+
+I also am a king, the son of a king, and my name is Agib, son of
+Khesib. My father died, and I took the kingdom after him and
+ruled my subjects with justice and beneficence. My capital city
+stood on the shore of a wide spreading sea, on which I had fifty
+merchant ships and fifty smaller vessels for pleasure and a
+hundred and fifty cruisers equipped for war; and near at hand
+were many great islands in the midst of the ocean. Now I loved to
+sail the sea and had a mind to visit the islands aforesaid so I
+took ship with a month's victual and set out and took my pleasure
+in the islands and returned to my capital Then, being minded to
+make a longer voyage upon the ocean, I fitted out half a score
+ships with provision for two months and sailed twenty days, till
+one night the wind blew contrary and the sea rose against us with
+great billows; the waves clashed together and there fell on us a
+great darkness. So we gave ourselves up for lost and I said, "He
+who perils himself is not to be commended, though he come off
+safe." Then we prayed to God and besought Him, but the wind
+ceased not to rage and the waves to clash together, till
+daybreak, when the wind fell, the sea became calm and the sun
+shone out. Presently we sighted an island, where we landed and
+cooked food and ate and rested two days. Then we set out again
+and sailed other twenty days, without seeing land; but the
+currents carried us out of our true course, so that the captain
+lost his reckoning and finding himself in strange waters, bade
+the watch go up to the mast-head and look out. So he climbed the
+mast and looked out and said "O captain, I see nothing to right
+and left save sky and water, but ahead I see something looming
+afar off in the midst of the sea, now black and now white." When
+the captain heard the look-out's words, he cast his turban on the
+deck and plucked out his beard and buffeted his face and said, "O
+King, we are all dead men, not one of us can be saved." We all
+wept for his weeping and I said to him, "O captain, tell us what
+it is the look-out saw." "O my lord," answered he, "know that we
+lost our way on the night of the storm and since then we have
+gone astray one-and-twenty days and there is no wind to bring us
+back to our true course. To-morrow, by the end of the day, we
+shall come to a mountain of black stone, called loadstone, for
+thither the currents bear us perforce. As soon as we come within
+a certain distance, all the nails in the ships will fly out and
+fasten to the mountain, and the ships will open and fall to
+pieces, for that God the Most High has gifted the loadstone with
+a secret virtue, by reason whereof all iron is attracted to it;
+and on this mountain is much iron, how much God only knows, from
+the many ships that have been wrecked there from old time. On its
+summit there stands a dome of brass, raised on ten columns and on
+the top of the dome are a horse and horseman of the same metal.
+The latter holds in his hand a brazen lance and on his breast is
+a tablet of lead, graven with names and talismans: and, O King,
+it is nought but this horseman that causeth the folk to perish,
+nor will the charm be broken till he fall from his horse." Then
+he wept sore and we all made sure of death and each took leave of
+his comrade and charged him with his last wishes, in case he
+should be saved. That night we slept not, and in the morning, we
+sighted the loadstone mountain, towards which the currents
+carried us with irresistible force. When the ships came within a
+certain distance, they opened and the nails started out and all
+the iron in them sought the loadstone and clove to it; so that by
+the end of the day, we were all struggling in the sea round the
+mountain. Some of us were saved, but the most part drowned, and
+even those who escaped knew not one of the other, being stupefied
+by the raging wind and the buffeting of the waves. As for me, God
+preserved me that I might suffer that which He willed to me of
+trouble and torment and affliction, for I got on a plank from one
+of the ships and, the wind driving it ashore, I happened on a
+pathway leading to the top, as it were a stair hewn out of the
+rock. So I called upon the name of God the Most High and besought
+His succour and clinging to the steps, addressed myself to climb
+up little by little. And God stilled the wind and aided me in my
+ascent, so that I reached the summit in safety. There I found
+nothing but the dome; so I entered, mightily rejoiced at my
+escape, and made my ablutions and prayed a two-bow prayer[FN#38]
+in gratitude to God for my preservation. Then I fell asleep under
+the dome and saw in a dream one who said to me, "O son of Khesib,
+when thou awakest, dig under thy feet and thou wilt find a bow of
+brass and three leaden arrows, inscribed with talismanic
+characters. Take the bow and shoot the arrows at the horseman on
+the top of the dome and rid mankind of this great calamity. When
+thou shootest at him, he will fall into the sea and the horse
+will drop at thy feet: take it and bury it in the place of the
+bow. This done, the sea will swell and rise till it is level with
+the top of the mountain, and there will appear on it a boat
+containing a man of brass (other than he whom thou shalt have
+thrown down), with an oar in his hands. He will come to thee, and
+do thou embark with him, but beware of naming God. He will row
+with thee for the space of ten days, till he brings thee to a
+port of safety, where thou shalt find those who will carry thee
+to thine own country: and all this shall be fulfilled to thee, so
+thou pronounce not the name of God." I started up from my sleep
+and hastening to do the bidding of the mysterious voice, found
+the bow and arrows and shot at the horseman and overthrew him;
+whereupon he fell into the sea, whilst the horse dropped at my
+feet and I took it and buried it. Then the sea grew troubled and
+rose till it reached the top of the mountain; nor had I long to
+wait before I saw a boat in the midst of the sea coming towards
+me. So I gave thanks to God: and when the boat came up to me, I
+saw in it a man of brass, with a tablet of lead on his breast,
+inscribed with names and talismans; and I embarked without saying
+a word. The boatman rowed on with me for ten whole days, till I
+caught sight of islands and mountains and signs of safety;
+whereat I was beyond measure rejoiced and in the excess of my
+gladness, I called upon the name of the Almighty and exclaimed,
+"There is no god but God! God is most great!" When behold, the
+boat turned over and cast me out into the sea, then righted and
+sank beneath the water. Now, I knew how to swim, so I swam the
+whole day till nightfall, when my arms and shoulders failed me
+for fatigue, and I abode in mortal peril and made the profession
+of the Faith[FN#39], looking for nothing but death. Presently,
+the sea rose, for the greatness of the wind, and a wave like a
+great rampart took me and bearing me forward, cast me up on the
+land, that the will of God might be done. I clambered up the
+beach and, putting off my clothes, wrung them and spread them out
+to dry, then lay down and slept all night. As soon as it was day,
+I put on my clothes and rose to look about me. Presently I came
+to a grove of trees and making a circuit round it, found that I
+was on a little island, surrounded on all sides by the sea;
+whereupon I said to myself, "No sooner do I escape from one peril
+than I fall into a worse." But as I was pondering my case and
+wishing for death, I spied a ship afar off making towards me; so
+I climbed up into a tree and hid myself among the branches.
+Presently the ship came to an anchor, and ten slaves landed,
+bearing spades, and made for the middle of the island, where they
+dug till they uncovered a trapdoor and raised it. Then they
+returned to the ship and brought thence bread and flour and oil
+and honey and meat and carpets and all else that was needed to
+furnish one dwelling there; nor did they leave going back and
+forth till they had transferred to the underground dwelling all
+that was in the ship: after which they again repaired to the
+vessel and returned, laden with wearing apparel of the finest
+kind and in their midst a very old man, whom time had mauled till
+he was wasted and worn, as he were a bone wrapped in a rag of
+blue cloth, through which the winds blew East and West. As says
+the poet of him:
+
+Time makes us tremble ah, how piteously! For full of violence and
+     might is he.
+Once on a time I walked and was not tired: Now am I tired, yet
+     have not walked, ah me!
+
+He held by the hand a youth cast in the mould of symmetry and
+perfection, so fair that his beauty might well be the subject of
+proverbs; for he was like a tender sapling, ravishing every heart
+with his beauty and seducing every wit with his amorous grace. It
+was of him the poet spoke, when he said:
+
+Beauty they brought to liken it with him: But Beauty hung its
+     head for shame and fear.
+"O Beauty," said they, "dost thou know his like?" It answered,
+     "Never have I seen his peer."
+
+They proceeded to the underground, where they descended all and
+did not reappear for an hour or more, at the end of which time
+the old man and the slaves came up, without the youth, and
+replacing the trap-door, covered it again with earth; then
+returned to the ship and set sail. As soon as they were out of
+sight, I came down from the tree and going to the place I had
+seen them fill up, made shift to clear away the earth, till I
+came to the trap-door, which was of wood, the shape and bigness
+of a mill-stone, and raised it, when there appeared underneath a
+winding stair of stone. At this I wondered and descending, came
+to a fair chamber, spread with various kinds of carpets and hung
+with silken stuffs, where I saw the youth sitting alone upon a
+raised couch and leant upon a cushion, with a fan in his hand and
+sweet-scented flowers and herbs and fruits before him. When he
+saw me, he turned pale; but I saluted him, saying, "Calm thyself
+and put away fear; no harm shall come to thee: I am a man like
+unto thee and a king's son, whom Providence hath sent to bear
+thee company in thy solitude. But now tell me thy history and why
+thou dwellest underground by thyself." When he was assured that I
+was of his kind, he was glad and his colour returned; then he
+made me draw near to him and said, "O my brother, my story is a
+strange one, and it is as follows. My father is a merchant
+jeweller, possessed of great wealth and having black and white
+slaves, who make trading voyages, on his account, in ships and on
+camels, to the most distant countries; and he has dealings with
+kings. Until my birth, he had never been blessed with a child,
+but one night he dreamt that a son had been born to him, who
+lived but a short time, and awoke weeping and crying out. The
+following night my mother conceived and he took note of the date
+of her conception. The days of her pregnancy were accomplished
+and she gave birth to myself, whereupon my father rejoiced and
+made banquets and fed the poor and the needy for that I had been
+vouchsafed to him in his old age. Then he assembled the
+astrologers and mathematicians of the day and those learned in
+nativities and horoscopes; and they drew my horoscope and said to
+my father, 'Thy son will live till the age of fifteen, at which
+date there is a break[FN#40] in his line of life, which if he
+tide over in safety, he shall live long. The danger with which he
+is threatened is as follows. In the Sea of Peril stands a
+mountain called the Loadstone Mountain, on whose summit is a
+horseman of brass, seated on a horse of the same metal, with a
+tablet of lead on his breast. Fifty days after this horseman
+falls from his horse, thy son will die, and his slayer will be he
+who overthrows the statue, a king called Agib, son of Khesib.' My
+father was sore concerned at this prediction; but he brought me
+up and gave me a good education, till I attained my fifteenth
+year. Ten days ago, news came to him that the horseman had fallen
+into the sea and that he who overthrew him was Agib, son of King
+Khesib; whereat he was as one distraught and feared for my life.
+So he built me this place under the earth and stocking it with
+all that I need during the forty days that yet remain of the
+period of danger, transported me hither, that I might be safe
+from King Agib's hands. When the forty days are past, he will
+come back and fetch me; and this is my story and why thou findest
+me here alone." When I heard his story, I marvelled and said to
+myself, "I am that King Agib of whom he speaks; but, by Allah, I
+will assuredly not kill him!" And I said to him, "O my lord, God
+willing, thou shalt be spared suffering and death, nor shalt thou
+see trouble or sorrow or disquiet, for I will abide with thee and
+serve thee; and when I have borne thee company during the
+appointed days, I will go with thee to thy dwelling-place and
+thou shalt bring me to some of thy father's servants, with whom I
+may journey to my own country; and God shall requite thee for
+me." He rejoiced in my words and we sat conversing till nightfall
+when I rose and lighted a great wax candle and fed the lamps and
+set on meat and drink and sweetmeats. We ate and drank and sat
+talking till late into the night, when he lay down to sleep and I
+covered him up and went to sleep myself. Next morning, I rose and
+heated a little water, then woke him gently and brought him the
+warm water, with which he washed his face and thanked me, saying,
+"God requite thee with good, O youth! By Allah, if I escape from
+this my danger and from him they call Agib ben Khesib, I will
+make my father reward thee!" "May the day never come on which
+evil shall befall thee," answered I, "and may God appoint my last
+day before thine!" Then I set on food and we ate, and I made
+ready perfumes with which he scented himself. Moreover, I made
+him a backgammon board[FN#41], and we played and ate sweetmeats
+and played again till nightfall when I rose and lighting the
+lamps, set on food; and we ate and sat talking till the night was
+far spent. Then he lay down to sleep and I covered him up and
+went to sleep myself. Thus I did with him, day and night, and the
+love of him got hold upon my heart and I forgot my troubles and
+said to myself, "The astrologers lied; by Allah, I will not kill
+him!" I ceased not to serve him and bear him company and
+entertain him thus, till nine-and-thirty days were passed and we
+came to the morning of the fortieth day, when he rejoiced and
+said to me, "O my brother, the forty days are up to-day, praised
+be God who hath preserved me from death, and this by thy blessing
+and the blessing of thy coming to me, and I pray Him to restore
+thee to thy country! But now, O my brother, I prithee heat me
+some water, that I may wash my body and change my clothes."
+"With all my heart," answered I; and heated water in plenty
+and carrying it in to him, washed his body well with
+lupin-meal[FN#42] and rubbed him down and changed his clothes and
+spread him a high bed, on which he lay down to rest after the
+bath. Then said he, "O my brother, cut me a melon and sweeten it
+with sugar-candy." So I went to the closet and bringing a fine
+melon I found there on a platter, said to him, "O my lord, hast
+thou no knife?" "Here it is," answered he, "on the high shelf at
+my head." So I got up hurriedly and taking the knife, drew it
+from its sheath; but in stepping down backward, my foot slipped
+and I fell heavily on the youth, holding in my hand the knife,
+which hastened to fulfil that which was ordained and entered his
+heart, and he died forthright. When I saw that he was no more and
+that I had indeed killed him, I cried out grievously and buffeted
+my face and tore my clothes, saying, "We are God's and to Him we
+return! There remained for this youth but one day of the period
+of danger that the astrologers had foretold for him, and the
+death of this fair one was to be at my hand! Verily, my life is
+nought but disasters and afflictions! Would he had not asked me
+to cut the melon or would I had died before him! But what God
+decrees cometh to pass." When I was certain that there was no
+life left in him, I rose and ascending the stair, replaced the
+trap-door and covered it with earth. Then I looked out to sea and
+saw the ship cleaving the waters in the direction of the island.
+Whereat I was afeared and said, "They will be here anon and will
+find their son dead and know 'twas I killed him and will slay me
+without fail." So I climbed up into a high tree and hid myself
+among the leaves. Hardly had I done so, when the vessel came to
+an anchor and the slaves landed with the old man and made direct
+for the place, where they cleared away the earth and were
+surprised to find it soft.[FN#43] Then they raised the trap-door
+and going down, found the boy lying dead, clad in clean clothes,
+with his face shining from the bath and the knife sticking in his
+breast. At this sight, they shrieked aloud and wept and buffeted
+their faces and cried out, "Alas! woe worth the day!" whilst the
+old man swooned away and remained so long insensible, that the
+slaves thought he would not survive his son. So they wrapped the
+dead youth in his clothes and carried him up and laid him on the
+ground, covering him with a shroud of silk. Then they addressed
+themselves to transport all that was in the place to the ship,
+and presently the old man revived and coming up after them, saw
+his son laid out, whereupon he fell on the ground and strewed
+dust on his head and buffeted his face and tore his beard; and
+his weeping redoubled, as he hung over his dead son, till he
+swooned away again. After awhile the slaves came back, with a
+silken carpet, and laying the old man thereon, sat down at his
+head. All this time I was in the tree above them, watching them;
+and indeed my heart became hoary before my head, for all the
+grief and affliction I had undergone. The old man ceased not from
+his swoon till nigh upon sundown, when he came to himself and
+looking upon his dead son, recalled what had happened and how
+what he had feared had come to pass: and he buffeted his face and
+head and recited the following verses:
+
+My heart is cleft in twain for severance of loves; The burning
+     tears pour down in torrents from my eye.
+My every wish with him I loved is fled away: What can I do or
+     say? what help, what hope have I?
+Would I had never looked upon his lovely face! Alas, the ways on
+     me are straitened far and nigh!
+What charm can bring me peace, what drink forgetfulness, Whilst
+     in my heart the fire of love burns fierce and high?
+Would that my feet had trod with him the road of death! Then
+     should I not, as now, in lonely sorrow sigh.
+O God, that art my hope, have pity upon me! Unite us twain, I
+     crave, in Paradise for aye!
+How blessed were we once, whilst one house held us both And
+     twinned in pure content our happy lives passed by!
+Till fortune aimed at us the shafts of severance And parted us;
+     for who her arrows can defy?
+For lo! the age's pearl, the darling of his folk, The mould of
+     every grace, was singled out to die!
+I call him back: "Would God thine hour had never come!" What
+     while the case takes speech and doth forestall my cry.
+Which is the speediest way to win to thee, my son! My soul had
+     paid the price, if that thy life might buy.
+The sun could not compare with him, for lo! it sets. Nor yet the
+     moon that wanes and wasteth from the sky.
+Alas, my grief for thee and my complaint of fate! None can
+     console for thee nor aught thy place supply.
+Thy sire is all distraught with languishment for thee; Since
+     death upon thee came, his hopes are gone awry.
+Surely, some foe hath cast an envious eye on us: May he who
+     wrought this thing his just deserts aby!
+
+Then he sobbed once and gave up the ghost; whereupon the slaves
+cried out, "Alas, our master!" and strewed dust on their heads
+and wept sore. Then they carried the two bodies to the ship and
+set sail. As soon as they were out of sight, I came down from the
+tree and raising the trap-door, went down into the underground
+dwelling, where the sight of some of the youth's gear recalled
+him to my mind, and I repeated the following verses:
+
+I see their traces and pine for longing pain; My tears rain down
+     on the empty dwelling-place!
+And I pray to God, who willed that we should part, One day to
+     grant us reunion, of His grace!
+
+Then I went up again and spent the day in walking about the
+island, returning to the underground dwelling for the night. Thus
+I lived for a month, during which time I became aware that the
+sea was gradually receding day by day from the western side of
+the island, till by the end of the month, I found that the water
+was become low enough to afford a passage to the mainland. At
+this I rejoiced, making sure of delivery, and fording the little
+water that remained, made shift to reach the mainland, where I
+found great heaps of sand, in which even a camel would sink up to
+the knees. However, I took heart and making my way through the
+sand, espied something shining afar off, as it were a bright-blazing
+fire. So I made towards it, thinking to find succour
+and repeating the following verses:
+
+It may be Fate at last shall draw its bridle-rein And bring me
+     happy chance; for Fortune changes still;
+And things shall happen yet, despite the things fordone, To
+     further forth my hopes and bring me to my will.
+
+When I drew near the supposed fire, behold, it was a palace, with
+a gate of brass, whereon, when the sun shone, it gleamed and
+glistened and showed from afar, as it were a fire. I rejoiced at
+the sight and sat down before the palace gate; but hardly had I
+done so, when there came up ten young men, sumptuously clad and
+all blind of the right eye. They were accompanied by an old man;
+and I marvelled at their appearance and at their being all blind
+of the same eye. They saluted me and questioned me of my
+condition, whereupon I told them all that had befallen me. They
+wondered at my story and carried me into the palace, where I saw
+ten couches, with beds and coverlets of blue stuff, ranged in a
+circle, with a like couch of smaller size in the midst. As we
+entered, each of the young men went up to his own couch, and the
+old man seated himself on the smaller one in the middle. Then
+said they unto me, "O youth, sit down on the ground and enquire
+not of our doings nor of the loss of our right eyes." Presently
+the old man rose and brought each one of the young men and myself
+his portion of meat and drink in separate vessels; and we sat
+talking, they questioning me of my adventures and I replying,
+till the night was far spent. Then said they to the old man, "O
+elder, wilt thou not bring us our ordinary? The time is come."
+"Willingly," answered he, and rose and entering a closet,
+disappeared and presently returned, bearing on his head ten
+dishes, each covered with a piece of blue stuff. He set a dish
+before each youth and lighting ten wax-candles, set one upon each
+dish; after which he uncovered the dishes, and lo, they were full
+of ashes and powdered charcoal and soot. Then all the young men
+tucked up their sleeves and fell to weeping and lamenting; and
+they blackened their faces and rent their clothes and buffeted
+their cheeks and beat their breasts, exclaiming "We were seated
+at our ease, but our impertinent curiosity would not let us be!"
+They ceased not to do thus till near daybreak, when the old man
+rose and heated water for them, and they washed their faces and
+put on fresh clothes. When I saw this, my senses left me for
+wonderment and my heart was troubled and my mind perplexed, for
+their strange behaviour, till I forgot what had befallen me and
+could not refrain from questioning them; so I said to them, "What
+makes you do thus, after our sport and merry-making together?
+Praised be God, ye are whole of wit, yet these are the doings of
+madmen! I conjure you, by all that is most precious to you, tell
+me why you behave thus and how ye came to lose each an eye!" At
+this, they turned to me and said, "O young man, let not thy youth
+beguile thee, but leave thy questioning." Then they slept and I
+with them, and when we awoke, the old man served up food; and
+after we had eaten and the vessels had been removed, we sat
+conversing till nightfall, when the old man rose and lit the
+candles and lamps and set meat and drink before us. We ate and
+sat talking and carousing till midnight, when they said to the
+old man, "Bring us our ordinary, for the hour of sleep is at
+hand." So he rose and brought them the dishes of soot and ashes,
+and they did as they had done on the preceding night. I abode
+with them on this wise for a month, during which time they
+blackened their faces every night, then washed them and changed
+their clothes and my trouble and amazement increased upon me till
+I could neither eat nor drink. At last, I lost patience and said
+to them, "O young men, if ye will not relieve my concern and
+acquaint me with the reason of your blackening your faces and the
+meaning of your words, 'We were seated at our ease, but our
+impertinent curiosity would not let us be,' let me leave you and
+return to my own people and be at rest from seeing these things,
+for as says the proverb,
+
+'Twere wiser and better your presence to leave, For when the eye
+     sees not, the heart does not grieve."
+
+"O youth," answered they, "we have not concealed this thing from
+thee but in our concern for thee, lest what befell us before thee
+and thou become like unto us." "It avails not," said I; "you must
+tell me." "We give thee good advice," rejoined they; "do thou
+take it and leave questioning us of our case, or thou wilt become
+one-eyed like unto us." But I still persisted in my demand and
+they said, "O youth, if this thing befall thee, we warn thee that
+we will never again receive thee into our company nor let thee
+abide with us." Then they took a ram and slaughtering it, skinned
+it and gave me a knife, saying, "Lie down on the skin and we will
+sew thee up in it and leave thee and go away. Presently there
+will come to thee a bird called the roc[FN#44], that will catch
+thee up in its claws and fly away with thee and set thee down on
+a mountain. As soon as thou feelest it alight with thee, slit the
+skin with the knife and come forth; whereupon the bird will take
+fright at thee and fly away and leave thee. Then rise and fare on
+half a day's journey, till thou comest to a palace rising high
+into the air, builded of khelenj[FN#45] and aloes and sandal-wood
+and plated with red gold, inlaid with all manner emeralds and
+other jewels. There enter and thou wilt attain thy desire. We all
+have been in that place, and this is the cause of the loss of our
+right eyes and the reason why we blacken our faces. Were we to
+tell thee our stories, it would take too much time, for each lost
+his eye by a separate adventure." They then sewed me up in the
+skin and left me on the ground outside the palace; and the roc
+carried me off and set me down on the mountain. I cut open the
+skin and came out, whereupon the bird flew away and I walked on
+till I reached the palace. The door stood open; so I entered
+and found myself in a very wide and goodly hall, as big as a
+tilting-ground, round which were a hundred doors of sandal and
+aloes-wood, plated with red gold and furnished with rings of
+silver. At the upper end of the hall, I saw forty young ladies,
+sumptuously clad and adorned, as they were moons, one could never
+tire of gazing on them: and they all came up to me, saying,
+"Welcome and fair welcome, O my lord! This month past have we
+been expecting the like of thee; and praised be God who hath sent
+us one who is worthy of us and we of him!" Then they made me sit
+down on a high divan and said to me, "From to-day thou art our
+lord and master, and we are thy handmaids; so order us as thou
+wilt." And I marvelled at their case. Presently one of them arose
+and set food before me, and I ate, whilst others heated water and
+washed my hands and feet and changed my clothes, and yet others
+made ready sherbets and gave me to drink; and they were all full
+of joy and delight at my coming. Then they sat down and conversed
+with me till nightfall, when five of them arose and spreading a
+mat, covered it with flowers and fruits and confections in
+profusion and set on wine; and we sat down to drink, while some
+of them sang and others played the lute and psaltery and
+recorders and other instruments. So the cup went round amongst us
+and such gladness possessed me that I forgot all the cares of the
+world and said, "This is indeed life, but that it is fleeting."
+We ceased not to drink and make merry till the night was far
+spent and we were warm with wine, when they said to me, "O our
+lord, choose from amongst us one who shall be thy bedfellow this
+night and not lie with thee again till forty days be past." So I
+chose a girl fair of face, with liquid black eyes and jetty hair,
+slightly parted teeth[FN#46] and joining eyebrows, perfect in
+shape and form, as she were a palm-sapling or a stalk of sweet
+basil; such an one as troubles the heart and bewilders the wit,
+even as saith of her the poet:
+
+'Twere vain to liken her unto the tender branch, And out on who
+     compares her form to the gazelle!
+Whence should gazelles indeed her shape's perfection get Or yet
+     her honeyed lips so sweet to taste and smell,
+Or those great eyes of hers, so dire to those who love, That bind
+     their victims fast in passion's fatal spell?
+I dote on her with all the folly of a child. What wonder if he
+     turn a child who loves too well!
+
+And I repeated to her the following verses:
+
+My eyes to gaze on aught but thy grace disdain And none but thou
+     in my thought shall ever reign.
+The love of thee is my sole concern, my fair; In love of thee, I
+     will die and rise again.
+
+So I lay with her that night, never knew I a fairer, and when it
+was morning, the ladies carried me to the bath and washed me and
+clad me in rich clothes. Then they served up food and we ate and
+drank, and the cup went round amongst us till the night, when I
+chose from among them one who was fair to look upon and soft of
+sides, such an one as the poet describes, when he says:
+
+I saw upon her breast two caskets snowy-white, Musk-sealed; she
+     doth forbid to lovers their delight.
+She guards them with the darts that glitter from her eyes; And
+     those who would them press, her arrowy glances smite.
+
+I passed a most delightful night with her; and to make a long
+story short, I led the goodliest life with them, eating and
+drinking and carousing and every night taking one or other of
+them to my bed, for a whole year, at the end of which time they
+came in to me in tears and fell to bidding me farewell and
+clinging to me, weeping and crying out; whereat I marvelled and
+said to them, "What ails you? Indeed you break my heart." "Would
+we had never known thee!" answered they. "We have companied with
+many men, but never saw we a pleasanter or more courteous than
+thou: and now we must part from thee. Yet it rests with thee to
+see us again, and if thou hearken to us, we need never be parted:
+but our hearts forebode us that thou will not hearken to us; and
+this is the cause of our weeping" "Tell me how the case stands,"
+said I; and they answered, "Know that we are the daughters of
+kings, who have lived here together for years past, and once in
+every year we are absent for forty days; then we return and abide
+here for the rest of the year, eating and drinking and making
+merry. We are now about to depart according to our custom, and we
+fear lest thou disobey our injunctions in our absence, in which
+case we shall never see thee again; but if thou do as we bid
+thee, all will yet be well. Take these keys: they are those of
+the hundred apartments of the palace, each of which contains what
+will suffice thee for a day's entertainment. Ninety-and-nine of
+these thou mayst open and take thy pleasure therein, but beware
+lest thou open the hundredth, that which has a door of red gold;
+for therein is that which will bring about a separation between
+us and thee." Quoth I, "I will assuredly not open the hundredth
+door, if therein be separation from you." Then one of them came
+up to me and embraced me and repeated the following verses:
+
+If but the days once more our severed loves unite, If but my eyes
+     once more be gladdened by thy sight,
+Then shall the face of Time smile after many a frown, And I will
+     pardon Fate for all its past despite.
+
+And I repeated the following:
+
+When she drew near to bid farewell, upon our parting day, Whilst
+     on her heart the double stroke of love and longing smote,
+She wept pure pearls, and eke mine eyes did rain cornelians
+     forth; And lo, they all combined and made a necklace for her
+     throat!
+
+When I saw her weeping, I said, "By Allah, I will never open the
+hundredth door!" Then they bade me farewell and departed, leaving
+me alone in the palace. When the evening drew near, I opened the
+first door and found myself in an orchard, full of blooming
+trees, laden with ripe fruit, and the air resounded with the loud
+singing of birds and the ripple of running waters. The sight
+brought solace to my soul, and I entered and walked among the
+trees, inhaling the odours of the flowers and listening to the
+warble of the birds, that sang the praises of God the One, the
+Almighty. I looked upon the apple, whose colour is parcel red and
+parcel yellow, as says the poet:
+
+The apple in itself two colours doth unite, The loved one's cheek
+     of red, and yellow of despite.
+
+Then I looked upon the quince and inhaled its fragrance that puts
+musk and ambergris to shame, even as says the poet:
+
+The quince contains all pleasant things that can delight mankind,
+     Wherefore above all fruits that be its virtues are renowned.
+Its taste is as the taste of wine, its breath the scent of musk;
+     Its hue is that of virgin gold, its shape the full moon's
+     round.
+
+Thence I passed to the pear, whose taste surpasses rose-water and
+sugar, and the plum, whose beauty delights the eye, as it were a
+polished ruby. When I had taken my fill of looking on the place,
+I went and locked the door again. Next day, I opened the second
+door and found myself in a great pleasaunce, set with many
+palm-trees and watered by a running stream, whose borders were
+decked with bushes of rose and jessamine and henna[FN#47] and
+camomile and marjoram and sweetbriar and carpeted with narcissus
+and ox-eye and violets and lilies and gillyflowers. The breeze
+fluttered over all these sweet-smelling plants and scattered
+their scents right and left, possessing me with complete delight.
+I took my pleasure in the place awhile, and my chagrin was
+somewhat lightened. Then I went out and locked the door and
+opening the third door, found therein a great hall paved with
+vari-coloured marbles and other precious stones and hung with
+cages of sandal and aloes wood, full of singing-birds, such as
+the thousand-voiced nightingale[FN#48] and the cushat and the
+blackbird and the turtle-dove and the Nubian warbler. My heart
+was ravished by the song of the birds and I forgot my cares and
+slept in the aviary till the morning. Then I opened the fourth
+door and saw a great hall, with forty cabinets ranged on either
+side. The doors of the latter stood open; so I entered and found
+them full of pearls and rubies and chrysolites and beryls and
+emeralds and corals and carbuncles and all manner of precious
+stones and jewels of gold and silver, such as the tongue fails to
+describe. I was amazed at what I saw and said in myself
+"Methinks, if all the kings of the earth joined together they
+could not produce the like of these treasures!" And my heart
+dilated and I exclaimed, "Now am I king of my time, for all these
+riches are mine by the favour of God, and I have forty young
+ladies under my hand, nor is there any with them but myself!" In
+short, I passed nine-and-thirty days after this fashion,
+exploring the riches of the place, till I had opened all the
+doors, except that which the princesses had charged me not to
+open, but my thoughts ran ever on this latter and Satan urged me,
+for my ruin, to open it, nor had I patience to forbear; though
+there remained but one day of the appointed time. So I opened the
+hundredth door, that which was plated with red gold, and was met
+by a perfume, whose like I had never before smelt and which was
+of so subtle and penetrating a quality, that it invaded my head
+and I fell down, as if intoxicated, and lay awhile unconscious.
+Then I revived and took heart and entering, found myself in a
+place strewn with saffron and blazing with light shed by lamps of
+gold and candles, that diffused a scent of musk and aloes. In the
+midst stood two great censers, full of burning aloes wood and
+ambergris and other perfumes, and the place was full of their
+fragrance. Presently I espied a horse, black as night at its
+darkest, girt and bridled and saddled with red gold, standing
+before two mangers of white crystal, one full of winnowed sesame
+and the other of rose-water flavoured with musk. When I saw this,
+I was amazed and said to myself, "Surely this horse must be of
+extraordinary value!" and the devil tempted me, so that I took
+him out and mounted him, but he would not stir. So I spurred him
+with my heel, but he did not move; and I took a. switch and
+struck him with it. When he felt the blow, he gave a neigh like
+the roaring thunder, and spreading a pair of wings flew up with
+me high into the air. After awhile, he descended and set me down
+on the terrace of a palace; then, shaking me off his back, he
+smote me on the face with his tail and struck out my right eye
+and flew away, leaving me there. I went down into the palace and
+found myself again among the ten one-eyed youths, who exclaimed,
+when they saw me, "An ill welcome to thee!" Quoth I, "Behold, I
+am become like unto you, and now I would have you give me a dish
+of soot, that I may blacken my face and admit me to your
+company." "By Allah," answered they, "thou shalt not abide with
+us! Depart hence!" And they drove me away. I was grieved at their
+rejection of me and went out from them, mourning-hearted and
+tearful-eyed, saying to myself, "Of a truth, I was sitting at my
+ease, but my impertinent curiosity would not let me be." Then I
+shaved my beard and eyebrows and renouncing the world, became a
+Calender and wandered about God's earth, till by His blessing, I
+arrived at Baghdad in safety this evening and met with these two
+other Calenders standing bewildered. So I saluted them, saying,
+"I am a stranger;" to which they replied, "We also are strangers."
+And, as it chanced, we were all Calenders and each blind of the
+right eye. This, then, O my lady, is my story and the manner of
+the shaving of my face and the loss of my eye.' Quoth the
+mistress of the house, 'Begone about thy business.' But he said,
+'By Allah, I will not go, till I hear the others' stories!' Then
+she turned to the Khalif and his companions and said, 'Give me an
+account of yourselves.' So Jaafer came forward and repeated the
+story he had told the portress; whereupon the lady said, 'I
+pardon you all: go your ways.' So they all went out; and when
+they reached the street the Khalif said to the Calenders, 'O folk,
+whither are you bound now, seeing that it is not yet day?' 'By
+Allah, O my lord,' answered they, 'we know not where to go!'
+'Then come and pass the rest of the night with us,' said the
+Khalif, and turning to Jaafer, said to him, 'Take them home
+with thee and to-morrow bring them before me, that we may cause
+their adventures to be recorded.' Jaafer did as the Khalif
+bade him, and the latter returned to his palace. Sleep did not
+visit him that night, but he lay awake, pondering the adventures
+of the three Calenders and full of impatience to know the history
+of the two ladies and the black bitches; and no sooner had the
+day dawned than he went out and sat down on his chair of estate.
+Then his courtiers presented themselves and withdrew, whereupon
+he turned to Jaafer and said to him, 'Bring me the three ladies
+and the bitches and the Calenders, and make haste.' So Jaafer
+went out and brought them all before him and seated the ladies
+behind a curtain; then turned to them and said, speaking for the
+Khalif, 'O women, we pardon you your rough usage of us, in
+consideration of your previous kindness and for that ye knew us
+not: and now I would have you to know that you are in the
+presence of the fifth of the sons of Abbas, the Commander of the
+Faithful Haroun er Reshid, son of El Mehdi Mohammed, son of Abou
+Jaafer el Mensour. So do ye acquaint him with your stories and
+tell him nothing but the truth.' When the ladies heard Jaafer's
+speech, the eldest came forward and said, 'O Commander of the
+Faithful, my story is one which, were it graven with needles on
+the corners of the eye, would serve for an example to those who
+can profit by example and a warning to those who can take
+warning. And it is that
+
+
+
+
+                    The Eldest Lady's Story.
+
+
+
+These two bitches are my elder sisters by the same mother and
+father, and these two others, she on whom are the marks of blows
+and the cateress, are my sisters by another mother. When my
+father died, each took her portion of the heritage, and after
+awhile my mother died also and left me and my sisters-german a
+thousand dinars each. After awhile my two sisters married and
+lived with their husbands for a time; then the latter bought
+merchandise with their wives' money and set out on their travels,
+and I heard no more of them for five years: for their husbands
+spent their wives' fortunes and became bankrupt and deserted them
+in a foreign land. Presently, my eldest sister came back to me in
+the guise of a beggar, with tattered clothes and a dirty old
+veil, and altogether in so sorry a plight, that at first I knew
+her not; but when I recognised her, I asked her how she came in
+such a state. "O my sister," answered she, "talking profits not
+now: the pen[FN#49] hath written what was decreed." Then I sent
+her to the bath and clothed her in a suit of my own and entreated
+her kindly and said to her, "O my sister, thou standest to me in
+the stead of my father and mother; and God has blessed me in the
+share of the inheritance that fell to me and prospered it to me,
+so that I am now in flourishing case; and thou shalt share with
+me in my increase." So she abode with me a whole year, during
+which time we were much concerned to know what was become of our
+other sister. At last, she too came back to me, in a worse plight
+than the other, and I dealt still more kindly by her than by the
+first, and each of them had a share of my substance. After
+awhile, they said to me, "O sister, we desire to marry again, for
+we can no longer endure to live without husbands." "O my dear
+ones[FN#50]," answered I, "there is no good in marriage, for
+now-a-days good men are rare to find; nor do I see the advantage
+of marrying again, since ye have already made trial of matrimony
+and it has profited you nothing." They would not listen to me,
+but married without my consent; nevertheless I equipped them and
+portioned them with my own money and they went away with their
+husbands. After a little, the latter cheated them of all they had
+and went away and left them. Then they came to me, in abject
+case, and made their excuses to me, saying, "Do not reproach us;
+thou art younger than we, but riper of wit, so take us as thy
+handmaids, that we may eat our mouthful; and we will never again
+speak of marriage." Quoth I, "Ye are welcome, O my sisters: there
+is nothing dearer to me than you." And I took them in and
+redoubled in kindness to them. We lived thus for a whole year, at
+the end of which time I was minded to travel. So I fitted out a
+great ship at Bassora and loaded her with merchandise and victual
+and other necessaries for a voyage, and said to my sisters, "Will
+you come with me or abide at home till I return?" "We will go
+with thee," answered they, "for we cannot endure to be parted
+from thee." So I took them and set sail, after dividing my money
+into two parts, one of which I deposited with a trusty person,
+saying, "Maybe ill-hap shall betide the ship and yet we remain
+alive; but now, if we return, we shall find what will be of
+service to us." We sailed days and nights, till the captain
+missed the true course and the ship went astray with us and
+entered a sea other than that we aimed at. We knew not of this
+awhile and the wind blew fair for us ten days, at the end of
+which time, the watch went up to the mast-head, to look out, and
+cried, "Good news!" Then he came down, rejoicing, and said to us,
+"I see a city in the distance as it were a dove." At this we
+rejoiced and before an hour of the day was past, the city
+appeared to us afar off: and we said to the captain, "What is the
+name of yonder city?" "By Allah!" replied he, "I know not, for I
+never saw it before nor have I ever sailed this sea in my life;
+but since the affair has issued in safety, ye have nought to do
+but to land your goods, and if ye find a market, sell and buy and
+barter, as the occasion serves; if not, we will rest here two
+days, re-victual and depart." So we entered the harbour and the
+captain landed and was absent awhile, after which he returned and
+said to us, "Arise, go up into the city and marvel at God's
+dealings with His creatures and seek to be preserved from His
+wrath." So we landed and going up to the city, saw at the gate
+men with staves in their hands; but when we drew near them,
+behold, they had been stricken by the wrath of God and were
+become stones. Then we entered the city and found all its in
+habitants changed into black stones: there was not a living soul
+therein, no, not a blower of the fire. At this we were amazed and
+passed on through the bazaars, where we found all the goods and
+gold and silver left lying in their places, and rejoiced and
+said, "Doubtless, there is some mystery in all this." Then we
+dispersed about the streets of the city and each busied himself
+with making prize of the wealth and stuffs lying about and took
+no heed of his comrades, whilst I went up to the citadel and
+found it goodly of fashion. I entered the king's palace and saw
+all the vessels of gold and silver and the king himself seated in
+the midst of his officers and grandees, clad in raiment such as
+confounded the wit. The throne on which he sat was encrusted with
+pearls and jewels and his robes were of cloth of gold, adorned
+with all manner jewels, that shone like stars. Around him stood
+fifty white slaves, with drawn swords in their hands and clad in
+divers sorts of silken stuffs; but when I drew near to them,
+behold, they were all black stones. My understanding was
+confounded at the sight, but I went on and came to the saloon of
+the harem, which I found hung with tapestries of gold-striped
+silk and spread with carpets of the same, embroidered with
+flowers of gold. Here I saw the queen lying, arrayed in a robe
+covered with fresh pearls as big as hazel-nuts and crowned with a
+diadem set with all manner jewels. Her neck was covered with
+collars and necklaces and all her clothes and ornaments were
+unchanged, but she herself had been smitten of God and was become
+black stone. Presently I spied an open door, with seven steps
+leading to it, and going up, found myself in a place paved with
+marble and hung and carpeted with gold-embroidered stuffs. At the
+upper end stood an alcove with drawn curtains and I saw a light
+issuing thence. So I went up to the alcove and found therein a
+couch of juniper wood, inlaid with pearls and diamonds and set
+with bosses of emeralds, with silken coverings of bewildering
+richness and curtains of the same, looped up with pearls. At the
+head of the bed stood two lighted candles and in the midst of the
+alcove was a little stool, on which lay a jewel, the size of a
+goose's egg, that shone like a lamp and lighted the whole place;
+but there was no one to be seen. When I saw these things, I
+wondered and said, "Some one must have lighted these candles."
+Then I went out and came to the kitchen and thence to the buttery
+and the king's treasuries and continued to explore the palace and
+to go from place to place; and for wonderment at what I saw, I
+forgot myself and wandered on, lost in thought, till the night
+overtook me. Then I would have gone out, but lost my way and
+could not find the gate; so I returned to the alcove, where I lay
+down on the bed and covering myself with a quilt, repeated
+somewhat of the Koran and would have slept, but could not, for
+restlessness possessed me. In the middle of the night, I heard a
+low sweet voice reciting the Koran, whereat I rejoiced and
+rising, followed the sound, till it led me to a chamber with the
+door ajar. I looked through the chink of the door and saw an
+oratory, wherein was a prayer-niche[FN#51], with candles burning
+and lamps hanging from the ceiling. In the midst was spread a
+prayer-carpet, on which sat a handsome youth, with a copy of the
+Koran open before him, from which he was reading. I wondered to
+see him alone alive of all the people of the city and entered and
+saluted him; whereupon he raised his eyes and returned my
+salutation. Then said I, "I implore thee, by the truth of that
+thou readest from the book of God, to answer me my questions." He
+looked at me with a smile and said, "O handmaid of God, tell me
+first how thou camest hither, and I will tell thee what has
+befallen me and the people of this city and the manner of my
+preservation." So I told him my story, at which he marvelled, and
+questioned him of the people of the city. Quoth he, "Have
+patience with me a little, O my sister!" and shutting the Koran,
+laid it in a bag of satin. Then he made me sit down by his side,
+and I looked at him and behold, he was like the moon at its full,
+bright-faced, soft-sided, well-shaped and fair to look upon, as
+he were a figure of sugar,[FN#52] even as says the poet of the
+like of him:
+
+A seer of the stars one night was reading the book of the skies,
+     When lo, in his scroll he saw a lovely youth arise.
+Saturn had dyed his hair the hue of the raven's wing And
+     sprinkled upon his face the musk of Paradise[FN#53]:
+The rose of his cheeks from Mars its ruddy colour drew, And the
+     Archer winged the shafts that darted from his eyes.
+Hermes dowered the youth with his own mercurial wit, And the
+     Great Bear warded off the baleful glance of spies.
+Wonder seized on the sage at the sight of the lovely boy, For the
+     full moon kissed the earth before him, servant-wise.
+And indeed God the Most High had clad him in the garment of
+     perfection and broidered it with the shining fringes of his
+     cheeks, even as says the poet of him:
+By the perfume of his eyelids and his slender waist I swear, By
+     the arrows that he feathers with the witchery of his air,
+By his sides so soft and tender and his glances bright and keen,
+     By the whiteness of his forehead and the blackness of his
+     hair,
+By his arched imperious eyebrows, chasing slumber from my eyes,
+     With their yeas and noes that hold me 'twixt rejoicing and
+     despair,
+By the myrtle of his whiskers and the roses of his cheeks, By his
+     lips' incarnate rubies and his teeth's fine pearls and rare,
+By his neck and by its beauty, by the softness of his breast And
+     the pair of twin pomegranates that my eyes discover there,
+By his heavy hips that tremble, both in motion and repose, And
+     the slender waist above them, all too slim their weight to
+     bear,
+By his skin's unsullied satin and the quickness of his spright,
+     By the matchless combination in his form of all things fair,
+By his hand's perennial bounty and his true and trusty speech, By
+     the stars that smile upon him, favouring and debonair,
+Lo, the smell of musk none other than his very fragrance is, And
+     the ambergris's perfume breathes around him everywhere.
+Yea, the sun in all its splendour cannot with his grace compare,
+     Seeming but a shining fragment that he from his nail doth
+     pare.
+
+I stole a look at him, which cost me a thousand sighs, for my
+heart was taken with his love, and I said to him, "O my lord,
+tell me what I asked thee." "I hear and obey," answered he.
+"Know, O handmaid of God, that this city was the capital of my
+father, who is the king thou sawest on the throne, changed to a
+black stone, and as for the queen on the bed, she was my mother;
+and they and all the people of the city were Magians, worshipping
+the fire, instead of the All-powerful King, and swearing by the
+fire and the light and the shade and the heat and the revolving
+sphere. My father had no child, till I was vouchsafed to him in
+his old age, and he reared me and I grew up and flourished. Now,
+as my good star would have it, there was with us an old woman
+stricken in years, who was at heart a Muslim, believing in God
+and His prophet, but conforming outwardly to the religion of my
+people. My father had confidence in her, supposing her to be of
+his own belief, and showed her exceeding favour, for that he knew
+her to be trusty and virtuous; so when I grew to a fitting age,
+he committed me to her charge, saying, 'Take him and do thy best
+to give him a good education and teach him the things of our
+faith.' So she took me and taught me the tenets of Islam and the
+ordinances of ablution and prayer and made me learn the Koran by
+heart, bidding me worship none but God the Most High and charging
+me to keep my faith secret from my father, lest he should kill
+me. So I hid it from him, and I abode thus till, in a little
+while, the old woman died and the people of the city redoubled in
+their impiety and frowardness and in the error of their ways. One
+day, they heard a voice from on high, proclaiming aloud, with a
+noise like the resounding thunder, so that all heard it far and
+near, and saying, 'O people of the city, turn from your worship
+of the fire and serve God the Compassionate King!' At this, fear
+fell on the people of the city and they crowded to my father and
+said to him; 'What is this awful voice that we have heard and
+that has confounded us with the excess of its terror?' But
+he said, 'Let not a voice fright you nor turn you from your
+faith.' Their hearts inclined to his word and they ceased not to
+worship the fire, but redoubled in their frowardness, till the
+anniversary of the day on which they had heard the supernatural
+voice. When they heard it anew, and so again a third time at the
+end of the second year. Still they persisted in their evil ways,
+till one day, at break of dawn, judgment descended on them and
+wrath from heaven, and they were all turned into black stones,
+they and their beasts and cattle; and none was spared, save
+myself. From that day to this, I have remained as thou seest me,
+occupying myself with prayer and fasting and reading the Koran
+aloud; and indeed I am grown weary of solitude, having none to
+bear me company." Then said I to him (and indeed he had won my
+heart), "O youth, wilt thou go with me to the city of Baghdad and
+foregather with men of learning and theologians and grow in
+wisdom and understanding and knowledge of the Law? If so, I will
+be thy handmaid, albeit I am head of my family and mistress over
+men and slaves and servants. I have here a ship laden with
+merchandise; and indeed it was providence drove us to this city,
+that I might come to the knowledge of these things, for it was
+fated that we should meet." And I ceased not to speak him fair
+and persuade him, till he consented to go with me, and I passed
+the night at his feet, beside myself for joy. When it was day, we
+repaired to the treasuries and took thence what was little of
+weight and great of value; then went down into the town, where we
+met the slaves and the captain seeking for me. When they saw me,
+they rejoiced and I told them all I had seen and related to them
+the story of the young man and of the curse that had fallen on
+the people of the city. At this they wondered: but when my
+sisters saw me with the prince, they envied me on his account and
+were enraged and plotted mischief against me in their hearts.
+Then we took ship again, beside ourselves for joy in the booty we
+had gotten, though the most of my joy was in the prince, and
+waited till the wind blew fair for us, when we set sail and
+departed. As we sat talking, my sisters said to me, "O sister,
+what wilt thou do with this handsome young man?" "I purpose to
+make him my husband," answered I; and I turned to the prince and
+said, "O my lord, I have that to propose to thee, in which I will
+not have thee cross me: and it is that, when we reach Baghdad, I
+will give myself to thee as a handmaid in the way of marriage,
+and thou shalt be my husband and I thy wife." Quoth he, "I hear
+and obey; thou art my lady and my mistress, and whatever thou
+dost, I will not cross thee." Then I turned to my sisters and
+said to them, "This young man suffices me; and those who have
+gotten aught, it is theirs." "Thou sayest well," replied they;
+but in their hearts they purposed me evil. We sailed on with a
+fair wind, till we left the sea of peril and came into safe
+waters, and in a few days, we came in sight of the walls of
+Bassora, even as night overtook us. My sisters waited till the
+prince and I were asleep, when they took us up, bed and all, and
+threw us into the sea. The prince, who could not swim, was
+drowned and God wrote him of the company of the martyrs. As for
+me, would I had been drowned with him! But God decreed that I
+should be of the saved; so He threw in my way a piece of wood and
+I got astride of it, and the waters tossed me about till they
+cast me up on an island. I landed and walked about the island the
+rest of the night, and when the day broke, I saw a footway,
+leading to the mainland. By this time, the sun had risen; so I
+dried my clothes in its rays and ate of the fruits of the island
+and drank of its waters. Then I set out and fared on till I
+reached the mainland and found myself but two hours' distant from
+the city. So I sat down to rest and presently I saw a great
+serpent, the bigness of a palm-tree, come fleeing towards me,
+with all her might, whilst her tongue for weariness hung from her
+mouth a span's length and swept the dust as she went. She was
+pursued by a dragon, as long and thin as a spear, which presently
+overtook her and seized her by the tail whereat the tears
+streamed from her eyes and she wriggled from side to side. I took
+pity on her and catching up a stone, threw it at the dragon's
+head and killed him on the spot. Then the serpent spread a pair
+of wings and flew away out of sight, leaving me wondering. Now I
+was tired and drowsiness overcoming me, I slept where I was for
+awhile. When I awoke, I found a damsel sitting at my feet,
+rubbing them, and with her, two black bitches, and I was ashamed
+before her; so I sat up and said to her, "O my sister, who art
+thou?" "How quickly thou hast forgotten me!" answered she. "I am
+the serpent, whom thou didst deliver from my enemy by killing
+him, for I am a Jinniyeh[FN#54] and the dragon was a genie; and I
+was only saved from him by thy kindness. As soon as thou hadst
+done me this service, I flew on the wind to your ship and
+transported all that was therein to thy house. Then I sank the
+vessel and changed thy sisters into two black bitches, for I know
+all that has passed between thee and them: but as for the young
+man, he is drowned." So saying, she flew up with me and the two
+bitches and presently set us down on the roof of my house, where
+I found all the goods that were in my ship, nor was aught
+missing. Then she said to me, "By that which is written on the
+seal of our lord Solomon (on whom be peace!) except thou give
+each of these bitches three hundred lashes every day, I will come
+and make thee like unto them." "I hear and obey," answered I; and
+since then I have never failed to beat them thus, O Commander of
+the Faithful, pitying them the while; and they know it is no
+fault of mine that they are beaten and accept my excuse. And this
+is my story.' The Khalif marvelled at her story and said to the
+portress, 'And thou, how camest thou by the weals on thy body?'
+'O Commander of the Faithful,' answered she:
+
+
+
+
+                     Story of the Portress.
+
+
+
+'My father died and left me great wealth, and soon after his
+death I married one of the richest men of Baghdad. At the end of
+a year he too died and I inherited from him fourscore thousand
+dinars, being my lawful share of his property; so that I became
+passing rich and the report of my wealth spread abroad, for I got
+me half a score suits of clothes, each worth a thousand dinars.
+One day, as I was sitting alone, there came in to me an old woman
+with sunken cheeks and worn eyebrows, bleared eyes and broken
+teeth, blotched face and bald head, grizzled hair and bent and
+mangy body, running nose and sallow complexion, even as says the
+poet of the like of her:
+
+A right pernicious hag! Unshriven be her sins, Nor let her mercy
+     find what time she comes to die!
+So full of wile she is, that with a single thread Of spider's
+     silk she'd curb a thousand mules that shy.
+
+She saluted me and kissing the ground before me, said, "I have an
+orphan daughter whose wedding and unveiling[FN#55] I celebrate
+to-night. We are strangers in the city and know none of its
+inhabitants, and verily our hearts are broken so do thou earn
+through us a recompense and reward in the world to come by being
+present at her unveiling. When the ladies of the city hear that
+thou art to be present, they also will attend, and so wilt thou
+bring healing to her spirit, for now she is broken-hearted and
+has none to look to but God the Most High." Then she wept and
+kissed my feet, repeating the following verses:
+
+Thy presence honoureth us, and we Confess thy magnanimity:
+If thou forsake us, there is none Can stand to us in stead of
+     thee.
+
+I was moved to pity for her and said, "I hear and obey; and God
+willing, I will do more than this for her, for she shall not be
+unveiled but in my clothes and ornaments and jewellery." At this
+the old woman rejoiced and fell at my feet and kissed them,
+saying, "God requite thee with good and gladden thy heart as thou
+hast gladdened mine! But, O my lady, do not trouble thyself now,
+but be ready against the evening, when I will come and fetch
+thee." So saying, she kissed my hand and went away, whilst I
+attired myself and made my preparations. At the appointed time,
+the old woman returned, smiling, and kissed my hand, saying,
+"O my mistress, the most part of the ladies of the city are
+assembled; and I told them that thou hadst promised to be
+present, whereat they rejoiced and they are now awaiting thee and
+are looking eagerly for thy coming." So I veiled myself and taking
+my serving-maids with me, followed the old woman, till we came to
+a street swept and watered, through which blew a pleasant breeze.
+Here she stopped at a handsome portico vaulted with marble and
+leading to a palace that rose from the ground and took hold upon
+the clouds. The gateway was hung with a black curtain and lighted
+by a lamp of gold curiously wrought; and on the door were written
+the following verses:
+
+I am a dwelling, builded for delight; My time is still for
+     joyance day and night.
+Right in my midst a springing fountain wells, Whose waters banish
+     anguish and despite,
+Whose marge with rose, narcissus, camomile, Anemone and myrtle,
+     is bedight.
+
+The old woman knocked at the gate, which opened; and we entered a
+carpeted vestibule hung with lighted lamps and candles and
+adorned with pendants of precious stones and minerals. Through
+this we passed into a saloon, whose like is not to be found in
+the world, hung and carpeted with silken stuffs and lighted by
+hanging lamps and wax candles in rows. At the upper end stood a
+couch of juniper-wood, set with pearls and jewels and canopied
+with curtains of satin, looped up with pearls. Hardly had I taken
+note of all this, when there came out from the alcove a young
+lady more perfect than the moon at its full, with a forehead
+brilliant as the morning, when it shines forth, even as says the
+poet:
+
+Upon the imperial necks she walks, a loveling bright, For
+     bride-chambers of kings and emperors bedight.
+The blossom of her cheek is red as dragon's blood, And all her
+     face is flowered with roses red and white.
+Slender and sleepy-eyed and languorous of gait, All manner
+     loveliness is in her sweetest sight.
+The locks upon her brow are like a troubled night, From out of
+     which there shines a morning of delight.
+
+She came down from the dais and said to me, "Welcome, a thousand
+times welcome to the dear and illustrious sister!" and she
+recited the following verses:
+
+If the house knew who visits it, it would indeed rejoice And
+     stoop to kiss the happy place whereon her feet have stood;
+And in the voice with which the case, though mute, yet speaks,
+     exclaim, "Welcome and many a welcome to the generous and
+     good!"
+
+Then she sat down and said to me, "O my sister, I have a brother,
+who is handsomer than I; and he saw thee at certain festivals and
+assemblies and fell passionately in love with thee, for that thou
+art possessed of beauty and grace beyond thy share. He heard that
+thou wast thine own mistress, even as he also is the head of his
+family, and wished to make thine acquaintance; wherefore he used
+this device to bring thee in company with me; for he desires to
+marry thee according to the law of God and His prophet, and there
+is no shame in what is lawful." When I heard what she said, I
+bethought me that I was fairly entrapped and answered, "I hear
+and obey." At this she was glad and clapped her hands, whereupon
+a door opened and out came the handsomest of young men, elegantly
+dressed and perfect in beauty and symmetry and winning grace,
+with eyebrows like a bended bow and eyes that ravished hearts
+with lawful enchantments, even as says a poet, describing the
+like of him:
+
+His face is like unto the new moon's face With signs[FN#56], like
+     pearls, of fortune and of grace.
+
+And God bless him who said:
+
+He hath indeed been blest with beauty and with grace, And blest
+     be He who shaped and fashioned forth his face!
+All rarest charms that be unite to make him fair, His witching
+     loveliness distracts the human race.
+Beauty itself hath set these words upon his brow, "Except this
+     youth there's none that's fair in any place."
+
+When I looked at him, my heart inclined to him and I loved him;
+and he sat down by me and talked with me awhile. Presently the
+young lady clapped her hands a second time, and behold, a side
+door opened and there came out a Cadi and four witnesses, who
+saluted and sitting down, drew up the contract of marriage
+between me and the young man and retired. Then he turned to me
+and said, "May our night be blessed! O my mistress, I have a
+condition to lay on thee." Quoth I, "O my lord, what is it?"
+Whereupon he rose and fetching a copy of the Koran, said to me,
+"Swear to me that thou wilt never look upon another man than
+myself, nor incline to him." I did as he wished and he rejoiced
+with an exceeding joy and embraced me and my whole heart was
+taken with love of him. Presently they set food before us and we
+ate and drank, till we were satisfied and night closed in upon
+us. Then he took me and went to bed with me and ceased not to
+kiss and embrace me till the morning. I lived with him in all
+delight and happiness for a month, at the end of which time I
+asked his leave to go to the bazaar to buy certain stuffs that I
+wanted, and he gave me leave. So I veiled myself and taking with
+me the old woman and a serving-maid, went to the bazaar, where I
+sat down in the shop of a young merchant, whom the old woman knew
+and had recommended to me, saying, "The father of this young man
+died, when he was a boy, and left him great wealth: he has great
+store of goods, and thou wilt find what thou seekest with him,
+for none in the bazaar has finer stuffs than he." So she said to
+him, "Show this lady thy finest stuffs." And he answered, "I hear
+and obey." Then she began to sound his praises; but I said, "I
+have no concern with thy praises of him; all I want is to buy
+what I need of him and return home." So he brought me what I
+sought, and I offered him the price, but he refused to take it,
+saying, "It is a guest-gift to thee on the occasion of thy visit
+to me this day." Then I said to the old woman, "If he will not
+take the money, give him back the stuff." "By Allah!" said he, "I
+will take nothing from thee! I make thee a present of it all, in
+return for one kiss; for that is more precious to me than all
+that is in my shop." Quoth the old woman, "What will a kiss
+profit thee?" Then she said to me, "O my daughter, thou hearest
+what this young man says. What harm will it do thee, if he take
+from thee a kiss and thou get the stuffs for nothing?" "Dost thou
+not know," answered I, "that I am bound by an oath?" But she
+said, "Hold thy tongue and let him kiss thee, and thou shalt keep
+thy money and no harm shall betide thee." And she ceased not to
+persuade me till I put my head into the noose and consented. So I
+veiled my eyes and held up the edge of my veil between me and the
+street, that the passers-by might not see me; and he put his
+mouth to my cheek under the veil. But, instead of kissing me, he
+bit me so hard that he tore the flesh of my cheek, and I swooned
+away. The old woman took me in her arms and when I came to
+myself, I found the shop shut up and her lamenting over me and
+saying, "Thank God it was no worse!" Then she said to me, "Come,
+take courage and let us go home, lest the thing get wind and thou
+be disgraced. When thou returnest, do thou feign sickness and lie
+down and cover thyself up, and I will bring thee a remedy that
+will soon heal the wound." So, after awhile, I arose, full of
+fear and anxiety, and went little by little, till I came to the
+house, where I lay down and gave out that I was ill. When it was
+night, my husband came in to me and said, "O my lady, what has
+befallen thee in this excursion?" Quoth I, "I am not well: I have
+a pain in my head." Then he lighted a candle and drew near and
+looked at me and said, "What is that wound on thy cheek, in the
+soft part?" Said I, "When I went out to-day to buy stuffs, with
+thy leave, a camel laden with firewood jostled me and the end of
+one of the pieces of wood tore my veil and wounded my cheek, as
+thou seest; for indeed the ways are strait in this city."
+"To-morrow," rejoined he, "I will go to the governor and speak to
+him, that he may hang every firewood-seller in the city." "God on
+thee," cried I, "do not burden thy conscience with such a sin
+against any one! The truth is that I was riding on an ass, and it
+stumbled and threw me down, and my cheek fell on a piece of
+glass, which wounded it." "Then," said he, "to morrow I will go
+to Jaafer the Barmecide and tell him the case, and he will kill
+every ass in the city." "Wilt thou ruin all the folk on my
+account," said I, "when this that befell me was decreed of God?"
+"There is no help for it," answered he, and springing to his
+feet, plied me with questions and pressed me, till I was
+frightened and stammered in my speech, so that he guessed how the
+case stood and exclaimed, "Thou hast been false to thine oath!"
+Then he gave a great cry, whereupon a door opened and in came
+seven black slaves, whom he commanded to drag me from my bed and
+throw me down in the middle of the room. Moreover, he made one
+take me by the shoulders and sit upon my head and another sit on
+my knees and hold my feet and giving a third a naked sword, said
+to him, "Strike her, O Saad, and cut her in twain and let each
+take half and throw it into the Tigris that the fish may eat
+her, for this is the reward of her who breaks her oath and is
+unfaithful to her love." And he redoubled in wrath and repeated
+the following verses:
+
+If any other share with me in her whom I adore, I'll root out
+     passion from my heart, though longing me destroy;
+And I will say unto my soul, "Death is the better part;" For love
+     is naught that men with me in common do enjoy.
+
+Then he said to the slave, "Smite her, O Saad!" Whereupon the
+latter bent down to me and said, "O my lady, repeat the
+profession of the faith and tell us if there be aught thou
+wouldst have done, for thy last hour is come." "O good slave,"
+said I, "grant me a little respite, that I may give thee my last
+injunctions." Then I raised my head and considered my case and
+how I had fallen from high estate into abjection; wherefore the
+tears streamed from my eyes and I wept passing sore. He looked at
+me with angry eyes and repeated the following
+
+Say unto her who wronged us, on whom our kisses tire, Her that
+     hath chosen another for darling of desire,
+Lo, we will spurn thee from us, before thou cast us off! That
+     which is past between us suffices to our ire.
+
+When I heard this, I wept and looked at him and repeated the
+following verses:
+
+You doom my banishment from love and all unmoved remain; You rob
+     my wounded lids of rest and sleep whilst I complain.
+You make mine eyes familiar with watching and unrest; Yet can my
+     heart forget you not, nor eyes from tears refrain.
+You swore to me that you would keep, for aye, your plighted
+     faith; But when my heart was yours, you broke the oath that
+     you had ta'en.
+Are you secure against the shifts of time and evil chance, That
+     you've no mercy on my love nor aught of pity deign?
+If I must die, I prithee, write, 'fore God, upon my tomb, "A
+     slave of passion lieth here, who died of love in vain."
+It may be one shall pass that way, who knows the pangs of love,
+     And looking on a lover's grave, take pity on her pain.
+
+Then I wept; and when he heard what I said and saw my tears, his
+anger redoubled, and he repeated the following verses:
+
+I left the darling of my heart, not from satiety; But she had
+     sinned a sin that called aloud for punishment.
+She would have ta'en another in to share with me her love, But
+     the religion of my heart to share will not consent[FN#57].
+
+Then I wept again and implored him, saying to myself, "I will
+work on him with words; so haply he may spare my life, though he
+take all I have." So I complained to him of my sufferings and
+repeated the following verses:
+
+If thou indeed wert just to me, thou wouldst not take my life.
+     Alas! against the law of Death no arbiter is there!
+Thou layst upon my back the load of passion and desire, When I
+     for weakness scarce can lift the very gown I wear!
+That so my soul should waste away, small wonder is to me; But oh!
+     I wonder how my flesh can thine estrangement bear.
+
+Then I wept again, and he looked at me and reviled and reproached
+me, repeating the following verses:
+
+Thou hast forgotten my love in the arms of another than me; Thou
+     shew'st me estrangement, though I was never unfaithful to
+     thee.
+So I will cast thee away, since thou wast the first to forsake,
+     And by thy pattern content to live without thee will I be.
+And (like thyself) in the arms of another thy charms I'll forget;
+     'Tis thou that hast sundered our loves: thou canst not
+     reproach it to me.
+
+Then he called to the slave with the sword, saying "Cut her in
+half and rid us of her, for we have no profit of her." So the
+slave drew near to me and I gave myself up for lost and committed
+my affair to God the Most High; but, at this moment, in came the
+old woman and threw herself at my husband's feet and kissed them,
+saying, "O my son, for the sake of my fosterage of thee and my
+service to thee, spare this young lady, for indeed she has done
+nothing deserving of death. Thou art a very young man, and I fear
+lest her death be laid to thy count, for it is said, 'He who
+kills shall be killed.' As for this wretched woman, put her away
+from thee and from thy thought and heart." And she ceased not to
+weep and implore him, till he relented and said, "I pardon her,
+but I will set a mark on her that shall stay with her all her
+life." Then he made the slaves strip off my clothes and hold me
+down, and taking a rod of quince-wood beat me with it on the back
+and sides till I lost my senses for excess of pain and despaired
+of life. Then he commanded slaves, as soon as it was dark, to
+carry me back to the house in which I had lived before my
+marriage with him, taking the old woman with them to guide them.
+They did as he bade them and cast me down in my house and went
+away. I did not recover from my swoon till the morning, when I
+applied myself to the dressing of my wounds, and medicined myself
+and kept my bed for four months, at the end of which time my body
+healed and I was restored to health; but my sides still bore the
+marks of the blows, as thou hast seen. As soon as I could walk, I
+went to the house where all this had happened, but found the
+whole street pulled down and nothing but heaps of rubbish where
+the house had stood, nor could I learn how this had come about.
+Then I betook myself to this my half-sister and found with her
+these two black bitches. I saluted her and told her what had
+befallen me; and she said, "O my sister, who is safe from the
+vicissitudes of fortune? Praised be God, who hath brought thee
+off with thy life!" And she repeated the following verse:
+
+Fortune indeed was ever thus: endure it patiently, Whether thou
+     suffer loss of wealth or friends depart from thee.
+
+Then she told me her own story, and we abode together, she and I,
+never mentioning the name of marriage. After awhile there came to
+live with us this our other sister the cateress, who goes out
+every day and buys what we require for the day and night. We led
+this life till yesterday, when our sister went out as usual and
+fell in with the porter. Presently we were joined by these three
+Calenders and later on by three respectable merchants from
+Tiberias, all of whom we admitted to our company on certain
+conditions, which they infringed. But we forgave them their
+breach of faith, on condition that they should give us an account
+of themselves; so they told us their stories and went away; and
+we heard nothing more till this morning, when we were summoned to
+appear before thee; and this is our story.' The Khalif wondered
+at her story, and ordered it and those of her sister and the
+Calenders to be recorded in the archives of his reign and laid up
+in the royal treasury. Then he said to the eldest lady, 'Knowst
+thou where to find the Afriteh who enchanted thy sisters?' 'O
+Commander of the Faithful,' answered she, 'she gave me some of
+her hair, saying, "When thou wouldst see me, burn one or two of
+these hairs, and I will be with thee presently, though I be
+behind the mountain Caf."' Quoth the Khalif, 'Bring me the hair.'
+So she fetched it and he threw the whole lock into the fire,
+whereupon the palace shook and they heard a rumbling sound of
+thunder, and presently the Jinniyeh appeared and saluted the
+Khalif, saying, 'Peace be upon thee, O vicar of God!' 'And on
+thee be peace,' answered he, 'and the mercy of God and His
+blessing!' Quoth she, 'Know that this lady did me a service for
+which I cannot enough requite her, in that she saved me from
+death and slew my enemy. Now I had seen how her sisters dealt
+with her and felt bound to avenge her on them. At first, I was
+minded to kill them, but I feared it would be grievous to her, so
+I turned them into bitches; and now, O Commander of the Faithful,
+if thou wouldst have me release them, I will do so, out of
+respect to thee and to her, for I am of the true believers.'
+'Release them,' said the Khalif; 'and after we will proceed to
+look into the affair of the beaten lady, and if her account prove
+true, we will avenge her on him who wronged her.' 'O Commander of
+the Faithful,' replied she, 'I will release them forthwith and
+bring thee to the knowledge of him who maltreated this lady and
+took her property; and he is the nearest of all men to thee.' So
+saying, she took a cup of water and muttered over it and spoke
+words that might not be understood. Then she threw some of the
+water in the faces of the bitches, saying, 'Return to your former
+human shape;' whereupon they were restored to their original
+form, and the Afriteh said to the Khalif, 'O Commander of the
+Faithful, he who beat this lady is thy son El Amin, brother of El
+Mamoun[FN#58], who heard of her beauty and grace and laid a trap
+for her and married her; and indeed he is not to blame for
+beating her, for he laid a condition on her and took of her a
+solemn oath that she would not do a certain thing; but she was
+false to her vow; and he was minded to kill her, but was
+restrained by the fear of God the Most High and contented himself
+with beating her, as thou hast seen, and sending her back to her
+own place.' When the Khalif heard this, he wondered greatly and
+said, 'Glory be to God the Most High, the Supreme, who hath
+vouchsafed me the delivery of these two damsels from enchantment
+and torment and hath granted me to know the secret of this lady's
+history! By Allah, I will do a thing that shall be chronicled
+after me!' Then he summoned his son El Amin and questioned him of
+the story of the portress, and he told him the truth; whereupon
+the Khalif sent for Cadis and witnesses and married the eldest
+lady and her two sisters-german to the three Calenders, whom he
+made his chamberlains, appointing them stipends and all that they
+needed and lodging them in his palace at Baghdad. Moreover, he
+returned the beaten girl to her husband, his son El Amin,
+renewing the marriage contract between them, and gave her great
+wealth and bade rebuild the house more handsomely than before. As
+for himself, he took to wife the cateress and lay with her that
+night; and on the morrow he assigned her a separate lodging in
+his seraglio, with a fixed allowance and serving-maids to wait on
+her; and the people marvelled at his equity and magnificence and
+generosity.
+
+When Shehrzad had made an end of her story, Dunyazad said to her,
+"By Allah, this is indeed a pleasant and delightful story, never
+was heard its like! But now, O my sister, tell us another story,
+to beguile the rest of the waking hours of our night." "With all
+my heart," answered Shehrzad, "if the King give me leave." And he
+said, "Tell thy story, and that quickly." Then said she, "They
+say, O King of the age and lord of the time and the day, that
+
+
+
+
+                       THE THREE APPLES.
+
+
+
+The Khalif Haroun er Reshid summoned his Vizier Jaafer one night
+and said to him, 'I have a mind to go down into the city and
+question the common people of the conduct of the officers charged
+with its government; and those of whom they complain, we will
+depose, and those whom they commend, we will advance.' Quoth
+Jaafer, 'I hear and obey.' So the Khalif and Jaafer and Mesrour
+went down into the town and walked about the streets and markets
+till, as they were passing through a certain alley, they came
+upon an old man walking along at a leisurely pace, with a
+fishing-net and a basket on his head and a staff in his hand, and
+heard him repeat the following verses:
+
+They tell me I shine, by my wisdom and wit, Midst the rest of my
+     kind, as the moon in the night.
+"A truce to your idle discourses!" I cry, "What's knowledge,
+     indeed, unattended by might?"
+If you offered me, knowledge and wisdom and all, with my inkhorn
+     and papers, in pawn for a mite,
+To buy one day's victual, the pledge they'd reject And cast, like
+     an unread petition, from sight.
+Sorry, indeed, is the case of the poor, And his life, what a load
+     of chagrin and despite!
+In summer, he's pinched for a living and cowers O'er the fire-pot
+     in winter, for warmth and for light.
+The curs of the street dog his heels, as he goes, And the
+     scurviest rascal may rail at the wight.
+If he lift up his voice to complain of his case, He finds not a
+     soul who will pity his plight.
+Since such is the life and the lot of the poor, It were better he
+     lay in the graveyard forthright!
+
+When the Khalif heard this, he said to Jaafer, 'See yonder poor
+man and note his verses, for they show his necessity.' Then he
+went up to him and said, 'O old man, what is thy trade?' 'O my
+lord,' replied he, 'I am a fisherman, with a family to maintain;
+and I have been out since mid-day, but God has not vouchsafed me
+aught wherewith to feed them, and indeed I abhor myself and wish
+for death.' Quoth the Khalif, 'Wilt thou go back with me to the
+Tigris and cast thy net yet once more on my account, and I will
+buy of thee whatever comes up for a hundred dinars?' 'On my head
+be it!' answered the fisherman joyfully. 'I will go back with
+you.' So he returned with them to the river-bank and cast his net
+and waited awhile, then drew it up and found in it a chest,
+locked and heavy. The Khalif lifted it and found it weighty; so
+he gave the fisherman a hundred dinars, and he went his way;
+whilst Mesrour carried the chest to the palace, where he set it
+down before the Khalif and lighted the candles. Then Jaafer and
+Mesrour broke open the chest and found in it a basket of
+palm-leaves, sewn together with red worsted. This they cut open
+and found within a bundle wrapped in a piece of carpet. Under the
+carpet was a woman's veil and in this a young lady, as she were
+an ingot of silver, slain and cut in pieces. When the Khalif saw
+this, he was sore enraged and afflicted; the tears ran down his
+cheeks and he turned to Jaafer and said, "O dog of a Vizier,
+shall folk be murdered in my capital city and thrown into the
+river and their death laid to my account on the Day of Judgment?
+I must avenge this woman on her murderer and put him to death
+without mercy! And as surely as I am descended from the sons of
+Abbas, an thou bring me not him who slew her, that I may do her
+justice on him, I will hang thee and forty of thy kinsmen at the
+gate of my palace!' Quoth Jaafer, 'Grant me three days' respite.'
+And the Khalif said, 'I grant thee this.' So Jaafer went out from
+before him and returned to his house, full of sorrow and saying
+to himself, 'How shall I find him who killed the damsel, that I
+may bring him before the Khalif? If I bring other than the right
+man, it will be laid to my charge by God. Indeed, I know not what
+to do.' Then he kept his house three days, and on the fourth day,
+the Khalif sent one of his chamberlains for him and said to him,
+'Where is the murderer of the damsel?' 'O Commander of the
+Faithful,' replied the Vizier, 'am I inspector of murdered folk,
+that I should know who killed her?' The Khalif was enraged at his
+answer and commanded to hang him before his palace-gate and that
+proclamation should be made in the streets of Baghdad, 'Whoso
+hath a mind to witness the hanging of Jaafer the Barmecide,
+Vizier of the Khalif, and of forty of his kin, before the gate of
+the Khalif's palace, let him come out to see!' So the people came
+out from all quarters to witness the execution of Jaafer and his
+kinsmen, not knowing the reason. Then they set up the gallows and
+made Jaafer and the others stand underneath in readiness; but
+whilst they awaited the Khalif's signal for the execution and the
+people wept for Jaafer and his kinsmen, behold, a handsome and
+well-dressed young man, with shining face and bright black eyes,
+flower-white forehead, downy whiskers and rosy cheeks and a mole
+like a grain of ambergris, pressed through the crowd, till he
+stood before Jaafer and said to him, 'I come to deliver thee from
+this strait, O chief of the Amirs and refuge of the poor! I am he
+who killed the woman ye found in the chest; so hang me for her
+and do her justice on me!' When Jaafer heard this, he rejoiced at
+his own deliverance, but grieved for the young man; and whilst
+they were yet talking, behold, a man far advanced in years made
+his way when he saluted them and said, 'O Vizier and noble lord,
+credit not what this young man says. None killed the damsel but
+I; so do thou avenge her on me, or I do accuse thee before God
+the Most High.' Then said the youth, 'O Vizier, this is a doting
+old man, who knows not what he says: it was I killed her, so do
+thou avenge her on me.' 'O my son,' said the old man, 'thou art
+young and desirest the things of the world, and I am old and
+weary of the world. I will ransom thee and the Vizier and his
+kinsmen with my life. None killed the damsel but I; so God on
+thee, make haste to hang me, or there is no living for me after
+her!' The Vizier marvelled at all this and taking the youth and
+the old man, carried them before the Khalif and said to him, 'O
+Commander of the Faithful, I bring thee the murderer of the
+damsel.' 'Where is he?' asked the Khalif, and Jaafer answered,
+'This youth says he killed her, but this old man gives him the
+lie and affirms that he himself killed her: and behold, they are
+both in thy hands.' The Khalif looked at them and said, 'Which of
+you killed the damsel?' The youth replied, 'It was I.' And the
+old man, 'Indeed, none killed her but myself.' Then the Khalif
+said to Jaafer, 'Take them and hang them both.' But the Vizier
+replied, 'If one of them be the murderer, to hang the other were
+unjust.' 'By Him who vaulted the heavens and spread out the earth
+like a carpet,' cried the youth, 'it was I killed her!' And he
+set forth the circumstance of her death and how they had found
+her body, so that the Khalif was certified that he was the
+murderer, whereat he wondered and said to him, 'Why didst thou
+slay the damsel wrongfully and what made thee come and accuse
+thyself thus and confess thy crime without being beaten?' 'Know,
+O Commander of the Faithful,' answered the young man, 'that this
+damsel was my wife and the daughter of this old man, who is my
+father's brother, and she was a virgin when I married her. God
+blessed me with three male children by her, and she loved me and
+served me, and I also loved her with an exceeding love and saw no
+evil in her. We lived happily together till the beginning of this
+month, when she fell grievously ill. I fetched the doctors to her
+and she recovered slowly; and I would have had her take a bath;
+but she said, "There is something I long for, before I go to the
+bath." "What is it?" asked I, and she replied, "I have a longing
+for an apple, that I may smell it and bite a piece of it." So I
+went out into the city at once and sought for apples, but could
+find none, though, had they been a dinar apiece, I would have
+bought them. I was vexed at this and went home and said to my
+wife, "By Allah, my cousin, I can find none." She was distressed,
+being yet weak, and her weakness increased greatly on her that
+night, and I passed the night full of anxiety. As soon as it was
+day, I went out again and made the round of the gardens, but
+could find no apples anywhere. At last I met an old gardener, of
+whom I enquired for them, and he said to me, "O my son, this
+fruit is rare with us and is not now to be found but in the
+garden of the Commander of the Faithful at Bassora, where the
+gardener keeps them for the Khalif's table.' I returned home,
+troubled at my ill-success, and my love and concern for her moved
+me to undertake the journey to Bassora. So I set out and
+travelled thither and bought three apples of the gardener there
+for three dinars, with which I returned to Baghdad, after having
+been absent fifteen days and nights, going and coming. I went in
+to my wife and gave her the apples; but she took no pleasure in
+them and let them lie by her side; for weakness and fever had
+increased on her and did not leave her for ten days, at the end
+of which time she began to mend. So I left the house and went to
+my shop, where I sat buying and selling. About mid-day a great
+ugly black slave came into the bazaar, having in his hand one of
+the three apples, with which he was playing; so I called to him
+and said, "Prithee, good slave, tell me whence thou hadst that
+apple, that I may get the fellow to it." He laughed and answered,
+"I had it of my mistress; for I had been absent and on my return
+I found her lying ill, with three apples by her side: and she
+told me that the cuckold her husband had made a journey for them
+to Bassora, where he had bought them for three dinars. So I ate
+and drank with her and took this one from her." When I heard
+this, the world grew black in my eyes, and I rose and shut my
+shop and went home, beside myself for excess of rage. I looked
+for the apples and finding but two of them, said to my wife,
+"Where is the third apple?" Quoth she, "I know not what is come
+of it." This convinced me of the truth of the slave's story, so I
+took a knife and coming behind her, without word said, got up on
+her breast and cut her throat; after which I hewed her in pieces
+and wrapping her in her veil and a piece of carpet, sewed the
+whole up hurriedly in the basket. Then I put the basket in the
+chest and locking it up, set it on my mule and threw it into the
+Tigris with my own hands. So, God on thee, O Commander of the
+Faithful, make haste to hang me, for I fear lest she sue for
+vengeance on me at the Day of Resurrection! For when I had thrown
+her into the river, unknown of any, I returned home and found my
+eldest boy weeping, though he knew not what I had done with his
+mother; and I said to him "Why dost thou weep, my son?" He
+replied, "I took one of my mother's apples and went down with it
+into the street to play with my brothers, when lo, a tall black
+slave snatched it from my hand, saying, 'Whence hadst thou this?'
+Quoth I, 'My father journeyed to Bassora for it and brought it to
+my mother, who is ill, with two other apples for which he paid
+three dinars. Give it back to me and do not get me into trouble
+for it.' He paid no heed to my words and I demanded the apple a
+second and a third time; but he beat me and went away with it. I
+was afraid that my mother would beat me on account of the apple;
+so for fear of her, I went without the city with my brothers and
+abode there until night closed in upon us, and indeed I am in
+fear of her: so by Allah, O my father, say nothing to her of
+this, or it will add to her illness." When I heard what the child
+said, I knew that the slave was he who had forged a lie against
+my wife and was certified that I had killed her wrongfully. So I
+wept sore, and presently, this old man, her father, came in and I
+told him what had passed; and he sat down by my side and wept and
+we ceased not weeping half the night. This was five days ago and
+from that time to this, we have never ceased to bewail her and
+mourn for her, sorrowing sore for that she was unjustly put to
+death. All this came of the lying story of the slave, and this
+was the manner of my killing her; so I conjure thee, by the
+honour of thy forefathers, make haste to kill me and do her
+justice on me, for there is no living for me after her.' The
+Khalif wondered at his story and said, 'By Allah, the young man
+is excusable, and I will hang none but the accursed slave!' Then
+he fumed to Jaafer and said to him, 'Bring me the accursed slave,
+who was the cause of this calamity, and if thou bring him not in
+three days, thou shalt suffer in his stead.' And Jaafer went out,
+weeping and saying, 'Verily, I am beset by deaths; the pitcher
+does not come off for aye unbroken. I can do nothing in this
+matter; but He who saved me the first time may save me again. By
+Allah, I will not leave my house during the three days that
+remain to me, and God who is the Truth shall do what He will.' So
+he kept his house three days, and on the fourth day, he summoned
+Cadis and witnesses and made his last dispositions and bade
+farewell to his children, weeping. Presently in came a messenger
+from the Khalif and said to him, 'The Commander of the Faithful
+is beyond measure wroth and sends to seek thee and swears that
+the day shall not pass without thy being hanged.' When Jaafer
+heard this, he wept and his children and slaves and all that were
+in the house wept with him. Then they brought him his little
+daughter, that he might bid her farewell. Now he loved her more
+than all his other children; so he pressed her to his breast and
+kissed her and wept over his separation from her; when lo, he
+felt something round in her bosom and said to her, 'What's this
+in thy bosom?' 'O my father,' answered she, 'it is an apple with
+the name of our lord the Khalif written on it. Our slave Rihan
+brought it to me four days ago and would not let me have it, till
+I gave him two dinars for it.' When Jaafer heard this, he put his
+hand into her bosom and took out the apple and knew it and
+rejoiced, saying, 'O swift Dispeller of trouble[FN#59]!' Then he
+sent for the slave and said to him, 'Harkye Rihan, whence hadst
+thou this apple?' 'By Allah, O my lord,' replied he, 'though
+lying might get me off, yet is it safer to tell the truth[FN#60]!
+I did not steal it from thy palace nor from the palace of His
+Highness nor the garden of the Commander of the Faithful. The
+fact is that some days ago, I was passing along a certain alley
+of this city, when I saw some children playing and this apple in
+the hand of one of them. So I snatched it from him, and he wept
+and said, "O youth, this apple is my mother's and she is ill. She
+longed for apples, and my father journeyed to Bassora and bought
+her three for three dinars, and I took one of them to play with."
+But I paid no heed to what he said and beat him and went off with
+the apple and sold it to my little mistress for two dinars.' When
+Jaafer heard this, he wondered that the death of the damsel and
+all this misery should have been caused by his slave and grieved
+for the relation of the slave to himself, whilst rejoicing over
+his own delivery: and he repeated the following verses:
+
+If through a servant misfortune befall thee, Spare not to save
+thine own life at his cost.
+Servants in plenty thou'lt find to replace him, Life for life
+never, once it is lost.
+
+Then he carried the slave to the Khalif, to whom he related the
+whole story; and the Khalif wondered greatly and laughed till he
+fell backward and ordered the story to be recorded and published
+among the folk. Then said Jaafer, 'O Commander of the Faithful,
+wonder not at this story, for it is not more marvellous than that
+of Noureddin Ali of Cairo and his son Bedreddin Hassan.' 'What is
+that?' asked the Khalif; 'and how can it be more marvellous than
+this story?' 'O Commander of the Faithful,' answered Jaafer, 'I
+will not tell it thee except thou pardon my slave.' Quoth the
+Khalif, 'If it be indeed more marvellous than that of the three
+apples, I grant thee thy slave's life; but if not, I will kill
+him.' 'Know, then, O Commander of the Faithful,' said Jaafer,
+'that
+
+
+
+
+               NOUREDDIN ALI OF CAIRO AND HIS SON
+                       BEDREDDIN HASSAN.
+
+
+
+There was once in the land of Egypt a just and pious King who
+loved the poor and companied with the learned, and he had a
+Vizier, a wise and experienced man, well versed in affairs and in
+the art of government. This Vizier, who was a very old man, had
+two sons, as they were two moons, never was seen their like for
+beauty and grace, the elder called Shemseddin Mohammed and the
+younger Noureddin Ali; but the younger excelled his brother in
+comeliness and fair favour, so that folk heard of him in distant
+lands and journeyed to Egypt to get sight of him. After awhile
+the Vizier died, to the great grief of the Sultan, who sent for
+his two sons and invested them with robes of honour, saying, "Let
+not your hearts be troubled, for you shall stand in your father's
+stead and be joint Viziers of Egypt." At this they were glad and
+kissed the earth before him and mourned for their father a whole
+month, at the end of which time they entered upon the Vizierate,
+and the government passed into their hands, as it had been in
+those of their father, each ruling for a week at a time. Whenever
+the Sultan went on a journey, they took it in turns to accompany
+him; and the two brothers lived in one house, and there was
+perfect accord between them. It chanced, one night, that the
+Sultan purposed setting out on a journey on the morrow and the
+elder, whose turn it was to attend him, was sitting talking with
+his brother and said to him, "O my brother, it is my wish that
+we both marry and go in to our wives on the same night." "O my
+brother," replied Noureddin, "do as thou wilt; I will conform to
+thee." So they agreed upon this and Shemseddin said, "If it be
+the will of God that we both marry on the same night, and our
+wives be brought to bed on the same day, and thy wife bear a boy
+and mine a girl, we will marry the children to one another, for
+they will be cousins." "O my brother," asked Noureddin, "what
+dowry wilt thou require of my son for thy daughter!" Quoth the
+other, "I will have of him three thousand dinars and three
+gardens and three farms, for it would not be fitting that he
+bring her a smaller dowry than this." When Noureddin heard this,
+he said, "What dowry is this thou wouldst impose on my son?
+Knowest thou not that we are brothers and both by God's grace
+Viziers and equal in rank? It behoves thee to offer thy daughter
+to my son, without dowry: or if thou must have a dower, it should
+be something of nominal value, for mere show; for thou knowest
+the male to be more worthy than the female, and my son is a male,
+and our memory will be preserved by him, not by thy daughter; but
+I see thou wouldst do with me according to the saying, 'If thou
+wouldst drive away a purchaser, ask him a high price,' or as did
+one, who, being asked by a friend to do him a favour, replied,
+'In the name of God; I will comply with thy request, but not till
+tomorrow.' Whereupon the other answered him with this verse:
+
+'When one, of whom a favour's asked, postpones it till next day,
+     'Tis, to a man who knows the world, as if he said him nay.'"
+
+Quoth Shemseddin, "Verily, thou errest in that thou wouldst make
+thy son more worthy than my daughter, and it is plain that thou
+lackest both judgment and manners. Thou talkest of thy share in
+the Vizierate, when I only admitted thee to share with me, in
+pity for thee, not wishing to mortify thee, and that thou
+mightest help me. But since thou talkest thus, by Allah, I will
+not marry my daughter to thy son, though thou pay down her weight
+in gold!" When Noureddin heard this, he was angry and said, "And
+I, I will never marry my son to thy daughter." "I would not
+accept him as a husband for her," answered the other, "and were I
+not bound to attend the Sultan on his journey, I would make an
+example of thee; but when I return, I will let thee see what my
+dignity demands." When Noureddin heard this speech from his
+brother, he was beside himself for rage, but held his peace and
+stifled his vexation; and each passed the night in his own place,
+full of wrath against the other. As soon as it was day, the
+Sultan went out to Ghizeh and made for the Pyramids, accompanied
+by the Vizier Shemseddin, whilst Noureddin arose, sore enraged,
+and prayed the morning-prayer. Then he went to his treasury, and
+taking a small pair of saddle-bags, filled them with gold. And he
+called to mind his brother's words and the contempt with which he
+had treated him and repeated the following verses:
+
+Travel, for yon shall find new friends in place of those you
+     leave, And labour, for in toil indeed the sweets of life
+     reside.
+Nor gain nor honour comes to him who idly stays at home; So leave
+     thy native land behind and journey far and wide.
+Oft have I seen a stagnant pool corrupt with standing still; If
+     water run, 'tis sweet, but else grows quickly putrefied.
+If the full moon were always high and never waned nor set, Men
+     would not strain their watchful eyes for it at every tide.
+Except the arrow leave the bow, 'twill never hit the mark, Nor
+     will the lion chance on prey, if in the copse he bide.
+The aloes in its native land a kind of firewood is, And precious
+     metals are but dust whilst in the mine they hide.
+The one is sent abroad and grows more precious straight than
+     gold; The other's brought to light and finds its value
+     magnified.
+
+Then he bade one of his people saddle him his mule with a padded
+saddle. Now she was a dapple mule, high-backed, like a dome
+builded upon columns; her saddle was of cloth of gold and her
+stirrups of Indian steel, her housings of Ispahan velvet, and she
+was like a bride on her wedding night. Moreover, he bade lay on
+her back a carpet of silk and strap the saddle-bags on that and
+spread a prayer-rug over the whole. The man did as he bade him
+and Noureddin said to his servants, "I have a mind to ride out
+a-pleasuring towards Kelyoubiyeh, and I shall lie three nights
+abroad; but let none of you follow me, for my heart is heavy."
+Then he mounted the mule in haste and set out from Cairo, taking
+with him a little victual, and made for the open country. About
+mid-day, he reached the town of Belbeys, where he alighted and
+rested himself and the mule. Then he took out food and ate and
+fared on again in the direction of the desert, after having
+bought victual and fodder for the mule in the town. Towards
+nightfall, he came to a town called Saadiyeh, where he alighted
+and took out food and ate, then spread the carpet on the ground
+and laying the saddle bags under his head, slept in the open air,
+for he was still overcome with anger. As soon as it was day, he
+mounted and rode onward, till he reached the city of Jerusalem
+and thence to Aleppo, where he alighted at one of the khans and
+abode three days, to rest himself and the mule. Then, being still
+intent upon travel, he mounted and setting out again, he knew not
+whither, journeyed on without ceasing, till he reached the city
+of Bassora, where he alighted at a certain khan and spread out
+his prayer-carpet, after having taken the saddle-bags off the
+mule's back and given her to the porter that he might walk her
+about. As chance would have it, the Vizier of Bassora, who was a
+very old man, was sitting at a window of his palace opposite the
+khan and saw the porter walking the mule up and down. He remarked
+her costly trappings and took her to be a mule of parade, of such
+as are ridden by kings and viziers. This set him thinking and he
+became perplexed and said to one of his servants, "Bring me
+yonder porter." So the servant went and returned with the porter,
+who kissed the ground before the Vizier; and the latter said to
+him, "Who is the owner of that mule, and what manner of man is
+he?" "O my lord," replied the porter, "he is a comely young man
+of the sons of the merchants, grave and dignified of aspect."
+When the Vizier heard this, he rose at once and mounting his
+horse, rode to the khan and went in to Noureddin, who, seeing him
+making towards himself, rose and went to meet him and saluted
+him. The Vizier bade him welcome to Bassora and dismounting,
+embraced him and made him sit down by his side and said to him,
+"O my son, whence comest thou and what dost thou seek?" "O my
+lord." answered Noureddin, "I come from the city of Cairo;" and
+told him his story from beginning to end, saying, "I am resolved
+not to return home, till I have seen all the towns and countries
+of the world." When the Vizier heard this, he said to him, "O my
+son, follow not the promptings of thy soul, lest they bring thee
+into peril; for indeed the lands are waste and I fear the issues
+of Fortune for thee." Then he let load the saddle-bags and the
+carpets on the mule and carried Noureddin to his own house, where
+he lodged him in a pleasant place and made much of him, for he
+had conceived a great affection for him. After awhile, he said to
+him, "O my son, I am an old man and have no male child, but God
+has given me a daughter who is thy match for beauty, and I have
+refused many suitors for her hand. But love of thee has got hold
+upon my heart; so wilt thou accept of my daughter to thine
+handmaid and be her husband? If thou consent to this, I will
+carry thee to the Sultan of Bassora and tell him that thou art my
+brother's son and bring thee to be appointed Vizier in my stead,
+that I may keep the house, for, by Allah, O my son, I am a very
+old man and I am weary." When Noureddin heard the Vizier's
+proposal, he bowed his head awhile, then raised it and answered,
+"I hear and obey." At this the Vizier rejoiced and bade his
+servants decorate the great hall, in which they were wont to
+celebrate the marriages of nobles. Then he assembled his friends
+and the notables of the kingdom and the merchants of Bassora and
+said to them, "I had a brother who was Vizier in Cairo, and God
+vouchsafed him two sons, whilst to me, as you know, He has given
+a daughter. My brother proposed to me to marry my daughter to one
+of his sons, to which I consented; and when my daughter came at a
+marriageable age, he sent me one of his sons, this young man now
+present, to whom I purpose now to marry her, for he is better
+than a stranger, and that he shall go in to her in my house this
+night. After, if he please, he shall abide with me, or if he
+please, he shall return with his wife to his father." The guests
+replied, "It is well seen of thee." And they looked at Noureddin
+and were pleased with him. So the Vizier sent for Cadis and
+witnesses, and they drew up the marriage contract, after which
+the servants perfumed the guests with incense and sprinkled
+rose-water on them, and they drank sherbet of sugar and went
+away. Then the Vizier bade his servants take Noureddin to the
+bath and sent him a suit of the best of his own clothes, besides
+cups and napkins and perfume-burners and all else that he
+required. So he went to the bath, and when he came out and put on
+the suit, he was like the moon on the night of her full. Then he
+mounted his mule and returning to the Vizier's palace, went in to
+the latter and kissed his hands. The Vizier welcomed him and said
+to him, "Arise, go in to thy wife this night, and tomorrow I will
+carry thee to the Sultan; and I pray God to bless thee with all
+manner of good!" So Noureddin left him and went in to his wife,
+the Vizier's daughter. To return to his brother Shemseddin. When
+he came back to Cairo, after having been absent awhile with the
+Sultan, he missed his brother and enquired of his servants, who
+said, "On the day of thy departure with the Sultan, thy brother
+mounted his mule, caparisoned as for state, saying, 'I am going
+towards El Kelyoubiyeh and shall be absent a day or two, for I am
+heavy of heart; and let none follow me.' Then he rode away, and
+from that time to this we have heard nothing of him." Shemseddin
+was concerned at his brother's absence and became exceedingly
+uneasy, when he found that he did not return, and said to
+himself, "This is because I spoke harshly to him that night, and
+he has taken it to heart and gone away; but I must send after
+him." Then he went in to the King and acquainted him with what
+had happened, and he wrote letters and despatched couriers to his
+deputies in every province; but after awhile they returned
+without having been able to come at any news of Noureddin, who
+had by this time reached Bassora. So Shemseddin despaired of
+finding his brother and said, "Indeed, I went beyond all bounds
+in what I said to him, with reference to the marriage of our
+children. Would it had not been so! This all comes of my lack of
+sense and judgment." Soon after this he sought in marriage the
+daughter of a merchant of Cairo and took her to wife and went in
+to her (as it happened by the will of God the Most High, that so
+He might carry out what He had decreed to His creatures) on the
+very night on which Noureddin went in to the Vizier's daughter of
+Bassora. Moreover, it was as the two brothers had said; for their
+wives conceived by them and were brought to bed on the same day,
+the wife of Shemseddin of a daughter, never was seen in Cairo a
+fairer than she, and the wife of Noureddin of a son, than whom a
+handsomer was never seen in his time. They named the boy
+Bedreddin Hassan, and his grandfather, the Vizier of Bassora
+rejoiced in him and gave feasts and public entertainments, as for
+the birth of a king's son. Then he took Noureddin and went up
+with him to the Sultan. When Noureddin came in presence of the
+King, he kissed the ground before him and repeated the following
+verses, for he was facile of speech, firm of soul and abounding
+in good parts and natural gifts:
+
+May all delights of life attend thee, O my lord, And mayst thou
+     live as long as night and morning be!
+Lo! when meets tongues recall thy magnanimity, The age doth leap
+     for Joy and Time claps hands for glee.
+
+The Sultan rose to receive them and after thanking Noureddin for
+his compliment, asked the Vizier who he was. The Vizier replied,
+"This is my brother's son." And the Sultan said, "How comes it
+that we have never heard of him?" "O my lord the Sultan,"
+answered the Vizier, know that my brother was Vizier in Egypt and
+died, leaving two sons, whereof the elder became Vizier in his
+father's stead and the younger, whom thou seest, came to me. I
+had sworn that I would give my daughter in marriage to none but
+him; so when he came, I married him to her. Now he is young and I
+am old; my hearing grows dull and my judgment fails; wherefore I
+pray our lord the Sultan to make him Vizier in my room, for he is
+my brother's son and the husband of my daughter, and he is apt
+for the Vizierate, being a man of sense and judgment." The Sultan
+looked at Noureddin and was pleased with him, so granted the
+Vizier's request and appointed him to the Vizierate, presenting
+him with a splendid dress of honour and one of his choicest mules
+and allotting him stipends and allowances. Noureddin kissed the
+Sultan's hands and went home, he and his father-in-law, rejoicing
+greatly and saying, "This is of the good fortune of the new-born
+Hassan.'' Next day he presented himself before the King and
+repeated the following verses:
+
+New favours attend thee each day of thy life, And fortune to
+     counter the craft of thy foes!
+May thy days with God's favour be white to the end, And black be
+     their days with misfortune and woes!
+
+The Sultan commanded him to sit in the Vizier's place; so he sat
+down and applied himself to the business of his office, examining
+into the folks' affairs and giving judgment on their suits, after
+the usage of Viziers, whilst the Sultan watched him and wondered
+at his wit and good sense and judgment, wherefore he loved him
+and took him into favour. When the Divan broke up, Noureddin
+returned to his house and related what had passed to his
+father-in-law, who rejoiced. Thence-forward Noureddin ceased not
+so to apply himself to the duties of the Vizierate, that he left
+not the Sultan day or night and the latter increased his stipends
+and allowances till he amassed great wealth and became the owner
+of ships, that made trading voyages for his hand, as well as of
+slaves and servants, black and white, and laid out many estates
+and made irrigation-works and planted gardens. When his son
+Hassan was four years old, his father-in-law, the old Vizier,
+died, and he buried him with great pomp. Then he occupied himself
+with the education of his son and when he came to the age of
+seven, he brought him a doctor of the law, to teach him in his
+own house, and charged him to give him a good education and teach
+him good manners. So the tutor taught the boy to read and all
+manner of useful knowledge, after he had spent some years in
+committing the Koran to memory; and he grew in stature and beauty
+and symmetry, even as says the poet:
+
+The moon in the heaven of his grace shines full and fair to see,
+     And the sun of the morning glows in his cheeks' anemones.
+He's such a compend of beauties, meseems, indeed, from him The
+     world all beauty borrows that lives in lands and seas.
+
+The professor brought him up in his father's palace, and all his
+years of youth he never left the house, till one day his father
+clad him in his richest clothes, and mounting him on one of the
+best of his mules, carried him to the Sultan, who was struck with
+his beauty and loved him. As for the people of the city, when he
+passed through the streets on his way to the palace, they were
+dazzled with his loveliness and sat down in the road, awaiting
+his return, that they might gaze their fill on his beauty and
+grace and symmetry. The Sultan made much of the boy and bade his
+father bring him with him, whenever his affairs called him to the
+palace. Noureddin replied, "I hear and obey," and ceased not to
+carry him to the Sultan's court, till he reached the age of
+fifteen, when his father sickened and calling his son, said to
+him, "Know, O my son, that this world is but a temporary abode,
+whilst the next is an eternal one. Before I die, I wish to give
+thee certain last injunctions, so pay heed to my words and set
+thy mind to understand them." Then he gave him certain advice as
+to the proper way of dealing with folk and the conduct of his
+affairs; after which he called to mind his brother and his native
+land and wept for his separation from those he loved. Then he
+wiped away his tears and turning to his son, said to him, "Before
+I proceed to my parting exhortations, thou must know that thou
+hast an uncle who is Vizier in Cairo, and I left him and went
+away without his consent." Then he took a sheet of paper and
+wrote therein all that had happened to him from the day of the
+dispute, together with the dates of his marriage and going in to
+the Vizier's daughter and the birth of his son; after which he
+folded and sealed the paper and gave it to his son, saying, "keep
+this paper carefully, for in it is written thy rank and lineage
+and origin, and if any mishap befall thee, go to Cairo and ask
+for thine uncle and give him this and tell him that I died in a
+foreign land, full of longing for him." So Bedreddin took the
+paper and wrapping it in a piece of waxed cloth, sewed it into
+the lining of his skull-cap and wound the muslin of his turban
+over it, weeping the while at the thought of losing his father,
+whilst himself but a boy. Then said Noureddin, "I have five
+behests to lay on thee: and the first is that thou be not too
+familiar with any one, neither frequent him nor foregather with
+him over-much; so shalt thou be safe from his mischief, for in
+retirement is safety, and I have heard it said by a poet:
+
+There is no man in all the world, whose love is worth thy trust,
+     No friend who, if fate play thee false, will true and
+     constant be.
+Wherefore I'd have thee live apart and lean for help on none. In
+     this I give thee good advice; so let it profit thee.
+
+Secondly, O my son, oppress no one, lest Fortune oppress thee;
+for the fortune of this world is one day for thee and another
+against thee, and its goods are but a loan to be repaid. As I
+have heard a poet say:
+
+Be slow to move and hasten not to snatch thy heart's desire; Be
+     merciful to all, as thou on mercy reckonest;
+For no hand is there but the hand of God is over it, And no
+     oppressor but shall be with worse than he oppress.
+
+Thirdly, preserve silence and let thy faults distract thee from
+those of other men; for it is said that in silence is safety; and
+thereon I have heard the following verses:
+
+Silence is fair and safety lies in taciturnity. So, when thou
+     speak'st, I counsel thee, give not thy tongue the rein.
+Since, for one time that thou repent the having held thy tongue,
+     Thou shalt of having spoke repent again and yet again.
+
+Fourthly, O my son, beware of drinking wine, for wine is the root
+of all evils and the thief of wit. Guard thyself from it, for the
+poet says:
+
+Wine and the drinkers of wine I have put away, And am become of
+     those that of it mis-say.
+For wine indeed diverts from the road of right, And to all kinds
+     of evil opens the way.
+
+Lastly, O my son, keep thy wealth, that it may keep thee, and
+watch over it, that it may watch over thee. Squander not thy
+substance, or thou wilt come to need the meanest of folk. Guard
+well thy money, for it is a sovereign salve for the wounds of
+life, even as says the poet:
+
+If wealth should fail, there is no friend will bear thee company,
+     But whilst thy substance still abounds, all men are friends
+     to thee.
+How many a foe for money's sake hath companied with me! But when
+     wealth failed beneath my hand, my dearest friend did flee."
+
+And Noureddin ceased not to exhort his son till his spirit
+departed and his house became the abode of mourning. The King and
+all the Amirs grieved for him and buried him; but Bedreddin
+ceased not to bewail his father for two whole months, during
+which time he never left the house, nor did he attend the Divan
+or present himself before the Sultan. At last the latter became
+wroth with him and made one of his chamberlains Vizier in his
+stead and bade him seize on all Noureddin's houses and goods and
+possessions and seal them up. So the new Vizier went forth to do
+this and take Bedreddin Hassan and bring him before the Sultan,
+that he might deal with him as he thought fit. Now there was
+among the troops one who had been a servant of the deceased
+Vizier, and when he heard this order he spurred his steed and
+rode at full speed to Bedreddin's house, where he found him
+sitting at the gate, with downcast head, broken-hearted. So he
+dismounted and kissing his hand, said to him, "O my lord and son
+of my lord, hasten, ere destruction light on thee!" When
+Bedreddin heard this, he trembled and said, "What is the matter?"
+"The Sultan is wroth with thee," answered the other, "and has
+given orders for thine arrest, and calamity follows hard upon me,
+so flee for thy life." Quoth Bedreddin, "Is there time for me to
+go in and take somewhat to stand me in stead in my strangerhood?"
+But the other answered, "O my lord, rise at once and save thyself
+whilst it is yet time, and leave thy house." So Bedreddin covered
+his face with his skirt and went out and walked on till he came
+without the city. On his way, he heard the people saying that the
+Sultan had sent the new Vizier to the late Vizier's house, to
+seize on his possessions and take his son Bedreddin Hassan and
+bring him before him, that he might put him to death, and they
+grieved for him by reason of his beauty and grace. When he heard
+this, he fled forth at hazard, not knowing whither, and chance
+led him to the cemetery where his father was buried. So he passed
+among the tombs, till he came to his father's sepulchre and
+entering, sat down and let fall from over his head the skirt of
+his cassock, which was made of brocade, with the following lines
+embroidered in gold on the hem:
+
+Thou whose face with the rainbow might vie, That art bright as
+     the stars of the sky,
+May thy fortune ne'er fail to be fair And thy glory for ever be
+     high!
+
+As he sat by his father's tomb, there came up a Jew, as he were a
+money-changer, with a pair of saddle-bags full of gold, and
+accosted him, saying, "Whither away, O my lord? It is near the
+end of the day and thou art lightly clad and bearest the marks of
+chagrin on thy countenance." "I was asleep but now," answered
+Bedreddin, "when my father appeared to me and reproached me for
+not having visited his tomb, and I awoke, trembling, and came
+hither at once, fearing lest the day should pass, without my
+paying him a visit, which would have been grievous to me." "O my
+lord," said the Jew, "thy father had many ships at sea, whereof
+some are now due; and it is my wish to buy of thee the cargo of
+the first that comes into port for a thousand dinars." "I will
+well," answered Bedreddin; whereupon the Jew took out a purse of
+gold and counted out a thousand dinars, which he gave to
+Bedreddin, saying, "Write me an acknowledgment and seal it." So
+Bedreddin took pen and paper and wrote the following in double:
+"The writer, Bedreddin Hassan, son of the Vizier Noureddin of
+Bassora, has sold to Isaac the Jew all the cargo of the first of
+his father's ships that comes into port, at the price of a
+thousand dinars, which he has received in advance." Then he gave
+one copy to the Jew, who took it and went away, and put the other
+in the purse, which he thrust into his waistcloth. And he
+bethought him of his former estate of honour and consideration
+and wept and repeated the following verses:
+
+Home is no longer home to me, now ye are gone away, Nor are the
+     neighbours neighbours now, after our parting-day,
+The comrade, whom I loved whilere, no more a comrade is, And even
+     the very sun and moon' no longer bright are they.
+Ye went away and all the world was saddened for your loss, And
+     all the hills and plains grew dark with sorrow and dismay.
+O that the raven of ill-luck, that croaked our parting hour, May
+     lose his plumes nor find a nest in which his bead to lay!
+My patience fails me for desire, my body wasteth sore; How many a
+     veil the hands of death and parting rend in tway!
+I wonder, will our happy nights come ever back again, Or one
+     house hold us two once more, after the olden way!
+
+Then he wept sore and laying his head on his father's tomb,
+remained plunged in melancholy thought till drowsiness overcame
+him and he fell asleep. He slept on till the moon rose, when
+his head rolled off the tomb and he lay on his back, with his
+face gleaming in the moon. Now the cemetery was haunted by
+true-believing Jinn, and presently a Jinniyeh came out and seeing
+Bedreddin lying asleep, marvelled at his beauty and grace and
+said, "Glory be to God! This can be no other than one of the
+children of Paradise." Then she rose into the air to fly about,
+as was her wont, and met an Afrit flying, who saluted her, and
+she said to him, "Whence comest thou?" "From Cairo," replied he.
+Quoth she, "Wilt thou come with me and look on the beauty of a
+youth who sleeps in the burial-ground yonder?" And he said, "I
+will well." So they both flew down to the tomb and she showed him
+Bedreddin, saying, "Sawest thou ever the like of this young man?"
+The Afrit looked at him and exclaimed, "Blessed be God to whom
+there is none like! But, O my sister, shall I tell thee what I
+have seen this day?" "What is that?" asked she; and he answered,
+"I have seen a young lady in the land of Egypt, who is the
+counterpart of this youth. She is the daughter of the Vizier
+Shemseddin of Cairo and is possessed of beauty and grace and
+symmetry and perfection. When she reached the age of fifteen, the
+Sultan of Egypt heard of her and sending for the Vizier her
+father, said to him, 'O Vizier, it has come to my knowledge
+that thou hast a daughter and I wish to demand her of thee in
+marriage.' 'O my lord the Sultan,' replied the Vizier, 'I
+prithee accept my excuse and take compassion on my grief, for
+thou knowest that my brother Noureddin, who was my partner in the
+Vizierate, left us many years ago and went I know not whither.
+Now the reason of his departure was that one night we were
+sitting talking of marriage and children, when we came to words
+on the subject and he was angry with me and went away in his
+anger. But on the day her mother bore her, fifteen years ago, I
+swore that I would marry my daughter to none but my brother's
+son. Now, awhile ago, I heard that he is lately dead at Bassora,
+where he was Vizier, after having married the former Vizier's
+daughter and had by her a son; and I will not marry my daughter
+but to him, in honour of my brother's memory. Moreover, I
+recorded the date of my marriage and of the conception and birth
+of my daughter and drew her horoscope, and she is destined for
+her cousin and there are girls in plenty for our lord the
+Sultan.' When the Sultan heard the Vizier's answer, he was
+exceeding wroth and said, 'When the like of me demands in
+marriage the daughter of the like of thee, he confers a favour
+on her, and thou puttest me off with idle excuses! As my head
+liveth, I will marry her to the meanest of my serving men, to
+spite thee!' Now the Sultan had a hunchbacked groom, with a hump
+behind and before, and he sent for him and married him to the
+Vizier's daughter, whether she would or no, and bade carry him in
+procession and bring him in to his bride this very night. Now I
+have just come from Cairo, where I left the hunchback at the door
+of the bath, surrounded by the King's servants holding lighted
+flambeaux and making mock of him. As for the Vizier's daughter,
+she sits among her nurses and tire-women, weeping, for they have
+forbidden her father access to her. Never, O my sister, saw I one
+more hideous than the hunchback, whilst the young lady is the
+likest of all folk to this youth, though she is even handsomer
+than he." "Thou liest," replied the Jinniyeh; "this youth is
+handsomer than any one of his day." "By Allah, O my sister,"
+replied the Afrit, "the girl I speak of is handsomer than he, but
+none but he is worthy of her, for they resemble each other as
+they were brother and sister or brothers' children. Alas, the
+pity of her with that hunchback!" Then said she, "O my brother,
+let us take him up and carry him to Cairo, that we may compare
+him with the damsel and see whether of them is the handsomer."
+"I hear and obey," answered the Afrit; "this is right well
+advised, and I will carry him." So he took Bedreddin up and flew
+with him through the air, accompanied by the Afriteh, till he
+alighted in the city of Cairo and set him down on a stone bench.
+Then he aroused him, and when he found himself no longer on his
+father's tomb in Bassora, but in a strange city, he would have
+cried out, but the Afrit gave him a cuff and imposed silence on
+him. Then he brought him a splendid dress and made him put it on,
+and giving him a lighted flambeau, said to him, "Know that I have
+brought thee hither, meaning to do thee a good turn for the love
+of God; so take this torch and mingle with the people at the door
+of the bath and accompany them to the house of the wedding
+festival. Then advance and enter the hall and fear none, but sit
+down on the right hand of the humpbacked bridegroom; and as often
+as the tire-women and singers stop before thee, put thy hand into
+thy pocket and thou wilt find it full of gold. Take it out by
+handsful and give to all who come to thee and spare not, for as
+often as thou puttest thy hand into thy pocket, thou wilt find it
+without fail full of gold. So fear nothing, but put thy trust in
+Him who created thee, for all this is not by shine own strength
+but by that of God, that His decrees may take effect upon His
+creatures." Quoth Bedreddin to himself, "I wonder what is the
+meaning of all this!" And taking the torch, went to the bath,
+where he found the hunchback already on horseback. So he mixed
+with the people and moved on with the bridal-procession; and as
+often as the singing-women stopped to collect largesse from the
+people, he put his hand into his pocket and finding it full
+of gold, took out a handful and threw it into the singers'
+tambourine, till it was full of dinars. The singing women were
+amazed at his munificence and they and the people wondered at his
+beauty and grace and the richness of his dress. He ceased not to
+do thus, till he reached the Vizier's palace, where the
+chamberlains drove back the people and forbade them to enter;
+but the singing women said, "By Allah, we will not enter, unless
+this young man enter with us, for he has overwhelmed us with
+his bounties; nor shall the bride be displayed, except he be
+present." So the chamberlains let him pass, and he entered the
+bridal saloon with the singers, who made him sit down, in
+defiance of the humpbacked bridegroom. The wives of the Viziers
+and Amirs and chamberlains were ranged, each veiled to the eyes
+and holding a great lighted flambeau, in two ranks, extending
+right and left from the bride's throne[FN#61] to the upper end of
+the dais, in front of the door from which she was to issue. When
+the ladies saw Bedreddin and noted his beauty and grace and his
+face that shone like the new moon, they all inclined to him, and
+the singers said to all the women present, "You must know that
+this handsome youth has handselled us with nought but red gold,
+so fail ye not to wait on him and comply with all that he says."
+So all the women crowded round Bedreddin, with their torches, and
+gazed on his beauty arid envied him his grace; and each would
+gladly have lain in his bosom an hour or a year. In their
+intoxication, they let fall their veils from their faces and
+said, "Happy she who belongs to him or to whom he belongs!" And
+they cursed the humpbacked groom and him who was the cause of his
+marriage to that lovely lady; and as often as they invoked
+blessings on Bedreddin, they followed them up with imprecations
+on the hunchback, saying, "Indeed, this youth and he alone
+deserves our bride. Alas, the pity of her with this wretched
+hunchback, God's curse be on him and on the Sultan who will have
+her marry him!" Then the singers beat their tambourines and
+raised cries of joy, announcing the coming of the bride; and the
+Vizier's daughter entered, surrounded by her tire-women, who had
+perfumed her with essences and incensed her and decked her hair
+and dressed her in costly robes and ornaments such as were worn
+by the ancient kings of Persia. Over all she wore a robe
+embroidered in red gold with figures of birds and beasts with
+eyes and beaks of precious stones and feet and claws of red
+rubies and green beryl, and about her neck was clasped a necklace
+of Yemen work, worth many thousands of dinars, whose beazels were
+all manner jewels, never had Caesar or King of Yemen its like.
+She seemed as it were the full moon, when it shines out on the
+fourteenth night, or one of the houris of Paradise, glory be to
+Him who made her so splendidly fair! The women encompassed her as
+they were stars, and she in their midst as the moon breaking
+through the clouds. As she came forward, swaying gracefully to
+and fro, the hunchback rose to kiss her, but she turned from him
+and seeing Bedreddin Hassan seated, with all the company gazing
+on him, went and stood before him. When the folk saw her thus
+attracted towards Bedreddin, they laughed and shouted and the
+singers raised their voices, whereupon he put his hand to his
+pocket and cast gold by handsful into the tambourines of the
+singing-women, who rejoiced and said, "Would this bride were
+thine!" At this he smiled, and the people came round him, with
+the flambeaux in their hands, whilst the hunchback was left
+sitting alone, looking like an ape; for as often as they
+lighted a candle for him, it went out and he abode in darkness,
+speechless and confounded and grumbling to himself. When
+Bedreddin saw the bridegroom sitting moping alone and all the
+lights and people collected round himself, he was confounded and
+marvelled; but when he looked at his cousin, the Vizier's
+daughter, he rejoiced and was glad, for indeed her face was
+radiant with light and brilliancy. Then the tire-women took off
+the veil and displayed the bride in her first dress of red satin,
+and she moved to and fro with a languorous grace, till the heads
+of all the men and women were turned by her loveliness, for she
+was even as says the excellent poet:
+
+Like a sun at the end of a cane in a hill of sand, She shines in
+     a dress of the hue of pomegranate-flower.
+She gives me to drink of her cheeks and her honeyed lips, And
+     quenches the flaming fires that my heart devour.
+
+Then they changed her dress and displayed her in a robe of blue;
+and she reappeared like the moon when it bursts through the
+clouds, with her coal-black hair and her smiling teeth, her
+delicate cheeks and her swelling bosom, even as says the sublime
+poet:
+
+She comes in a robe the colour of ultramarine, Blue as the
+     stainless sky unflecked with white.
+I view her with yearning eyes, and she seems to me A moon of the
+     summer set in a winter's night.
+
+Then they clad her in a third dress and letting down her long
+black ringlets, veiled her face to her eyes with the
+super-abundance of her hair, which vied with the murkiest night in
+length and blackness; and she smote all hearts with the enchanted
+arrows of her glances. As says the poet:
+
+With hair that hides her rosy cheeks ev'n to her speaking eyes,
+     She comes; and I her locks compare unto a sable cloud
+And say to her, "Thou curtainest the morning with the night." But
+     she, "Not so; it is the moon that with the dark I shroud."
+
+Then they displayed her in the fourth dress, and she shone forth
+like the rising sun, swaying to and fro with amorous languor and
+turning from side to side with gazelle-like grace. And she
+pierced hearts with the arrows of her eyelashes; even as says the
+poet:
+
+A sun of beauty she appears to all that look on her, Glorious in
+     arch and amorous grace, with coyness beautified;
+And when the sun of morning sees her visage and her smile,
+     Conquered, he hasteneth his face behind the clouds to hide.
+
+Then they displayed her in the fifth dress, with her ringlets let
+down. The downy hair crept along her cheeks, and she swayed to
+and fro, like a willow-wand or a gazelle bending down to drink,
+with graceful motions of the neck and hips. As says the poet,
+describing her:
+
+Like the full moon she doth appear, on a calm night and fair;
+     Slender of shape and charming all with her seductive air.
+She hath an eye, whose glances pierce the hearts of all mankind,
+     Nor can cornelian with her cheeks for ruddiness compare.
+The sable torrent of her locks falls down unto her hips; Beware
+     the serpents of her curls, I counsel thee, beware!
+Indeed, her glance, her sides are soft, but none the less, alas!
+     Her heart is harder than the rock; there is no mercy there.
+The starry arrows of her looks she darts above her veil; They hit
+     and never miss the mark, though from afar they fare.
+When I clasp hands about her waist, to press her to my heart, The
+     swelling apples of her breast compel me to forbear.
+Alas, her beauty! it outdoes all other loveliness; Her shape
+     transcends the willow-wand and makes the branch despair.
+
+Then they unveiled her in the sixth dress, which was green. In
+this she reached the utmost bounds of loveliness, outvying in
+slender straightness the tawny spear-shaft, and in suppleness and
+flexile grace the bending branch, whilst the splendours of her
+face outshone the radiance of the full moon. Indeed, she
+transcended the fair of all quarters of the world and all hearts
+were broken by her loveliness; for she was even as says the poet:
+
+A damsel made for love and decked with subtle grace; You'd say
+     the very sun had borrowed from her face.
+She came in robes of green, the likeness of the leaf That the
+     pomegranate flower cloth in the bud encase.
+"How call'st thou this thy dress?" we said to her, and she Made
+     answer with a word full of malicious grace.
+"Breaker of Hearts," quoth she, "I call it, for therewith I've
+     broken many a heart among the human race."
+
+Then they dressed her in the seventh dress, which was of a colour
+between saffron and orange, even as says the poet:
+
+Scented with sandal and musk and ambergris, lo! she comes. The
+     blended hues of her dress 'twixt orange and saffron show.
+Slender and shapely she is; vivacity bids her arise, But the
+     weight of her hips says, "Sit, or softly and slowly go."
+When I solicit her kiss and sue for my heart's desire, "Be
+     gracious," her beauty says, but her coquetry answers, "No."
+
+They unveiled the bride, in all her seven dresses, before
+Bedreddin Hassan, leaving the hunchback sitting by himself; and
+when she opened her eyes, she said, "O my God, grant that this
+youth may be my husband and deliver me from this humpbacked
+groom." Then they dismissed the company and all who were present
+retired, except Bedreddin Hassan and the hunchback, whilst the
+tire-women carried off the bride to undress her and prepare her
+for the bridegroom. Thereupon the hunchback came up to Bedreddin
+Hassan and said to him, "O my lord, thou hast cheered us with
+thy company tonight and overwhelmed us with thy favours. Wilt
+thou not now rise and depart?" "In the name of God," replied
+Bedreddin, and rising, went out of the door, where the Afrit met
+him and said to him, "Stay where thou art, and when the hunchback
+goes out to the draught-house, enter thou the bride chamber and
+do not hesitate, but sit down in the alcove, and when the bride
+comes, say to her, ''Tis I who am thy husband, for the King only
+played this trick on thee, to conjure the evil eye from us; and
+he whom thou sawest is one of our grooms.' Then go up to her and
+uncover her face and fear nothing, for jealousy hath taken us of
+this affair and none is worthy to enjoy her youth but thyself.'
+As he was yet speaking, the groom came out and entering the
+closet, sat down on the stool. Hardly had he done so, when the
+Afrit appeared to him in the shape of a mouse, issuing from the
+water-trough,[FN#62] and cried "Queek!" Quoth the hunchback,
+"What ails thee?" And the mouse increased till it became a cat
+and said, "Miaou! Miaou!" Then it grew still more and became a
+dog and cried, "Bow! Wow!" When the hunchback saw this, he was
+terrified and exclaimed, "Begone, O unlucky one!" The dog
+increased and became an ass-colt, that brayed and cried out in
+his face, "Heehaw! Heehaw!" Whereupon the hunchback quaked and
+cried out, "Come to my aid, O people of the house!" But the ass
+increased and swelled, till it became a buffalo and barred the
+way against him and said with a human voice, "Out on thee,
+hunchback, thou stinkard!" The groom was seized with a colic and
+sat down on the jakes with his clothes on and his teeth
+chattering. Quoth the Afrit, "Is the world so small that thou
+canst find none to marry but my mistress?'' But he was silent,
+and the Afrit said, "Answer me, or I will make thee a dweller in
+the dust." "By Allah," replied the hunchback, "I am not to blame,
+for they forced me to marry her, and I knew not that she had a
+buffalo for a gallant; but I repent to God and to thee. What wilt
+thou have me do?" Quoth the Afrit, "I swear to thee that, if thou
+leave this place or speak before sunrise, I will wring thy neck!
+When the sun rises, go thy way and never return to this house."
+So saying, he seized the hunchback and set him upside down
+against the wall, with his head in the slit and his feet in the
+air, and said to him, "I will leave thee here and watch thee
+till sunrise; and if thou stir before then, I will seize thee by
+the feet and dash out thy brains against the wall." Meanwhile
+Bedreddin Hassan entered the bride chamber and sat down in the
+alcove. Presently, in came the bride, attended by an old woman,
+who stopped at the door of the chamber and said, "O father of
+symmetry,[FN#63] arise and take what God sends thee." Then the
+old woman went away, and the bride, whose name was the Lady of
+Beauty, entered, heart-broken and saying to herself, "By Allah, I
+will never yield myself to him, though he kill me!" When she came
+to the alcove, she saw Bedreddin sitting there and said, "O my
+friend, thou here at this hour! By Allah, I was wishing that thou
+wast my husband or that thou and the groom were partners in me!"
+"How should the groom have access to thee," asked Bedreddin,
+"and how should he share with me in thee?" Quoth she "Who is my
+husband, thou or he?" "O Lady of Beauty," replied Bedreddin, "all
+this was only a device to conjure the evil eye from us. Thy
+father hired the hunchback for ten diners to that end, and now he
+has taken his wage and gone away. Didst thou not see the singers
+and tire-women laughing at him and how thy people displayed thee
+before me?" When the Lady of Beauty heard this, she smiled and
+rejoiced and laughed softly. Then she said to him, "Thou hast
+quenched the fire of my heart, so, by Allah, take me and press me
+to thy bosom." Now she was without clothes; so she threw open the
+veil in which she was wrapped and showed her hidden charms. At
+this sight, desire stirred in Bedreddin, and he rose and put off
+his clothes. The purse of a thousand dinars he had received of
+the Jew he wrapped in his trousers and laid them under the
+mattress; then took off his turban and hung it on the settle,
+remaining in a skull-cap and shirt of fine silk, laced with gold.
+With this arose the Lady of Beauty and drew him to her, and he
+did the like with her. Then he took her to his embrace and
+pointing the engine that batters down the fortalice of virginity,
+stormed the citadel and found her an unpierced pearl and a filly
+that none but he had ridden. So he took her maidenhead and
+enjoyed her dower of youth; nor did he stint to return to the
+assault till he had furnished fifteen courses, and she conceived
+by him. Then he laid his hand under her head and she did the
+like, and they embraced and fell asleep in each other's arms,
+whilst the tongue of the case spoke the words of the poet:
+
+Cleave fast to her thou lov'st and let the envious rail amain,
+     For calumny and envy ne'er to favour love were fain.
+Lo! the Compassionate hath made no fairer thing to see Than when
+     one couch in its embrace enfoldeth lovers twain,
+Each to the other's bosom clasped, clad in their own delight,
+     Whilst hand with hand and arm with arm about their necks
+     enchain.
+Lo! when two hearts are straitly knit in passion and desire, But
+     on cold iron smite the folk that chide at them in vain.
+If in thy time thou find but one to love thee and be true, I rede
+     thee cast the world away and with that one remain.
+
+As soon as Bedreddin was asleep, the Afrit said to the Afriteh,
+"Come, let us take up the young man and carry him back to his
+place, ere the dawn overtake us, for the day is near." So she
+took up Bedreddin, as he lay asleep, clad only in his shirt and
+skull-cap, and flew away with him, accompanied by the Afrit. But
+the dawn overtook them midway and the muezzins began to chant the
+call to morning-prayer. Then God let His angels cast at the Afrit
+with shooting-stars, and he was consumed; but the Afriteh escaped
+and lighted down with Bedreddin, fearing to carry him further,
+lest he should come to harm. Now as fate would have it, she had
+reached the city of Damascus, so she laid Bedreddin down before
+one of its gates and flew away. As soon as it was day, the gate
+was thrown open and the folk came out, and seeing a handsome
+young man, clad in nothing but a shirt and skull-cap, lying on
+the ground, drowned in sleep by reason of his much swink of the
+night before, said, "Happy she with whom this youth lay the
+night! Would he had waited to put on his clothes!" Quoth another,
+"A sorry race are young men of family! Belike, this fellow but
+now came forth of the tavern on some occasion or other, but being
+overcome with drunkenness, missed the place he was making for and
+strayed till he came to the city gate, and finding it shut, lay
+down and fell asleep." As they were bandying words about him, the
+breeze blew on him and raising his shirt, showed a stomach and
+navel and legs and thighs, firm and clear as crystal and softer
+than cream; whereupon the bystanders exclaimed, "By Allah, it is
+good!" And made such a noise, that Bedreddin awoke and finding
+himself lying at the gate of a city, in the midst of a crowd of
+people, was astonished and said to them, "O good people, where am
+I, and why do you crowd round me thus?" "We found thee lying here
+asleep, at the time of the call to morning-prayer," replied
+they, "and this is all we know of the matter. Where didst thou
+lie last night?" "By Allah, good people," answered he, "I lay
+last night in Cairo!" Quoth one, "Thou hast eaten hashish." And
+another, "Thou art mad; how couldst thou lie yesternight in Cairo
+and awake this morning in Damascus?" "By Allah, good people,"
+rejoined he, "I do not lie to you; indeed I lay last night in the
+city of Cairo and yesterday I was in Bassora." "Good," said one;
+and another, "This youth is mad." And they clapped their hands at
+him and said to each other, "Alack, the pity of his youth! By
+Allah, there is no doubt of his madness." Then said they to him,
+"Collect thyself and return to thy senses. How couldst thou be in
+Bassora yesterday and in Cairo last night and yet awake in
+Damascus this morning?" But he said, "Indeed, I was a bridegroom
+in Cairo last night." "Doubtless thou hast been dreaming,"
+rejoined they, "and hast seen all this in sleep." So he bethought
+himself awhile, then said to them, "By Allah, it was no dream! I
+certainly went to Cairo and they displayed the bride before me,
+in the presence of the hunchback. By Allah, O my brethren, this
+was no dream; or if it was a dream, where is the purse of gold I
+had with me and my turban and trousers and the rest of my
+clothes?" Then he rose and entered the town and passed through
+its streets and markets; but the people followed him and pressed
+on him, crying out, "Madman! Madman!" till he took refuge in a
+cook's shop. Now this cook had been a robber and a sharper, but
+God had made him repent and turn from his evil ways and open a
+cookshop; and all the people of Damascus stood in awe of him and
+feared his mischief. So when they saw Bedreddin enter his shop,
+they dispersed for fear of him and went their ways. The cook
+looked at Bedreddin and noting his beauty and grace, fell in love
+with him and said to him, "Whence comest thou, O youth? Tell me
+thy case, for thou art become to me dearer than my soul." So
+Bedreddin told him all that had befallen him from first to last;
+and the cook said, "O my lord Bedreddin, this is indeed a strange
+thing and a rare story; but, O my son, keep thy case secret, till
+God grant thee relief, and abide here with me meanwhile, for I am
+childless and will adopt thee as my son." And Bedreddin answered,
+"I will well, O uncle." With this the cook went to the bazaar,
+where he bought him a handsome suit of clothes and made him put
+it on, then carried him to the Cadi and formally acknowledged him
+as his son. So Bedreddin passed in Damascus for the cook's son
+and abode with him, sitting in the shop to take the money.
+
+To return to the Lady of Beauty. When the day broke and she awoke
+from sleep, she missed Bedreddin from her side and thought he had
+gone to the lavatory, so lay expecting him awhile, when behold,
+her father entered. Now he was sore at heart by reason of what
+had passed between him and the Sultan and for that he had married
+his daughter by force to one of his servants, and he a lump of a
+hunchbacked groom; and he said to himself, "If she have suffered
+this damnable fellow to possess her, I will kill her." So he came
+to the door of the alcove and cried out, "Ho, Lady of Beauty!"
+She replied, "Here am I, O my lord"; and came out tottering for
+joy, with a face whose brightness and beauty had redoubled for
+that she had lain in the arms of that gazelle,[FN#64] and kissed
+the ground before her father. When the Vizier saw her thus, he
+said to her, "O accursed woman, dost thou rejoice in this groom?"
+At these words, the Lady of Beauty smiled and said, "O my lord,
+let what happened yesterday suffice, when all the folk were
+laughing at me and flouting me with that groom, who is not worth
+the paring of one of my husband's nails. By Allah, I never in all
+my life passed a pleasanter night! So do not mock me by reminding
+me of that hunchback." When her father heard this, he was filled
+with rage and glared at her, saving, "Out on thee! what words are
+these? It was the hunchbacked groom that lay with thee." "For
+God's sake," replied the Lady of Beauty, "do not mention him to
+me, may God curse his father! And mock me not, for the groom was
+only hired for ten dinars to conjure the evil eye from us, and he
+took his hire and departed. As for me, I entered the bridal
+chamber, where I found my true husband sitting in the alcove, him
+before whom the singers had unveiled me and who flung them the
+red gold by handsful, till he made all the poor there rich; and I
+passed the night in the arms of my sprightly husband, with the
+black eyes and joined eyebrows." When her father heard this, the
+light in his eyes became darkness, and he cried out at her,
+saying, "O wanton, what is this thou sayest? Where are thy
+senses?" "O my father," rejoined she, "thou breakest my heart
+with thy persistence in making mock of me! Indeed, my husband,
+who took my maidenhead, is in the wardrobe and I am with child by
+him." The Vizier rose, wondering, and entered the draught-house,
+where he found the hunchbacked groom with his head in the slit
+and his heels in the air. At this sight he was confounded and
+said, "This is none other than the hunchback." So he called to
+him, "Hallo, hunchback!" The groom made no answer but a grunt,
+thinking it was the Afrit who spoke to him. But the Vizier cried
+out at him, saying, "Speak, or I will cut off thy head with this
+sword." Then said the hunchback, "By Allah, O Chief of the
+Afrits, I have not lifted my head since thou didst set me here;
+so, God on thee, have mercy on me!" "What is this thou sayest?"
+quoth the Vizier. "I am no Afrit; I am the father of the bride."
+"It is enough that though hast already gone nigh to make me lose
+my life," replied the hunchback, "go thy ways ere he come upon
+thee who served me thus. Could ye find none to whom to marry me
+but the mistress of an Afrit and the beloved of a buffalo? May
+God curse him who married me to her and him who was the cause of
+it?" Then said the Vizier to him, "Come, get up out of this
+place." "Am I mad," answered the groom, "that I should go with
+thee without the Afrit's leave? He said to me, 'When the sun
+rises, get up and go thy way.' So has the sun risen or no? for I
+dare not budge till then." "Who brought thee hither?" asked the
+Vizier; and the hunchback replied, "I came here last night to do
+an occasion, when behold, a mouse came out of the water and
+squeaked and grew to a buffalo and spoke to me words that entered
+my ears. Then he left me here and went away, accursed be the
+bride and he who married me to her!" The Vizier went up to him
+and set him on his feet; and he went out, running, not crediting
+that the sun had risen, and repaired to the Sultan, to whom he
+related what had befallen him with the Afrit. Meanwhile, the
+Vizier returned to the bride's chamber, troubled in mind about
+his daughter, and said to her, "O my daughter, expound thy case
+to me." "O my father," answered she, "what more can I tell thee?
+Indeed, the bridegroom, he before whom they displayed me
+yesterday, lay with me all night and took my virginity, and I am
+with child by him. If thou believe me not, there is his turban,
+just as he left it, on the settle, and his trousers under the
+bed, with I know not what wrapped up in them." When her father
+heard this, he entered the alcove and found Bedreddin's turban;
+so he took it up and turning it about, said, "This is a Vizier's
+turban, except that it is of the Mosul cut."[FN#65] Then he
+perceived an amulet sewn in the cap of the turban so he unsewed
+the lining and took it out; then took the trousers, in which was
+the purse of a thousand dinars. In the latter he found the
+duplicate of Bedreddin's docket of sale to the Jew, naming him
+as Bedreddin Hassan, son of Noureddin Ali of Cairo. No sooner had
+he read this, than he cried out and fell down in a swoon; and
+when he revived, he wondered and said, "There is no god but God
+the Omnipotent! O my daughter, dost thou know who took thy
+maidenhead?" "No," answered she; and he said, "It was thy
+cousin, my brother's son, and these thousand dinars are thy
+dowry' Glory be to God! Would I knew how this had come about!"
+Then he opened the amulet and found therein a paper in the
+handwriting of his brother Noureddin; and when he saw his
+writing, he knew it and kissed it again and again, weeping and
+making moan for his brother. Then he read the scroll and found in
+it a record of the dates of Noureddin's marriage with the
+Vizier's daughter of Bassora, his going in to her, her conception
+and the birth of Bedreddin Hassan, and the history of his
+brother's life till his death. At this he wondered and was moved
+to joy and comparing the dates with those of his own marriage and
+the birth of his daughter the Lady of Beauty, found that they
+agreed in all respects. So he took the scroll and carrying it to
+the Sultan, told him the whole story from first to last, at which
+the King wondered and commanded the case to be at once set down
+in writing. The Vizier abode all that day awaiting his nephew,
+but he came not; and when seven days were past and he could learn
+nothing of him, he said, "By Allah, I will do a thing that none
+has done before me!" So he took pen and ink and paper and drew a
+plan of the bride-chamber, showing the disposition of all the
+furniture therein, as that the alcove was in such a place, this
+or that curtain in another, and so on with all that was in the
+room. Then he folded the paper and laid it aside, and causing all
+the furniture to be taken up and stored away, took Bedreddin's
+purse and turban and clothes and locked them up with an iron
+padlock, on which he set a seal, against his nephew's coming. As
+for the Lady of Beauty, she accomplished the months of her
+pregnancy and bore a son like the full moon, resembling his
+father in beauty and grace. They cut his navel and blackened his
+eyelids with kohl[FN#66] and committed him to the nurses, naming
+him Agib. His day was as a month and his month as a year, and
+when seven years had passed over him, his grandfather sent him to
+school, bidding the master teach him to read the Koran and give
+him a good education; and he remained at the school four years,
+till he began to bully the little ones and beat them and abuse
+them, saying, "Which of you is like me? I am the son of the
+Vizier of Egypt." At last the children came, in a body, to
+complain to the monitor of Agib's behavior to them, and he said,
+"I will tell you how to do with him, so that he shall leave
+coming to the school and you shall never see him again. It is
+this: when he comes to-morrow, sit down round him and let one of
+you say to the others, 'By Allah, none shall play at this game
+except he tell us the names of his father and mother; for he who
+knows not his parents' names is a bastard and shall not play with
+us.'" So next day, when Agib came to the school, they all
+assembled round him, and one of them said, "We will play a game,
+in which no one shall join except he tell us the names of his
+father and mother." And they all said, "By Allah, it is good."
+Then said one of them, "My name is Majid, my mother's name is
+Alawiyeh and my father's Izeddin." And the others said the like,
+till it came to Agib's turn and he said, "My name is Agib, my
+mother is the Lady of Beauty and my father Shemseddin, Vizier of
+Egypt." "By Allah," cried they, "the Vizier is not thy father."
+Said he, "He is indeed my father." Then they all laughed and
+clapped their hands at him, saying, "He does not know his father!
+Arise and go out from us, for none shall play with us, except he
+know his father's name." Thereupon they dispersed from around him
+and laughed him to scorn, leaving him choked with tears and
+mortification. Then said the monitor to him, "O Agib, knowst thou
+not that the Vizier is thy mother's father, thy grandfather and
+not thy father? As for thy father, thou knowest him not nor do
+we, for the Sultan married thy mother to a humpbacked groom; but
+the Jinn came and lay with her, and thou hast no known father.
+Wherefore, do thou leave evening thyself with the boys in the
+school, till thou know who is thy father; for till then thou wilt
+pass for a misbegotten brat amongst them. Dost thou not see that
+the huckster's son knows his own father? Thy grandfather is the
+Vizier of Egypt, but as for thy father, we know him not, and we
+say, thou hast no father. So return to thy senses." When Agib
+heard the insulting words of the children and the monitor, he
+went out at once and ran to his mother, to complain to her; but
+his tears would not let him speak awhile. When she heard his sobs
+and saw his tears, her heart was on fire for him and she said to
+him, "O my son, why dost thou weep? Tell me what is the matter."
+So he told her what the children and the monitor had said and
+said to her, "Who is my father, O my mother?" "Thy father is the
+Vizier of Egypt," answered she; but he said, "Do not lie to me.
+The Vizier is thy father, not mine. Who then is my father? Except
+thou tell me the truth, I will kill myself with this dagger."
+When the Lady of Beauty heard him speak of his father, she wept,
+as she thought of her cousin and her bridal-night, and repeated
+the following verses:
+
+Love in my breast, alas! they lit and went away; Far distant is
+     the camp that holds my soul's delight!
+Patience and reason fled from me, when they withdrew; Sleep
+     failed me, and despair o'ercame me like a blight.
+They left me, and with them departed all my joy; Tranquility and
+     peace with them have taken flight.
+They made my lids run down with tears of love laid waste; My eyes
+     for lack of them brim over day and night.
+When as my sad soul longs to see them once again And waiting and
+     desire are heavy on my spright;
+Midmost my heart of hearts their images I trace, Love and
+     desireful pain and longing for their sight.
+O ye, one thought of whom clings round me like a cloak, Whose
+     love it as a shirt about my body dight,
+O my beloved ones, how long will ye delay? How long must I endure
+     estrangement and despite?
+
+Then she wept and cried out and her son did the like, when in
+came the Vizier, whose heart burned within him at the sight of
+their weeping, and he said, "Why do ye weep?" The Lady of Beauty
+told him what had happened to Agib, and the Vizier also wept and
+called to mind his brother and all that had passed between them
+and what had befallen his daughter, and knew not the secret of
+the matter. Then he rose at once and going to the Divan, related
+the matter to the Sultan and begged his leave to travel eastward
+to the city of Bassora and enquire for his nephew. Moreover,
+he besought him for letters-patent, authorizing him to take
+Bedreddin, wherever he should find him. And he wept before the
+King, who took pity on him and wrote him royal letters-patent to
+his deputies in all his provinces; whereat the Vizier rejoiced
+and called down blessings on him. Then taking leave of him, he
+returned to his house, where he equipped himself and his daughter
+and grandson for the journey, and set out and travelled till he
+came to the city of Damascus and found it rich in trees and
+waters, even as says the poet:
+
+I mind me a night and a day spent in Damascus town, (Time swore
+     'twould ne'er again their like to man outmete).
+We lay in its languorous glades, where the careless calm of the
+     night And the morn, with its smiling eyes and its
+     twy-coloured tresses, meet.
+The dew to its branches clings like a glittering chain of pearl,
+     Whose jewels the zephyr smites and scatters beneath his
+     feet.
+The birds on the branches chant from the open book of the lake;
+     The breezes write on the scroll and the clouds mark the
+     points, as they fleet.
+
+The Vizier alighted without the city and pitched his tents in an
+open space called the Plain of Pebbles, saying to his servants,
+"We will rest here two days." So they went down into the city
+upon their several occasions, this to sell, that to buy, another
+to go to the bath and a fourth to visit the Mosque of the
+Ommiades, whose like is not in the world. Agib also went into the
+city to look about him, followed by an eunuch, carrying a knotted
+cudgel of almond-tree wood, wherewith if one smote a camel, it
+would not rise again. When the people of the city saw Agib's
+beauty and symmetry (for he was a marvel of loveliness and
+winning grace, blander than the Northern zephyr,[FN#67] sweeter
+than limpid water to the thirsty and more delightful than
+recovery to the sick), a great concourse of folk followed him,
+whilst others ran on before and sat down in the road, against he
+should come up, that they might gaze on him, till, as Fate would
+have it, the eunuch stopped before the shop of Bedreddin Hassan.
+Now the cook was dead and Bedreddin, having been formally adopted
+by him, had succeeded to his shop and property; and in the course
+of the twelve years that had passed over him, his beard had grown
+and his understanding ripened. When his son and the eunuch
+stopped before him, he had just finished preparing a mess of
+pomegranate-seed, dressed with sugar; and when he looked at Agib
+and saw how beautiful he was, his heart throbbed, blood drew to
+blood and his bowels yearned to him. So he called to him and
+said, "O my lord, O thou that hast gotten the mastery of my heart
+and my soul, thou to whom my bowels yearn, wilt thou not enter my
+shop and solace my heart by eating of my food?" And the tears
+welled up, uncalled, from his eyes, and he bethought him of his
+former estate and compared it with his present condition. When
+Agib heard his words his heart yearned to him, and he said to the
+eunuch, "Indeed, my heart inclines to this cook, and meseems he
+hath lost a child, so let us enter and gladden his soul by
+partaking of his hospitality. Perhaps God may requite us our
+kindness to him by reuniting us with my father." "By Allah!"
+replied the eunuch, "it were a fine thing for a Vizier's son to
+eat in a cookshop! Indeed, I keep off the folk with this stick,
+lest they look too closely on thee, and I dare not let thee enter
+a shop." When Bedreddin heard these words, he wondered and turned
+to the eunuch, with the tears running down his cheeks, and Agib
+said to the latter, "Indeed, my heart yearns for him." But he
+answered, "Leave this talk; indeed, thou shalt not go in." Then
+Bedreddin turned to the eunuch and said, "O noble sir, why wilt
+thou not gladden my soul by entering my shop? O thou who art as a
+chestnut, black without, but with a white heart,[FN#68] thou of
+whom the poet says ..........." The eunuch laughed and said,
+"What? Say on, by Allah, and be quick about it." So Bedreddin
+repeated the following verses:
+
+Were he not polished and discreet and worthy of all trust, He in
+     kings' houses would not be advanced to high estate.
+O what a guardian he is for a seraglio! The very angels of the
+     skies delight on him to wait.
+
+This pleased the eunuch, who laughed and taking Agib by the hand,
+entered the shop with him. Bedreddin ladled out a dishful of
+pomegranate-seed, conserved with almonds and sugar, and set it
+before them, saying, "Ye do me honour. Eat and may health and
+enjoyment attend you!" And Agib said to him, "Sit down and eat
+with us, so haply God may unite us with him for whom we long." "O
+my son," said Bedreddin, "hast thou then suffered the loss of
+friends, at thy tender age?" "Yes, O uncle!" answered Agib, "my
+heart irks me for the loss of a beloved one, who is none other
+than my father; and indeed my grandfather and myself have come
+forth to seek for him throughout the world. Alas I how I sigh to
+be united with him!" Then he wept sore, whilst Bedreddin wept at
+the sight of his tears and for his bereavement, which recalled to
+him his own separation from those he loved and from his father
+and mother, and the eunuch was moved to pity for him. Then they
+ate together till they were satisfied, and Agib and the eunuch
+rose and left the shop. At this, Bedreddin felt as if his soul
+had departed his body and gone with them, for he could not live a
+moment without their sight, albeit he knew not that Agib was his
+son. So he rose and shutting his shop, hastened after them and
+overtook them before they went out at the great gate. The eunuch
+turned and said to him, "What dost thou want?" "When you left
+me," replied Bedreddin, "meseemed my soul had quitted my body,
+and as I had an occasion without the city, I thought to bear you
+company till I had done my business and so return." The eunuch
+was vexed and said to Agib, "This is what I feared. Because we
+entered this fellow's shop and ate that unlucky mouthful, he
+thinks he has a right to presume upon us, for see, he follows us
+from place to place." Agib turned and seeing the cook following
+him, reddened for anger and said to the eunuch, "Let him walk in
+the high road of the Muslims; but if he follow us when we turn
+aside to our tents, we will drive him away." Then he bowed his
+head and walked on, with the eunuch behind him. When they came to
+the Plain of Pebbles and drew near their tents, Agib turned
+and saw Bedreddin still following him; whereat he was enraged,
+fearing least the eunuch should tell his grandfather and vexed
+that it should be said he had entered a cookshop and the cook had
+followed him. So he looked at Bedreddin and found his eyes fixed
+on him, for he was as it were a body without a soul; and it
+seemed to Agib that his eye was that of a knave or a lewd fellow.
+So his rage redoubled and he took up a stone and threw it at
+Bedreddin. It struck him on the forehead and cut it open; and he
+fell down in a swoon, with the blood streaming down his face,
+whilst Agib and the eunuch made for the tents. When he came to
+himself, he wiped away the blood and tore off a piece of the
+muslin of his turban, with which he bound his head, blaming
+himself and saying, "I wronged the lad in closing my shop and
+following him, so that he thought I was some lewd fellow." Then
+he returned to his shop, where he busied himself with the sale of
+his meats; and he yearned after his mother at Bassora and wept
+over her and recited the following verses:
+
+If thou demand fair play of Fate, therein thou dost it wrong; And
+     blame it not, for twas not made, indeed, for equity.
+Take what lies ready to thy hand and lay concern aside, For
+     troubled days and days of peace in life must surely be.
+
+Meanwhile, the Vizier, his uncle, tarried in Damascus three days,
+then departed for Hems, and passing through that city, fared on
+by way of Hemah and Aleppo and thence through Diarbekir, Maridin
+and Mosul, making enquiries at every place he came to, till he
+arrived at Bassora, where he halted and presented himself before
+the Sultan, who received him with honour and consideration and
+asked the reason of his coming. The Vizier related to him
+his history and told him that Noureddin Ali was his brother,
+whereupon the Sultan commended the latter's soul to the mercy of
+God and said, "Sir, he was my Vizier for fifteen years, and I
+loved him greatly. Then he died, leaving a son, who abode here
+but two months after his father's death; since which time he hath
+disappeared and we have never come upon any news of him. But his
+mother, who was the daughter of my former Vizier, is still with
+us." Shemseddin rejoiced to hear that his nephew's mother was
+still alive and said, "O King, I wish to see her." The King at
+once gave him leave to visit her; so he betook himself to his
+brother Noureddin's house and went round about it and kissed its
+threshold. And he bethought him of his brother and how he had
+died in a strange land and wept and repeated the following
+verses:
+
+I wander through the halls, the halls where Leila lived, And kiss
+     the lifeless walls that of her passage tell.
+It is not for the house that I with passion burn, But for the
+     cherished ones that erst therein did dwell.
+
+Then he entered the gate and found himself in a spacious
+courtyard, at the end whereof was a door vaulted over with hard
+stone, inlaid with vari-coloured marbles. He walked round about
+the house, and casting his eyes on the walls, saw the name of his
+brother Noureddin written on them in letters of gold. So he went
+up to the inscription and kissed it and wept for his brother's
+loss and repeated the following verses:
+
+I sue unto the rising sun, each morn, for news of thee, And of
+     the lightning's lurid gleam I do for thee enquire.
+The hands of passion and of pain sport with me all the night; Yet
+     I complain not of the ills I suffer from desire.
+O my beloved, if the times be yet for me prolonged, be all
+     consumed with separation's fire.
+Lo! if thy sight one happy day should bless my longing eyes,
+     There is no other thing on earth that I of Fate require.
+Think not that other loves avail to solace me for thee; My heart
+     can hold no love but thine, my faith can never tire.
+
+Then he walked on till he came to the lodging of his brother's
+widow. Now from the day of her son's disappearance, she had given
+herself up to weeping and lamentation day and night; and when the
+years grew long upon her, she made him a tomb of marble midmost
+the saloon and there wept for him day and night, sleeping not but
+thereby. When the Vizier drew near her apartment, he heard her
+weeping and repeating verses, so he went in to her and saluting
+her, informed her that he was her husband's brother and told her
+all that had passed between them, and how her son Bedreddin
+Hassan had spent a whole night with his daughter, twelve years
+ago, but had disappeared in the morning, and how she had
+conceived by him and borne a son, whom he had brought with him.
+When Bedreddin's mother heard this news of her son and grandson
+and that the former was haply still alive and saw her husband's
+brother, she threw herself at his feet and kissed them, repeating
+the following verses:
+
+
+May God be good to him who brought me news that they were come;
+     For never more delightful news unto my ears were borne.
+If he would take a worn-out weds for boon, I'd proffer him A
+     heart that at the parting hour was all to pieces torn.
+
+Then the Vizier sent for Agib; and his grandmother embraced him
+and wept, but Shemseddin said to her, "This is no time for
+weeping; it behoves thee to make ready to go with us to Egypt;
+perhaps God will reunite us with thy son, my nephew." "I hear and
+obey," answered she, and rising at once, collected her goods and
+treasures and equipped herself and her handmaids for the journey,
+whilst the Vizier went to take his leave of the Sultan of
+Bassora, who sent by him gifts and rarities to the Sultan of
+Egypt. Then he set out at once on his homeward journey and
+travelled till he came to Damascus, where he halted and pitched
+his tents as before, saying to his suite, "We will halt here a
+week, to buy presents and curiosities for the Sultan." Now the
+tie of blood drew Agib to his father, so he said to the eunuch,
+"O Laic, I have a mind to go a-walking; so come, let us go down
+into the streets of Damascus and see what is become of the cook
+whose victuals we ate and whose head we broke, for indeed he was
+kind to us and we used him scurvily." The eunuch replied, "I hear
+and obey." So they left the tents and going down into the city,
+stayed not till they came to the cookshop, where they found
+Bedreddin Hassan standing at the door. It was near the time of
+afternoon-prayer, and as chance would have it, he had just
+prepared a mess of pomegranate-seed. Agib looked at him and saw
+the scar of the blow on his forehead; wherefore his heart yearned
+to him and he said, "Peace be on thee! Know that my heart is with
+thee." When Bedreddin saw him, his bowels were troubled and his
+heart throbbed, and he bowed his head and would have spoken, but
+could not. Then he raised his head and looked at his son humbly
+and imploringly and repeated the following verses:
+
+I longed to look on him I love; but when I saw his face, I was as
+     one amazed and lost the use of tongue and eyes.
+I bowed my head down to his feet for reverence and awe, And would
+     have hidden what I felt, but could it not disguise.
+Volumes of plaining and reproach I had within my heart; Yet, when
+     we met, no word I spoke nor uttered aught but sighs.
+
+Then he said to them, "Heal my heart and eat of my food, for, by
+Allah, I cannot look at you but my heart throbs! I should not
+have followed you the other day, but that I was beside myself."
+"By Allah," replied Agib, "thou art too fond of us! We ate
+with thee before and thou madest us repent of it, in that thou
+followedst us and wouldst have put us to shame; so we will not
+eat with thee, except thou swear not to go out after us nor
+follow us. Else we will not visit thee again during our present
+stay, for we abide here a week, that my grandfather may take
+presents for the King." And Bedreddin said, "I grant you this."
+So Agib and the eunuch entered, and Bedreddin set before them a
+dish of pomegranate-seed. Quoth Agib, "Sit down and eat with us,
+so haply God may grant us relief." At this Bedreddin was glad and
+sat down and ate with them, with his eyes fixed on Agib's face,
+for indeed his heart and entrails were taken with his love, till
+the boy said to him, "What a tiresome dotard thou art! Leave thy
+staring in my face." When Bedreddin heard this, he repeated the
+following verses:
+
+
+Thy face excites in all men's hearts a love they do not own;
+     Folded in silence and concealed, it may not be made known.
+O thou whose beauty puts to shame the splendour of the moon,
+     Whose grace recalls the shining sight of morning newly
+     blown,
+In thy bright visage is a sign that may not be fulfilled, And
+     there all beauties that incite to tenderness are shown.
+Must I then die of thirst, what while thy lips with nectar flow?
+     Thy face is Paradise to me; must I in hell-fire groan?
+
+So they ate till they were satisfied, when Bedreddin rose and
+poured water on their hands, wiping them with a napkin of silk,
+which he loosed from his waist; after which he sprinkled
+rose-water on them from a casting-bottle he had by him. Then he
+went out and returned with a pitcher of sherbet, flavoured with
+rose-water and musk, which he set before them, saying, "Complete
+your favours to me, by drinking of this sherbet." So Agib took
+the pitcher and drank and passed it to the eunuch, and it went
+round amongst them till their stomachs were full, for they had
+eaten and drunken beyond their wont. Then they went away and
+made haste in walking till they reached the tents, and Agib went
+in to his grandmother, who kissed him, and thinking of her son
+Bedreddin Hassan, wept and repeated the following verses:
+
+But for my hope that God would yet our severed loves unite, I had
+     not lived for life to me is void of all delight.
+I swear there's nothing in my heart but love of thee alone, By
+     God, who reads the heart and brings the hidden things to
+     light!
+
+And she said to Agib, "O my son, where hast thou been?" Quoth he,
+"We have been in the city of Damascus. Then she rose and set
+before him confection of pomegranate-seed and said to the eunuch,
+"Sit down and eat with thy young master." The eunuch said to
+himself, "By Allah, we have no mind to eat!" but he sat down,
+and so did Agib, though his belly was full of what he had
+already eaten and drunk. Now the conserve lacked sugar, so
+he took a piece of bread and dipped it therein and ate, but
+found it insipid, for that he was already surfeited, and
+exclaimed, "Faugh! what is this nasty mess?" "O my son," said his
+grandmother, "dost thou find fault with my cookery? I cooked this
+myself, and there is not a cook in the land can compare with me,
+except it be thy father Bedreddin Hassan." "O my lady," replied
+Agib, "this thy dish is naught; for we saw but now in the city a
+cook who dresses pomegranate-seed, so that the very smell of it
+opens the heart and the taste would give a full man an appetite;
+and as for thy mess, compared with his, it is worth neither much
+nor little." When his grandmother heard this, she was exceeding
+wroth and said to the eunuch, "Out on thee, dost thou corrupt my
+grandson and take him into cookshops?" The eunuch was frightened
+and denied, saying, "We did not enter the shop, but only saw it
+in passing." "By Allah!" said Agib, "we went in and ate, and it
+was better than thine." Then his grandmother rose and went and
+told her brother-in-law, who was incensed against the eunuch and
+sending for him, said to him, "Why didst thou take my son into a
+cookshop?" "We did not go in," replied the eunuch. But Agib said,
+"We did go in and ate of pomegranate-seed, till we were full; and
+the cook gave us to drink of iced sherbet of sugar." At this, the
+Vizier's anger redoubled and he questioned the eunuch, but he
+still denied. Then said the Vizier, "If what thou sayest be true,
+sit down and eat before us." So he sat down and tried to eat, but
+could not and threw away the morsel, saying, "O my lord, indeed I
+am full since yesterday." By this, the Vizier knew that he had
+eaten at the cook's and bade his slaves throw him down and beat
+him. So they drubbed him, till he roared for mercy and said,
+"O my lord, do not beat me, and I will tell thee the truth."
+Whereupon the Vizier stopped the beating and said, "Speak the
+truth." Quoth the eunuch, "Know then that we did enter the shop
+of a cook, who was dressing pomegranate seed, and he set some of
+it before us; by Allah, I never ate the like of it in my life,
+nor did I ever taste aught nastier than that which is before us!"
+Bedreddin's mother was enraged at this and said to the eunuch,
+"Thou must go back to the cook and fetch us a dish of his
+pomegranate-seed and show it to thy master, that he may say which
+is the better, his or mine." "Good," answered he. So she gave him
+a dish and half a dinar, and he returned to the shop and said to
+Bedreddin, "We have made a wager about thy cookery in our lord's
+household, for they have pomegranate-seed there also; so give me
+half a dinar's worth of thy confection and let it be of thy best,
+for I have eaten my bellyful of stick on account of thy cookery."
+Bedreddin laughed and answered, "By Allah, none can dress this
+dish aright but myself and my mother, and she is far away." Then
+he filled the dish with pomegranate-seed and finishing it off
+with musk and rose-water, gave it to the eunuch, who hastened
+back with it and delivered it to Bedreddin's mother. No sooner
+had she tasted it and remarked the excellence of its flavour and
+cookery, than she knew who had dressed it and shrieked and fell
+down in a swoon, to the amazement of the Vizier, who sprinkled
+rose-water on her, till she came to herself and said, "If my son
+be yet of this world, none made this conserve but he! Without
+doubt, this cook is my son Bedreddin Hassan, for none knew how to
+dress this dish but he and I, and I taught him." The Vizier
+rejoiced greatly at her words, and said, "O how I long to see my
+brother's son! I wonder if the days will indeed reunite us with
+him! But it is to God alone that we look for reunion with him."
+Then he went out forthright and said to his men, "Let twenty of
+you go to the cook's shop and demolish it; then tie his hands
+behind him with the linen of his turban, saying, 'It was thou
+madest that vile mess of pomegranate-seed,' and bring him hither
+by force, but without doing him any hurt." And they replied, "It
+is well." Then he mounted and riding to the palace, foregathered
+with the Viceroy of Damascus and showed him the Sultan's
+letters-patent. He kissed them and laying them on his head, said to the
+Vizier, "Who is it hath offended against thee?" Quoth the Vizier,
+"He is a cook of this city." So the Viceroy at once despatched
+his chamberlains to the shop and they went thither and found it
+in ruins and everything in it broken; for whilst the Vizier was
+at the palace, his men had done his bidding and carried Bedreddin
+to the tents, where they were then awaiting their master's
+return, whilst Bedreddin said, "I wonder what they can have found
+in the pomegranate-seed to bring matters to this pass!" When the
+Vizier returned to the tents, after having gotten the Viceroy's
+permission to take his debtor and depart with him, he called for
+the cook, and they brought Bedreddin before him, with his hands
+bound behind his back. When he saw his uncle, he wept sore and
+said, "O my lord, what is my offence against thee?" "Art thou he
+who made the mess of pomegranate-seed?" asked Shemseddin. "Yes,"
+replied Bedreddin; "didst thou find aught in it to call for the
+cutting off of my head?" Quoth the Vizier, "That were the least
+of thy desert." "O my lord," said Bedreddin, "wilt thou not tell
+me my crime and what ails the pomegranate-seed?" "Presently,"
+answered the Vizier and called to his men, saying, "Bring the
+camels." So they struck camp and the Vizier caused Bedreddin to
+be put into a chest, which they locked and set on a camel. Then
+they departed and journeyed till nightfall, when they halted to
+eat and took Bedreddin out of his chest and fed him and locked
+him up again. Then they set out again and travelled till they
+reached Kumreh, where they took him out of the chest and brought
+him before the Vizier, who said to him, "Art thou he who made the
+mess of pomegranate-seed?" "Yes, O my lord," answered he; and
+Shemseddin said, "Shackle him." So they shackled him and returned
+him to the chest and fared on again, till they arrived at Cairo
+and halted in the suburb of Er Reidaniyeh. Then the Vizier
+commanded to take Bedreddin out of his chest and sent for a
+carpenter, to whom he said, "Make a cross[FN#69] of wood for this
+fellow." Quoth Bedreddin, "What wilt thou do with it?" "I mean
+to nail thee upon it," replied the Vizier, "and parade thee
+throughout the city." "And why wilt thou use me thus? asked
+Bedreddin; and the Vizier answered, "Because of thy villainous
+mess of pomegranate-seed and for that it lacked pepper." "And
+because it lacked pepper," said Bedreddin, "wilt thou do all this
+to me? Is it not enough that thou hast laid my shop in ruins and
+smashed my gear and imprisoned me and fed me but once a day?" "It
+lacked pepper," answered the Vizier; "and nothing less than death
+is thy desert." At this Bedreddin wondered and mourned for
+himself, till the Vizier said to him, "Of what art thou
+thinking?" "I was thinking of crack-brains like unto thee,"
+answered Bedreddin, "for hadst thou any sense, thou wouldst not
+treat me thus." Quoth the Vizier, "It behoves me to punish thee,
+lest thou do the like again." And Bedreddin said, "Verily, my
+offence were over-punished by the least of what thou hast already
+done to me." "It avails not," answered Shemseddin; "I must
+crucify thee." All this time the carpenter was shaping the cross,
+whilst Bedreddin looked on; and thus they did till nightfall,
+when the Vizier took him and clapped him in the chest, saying,
+"The thing shall be done tomorrow." Then he waited till he knew
+Bedreddin to be asleep, when he mounted and taking the chest up
+before him, rode into the town to his own house, where he
+alighted and said to his daughter, the Lady of Beauty, "Praised
+be God who hath reunited thee with thy cousin! Arise and order
+the house as it was on thy wedding-night." So the servants arose
+and lit the candles, whilst the Vizier took out his plan of the
+bride chamber and directed them what to do, till they had set
+everything in its place, so that whoever saw it would not doubt
+but it was the very night of the wedding. Then he made them lay
+Bedreddin's turban on the stool, where he had left it, and his
+trousers and purse under the mattress, and bade his daughter
+undress herself and go to bed, as on the wedding-night, adding,
+"When he comes in to thee, say to him, 'Thou has tarried long in
+the wardrobe,' and call him to lie with thee and hold him in
+converse till the morning, when we will explain the whole matter
+to him." Then he took Bedreddin out of the chest and laid him in
+the vestibule, after he had unbound him and taken off his
+clothes, leaving him in a shirt of fine silk, and he still asleep
+and knowing nothing. Presently he turned over and awoke, and
+finding himself in a lighted vestibule, said to himself, "Surely,
+I am dreaming." Then he rose and opening the inner door, found
+himself in the chamber, where he had passed his wedding-night,
+and knew the alcove and the stool by the bed-side, with his
+turban and clothes. When he saw this, he was confounded and
+advanced one foot and drew the other back, saying, "Am I asleep
+or awake?" And he began to rub his forehead and say, wondering,
+"By Allah, this is the chamber of the bride that was unveiled
+before me! But where can I be? I was surely but now in a chest."
+Whilst he was debating with himself, the Lady of Beauty lifted
+the curtain of the alcove and said to him, "O my lord, wilt thou
+not come in? Thou hast tarried long in the wardrobe." When he
+heard what she said and saw her face, he laughed and said, "This
+is certainly an imbroglio of dreams!" Then he entered, sighing,
+and recalled what had happened and was perplexed, and his affair
+became confused to him and he knew not what to think. Presently,
+he caught sight of his turban and trousers, so he handled the
+latter and feeling the purse of a thousand dinars, said, "God
+alone is all knowing! I am certainly in the mazes of a dream."
+Then said the Lady of Beauty to him, "What ails thee to stand
+agape and seem perplexed? Thou wast not thus the first part of
+the night." He laughed and said to her, "How long have I been
+absent from thee?" "God preserve thee!" exclaimed she. "The name
+of God encompass thee! Thou didst but go out an hour ago to do an
+occasion and return. Hast thou lost thy wits?" When Bedreddin
+heard this, he laughed and said, "Thou art right; but when I went
+out from thee, I forgot myself in the closet and dozed and dreamt
+that I was a cook in Damascus and abode there twelve years and
+that there came to me a boy, the son of some great man, and with
+him an eunuch." Here he put his hand to his forehead and feeling
+the scar made by the stone, said, "By Allah, O lady, it must have
+been true, for here is the scar made by the stone, with which he
+smote me and cut my forehead open. So it would seem as if it had
+really happened. But perhaps I dreamt it, when we embraced and
+fell asleep together: for meseemed I journeyed to Damascus
+without turban or drawers and set up as a cook there." Then he
+was perplexed and considered awhile and said, "By Allah, I
+fancied also that I made a mess of pomegranate-seed and put too
+little pepper in it. By Allah, I must have slept in the closet
+and dreamt all this!" "God on thee," said the Lady of Beauty,
+"tell me what else thou didst dream." "By Allah," replied he,
+"had I not woke up, they would have nailed me to a cross of
+wood!" "Wherefore?" asked she; and he said, "Because of the lack
+of pepper in the pomegranate-seed. Meseemed they demolished my
+shop and broke my utensils in pieces and put me in a chest;
+then they sent for a carpenter to make a cross and would have
+crucified me thereon. But praised be God who caused all this to
+happen to me in sleep and not on wake!" The Lady of Beauty
+laughed and pressed him to her bosom, and he returned her
+caresses; then he thought again and said, "By Allah, I cannot
+help thinking it must have been a reality after all! Indeed I
+know not what to think of it all." Then he lay down and passed
+the night in a state of perplexity, saying now, "I was dreaming,"
+and now, "I was awake," till the morning, when his uncle
+Shemseddin entered and saluted him. When Bedreddin saw him, he
+said to him, "By Allah, art thou not he who gave orders to bind
+me and demolish my shop and would have nailed me on a cross,
+and all because a mess of pomegranate-seed lacked pepper?" "O
+my son," replied the Vizier, "know that the truth has appeared
+and that which was hidden is divulged. Thou art my brother's
+son, and I did all this with thee but that I might certify
+myself that thou wast indeed he who lay with my daughter on her
+wedding-night. I could not be sure of this, till I saw that thou
+knewest the chamber and thy turban and clothes and purse and the
+scrolls in thy handwriting and that of my brother, for I had
+never seen thee and did not know thee; and I have brought thy
+mother with me from Bassora." So saying, he threw himself on him
+and they embraced and wept for excess of joy. Then said the
+Vizier to Bedreddin, "O my son, all this came of what passed
+between thy father and myself." And he told him what had taken
+place between them and the manner of his father's flight to
+Bassora; after which he sent for Agib, and when his father saw
+him, he exclaimed, "This is he who threw the stone at me!" Quoth
+the Vizier, "This is thy son." And Bedreddin threw himself on
+Agib and repeated the following verses:
+
+Long time 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 should 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.
+
+Presently, Bedreddin's mother came in and fell on him, repeating
+the following verses:
+
+
+When we met, to each other we both did complain Of the manifold
+     things that we each had to say;
+For the lover's complaint of the anguish he feels The tongue of a
+     messenger cannot convey.
+
+Then she wept and related to him what had befallen her since his
+departure, and he told her what he had suffered and they thanked
+God the Most High for their reunion with one another. Two days
+after his arrival, the Vizier went in to the Sultan and kissing
+the earth before him, saluted him after the fashion of salutation
+to kings. The Sultan rejoiced at his return and received him with
+distinguished favour. Then he desired to hear what had befallen
+him in his travels; so the Vizier told him all that had passed,
+and the Sultan said, "Praised be God for that thou hast attained
+thy desire and returned in safety to thy kinsfolk and family! I
+must see thy brother's son, so do thou bring him to the Divan
+tomorrow." Shemseddin replied, "God willing, thy slave shall be
+present tomorrow." Then he saluted him and returning to his own
+house, informed his nephew of the King's wish to see him, to
+which Bedreddin replied, "The slave is obedient to his lord's
+commands." So next day he accompanied his uncle to the Divan and
+after saluting the Sultan in the most punctilious and elegant
+manner, repeated the following verses:
+
+All ranks and classes kiss the earth, in homage to thy state, For
+     lo I through thee their every wish is crowned with happy
+     fate.
+For thou the fount of honour art for those that hope in thee, And
+     from thy hand the bounties flow that make there rich and
+     great.
+
+The Sultan smiled and signed to him to sit down. So he sat down
+beside the Vizier, and the King enquired his name. Quoth
+Bedreddin, "The meanest of thy slaves is known as Bedreddin
+Hassan of Bassora, who prays for thee day and night." The Sultan
+was pleased at his words and being minded to try him and prove
+his knowledge and good-breeding, said to him, "Dost thou remember
+any verses in praise of a mole on the cheek?" "Yes," replied
+Bedreddin, and repeated the following:
+
+When I think of my loved one, the sighs from my breast Burst up
+     and the tears to my eyes quickly start.
+She's a mole, that resembles, in beauty and hue, The black of the
+     eye and the core of the heart.
+
+The Sultan liked these verses and said, "Let us have some more.
+Heaven bless thy sire! May thy tongue never tire!" So he repeated
+the following:
+
+The mole's black spot upon her cheek they liken to a grain Of
+     musk; yet wonder not at that, for wonder were in vain.
+But rather wonder at her face, wherein all beauty is: There is no
+     particle of grace that it doth not contain.
+
+The Sultan shook with delight and said to him, "More! God bless
+thy life!" So he repeated the following:
+
+O thou, the moles upon whose cheek recall Globules of musk upon
+     cornelian strewed,
+Grant me thy favours, be not hard of heart, O thou, my heart's
+     desire, my spirit's food!
+
+Then said the King, "Thou hast done well, O Hassan, and hast
+acquitted thyself most excellently. But tell me how many meanings
+hath the word khal[FN#70] in the Arabic language." "Fifty,"
+replied Hassan, "and some say eight and-fifty." Quoth the King,
+"Thou art right. Canst thou tell me the points of excellence in
+beauty?" "Yes," answered Bedreddin, "Brightness of face, purity
+of skin, shapeliness in the nose, softness in the eyes, sweetness
+in the mouth, elegance in speech, slenderness of shape and
+quickness of wit; and the perfection of beauty is in the hair.
+And indeed Es Shihab el Hijazi has brought them all together in
+the following doggrel:
+
+Say to the face, 'Be bright,' and to the skin, say, 'See, I show
+     thee what befits thee best: 'tis purity.'
+For elegance of shape the nose we chiefly prize, And languor soft
+     it is, that best becomes the eyes.
+Then say unto the mouth, 'Sweetness, but mark thou me; Let
+     fragrancy of breath fail never unto thee.'
+Chaste be the speech, the shape be slender and well knit, And
+     quickness mark the thought, the manners and the wit.
+Then say that in the hair is ever beauty's prime. Give ear to me
+     and eke forgive my doggrel rhyme."
+
+The Sultan rejoiced in his converse and said to him "What is the
+meaning of the popular saying, 'Shureih is more cunning than the
+fox'?" "Know, O King," answered Bedreddin, "may God aid thee!
+that Shureih[FN#71] was wont during the days of the plague, to go
+out to Nejef, and whenever he stood up to pray, there came a fox,
+which would plant itself over against him and distract him from
+his devotions by mimicking his movements. This went on for some
+time, till the man became weary of it; so one day he took off his
+shirt and put it on a cane and shook out the sleeves. Then he set
+his turban on top of the cane and tied a girdle round the middle
+of the effigy and planted it in the place where he used to say
+his prayers. Presently up came the fox, according to his wont,
+and stood over against the figure; whereupon Shureih came behind
+him and took him: hence the saying." When the Sultan heard
+Bedreddin's explanation, he said to his uncle Shemseddin,
+"Verily, this thy nephew is perfect in all kinds of culture. I do
+not believe that his like is to be found in Egypt." At this,
+Bedreddin arose and kissed the earth and sat down again in the
+posture of a servant before his master. When the Sultan had
+thus assured himself of his proficiency in the liberal arts,
+he rejoiced greatly and bestowing on him a splendid dress of
+honour, invested him with an office, whereby he might better his
+condition. Then Bedreddin arose and kissing the earth before the
+King, wished him enduring glory and craved leave to retire. The
+Sultan gave him leave; so he returned home with his uncle and
+they set food before them and they ate, after which Bedreddin
+repaired to his wife's apartment and told her what had passed
+between the Sultan and himself. Quoth she, "He cannot fail to
+make thee his boon-companion and load thee with favours and
+presents; and by the grace of God, the splendours of thy
+perfections shall shine like the greater light,[FN#72] wherever
+thou goest, by land or sea." Then said he, "I purpose to make an
+ode in the King's praise, that he may redouble in affection for
+me." "That is well thought," replied she. "Consider it well and
+word thy thought elegantly, and I doubt not but it will procure
+thee his favour." So Bedreddin shut himself up and composed the
+following verses, which he copied in an ornamental hand:
+
+My King hath reached the height of lordlihead; The shining path
+     of virtue he cloth tread.
+His justice blocks the ways against his foes And peace and plenty
+     showers on every stead.
+Bold as a lion, pious, quick of wit, Angel or King,[FN#73] he's
+     whichsoe'er is said.
+He sends the suppliant content away. Words fail, indeed, to paint
+     his goodlihead.
+In time of gifts, he's like the brilliant moon; Like night, in
+     battle, lowering and dread.
+Our necks are girt with his munificence; He rules by favours on
+     the noble shed.
+May God prolong his life for our behoof And ward the blows of
+     Fortune from his head.
+
+When he had finished transcribing the poem, he despatched it by
+one of his uncle's slaves to the King, who perused it, and it
+gladdened his heart; so he read it out to those present before
+him and they praised it exceedingly. Then he sent for Bedreddin
+to his sitting-chamber and said to him, "Henceforth thou art my
+boon-companion and I appoint thee a stipend of a thousand
+dirhems a month, over and above what I have already given thee."
+So he arose and kissing the earth three times before the Sultan,
+wished him abiding glory and length of life. Then Bedreddin
+increased in honour and estate, so that his report spread into
+all countries, and he abode in the enjoyment of all the delights
+and comforts of life, he and his uncle and family, till Death
+overtook him.'
+
+When the Khalif Haroun er Reshid heard this story from the mouth
+of his Vizier Jaafer, he wondered and said, 'It behoves that
+these stories be written in letters of gold.' Then he set the
+slave at liberty and assigned the young man who had killed his
+wife such a monthly allowance as sufficed to make his life easy.
+Moreover he gave him one of his female slaves to wife, and he
+became one of his boon-companions.
+
+
+
+
+
+                     STORY OF THE HUNCHBACK
+
+
+
+There lived once in the city of Bassora a tailor, who was
+openhanded and loved pleasure and merrymaking: and he was wont,
+he and his wife, to go out by times, a-pleasuring, to the
+public places of recreation. One day they went out as usual and
+were returning home in the evening, when they fell in with a
+hunchback, the sight of whom would make the disappointed laugh
+and dispel chagrin from the sorrowful. So they went up to look at
+him and invited him to go home and make merry with them that
+night. He consented and accompanied them to their house;
+whereupon, the night being now come, the tailor went out to the
+market and buying fried fish and bread and lemon and conserve of
+roses by way of dessert, set them before the hunchback, and they
+ate. Presently, the tailor's wife took a great piece of fish and
+cramming it into the hunchback's mouth, clapped her hand over it,
+saying, 'By Allah, thou must swallow it at one gulp; and I will
+give thee no time to chew it.' So he bolted it; but there was a
+great bone in it, which stuck in his gullet, and his hour being
+come, it choked him, and he died at once. When the tailor saw
+this, he exclaimed, 'There is no power and no virtue but in God!
+Alas, poor wretch, that he should have come by his death at our
+hands!' 'Why dost thou waste time in idle lamentation?' rejoined
+his wife. 'Hast thou not heard it said......?' And she repeated
+the following verses:
+
+What ails me that I waste the time in idle grief, Until I find no
+     friend mishap for me to bear?
+Who but a fool would sit upon an unquenched fire? To wait upon
+     mischance as great a folly were.
+
+'What is to be done?' asked he; and she replied, 'Rise and take
+the hunchback in thine arms and cover him with a silk handkerchief:
+then go out with him, and I will go before thee: and if thou meet
+any one, say, "This is my son: his mother and I are taking him
+to the doctor, that he may look at him." So he rose and taking
+the hunchback in his arms, carried him along the streets, preceded
+by his wife, who kept saying, 'O my son, God keep thee! Where has
+this smallpox attacked thee and in what part dost thou feel pain?'
+So that all who saw them said, 'It is a child ill of smallpox.'
+They went along, enquiring for a doctor, till the people directed
+them to the house of one, who was a Jew. They knocked at the gate,
+and a black servant-maid came down and opened the door and seeing
+a man carrying a child and a woman with him, said to them, 'What
+is your business?' 'We have a sick child here,' answered the
+tailor's wife, 'whom we want the doctor to look at: so take
+this quarter-dinar and give it to thy master, and let him come
+down and see my son.' The girl went up to tell her master,
+leaving the tailor and his wife in the vestibule, whereupon
+the latter said to her husband, 'Let us leave the hunchback
+here and be off.' So the tailor carried the dead man to the
+top of the stairs and propping him up against the wall, went
+away, he and his wife. Meanwhile the serving-maid went in to the
+Jew and said to him, 'There are a man and a woman at the gate,
+with a sick child; and they have given me a quarter-dinar for
+thee, that thou mayst go down and see the child and prescribe for
+him.' When the Jew saw the quarter-dinar, he was glad and rose
+hastily and went down in the dark. Hardly had he made a step,
+when he stumbled on the dead body and threw it down, and it
+rolled to the bottom of the stairs. So he cried out to the girl
+to make haste with the light, and she brought it, whereupon he
+went down and examining the hunchback, found that he was dead. 'O
+Esdras and Moses and the ten Commandments!' exclaimed he; 'O
+Aaron and Joshua, son of Nun! I have stumbled against the sick
+person and he has fallen downstairs and is dead! How shall I get
+the body out of my house?' Then he took it up and carrying it
+into the house, told his wife what had happened. Quoth she, 'Why
+dost thou sit still? If he be found here when the day rises, we
+shall both of us lose our lives. Let us carry him up to the roof
+and throw him over into the house of our neighbour the Muslim;
+for if he abide there a night, the dogs will come down on him
+from the terraces and eat him all up.' Now the neighbour in
+question was controller of the Sultan's kitchen and was wont to
+bring home great store of fat and broken meats; but the cats and
+mice used to eat it, or, if the dogs scented a fat sheep's tail,
+they would come down from the roofs and tear at it; and in this
+way he lost much of what he brought home. So the Jew and his wife
+carried the hunchback up to the roof, and letting him down,
+through the windshaft, into the controller's house, stood him up
+against the wall and went away. Hardly had they done so, when the
+controller, who had been spending the evening with some of his
+friends, hearing a recitation of the Koran, came home and going
+up with a lighted candle, found a man standing in the corner,
+under the ventilator. When he saw this, he said, 'By Allah, this
+is a fine thing! He who steals my goods is none other than a
+man.' Then he turned to the hunchback and said to him, 'So it is
+thou that stealest the meat and fat. I thought it was the cats
+and dogs, and I kill the cats and dogs of the quarter and sin
+against them. And all the while it is thou comest down through
+the windshaft! But I will take my wreak of thee with my own
+hand.' So he took-a great cudgel and smote him on the breast, and
+he fell down. Then he examined him and finding that he was dead,
+cried out in horror, thinking that he had killed him, and said,
+'There is no power and no virtue but in God the Supreme, the
+Omnipotent!' And he feared for himself and said, 'May God curse
+the fat and the sheep's tails, that have caused this man's death
+to be at my hand!' Then he looked at the dead man and seeing him
+to be humpbacked, said, 'Did it not suffice thee to be a
+hunchback, but thou must turn thief and steal meat and fat? O
+Protector, extend to me Thy gracious protection!' Then he took
+him up on his shoulders and going forth with him, carried him to
+the beginning of the market, where he set him on his feet against
+the wall of a shop, at the corner of a dark lane, and went away.
+After awhile, there came up a Christian, the Sultan's broker, who
+had sallied forth, in a state of intoxication, intending for the
+bath, for in his drunkenness he thought that matins were near.
+He came staggering along, till he drew near the hunchback and
+squatted down over against him to make water, when, happening to
+look round, he saw a man standing against the wall. Now some one
+had snatched off the broker's turban early in the night, and
+seeing the hunchback standing there he concluded that he meant
+to play him the same trick. So he clenched his fist and smote him
+on the neck. Down fell the hunchback, whilst the broker called to
+the watchman of the market and fell on the dead man, pummelling
+and throttling him in the excess of his drunken rage. Presently,
+the watchman came up and finding a Christian kneeling on a Muslim
+and beating him, said to the former, 'What is the matter?' 'This
+fellow tried to snatch off my turban,' answered the broker;
+and the watchman said, 'Get up from him.' So he rose, and
+the watchman went up to the hunchback and finding him dead,
+exclaimed, 'By Allah, it is a fine thing that a Christian should
+kill a Muslim!' Then he seized the broker and tying his hands
+behind him, carried him to the house of the prefect of police,
+where they passed the night; and all the while the broker kept
+saying, 'O Messiah! O Virgin! how came I to kill this man?
+Indeed, he must have been in a great hurry to die of one blow
+with the fist!' And his drunkenness left him and reflection came
+in its stead. As soon as it was day, the prefect came out and
+commanded to hang the supposed murderer and bade the executioner
+make proclamation of the sentence. So they set up a gallows,
+under which they made the broker stand, and the hangman put the
+rope round his neck and was about to hoist him up, when behold,
+the controller of the Sultan's kitchen, passing by, saw the
+broker about to be hanged, and pressing through the crowd, cried
+out to the executioner, saying, 'Stop! Stop! I am he who killed
+the hunchback.' Quoth the prefect, 'What made thee kill him?' And
+he replied, 'I came home last night and found this man who had
+come down the windshaft to steal my goods; so I struck him with a
+cudgel on the breast and he died. Then I took him up and carried
+him to the market and set him up against the wall in such a
+place. Is it not enough for me to have killed a Muslim, without
+burdening my conscience with the death of a Christian also? Hang
+therefore none but me.' When the prefect heard this, he released
+the broker and said to the executioner, 'Hang up this man on his
+own confession.' So he loosed the rope from the broker's neck and
+threw it round that of the controller, and placing him under the
+gallows, was about to hang him, when behold, the Jewish physician
+pushed through the press and cried out, 'Stop! It was I and none
+else who killed him! I was sitting at home last night, when a man
+and a woman knocked at the door, carrying this hunchback, who was
+sick, and gave my servant a quarter-dinar, bidding her give it to
+me and tell me to come down to see him. Whilst she was gone, they
+brought the hunchback into the house and setting him on the
+stairs, went away. Presently, I came down and not seeing him,
+stumbled on him in the dark, and he fell to the foot of the stair
+and died forthright. Then we took him up, I and my wife, and
+carried him on to the roof, whence we let him down, through the
+windshaft, into the house of this controller, which adjoins my
+own. When he came home and found the hunchback, he took him for a
+robber and beat him, so that he fell to the ground, and he
+concluded that he had killed him. So is it not enough for me to
+have killed one Muslim unwittingly, without burdening myself with
+the death of another wittingly?' When the prefect heard the Jew's
+story, he said to the hangman, 'Let the controller go, and hang
+the Jew.' So the hangman took the Jew and put the rope round his
+neck, when behold, the tailor pressed through the folk and cried
+out to him, 'Hold thy hand! None killed him save I, and it fell
+out thus. I had been out a-pleasuring yesterday and coming back
+in the evening, met this hunchback, who was drunk and singing
+lustily to a tambourine. So I carried him to my house and bought
+fish, and we sat down to eat. Presently, my wife took a piece of
+fish and crammed it down the hunchback's throat; but it went the
+wrong way and stuck in his gullet and choked him, so that he died
+at once. So we lifted him up, I and my wife, and carried him to
+the Jew's house, where the girl came down and opened the door to
+us, and I said to her, "Give thy master this quarter-dinar and
+tell him that there are a man and a woman at the door, who have
+brought a sick person for him to see." So she went in to tell her
+master, and whilst she was gone, I carried the hunchback to the
+top of the stair, where I propped him up, and went away with my
+wife. When the Jew came out, he stumbled over him and thought
+that he had killed him.' Then he said to the Jew, 'Is not this
+the truth?' 'It is,' replied the Jew. And the tailor turned to
+the prefect and said, 'Let the Jew go, and hang me.' When the
+prefect heard the tailor's story, he wondered at the adventure of
+the hunchback and exclaimed, 'Verily, this is a matter that
+should be recorded in books!' Then he said to the hangman, 'Let
+the Jew go, and hang the tailor on his own confession.' So the
+hangman took the tailor and put the rope round his neck, saying,
+'I am tired of taking this man and loosing that, and no one
+hanged after all.'
+
+Now the hunchback in question was the favourite buffoon of the
+Sultan, who could not bear him out of his sight: so when he got
+drunk and did not make his appearance that night or next day, the
+Sultan asked the courtiers about him and they replied, 'O our
+lord, the chief of the police has come upon him dead and ordered
+his murderer to be hanged: but, as the hangman was about to
+hoist him up, there came a second and a third and a fourth,
+each declaring himself to be the sole murderer and giving the
+prefect an account of the manner in which the crime had been
+committed.' When the King heard this, he cried out to one of his
+chamberlains, saying, 'Go down to the chief of the police and
+bring me all four of them.' So the chamberlain went down at once
+to the place of execution, where he found the hangman on the
+point of hanging the tailor and cried out to him to stop. Then he
+gave the King's order to the prefect, who took the tailor, the
+physician, the controller and the broker, and brought them all,
+together with the dead hunchback, before the King. When he came
+into the presence, he kissed the earth and told the King all that
+had passed; whereat he was moved to wonder and mirth and
+commended the story to be written in letters of gold, saying to
+the courtiers, 'Did you ever hear a more wonderful story than
+that of this hunchback?' With this came forward the Christian
+broker and said, 'O King of the age, with thy leave, I will tell
+thee a thing that happened to myself and which is still stranger
+and more wonderful and pleasant than the story of the hunchback.'
+Quoth the King, 'Let us hear it.' Then said the broker, 'O King
+of the age, I came to this city with merchandise, and Fate made
+me settle here with you, but
+
+
+
+
+                 The Christian Broker's Story.
+
+
+
+I am by birth a Copt, and a native of Cairo, where I was brought
+up. My father was a broker, and when I came to man's estate, he
+died and I became a broker in his stead. One day, as I was
+sitting in my shop, there came up to me a young man as handsome
+as could be, richly clad and riding on an ass. When he saw me, he
+saluted me, and I rose to do him honour. Then he pulled out a
+handkerchief, containing a sample of sesame, and said to me,
+"What is the worth of an ardebb[FN#74] of this?" "A hundred
+dirhems," replied I; and he said, "Take porters and measures and
+come to-morrow to the Khan of El Jaweli, by the Gate of Victory,
+where thou wilt find me." Then he went away, leaving with me the
+handkerchief containing the sample of sesame; and I went round to
+the buyers and agreed for a hundred and twenty dirhems an ardebb.
+Next day, I took four gaugers and carried them to the Khan, where
+I found him awaiting me. As soon as he saw me, he rose and opened
+his magazines, and we measured the contents and found them fifty
+ardebbs of sesame, making five thousand dirhems. Then said he to
+me, "Thou shalt have ten dirhems an ardebb to thy brokerage; so
+take the price and lay by four thousand five hundred dirhems for
+me; and when I have made an end of selling my other goods, I will
+come to thee and take the amount." "It is well," replied I, and
+kissed his hand and went away, having made that day a profit of a
+thousand dirhems, besides the brokerage. I saw no more of him for
+a month, at the end of which time he came to me and said, "Where
+is the money?" I rose and saluted him and said to him, "Wilt thou
+not eat somewhat with me?" But he refused, saying, "Get the money
+ready, and I will come back for it." So I brought out the money
+and sat down to await his return, but saw no more of him for
+another month, at the end of which time he came to me and said,
+"Where is the money?" I rose and saluted him and said, "Wilt thou
+not eat a morsel with me?" But he refused, saying, "Have the
+money ready against my return," and rode away. So I fetched the
+dirhems and sat awaiting him; but he did not come near me for
+another month, and I said, "Verily, this young man is the
+incarnation of liberality." At the end of the month, he came up,
+riding on a mule and clad in sumptuous raiment. His face shone
+like the moon at its full and he seemed as if he had just come
+from the bath, with his rosy cheeks and flower-white forehead and
+mole like a grain of ambergris, even as says the poet:
+
+Within one mansion of the sky the sun and moon combine; With all
+     fair fortune and delight of goodliness they shine.
+Their beauty stirs all those that see to passion and to love:
+     Good luck to them, for that they move to ravishment divine!
+In grace and beauty they increase and aye more perfect grow: All
+     souls yearn out to them for love, all hearts to them
+     incline.
+Blessed be God, whose creatures are so full of wonderment!
+     Whate'er He wills He fashions forth, even as He doth design.
+
+When I saw him, I rose and saluted him and kissed his hand,
+saying, "O my lord, wilt thou not take thy money?" "What hurry is
+there?" replied he; "wait till I have made an end of my business,
+when I will come and take it." Then he went away, and I said to
+myself, "By Allah, when he comes next time, I must press him to
+eat with me," for I had traded with his money and profited
+largely by it. At the end of the year he came again, dressed even
+more richly than before, and I conjured him to dismount and eat
+of my victual; and he said to me, "I consent, on condition that
+what thou expendest on me shall be of my money in thy hands." "So
+be it," replied I, and made him sit down, whilst I made ready
+what was needful of meat and drink and so forth and set the tray
+before him, saying, "In the name of God." So he came to the table
+and put out his left hand and ate with me; and I wondered at his
+using his left hand.[FN#75] When we had done eating, I poured
+water on his hand and gave him wherewith to wipe it. Then we sat
+talking, after I had set sweetmeats before him, and I said to
+him, "O my lord, I prithee relieve my mind by telling me why thou
+eatest with thy left hand. Belike something ails thy right hand?"
+When he heard my words, he recited the following verses:
+
+Ask not, I prithee, my friend, of the anguish that burns in my
+     heart 'Twould but the infirmities show that now in my bosom
+     lie hid.
+If with Selma I company now and harbour with Leila no more,
+     Believe me, 'tis none of my will; needs must, if necessity
+     bid.
+
+Then he drew his right arm out from his sleeve, and behold, it
+was a stump without a hand, the latter having been cut off at the
+wrist. I was astonished at this, and he said to me, "Thou seest
+that my eating with the left hand arose, not from conceit, but
+from necessity; and there hangs a strange story by the cutting
+off of my right hand." "And how came it to be cut off?" asked I.
+"Know," answered he, "that I am a native of Baghdad and the son
+of one of the principal men of that city. When I came to man's
+estate, I heard the pilgrims and travellers and merchants talk of
+the land of Egypt, and this abode in my thought till my father
+died, when I laid out a large sum of money in the purchase of
+stuffs of Baghdad and Mosul, with which I set out on my travels
+and God decreed me safety, till I reached this your city." And he
+wept and recited the following verses:
+
+It chances oft that the blind man escapes a pit, Whilst he that
+is clear of sight falls into it:
+The ignorant man can speak with impunity A word that is death to
+the wise and the ripe of wit:
+The true believer is pinched for his daily bread, Whilst infidel
+rogues enjoy all benefit.
+What is a man's resource and what shall he do? It is the
+Almighty's will: we must submit.
+
+"So I entered Cairo," continued he, "and put up at the Khan of
+Mesrour, where I unpacked my goods and stored them in the
+magazines. Then I gave the servant money to buy me something to
+eat and lay down to sleep awhile. When I awoke, I went to the
+street called Bein el Kesrein[FN#76] and presently returned and
+passed the night at the Khan. Next morning, I said to myself, 'I
+will walk through the bazaars and see the state of the market.'
+So I opened a bale and took out certain stuffs, which I gave to
+one of my servants to carry, then repaired to the Bazaar of
+Jergis, where I was accosted by the brokers, who had heard of my
+arrival. They took my stuffs and cried them for sale, but could
+not get the prime cost of them. I was vexed at this; but the
+chief of the brokers said to me, 'O my lord, I will tell thee
+how thou mayst make a profit of thy goods. Thou shouldst do
+as the other merchants do and sell thy goods on credit, for a
+fixed period, on a contract drawn up by a scrivener, and duly
+witnessed, and employ a money-changer and take thy money every
+Monday and Thursday. So shalt thou profit two dirhems for every
+one; and besides this, thou canst amuse thyself meanwhile at
+leisure in viewing Cairo and the Nile.' Quoth I, 'This advice is
+good,' and carried the brokers to the Khan. They took my stuffs
+and transported them to the bazaar, where I sold them to various
+merchants, taking their bonds for the value. These bonds I
+deposited with a money-changer, who gave me an acknowledgment in
+writing, with which I returned to my Khan. Here I abode a month,
+breaking my fast with a cup of wine every morning and sending out
+for mutton and sweetmeats, till the time came when my receipts
+began to fall due. So, every Monday and Thursday, I used to
+repair to the bazaar and sit in the shop of one or other of the
+merchants, whilst the scrivener and money-changer went round to
+collect the money from the different merchants, till after the
+time of afternoon-prayer, when they brought me the amount, and I
+counted it and gave receipts for it, then took it and returned to
+my Khan. One day I went to the bath and retured to the Khan,
+where I broke my fast on a cup of wine, after which I slept a
+little. When I awoke, I ate a fowl, and scenting myself, repaired
+to the shop of a merchant called Bedreddin el Bustani, who
+welcomed me; and I sat talking with him till the market should
+open. Presently, there came up a lady of stately figure, wearing
+a magnificent head-dress and exhaling perfumes, as she walked
+along with a swimming gait. She stopped before Bedreddin and
+saluted him, raising her kerchief and showing a pair of large
+black eyes. He returned her salute and stood talking with her;
+and when I heard her speech, the love of her got hold upon my
+heart. Then she said to Bedreddin, 'Hast thou any stuffs of
+figured cloth of gold?' So he brought out to her a piece that he
+had had of me and she bought it of him for twelve hundred
+dirhems, saying, 'I will take it with me and send thee the
+price.' 'It may not be, O my lady,' answered he. 'This is the
+owner of the stuff and I owe him the price of it.' 'Out on thee!'
+said she. 'Do I not use to take great store of costly stuffs of
+thee, at a greater profit than thou askest, and send thee the
+money?' 'Yes,' rejoined he; 'but I am in pressing need of the
+price to-day.' With this she took the piece of stuff and threw it
+back into his lap, saying, 'You merchants have no respect for any
+one!' Then she turned to go, and I felt as if my soul went with
+her; so I rose and stopped her, saying, 'O my lady, favour me by
+retracing thy gracious steps!' She smiled and saying, 'For thy
+sake, I will return,' came back and sat down in the shop opposite
+me. Then I said to Bedreddin, 'What is the price set upon this
+piece?' And he replied, 'Eleven hundred dirhems.' 'The other
+hundred shall be thy profit,' rejoined I. 'Give me a piece of
+paper and I will write thee a discharge for it! So I wrote him a
+docket to that effect and gave the piece of stuff to the lady,
+saying, 'Take it and, if thou wilt, bring me the price next
+market-day; or, better still, accept it as a gift from me to
+thee.' 'May God requite thee with good,' answered she, 'and make
+thee my husband and master of my property!'[FN#77] (And God heard
+her prayer.) 'O my lady,' replied I, 'this piece of stuff is
+thine and another like it, if thou wilt but let me see thy face.'
+So she lifted her veil, and I took one look at her face, that
+caused me a thousand regrets, and fell so violently in love with
+her, that I was no longer master of my reason. Then she let down
+her veil and taking the piece of stuff, said, 'O my lord, leave
+me not desolate!'[FN#78] and went away, whilst I remained sitting
+in the shop till the time of afternoon-prayer was past, lost to
+the world and fairly distraught for love; and the violence of my
+passion prompted me to make enquiries about her of the merchant,
+who replied, 'She is a lady of wealth, the daughter of an Amir,
+who died and left her a large fortune.' Then I took leave of him
+and returned to the Khan, where they set the evening meal before
+me; but I could not eat, for thinking of her, and laid down to
+rest. But sleep came not to me and I lay awake till daylight,
+when I rose and changed my dress. I broke my fast on a cup of
+wine and a morsel of bread and going to the market, saluted
+Bedreddin and sat down by him in his shop. Presently up came the
+lady, followed by a slave-girl, and more richly dressed than
+before, and saluting me, instead of Bedreddin, said to me, in a
+voice than which I never heard a sweeter or softer, 'Send with me
+some one to take the twelve hundred dirhems, the price of the
+stuff.' 'What hurry is there?' asked I. And she said, 'May we
+never lose thee!' And gave me the money. Then I sat talking with
+her, and presently I made signs to her, by which she understood
+that I desired to  enjoy her and rose hastily, as if vexed with
+me, and went away. My heart clung to her and I rose and followed
+in her track; but as I went along, a slave-girl accosted me,
+saying. 'O my lord, my mistress would speak with thee.' At this I
+was astonished, and said, 'There is no one who knows me here.' 'O
+my lord,' answered the slave, 'how quickly thou hast forgotten
+her! My mistress is she who was to-day at the shop of the
+merchant Bedreddin.' So I followed her to the money-changer's,
+where I found the lady, who drew me to her side and said to me,
+'O my beloved, thou hast made prize of my heart, and love of thee
+has conquered my soul. Since the day I saw thee first, I have
+taken no delight in sleep nor in meat nor drink.' 'My sufferings
+have been still greater than thine,' answered I; 'and my state
+dispenses me from complaint.' Then said she, 'O my lord, shall I
+come to thee or wilt thou come to me?' Quoth I, 'I am a stranger
+here and have no lodging but the Khan; so by thy favour, it
+shall be at thy house.' 'It is well,' replied she; 'to-night
+is Friday eve, and nothing can be done; but to-morrow, after
+the morning-prayer, mount thine ass and enquire for the house
+of Berekat the Syndic, known as Abou Shameh, in the Hebbaniyeh
+quarter; for I live there; and do not delay, for I shall be
+expecting thee.' At this, I rejoiced greatly and took leave of
+her and returned to the Khan, where I passed a sleepless night.
+As soon as it was day, I rose and changed my clothes and
+perfumed myself with essences and sweet-scented smoke. Then I
+took fifty dinars in a handkerchief and went out to the Zuweyleh
+Gate, where I hired an ass, bidding the driver carry me to the
+Hebbaniyeh. So he set off with me and brought me in the twinkling
+of an eye to a by-street called El Munkeri, where I bade him go
+in and enquire for the Syndic's house. After a little he returned
+and said, 'Alight.' But I made him guide me to the house, where I
+dismounted and giving him a quarter-dinar, said, 'Come back
+to-morrow at daybreak and fetch me away.' 'In the name of God,'
+answered he, and went away. Then I knocked at the gate and there
+came out two young girls, high-bosomed maids, as they were moons,
+and said to me, 'Enter, for our mistress awaits thee, and she
+slept not last night for joyance in thee.' So I entered and they
+brought me, through a vestibule, into an upper chamber with seven
+doors, paved with vari-coloured marbles and furnished with
+hangings and carpets of coloured silk. The walls were plastered
+with stucco-royal, in which one might see his own face, and the
+roof was ribbed with gold and bordered with inscriptions
+emblazoned in ultramarine. All around were latticed windows
+overlooking a garden, full of fruits of all colours, with streams
+running and birds singing on the branches, and midmost the hall
+was a fountain, at whose angles stood birds fashioned in red
+gold, spouting forth water as it were pearls and jewels; and
+indeed the place comprised all kinds of beauty and dazzled the
+beholder with its radiance. I entered and sat down; but hardly
+had I done so, when the lady came up to me, crowned with a diadem
+of pearls and jewels and having her eyebrows pencilled and her
+hands stained with henna. When she saw me, she smiled on me and
+embraced me and pressed me to her bosom; and she set her mouth to
+mine and sucked my tongue, and I did the like with her. Then she
+said, 'Can it be true that thou art indeed come to me?' 'I am thy
+slave,' answered I; and she said, 'Welcome, a thousand times! By
+Allah, since I first saw thee, sleep has not been sweet to me nor
+food pleasant!' Quoth I, 'So has it been with me also.' Then we
+sat down to converse, and I bowed my head for bashfulness.
+Presently, she set before me a tray of the most exquisite meats,
+such as ragouts and fritters soaked in honey and fricassees and
+fowls stuffed with sugar and pistachio-nuts, and we ate till we
+were satisfied. Then they brought ewer and basin and I washed my
+hands, after which we scented ourselves with rose-water mingled
+with musk and sat down again to converse. We complained to each
+other of the sufferings we had undergone, and my love for her
+took such hold on me, that all my wealth was of little account to
+me, in comparison with her. We passed the time in toying and
+kissing and dalliance, till nightfall, when the damsels set
+before us a banquet of food and wine and we sat carousing half
+the night. Then we went to bed and I lay with her till the
+morning, never in my life saw I the like of that night. As soon
+as it was day, I arose and took leave of her, after having
+slipped under the mattress the handkerchief containing the
+dinars; and she wept and said 'O my lord, when shall I see that
+fair face again?' 'I will be with thee at eventide,' answered I,
+and going out, found the ass-man waiting for me at the door. So I
+mounted and rode to the Khan of Mesrour, where I alighted and
+gave the driver half a dinar, saying, 'Come back at sun down.'
+And he said, 'Good.' Then I broke my fast and went out to seek
+the price of my stuffs, after which I returned and taking a roast
+lamb and some sweetmeats, called a porter and despatched them by
+him to the lady, paying him his hire in advance. I occupied
+myself with my affairs till sunset, when the ass-driver came for
+me and I took fifty dinars in a handkerchief and rode to the
+house, where I found the marble floor swept, the brass burnished,
+the lamps filled and the candles lighted, the meats ready dished
+and the wines strained. When my mistress saw me, she threw her
+arms round my neck and exclaimed, 'Thou hast desolated me by
+thine absence!' Then they set the tables and we ate till we were
+satisfied, when the serving-maids took away the tray of food and
+set on wine. We gave not over drinking till midnight, when we
+went to the sleeping-chamber and lay together till morning. Then
+I rose and went away, leaving the fifty dinars with her as
+before. I found the ass-driver at the door and mounting, rode to
+the Khan, where I slept awhile, then went out to prepare the
+evening-meal. I took a brace of geese with broth on two platters
+of dressed rice, together with colocasia-roots[FN#79], fried and
+soaked in honey, and wax candles and fruits and conserves and
+flowers and nuts and almonds, and sent them all to her. As soon
+as it was night, I mounted the ass as usual, taking with me fifty
+dinars in a handkerchief, and rode to the house, where we ate and
+drank and lay together till morning, when I left the handkerchief
+and dinars with her and rode back to the Khan. I ceased not to
+lead this life, till one fine morning I found myself without a
+single dirhem and said, 'This is Satan's doing!' And I repeated
+the following verses:
+
+
+When a rich man grows poor, his lustre dies away, Like to the
+     setting sun that pales with ended day.
+Absent, his name is not remembered among men: Present, he hath no
+     part in life and its array.
+He passes through the streets and fain would hide his head And
+     pours out floods of tears in every desert way.
+By Allah, when distress and want descend on men, But strangers
+     midst their kin and countrymen are they.
+
+Then I left the Khan and walked along Bein el Kesrein till I came
+to the Zuweyleh Gate, where I found the folk crowded together and
+the gate blocked up for the much people. As Fate would have it, I
+saw there a trooper, against whom I pressed, without meaning it,
+so that my hand came on his pocket and I felt a purse inside. I
+looked and seeing a string of green silk hanging from the pocket,
+knew that it belonged to the purse. The crowd increased every
+moment and just then, a camel bearing a load of wood jostled the
+trooper on the other side and he turned to ward it off from him,
+lest it should tear his clothes. When I saw this, Satan tempted
+me; so I pulled  the string and drew out a little purse of blue
+silk, full of something that chinked like money. Hardly had
+I done so, when the soldier turned and feeling his pocket
+lightened, put his hand to it and found it empty; whereupon he
+turned to me and raising his mace, smote me on the head I fell to
+the ground, whilst the people came round us and seizing the
+soldier's horse by the bridle, said to him, 'Is it because he
+pushed against thee in the throng, that thou smitest this young
+man such a blow?' But he cried out at them and said, 'This fellow
+is an accursed thief!' With this I came to myself and stood up,
+and the folk looked at me and said, 'This is a comely youth and
+would not steal aught.' Some took part for me and others against
+me and there was a great clamour, and the people pulled at me and
+would have rescued me from the trooper; but as Fate would have
+it, the chief of the police and the captain and officers of the
+watch entered by the gate at this moment; and the prefect, seeing
+the crowd about the soldier and myself, enquired what was the
+matter. 'O my lord,' replied the soldier, 'this fellow is a
+thief. I had a blue purse in my pocket, containing twenty dinars,
+and he took it, whilst I was in the crush.' 'Was any one else by
+thee?' asked the magistrate, and the trooper answered, 'No.' Then
+the prefect cried out to the officers of the watch, who seized me
+and stripping me by his order, found the purse in my clothes. He
+took it and found in it twenty dinars, as the soldier had said,
+whereat he was wroth and calling to the officers to bring me
+before him, said to me, 'O young man tell me the truth. Didst
+thou steal this purse?' At this I hung down my head and said to
+myself, 'It is useless for me to say I did not steal the purse,
+for they found it in my clothes: and if I confess to the theft, I
+fall into trouble.' So I raised my head and said, 'Yes: I took
+it.' When the prefect heard what I said, he wondered and called
+for witnesses, who came forward and attested by confession. Then
+he bade the hangman cut off my right hand, and he did so; after
+which he would have cut off my left foot also; but the trooper
+took pity on me and interceded for me with the prefect, who left
+me and went away; whilst the folk remained round me and gave me a
+cup of wine to drink. As for the trooper, he gave me the purse,
+saying, 'Thou art a comely youth, and it befits not that thou be
+a thief.' And I repeated the following verses:
+
+By Allah, trusty brother mine, I am indeed no thief, Nor, O most
+     bountiful of men, a highwayman am I.
+But the vicissitudes of fate overthrew me suddenly, And care and
+     stress and penury full sorely did me try.
+It was not thou, but God who cast the fatal shaft at me, The
+     shaft that made from off my head the crown of honour fly.
+
+Then he left me, and I went away, after having wrapt my hand in a
+piece of rag and thrust it into my bosom. I betook me to my
+mistress's house, faint and ill at ease and pale by reason of
+what had befallen me, and threw myself on the couch. She saw that
+my colour was changed and said to me, 'What ails thee and why do
+I see thee thus changed?' 'My head irks me,' answered I; 'I am
+not well.' When she heard this, she was vexed and concerned for
+me and said to me, 'Fret not my heart, O my lord! Sit up and
+raise thy head and let me know what has happened to thee to-day,
+for thy face tells me a tale.' 'Spare me this talk,' replied I.
+But she wept and said, 'Meseems thou art tired of me, for I see
+that thou art contrary to thy wont.' But I was silent, and she
+continued to talk to me, though I made her no answer, till
+nightfall, when she brought me food: but I refused it, fearing to
+let her see me eat with my left hand, and said to her, 'I do not
+care to eat at present.' Quoth she 'Tell me what has befallen
+thee to-day and what ails thee, that thou art troubled and broken
+in heart and spirit.' 'Presently,' replied I; 'I will tell thee
+at my leisure.' Then she brought me wine, saying, 'Take it for it
+will dispel thy care: thou must indeed drink and tell me what is
+thy matter with thee.' 'Must I tell thee?' said I; and she
+answered, 'Yes.' Then said I, 'If it must be so, give me to drink
+with thine own hand.' So she filled and drank then filled again
+and gave me the cup. I took it from her with my left hand and
+repeated the following verses with tears running from my eyes:
+
+When God would execute His will in anything On one endowed with
+     sight, hearing and reasoning,
+He stops his ears and blinds his eyes and draws his wit From him,
+     as one draws out the hairs to paste that cling;
+Till, His decrees fulfilled, He gives him back his wit, That
+     therewithal he may receive admonishing.
+
+At this she gave a loud cry and said to me, 'What makes thee
+weep? Thou settest my heart on fire. And what ails thee to take
+the cup with thy left hand?' 'I have a boil on my right hand,'
+answered I; and she said, 'Put it out and I will lance it for
+thee.' 'It is not ripe for lancing,' answered I; 'so do not
+torment me, for I will not show it thee at present.' Then I drank
+off the cup, and she plied me with wine till I became drowsy and
+fell asleep in my place; whereupon she looked at my right arm and
+saw that it was but a stump without a hand. So she searched me
+and found the purse of gold and my severed hand wrapt in a piece
+of rag. With this, there overcame her such grief as none ever
+knew, and she ceased not to lament for my sake till the morning.
+When I awoke, I found she had made me a dish of broth of four
+boiled fowls, which she brought to me, together with a cup of
+wine. I ate and drank and laying down the purse, would have gone
+out; but she said to me, 'Whither goest thou?' 'Where my business
+calls me,' replied I; and she said, 'Thou shalt not go: sit
+down.' So I sat down, and she said, 'Has thy love for me brought
+thee to such a pass, that thou hast wasted thy substance and lost
+thy hand on my account? Since this is so, I call God to witness
+against me that I will never part with thee: and thou shalt see
+the truth of my words.' Then she sent for the Cadi and the
+witnesses and said to them, 'Draw up a contract of marriage
+between me and this young man and bear witness that I have
+received the dowry.' So they drew up our marriage contract, and
+she said to them, 'Be witness that all my money that is in this
+chest and all that belongs to me and all my slaves, male and
+female, are the property of this young man.' So they took act of
+this and withdrew, after having received their fees. Then she
+took me by the hand and leading me to a closet, opened a large
+chest and said to me, 'See what is herein.' I looked and behold,
+it was full of handkerchiefs. Quoth she, 'This is the money I had
+of thee; for every time thou gavest me a handkerchief, with fifty
+dinars in it, I wrapped it together and threw it into this chest;
+so now take thy money, for indeed it returns to thee, and thou
+to-day art become of high estate. Fate afflicted thee, so that
+thou didst lose thy right hand for my sake, and I can never
+requite thee: nay, though I gave my life, it were little and I
+should still remain thy debtor.' Then she said to me, 'Take
+possession of thy property!' and transferred the contents of the
+other chest to that which contained the money I had given her. At
+this, my heart was gladdened and my grief forsook me, and I rose
+and kissed and thanked her. Quoth she, 'Thou hast lost thy hand
+for love of me, and how can I requite thee? By Allah, if I gave
+my life for thy love, it were far short of thy due!' Then she
+made over to me by deed all her clothes and jewels and other
+property and lay not down to sleep that night, being in sore
+concern on my account, till I told her all that had befallen me.
+I passed the night with her; but before we had lived together a
+month's time, she fell grievously ill and sickness was upon her,
+by reason of her grief for the loss of my hand; and she endured
+but fifty days before she was numbered of the folk of the other
+world. So I laid her in the ground and had recitations of the
+Koran made over her tomb and gave much money in alms for her;
+after which I returned to the house and found that she had
+left much substance in money and houses and lands. Among her
+storehouses was one full of sesame, whereof I sold part to thee;
+and it was the fact of my being busied in selling the rest of my
+goods and all that was in the storehouses, that diverted my
+attention from thee; nor have I till now made an end of receiving
+the price. This, then, is the reason of the cutting off of my
+right hand and of my eating with the left. Now thou shalt not
+baulk me in what I am about to say, for that I have eaten of thy
+victual; and it is that I make thee a gift of the money that is
+in thy hands." "Indeed," replied I, "thou hast shown me the
+utmost kindness and liberality." Then said he, "Wilt thou journey
+with me to my native country, whither I am about to return with a
+lading of Cairo and Alexandria stuffs?" "I will well," answered
+I, and appointed with him for the end of the month. So I sold all
+I had and bought merchandise; then we set out, he and I, and
+journeyed till we came to this town, where he sold his goods, and
+buying others in their stead, set out again for Egypt. But it was
+my lot to abide here, so that there befell me in my strangerhood
+what befell last night. This, then, is my story, O King of the
+age. Is it not more marvellous than that of the hunchback?' 'Not
+so,' answered the King; 'and needs must you all be hanged.' Then
+came forward the controller of the Sultan's kitchen and said,
+'With thy leave, I will tell thee what happened to me but lately
+and if it be more marvellous than the story of the hunchback, do
+thou grant us our lives.' 'So be it,' answered the King. Then
+said the controller, 'Know, O King, that
+
+
+
+
+The Controller's Story.
+
+
+
+I was the night before last in company with a number of persons
+who were assembled for the purpose of hearing a recitation of the
+Koran. The doctors of the law attended, and when the readers had
+made an end of reading, the table was spread, and amongst other
+things they set before us a ragout flavoured with cumin-seed.
+So we sat down to eat it; but one of our number held back and
+abstained from eating. We conjured him to eat of the ragout; but
+he swore that he would not, and we pressed him till he said,
+"Press me not; what has already befallen me through eating of
+this dish suffices me." And he repeated the following verses:
+
+Shoulder thy tray, 'fore God, and get thee gone with it, And to
+     thine eyes apply such salve as thou deem'st fit.[FN#80]
+
+"For God's sake," said we, "tell us the reason of thy refusal to
+eat of the ragout!" "If I must eat of it," replied he, "I will
+not do so, except I may wash my hands forty times with soap,
+forty times with potash and forty times with galingale, in all a
+hundred and twenty times." So the master of the house ordered his
+servants to bring water and all that he required; and the young
+man washed his hands as he had said. Then he sat down, as if
+afraid, and dipping his hand into the ragout, began to eat,
+though with evident repugnance and as if doing himself violence,
+whilst we regarded him with the utmost wonder; for his hand
+trembled and we saw that his thumb had been cut off and he ate
+with his four fingers only. So we said to him, "God on thee, what
+has become of thy thumb? Is thy hand thus by the creation of God
+or has it been mutilated by accident?" "O my brothers, answered
+he, "it is not this thumb alone that has been cut off, but also
+that of the other hand and the great toe of each of my feet, as
+ye shall see." Then he bared his left hand and his feet, and we
+saw that the left hand was even as the right and that each of his
+feet lacked the great toe. At this sight, our amazement increased
+and we said to him, "We are impatient to know thy history and the
+manner of the cutting off of thy thumbs and great toes and the
+reason of thy washing thy hands a hundred and twenty times."
+"Know then," answered he, "that my father was chief of the
+merchants of Baghdad in the time of the Khalif Haroun er Reshid;
+but he was given to drinking wine and listening to the lute and
+other instruments, so that when he died, he left nothing. I
+buried him and had recitations of the Koran made over him and
+mourned for him days and nights. Then I opened his shop and found
+he had left little but debts. However, I compounded with his
+creditors for time to pay and betook myself to buying and
+selling, paying them something week by week on account, till at
+last I succeeded in clearing off the debts and began to add to my
+capital. One day, as I sat in my shop, there came up to the
+entrance of the bazaar a lady, than whom my eyes never saw a
+fairer, richly clad and decked and riding on a mule, with one
+slave walking before and another behind her. She halted the mule
+at the entrance of the bazaar and entered, followed by an eunuch,
+who said to her, 'O my lady, come out, without telling any one,
+or thou wilt bring us into trouble.' And he stood before
+her,[FN#81] whilst she looked at the shops. She found no shop
+open but mine, so came up, with the eunuch behind her, and
+sitting down in my shop, saluted me; never did I hear aught
+sweeter than her voice or more pleasant than her speech. Then she
+unveiled her face and I saw she was like the moon and stole at
+her a glance that cost me a thousand sighs. My heart was
+captivated with her love and I could not take my eyes off her
+face; and I repeated the following verses:
+
+Say to the fairest fair, her in the dove-coloured veil, "Death
+     would be welcome to me, to save me from thy bale:
+Grant me thy favours, I pray! so I may live perchance. Lo! I
+     stretch forth my palm: let not thy bounties fail."
+
+When she heard this, she answered me by repeating the following
+verses:
+
+Power to forget thee, for desire, fails even unto me: My heart
+     and all my soul will love none other after thee.
+If my eyes ever look on aught except thy loveliness, May union
+     after severance ne'er brighten them with glee!
+I've sworn an oath by my right hand ne'er to forget thy grace. My
+     sad heart pineth for thy love and never may win free.
+Passion hath given me to drink a brimming cup of love; Would it
+     had given the self-same draught to drink, dear heart, to
+     thee!
+If thou shouldst ask me what I'd crave most earnestly of God,
+     "The Almighty's favour first, then thine," I'd say, "my
+     prayer shall be."
+
+Then she said to me, 'O youth, hast thou any handsome stuffs?' 'O
+my lady,' answered I, 'thy slave is poor: but wait till the
+merchants open their shops, and I will get thee what thou wilt.'
+Then we sat talking, she and I, whilst I was drowned in the sea
+of her love and dazed with passion for her, till the merchants
+opened their shops, when I rose and fetched her all she sought,
+to the value of five thousand dirhems. She gave the stuffs to the
+slave and leaving the bazaar, mounted the mule and rode away,
+without telling me whence she came, and I was ashamed to ask her.
+So I became answerable to the merchants for the price of the
+goods and thus took on myself a debt of five thousand dirhems.
+Then I went home, drunken with love of her, and they set the
+evening-meal before me. I ate a mouthful and lay down to rest,
+musing upon her beauty and grace: but sleep came not to me. A
+week passed thus, and the merchants sought their money of me,
+but I persuaded them to wait another week, at the end of which
+time she came up, riding on the mule and attended by an eunuch
+and two slaves. She saluted me and said, 'O my lord, we have
+been long in bringing thee the price of the stuffs; but now
+fetch a money-changer and take the amount.' So I sent for the
+money-changer, and the eunuch counted me out the money, and we
+sat talking, the lady and I, till the market opened, when she
+said to me, 'Get me this and this.' So I got her from the
+merchants what she wanted, and she took it and went away, without
+saying a word to me about the price. As soon as she was out of
+sight, I repented me of what I had done, for the price of what
+I had bought for her was a thousand dinars, and I said to
+myself, 'What doting is this? She has brought me five thousand
+dirhems[FN#82], and taken a thousand dinars'[FN#83] worth of
+goods.' And I feared lest I should be beggared, through having to
+pay the merchants their money, and said, 'They know none but me
+and this woman is none other than a cheat, who hath cozened me
+with her beauty and grace, for she saw that I was young and
+laughed at me; and I did not ask her address.' She did not come
+again for more than a month, and I abode in constant distress and
+perplexity, till at last the merchants dunned me for their money
+and pressed me so that I put up my property for sale and looked
+for nothing but ruin. However, as I was sitting in my shop, one
+day, absorbed in melancholy thought, she rode up and dismounting
+at the gate of the bazaar, came in and made towards me. When I
+saw her, my anxiety ceased and I forgot my troubles. She came up
+to me and greeting me with her pleasant speech, said to me,
+'Fetch the money-changer and take thy money.' So she gave me the
+price of the goods I had gotten for her and more, and fell to
+conversing freely with me, till I was like to die of joy and
+delight. Presently, she said to me, 'Hast thou a wife?' 'No,'
+answered I; 'I have never known woman.' And fell a-weeping. Quoth
+she, 'Why dost thou weep?' 'It is nothing,' replied I; and giving
+the eunuch some of the dinars, begged him to use his influence
+with her for me; but he laughed and said, 'She is more in love
+with thee than thou with her. She had no occasion for the stuffs
+she bought of thee and did all this but out of love for thee. So
+ask of her what thou wilt; she will not deny thee.' When she saw
+me give the eunuch money, she returned and sat down again; and I
+said to her, 'Be charitable to thy slave and pardon him what he
+is about to say.' Then I told her what was in my mind, and she
+assented and said to the eunuch, 'Thou shalt carry my message to
+him.' Then to me, 'Do as the eunuch bids thee.' Then she rose and
+went away, and I paid the merchants what I owed them, and they
+all profited; but as for me, I gained nought but regret for the
+breaking off of our intercourse. I slept not all that night; but
+before many days were past, the eunuch came to me, and I made
+much of him and asked after his mistress. 'She is sick for love
+of thee,' replied he; and I said, 'Tell me who she is.' Quoth he,
+'She is one of the waiting-women of the Lady Zubeideh, the wife
+of the Khalif Haroun er Reshid, who brought her up and advanced
+her to be stewardess of the harem and granted her the right of
+going in and out at will. She told her mistress of thee and
+begged her to marry her to thee; but she said, "I will not do
+this, till I see the young man; and if he be worthy of thee, I
+will marry thee to him." So now we wish to bring thee into the
+palace at once and if thou succeed in entering without being
+seen, thou wilt win to marry her; but if the affair get wind,
+thou wilt lose thy head. What sayst thou?' And I answered, 'I
+will go with thee and abide the risk of which thou speakest.'
+Then said he, 'As soon as it is night, go to the mosque built by
+the Lady Zubeideh on the Tigris and pray and pass the night
+there.' 'With all my heart,' answered I. So at nightfall I
+repaired to the mosque, where I prayed and passed the night. Just
+before daybreak, there came up some eunuchs in a boat, with a
+number of empty chests, which they deposited in the mosque and
+went away all, except one who remained behind and whom, on
+examination, I found to be he who served as our go-between.
+Presently, in came my mistress herself and I rose to her and
+embraced her. She kissed me, weeping, and we talked awhile; after
+which she made me get into one of the chests and locked it upon
+me. Then the eunuchs came back with a number of packages; and she
+fell to stowing them in the chests and locking the latter one by
+one, till she had filled them all. Then they embarked the chests
+in the boat and made for the Lady Zubeideh's palace. With this,
+reflection came to me and I said to myself, 'My lust will surely
+bring me to destruction, nor do I know whether I shall gain my
+end or no!' And I began to weep, shut up as I was in the chest,
+and to pray to God to deliver me from the peril I was in, whilst
+the boat ceased not going till it reached the palace gate, where
+they lifted out the chests and amongst them that in which I was.
+Then they carried them into the palace, passing through a troop
+of eunuchs, guardians of the harem and door-keepers, till they
+came to the post of the chief of the eunuchs, who started up from
+sleep and called out to the lady, saying, 'What is in those
+chests?' Quoth she, 'They are full of wares for the Lady
+Zubeideh.' 'Open them,' said he, 'one by one, that I may see what
+is in them.'--'Why wilt thou open them?' asked she: but he cried
+out at her, saying, 'Give me no words! They must and shall be
+opened.' Now the first that they brought to him to open was that
+in which I was: and when I felt this, my senses failed me and I
+bepissed myself for terror, and the water ran out of the chest.
+Then said she to the eunuch, 'O chief, thou hast undone me and
+thyself also, for thou hast spoiled that which is worth ten
+thousand dinars. This box contains coloured dresses and four
+flasks of Zemzem water; and now one of the bottles has broken
+loose and the water is running out over the clothes and their
+colours will be ruined.' Then said the eunuch, 'Take up thy
+chests and begone with God's malison!' So the slaves took up the
+chests and hurried on with them, till suddenly I heard a voice
+saying, 'Alas! Alas! the Khalif! the Khalif!' When I heard this,
+my heart died within me and I spoke the words which whoso says
+shall not be confounded, that is to say, 'There is no power and
+no virtue but in God the Most High, the Supreme! I have brought
+this affliction on myself.' Presently I heard the Khalif say to
+my mistress, 'Harkye, what is in those chests of thine ?'
+'Clothes for the Lady Zubeideh,' answered she; and he said, 'Open
+them to me.' When I heard this, I gave myself up for lost and
+said, 'By Allah, this is the last of my worldly days!' and began
+to repeat the profession of the Faith. Then I heard the lady say
+to the Khalif, 'These chests have been committed to my charge by
+the Lady Zubeideh, and she does not wish their contents to be
+seen of any one.'--'No matter,' said he; 'I must open them and
+see what is in them.' And he cried out to the eunuchs saying,
+'Bring them to me.' At this, I made sure of death and swooned
+away. Then the slaves brought the chests up to him and opened
+them, one after another, and he saw in them perfumes and stuffs
+and rich clothes, till none remained unopened but that in which I
+was. They put their hands to it to open it, but the lady made
+haste and said to the Khalif, 'This one thou shalt see in the
+Lady Zubeideh's presence, for that which is in it is her secret.'
+When he heard this, he ordered them to carry in the chests; so
+they took up that in which I was and carried it, with the rest,
+into the harem and set it down in the middle of the saloon; and
+indeed my spittle was dried up for fear. Then my mistress opened
+the chest and took me out, saying, 'Fear not: no harm shall
+befall thee, but be of good courage and sit down, till the Lady
+Zubeideh comes, and thou shalt surely win thy wish of me.' So I
+sat down, and after awhile, in came ten maidens like moons and
+ranged themselves in two rows, one facing the other, and after
+them other twenty, high-bosomed maids with the Lady Zubeideh, who
+could hardly walk for the weight of her dresses and ornaments. As
+she drew near, the damsels dispersed from around her, and I
+advanced and kissed the earth before her. She signed to me to be
+seated and questioned me of my condition and family, to which I
+made such answers as pleased her, and she said to my mistress, 'O
+damsel, our nurturing of thee has not been in vain.' Then she
+said to me, 'Know that this damsel is to us even as our own
+child, and she is a trust committed to thee by God.' I kissed the
+earth again before her, well pleased that I should marry my
+mistress, and she bade me sojourn ten days in the palace. So I
+abode there ten days, during which time I saw not my mistress nor
+any one save a serving-maid, who brought me the morning and
+evening meals. After this the Lady Zubeideh took counsel with the
+Khalif on the marriage of her favourite, and he gave leave and
+assigned her a wedding portion of ten thousand dinars. So the
+Lady Zubeideh sent for the Cadi and the witnesses, and they drew
+up our marriage contract, after which the women made sweetmeats
+and rich viands and distributed them among the inmates of the
+harem. Thus they did other ten days, at the end of which time my
+mistress entered the bath. Meanwhile, they set before me a tray
+of food, on which was a basin containing a ragout of fricasseed
+fowls' breasts dressed with cumin-seed and flavoured with sugar
+and rose-water, mixed with musk, and many another dish, such as
+amazed the wit; and by Allah, I did not hesitate, but fell upon
+the ragout and ate my fill of it. Then I wiped my hands, but
+forgot to wash them and sat till it grew dark, when they lit the
+candles and the singing-women came with tambourines and proceeded
+to display the bride and carry her in procession from room to
+room, receiving largesse of gold and pieces of silk, till they
+had made the round of the palace. Then they brought her to me and
+disrobed her. When I found myself alone in bed with her, I
+embraced her, hardly believing in my good fortune; but she smelt
+the odour of the ragout on my hands and gave a loud cry, at which
+the maids came running to her from all sides. I was alarmed and
+trembled, not knowing what was the matter, and the girls said to
+her, 'What ails thee, O sister?' Quoth she, 'Take this madman
+away from me: methought he was a man of sense.' 'What makes thee
+think me mad?' asked I. 'O madman,' answered she, 'what made thee
+eat of ragout of cumin-seed, without washing thy hands? By Allah,
+I will punish thee for thy misconduct! Shall the like of thee
+come to bed to the like of me, with unwashed hands?' Then she
+took from her side a whip of plaited thongs and laid on to my
+back and buttocks till I swooned away for the much beating; when
+she said to the maids, 'Take him and carry him to the chief of
+the police, that he may cut off the hand wherewith he ate of the
+ragout and washed it not.' When I heard this, I said, 'There is
+no power and no virtue but in God! Wilt thou cut off my hand,
+because I ate of a ragout and did not wash?' And the girls
+interceded with her, saying, 'O our sister, forgive him this
+once!' But she said, 'By Allah, I must and will dock him of
+somewhat!' Then she went away and I saw no more of her for ten
+days, at the end of which time, she came in to me and said, 'O
+black-a-vice, I will not make peace with thee, till I have
+punished thee for eating ragout of cumin-seed, without washing
+thy hands!' Then she cried out to the maids, who bound me; and
+she took a sharp razor and cut off my thumbs and toes, as ye have
+seen. Thereupon I swooned away and she sprinkled the severed
+parts with a powder which staunched the blood; and I said, 'Never
+again will I eat of ragout of cumin-seed without washing my hands
+forty times with potash, forty times with galingale and forty
+times with soap!' And she took of me an oath to that effect. So
+when the ragout was set before me, my colour changed and I said
+to myself, 'It was this that was the cause of the cutting off of
+my thumbs and toes.' And when ye forced me, I said, 'I must needs
+fulfil the oath I have taken.'" "And what befell thee after
+this?" asked the others. "After this," replied he, "her heart was
+appeased and I lay with her that night. We abode thus awhile,
+till she said to me, one day, 'It befits not that we continue in
+the Khalif's palace: for none ever came hither but thou, and thou
+wonst not in but by the grace of the Lady Zubeideh. Now she has
+given me fifty thousand dinars; so take this money and go out and
+buy us a commodious house.' So I went forth and bought a handsome
+and spacious house, whither she transported all her goods and
+valuables." Then (continued the controller) we ate and went away:
+and after, there happened to me with the hunchback that thou
+wottest of. This then is my story and peace be on thee.' Quoth
+the King, 'This story is not more agreeable than that of the
+hunchback: on the contrary, it is less so, and you must all be
+hanged.' Then came forward the Jewish physician and kissing the
+earth, said, 'O King of the age, I will tell thee a story more
+wonderful than that of the hunchback.' 'Tell on,' answered the
+King; and the Jew said, 'The strangest adventure that ever befell
+me was as follows:
+
+
+
+
+
+The Jewish Physician's Story.
+
+
+
+In my younger days I lived at Damascus, where I studied my art;
+and one day, as I sat in my house, there came to me a servant
+with a summons from the governor of the city. So I followed him
+to the house and entering the saloon, saw, lying on a couch of
+juniper-wood, set with plates of gold, that stood at the upper
+end, a sick youth, never was seen a handsomer. I sat down at his
+head and offered up a prayer for his recovery. He made a sign to
+me with his eyes and I said to him, "O my lord, give me thy
+hand." So he put forth his left hand, at which I wondered and
+said to myself, "By Allah, it is strange that so handsome a
+young man of high family should lack good breeding! This can be
+nothing but conceit." However, I felt his pulse and wrote him a
+prescription and continued to visit him for ten days, at the end
+of which time he recovered and went to the bath, whereupon the
+governor gave me a handsome dress of honour and appointed me
+superintendent of the hospital at Damascus. I accompanied
+him to the bath, the whole of which they had cleared for his
+accommodation, and the servants came in with him and took off his
+clothes within the bath, when I saw that his right hand had been
+newly cut off, and this was the cause of his illness. At this I
+was amazed and grieved for him: then looking at his body I
+saw on it the marks of beating with rods, for which he had used
+ointments. I was perplexed at this and my perplexity appeared in
+my face. The young man looked at me and reading my thought, said
+to me, "O physician of the age, marvel not at my case. I will
+tell thee my story, when we leave the bath." Then we washed and
+returning to his house, partook of food and rested awhile; after
+which he said to me, "What sayest thou to taking the air in the
+garden?" "I will well," answered I; so he bade the slaves carry
+out carpets and cushions and roast a lamb and bring us some
+fruit. They did as he bade them, and we ate of the fruits, he
+using his left hand for the purpose. After awhile, I said to him,
+"Tell me thy story." "O physician of the age," answered he, "hear
+what befell me. Know that I am a native of Mosul and my father
+was the eldest of ten brothers, who were all married, but none of
+them was blessed with children except my father, to whom God had
+vouchsafed me. So I grew up among my uncles, who rejoiced in me
+with exceeding joy, till I came to man's estate. One Friday, I
+went to the chief mosque of Mosul with my father and my uncles,
+and we prayed the congregational prayers, after which all the
+people went out, except my father and uncles, who sat conversing
+of the wonders of foreign lands and the strange things to be seen
+in various cities. At last they mentioned Egypt and one of my
+uncles said, 'Travellers say that there is not on the face of the
+earth aught fairer than Cairo and its Nile.' Quoth my father,
+'Who has not seen Cairo has not seen the world. Its dust is gold
+and its Nile a wonder; its women are houris and its houses
+palaces: its air is temperate and the fragrance of its breezes
+outvies the scent of aloes-wood: and how should it be otherwise,
+being the  mother of the world? Bravo for him who says,' And he
+repeated the following verses:
+
+Shall I from Cairo wend and leave the sweets of its delight? What
+     sojourn after it indeed were worth a longing thought?
+How shall I leave its fertile plains, whose earth unto the scent
+     Is very perfume, for the land contains no thing that's
+     naught?
+It is indeed for loveliness a very Paradise, With all its goodly
+     carpet[FN#84] spread and cushions richly wrought.
+A town that maketh heart and eye yearn with its goodliness,
+     Uniting all that of devout and profligate is sought,
+Or comrades true, by God His grace conjoined in brotherhood,
+     Their meeting-place the groves of palms that cluster round
+     about.
+O men of Cairo, if it be God's will that I depart, Let bonds of
+     friendship and of love unite us still in thought!
+Name not the city to the breeze, lest for its rival lands It
+     steal the perfumes, wherewithal its garden-ways are fraught.
+
+'And if,' added my father, 'you saw its gardens in the evenings,
+with the tree-shadows sloping over them, you would behold a
+marvel and incline to them with delight.' And they fell to
+describing Cairo and the Nile. When I heard their accounts of
+Cairo, my mind dwelt on it and I longed to visit it; and when
+they had done talking, each went to his own dwelling. As for me,
+I slept not that night, for stress of yearning after Egypt, nor
+was meat nor drink pleasant to me. After awhile, my uncles
+prepared to set out for Cairo, and I wept before my father, till
+he made ready for me merchandise and consented to my going wish
+them, saying to them, 'Let him not enter Egypt, but leave him to
+sell his goods at Damascus.' Then I took leave of my father and
+we left Mosul and journeyed till we reached Aleppo, where we
+abode some days. Then we fared on, till we came to Damascus and
+found it a city as it were a paradise, abounding in trees and
+rivers and birds and fruits of all kinds. We alighted at one of
+the Khans, where my uncles tarried awhile, selling and buying:
+and they sold my goods also at a profit of five dirhems on every
+one, to my great satisfaction; after which they left me and went
+on to Egypt, whilst I abode at Damascus in a handsome house, such
+as the tongue fails to describe, which I had hired for two dinars
+a month. Here I remained, eating and drinking and spending the
+money in my hands, till, one day, as I sat at the door of my
+lodging, there came up a young lady, clad in costly apparel,
+never saw my eyes richer. I winked at her; and she entered
+without hesitation. I entered with her and shut the door, and she
+raised her kerchief and did off her veil, when I found her of
+surpassing beauty, and love of her took hold upon my heart. So I
+rose and fetched a tray of the most delicate viands and fruits
+and all that was needed for a carouse, and we ate and sported and
+drank till we were warm with wine. Then I lay with her the most
+delightful of nights, till the morning, when I offered to give
+her ten dinars; but she frowned and knit her brows and said, 'For
+shame! Thinkest thou I covet thy money?' And she took out from
+the bosom of her shift ten dinars and laid them before me,
+saying, 'By Allah, except thou take them, I will never come
+back!' So I accepted them, and she said to me, 'O my beloved,
+expect me again in three days' time, when I will be with thee
+between sundown and nightfall; and do thou provide us with these
+dinars the like of yesterday's entertainment.' So saying, she
+bade me adieu and went away, taking my reason with her. At the
+end of the three days, she came again, dressed in gold brocade
+and wearing richer ornaments than before. I had made ready a
+repast; so we ate and drank and lay together, as before, till the
+morning, when she gave me other ten dinars and appointed me again
+for three days thence. Accordingly, I made ready as before, and
+at the appointed time she came again, more richly dressed than
+ever, and said to me, 'O my lord, am I not fair?' 'Yea, by
+Allah!' answered I. Then she said, 'Wilt thou give me leave to
+bring with me a young lady handsomer than I and younger, that she
+may frolic with us and that thou and she may laugh and make merry
+and rejoice her heart, for she has been sad at heart this long
+time past and has asked me to let her go out and spend the night
+abroad with me?' 'Ay, by Allah!' answered I; and we drank till we
+were warm with wine and slept together till the morning, when she
+gave me twenty dinars and said to me, 'Add to thy usual
+provision, on account of the young lady who will come with me.'
+Then she went away, and on the fourth day, I made ready as usual,
+and soon after sundown she came, accompanied by another damsel,
+wrapped in a veil. They entered and sat down; and when I saw
+them, I repeated the following verses:
+
+How lovely and how pleasant is our day! The railer's absent,
+     reckless of our play,
+Love and delight and wine with us abide, Each one enough to charm
+     the wit away;
+The full moon[FN#85] glitters through the falling veil;
+     Bough-like, the shapes within the vestments sway:
+The rose blooms in the cheeks, and in the eyes Narcissus
+     languishes, in soft decay[FN#86].
+Delight with those I love fulfilled for me And life, as I would
+     have it, fair and gay!
+
+Then I lighted the candles and received them with joy and
+gladness. They put off their outer clothing, and the new damsel
+unveiled her face, when I saw that she was like the moon at its
+full, never beheld I one more beautiful. Then I rose and set meat
+and drink before them, and we ate and drank: and I began to feed
+the new damsel and to fill her cup and drink with her. At this
+the first lady was secretly jealous and said to me, 'Is not this
+girl more charming than I?' 'Ay, by Allah!' replied I. Quoth she,
+'It is my intent that thou lie with her this night.' And I
+answered, 'On my head and eyes!' Then she rose and spread the bed
+for us, and I took the young lady and lay with her that night
+till the morning, when I awoke and found myself wet, as I
+thought, with sweat. I sat up and tried to rouse the damsel, but
+when I shook her by the shoulders, her head rolled off the
+pillow. Thereupon my reason fled and I cried out, saying, 'O
+gracious Protector, extend to me Thy protection!' Then I saw that
+she had been murdered, and the world became black in my sight and
+I sought the lady my first mistress, but could not find her. So I
+knew that it was she who had murdered the girl, out of jealousy,
+and said, 'There is no power and no virtue but in God the Most
+High, the Supreme! What is to be done?' I considered awhile, then
+rose and taking off my clothes, dug a hole midmost the courtyard,
+in which I laid the dead girl, with her jewellery and ornaments,
+and throwing back the earth over her, replaced the marble of the
+pavement. After this I washed and put on clean clothes and taking
+what money I had left, locked up the house and took courage and
+went to the owner of the house, to whom I paid a year's rent,
+telling him that I was about to join my uncles at Cairo. Then I
+set out and journeying to Egypt, foregathered with my uncles, who
+rejoiced in me and I found that they had made an end of selling
+their goods. They enquired the reason of my coming, and I said,
+'I yearned after you;' but did not let them know that I had any
+money with me. I abode with them a year, enjoying the pleasures
+of the city and the Nile and squandering the rest of my money in
+feasting and drinking, till the time drew near for my uncles'
+departure when I hid myself from them and they sought for me, but
+could hear no news of me and said, 'He must have gone back to
+Damascus.' So they departed, and I came out from my hiding and
+sojourned in Cairo three years, sending year by year the rent of
+the house at Damascus to its owner, until at last I had nothing
+left but one year's rent. At this my breast was straitened and I
+set out and journeyed till I reached Damascus, where my landlord
+received me with joy. I alighted at the house and found
+everything locked up as I had left it: so I opened the closets
+and took out what was in them and found under the bed, where I
+had lain with the murdered girl, a necklet of gold set with
+jewels. I took it up and cleansing it of her blood, examined it
+and wept awhile. Then I abode in the house two days and on the
+third day, I went to the bath and changed my clothes. I had now
+no money left and the devil prompted me to sell the necklet, that
+destiny might be accomplished; so I took it to the market and
+handed it to a broker, who made me sit down in the shop of my
+landlord and waited till the market was full, when he took the
+necklet and offered it for sale privily without my knowledge. The
+price bidden for it was two thousand dinars; but the broker
+returned and said to me, 'This necklet is a brass counterfeit of
+Frank manufacture, and a thousand dirhems have been bidden for
+it.' 'Yes,' answered I; 'I knew it to be brass, for we had it
+made for such an one, that we might mock her: and now my wife has
+inherited it and we wish to sell it; so go and take the thousand
+dirhems.' When the broker heard this, his suspicions were roused;
+so he carried the necklet to the chief of the market, who took it
+to the prefect of police and said to him, 'This necklet was
+stolen from me, and we have found the thief in the habit of a
+merchant.' So the officers fell on me unawares and brought me to
+the prefect, who questioned me and I told him what I had told the
+broker: but he laughed and said, 'This is not the truth.' Then,
+before I knew what was toward, his people stripped me and beat me
+with rods on my sides, till for the smart of the blows I said, 'I
+did steal it,' bethinking me that it was better to confess that I
+stole it than let them know that she who owned it had been
+murdered in my house, lest they should put me to death for her.
+So they wrote down that I had stolen it and cut off my hand. The
+stump they seared with boiling oil and I swooned away: but they
+gave me wine to drink, and I revived and taking up my hand, was
+returning to my lodging, when the landlord said to me, 'After
+what has passed, thou must leave my house and look for another
+lodging, since thou art convicted of theft.' 'O my lord,' said I,
+'have patience with me two or three days, till I look me out a
+new lodging.' 'So be it,' he answered and I returned to the
+house, where I sat weeping and saying, 'How shall I return
+to my people with my hand cut off and they know not that I am
+innocent?' Then I abode in sore trouble and perplexity for two
+days, and on the third day the landlord came in to me, and with
+him some officers of police and the chief of the market, who had
+accused me of stealing the necklace. I went out to them and
+enquired what was the matter, but they seized on me, without
+further parley, and tied my hands behind me and put a chain about
+my neck, saying, 'The necklet that was with thee has been shown
+to the Governor of Damascus, and he recognizes it as one that
+belonged to his daughter, who has been missing these three
+years.' When I heard this, my heart sank within me, and I said to
+myself, 'I am lost without resource; but I must needs tell the
+governor my story; and if he will, let him kill me, and if he
+will, let him pardon me.' So they carried me to the governor's
+house and made me stand before him. When he saw me, he looked at
+me out of the corner of his eye and said to those present, 'Why
+did ye cut off his hand? This man is unfortunate and hath
+committed no offense; and indeed ye wronged him in cutting off
+his hand.' When I heard this, I took heart and said to him, 'By
+Allah, O my lord, I am no thief! But they accused me of this
+grave offence and beat me with rods in the midst of the market,
+bidding me confess, till for the pain of the beating, I lied
+against myself and confessed to the theft, although I am
+innocent.' 'Fear not,' said the governor; 'no harm shall come to
+thee.' Then he laid the chief of the market under arrest, saying
+to him, 'Give this man the price of his hand, or I will hang thee
+and seize on all thy goods.' And he cried out to the officers,
+who took him and dragged him away, leaving me with the governor,
+who made his people unbind me and take the chain off my neck.
+Then he looked at me and said, 'O my son, speak the truth and
+tell me how thou camest by the necklet.' And he repeated the
+following verse:
+
+To tell the whole truth is thy duty, although It bring thee to
+     burn on the brasier of woe!
+
+'By Allah, O my lord,' answered I, 'such is my intent!' And I
+told him all that had passed between me and the first lady and
+how she had brought the second one to me and had slain her out of
+jealousy. When he heard my story, he shook his head and beat hand
+upon hand; then putting his handkerchief to his eyes, wept awhile
+and repeated the following verses:
+
+I see that Fortune's maladies are many upon me, For, every
+     dweller in the world, sick unto death is he.
+To every gathering of friends there comes a parting day: And few
+     indeed on earth are those that are from parting free?
+
+Then he turned to me and said, 'Know, O my son, that she who
+first came to thee was my eldest daughter. I brought her up in
+strict seclusion and when she came to womanhood, I sent her to
+Cairo and married her to my brother's son. After awhile, he died
+and she came back to me: but she had learnt profligate habits
+from the natives of Cairo: so she visited thee four times and at
+last brought her younger sister. Now they were sisters by the
+same mother and much attached to each other; and when this
+happened to the elder, she let her sister into her secret, and
+she desired to go out with her. So she asked thy leave and
+carried her to thee; after which she returned alone, and I
+questioned her of her sister, finding her weeping for her; but
+she said, "I know nothing of her." However, after this, she told
+her mother privily what had happened and how she had killed her
+sister; and her mother told me. Then she ceased not to weep and
+say, "By Allah, I will never leave weeping for her till I die!"
+And so it fell out. This, O my son, is what happened, and now I
+desire that thou baulk me not in what I am about to say to thee;
+it is that I purpose to marry thee to my youngest daughter, for
+she is a virgin and born of another mother, and I will take no
+dower from thee, but on the contrary will appoint thee an
+allowance, and thou shalt be to me as my very son.' 'I will
+well,' replied I; 'how could I hope for such good fortune?' Then
+he sent at once for the Cadi and the witnesses and married me to
+his daughter, and I went in to her. Moreover, he got me a large
+sum of money from the chief of the market and I became in high
+favour with him. Soon after, news came to me that my father was
+dead so the governor despatched a courier to fetch me the
+property he had left behind him, and now I am living in all
+prosperity. This is how I came to lose my right hand." His story
+amazed me (continued the Jew) and I abode with him three days,
+after which he gave me much money and I set out and travelled,
+till I reached this thy city. The sojourn liked me well, so I
+took up my abode here and there befell me what thou knowest with
+the hunchback.' Quoth the King, 'This thy story is not more
+wonderful than that of the hunchback, and I will certainly hang
+you all. However, there still remains the tailor, who was the
+head of the offending.' Then he said to the tailor, 'O tailor, if
+thou canst tell me aught more wonderful than the story of the
+hunchback, I will pardon you all your offenses.' So the tailor
+came forward and said, 'Know, O King of the age, that a most rare
+thing happened to me yesterday before I fell in with the
+hunchback.
+
+
+
+
+
+The Tailor's Story.
+
+
+
+Yesterday morning early I was at an entertainment given by a
+friend of mine, at which there were assembled near twenty men of
+the people of the city, amongst them tailors and silk-weavers and
+carpenters and other craftsmen. As soon as the sun had risen,
+they set food before us that we might eat, when behold, the
+master of the house entered, and with him a comely young man, a
+stranger from Baghdad, dressed in the finest of clothes and
+perfectly handsome, except that he was lame. He saluted us, while
+we rose to receive him; and he was about to sit down, when he
+espied amongst us a certain barber; whereupon he refused to sit
+and would have gone away. But we stopped him and the host seized
+him and adjured him, saying, "What is the reason of thy coming in
+and going out again at once?" "By Allah, O my lord," answered he,
+"do not hinder me, for the cause of my turning back is yonder
+barber of ill-omen sitting there." When the host heard this, he
+wondered and said, "How comes this young man, who is from
+Baghdad. to be troubled in his mind about this barber?" Then we
+looked at the young man and said to him, "Tell us the reason of
+thine anger against the barber." "O company," replied he, "there
+befell me a strange adventure with this barber in my native city
+of Baghdad; he was the cause of the breaking of my leg and of my
+lameness, and I have sworn that I will never sit in the same
+place with him nor tarry in any city of which he is an
+inhabitant. I left Baghdad, to be rid of him, and took up my
+abode in this city and lo, I find him with you! But now not
+another night shall pass, before I depart hence." So we begged
+him to sit down and tell us what had passed between him and the
+barber in Baghdad, whereat the latter changed colour and hung
+down his head. Then said the young man, "Know, O company, that my
+father was one of the chief merchants of Baghdad, and God had
+vouchsafed him no child but myself. When I grew up to man's
+estate, my father was translated to the mercy of God, leaving me
+great wealth in money and slaves and servants, and I began to
+dress handsomely and feed daintily. Now God had made me a hater
+of women, and one day, as I was going along one of the streets of
+Baghdad, a company of women stopped the way before me; so I fled
+from them, and entering a by-street without an outlet, sat down
+upon a stone bench at the other end. I had not sat long, before
+the lattice of one of the houses in the street opened and a young
+lady, as she were the moon at its full, never in my life saw I
+her like, put forth her head and began to water some flowers she
+had on the balcony. Then she turned right and left and seeing me
+watching her, smiled and shut the window and went away.
+Therewithal, fire flamed up in my heart and my mind was taken up
+with her, and my hatred (of women) was changed to love. I
+continued sitting there, lost to the world, till sundown, when
+the Cadi of the city came riding up the street, with slaves
+before him and servants behind him, and alighting, entered the
+very house at which the young lady had appeared. By this I
+guessed that he was her father; so I went home, sorrowful, and
+fell on my bed, oppressed with melancholy thoughts. My women came
+in to me and sat round me, puzzled to know what ailed me; but I
+would not speak to them nor answer their questions, and they wept
+and lamented over me. Presently, in came an old woman, who looked
+at me and saw at once what was the matter with me. So she sat
+down at my head and spoke me fair and said, 'O my son, tell me
+what ails thee, and I will bring thee to thy desire.' So I told
+her what had happened to me, and she said, 'O my son, this girl is
+the Cadi's daughter of Baghdad; she is kept in strict seclusion,
+and the window at which thou sawest her is that of her apartment,
+where she dwells alone, her father occupying a great suite of
+rooms underneath. I often visit her, and thou shalt not come at
+her but through me; so gird thy middle and be of good cheer.' So
+saying, she went away, whilst I took comfort at what she said and
+arose in the morning well, to the great satisfaction of my
+people. By-and-by the old woman came in, chopfallen, and said to
+me, 'O my son, do not ask how I have fared with her! When I
+opened the subject to her, she said to me, "An thou leave not
+this talk, pestilent hag that thou art, I will assuredly use thee
+as thou deserves!" But needs must I have at her again.' When I
+heard this, it added sickness to my sickness: but after some
+days, the old woman came again and said to me, 'O my son, I must
+have of thee a present for good news.' With this, life returned
+to me, and I said, 'Whatever thou wilt is thine.' Then said she,
+'O my son, I went yesterday to the young lady, who seeing me
+broken-spirited and tearful-eyed, said to me, "O my aunt, what
+ails thee that I see thy heart thus straitened?" Whereupon I wept
+and replied, "O my lady, I am just come from a youth who loves
+thee and is like to die for thy sake." Quoth she (and indeed her
+heart was moved to pity), "And who is this youth of whom thou
+speakest?" "He is my son," answered I, "and the darling of my
+heart. He saw thee, some days since, at the window, tending thy
+flowers, and fell madly in love with thee. I told him what passed
+between thee and me the other day, whereupon his disorder
+increased and he took to his bed and will surely die." At this
+her colour changed and she said, "Is all this on my account?"
+"Yea, by Allah!" answered I. "What wouldst thou have me do?" Then
+said she, "Go back to him and salute him for me and tell him that
+my sufferings are twice as great as his. And on Friday, before
+the time of prayer, let him come hither and I will come down and
+open the door to him. Then I will carry him to my chamber, where
+we can converse awhile and he can go away, before my father comes
+back from the mosque."' When I heard this, my anguish ceased and
+my heart was comforted. So I took off the clothes I was wearing
+and gave them to the old woman; and she said, 'Be of good cheer.'
+'There is no pain left in me,' answered I; and she went away. My
+household and friends rejoiced in my restoration to health, and I
+abode thus till Friday, when the old woman entered and asked me
+how I did, to which I replied that I was well and in good case.
+Then I dressed and perfumed myself and sat down to await the
+going in of the folk to the mosque, that I might betake myself to
+the young lady. But the old woman said to me, 'Thou hast time and
+to spare; so thou wouldst do well to go to the bath and have thy
+head shaved, to do away the traces of thy disorder.' 'It is well
+thought,' answered I; 'I will first have my head shaved and then
+go to the bath.' Then I said to my servant, 'Go to the market and
+bring me a barber, and look that he be no meddler, but a man of
+sense, who will not split my head with his much talk.' So he went
+out and returned with this wretched old man. When he came in, he
+saluted me, and I returned his salutation. Then said he, 'Surely,
+I see thee thin of body.' And I replied, 'I have been ill.' Quoth
+he, 'God cause affliction and trouble and anxiety to depart from
+thee!' 'May God hear thy prayer!' answered I: and he said, 'Be of
+good cheer, O my lord, for indeed recovery is come to thee. Dost
+thou wish to be polled or let blood? Indeed, it is reported, on
+the authority of Ibn Abbas[FN#87] (whom God accept!), that the
+Prophet said, "Whoso is polled on a Friday, God shall avert from
+him threescore and ten diseases;" and again, "He who is cupped
+on a Friday is safe from loss of sight and a host of other
+ailments."' 'Leave this talk,' said I; 'come, shave my head at
+once, for I am yet weak.' With this he pulled out a handkerchief,
+from which he took an astrolabe with seven plates, mounted in
+silver, and going into the courtyard, held the instrument up to
+the sun's rays and looked for some time. Then he came back and
+said to me, 'Know that eight degrees and six minutes have elapsed
+of this our day, which is Friday, the tenth of Sefer, in the six
+hundred and fifty-third year of the Flight of the Prophet (upon
+whom be the most excellent of blessing and peace!) and the seven
+thousand three hundred and twentieth year of the Alexandrian era,
+and the planet now in the ascendant, according to the rules of
+mathematics, is Mars, which being in conjunction with Mercury,
+denotes a favourable time for cutting hair; and this also
+indicates to me that thou purposest to foregather with some one
+and that your interview will be propitious; but after this there
+occurs a sign, respecting a thing which I will not name to thee.'
+'By Allah,' exclaimed I, 'thou weariest me and pesterest me with
+thy foolish auguries, when I only sent for thee to shave my head!
+So come, shave me at once and give me no more talk.' 'By Allah,'
+rejoined he, 'if thou knewest what is about to befall thee, thou
+wouldst do nothing this day; and I counsel thee to do as I shall
+tell thee, by observation of the stars.' 'By Allah,' said I, 'I
+never saw a barber skilled in astrology except thee: but I think
+and know that thou art prodigal of idle talk. I sent for thee to
+shave my head, and thou plaguest me with this sorry prate!' 'What
+more wouldst thou have!' replied he. 'God hath vouchsafed thee a
+barber, who is an astrologer, versed in the arts of alchemy and
+white magic, syntax, grammar and lexicology, rhetoric and logic,
+arithmetic, astronomy and geometry, as well as in the knowledge
+of the Law and the Traditions of the Prophet and in exegesis.
+Moreover, I have read many books and digested them and have had
+experience of affairs and understand them thoroughly. In short, I
+have examined into all things and studied all arts and crafts and
+sciences and mastered them; and thy father loved me because of my
+lack of officiousness, for which reason my service is obligatory
+on thee. I am no meddler, as thou pretendest, and on this account
+I am known as the Silent, the Grave One. Wherefore it behoves
+thee to give thanks to God and not cross me for I am a true
+counsellor to thee and take an affectionate interest in thee. I
+would I were in thy service a whole year, that thou mightst do me
+justice: and I would ask no hire of thee for this.' When I heard
+this, I said, 'Thou wilt certainly be the death of me this day!'
+'O my lord,' replied he, 'I am he whom the folk call the Silent,
+by reason of my few words, to distinguish me from my six
+brothers, the eldest of whom was called Becbac,[FN#88] the
+second Heddar,[FN#89] the third Fekic,[FN#90] the fourth El
+Kouz el Aswani,[FN#91] the fifth El Feshar,[FN#92] the sixth
+Shecashic[FN#93] and the seventh (myself) Samit[FN#94].' Whilst
+he thus overwhelmed me with his talk, I thought my gall-bladder
+would burst so I said to the servant, 'Give him a quarter-dinar
+and let him go, for God's sake! I won't have my head shaved
+to-day.' 'What words are these, O my lord?' said he. 'By Allah, I
+will take no hire of thee till I have served thee; and needs must
+I serve thee, for indeed it is incumbent on me to do so and
+fulfil thy need; and I care not if I take no money of thee. If
+thou knowest not my worth, I know thine; and I owe thy father
+(may God the Most High have mercy on him!) many a kindness, for
+he was a generous man. By Allah, he sent for me one day as it
+were this blessed day, and I went in to him and found a company
+of his friends with him. He would have had me let him blood; but
+I pulled out my astrolabe and taking an altitude for him, found
+the aspect inauspicious and the hour unfavourable for the letting
+of blood. I told him of this and he conformed to my advice and
+put off the operation to a more convenient season. So I recited
+the following verses in his honour:
+
+I came one day unto my lord, that I might let him blood, But
+     found that for his body's health the season was not good;
+So sat me down and talked with him of many a pleasant thing And
+     all the treasures of my mind before him freely strewed.
+Well pleased, he listened, then, "O mine of knowledge!" he did
+     say, "Thy wit and wisdom overpass the bounds of likelihood!"
+"Not so," quoth I; "my wit indeed were little, but for thee, O
+     prince of men, that pour'st on me thy wisdom like a flood!
+Thou seem'st indeed the lord of grace, bounty and excellence,
+     World's treasure-house of knowledge, wit, sense and
+     mansuetude!"
+
+Thy father was charmed and cried out to the servant, saying,
+"Give him a hundred and three dinars and a dress of honour." The
+servant did as he bade, and I waited till a favourable moment,
+when I let him blood; and he did not cross me, but thanked me,
+and all present also praised me. When the cupping was over, I
+could not help saying to him, "By Allah, O my lord, what made
+thee say to the servant, 'Give him a hundred and three dinars'?"
+Quoth he, "One dinar was for the astrological observation,
+another for thine entertaining converse, the third for the
+bloodletting and the remaining hundred and the dress for thy
+verses in my honour."' 'May God show no mercy to my father,'
+exclaimed I, 'for knowing the like of thee?' He laughed and said,
+'There is no god but God and Mohammed is His Apostle! Glory be to
+Him who changes but is not changed! I took thee for a man of
+sense; but I see thou dotest for illness. God says, in His
+precious Book, that Paradise is prepared for "those who restrain
+their wrath and forgive men", and in any case thou art excused.
+But I am ignorant of the cause of thy haste, and thou must know
+that thy father and grandfather did nothing without consulting
+me, for indeed it is said that he with whom one takes counsel
+should be trustworthy and that he who takes counsel shall not be
+disappointed. It is said also that he who hath not an elder (to
+advise him) will never be an elder himself; and indeed the poet
+says:
+
+Ere thou decide to venture thyself in aught, Consult an
+     experienced man and cross him not.
+
+And indeed thou wilt find none better versed in affairs than I,
+and I am here standing on my feet to serve thee. I am not vexed
+with thee: why shouldst thou be vexed with me? But I will bear
+with thee for the sake of the favours I owe thy father.' 'By
+Allah,' exclaimed I, 'O thou whose tongue is as long as a
+jackass's tail, thou persistest in pestering me with talk and
+pelting me with words, when all I want of thee is to shave my
+head and take thyself off!' Then he lathered my head, saying, 'I
+know that thou art vexed with me, but I bear thee no malice; for
+thy wit is weak and thou art a boy: it was but yesterday I took
+thee on my shoulders and carried thee to the school' 'O my
+brother,'. cried I, 'for God's sake, do what I want and go thy
+way!' And I rent my clothes. When he saw me do this, he took the
+razor and fell to sharpening it and stinted not, till I was
+well-nigh distraught. Then he came up to me and shaved a part of
+my head, then held his hand and said, 'O my lord, hurry is of the
+Devil and deliberation of the Merciful One. Methinks thou knowest
+not my station; verily my hand falls on the heads of kings and
+amirs and viziers and sages and learned men: and it was of me the
+poet said:
+
+All the trades are like necklets of jewels and gold And this
+     barber indeed's the chief pearl of the strings.
+He excelleth all others that boast of their skill. And under his
+     hand are the topknots of kings.'
+
+'Leave what concerns thee not,' said I: 'indeed thou hast
+straitened my breast and troubled my mind.' Quoth he, Meseems
+thou art in haste. 'Yes, yes, yes!' answered I, and he, 'Thou
+wouldst do well to proceed with deliberation, for haste is of the
+Devil and bequeaths repentance and disappointment. Verily he upon
+whom be blessing and peace[FN#95] hath said, "The best affair is
+that which is undertaken with deliberation." By Allah, thy case
+troubles me, and I would have thee let me know what it is thou
+art in such haste to do, for I fear me it is other than good.'
+Then said he, 'It wants three hours yet of the time of prayer.
+However, I do not wish to be in doubt as to this, but am minded
+to know the time for certain; for speech, when it is conjectural,
+is but faulty, especially in the like of me, whose merit is plain
+and known of all men; and it does not befit me to talk at random,
+as do the common sort of astrologers.' So saying, he threw down
+the razor and taking up the astrolabe, went out under the sun and
+stood a long while, after which he returned and said to me, 'It
+wants three hours of the time of prayer, neither more nor less.'
+'By Allah,' answered I, 'hold thy tongue, for thou breakest my
+heart in pieces!' So he took his razor and after sharpening it as
+before, shaved another part of my head. Then he said, 'I am
+concerned about thy haste; and indeed thou wouldst do well to
+tell me the cause of it, for thou knowest that thy father and
+grandfather did nothing without my counsel.' When I saw that
+there was no getting rid of him, I said to myself, 'The time of
+prayer draws near and I wish to go to her before the folk come
+out from the mosque. If I am delayed much longer, I know not
+how I shall come at her.' Then I said to him, 'Be quick and
+leave this prating and officiousness, for I have to go to an
+entertainment at the house of one of my friends.' When he heard
+me speak of an entertainment, he said, 'This thy day is a blessed
+one for me! Verily, yesterday I invited a party of my intimate
+friends and I have forgotten to provide aught for them to eat. I
+bethought me of it but now, on hearing thee speak of an
+entertainment. Alack, how I shall be disgraced in their eyes!'
+'Be in no concern for that,' answered I. 'Have I not told thee
+that I am bidden abroad to-day? All the meat and drink in the
+house shall be thine, so thou despatch my affair and make haste
+to shave my head.' 'God requite thee with good!' rejoined he.
+'Tell me what thou hast for my guests, that I may know.' Quoth I,
+'I have five dishes of meat and ten fricasseed fowls and a
+roasted lamb.' 'Bring them out to me,' said he, 'that I may see
+them.' So I had all this brought, and when he saw it, he said,
+'There lacks the wine.' 'I have a flagon or two in the house,'
+answered I; and he said, 'Have it brought out.' So I sent for it,
+and he exclaimed, 'God bless thee for a generous soul! But there
+are still the perfumes and the essences.' So I brought him a box,
+containing fifty dinars' worth of aloes-wood and ambergris and
+musk and other perfumes. By this, the time began to run short and
+my heart was straitened; so I said to him, 'Take it all and
+finish shaving my head, by the life of Mohammed, whom God bless
+and preserve!' 'By Allah,' said he, 'I will not take it till
+I see all that is in it.' So I made the servant open the box,
+and the barber threw down the astrolabe and sitting down on
+the ground, turned over the contents, till I was well-nigh
+distracted. Then he took the razor and coming up to me, shaved
+some little of my head and recited the following verse:
+
+The boy after his father's guise grows up and follows suit As
+     surely as the tree springs up from out its parent root.
+
+Then said he, 'O my son, I know not whether to thank thee or thy
+father; for my entertainment to-day is all due to thy kindness
+and liberality, and none of my company is worthy of it; though I
+have none but men of consideration, such as Zentout the
+bath-keeper and Selya the corn-chandler and Silet the bean-seller
+and Akresheh the grocer and Hemid the scavenger and Said the
+camel-driver and Suweyd the porter and Abou Mukarish the
+bathman[FN#96] and Cassim the watchman and Kerim the groom.
+There is not among them all one curmudgeon or make-bate or
+meddler or spoil-sport; each has his own dance that he dances
+and his own couplets that he repeats, and the best of them is
+that they are like thy servant, knowing not abundance of talk
+nor meddlesomeness. The bath-keeper sings enchantingly to the
+tambourine and dances and says, "I am going, O my mother, to fill
+my jar!" As for the corn-chandler, he brings more skill to it
+than any of them; he dances and says, "O mourner, my mistress,
+thou dost not fall short!" and draws the very heart out of one
+for laughing at him. Whilst the scavenger sings, so that the
+birds stop to listen to him, and dances and says, "News with my
+wife is not kept in a chest!" And indeed he is a witty,
+accomplished rogue, and of his excellence I use to say the
+following:
+
+My life redeem the scavenger! I love him passing dear, For, in
+     his goodly gait, he's like the zephyr-shaken bough.
+Fate blessed my eyes with him one night; and I to him did say,
+     (Whilst in my bosom, as I spoke, desire did ebb and flow,)
+"Thou'st lit thy fire within my heart!" Whereto he answer made
+     "What wonder though the scavenger have turned a
+     fire-man[FN#97] now?"
+
+And indeed each is perfection in all that can charm the wit with
+mirth and jollity. But hearing is not like seeing; and indeed if
+thou wilt join us and put off going to thy friends, it will be
+better both for us and for thee: for the traces of sickness are
+yet upon thee and belike thou art going amongst talkative folk,
+who will prate of what does not concern them, or there may be
+amongst them some impertinent busybody who will split thy head,
+and thou still weak from illness.' 'This shall be for another
+day,' answered I and laughed in spite of my anger. 'Finish what
+thou hast to do for me and go in peace and enjoy thyself with thy
+friends, for they will be awaiting thy coming.' 'O my lord,'
+replied he, 'I only seek to bring thee in company with these
+pleasant folk, amongst whom there is neither meddlesomeness nor
+excess of talk; for never, since I came to years of discretion,
+could I endure to consort with those who ask of what concerns
+them not, nor with any except those who are, like myself, men of
+few words. Verily, if thou wert once to see them and company with
+them, thou wouldst forsake all thy friends.' 'God fulfil thy
+gladness with them!' rejoined I. 'Needs must I foregather with
+them one of these days.' And he said, 'I would it were to be
+to-day, for I had made up my mind that thou shouldst make one of
+us: but if thou must indeed go to thy friends to-day, I will take
+the good things, with which thy bounty hath provided me for them,
+to my guests, and leave them to eat and drink, without waiting
+for me, whilst I return to thee in haste and accompany thee
+whither thou goest; for there is no ceremony between me and my
+friends to hinder me from leaving them.' 'There is no power and
+no virtue but in God the Most High, the Supreme!' cried I. 'Go
+thou to thy friends and make merry with them and let me go to
+mine and be with them this day, for they expect me.' 'I will
+not let thee go alone,' replied he: and I said, 'None can enter
+where I am going but myself.' Then said he, 'I believe thou
+hast an assignation with some woman to-day; else thou wouldst
+take me with thee, for it is the like of me that furnishes a
+merry-making; or if thou go to any one with whom thou wouldst be
+private, I am the fittest of all men for thy purpose, for I would
+help thee to what thou desirest and look that none saw thee. I
+fear lest thou go in to some strange woman and lose thy life; for
+in this city one cannot do aught of the kind, especially on a day
+like this and under so keen and masterful a chief of the police
+as ours of Baghdad.' 'Out on thee, O wretched old man!' cried I.
+'Avaunt! what words are these thou givest me?' 'O dolt!' rejoined
+he, 'thou sayest to me what is not true and hidest thy mind from
+me; but I know that this is so and am certain of it, and I only
+seek to help thee this day.' I was fearful lest my people or the
+neighbours should hear the barber's talk, so kept silence, whilst
+he finished shaving my head; by which time the hour of prayer was
+come and it was wellnigh time for the exhortation.[FN#98] When he
+had done, I said to him, 'Take the meat and drink and carry them
+to thy friends. I will await thy return.' For I thought it best
+to dissemble with the accursed fellow and feign compliance with
+his wishes, so haply he might go away and leave me. Quoth he,
+'Thou art deceiving me and wilt go alone and cast thyself into
+some peril, from which there will be no escape for thee. For
+God's sake, do not go till I return, that I may accompany thee
+and see what comes of thine affair.' 'It is well,' answered I:
+'do not be long absent.' Then he took all that I had given him
+and went out; but, instead of going home with it, the cursed
+fellow delivered it to a porter, to carry to his house, and hid
+himself in a by-street. As for me, I rose at once, for the
+Muezzins had already chanted the Salutation,[FN#99] and, dressing
+myself in haste, went out and hurried to the house where I had
+seen the young lady. I found the old woman standing at the door,
+awaiting me, and went up with her to the young lady's apartment.
+Hardly had I done so, when the master of the house returned from
+the mosque and entering the saloon, shut the door. I looked out
+from the window and saw this barber (God's malison on him!)
+sitting over against the door, and said, 'How did this devil find
+me out?' At this moment, as God had decreed it for my undoing, it
+befell that a slave-girl belonging to the master of the house
+committed some offence, for which he beat her. She cried out, and
+a male slave came in to deliver her, whereupon the Cadi beat him
+also, and he too cried out. The cursed barber concluded that it
+was I he was beating and fell to tearing his clothes and strewing
+dust on his head, shrieking and calling for help. So the folk
+came round him, and he said to them, 'My master is being murdered
+in the Cadi's house!' Then he ran, shrieking, to my house, with
+the folk after him, and told my people and servants: and before I
+knew what was forward, up they came, with torn clothes and
+dishevelled hair, calling out, 'Alas, our master!' and the barber
+at their head, in a fine pickle, tearing his clothes and
+shouting. They made for the house in which I was, headed by the
+barber, crying out, 'Woe is us for our murdered master!' And the
+Cadi, hearing the uproar at his door, said to one of his
+servants, 'Go and see what is the matter.' The man went out and
+came back, saying, 'O my lord, there are more than ten thousand
+men and women at the door, crying out, "Woe is us for our
+murdered master!" and pointing to our house.' When the Cadi heard
+this, he was troubled and vexed; so he went to the door and
+opening it, saw a great concourse of people; whereat he was
+amazed and said, 'O folk, what is the matter?' 'O accursed one, O
+dog, O hog,' replied my servants, 'thou hast killed our master!'
+Quoth he, 'And what has your master done to me that I should kill
+him? Behold, this my house is open to you!' 'Thou didst beat him
+but now with rods,' answered the barber; 'for I heard his cries.'
+'What has he done that I should beat him?' repeated the Cadi;
+'and what brings him into my house?' 'Be not a vile, perverse old
+man!' replied the barber; 'I know the whole story. The long and
+the short of it is that thy daughter is in love with him and he
+with her; and when thou knewest that he had entered the house,
+thou badest thy servants beat him, and they did so. By Allah,
+none shall judge between us and thee but the Khalif! So bring us
+out our master, that his people may take him, before I go and
+fetch him forth of thy house and thou be put to shame.' When the
+Cadi heard this, he was dumb for amazement and confusion before
+the people, but presently said to the barber, 'If thou speak
+truth, come in and fetch him out.' Whereupon the barber pushed
+forward and entered the house. When I saw this, I looked about
+for a means of escape, but saw no hiding-place save a great chest
+that stood in the room. So I got into the chest and pulled the
+lid down on me and held my breath. Hardly had I done this, when
+the barber came straight to the place where I was and catching up
+the chest, set it on his head and made off with it in haste. At
+this, my reason forsook me and I was assured that he would not
+let me be; so I took courage and opening the chest, threw myself
+to the ground. My leg was broken in the fall, and the door of the
+house being opened, I saw without a great crowd of people. Now I
+had much gold in my sleeve, which I had provided against the like
+of this occasion; so I fell to scattering it among the people, to
+divert their attention from me; and whilst they were busy
+scrambling for it, I set off running through the by-streets of
+Baghdad, and this cursed barber, whom nothing could divert from
+me, after me. Wherever I went, he followed, crying out, 'They
+would have bereft me of my master and slain him who has been a
+benefactor to me and my family and friends! But praised be God
+who aided me against them and delivered my lord from their hands!
+Where wilt thou go now? Thou persistedst in following thine own
+evil devices, till thou broughtest thyself to this pass, and if
+God had not vouchsafed me to thee, thou hadst never won free from
+this strait, for they would have plunged thee into irremediable
+ruin. How long dost thou expect I shall live to save thee? By
+Allah, thou hast well-nigh undone me by thy folly and thy
+perverseness in wishing to go by thyself! But I will not reproach
+thee with ignorance, for thou art little of wit and hasty.' 'Does
+not what thou hast brought upon me suffice thee,' replied I, 'but
+thou must pursue me with the like of this talk through the public
+streets?' And I well-nigh gave up the ghost for excess of rage
+against him. Then I took refuge in the shop of a weaver in the
+midst of the market and sought protection of the owner, who drove
+the barber away. I sat down in the back shop and said to myself,
+'If I return home, I shall never be able to get rid of this
+accursed barber, for he will be with me night and day, and I
+cannot endure the sight of him.' So I sent out at once for
+witnesses and made a will, dividing the greater part of my money
+among my people, and appointed a guardian over them, to whom I
+committed the charge of great and small directing him to sell my
+house and estates. Then I set out at once on my travels, that I
+might be free of this ruffian, and came to settle in your town,
+where I have lived for some time. When you invited me and I came
+hither the first thing I saw was this accursed pimp seated in the
+place of honour. How, then, can I be at my ease and how can it be
+pleasant to me to consort with you, in company with this fellow,
+who brought all this upon me and was the cause of the breaking of
+my leg and of my exile from my country and family?" And he
+refused to sit down and went away. When we heard the young man's
+story (continued the tailor), we were beyond measure amazed and
+diverted and said to the barber, "Is it true that this young man
+says of thee?" "By Allah," replied he, "I dealt thus with him of
+my courtesy and good sense and humanity. But for me, he had
+perished and none but I was the cause of his escape. Well for him
+that it was in his leg that he suffered and not in his life! Were
+I a man of many words or a busybody, I had not done him this
+kindness; but now I will tell you something that happened to me,
+that ye may know that I am indeed sparing of speech and no
+impertinent meddler, as were my six brothers; and it is this:
+
+
+
+
+
+The Barber's Story.
+
+
+
+I was living at Baghdad, in the time of the Khalif Mustensir
+Billah,[FN#100] who loved the poor and needy and companied with
+the learned and the pious. One day, it befell that he was wroth
+with a band of highway robbers, ten in number, who infested the
+neighbourhood, and ordered the chief of the Baghdad police to
+bring them before him on the day of the Festival. So the prefect
+sallied out and capturing the robbers, embarked with them in a
+boat. I caught sight of them, as they were embarking, and said to
+myself, 'These people are surely bound on some party of pleasure;
+methinks they mean to spend the day in eating and drinking, and
+none shall be their messmate but I.' So, of the greatness of my
+courtesy and the gravity of my understanding, I embarked in the
+boat and mingled with them. They rowed across to the opposite
+bank, where they landed, and there came up soldiers and police
+officers with chains, which they put round the necks of the
+robbers. They chained me with the rest, and, O company, is it not
+a proof of my courtesy and spareness of speech that I kept
+silence and did not choose to speak? Then they took us away in
+chains and next morning they carried us all before the Commander
+of the Faithful, who bade strike off the heads of the ten
+robbers. So the herdsman came forward and made us kneel before
+him on the carpet of blood;[FN#101] then drawing his sword,
+struck off one head after another, till none was left but
+myself. The Khalif looked at me and said to the headsman, 'What
+ails thee thou thou struck off but nine heads?' 'God forbid,'
+replied he, 'that I should behead only nine, when thou didst
+order me to behead ten!' Quoth the Khalif, 'Meseems, thou hast
+beheaded but nine and he who is before thee is the tenth.' 'By
+thy munificence,' replied the headsman, 'I have beheaded ten!' So
+they counted the dead men, and behold, they were ten. Then said
+the Khalif to me, 'What made thee keep silence at such a time and
+how camest thou in company with these men of blood? Thou art a
+man of great age, but assuredly thy wit is but little.' When I
+heard the Khalif's words, I replied, 'Know, O Commander of the
+Faithful, that I am the Silent Elder, and am thus called to
+distinguish me from my six brothers. I am a man of great
+learning, whilst, as for the gravity of my understanding, the
+excellence of my apprehension and the spareness of my speech,
+there is no end to them; and by craft I am a barber. I went out
+early yesterday morning and saw these ten men making for a boat,
+and thinking they were bound on a party of pleasure, joined
+myself to them and embarked with them. After awhile, there came
+up the officers, who put chains round their necks and round mine
+amongst the rest, but in the excess of my courtesy, I kept
+silence and did not speak, nor was this other than generosity on
+my part. Then they brought us before thee and thou didst order
+the ten robbers' heads to be stricken off; yet did I not make
+myself known to thee, purely of my great generosity and courtesy,
+which led me to share with them in their death. But all my life
+have I dealt thus nobly with the folk, and they still requite me
+after the foulest fashion.' When the Khalif heard what I said and
+knew that I was a man of exceeding generosity and few words and
+no meddler (as this young man would have it, whom I rescued from
+horrors and who has so scurvily repaid me), he laughed so
+immoderately that he fell backward. Then said he to me, 'O silent
+man, are thy six brothers like thee distinguished for wisdom and
+knowledge and spareness of speech?' 'Never were they like me,'
+answered I; 'thou dost me injustice, O Commander of the Faithful,
+and it becomes thee not to even my brothers with me: for, of the
+abundance of their speech and their lack of conduct and courtesy,
+each one of them has gotten some bodily defect. One is blind of
+an eye, another paralysed, a third blind, a fourth cropped of the
+ears and nose, a fifth crop-lipped and a sixth hunchbacked and a
+cripple. Thou must not think, O Commander of the Faithful, that I
+am a man of many words; but I must needs explain to thee that I
+am a man of greater worth and of fewer words than they. By each
+one of my brothers hangs a tale of how he came by his defect,
+[FN#102] and these I will relate to thee. Know then, O Commander
+of the Faithful that
+
+
+
+
+
+Story of the Barber's First Brother.
+
+
+
+My first brother, the hunchback, was a tailor in Baghdad, and
+plied his craft in a shop, which he hired of a very rich man, who
+dwelt over against him and had a mill in the lower part of the
+house. One day, as my brother the hunchback was sitting in his
+shop, sewing, he chanced to raise his head and saw, at the
+bay-window of his landlord's house, a lady like the rising full
+moon, engaged in looking at the passers-by. His heart was taken
+with love of her and he passed the day gazing at her and
+neglecting his business, till the evening. Next day, he opened
+his shop and sat down to sew: but as often as he made a stitch,
+he looked at the bay-window and saw her as before; and his
+passion and infatuation for her redoubled. On the third day, as
+he was sitting in his usual place, gazing on her, she caught
+sight of him, and perceiving that he had fallen a captive to her
+love, smiled in his face, and he smiled back at her. Then she
+withdrew and sent her slave-girl to him with a parcel of red
+flowered silk. The girl accosted him and said to him, "My lady
+salutes thee and would have thee cut out for her, with a skilful
+hand, a shift of this stuff and sew it handsomely." "I hear and
+obey," answered he; and cut out the shift and made an end of
+sewing it the same day. Next morning early, the girl came back
+and said to him, "My mistress salutes thee and would fain know
+how thou hast passed the night; for she has not tasted sleep by
+reason of her heart being taken up with thee." Then she laid
+before him a piece of yellow satin and said to him, "My mistress
+bids thee cut her two pairs of trousers of this stuff and sew
+them this day." "I hear and obey," answered he; "salute her for
+me with abundant salutation and say to her, 'Thy slave is
+obedient to thy commands so order him as thou wilt.'" Then he
+applied himself to cut out the trousers and used all diligence in
+sewing them. Presently the lady appeared at the window and
+saluted him by signs, now casting down her eyes and now smiling
+in his face, so that he made sure of getting his will of her. She
+did not let him budge till he had finished the two pairs of
+trousers, when she withdrew and sent the slave-girl, to whom he
+delivered them, and she took them and went away. When it was
+night, he threw himself on his bed and tossed from side to side,
+till morning, when he rose and sat down in his shop. By-and-by,
+the slave-girl came to him and said, "My master calls for thee."
+When he heard this, he was afraid; but the girl, seeing his
+alarm, to him, "Fear not: nought but good shall befall thee. My
+lady would have thee make acquaintance with my master." So my
+brother rejoiced greatly and went out with her. When he came into
+his landlord's presence he kissed the earth before him, and the
+latter returned his salute; then gave him a great piece of linen,
+saying, "Make this into shirts for me." "I hear and obey,"
+replied my brother, and fell to work at once and cut out twenty
+shirts by nightfall, without stopping to taste food. Then said
+the husband "What is thy hire for this?" "Twenty dirhems,"
+answered my brother. So the man cried out to the slave-girl to
+give him twenty dirhems; but the lady signed to my brother not to
+take them, and he said, "By Allah, I will take nothing from
+thee!" And took his work and went away, though he was sorely in
+want of money. Then he applied himself to do their work, eating
+and drinking but little for three days, in his great diligence.
+At the end of this time, the slave-girl came to him and said,
+"What hast thou done?" Quoth he, "They are finished;" and carried
+the shirts to his landlord, who would have paid him his hire; but
+he said, "I will take nothing," for fear of the lady, and
+returning to his shop, passed the night without sleep for hunger.
+Now the lady had told her husband how the case stood, and they
+had agreed to take advantage of his infatuation to make him sew
+for them for nothing and laugh at him. Next morning, as he sat in
+his shop, the servant came to him and said, "My master would
+speak with thee." So he accompanied her to the husband, who said
+to him, "I wish thee to make me five cassocks." So he cut them
+out and took the stuff and went away. Then he sewed them and
+carried them to the man, who praised his work and offered him a
+purse of money. He put out his hand to take it, but the lady
+signed to him from behind her husband not to do so, and he
+replied, "O my lord, there is no hurry: by-and-by." Then he went
+out, more abject than an ass, for verily five things at once were
+sore upon him, love and beggary and hunger and nakedness and
+toil; nevertheless, he heartened himself with the hope of gaining
+the lady's favours. When he had made an end of all their work,
+they put a cheat upon him and married him to their slave-girl.
+but when he thought to go in to her, they said to him, "Lie this
+night in the mill; and to-morrow all will be well." My brother
+concluded that there was some good reason for this and passed the
+night alone in the mill. Now the husband had set on the miller to
+make my brother turn the mill; so in the middle of the night, the
+miller came in and began to say, "This ox is lazy and stands
+still and will not turn, and there is much wheat to be ground. So
+I will yoke him and make him finish grinding it this night, for
+the folk are impatient for their flour." Then he filled the
+hoppers with grain and going up to my brother, with a rope in his
+hand, bound him to the yoke and said to him, "Come, turn the
+mill! Thou thinkest of nothing but eating and voiding." Then he
+took a whip and laid on to my brother, who began to weep and cry
+out; but none came to his aid, and he was forced to grind the
+wheat till near daylight, when the husband came in and seeing him
+yoked to the shaft and the miller flogging him, went away. At
+daybreak the miller went away and left him still yoked and well
+nigh dead; and soon after in came the slave-girl, who unbound him
+and said to him, "I am grieved for what has befallen thee, and
+both I and my lady are full of concern for thee." But he had no
+tongue wherewith to answer her, for excess of beating and toil.
+Then he returned to his lodging, and presently the notary who had
+drawn up the marriage contract came to him and saluted him,
+saying, "God give thee long life! May thy marriage be blessed!
+Thou hast doubtless passed the night clipping and kissing and
+dalliance from dusk to dawn." "May God curse thee for a liar,
+thousandfold cuckold that thou art!" replied my brother. "By
+Allah, I did nothing but turn the mill in the place of the ox all
+night!" Quoth the notary, "Tell me thy story." So my brother told
+him what had happened, and he said, "Thy star agrees not with
+hers: but if thou wilt, I can alter the contract for thee." And
+my brother answered, "See if thou have another device." Then the
+notary left him and he sat down in his shop, till some one should
+bring him work by which he might earn his day's bread. Presently
+the slave-girl came to him and said, "My mistress would speak
+with thee." "Go, my good girl," replied he; "I will have no more
+to do with thy mistress." So the girl returned to her mistress
+and told her what my brother had said, and presently she put her
+head out of the window, weeping and saying, "O my beloved, why
+wilt thou have no more to do with me?" But he made her no answer.
+Then she swore to him that all that had befallen him in the mill
+was without her sanction and that she was guiltless of the whole
+affair. When he saw her beauty and grace and heard the sweetness
+of her speech, he forgot what had befallen him and accepted her
+excuse and rejoiced in her sight. So he saluted her and talked
+with her and sat at his sewing awhile, after which the servant
+came to him and said, "My mistress salutes thee and would have
+thee to know that her husband purposes to lie this night abroad
+with some intimate friends of his; so when he is gone, do thou
+come to us and pass the night with her in all delight till the
+morning." Now the man had said to his wile, "How shall we do to
+turn him away from thee?" Quoth she, "Let me play him another
+trick and make him a byword in the city." But my brother knew
+nothing of the malice of women. As soon as it was night, the
+servant came to him and carried him to the house; and when the
+lady saw him, she said to him, "By Allah, O my lord, I have been
+longing for thee!" "By Allah," replied he, "make haste and give
+me a kiss first of all." Hardly had he spoken, when the master of
+the house came in from an inner room and seized him, saying, "By
+Allah, I will not let thee go, till I deliver thee to the chief
+of the police." My brother humbled himself to him; but he would
+not listen to him and carried him to the prefect, who gave him a
+hundred lashes with a whip and mounting him on a camel, paraded
+him about the city, whilst the folk proclaimed aloud, "This is
+the punishment of those who violate people's harems!" Moreover,
+he fell off the camel and broke his leg and so became lame. Then
+the prefect banished him from the city and he went forth, not
+knowing whither to turn; but I heard of his mishap and going out
+after him, brought him back and took him to live with me.'
+
+The Khalif laughed at my story and said, 'Thou hast done well, O
+Silent One, O man of few words!' and bade me take a present and
+go away. But I said, 'I will take nothing except I tell thee what
+befell my other brothers: and do not think me a man of many
+words. Know, O Commander of the Faithful, that
+
+
+
+
+
+Story of the Barber's Second Brother.
+
+
+
+My second brother's name was Becbac and he was the paralytic. One
+day, as he was going about his business, an old woman accosted
+him and said to him, "Harkye, stop a little, that I may tell thee
+of somewhat, which, if it please thee, thou shalt do for me." My
+brother stopped and she went on, "I will put thee in the way of a
+certain thing, so thy words be not many." "Say on," replied my
+brother; and she, "What sayest thou to a handsome house and a
+pleasant garden, with running waters and fruits and wine and a
+fair-faced one to hold in thine arms from dark till dawn?" "And
+is all this in the world?" asked my brother. "Yes," answered she;
+"and it shall be thine, so thou be reasonable and leave
+impertinent curiosity and many words and do as I bid thee." "I
+will well, O my lady," rejoined my brother; "but what made thee
+choose me of all men for this affair and what is it pleases thee
+in me?" Quoth she, "Did I not bid thee be sparing of speech? Hold
+thy peace and follow me. Thou must know that the young lady, to
+whom I shall carry thee, loves to have her own way and hates to
+be crossed, so if thou fall in with her humour, thou shalt come
+to thy desire of her." And my brother said, "I will not thwart
+her in aught." Then she went on and he followed her, eager to
+enjoy what she had promised him, till she brought him to a fine
+large house, richly furnished and full of servants, and carried
+him to an upper story. When the people of the house saw him, they
+said to him, "What dost thou here?" But the old woman bade them,
+"Let him be and trouble him not; for he is a workman and we have
+occasion for him." Then she brought him into a fine great
+gallery, with a fair garden in its midst, and made him sit down
+upon a handsome couch. He had not sat long, before he heard a
+great noise and in came a troop of damsels, with a lady in their
+midst, as she were the moon on the night of its full. When he saw
+her, he rose and made an obeisance to her; whereupon she bade him
+welcome and ordered him to be seated. So he sat down and she said
+to him. "God advance thee! Is all well with thee?" "O my lady,"
+replied my brother, "all is well." Then she called for food, and
+they brought her a table richly served. So she sat down to eat,
+making a show of affection to my brother and jesting with him,
+though all the while she could not keep from laughing: but as
+often as he looked at her, she signed towards the waiting-maids,
+as if she laughed at them. My ass of a brother understood
+nothing, but concluded, in the blindness of his doting, that the
+lady was in love with him and would admit him to his desire. When
+they had finished eating, they set on wine, and there came in ten
+damsels like moons, with strung lutes in their hands, and fell a
+singing right melodiously; whereupon delight got hold upon him
+and he took the cup from the lady's hands and drank it off. Then
+she drank a cup of wine, and he rose and bowed to her, saying,
+"Health to thee!" She filled him another cup and he drank it off,
+and she gave him a cuff on the nape of his neck; whereupon he
+rose and went out in a rage; but the old woman followed him and
+winked to him to return. So he came back and the lady bade him
+sit, and he sat down without speaking. Then she dealt him a
+second cuff, and nothing would serve her but she must make all
+her maids cuff him also. Quoth he to the old woman, "Never saw I
+aught finer than this!" And she kept saying, "Enough, enough, I
+conjure thee, O my lady!" The women cuffed him till he was
+well-nigh senseless, and he rose and went out again in a rage;
+but the old woman followed him and said, "Wait a little, and thou
+shalt come to what thou wishest." "How much longer must I wait?"
+asked he. "Indeed I am faint with cuffing." "As soon as she is
+warm with wine," answered she, "thou shalt have thy desire." So
+he returned to his place and sat down, whereupon all the damsels
+rose and the lady bade them fumigate him and sprinkle rose-water
+on his face. Then said she to him, "God advance thee! Thou hast
+entered my house and submitted to my conditions; for whoso
+thwarts me, I turn him away, but he who is patient has his
+desire." "O my lady," replied he, "I am thy slave and in the
+hollow of thy hand." "Know then," continued she, "that God has
+made me passionately fond of frolic, and whoso falls in with my
+humour comes by what he wishes." Then she ordered the damsels to
+sing with loud voices, and they sang, till the whole company was
+in ecstasy: after which she said to one of the maids, "Take thy
+lord and do what is wanting to him and bring him back to me
+forthright." So the damsel took my brother, who knew not what she
+would do with him; but the old woman came up to him and said, "Be
+patient; there remains but little to do." At this his face
+cleared and he said, "Tell me what she would have the maid do
+with me." "Nothing but good," replied she, as I am thy ransom.
+She only wishes to dye thine eyebrows and pluck out thy
+moustaches." Quoth he, "As for the dyeing of my eyebrows, that
+will come off with washing, but the plucking out of my moustaches
+will be irksome." "Beware of crossing her," said the old woman;
+"for her heart is set on thee." So my brother suffered them to
+dye his eyebrows and pluck out his moustaches, after which the
+damsel returned to her mistress and told her. Quoth she, "There
+is one thing more to be done; thou must shave his chin, that he
+may be beardless." So the maid went back and told my brother what
+her mistress bade her do, whereupon cried my fool of a brother,
+"How can I do what will dishonour me among the folk?" But the old
+woman said, "She only wishes to do thus with thee, that thou
+mayst be as a beardless youth and that no hair may be left on thy
+face to prick her; for she is passionately in love with thee. Be
+patient and thou shalt attain thy desire." So he submitted to
+have his beard shaved off and his face rouged, after which they
+carried him back to the lady. When she saw him with his eyebrows
+dyed, his whiskers and moustaches plucked out, his beard shaved
+off and his face rouged, she was affrighted at him, then laughed
+till she fell backward and said, "O my lord, thou hast won my
+heart with thy good nature!" Then she conjured him, by her life,
+to rise and dance; so he began to dance, and there was not a
+cushion in the place but she threw it at him, whilst the damsels
+pelted him with oranges and limes and citrons, till he fell down
+senseless. When he came to himself, the old woman said to him,
+"Now thou hast attained thy desire. There is no more beating for
+thee and there remains but one thing more. It is her wont, when
+she is heated with wine, to let no one have to do with her till
+she put off her clothes and remain stark naked. Then she will bid
+thee strip, in like manner, and run before thee from place to
+place, as if she fled from thee, and thou after her, till thy
+yard be in good point, when she will stop and give herself up to
+thee. So now rise and put off thy clothes." So he rose, well-nigh
+beside himself, and stripped himself stark naked; whereupon the
+lady stripped also and saying to my brother, "Follow me, if thou
+desire aught," set off running in at one place and out at another
+and he after her, transported for desire, till his yard rose, as
+he were mad. Presently she entered a dark passage, and in
+following her, he trod upon a soft place, which gave way with
+him, and before he knew where he was, he found himself in the
+midst of the market of the fell-mongers, who were calling skins
+for sale and buying and selling. When they saw him in this
+plight, naked, with yard on end, shaven face, dyed eyebrows and
+rouged cheeks, they cried out and clapped their hands at him and
+flogged him with skins upon his naked body, till he swooned away;
+when they set him on an ass and carried him to the chief of the
+police, who said, "What is this?" Quoth they, "This fellow came
+out upon us from the Vizier's house, in this plight." So the
+prefect gave him a hundred lashes and banished him from Baghdad.
+However, I went out after him and brought him back privily into
+the city and made him an allowance for his living, though, but
+for my generous disposition, I had not put up with such a fellow.
+
+
+
+
+
+Story of the Barber's Third Brother
+
+
+
+The name of my third brother was Fekic and he was blind. One day,
+chance and destiny led him to a great house and he knocked at the
+door, desiring speech of the owner, that he might beg of him
+somewhat. Quoth the master of the house, "Who is at the door?"
+But my brother was silent and heard him repeat, in a loud voice,
+"Who is there?" Still he made no answer and presently heard the
+master come to the door and open it and say, "What dost thou
+want?" "Charity," replied my brother, "for the love of God the
+Most High!" "Art thou blind?" asked the man; and my brother said,
+"Yes." Quoth the other, "Give me thy hand." So my brother put out
+his hand, thinking that he would give him something; but he took
+it and drawing him into the house, carried him up, from stair to
+stair, till they reached the housetop, my brother thinking the
+while that he would surely give him food or money. Then said
+he to my brother, "What dost thou want, O blind man?" "Charity,
+for the love of God!" repeated my brother. "God succour
+thee!"[FN#103] answered the master of the house. "O man,"
+answered my brother, "why couldst thou not tell me this
+downstairs?" "O loser," answered he, "why didst thou not answer
+me, when I asked who was at the door?" Quoth my brother, "What
+wilt thou with me now?" And the other replied, "I have nothing to
+give thee." "Then take me down again," said my brother. But he
+answered, "The way lies before thee." So my brother rose and made
+his way down the stairs, till he came within twenty steps of the
+door, when his foot slipped and he rolled to the bottom and broke
+his head. Then he went out, knowing not whither to turn, and
+presently fell in with other two blind men, comrades of his, who
+enquired how he had fared that day. He told them what had passed
+and said to them, "O my brothers, I wish to take some of the
+money in my hands and provide my self with it." Now the master of
+the house had followed him and heard what they said, but neither
+my brother nor his fellows knew of this. So my brother went on to
+his lodging and sat down to await his comrades, and the owner of
+the house entered after him without his knowledge. When the other
+blind men arrived, my brother said to them, "Shut the door and
+search the house, lest any stranger have followed us." The
+intruder, hearing this, caught hold of a rope that hung from the
+ceiling and clung to it, whilst the blind men searched the whole
+place, but found nothing. So they came back and sitting down
+beside my brother, brought out their money, which they counted,
+and lo, it was twelve thousand dirhems. Each took what he wanted
+and the rest they buried in a corner of the room. Then they set
+on food and sat down to eat. Presently my brother heard a strange
+pair of jaws wagging at his side; so he said to his comrades,
+"There is a stranger amongst us;" and putting out his hand,
+caught hold of that of the intruder. Therewith they all fell on
+him and beat him, crying out, "O Muslims, a thief is come in to
+us, seeking to take our property!" So much people flocked to
+them, whereupon the owner of the house caught hold of the blind
+men and shutting his eyes, feigned to be blind like unto them, so
+that none doubted of it. Then he complained of them, even as they
+of him, crying out, "O Muslims, I appeal to God and the Sultan
+and the chief of the police! I have a grave matter to make known
+to the chief of the police." At this moment, up came the watch
+and seizing them all, dragged them before the chief of the
+police, who enquired what was the matter. Quoth the spy, "See
+here; thou shalt come at nought except by torture: so begin by
+beating me, and after me, beat this my captain." And he pointed
+to my brother. So they threw the man down and gave him four
+hundred strokes on the backside. The beating pained him, and he
+opened one eye; and as they redoubled their blows, he opened the
+other. When the chief of the police saw this, he said to him,
+"What is this, O accursed one?" "Give me the seal-ring of
+pardon!" replied he. "We are four who feign ourselves blind and
+impose upon people, that we may enter houses and gaze upon women
+and contrive for their corruption. In this way, we have gotten
+much money, even twelve thousand dirhems. So I said to my
+comrades, 'Give me my share, three thousand dirhems.' But they
+fell on me and beat me and took away my money, and I appeal to
+God and thee for protection; better thou have my share than they.
+So, an thou wouldst know the truth of my words, beat each of the
+others more than thou hast beaten me and he will surely open his
+eyes." The prefect bade begin with my brother: so they bound him
+to the whipping-post,[FN#104] and the prefect said, "O rascals,
+do ye abjure the gracious gifts of God and pretend to be blind?"
+"Allah! Allah!" cried my brother, "by Allah, there is not one
+amongst us who can see!" Then they beat him, till he fainted and
+the prefect said, "Leave him till he revives and then beat him
+again." And he caused each of the others to be beaten with more
+than three hundred blows, whilst the sham blind man stood by,
+saying to them, "Open your eyes, or you will be beaten anew."
+Then he said to the prefect, "Send some one with me to fetch the
+money, for these fellows will not open their eyes, lest they be
+put to shame before the folk." So the prefect sent to fetch the
+money and gave the impostor three thousand dirhems to his
+pretended share. The rest he took for himself and banished the
+three blind men from the city. But, O Commander of the Faithful,
+I went out and overtaking my brother, questioned him of his case;
+whereupon he told me what I have told thee. So I carried him back
+privily into the city and appointed him in secret wherewithal to
+eat and drink.' The Khalif laughed at my story and said, 'Give
+him a present and let him go.' By Allah,' rejoined I, 'I will
+take nothing till I have made known to the Commander of the
+Faithful what happened to my other brothers, for I am a man of
+few words.' Then I went on as follows
+
+
+
+
+
+Story of the Barber's Fourth Brother.
+
+
+
+'My fourth brother, the one-eyed, was a butcher at Baghdad, who
+sold meat and reared rams; and the notables and men of wealth
+used to buy meat of him, so that he amassed much wealth and got
+him cattle and houses. He fared thus a long while' till one day,
+as he was sitting in his shop, there came up to him an old man
+with a long beard, who laid down some money and said, "Give me
+meat for this." So he gave him his money's worth of meat, and the
+old man went away. My brother looked at the money he had paid
+him, and seeing that it was brilliantly white, laid it aside by
+itself. The old man continued to pay him frequent visits for five
+months, and my brother threw the money he received from him into
+a chest by itself. At the end of this time, he thought to take
+out the money to buy sheep; so he opened the chest, but found in
+it nothing but white paper, cut round. When he saw this, he
+buffeted his face and cried out, till the folk came round him and
+he told them his story, at which they wondered. Then he rose, as
+of his wont, and slaughtering a ram, hung it up within the shop;
+after which he cut off some of the meat and hung it up outside,
+saying the while, "Would God that pestilent old man would come!"
+And surely before long up came the old man, with his money in his
+hand; whereupon my brother rose and caught hold of him, crying
+out, "Come to my help, O Muslims, and hear what befell me with
+this scoundrel!" When the old man heard this, he said to him, "An
+thou loose me not, I will expose thee before the folk!" "In what
+wilt thou expose me?" asked my brother, and the other replied,
+"In that thou sellest man's flesh for mutton." "Thou liest, O
+accursed one!" cried my brother: and the old man said, "He is the
+accursed one who has a man hanging up in his shop." "If it be as
+thou sayest," rejoined my brother, "I give thee leave to take my
+property and my life." Then said the old man, "Ho, people of the
+city! an ye would prove the truth of my words, enter this man's
+shop." So they rushed into the shop, when they saw the ram was
+become a dead man hanging up and seized on my brother, crying
+out, "O infidel! O villain!" And his best friends fell to beating
+him and saying, "Dost thou give us man's flesh to eat?" Moreover,
+the old man struck him on the eye and put it out. Then they
+carried the carcase to the chief of the police, to whom said the
+old man, "O Amir, this fellow slaughters men and sells their
+flesh for mutton, and we have brought him to thee; so arise and
+execute the justice of God, to whom belong might and majesty!" My
+brother would have defended himself, but the prefect refused to
+hear him and sentenced him to receive five hundred blows with a
+stick and to forfeit all his property. And indeed, but for his
+wealth, they had put him to death. Then he banished him from the
+city and my brother fared forth at a venture, till he came to a
+great city, where he thought well to set up as a cobbler. So he
+opened a shop and fell to working for his living. One day, as he
+went on an occasion, he heard the tramp of horse, and enquiring
+the cause, was told that the King was going out to hunt and
+stopped to look on his state. It chanced that the King's eye met
+his, whereupon he bowed his head, saying, "I take refuge with God
+from the evil of this day!" And drawing bridle, rode back to his
+palace, followed by his retinue. Then he gave an order to his
+guards, who seized my brother and beat him grievously, till he
+was well-nigh dead, without telling him the reason: after which
+he returned to his shop, in a sorry plight, and told one of the
+King's household, who laughed till he fell backward and said to
+him, "O my brother, know that the King cannot endure the sight of
+a one-eyed man; especially if he be blind of the left eye, in
+which case, he does not let him go without killing him." When my
+brother heard this, he resolved to fly that city, so went forth
+and repaired to another country, where he was known of none. Here
+he abode a long while, till one day, being heavy at heart for
+what had befallen him, he went out to divert himself. As he was
+walking along, he heard the tramp of horse behind him; whereupon
+he exclaimed, "The judgment of God is upon me!" and looked out
+for a hiding-place, but found none. At last he saw a closed door,
+and pushing against it, it yielded and he found himself in a long
+corridor, in which he took refuge. Hardly had he done so, when
+two men laid hold of him, exclaiming, "Praise be to God, who hath
+delivered thee into our hands, O enemy of Allah! These three
+nights thou hast bereft us of sleep and given us no peace and
+made us taste the agonies of death!" "O folk," said my brother,
+"what ails you?" And they answered, "Thou givest us the change
+and goest about to dishonour us and to murder the master of the
+house! Is it not enough that thou hast brought him to beggary,
+thou and thy comrades? But give us up the knife, wherewith thou
+threatenest us every night." Then they searched him and found in
+his girdle the knife he used to cut leather; and he said, "O
+folk, have the fear of God before your eyes and maltreat me not,
+for know that my story is a strange one." "What is thy story?"
+asked they. So he told them what had befallen him, hoping that
+they would let him go; however, they paid no heed to what he
+said, but beat him and tore off his clothes, and finding on his
+sides the marks of beating with rods, said, "O accursed one,
+these scars bear witness to thy guilt!" Then they carried him to
+the chief of the police, whilst he said to himself, "I am undone
+for my sins and none can save me but God the Most High!" The
+prefect said to him, "O villain, what made thee enter their house
+with murderous intent?" "O Amir," replied my brother, "I conjure
+thee by Allah, hear my words and hasten not to condemn me!" But
+the two men said to the prefect, "Wilt thou listen to a robber,
+who beggars the folk and has the scars of beating on his back?"
+When the Amir saw the scars on my brother's sides, he said to
+him, "They had not done this to thee, save for some great crime."
+And he sentenced him to receive a hundred lashes. So they flogged
+him and mounting him on a camel, paraded him about the city,
+crying out, "This is the reward and the least of the reward of
+those who break into people's houses!" Then they thrust him forth
+the city, and he wandered at random, till I heard what had
+befallen him and going in search of him, questioned him of his
+case. So he told me all that passed and I carried him back
+privily to Baghdad, where I made him an allowance for his living.
+
+
+
+
+
+Story of the Barber's Fifth Brother.
+
+
+
+My fifth brother, he of the cropt ears, O Commander of the
+Faithful, was a poor man, who used to ask alms by night and live
+by day on what he got thus. Now, our father, who was an old man,
+far advanced in years, fell sick and died, leaving us seven
+hundred dirhems. So we took each of us a hundred; but when my
+brother received his share, he was at a loss to know what to do
+with it, till he bethought him to buy glass of all sorts and sell
+it at a profit. So he bought a hundred dirhems' worth of glass
+and putting it in a great basket, sat down, to sell it, on a
+raised bench, at the foot of a wall, against which he leant his
+back. As he sat, with the basket before him: he fell to musing in
+himself and said, "I have laid out a hundred dirhems on this
+glass and I will sell it for two hundred, with which I will buy
+other glass and sell it for four hundred; nor will I cease to
+buy and sell thus, till I have gotten much wealth. With this I
+will buy all kinds of merchandise and jewels and perfumes and
+gain great profit on them, till, God willing, I will make my
+capital a hundred thousand dirhems. Then I will buy a handsome
+house, together with slaves and horses and trappings of gold,
+and eat and drink, nor will I leave a singing-man or woman in
+the city but I will have them to sing to me. As soon as I have
+amassed a hundred thousand dirhems,[FN#105] I will send out
+marriage-brokers to demand for me in marriage the daughters of
+kings and viziers; and I will seek the hand of the Vizier's
+daughter, for I hear that she is perfect in beauty and of
+surpassing grace. I will give her a dowry of a thousand dinars,
+and if her father consent, well; if not, I will take her by
+force, in spite of him. When I return home, I will buy ten little
+eunuchs and clothes for myself such as are worn by kings and
+sultans and get me a saddle of gold, set thick with jewels of
+price. Then I will mount and parade the city, with slaves before
+and behind me, whilst the folk salute me and call down blessings
+upon me: after which I will repair to the Vizier, the girl's
+father, with slaves behind and before me, as well as on my either
+hand. When he sees me, he will rise and seating me in his own
+place, sit down below me, for that I am his son-in-law. Now I
+will have with me two eunuchs with purses, in each a thousand
+dinars, and I will deliver him the thousand dinars of the dowry
+and make him a present of other thousand, that he may have cause
+to know my nobility and generosity and greatness of mind and the
+littleness of the world in my eyes; and for ten words he proffers
+me, I will answer him two. Then I will return to my house, and if
+one come to me on the bride's part, I will make him a present of
+money and clothe him in a robe of honour; but if he bring me a
+present, I will return it to him and will not accept it, that
+they may know that I am great of soul. Then I will command them
+to bring her to me in state and will order my house fittingly in
+the meantime. When the time of the unveiling is come, I will don
+my richest clothes and sit down on a couch of brocaded silk,
+leaning on a cushion and turning neither to the right nor to the
+left, for the haughtiness of my mind and the gravity of my
+understanding. My wife shall stand before me like the full moon,
+in her robes and ornaments, and I, of my pride and my disdain,
+will not look at her, till all who are present shall say to me,
+'O my lord, thy wife and thy handmaid stands before thee: deign
+to look upon her! for standing is irksome to her.' And they will
+kiss the earth before me many times, whereupon I will lift my
+eyes and give one glance at her, then bend down my head again.
+Then they will carry her to the bride-chamber, and meanwhile I
+will rise and change my clothes for a richer suit. When they
+bring in the bride for the second time, I will not look at her
+till they have implored me several times, when I will glance at
+her and bow down my head; nor will I leave to do thus, till they
+have made an end of displaying her, when I will order one of my
+eunuchs to fetch a purse of five hundred dinars and giving it to
+the tire-women, command them to lead me to the bride-chamber.
+When they leave me alone with the bride, I will not look at her
+or speak to her, but will lie by her with averted face, that she
+may say I am high of soul. Presently her mother will come to me
+and kiss my head and hands and say to me, 'O my lord, look on thy
+handmaid, for she longs for thy favour, and heal her spirit. But
+I will give her no answer; and when she sees this, she will come
+and kiss my feet repeatedly and say, 'O my lord, verily my
+daughter is a beautiful girl, who has never seen man; and if thou
+show her this aversion, her heart will break; so do thou incline
+to her and speak to her.' Then she will rise and fetch a cup of
+wine, and her daughter will take it and come to me; but I will
+leave her standing before me, whilst I recline upon a cushion of
+cloth of gold, and will not look at her for the haughtiness of my
+heart, so that she will think me to be a Sultan of exceeding
+dignity and will say to me, 'O my lord, for God's sake, do not
+refuse to take the cup from thy servant's hand, for indeed I am
+thy handmaid.' But I will not speak to her, and she will press
+me, saying, 'Needs must thou drink it,' and put it to my lips.
+Then I will shake my fist in her face and spurn her with my foot
+thus." So saying, he gave a kick with his foot and knocked over
+the basket of glass, which fell to the ground, and all that was
+in it was broken. "All this comes of my pride!" cried he, and
+fell to buffeting his face and tearing his clothes and weeping.
+The folk who were going to the Friday prayers saw him, and some
+of them looked at him and pitied him, whilst others paid no heed
+to him, and in this way my brother lost both capital and profit.
+Presently there came up a beautiful lady, on her way to the
+Friday prayers, riding on a mule with a saddle of gold and
+attended by a number of servants and filling the air with the
+scent of musk, as she passed along. When she saw the broken glass
+and my brother weeping, she was moved to pity for him; so she
+asked what ailed him and was told that he had a basket full of
+glass, by the sale of which he thought to make his living, but it
+was broken, and this was the cause of his distress. So she called
+one of her attendants and said to him, "Give this poor man what
+is with thee." And he gave my brother a purse in which he found
+five hundred dinars, whereupon he was like to die for excess of
+joy and called down blessings on her. Then he returned to his
+house, a rich man; and as he sat considering, some one knocked at
+the door. So he rose and opened and saw an old woman whom he knew
+not. "O my son," said she, "the time of prayer is at hand, and I
+have not yet made the ablution; so I beg thee to let me do so in
+thy house." "I hear and obey," replied he, and bade her come in.
+So she entered and he brought her an ewer, wherewith to wash, and
+sat down, beside himself for joy in the dinars When she had made
+an end of her ablutions, she came up to where he sat and prayed a
+two-bow prayer, after which she offered up a goodly prayer my
+brother, who thanked her and putting his hand to the bag of
+money, gave her two dinars, saying in himself, "This is an alms
+from me." "Glory to God!" exclaimed she. "Why dost thou look on
+one, who loves thee, as if she were a beggar? Put up thy money! I
+have no need of it; or if thou want it not, return it to her who
+gave it thee, when thy glass was broken." "O my mother," asked
+he, "how shall I do to come at her?" "O my son," replied she,
+"she hath an inclination for thee, but she is the wife of a
+wealthy man of the city; so take all thy money with thee and
+follow me, that I may guide thee to thy desire: and when thou art
+in company with her, spare neither fair words nor persuasion, and
+thou shalt enjoy her beauty and her wealth to thy heart's
+content." So my brother took all his money and rose and followed
+the old woman, hardly believing in his good fortune. She led him
+on till they came to the door of a great house, at which she
+knocked, and a Greek slave-girl came out and opened to them. Then
+the old woman took my brother and brought him into a great
+saloon, spread with magnificent carpets and hung with curtains,
+where he sat down, with his money before him and his turban on
+his knee. Presently in came a young lady richly dressed, never
+saw eyes handsomer than she; whereupon my brother rose to his
+feet, but she smiled upon him and welcoming him, signed to him to
+be seated. Then she bade shut the door and taking my brother by
+the hand, led him to a private chamber, furnished with various
+kinds of brocaded silk. Here he sat down and she seated herself
+by his side and toyed with him awhile; after which she rose and
+saying, "Do not stir till I come back," went away. After awhile,
+in came a great black slave, with a drawn sword in his hand, who
+said to him, "Woe to thee! who brought thee hither and what dost
+thou want?" My brother could make no answer, being tongue-tied
+for fear; so the black seized him and stripping him of his
+clothes, beat him with the flat of his sword till he swooned
+away. Then the pestilent black concluded that he was dead, and my
+brother heard him say, "Where is the salt-wench?" Whereupon in
+came a slave-girl, with a great dish of salt, and the black
+strewed salt upon my brother's wounds; but he did not stir, lest
+he should know that he was alive and finish him. Then the
+salt-girl went away and the black cried out, "Where is the
+cellaress?" With this in came the old woman, and taking my
+brother by the feet, dragged him to an underground vault, where
+she threw him down upon a heap of dead bodies. There he remained
+two whole days, but God made the salt the means of saving his
+life, for it stayed the flow of blood. Presently, he found
+himself strong enough to move; so he rose and opening the
+trap-door, crept out fearfully; and God protected him, so that he
+went on in the darkness and hid himself in the vestibule till the
+morning, when he saw the cursed old woman sally forth in quest of
+other prey. So he went out after her, without her knowledge, and
+made for his own house, where he dressed his wounds and tended
+himself till he was whole. Meanwhile he kept a watch upon the old
+woman and saw her accost one man after another and carry them to
+the house. However, he said nothing; but as soon as he regained
+health and strength, he took a piece of stuff and made it into a
+bag, which he filled with broken glass and tied to his middle.
+Then he disguised himself in the habit of a foreigner, that none
+might know him, and hid a sword under his clothes. Then he went
+out and presently falling in with the old woman, accosted her and
+said to her, with a foreign accent, "O dame, I am a stranger, but
+this day arrived here, and know no one. Hast thou a pair of
+scales wherein I may weigh nine hundred dinars? I will give
+thee somewhat of the money for thy pains." "I have a son, a
+moneychanger," replied she, "who has all kinds of scales; so come
+with me to him, before he goes out, and he will weigh thy gold
+for thee." And he said, "Lead the way." So she led him to the
+house and knocked at the door; and the young lady herself came
+out and opened it; whereupon the old woman smiled in her face,
+saying, "I bring thee fat meat to-day." Then the damsel took him
+by the hand and carrying him to the same chamber as before, sat
+with him awhile, then rose and went out, bidding him stir not
+till she came back. Ere long in came the villainous black, with
+his sword drawn, and said to my brother, "Rise, O accursed one!"
+So he rose and as the slave went on before him, he drew the sword
+from under his clothes and smiting him with it, made his head fly
+from his body; after which he dragged the corpse by the feet to
+the vault and cried out, "Where is the salt-wench?" Up came the
+girl with the dish of salt, and seeing my brother sword in hand,
+turned to fly; but he followed her and smote her and struck off
+her head. Then he called out, "Where is the cellaress?" And in
+came the old woman, to whom said he, "Dost thou know me, O
+pestilent old woman?" "No, my lord," replied she; and he said, "I
+am he of the five hundred dinars, to whose house thou camest to
+make the ablution and pray, and whom thou didst after lure
+hither." "Fear God and spare me!" exclaimed she. But he paid no
+heed to her and striking her with the sword, cut her in four.
+Then he went in search of the young lady; and when she saw him,
+her reason fled and she called out for mercy. So he spared her
+and said to her, "How camest thou to consort with this black?"
+Quoth she, "I was slave to a certain merchant and the old woman
+used to visit me, till I became familiar with her. One day she
+said to me, 'We have to-day a wedding at our house, the like of
+which was never beheld, and I wish thee to see it.' 'I hear and
+obey,' answered I, and rising, donned my handsomest clothes and
+jewellery and took with me a purse containing a hundred dinars.
+Then she brought me hither, and hardly had I entered the house,
+when the black seized on me, and I have remained in this case
+these three years, through the perfidy of the accursed old
+woman." Then said my brother, "Is there aught of his in the
+house?" "He had great store of wealth," replied she: "and if thou
+canst carry it away, do so, and may God prosper it to thee!" Then
+she opened to him several chests full of purses, at which he was
+confounded, and said to him, "Go now and leave me here and fetch
+men to carry off the money." So he went out and hired ten men,
+but, when he returned, he found the door open and the damsel
+gone, and nothing left but a little of the money and the
+household stuff. By this, he knew that she had cheated him; so he
+opened the closets and took what was in them, together with the
+rest of the money, leaving nothing in the house, and passed the
+night in all content. When he arose in the morning, he found at
+the door a score of troopers, who seized him, saying, "The chief
+of the police seeks for thee." My brother implored them to let
+him return to his house, but they would grant him no delay,
+though he offered them a large sum of money, and binding him fast
+with cords, carried him off. On the way, there met them a friend
+of my brother, who clung to his skirts and implored him to stop
+and help to deliver him from their hands. So he stopped and
+enquired what was the matter; to which they replied, "The chief
+of the police has ordered us to bring this man before him, and we
+are doing so." The man interceded with them and offered them five
+hundred dinars to let my brother go, saying, "Tell the magistrate
+that ye could not find him." But they refused and dragged him
+before the prefect, who said to him, "Whence hadst thou these
+stuffs and money?" Quoth my brother, "Grant me indemnity." So the
+magistrate gave him the handkerchief of pardon, and he told him
+all that had befallen him, from first to last, including the
+flight of the damsel, adding, "Take what thou wilt, so thou leave
+me enough to live on." But the prefect took the whole of the
+stuff and money for himself and fearing lest the affair should
+reach the Sultan's ears, said to my brother, "Depart from this
+city, or I will hang thee." "I hear and obey," replied my
+brother, and set out for another town. On the way thieves fell on
+him and stripped him and beat him and cut off his ears. But I
+heard of his misfortunes and went out after him, taking him
+clothes, and brought him back privily to the city, where I made
+him an allowance for meat and drink.
+
+
+
+
+
+Story of the Barber's Sixth Brother
+
+
+
+My sixth brother, he of the cropt lips, O Commander of the
+Faithful, was once rich, but after became poor. One day he went
+out to seek somewhat to keep life in him and came presently to a
+handsome house, with a wide and lofty portico and servants and
+others at the door, ordering and forbidding. My brother enquired
+of one of those standing there and he told him that the house
+belonged to one of the Barmecide family. So he accosted the
+door-keepers and begged an alms of them. "Enter," said they, "and
+thou shalt get what thou seekest of our master." Accordingly, he
+entered and passing through the vestibule, found himself in a
+mansion of the utmost beauty and elegance, paved with marble and
+hung with curtains and having in the midst a garden whose like he
+had never seen. He stood awhile perplexed, knowing not whither to
+direct his steps: then seeing the door of a sitting-chamber,
+he entered and saw at the upper end a man of comely presence
+and goodly beard. When the latter saw my brother, he rose and
+welcomed him and enquired how he did; to which he replied that he
+was in need of charity. Whereupon the other showed great concern
+and putting his hand to his clothes, rent them, exclaiming, "Art
+thou hungry in a city of which I am an inhabitant? I cannot
+endure this!" and promised him all manner of good. Then said he,
+"Thou must eat with me." "O my lord," replied my brother, "I can
+wait no longer; for I am sore an hungred." So, the Barmecide
+cried out, "Ho, boy! bring the ewer and the basin!" and said to
+my brother, "O my guest, come forward and wash thy hands." My
+brother rose to do so, but saw neither ewer nor basin. However,
+the host made as if he were washing his hands and cried out,
+"Bring the table." But my brother saw nothing. Then said the
+Barmecide, "Honour me by eating of this food and be not ashamed."
+And he made as if he ate, saying the while, "Thou eatest but
+little: do not stint thyself, for I know thou art famished."
+So my brother began to make as if he ate, whilst the other said
+to him, "Eat and note the excellence of this bread and its
+whiteness." My brother could see nothing and said to himself,
+"This man loves to jest with the folk." So he replied, "O my
+lord, never in my life have I seen whiter or more delicious
+bread." And the host said, "I gave five hundred dinars for the
+slave-girl who bakes it for me." Then he called out, "Ho, boy!
+bring the frumenty first and do not spare butter on it." And
+turning to my brother, "O my guest," said he, "sawst thou ever
+aught better than this frumenty? Eat, I conjure thee, and be not
+ashamed!" Then he cried out again, "Ho, boy! bring in the pasty
+with the fatted grouse in it." And he said to my brother, "Eat, O
+my guest, for thou art hungry and needest it." So my brother
+began to move his jaws and make as if he chewed; whilst the other
+ceased not to call for dish after dish and press my brother to
+eat, though not a thing appeared. Presently, he cried out, "Ho,
+boy I bring us the chickens stuffed with pistachio-kernels!"
+And said to my brother, "These chickens have been fattened on
+pistachio-nuts; eat, for thou hast never tasted the like of
+them." "O my lord," replied my brother, "they are indeed
+excellent." Then the host feigned to put his hand to my brother's
+mouth, as if to feed him, and ceased not to name various dishes
+and expatiate upon their excellence. Meanwhile my brother was
+starving, and hunger was so sore on him that his soul lusted for
+a cake of barley bread. Quoth the Barmecide, "Didst thou ever
+taste aught more delicious than the seasoning of these dishes?"
+"Never, O my lord," replied my brother. "Eat heartily and be not
+ashamed," repeated the host. "O my lord," said my brother, "I
+have had enough of meat." So the Barmecide cried out, "Take away
+and bring the sweetmeats." Then he said, "Eat of this almond
+conserve, for it is excellent, and of these fritters. My life on
+thee, take this one before the syrup runs out of it!" "May I
+never be bereaved of thee, O my lord!" replied my brother, and
+asked him of the abundance of musk in the fritters. "It is my
+custom," said the other, "to have three pennyweights of musk and
+half that quantity of ambergris put into each fritter." All
+this time my brother was wagging his jaws and moving his head
+and mouth, till the host said, "Enough of this! Bring us the
+dessert." Then said he to him, "Eat of these almonds and walnuts
+and raisins and of this and that," naming different kinds of
+dried fruits, "and be not ashamed." "O my lord," answered my
+brother, "indeed I am full: I can eat no more." "O my guest,"
+repeated the other, "if thou have a mind to eat more, for God's
+sake do not remain hungry!" "O my lord," replied my brother, "how
+should one who has eaten of all these dishes be hungry?" Then he
+considered and said to himself "I will do that which shall make
+him repent of having acted thus." Presently the host called out,
+"Bring me the wine," and making as if it had come, feigned to
+give my brother to drink, saying, "Take this cup, and if it
+please thee, let me know." "O my lord," replied he, "it has a
+pleasant smell, but I am used to drink old wine twenty years of
+age." "Then knock at this door,"[FN#106] said his host; "for thou
+canst not drink of aught better." "O my lord, this is of thy
+bounty!" replied my brother and made as if he drank. "Health and
+pleasure to thee!" exclaimed the host, and feigned, in like wise,
+to fill a cup and drink it off and hand a second cup to my
+brother, who pretended to drink and made as if he were drunken.
+Then he took the Barmecide unawares and raising his arm, till the
+whiteness of his arm-pit appeared, dealt him such a buffet on the
+neck that the place rang to it. Then he gave him a second cuff
+and the host exclaimed, "What is this, O vile fellow?" "O my
+lord," replied my brother "thou hast graciously admitted thy
+slave into thine abode and fed him with thy victual and plied him
+with old wine, till he became drunk and dealt unmannerly by thee;
+but thou art too noble not to bear with his ignorance and pardon
+his offence." When the Barmecide heard my brother's words, he
+laughed heartily and exclaimed, "Long have I used to make mock of
+men and play the fool with those who are apt at jesting and
+horse-play; but never have I come across any, who had patience
+and wit to enter into all my humours, but thee; so I pardon thee,
+and now thou shalt be my boon companion, in very deed, and never
+leave me." Then he bade his servants lay the table in good
+earnest, and they set on all the dishes of which he had spoken,
+and he and my brother ate till they were satisfied, after which
+they removed to the drinking-chamber, where they found damsels
+like moons, who sang all manner of songs and played on all kinds
+of musical instruments. There they remained, drinking, till
+drunkenness overcame them, and the host used my brother as a
+familiar friend, so that he became as it were his brother, and
+bestowed on him a dress of honour and loved him with an exceeding
+love. Next morning, they fell again to feasting and carousing,
+and ceased not to lead this life for twenty years, at the end of
+which time the Barmecide died and the Sultan laid hands on all
+his property and squeezed my brother, till he stripped him of all
+he had. So he left the city and fled forth at random, but the
+Arabs fell on him midway and taking him prisoner, carried him to
+their camp, where the Bedouin, his captor, tortured him, saying,
+"Ransom thyself with money, or I will kill thee." My brother fell
+a-weeping and replied, "By Allah, I have nought! I am thy
+prisoner; do with me as thou wilt." Thereupon the Bedouin took
+out a knife and cut off my brother's lips, still urging his
+demand. Now this Bedouin had a handsome wife, who used to make
+advances to my brother, in her husband's absence, and offer him
+her favours, but he held off from her. One day, she began to
+tempt him as usual, and he toyed with her and took her on his
+knee, when lo, in came the Bedouin, and seeing this, cried out,
+"Woe to thee, thou villain! Wouldst thou debauch my wife?" Then
+he took out a knife and cut off my brother's yard, after which he
+set him on a camel and carried him to a mountain, where he threw
+him down and left him. Here he was found by some travellers, who
+recognized him and gave him meat and drink and acquainted me with
+his plight, whereupon I went forth to him and brought him back to
+Baghdad, where I provided him with enough to live on. This then,
+O Commander of the Faithful, is the history of my brothers, and I
+was unwilling to go away without relating it to thee, that I
+might disabuse thee of thine error in confounding me with them.
+And now thou knowest that I have six brothers and support them
+all.' When the Khalif heard my words, he laughed and said, 'Thou
+sayst sooth, O Silent One! Thou art neither a man of many words
+nor an impertinent meddler; but now go out from this city and
+settle in another.' And he banished me from the city; so I left
+Baghdad and travelled in foreign countries, till I heard of his
+death and the coming of another to the Khalifate. Then I returned
+to Baghdad, where I found my brothers dead and fell in with this
+young man, to whom I rendered the best of services, for without
+me he had been killed. Indeed he accuses me of what is foreign to
+my nature and what he relates of my impertinence is false; for
+verily I left Baghdad on his account and wandered in many
+countries, till I came to this city and happened on him with you;
+and was not this, O good people, of the generosity of my nature?"
+
+When we heard the barber's story (continued the tailor) and saw
+the abundance of his speech and the way in which he had oppressed
+the young man, we laid hands on him and shut him up, after which
+we sat down in peace and ate and drank till the time of the call
+to afternoon-prayer, when I left the company and returned home.
+My wife was sulky and said to me, "Thou hast taken thy pleasure
+all day, whilst I have been moping at home. So now, except thou
+carry me abroad and amuse me for the rest of the day, it will be
+the cause of my separation from thee." So I took her out and we
+amused ourselves till nightfall, when we returned home and met
+the hunchback, brimming over with drunkenness and repeating the
+following verses:
+
+The glass is pellucid, and so is the wine: So bring them together
+and see them combine:
+Tis a puzzle; one moment, all wine and no cup; At another, in
+turn, 'tis all cup and no wine.
+
+So I invited him to pass the evening with us and went out to buy
+fried fish, after which we sat down to eat. Presently my wife
+took a piece of bread and fish and crammed them into his mouth,
+and he choked and died. Then I took him up and made shift to
+throw him into the house of the Jewish physician. He in his turn
+let him down into the house of the controller, who threw him in
+the way of the Christian broker. This, then, is my story. Is it
+not more wonderful than that of the hunchback?'
+
+When the King heard the tailor's story, he shook his head for
+delight and showed astonishment, saying, 'This that passed
+between the young man and the meddlesome barber is indeed more
+pleasant and more wonderful than the story of that knave of a
+hunchback.' Then he bade the tailor take one of the chamberlains
+and fetch the barber out of his duresse, saying, 'Bring him to
+me, that I may hear his talk, and it shall be the means of the
+release of all of you. Then we will bury the hunchback, for he is
+dead since yesterday, and set up a tomb over him.' So the
+chamberlain and the tailor went away and presently returned with
+the barber. The King looked at him and behold, he was a very old
+man, more than ninety years of age, of a swarthy complexion and
+white beard and eyebrows, flap-eared, long-nosed and simple and
+conceited of aspect. The King laughed at his appearance and said
+to him, 'O silent man, I desire thee to tell me somewhat of thy
+history.' 'O King of the age,' replied the barber, 'why are all
+these men and this dead hunchback before thee?' Said the King,
+'Why dost thou ask?' 'I ask this,' rejoined the barber, 'that
+your Majesty may know that I am no impertinent meddler and that I
+am guiltless of that they lay to my charge of overmuch talk; for
+I am called the Silent, and indeed I am the man of my name, as
+says the poet:
+
+Thine eyes shall seldom see a man that doth a nickname bear, But,
+     if thou search, thou'lt find the name his nature doth
+     declare.
+
+So the King said, 'Explain the hunchback's case to him and repeat
+to him the stories told by the physician, the controller, the
+broker and the tailor.' They did as he commanded, and the barber
+shook his head and exclaimed, 'By Allah, this is indeed a wonder
+of wonders!' Then said he, 'Uncover the hunchback's body, that
+I may see it.' They did so, and he sat down and taking the
+hunchback's head in his lap, looked at his face and laughed till
+he fell backward. Then said he, 'To every death there is a cause;
+but the story of this hunchback deserves to be recorded in
+letters of gold!' The bystanders were astounded at his words and
+the King wondered and said to him, 'O silent man, explain thy
+words to us.' 'O King of the age,' replied the barber, 'by thy
+munificence, there is yet life in this hunchback.' Then he pulled
+out from his girdle a barber's budget, whence he took a pot of
+ointment and anointed therewith the neck of the hunchback and its
+veins. Then he took out a pair of tweezers and thrusting them
+down the hunchback's throat, drew out the piece of fish and its
+bone, soaked in blood. Thereupon the hunchback sneezed and sat
+up, and passing his hand over his face, exclaimed, 'I testify
+that there is no god but God and that Mohammed is His Apostle!'
+At this all present wondered and the King laughed, till he
+fainted, and so did the others. Then said the King, 'By Allah,
+this is the most wonderful thing I ever saw! O Muslims, O
+soldiers all, did you ever in your lives see a man die and come
+to life again? For verily, had not God vouchsafed him this barber
+to be the cause of his preservation, he had been dead!' 'By
+Allah,' said they, 'this is a wonder of wonders!' Then the King
+caused the whole history to be recorded and laid up in the royal
+treasury; after which he bestowed splendid dresses of honour on
+the Jew, the broker and the controller and sent them away. Then
+he gave the tailor a costly dress of honour and appointed him his
+own tailor, with a suitable stipend, and made peace between him
+and the hunchback, on whom he also bestowed a rich and fair dress
+of honour and made him his boon-companion, appointing him due
+allowances. As for the barber, he made him a like present and
+appointed him state barber and one of his boon-companions,
+assigning him regular allowances and a fixed salary. And they all
+ceased not from the enjoyment of all the delights and comforts of
+life, till there overtook them the Destroyer of delights and the
+Sunderer of companies.
+
+
+
+
+
+          NOUREDDIN ALI AND THE DAMSEL ENIS EL JELIS.
+
+
+
+There was once a King in Bassora who cherished the poor and needy
+and loved his subjects and bestowed of his wealth on those who
+believed in Mohammed (whom God bless and preserve!) and he was
+even as the poet hath described him:
+
+A King who, when the hostile hosts assault him in the field,
+     Smites them and hews them, limb from limb, with trenchant
+     sword and spear
+Full many a character of red he writes upon the breasts What time
+     the mailed horsemen break before his wild career.
+
+His name was King Mohammed ben Suleiman ez Zeini, and he had two
+Viziers, one called Muin ben Sawa and the other Fezl ben Khacan.
+Fezl was the most generous man of his time; noble and upright of
+life, all hearts concurred in loving him, and the wise complied
+with his counsel, whilst all the people wished him long life; for
+that he was a compend of good qualities, encouraging good and
+preventing evil and mischief. The Vizier Muin, on the contrary,
+was a hater of mankind and loved not good, being indeed
+altogether evil; even as says of him the poet:
+
+Look thou consort with the generous, sons of the gen'rous; for
+     lo! The generous, sons of the gen'rous, beget the gen'rous,
+     I trow.
+And let the mean-minded men, sons of the mean-minded, go, For the
+     mean-minded, sons of the mean, beget none other than so.
+
+And as much as the people loved Fezl, so much did they hate Muin.
+It befell one day, that the King, being seated on his throne,
+with his officers of state about him, called his Vizier Fezl and
+said to him, 'I wish to have a slave-girl of unsurpassed beauty,
+perfect in grace and symmetry and endowed with all praiseworthy
+qualities.' Said the courtiers, 'Such a girl is not to be had for
+less than ten thousand dinars!' whereupon the King cried out to
+his treasurer and bade him carry ten thousand dinars to Fezl's
+house. The treasurer did so, and the Vizier went away, after the
+King had charged him to go to the market every day and employ
+brokers and had given orders that no girl worth more than a
+thousand dinars should be sold, without being first shown to the
+Vizier. Accordingly, the brokers brought him all the girls that
+came into their hands, but none pleased him, till one day a
+broker came to his house and found him mounting his horse, to go
+to the palace; so he caught hold of his stirrup and repeated the
+following verses:
+
+O thou whose bounties have restored the uses of the state, O
+     Vizier helped of heaven, whose acts are ever fortunate!
+Thou hast revived the virtues all were dead among the folk. May
+     God's acceptance evermore on thine endeavours wait!
+
+Then said he, 'O my lord, she for whom the august mandate was
+issued is here.' 'Bring her to me,' replied the Vizier. So he
+went away and returned in a little with a damsel of elegant
+shape, swelling-breasted, with melting black eyes and smooth
+cheeks, slender-waisted and heavy-hipped, clad in the richest of
+clothes. The dew of her lips was sweeter than syrup, her shape
+more symmetrical than the bending branch and her speech softer
+than the morning zephyr, even as says one of those who have
+described her:
+
+A wonder of beauty! Her face full moon of the palace sky; Of a
+     tribe of gazelles and wild cows the dearest and most high!
+The Lord of the empyrean hath given her pride and state,
+     Elegance, charm and a shape that with the branch may vie;
+She hath in the heaven of her face a cluster of seven stars, That
+     keep the ward of her cheek to guard it from every spy.
+So if one think to steal a look, the imps of her glance Consume
+     him straight with a star, that shoots from her gleaming eye.
+
+When the Vizier saw her she pleased him exceedingly, so he turned
+to the broker and said to him, 'What is the price of this
+damsel?' 'Her price is ten thousand dinars,' replied he, 'and
+her owner swears that this sum will not cover the cost of the
+chickens she hath eaten, the wine she hath drunk and the
+dresses of honour bestowed on her teachers; for she hath learnt
+penmanship and grammar and lexicology and the exposition of the
+Koran and the rudiments of law and theology, medicine and the
+calendar, as well as the art of playing on instruments of music.'
+Then said the Vizier, 'Bring me her master.' So the broker
+brought him at once, and behold, he was a foreigner, who had
+lived so long that time had worn him to bones and skin. Quoth
+the Vizier to him, 'Art thou content to sell this damsel to
+the Sultan for ten thousand dinars?' 'By Allah,' replied the
+merchant, 'if I made him a present of her, it were but my duty!'
+So the Vizier sent for the money and gave it to the slave-dealer,
+who said, 'By the leave of our lord the Vizier, I have something
+to say.' 'Speak,' said the Vizier: and the slave-dealer said, 'If
+thou wilt be ruled by me, thou wilt not carry the damsel to the
+King to-day, for she is newly off a journey; the change of air
+has affected her and the journey has fretted her. But let her
+abide in thy palace ten days, that she may recover her good
+looks. Then send her to the bath and dress her in the richest of
+clothes and go up with her to the Sultan, and this will be more
+to thy profit.' The Vizier considered the man's advice and
+approved it; so he took her to his palace, where he appointed her
+a separate lodging and a daily allowance of meat and drink and so
+forth, and she abode thus awhile.
+
+Now the Vizier Fezl had a son like the rising full moon, with
+shining visage, red cheeks covered with a tender down and a mole
+like a grain of ambergris; as says of him the poet and therein
+errs not:
+
+A moon,[FN#107] whose glances slay the folk, on whom he turns his
+     eye; A branch, whose graces break all hearts, as he goes
+     stately by
+Slack as the night his browlocks are, his face the hue of gold;
+     Fair is his person, and his shape the spear-shaft doth
+     outvie.
+Ah me, how hard his heart, how soft and slender is his waist! Why
+     is the softness not transferred from this to that, ah why?
+Were but the softness of his sides made over to his heart, He'd
+     ne'er to lovers be unjust nor leave them thus to sigh.
+O thou that blam'st my love of thee, excuse me rather thou, Nor
+     chide me, if my body pine for languor like to die.
+The fault, indeed, lies not with me, but with my heart and eye;
+     So chide me not, but let me be in this my misery.
+
+Now he knew not the affair of the damsel, and his father had
+lessoned her, saying, 'Know, O my daughter, that I have bought
+thee for the bed of the King Mohammed ben Suleiman ez Zeini, and
+I have a son who leaves no girl in the quarter but he has to do
+with her; so be on thy guard against him and beware of letting
+him see thy face or hear thy voice.' 'I hear and obey,' replied
+she; and the Vizier left her and went away. Some days after this
+it chanced, as Fate would have it, that the damsel went to the
+bath in the house, where some of the serving-women washed her,
+after which she arrayed herself in rich apparel, and her beauty
+and grace redoubled. Then she went in to the Vizier's wife and
+kissed her hand; and the lady said to her, 'May it profit thee, O
+Enis el Jelis! How didst thou find the bath?' 'O my lady,'
+answered she, 'I lacked but thy presence there.' Thereupon said
+the mistress to her waiting-women, 'Come with me to the bath, for
+it is some days since I went thither.' 'We hear and obey,'
+answered they; and rose and accompanied her to the bath, after
+Enis el Jelis had retired to her own chamber and the lady had set
+two little slave-girls to keep the door, charging them to let
+none go in to the damsel. Presently, as Enis el Jelis sat resting
+after the bath, in came the Vizier's son, whose name was
+Noureddin Ali, and asked after his mother and her women, to which
+the two little slaves replied that they had gone to the bath. The
+damsel heard Noureddin's voice and said to herself, 'I wonder
+what like is this youth, of whom his father says that there is
+not a girl in the quarter but he has had to do with her. By
+Allah, I long to see him!' So she rose, fresh as she was from the
+bath, and going to the door, looked at Noureddin and saw that he
+was like the moon at its full. The sight cost her a thousand
+sighs, and Noureddin, chancing to look that way, caught a glance
+of her that caused him also a thousand regrets, and each fell
+into the snare of the other's love. Then he went up to the two
+little slaves and cried out at them, whereupon they fled before
+him and stood afar off to see what he would do. And behold, he
+went up to the door of the damsel's chamber and entering, said to
+her, 'Art thou she whom my father bought for me?' 'Yes,' answered
+she: whereupon Noureddin, who was heated with wine, went up to
+her and embraced her, whilst she wreathed her arms about his neck
+and met him with kisses and sighs and amorous gestures. Then he
+sucked her tongue and she his, and he did away her maidenhead.
+When the two little slaves saw their young master go in to the
+damsel, they cried out and shrieked. So, as soon as he had done
+his desire, he rose and fled, fearing the issue of his conduct.
+When the Vizier's wife heard the slaves' cries, she sprang up and
+came out of the bath, with the sweat dripping from her, saying,
+'What is this clamour in the house?' Then she came up to the two
+little slaves, and said to them, 'Out on you! what is the
+matter?' 'Our lord Noureddin came in and beat us,' answered they:
+'so we fled and he went in to the damsel and embraced her, and we
+know not what he did after this: but when we cried out to thee,
+he fled.' Thereupon, the mistress went in to Enis el Jelis and
+enquired what had happened. 'O my lady,' answered she, 'as I was
+sitting here, there came in a handsome young man, who said to me,
+"Art thou she whom my father bought for me?" I answered, "Yes;"
+(for by Allah, O my lady, I believed that he spoke the truth!)
+and with this he came up to me and embraced me.' 'Did he nought
+else with thee?' asked the lady. 'Yes,' replied Enis el Jelis:
+'he took of me three kisses.' 'He did not leave thee without
+deflowering thee!' cried the Vizier's wife, and fell to weeping
+and buffeting her face, she and her women, fearing that
+Noureddin's father would kill him. Whilst they were thus, in came
+the Vizier and asked what was the matter, and his wife said to
+him, 'Swear that thou wilt hearken to what I say.' 'It is well,'
+replied he. So she told him what his son had done, and he was
+greatly afflicted and tore his clothes and buffeted his face and
+plucked out his beard. 'Do not kill thyself,' said his wife: 'I
+will give thee the ten thousand dinars, her price, of my own
+money.' But he raised his head and said to her, 'Out on thee! I
+have no need of her price, but I fear to lose both life and
+goods.' 'How so?' asked his wife, and he said, 'Dost thou not
+know that yonder is our enemy Muin ben Sawa, who, when he hears
+of this affair, will go up to the Sultan and say to him, "Thy
+Vizier, who thou wilt have it loves thee, had of thee ten
+thousand dinars and bought therewith a slave-girl, whose like was
+never seen; but when he saw her, she pleased him and he said to
+his son, 'Take her: thou art worthier of her than the Sultan.' So
+he took her and did away her maidenhead, and she is now with
+him." The King will say, "Thou liest!" To which Muin will reply,
+"With thy leave, I will fall on him at unawares and bring her to
+thee." The King will order him to do this, and he will come down
+upon the house and take the damsel and bring her before the King,
+who will question her and she will not be able to deny what has
+passed. Then Muin will say, "O my lord, thou knowest that I give
+thee true counsel, but I am not in favour with thee." Thereupon
+the Sultan will make an example of me, and I shall be a
+gazing-stock to all the people and my life will be lost.' Quoth
+his wife, 'Tell none of this thing, which has happened privily,
+but commit thy case to God and trust in Him to deliver thee from
+this strait.' With this the Vizier's heart was set at rest, and
+his wrath and chagrin subsided.
+
+Meanwhile, Noureddin, fearing the issue of the affair, spent the
+whole day in the gardens and came back by night to his mother's
+apartment, where he slept and rising before day, returned to the
+gardens. He lived thus for a whole month, not showing his face to
+his father, till at last his mother said to the Vizier, 'O my
+lord, shall we lose our own son as well as the damsel? If things
+continue thus for long, the lad will flee forth from us.' 'What
+is to be done?' said he: and she answered, 'Do thou watch this
+night, and when he comes, seize on him and frighten him. I will
+rescue him from thee and do thou then make peace with him and
+give him the girl, for she loves him and he her; and I will pay
+thee her price.' So the Vizier watched that night and when his
+son came, he seized him and throwing him down, knelt on his
+breast and made as if he would cut his throat; but his mother
+came to his succour and said to her husband, 'What wilt thou do
+with him?' Quoth he, 'I mean to kill him.' And Noureddin said to
+his father 'Am I of so little account with thee?' Whereupon the
+Vizier's eyes filled with tears and he replied, 'O my son, is the
+loss of my goods and my life of so little account in thine eyes?'
+Quoth Noureddin, 'Hear, O my father, what the poet says:
+
+Pardon me: true, I have sinned: yet the sagacious man Ceases
+     never to pardon freely the erring wight.
+Surely, therefore, thy foe may hope for pardon from thee, Since
+     he is in the abyss and thou on honour's height!'
+
+Then the Vizier rose from off his breast, saying, 'O my son, I
+forgive thee!' for his heart was softened. Noureddin rose and
+kissed the hand of his father, who said to him, 'If I knew that
+thou wouldst deal fairly by Enis el Jelis, I would give her to
+thee.' 'O my father,' replied Noureddin, 'how should I not deal
+fairly by her?' Quoth the Vizier, 'O my son, I charge thee not to
+take another wife nor concubine to share with her nor sell her.'
+'O my father,' answered Noureddin, 'I swear to thee that I will
+do none of these things.' Then he went in to the damsel and abode
+with her a whole year, whilst God caused the King to forget the
+affair. The matter, indeed, came to Muin's ears, but he dared not
+speak of it, by reason of the favour in which the Vizier Fezl
+stood with the Sultan. At the end of the year, the Vizier Fezl
+went one day to the bath and coming out, whilst still in a sweat,
+the air smote him and he caught cold and took to his bed. His
+malady gained upon him and sleeplessness was long upon him; so he
+called his son Noureddin and said to him, 'O my son, know that
+fortune is lotted out and the term of life fixed, and needs must
+every soul drain the cup of death.' And he repeated the following
+verses:
+
+I'm dead: yet glory be to Him that dieth not; For that I needs
+     must die, indeed, full well I wot,
+He is no king, who dies with kingship in his hand, For sovranty
+     belongs to Him that dieth not.
+
+Then he continued, 'O my son, I have no charge to lay on thee,
+except that thou fear God and look to the issue of thine actions
+and cherish the damsel Enis el Jelis.' 'O my father,' said
+Noureddin, 'who is like unto thee? Indeed thou art renowned for
+the practice of virtue and the praying of the preachers for thee
+in the pulpits.' Quoth Fezl, 'O my son, I hope for acceptance
+from God the Most High.' Then he pronounced the two professions
+of the faith and was numbered among the blessed. The palace was
+filled with crying and lamentation, and the news of his death
+reached the King and the people of the city, and even the
+children in the schools wept for Fezi ben Khacan. Then his son
+Noureddin arose and took order for his funeral, and the Amirs and
+Viziers and grandees were present, amongst them the Vizier Muin
+ben Sawa; and as the funeral train came forth of the palace, one
+of the mourners recited the following verses:
+
+The fifth day I departed and left my friends alone: They laid me
+     out and washed me upon a slab of stone;
+Then stripped me of the raiment that on my body was, That they
+     might put upon me clothes other than my own
+On four men's necks they bore me unto the place of prayer And
+     prayed a prayer above me by no prostration known.
+Then in a vaulted dwelling they laid me. Though the years Shall
+     waste, its door will never be open to them thrown.
+
+When they had laid him in the earth, Noureddin returned with the
+folk; and he lamented with groans and tears and the tongue of the
+case repeated the following verses:
+
+On the fifth day they departed in the eventide, and I Took of
+     them the last leave-taking, when they went and left me here.
+When they turned away and left me, lo! the soul with them did go.
+     And I said, "Return." It answered, "Where, alas! should I
+     recur;
+Shall I come back to a body whence the life and blood are flown?
+     Nothing now but bones are left it, rattling in the
+     sepulchre.
+Lo! my eyes, excess of weeping hath put out their sight, I trow,
+     And a deafness eke is fallen on my ears: I cannot hear."
+
+He abode a long while in great grief for his father, till one
+day, as he sat in his house, there came a knocking at the door;
+so he rose and opening the door, found there a man who had been
+one of his father's friends and boon-companions. He entered and
+kissing Noureddin's hand, said to him, 'O my lord, he who has
+left the like of thee is not dead; and to this pass (death) came
+even the lord of the first and the last.[FN#108] O my lord, take
+comfort and leave mourning!' Thereupon Noureddin rose and going
+to the guest-chamber, transported thither all that he needed.
+Then his friends gathered together to him and he took his
+slave-girl again and collecting round him ten of the sons of the
+merchants, began to eat meat and drink wine, giving entertainment
+after entertainment and dispensing gifts and favours with a
+lavish hand, till one day his steward came to him and said, 'O my
+lord Noureddin, hast thou not heard the saying, "He who spends
+and does not reckon, becomes poor without knowing it?"' And he
+repeated the following verses:
+
+I'll hold my money fast, knowing, as well as I know, That 'tis my
+     sword and shield against my every foe.
+If I should lavish it on those who love me not, My luck among the
+     folk would change to grief and woe.
+So I will eat and drink my wealth for my own good Nor upon any
+     man a single doit bestow.
+I will preserve with care my money from all those By nature base
+     and true to none. 'Tis better so
+Than that I e'er should say unto the mean of soul, "Lend me so
+     much I'll pay to-morrow five-fold mo,"
+And see my friend avert his face and turn away, Leaving my soul
+     cast down, as 'twere a dog's, I trow!
+O what a sorry lot is his, who hath no pelf, E'en though his
+     virtues bright like to the sun should show!
+
+'O my lord,' continued the steward, 'this lavish expense and
+prodigal giving waste away wealth.' When Noureddin heard his
+steward's words, he looked at him and said, 'I will not hearken
+to one word of all thou hast said, for I have heard the following
+saying of the poet:
+
+If I be blessed with wealth and be not liberal with it, May my
+     hand wither and my foot eke paralysed remain!
+Show me the niggard who hath won glory by avarice! Show me the
+     liberal man his own munificence hath slain!
+
+And he said, 'Know, O steward, it is my desire that so long as
+there remains in thy hands enough for my morning meal, thou
+trouble me not with taking care for my evening meal.' Therewith
+the steward went away and Noureddin continued his extravagant way
+of living; and if any of his boon-companions chanced to say to
+him, 'This thing is handsome,' he would answer, 'It is thine as a
+gift;' or if another said, 'O my lord, such and such a house is
+handsome,' he would say, 'Take it: it is thine.' In this manner
+he continued to live for a whole year, giving his friends a
+banquet in the morning and another in the evening, till one day
+as they were sitting together, the damsel Enis el Jelis repeated
+the following verses:
+
+Thou madest fair thy thought of Fate, when that the days were
+     fair, And fearedst not the unknown ills that they to thee
+     might bring:
+The nights were fair and calm to thee; thou wert deceived by
+     them, For in the peace of night is born full many a
+     troublous thing.
+
+
+Just as she had finished, there came a knocking at the door; so
+Noureddin rose to open it, and one of his companions followed him
+without his knowledge. At the door he found his steward and said
+to him, 'What is the matter?' 'Omylord,' replied he, 'what I
+feared for thee has come to pass!' 'How so?' asked Noureddin; and
+the steward said, 'Know that there remains not a dirhem's worth,
+less nor more, in my hands. Here are registers containing an
+account of the original state of thy property and the way in
+which thou hast spent it.' At this, Noureddin bowed his head and
+exclaimed, 'There is no power and no virtue but in God!' When the
+man who had followed him secretly to spy on him heard what the
+steward said, he returned to his companions and said to them,
+'Look what ye do; for Noureddin Ali is bankrupt.' When Noureddin
+returned, they read trouble in his face; so one of them rose and
+said to him, 'O my lord, maybe thou wilt give me leave to
+retire?' 'Why wilt thou go away to-day?' said he. 'My wife is
+brought to bed,' replied the other; 'and I cannot be absent from
+her; I wish to return and see how she does.' So Noureddin gave
+him leave, whereupon another rose and said, 'O my lord, I wish to
+go to my brother, for he circumcises his son to-day.' And each
+made some excuse to retire, till they were all gone and Noureddin
+remained alone. Then he called his slave-girl and said to her, 'O
+Enis el Jelis, hast thou seen what has befallen me?' And he
+related to her what the steward had told him. 'O my lord,'
+replied she, 'some nights ago I had it in my mind to speak with
+thee of this matter; but I heard thee reciting the following
+verses:
+
+If fortune be lavish to thee, look thou be lavish with it Unto
+     all classes of men, ere it escapes from thy hand!
+Munificence will not undo it, whilst it is constant to thee, Nor,
+     when it turneth away, will avarice force it to stand.
+
+When I heard thee speak thus, I held my peace and cared not to
+say aught to thee.' 'O Enis el Jelis,' said Noureddin, 'thou
+knowest that I have not expended my substance but on my friends,
+who have beggared me, and I think they will not leave me without
+help.' 'By Allah,' replied she, 'they will not profit thee in
+aught.' Said he, 'I will rise at once and go to them and knock at
+their doors: maybe I shall get of them somewhat with which I may
+trade and leave pleasure and merry-making.' So he rose and
+repaired to a certain street, where all his ten comrades lived.
+He went up to the first door and knocked, whereupon a maid came
+out and said, 'Who art thou?' 'Tell thy master,' replied he,
+'that Noureddin Ali stands at the door and says to him, "Thy
+slave kisses thy hands and awaits thy bounty."' The girl went in
+and told her master, who cried out at her, saying, 'Go back and
+tell him that I am not at home.' So she returned and said to
+Noureddin, 'O my lord, my master is from home.' With this, he
+went away, saying to himself, 'Though this fellow be a whoreson
+knave and deny himself, another may not be so.' Then he came to
+the second door and sent in a like message to the master of the
+house, who denied himself as the first had done, whereupon
+Noureddin repeated the following verse:
+
+They're gone who, if before their door thou didst arrest thy
+     feet, Would on thy poverty bestow both flesh and roasted
+     meat.
+
+And said 'By Allah, I must try them all: there may be one amongst
+them who will stand me in the stead of the rest.' So he went
+round to all the ten, but not one of them opened his door to him
+or showed himself to him or broke a cake of bread in his face;
+whereupon he repeated the following verses:
+
+A man in time of affluence is like unto a tree, Round which the
+     folk collect, as long as fruit thereon they see,
+Till, when its burden it hath cast, they turn from it away, Leave
+     it to suffer heat and dust and all inclemency.
+Out on the people of this age! perdition to them all! Since not a
+     single one of ten is faithful found to be.
+
+Then he returned to his slave-girl, and indeed his concern was
+doubled, and she said to him, 'O my lord, did I not tell thee
+that they would not profit thee aught?' 'By Allah,' replied he,
+'not one of them would show me his face or take any notice of
+me!' 'O my lord! said she, 'sell some of the furniture and
+household stuff, little by little, and live on the proceed,
+against God the Most High provide.' So he sold all that was in
+the house, till there was nothing left, when he turned to her and
+said, 'What is to be done now?' 'O my lord,' replied she, 'it is
+my advice that thou rise and take me down to the market and sell
+me. Thou knowest that thy father bought me for ten thousand
+dinars; perhaps God may help thee to near that price, and if it
+be His will that we be reunited, we shall meet again.' 'O Enis el
+Jelis,' replied Noureddin, 'by Allah, I cannot endure to be
+parted from thee for a single hour!' 'By Allah, O my lord,'
+rejoined she, 'nor is it easy to me; but necessity compels, as
+says the poet:
+
+Necessity in life oft drives one into ways That to the courteous
+mind are foreign and abhorred.
+We do not trust our weight unto a rope, unless It be to do some
+thing adapted to the cord.'
+
+With this, he rose to his feet and took her, whilst the tears
+streamed down his cheeks like rain and he recited with the tongue
+of the case what follows:
+
+Stay and vouchsafe me one more look before our parting hour, To
+     soothe the anguish of a heart well-nigh for reverence slain!
+Yet, if it irk thee anywise to grant my last request, Far rather
+     let me die of love than cause thee aught of pain!
+
+Then he went down to the market and delivered the damsel to a
+broker, to whom he said, 'O Hajj[FN#109] Hassan, I would have
+thee note the value of her thou hast to offer for sale!' 'O my
+lord Noureddin,' replied the broker, 'I have not forgotten my
+business.[FN#110] Is not this Enis el Jelis, whom thy father
+bought of me for ten thousand dinars?' 'Yes,' said Noureddin.
+Then the broker went round to the merchants, but found they were
+not all assembled; so he waited till the rest had arrived and the
+market was full of all kinds of female slaves, Turks and Franks
+and Circassians and Abyssinians and Nubians and Egyptians and
+Tartars and Greeks and Georgians and others; when he came forward
+and said, 'O merchants! O men of wealth! every round thing is not
+a walnut nor every long thing a banana; every thing red is not
+meat nor everything white fat. O merchants, I have here this
+unique pearl, this unvalued jewel! What price shall I set on
+her?' 'Say four thousand five hundred dinars,' cried one. So the
+broker opened the biddings for her at that sum and as he was yet
+calling, behold, the Vizier Muin ben Sawa passed through the
+market and seeing Noureddin standing in a corner, said to
+himself, 'What doth the son of Khacan here? Has this gallows-bird
+aught left to buy girls withal?' Then he looked round and seeing
+the broker crying out and the merchants round him, said to
+himself, 'Doubtless he is ruined and has brought the damsel Enis
+el Jelis hither to sell her! What a solace to my heart!' Then he
+called the crier, who came up and kissed the ground before him,
+and he said to him, 'Show me the girl thou art crying for sale.'
+The broker dared not cross him, so he answered, 'O my lord, in
+the name of God!' And brought the damsel and showed her to him.
+She pleased him and he said, 'O Hassan, what is bidden for this
+damsel?' 'Four thousand five hundred dinars,' replied the broker,
+'as an upset price.' Quoth the Vizier, 'I take that bid on
+myself.' When the merchants heard this, they hung back and dared
+not bid another dirhem, knowing what they did of the Vizier's
+tyranny. Then Muin looked at the broker and said to him, 'What
+ails thee to stand still? Go and offer four thousand dinars for
+her, and the five hundred shall be for thyself.' So the broker
+went to Noureddin and said to him, 'O my lord, thy slave is gone
+for nothing!' 'How so?' said he. The broker answered, 'We had
+opened the biddings for her at four thousand five hundred dinars,
+when that tyrant Muin ben Sawa passed through the market and when
+he saw the damsel, she pleased him and he said to me, "Call me
+the buyer for four thousand dinars, and thou shalt have five
+hundred for thyself." I doubt not but he knows she belongs to
+thee, and if he would pay thee down her price at once, it were
+well; but I know, of his avarice and upright, he will give thee a
+written order on some of his agents and will send after thee to
+say to them, "Give him nothing." So as often as thou shalt go to
+seek the money, they will say, "We will pay thee presently," and
+so they will put thee off day after day, for all thy high spirit,
+till at last, when they are tired of thine importunity, they will
+say, "Show us the bill." Then, as soon as they get hold of it,
+they will tear it up, and so thou wilt lose the girl's price.'
+When Noureddin heard this, he looked at the broker and said
+to him, 'What is to be done?' 'I will give thee a counsel,'
+answered he, 'which if thou follow, it will be greatly to thine
+advantage.' 'What is that?' asked Noureddin. 'Do thou come to me
+presently,' said the broker, 'when I am standing in the midst of
+the market and taking the girl from my hand, give her a cuff and
+say to her, "O baggage, I have kept my vow and brought thee down
+to the market, because I swore that I would put thee up for sale
+and make the brokers cry thee." If thou do this, it may be the
+device will impose upon the Vizier and the folk, and they will
+believe that thou broughtest her not to the market but for
+the quittance of thine oath.' 'This is a good counsel,' said
+Noureddin. Then the broker left him and returning to the midst of
+the market, took the damsel by the hand; then beckoned to Muin
+and said to him, 'O my lord, here comes her owner.' With this up
+came Noureddin and snatching the girl from the broker, gave her a
+cuff and said to her, 'Out on thee, thou baggage! I have brought
+thee down to the market for the quittance of my oath; so now
+begone home and look that thou cross me not again. Out on thee!
+do I need thy price, that I should sell thee? The furniture of my
+house would fetch many times thy value, if I sold it.' When Muin
+saw this, he said to Noureddin, 'Out on thee! Hast thou aught
+left to sell?' And he made to lay violent hands on him; but the
+merchants interposed, for they all loved Noureddin, and the
+latter said to them, 'Behold, I am in your hands, and ye all know
+his tyranny!' 'By Allah,' exclaimed the Vizier, 'but for you, I
+would have killed him!' Then all the merchants signed to
+Noureddin with their eyes as who should say, 'Work thy will of
+him; not one of us will come betwixt him and thee.' Whereupon
+Noureddin, who was a stout-hearted fellow, went up to the Vizier
+and dragging him from his saddle, threw him to the ground. Now
+there was in that place a mortar-pit, into the midst of which he
+fell, and Noureddin fell to cuffing and pummelling him, and one
+of the blows smote his teeth, dyeing his beard with his blood.
+There were with the Vizier ten armed slaves, who, seeing their
+master thus evil entreated, clapped their hands to their swords
+and would have drawn them and fallen on Noureddin, to kill him;
+but the bystanders said to them, 'This is a Vizier and that a
+Vizier's son; it may be they will make peace with one another
+anon, in which case you will have gotten the hatred of both of
+them. Or a blow may fall on your lord, and you will all die the
+foulest of deaths; so you would do wisely not to interfere.' So
+they held aloof and when Noureddin had made an end of beating the
+Vizier, he took his slave-girl and went home; and Muin rose, with
+his white clothes dyed of three colours with black mud, red blood
+and ashes. When he saw himself in this plight, he put a halter
+round his neck and taking a bundle of coarse grass in either
+hand, went up to the palace and standing under the King's
+windows, cried out, 'O King of the age, I am a man aggrieved!' So
+they brought him before the Sultan, who looked at him and knowing
+him for his chief Vizier, asked who had entreated him thus.
+Whereupon he wept and sobbed and repeated the following verses:
+
+Shall fortune oppress me, and that in thy day, O King? Shall
+     wolves devour me, whilst thou art a lion proud?
+Shall all that are thirsty drink of thy water-tanks And shall I
+     thirst in thy courts, whilst thou art a rain-fraught cloud?
+
+'O my lord,' continued he, 'thus fare all who love and serve
+thee.' 'Make haste,' said the Sultan, 'and tell me how this
+happened and who hath dealt thus with thee, whose honour is a
+part of my own honour.' 'Know then, O my lord,' replied the
+Vizier, 'that I went out this day to the slave-market to buy me a
+cook-maid, when I saw in the bazaar a damsel, whose like for
+beauty I never beheld. She pleased me and I thought to buy her
+for our lord the Sultan; so I asked the broker of her and her
+owner, and he replied, "She belongs to Noureddin Ali son of Fezl
+ben Khacan." Now our lord the Sultan aforetime gave his father
+ten thousand dinars to buy him a handsome slave-girl, and he
+bought therewith this damsel, who pleased him, so that he grudged
+her to our lord the Sultan and gave her to his own son. When Fezl
+died, his son sold all that he possessed of houses and gardens
+and household stuff and squandered the price, till he became
+penniless. Then he brought the girl down to the market, to
+sell her, and handed her to the broker, who cried her and the
+merchants bid for her, till her price reached four thousand
+dinars; whereupon I said to myself, "I will buy her for our lord
+the Sultan, for it was his money that paid for her." So I said to
+Noureddin, "O my son, sell her to me for four thousand dinars."
+He looked at me and replied, "O pestilent old man, I will sell
+her to a Jew or a Christian rather than to thee!" "I do not buy
+her for myself," said I, "but for our lord and benefactor the
+Sultan." When he heard my words, he flew into a passion and
+dragging me off my horse, for all I am an old man, beat me till
+he left me as thou seest; and all this has befallen me but
+because I thought to buy the girl for thee.' Then the Vizier
+threw himself on the ground and lay there, weeping and trembling.
+When the Sultan saw his condition and heard his story, the vein
+of anger started out between his eyes, and he turned to his
+guards, who stood before him, forty swordsmen, and said to them,
+'Go down at once to the house of Noureddin ben Fezl, and sack it
+and raze it; then take him and the damsel and drag them hither
+with their hands bound behind them.' 'We hear and obey,' answered
+they: and arming themselves, set out for Noureddin's house. Now
+there was with the Sultan a man called Ilmeddin Senjer, who had
+aforetime been servant to Noureddin's father Fezl ben Khacan, but
+had left his service for that of the Sultan, who had advanced him
+to be one of his chamberlains. When he heard the Sultan's order
+and saw the enemies intent upon killing his master's son, it was
+grievous to him; so he went out from before the Sultan and
+mounting his steed, rode to Noureddin's house and knocked at the
+door. Noureddin came out and knowing him, would have saluted
+him: but he said, 'O my lord, this is no time for greeting or
+converse.' 'O Ilmeddin,' asked Noureddin, 'what is the matter?'
+'Arise and flee for your lives, thou and the damsel,' replied he:
+'for Muin ben Sawa hath laid a snare for you; and if you fall
+into his hands, he will kill you. The Sultan hath despatched
+forty swordsmen against you and I counsel you flee ere evil
+overtake you.' Then Senjer put his hand to his pouch and finding
+there forty dinars, took them and gave them to Noureddin, saying,
+'O my lord, take these and journey with them. If I had more, I
+would give them to thee; but this is no time to take exception.'
+So Noureddin went in to the damsel and told her what had
+happened, at which she wrung her hands. Then they went out at
+once from the city, and God let down the veil of His protection
+over them, so that they reached the river-bank, where they found
+a ship about to sail. Her captain stood in the waist, saying,
+'Whoso has aught to do, whether in the way of victualling or
+taking leave of his friends, or who has forgotten any necessary
+thing, let him do it at once and return, for we are about to
+sail.' And every one said, 'O captain, we have nothing left to
+do.' Whereupon he cried out to his crew, saying, 'Ho, there! cast
+off the moorings and pull up the pickets!' Quoth Noureddin,
+'Whither bound, O captain?' 'To the Abode of Peace, Baghdad,'
+replied he. So Noureddin and the damsel embarked with him, and
+they launched out and spread the sails, and the ship sped forth,
+as she were a bird in full flight, even as says right well the
+poet:
+
+Look at a ship, how ravishing a sight she is and fair! In her
+     swift course she doth outstrip the breezes of the air.
+She seems as 'twere a scudding bird that, lighting from the sky,
+     Doth on the surface of the stream with outspread pinions
+     fare.
+
+Meanwhile the King's officers came to Noureddin's house and
+breaking open the doors, entered and searched the whole place,
+but could find no trace of him and the damsel; so they demolished
+the house and returning to the Sultan, told him what they had
+done; whereupon he said, 'Make search for them, wherever they
+are!' And they answered, 'We hear and obey.' Then he bestowed
+upon the Vizier Muin a dress of honour and said to him, 'None
+shall avenge thee but myself.' So Muin's heart was comforted and
+he wished the King long life and returned to his own house. Then
+the Sultan caused proclamation to be made in the town, saying, 'O
+all ye people! It is the will of our lord the Sultan that whoso
+happens on Noureddin Ali ben Khacan and brings him to the Sultan
+shall receive a dress of honour and a thousand dinars, and he who
+conceals him or knows his abiding-place and informs not thereof,
+deserves the exemplary punishment that shall befall him.' So
+search was made for Noureddin, but they could find neither trace
+nor news of him; and meantime he and the damsel sailed on with a
+fair wind, till they arrived safely at Baghdad and the captain
+said to them, 'This is Baghdad, and it is a city of safety: the
+winter hath departed from it, with its cold, and the season of
+the Spring is come, with its roses; its trees are in blossom and
+its streams flowing.' So Noureddin landed, he and the damsel, and
+giving the captain five dinars, walked on awhile, till chance
+brought them among the gardens and they came to a place swept and
+sprinkled, with long benches on either hand and hanging pots full
+of water. Overhead was a trelliswork of canes shading the whole
+length of the alley, and at the further end was the door of a
+garden; but this was shut. 'By Allah,' said Noureddin to the
+damsel, 'this is a pleasant place!' And she answered, 'O my lord,
+let us sit down on these benches and rest awhile.' So they
+mounted and sat down on the benches, after having washed their
+faces and hands; and the air smote on them and they fell asleep,
+glory be to Him who never sleeps! Now the garden in question was
+called the Garden of Delight and therein stood a pavilion called
+the Pavilion of Pictures, belonging to the Khalif Haroun er
+Reshid, who used, when sad at heart, to repair thither and there
+sit. In this pavilion were fourscore windows and fourscore
+hanging lamps and in the midst a great chandelier of gold. When
+the Khalif entered, he was wont to have all the windows opened
+and to order his boon-companion Isaac ben Ibrahim and the
+slave-girls to sing, till his care left him and his heart was
+lightened. Now the keeper of the garden was an old man by name
+Gaffer Ibrahim, and he had found, from time to time, on going out
+on his occasions, idlers taking their case with courtezans in the
+alley leading to the door of the garden, at which he was sore
+enraged; so he complained to the Khalif, who said, 'Whomsoever
+thou findest at the door of the garden, do with him as thou
+wilt.' As chance would have it, he had occasion to go abroad that
+very day and found these two sleeping at the gate, covered with
+one veil; whereupon, 'By Allah,' said he, 'this is fine! These
+two know not that the Khalif has given me leave to kill any one
+whom I may catch at the door of the garden: but I will give them
+a sound drubbing, that none may come near the gate in future.' So
+he cut a green palm-stick and went out to them and raising his
+arm, till the whiteness of his armpit appeared, was about to lay
+on to them, when he bethought himself and said, 'O Ibrahim, wilt
+thou beat them, knowing not their case? Maybe they are strangers
+or wayfarers, and destiny hath led them hither. I will uncover
+their faces and look on them.' So he lifted up the veil from
+their faces and said, 'They are a handsome pair! It were not
+fitting that I should beat them.' Then he covered their faces
+again, and going to Noureddin's feet, began to rub them,
+whereupon the young man awoke, and seeing an old man of venerable
+appearance rubbing his feet, was abashed and drawing them in, sat
+up; then took Ibrahim's hand and kissed it. Quoth the old man, 'O
+my son, whence art thou?' 'O my lord,' replied Noureddin, 'we are
+strangers.' And the tears started to his eyes. 'O my son,' said
+Ibrahim, 'know that the Prophet (whom God bless and preserve!)
+hath charged us to be hospitable to strangers. Wilt thou not
+rise, O my son, and pass into the garden and take thy pleasure
+therein and gladden thy heart?' 'O my lord,' said Noureddin, 'to
+whom does the garden belong?' And he replied, 'O my son, I
+inherited it from my family.' Now his object in saying this was
+to put them at their ease and induce them to enter the garden. So
+Noureddin thanked him and rose, he and the damsel, and followed
+him into the garden. They entered through a gateway, vaulted like
+a gallery and overhung with vines bearing grapes of various
+colours, the red like rubies and the black like ebony, and
+passing under a bower of trellised boughs, found themselves in a
+garden, and what a garden! There were fruit-trees growing singly
+and in clusters and birds warbling melodiously on the branches,
+whilst the thousand-voiced nightingale repeated the various
+strains: the turtle-dove filled the place with her cooing, and
+there sang the blackbird, with its warble like a human voice, and
+the ring-dove, with her notes like a drinker exhilarated with
+wine. The trees were laden with all manner of ripe fruits, two of
+each: the apricot in its various kinds, camphor and almond and
+that of Khorassan, the plum, whose colour is as that of fair
+women, the cherry, that does away discoloration of the teeth, and
+the fig of three colours, red and white and green. There bloomed
+the flower of the bitter orange, as it were pearls and coral,
+the rose whose redness puts to shame the cheeks of the fair,
+the violet, like sulphur on fire by night, the myrtle, the
+gillyflower, the lavender, the peony and the blood-red anemone.
+The leaves were jewelled with the tears of the clouds; the
+camomile smiled with her white petals like a lady's teeth, and
+the narcissus looked at the rose with her negro's eyes: the
+citrons shone like cups and the limes like balls of gold, and the
+earth was carpeted with flowers of all colours; for the Spring
+was come and the place beamed with its brightness; whilst the
+birds sang and the stream rippled and the breeze blew softly, for
+the attemperance of the air. Ibrahim carried them up into the
+pavilion, and they gazed on its beauty and on the lamps aforesaid
+in the windows; and Noureddin called to mind his banquetings of
+time past and said, 'By Allah, this is a charming place!' Then
+they sat down and the gardener set food before them; and they ate
+their fill and washed their hands; after which Noureddin went up
+to one of the windows and calling the damsel, fell to gazing on
+the trees laden with all manner of fruits. Then he turned to the
+gardener and said to him, 'O Gaffer Ibrahim, hast thou no drink
+here, for folk use to drink after eating?' The old man brought
+him some fresh sweet cold water, but he said, 'This is not the
+kind of drink I want.' 'Belike,' said Ibrahim, 'thou wishest for
+wine?' 'I do,' replied Noureddin. 'God preserve me from it!' said
+the old man. 'It is thirteen years since I did this thing, for
+the Prophet (whom God bless and preserve!) cursed its drinker,
+its presser, its seller and its carrier.' 'Hear two words from
+me,' said Noureddin. 'Say on,' replied Ibrahim. 'If,' said
+Noureddin, 'that unlucky ass there be cursed, will any part of
+the curse fall on thee?' 'Not so,' replied the old man. 'Then,'
+said Noureddin, 'take this dinar and these two dirhems and mount
+the ass and stop at a distance (from the wineshop); then call the
+first man thou seest buying, and say to him, "Take these two
+dirhems and buy me this dinar's worth of wine and set it on the
+ass." Thus thou wilt be neither the purchaser nor the carrier of
+the wine and no part of the curse will fall on thee.' At this the
+gardener laughed and said, 'O my son, never have I seen one
+readier-witted than thou nor heard aught sweeter than thy
+speech.' So he did as Noureddin had said, and the latter thanked
+him, saying, 'We are dependent on thee, and it is only fitting
+that thou comply with our wishes; so bring us what we require.'
+'O my son,' replied he, 'there is my buttery before thee.' (Now
+this was the store-room provided for the Commander of the
+Faithful.) Enter and take what thou wilt; there is more there
+than thou needest.' So Noureddin entered the pantry and found
+therein vessels of gold and silver and crystal, incrusted with
+all kinds of jewels, and was amazed and delighted at what he saw.
+Then he took what he wanted and set it on and poured the wine
+into flagons and decanters, whilst Ibrahim brought them fruits
+and flowers and withdrew and sat down at a distance. So they
+drank and made merry, till the wine got the mastery of them, so
+that their cheeks flushed and their eyes sparkled and their hair
+became dishevelled. Then said Ibrahim to himself, 'What ails me
+to sit apart? Why should I not sit with them? When shall I find
+myself in company with the like of these two, who are like two
+moons?' So he came and sat down at the corner of the dais, and
+Noureddin said to him, 'O my lord, my life on thee, come and sit
+with us!' So he came and sat by them, and Noureddin filled a cup
+and said to him, 'Drink, that thou mayst know the flavour of it.'
+'God forbid!' replied he. 'I have not done such a thing these
+thirteen years.' Noureddin did not press him, but drank off the
+cup, and throwing himself on the ground, feigned to be overcome
+with drunkenness. Then said the damsel, 'O Gaffer Ibrahim, see
+how he serves me!' 'O my lady,' replied he, 'what ails him?'
+'This is how he always treats me,' said she; 'he drinks awhile,
+then falls asleep and leaves me alone, with none to bear me
+company over my cup nor to whom I may sing whilst he drinks.' 'By
+Allah,' said he (and indeed her words touched his heart and made
+his soul incline to her), 'this is not well!' Then she looked at
+him and filling a cup said to him, 'I conjure thee, on my life,
+not to refuse me, but take this cup and drink it off and solace
+my heart.' So he took it and drank it off and she filled a second
+cup and set it on the chandelier, saying, 'O my lord, there is
+still this one left for thee.' 'By Allah, I cannot take it,'
+answered he; 'that which I have drunk suffices me.' 'By Allah,'
+said she, 'thou must indeed drink it.' So he took the cup and
+drank; and she filled him a third cup, which he took and was
+about to drink, when behold, Noureddin opened his eyes and
+sitting up, exclaimed, 'Hello, Gaffer Ibrahim, what is this? Did
+I not adjure thee just now, and thou refusedst, saying, "I have
+not done such a thing these thirteen years"?' 'By Allah,' replied
+he (and indeed he was abashed), 'it is her fault, not mine.'
+Noureddin laughed and they sat down again to carouse, but the
+damsel turned to Noureddin and whispered to him, 'O my lord,
+drink and do not press him, and I will show thee some sport with
+him.' Then she began to fill her master's cup and he to fill to
+her, and so they did time after time, till at last Ibrahim looked
+at them and said, 'What manner of good fellowship is this? God's
+malison on the glutton who keeps the cup to himself! Why dost
+thou not give me to drink, O my brother? What manners are these,
+O Blessed One!' At this they laughed till they fell backward;
+then they drank and gave him to drink and ceased not to carouse
+thus, till a third part of the night was past. Then said the
+damsel, 'O Gaffer Ibrahim, with thy leave, I will light one of
+these candles.' 'Do so,' said he; 'but light no more then one.'
+So she rose and beginning with one candle, lighted fourscore and
+sat down again. Presently Noureddin said, 'O Gaffer Ibrahim, how
+stands my favour with thee? May I not light one of these lamps ?'
+'Light one,' replied he, 'and plague me no more.' So Noureddin
+rose and lighted one lamp after another, till he had lighted the
+whole eighty and the palace seemed to dance with light. Quoth
+Ibrahim (and indeed intoxication had mastered him), 'Ye are more
+active than I.' Then he rose and opened all the windows and sat
+down again; and they fell to carousing and reciting verses, till
+the place rang with their mirth.
+
+Now as God the All-powerful, who appointeth a cause to
+everything, had decreed, the Khalif was at that moment seated at
+one of the windows of his palace, overlooking the Tigris, in the
+light of the moon. He saw the lustre of the candles and lamps
+reflected in the river and lifting his eyes, perceived that it
+came from the garden-palace, which was in a blaze with light. So
+he called Jaafer the Barmecide and said to him, 'O dog of a
+Vizier, has the city of Baghdad been taken from me and thou hast
+not told me?' 'What words are these?' said Jaafer. 'If Baghdad
+were not taken from me,' rejoined the Khalif, 'the Pavilion of
+Pictures would not be illuminated with lamps and candles, nor
+would its windows be open. Out on thee! Who would dare to do this
+except the Khalifate were taken from me?' Quoth Jaafer (and
+indeed he trembled in every limb), 'Who told thee that the
+pavilion was illuminated and the windows open?' 'Come hither and
+look,' replied the Khalif. So Jaafer came to the window and
+looking towards the garden, saw the pavilion flaming with light,
+in the darkness of the night, and thinking that this might be by
+the leave of the keeper, for some good reason of his own, was
+minded to make an excuse for him. So he said, 'O Commander of the
+Faithful, Gaffer Ibrahim said to me last week, "O my lord Jaafer,
+I desire to circumcise my sons during thy life and that of the
+Commander of the Faithful." "What dost thou want?" asked I; and
+he said, "Get me leave from the Khalif to hold the festival in
+the pavilion." So I said to him, "Go, circumcise them, and I will
+see the Khalif and tell him." So he went away and I forgot to
+tell thee.' 'O Jaafer,' said the Khalif, 'thou hast committed two
+offences against me, first, in that thou didst not tell me,
+secondly, in that thou didst not give the old man what he sought;
+for he only came and told thee this, by way of hinting a request
+for some small matter of money, to help him out with the
+expenses; and thou gavest him nothing nor toldest me.' 'O
+Commander of the Faithful,' replied Jaafer, 'I forgot.' 'By the
+virtue of my forefathers,' rejoined the Khalif, 'I will not pass
+the rest of the night but with him, for he is a pious man, who
+consorts with the elders of the faith and the fakirs: doubtless
+they are now assembled with him and it may be that the prayer of
+one of them may profit us both in this world and the next.
+Besides, my presence will advantage him and he will be pleased.'
+'O Commander of the Faithful,' objected Jaafer, 'the night is far
+spent, and they will now be about to break up.' 'It matters not,'
+replied the Khalif; 'I must and will go to them.' And Jaafer was
+silent, being perplexed and knowing not what to do. Then the
+Khalif rose to his feet and taking with him Jaafer and Mesrour
+the eunuch, they all three disguised themselves as merchants and
+leaving the palace, walked on through the by-streets till they
+came to the garden. The Khalif went up to the gate and finding it
+open, was surprised and said to the Vizier, 'Look, Jaafer, how
+Gaffer Ibrahim has left the gate open to this hour, contrary to
+his wont!' They entered and walked on till they came under the
+pavilion, when the Khalif said, 'O Jaafer, I wish to look in upon
+them privily before I join them, that I may see what they are
+about, for up to now I hear no sound nor any fakir naming[FN#111]
+God.' Then he looked about and seeing a tall walnut-tree, said to
+Jaafer, 'I will climb this tree, for its branches come near the
+windows, and so look in upon them.' So he mounted the tree and
+climbed from branch to branch, till he reached a bough that came
+up to one of the windows. On this he seated himself and looking
+in at the window, saw a young lady and a young man as they were
+two moons (glory be to Him who created them and fashioned them!),
+and by them Gaffer Ibrahim seated, with a cup in his hand,
+saying, 'O princess of fair ones, drink without music is nothing
+worth; indeed I have heard a poet say:
+
+Pass round the wine in the great and the small cup too, And take
+     the bowl from the hands of the shining moon.[FN#112]
+But without music, I charge you, forbear to drink, For sure I see
+     even horses drink to a whistled tune.'
+
+When the Khalif saw this, the vein of anger started out between
+his eyes and he descended and said to the Vizier, 'O Jaafer,
+never saw I men of piety in such a case! Do thou mount this tree
+and look upon them, lest the benisons of the devout escape thee.'
+So Jaafer climbed up, perplexed at these words, and looking in,
+saw Noureddin and the damsel and Gaffer Ibrahim with a cup in his
+hand. At this sight, he made sure of ruin and descending, stood
+before the Commander of the Faithful, who said to him, 'O Jaafer,
+praised be God who hath made us of those who observe the external
+forms of the Divine ordinances!' Jaafer could make no answer for
+excess of confusion, and the Khalif continued, 'I wonder how
+these people came hither and who admitted them into my pavilion!
+But the like of the beauty of this youth and this girl my eyes
+never beheld!' 'Thou art right, O Commander of the Faithful,'
+replied Jaafer, hoping to propitiate him. Then said the Khalif,
+'O Jaafer, let us both mount the branch that overlooks the
+window, that we may amuse ourselves with looking at them.' So
+they both climbed the tree and looking in, heard Ibrahim say, 'O
+my lady, I have laid aside gravity in drinking wine, but this is
+not thoroughly delectable without the melodious sound of the
+strings. 'By Allah,' replied Enis el Jelis, 'if we had but some
+musical instrument, our joy would be complete!' When the old man
+heard what she said, he rose to his feet, and the Khalif said to
+Jaafer, 'I wonder what he is going to do.' 'I know not,' replied
+Jaafer. Then Ibrahim went out and returned with a lute; and
+the Khalif looked at it and knew it for that of Isaac the
+boon-companion. 'By Allah,' said he, 'if this damsel sing ill, I
+will crucify you, all of you; but if she sing well, I will pardon
+them and crucify thee.' 'God grant she may sing ill!' said Jaafer
+'Why so?' asked the Khalif. 'Because,' replied Jaafer 'if thou
+crucify us all together, we shall keep each other company.' The
+Khalif laughed at his speech; then the damsel took the lute and
+tuning it, played a measure which made all hearts yearn to her,
+then sang the following verses:
+
+O ye that to help unhappy lovers are fain! We burn with the fire
+     of love and longing in vain.
+Whatever ye do, we merit it: see, we cast Ourselves on your ruth!
+     Do not exult in our pain.
+For we are children of sadness and low estate. Do with us what
+     you will; we will not complain.
+What were your glory to slay us within your courts? Our fear is
+     but lest you sin in working us bane.
+
+'By Allah,' said the Khalif, 'it is good, O Jaafer! Never in my
+life have I heard so enchanting a voice!' 'Belike,' said Jaafer,
+'the Khalif's wrath hath departed from him.' 'Yes,' said the
+Khalif, 'it is gone.' Then they descended from the tree, and the
+Khalif said to Jaafer, 'I wish to go in and sit with them and
+hear the damsel sing before me.' 'O Commander of the Faithful,'
+replied Jaafer, 'if thou go in to them, they will most like be
+troubled and Gaffer Ibrahim will assuredly die of fright.' 'O
+Jaafer,' said the Khalif, 'thou must teach me some device,
+whereby I may foregather with them, without being known of them.'
+So they walked on towards the Tigris, considering of this affair,
+and presently came upon a fisher man standing fishing under the
+windows of the pavilion. Now some time before this, the Khalif
+(being in the pavilion) had called to Gaffer Ibrahim and said to
+him, 'What is this noise I hear under the windows?' 'It is the
+voices of the fishermen, fishing,' answered he; and the Khalif
+commanded him to go down and forbid them to resort thither; so
+the fishermen were forbidden to fish there. However, that night a
+fisherman named Kerim, happening to pass by and seeing the garden
+gate open, said to himself, 'This is a time of negligence: I will
+take advantage of it to fish.' So he went in, but had hardly cast
+his net, when the Khalif came up alone and standing behind
+him, knew him and called out to him, saying, 'Ho, Kerim!' The
+fisherman, hearing himself called by his name, turned round, and
+seeing the Khalif, trembled in every limb and exclaimed, 'O
+Commander of the Faithful, I did it not in mockery of the edict;
+but poverty and distress drove me to what thou seest.' Quoth the
+Khalif, 'Make a cast in my name.' At this the fisherman was glad
+and going to the bank, cast his net, then waiting till it had
+spread out to the utmost and settled down, pulled it up and found
+in it various kinds of fish. The Khalif was pleased and said, 'O
+Kerim, put off thy clothes.' So he put off a gown of coarse
+woollen stuff, patched in a hundred places and full of disgusting
+vermin, and a turban that had not been unwound for three years,
+but to which he had sewn every rag he came across. The Khalif
+pulled off his cassock and mantle and two vests of Alexandria and
+Baalbec silk and saying to the fisherman, 'Take these and put
+them on,' donned the latter's gown and turban and tied a chin
+band [FN#113] round the lower part of his face. Then said he to
+the fisherman, 'Go about thy business.' So he kissed the Khalif's
+feet and thanked him and recited the following verses:
+
+Thou hast heaped benefits on me, past all that I could crave! My
+     tongue suffices not to praise thy goodness to thy slave.
+So I will thank thee whilst I live; and when I come to die, My
+     very bones shall never cease to thank thee in the grave.
+
+Hardly had he finished, when the lice began to crawl over the
+skin of the Khalif, who fell to snatching them with either hand
+from his neck and throwing them down, exclaiming, 'Out on thee, O
+fisherman, this gown is swarming with vermin!' 'O my lord,'
+replied the fisherman, 'they torment thee just now, but before a
+week has passed, thou wilt not feel them nor think of them.' The
+Khalif laughed and said, 'Out on thee! Dost thou think I mean to
+leave this gown on my body?' 'O my lord,' said the fisherman,
+'I desire to say one word to thee.' 'Say on,' answered the
+Khalif. 'It occurs to me, O Commander of the Faithful,' said the
+fisherman, 'that if thou wish to learn hunting, so thou mayst
+have an useful trade ready to thy hand, this gown will be the
+very thing for thee.' The Khalif laughed, and the fisherman went
+his way. Then the Khalif took up the basket of fish, and laying a
+little grass over it, carried it to Jaafer and stood before him.
+Jaafer, concluding that it was Kerim the fisherman, was alarmed
+for him and said, 'O Kerim, what brings thee hither? Flee for thy
+life, for the Khalif is in the garden to-night, and if he see
+thee, thou wilt lose thy head.' At this the Khalif laughed, and
+Jaafer knew him and said, 'Surely thou art our lord the Khalif?'
+'Yes, O Jaafer,' replied he. 'And thou art my Vizier and I came
+hither with thee; yet thou knewest me not; so how should Gaffer
+Ibrahim know me, and he drunk? Stay here, till I come back.' 'I
+hear and obey,' answered Jaafer. Then the Khalif went up to the
+door of the pavilion and knocked softly, whereupon said
+Noureddin, 'O Gaffer Ibrahim, some one knocks at the door.' 'Who
+is at the door?' cried the old man; and the Khalif replied, 'It
+is I, O Gaffer Ibrahim!' 'Who art thou?' asked the gardener. 'I,
+Kerim the fisherman,' rejoined the Khalif. 'I hear thou hast
+company, so have brought thee some fine fish.' When Noureddin
+heard the mention of fish, he was glad, he and the damsel, and
+they both said to Ibrahim, 'O my lord, open the door and let him
+bring the fish in to us.' So he opened the door, and the Khalif
+entered, in his fisherman's disguise, and began by saluting them.
+Quoth Ibrahim, 'Welcome to the brigand, the robber, the gambler!
+Let us see thy fish.' So the Khalif showed them the fish and
+behold, they were still alive and moving, whereupon the damsel
+exclaimed, 'O my lord, these are indeed fine fish! Would that
+they were fried!' 'By Allah, O my mistress,' replied Ibrahim,
+'thou art right.' Then said he to the Khalif, 'O fisherman, why
+didst thou not bring us the fish ready fried? Go now and fry them
+and bring them to us.' 'It shall be done at once,' answered he.
+Said they, 'Be quick about it.' So he went out, running, and
+coming up to Jaafer, cried out, 'Hallo, Jaafer!' 'Here am I, O
+Commander of the Faithful!' replied he. 'They want the fish
+fried,' said the Khalif. 'O Commander of the Faithful,' answered
+Jaafer, 'give it to me and I will fry it for them.' 'By the tombs
+of my forefathers,' said the Khalif, 'none shall fry it but I,
+with my own hand!' So he repaired to the keeper's hut, where he
+searched and found all that he required, even to salt and saffron
+and marjoram and so forth. Then he laid the fish on the
+frying-pan and setting it on the brazier, fried them handsomely.
+When they were done, he laid them on a banana-leaf, and gathering
+some lemons from the garden, carried the dish to the pavilion and
+set it before them. So Noureddin and the damsel and Ibrahim came
+forward and ate, after which they washed their hands and
+Noureddin said to the Khalif, 'O fisherman, thou hast done us a
+right welcome service this night!' Then he put his hand to his
+pouch and taking out three of the dinars that Senjer had given
+him, said, 'O fisherman, excuse me. By Allah, had I known thee
+before that which has lately befallen me, I had done away the
+bitterness of poverty from thy heart; but take this as an earnest
+of my good will!' Then he threw the dinars to the Khalif, who
+took them and kissed them and put them up. Now the Khalif's sole
+desire in all this was to hear the damsel sing; so he said to
+Noureddin, 'O my lord, thou hast rewarded me munificently, but I
+beg of thy great bounty that thou wilt let this damsel sing an
+air, that I may hear her.' So Noureddin said, 'O Enis el Jelis!'
+'Yes,' replied she. And he said, 'My life on thee, sing us
+something for the sake of this fisherman, for he wishes to hear
+thee.' So she took the lute and struck the strings, after she had
+tuned them, and sang the following verses:
+
+The fingers of the lovely maid went wandering o'er the lute, And
+     many a soul to ravishment its music did compel.
+She sang, and lo, her singing cured the deaf man of his ill, And
+     he that erst was dumb exclaimed, "Thou hast indeed done
+     well!"
+
+
+Then she played again, so admirably that she ravished their wits,
+and sang the following verses:
+
+Thou honour'dst us, when thou didst in our land alight; Thy
+     lustre hath dispelled the moonless midnight gloom!
+Wherefore with camphor white and rose-water and musk It e'en
+     behoveth us our dwelling to perfume.
+
+At this the Khalif was agitated and so overcome with emotion that
+he was not master of himself for excess of delight, and he
+exclaimed, 'By Allah, it is good! By Allah, it is good! By Allah,
+it is good!' Quoth Noureddin, 'O fisherman, doth this damsel
+please thee?' 'Ay, by Allah!' replied he. Whereupon said
+Noureddin, 'I make thee a present of her, the present of a
+generous man who does not go back on his giving nor will revoke
+his gift.' Then he sprang to his feet and taking a mantle, threw
+it over the pretended fisherman and bade him take the damsel and
+begone. But she looked at him and said, 'O my lord, art thou
+going away without bidding me adieu? If it must be so, at least,
+stay whilst I bid thee farewell and make known my case.' And she
+repeated the following verses:
+
+I am filled full of longing pain and memory and dole, Till I for
+     languor am become a body without soul.
+Say not to me, beloved one, "Thou'lt grow consoled for me;" When
+     such affliction holds the heart, what is there can console?
+If that a creature in his tears could swim as in a sea, I to do
+     this of all that breathe were surely first and sole.
+O thou, the love of whom doth fill my heart and overflow, Even
+     when wine, with water mixed, fills up the brimming bowl,
+O thou for whom desire torments my body and my spright! This
+     severance is the thing I feared was writ on fortune's
+     scroll.
+O thou, whose love from out my heart shall nevermore depart, O
+     son of Khacan, thou my wish, my hope unshared and whole,
+On my account thou didst transgress against our lord and king And
+     left'st thy native land for me, to seek a foreign goal.
+Thou givest me unto Kerim,[FN#114] may he for aye be praised! And
+     may th' Almighty for my loss my dearest lord console!
+
+When she had finished, Noureddin answered her by repeating the
+following:
+
+She bade me adieu on the day of our parting And said, whilst for
+     anguish she wept and she sighed,
+"Ah, what wilt thou do, when from me thou art severed?" "Ask that
+     of the man who'll survive," I replied.
+
+When the Khalif heard what she said in her verses, 'Thou hast
+given me to Kerim,' his interest in her redoubled and it was
+grievous to him to separate them; so he said to Noureddin, 'O my
+lord, verily the damsel said in her verses that thou hadst
+transgressed against her master and him who possessed her; so
+tell me, against whom didst thou transgress and who is it that
+has a claim on thee?' 'By Allah, O fisherman,' replied Noureddin
+'there hangs a rare story by me and this damsel, a story, which,
+were it graven with needles on the corners of the eye, would
+serve as a lesson to him who can profit by example.' Said the
+Khalif, 'Wilt thou not tell us thy story and acquaint us with thy
+case? Peradventure it may bring thee relief, for the help of God
+is near at hand.' 'O fisher man,' said Noureddin, 'wilt thou hear
+our story in prose or verse?' 'Prose is but words,' replied the
+Khalif, 'but verse is strung pearls.' Then Noureddin bowed his
+head and spoke the following verses.
+
+     O my friend, I have bidden farewell to repose, And the
+          anguish of exile has doubled my woes
+     I once had a father, who loved me right dear, But left me,
+          to dwell in the tombs, where all goes.
+     There fell on me after him hardship and pain And Fate broke
+          in pieces my heart with its blows.
+     He bought me a slave-girl, the fairest of maids; Her shape
+          shamed the branch and her colour the rose.
+     I wasted the substance he left me, alas! And lavished it
+          freely on these and on those,
+     Till for need I was minded to sell the fair maid, Though
+          sorely I grudged at the parting, God knows!
+     But lo! when the crier 'gan call her for sale, A scurvy old
+          skin-flint to bid for her chose.
+     At this I was angered beyond all control And snatched her
+          away ere the crier could close;
+     Whereupon the old rancorous curmudgeon flamed up With
+          despite and beset me with insults and blows.
+     In my passion I smote him with right hand and left, Till my
+          wrath was assuaged; after which I arose
+     And returning, betook me in haste to my house, Where I hid
+          me for feat of the wrath of my foes.
+     Then the king of the city decreed my arrest: But a
+          kind-hearted chamberlain pitied my woes
+     And warned me to flee from the city forthright, Ere my
+          enemies' springes my life should enclose.
+     So we fled from our house in the dead of the night And came
+          to Baghdad for a place of repose.
+     I have nothing of value, nor treasures nor gold, Or I'd
+          handsel thee, fisherman, freely with those!
+     But I give thee, instead, the beloved of my soul, And in her
+          thou hast gotten my heart's blood, God knows!
+
+When he had finished, the Khalif said to him, 'O my lord
+Noureddin, explain to me thy case more fully!' So he told him the
+whole story from beginning to end, and the Khalif said to him,
+'Whither dost thou now intend?' 'God's world is wide!' replied
+he. Quoth the Khalif, 'I will write thee a letter to carry to the
+Sultan Mohammed ben Suleiman ez Zeini, which when he reads, he
+will do thee no hurt.' 'Who ever heard of a fisherman writing to
+kings?' said Noureddin. 'Such a thing can never be.' 'True,'
+replied the Khalif; 'but I will tell thee the reason. Know that
+he and I learnt in the same school, under one master, and that I
+was his monitor. Since that time, fortune has betided him and he
+is become a Sultan, whilst God hath abased me and made me a
+fisherman: yet I never send to him to seek aught, but he does my
+desire; nay, though I should ask of him a thousand favours a day,
+he would comply.' When Noureddin heard this, he said, 'Good:
+write that I may see.' So the Khalif took pen and inkhorn and
+wrote as follows: 'In the name of God, the Compassionate, the
+Merciful! This letter is from Haroun er Reshid son of el Mehdi
+to His Highness Mohammed ben Suleiman ez Zeini, whom I have
+compassed about with my favour and made governor for me in
+certain of my dominions. The bearer of these presents is
+Noureddin son of Felz ben Khacan the Vizier. As soon as they come
+to thy hand, do thou put off thy kingly dignity and invest him
+therewith, and look thou oppose not my commandment, so peace be
+on thee.' Then he gave the letter to Noureddin, who took it and
+kissed it, then put it in his turban and set out at once on his
+journey. As soon as he was gone, Gaffer Ibrahim fumed to the
+Khalif and said to him, 'O vilest of fishermen, thou hast brought
+us a couple of fish, worth a score of paras, and hast gotten
+three dinars for them; and thinkest thou to take the damsel
+also?' When the Khalif heard this, he cried out at him and made a
+sign to Mesrour, who discovered himself and rushed upon him. Now
+Jaafer had sent one of the gardeners to the doorkeeper of the
+palace for a suit of the royal raiment for the Commander of the
+Faithful; so he went and returning with the suit, kissed the
+earth before the Khalif and gave it to him. Then he threw off the
+clothes he had on and dressed himself in those which the gardener
+had brought, to the great amazement of Gaffer Ibrahim, who bit
+his nails in bewilderment and exclaimed, 'Am I asleep or awake?'
+'O Gaffer Ibrahim,' said the Khalif, 'what state is this in which
+I see thee?' With this, he recovered from his drunkenness and
+throwing himself on the ground, repeated the following verses:
+
+Forgive the error into which my straying feet did fall, For the
+     slave sues for clemency from him to whom he's thrall!
+Lo, by confessing I have done what the offence requires! Where
+     then is that for which good grace and generous mercy call?
+
+The Khalif forgave him and bade carry the damsel to the palace,
+where he assigned her a separate lodging and servants to wait
+upon her, saying to her, 'Know that we have sent thy master to be
+Sultan in Bassora, and God willing, we will despatch him a dress
+of honour and thee with it.'
+
+Meanwhile, Noureddin fared on, till he reached Bassora, when he
+repaired to the Sultan's palace and gave a loud cry. The Sultan
+heard him and sent for him; and when he came into his presence,
+he kissed the earth before him and pulling out the letter, gave
+it to him. The Sultan, seeing that the superscription was in the
+handwriting of the Khalif, rose to his feet and kissed the letter
+three times, then read it and said, 'I hear and obey God and the
+Commander of the Faithful!' Then he summoned the four Cadis and
+the Amirs and was about to divest himself of the kingly office,
+when in came the Vizier Muin ben Sawa. The Sultan gave him the
+Khalif's letter, and he read it, then tore it in pieces and
+putting it in his mouth, chewed it and threw it away. 'Out on
+thee!' exclaimed the Sultan (and indeed he was angry); 'what made
+thee do that?' 'By thy life, O our lord the Sultan,' replied
+Muin, 'this fellow hath never seen the Khalif nor his Vizier:
+but he is a gallows-bird, a crafty imp who, happening upon a
+blank[FN#115] sheet in the Khalif's handwriting, hath written his
+own desire in it. The Khalif would surely not have sent him to
+take the Sultanate from thee, without a royal mandate and a
+patent appended thereto, nor would he have omitted to send with
+him a chamberlain or a vizier. But he is alone and hath never
+come from the Khalif, never! never!' 'What is to be done?' said
+the Sultan. 'Leave him to me,' replied the Vizier: 'I will send
+him in charge of a chamberlain to the city of Baghdad. If what he
+says be true, they will bring us back royal letters-patent and a
+diploma of investiture; and if not, I will pay him what I owe
+him.' When the Sultan heard the Vizier's words, he said, 'Take
+him.' So Muin carried Noureddin to his own house and cried out to
+his servants, who threw him down and beat him, till he swooned
+away. Then he caused heavy shackles to be put on his feet and
+carried him to the prison, where he called the gaoler, whose name
+was Cuteyt, and said to him, 'O Cuteyt, take this fellow and
+throw him into one of the underground cells in the prison and
+torture him night and day.' 'I hear and obey,' replied he, and
+taking Noureddin into the prison, locked the door on him. Then he
+bade sweep a bench behind the door and laying  thereon a mattress
+and a leather rug, made Noureddin sit down. Moreover, he loosed
+his fetters and treated him kindly. The Vizier sent every day to
+the gaoler, charging him to beat him, but he abstained from this,
+and things abode thus forty days' time. On the forty-first day,
+there came a present from the Khalif: which when the Sultan saw,
+it pleased him and he took counsel about it with his Viziers, one
+of whom said, 'Mayhap this present was intended for the new
+Sultan.' Quoth Muin, 'We should have done well to put him to
+death at his first coming;' and the Sultan said, 'By Allah, thou
+remindest me of him! Go down to the prison and fetch him, and I
+will strike off his head.' 'I hear end obey,' replied Muin. 'With
+thy leave I will have proclamation made in the city, "Whoso hath
+a mind to look upon the beheading of Noureddin Ali ben Khacan,
+let him repair to the palace!" So, great and small will come out
+to gaze on him and I shall heal my heart and mortify those that
+envy me.' 'As thou wilt,' said the Sultan; whereupon the Vizier
+went out, rejoicing, and commanded the chief of the police to
+make the aforesaid proclamation. When the folk heard the crier,
+they all mourned and wept, even to the little ones in the schools
+and the tradersin the shops, and some hastened to get them places
+to see the sight, whilst others repaired to the prison thinking
+to accompany him thence. Presently, the Vizier came to the
+prison, attended by ten armed slaves, and the gaoler said to him,
+'What seekest thou, O our lord the Vizier?' 'Bring me that
+gallows-bird,' replied the Vizier; and the gaoler said, 'He is in
+the sorriest of plights for the much beating I have given him.'
+Then Cuteyt went into the prison, where he found Noureddin
+repeating the following verses:
+
+Who shall avail me against the woes that my life enwind? Indeed
+     my disease is sore and the remedy hard to find.
+Exile hath worn my heart and my spirit with languishment, And
+     evil fortune hath turned my very lovers unkind.
+O folk, is there none of you all will answer my bitter cry! Is
+     there never a merciful friend will help me of all mankind?
+Yet death and the pains of death are a little thing to me; I have
+     put off the hope of life and left its sweets behind.
+O Thou that sentest the Guide, the Chosen Prophet to men, The
+     Prince of the Intercessors, gifted to loose and bind,
+I prithee, deliver me and pardon me my default, And put the
+     troubles to flight that crush me, body and mind I
+
+The gaoler took off his clean clothes and clothing him in two
+filthy garments, carried him to the Vizier. Noureddin looked at
+him, and knowing him for his enemy who still sought to compass
+his death, wept and said to him, 'Art thou then secure against
+Fate? Hast thou not heard the saying of the poet?
+
+Where are now the old Chosroes, tyrants of a bygone day? Wealth
+     they gathered; but their treasures and themselves have
+     passed away!
+
+O Vizier,' continued he, 'know that God (blessed and exalted be
+He!) doth whatever He will!' 'O Ali,' replied the Vizier, 'dost
+thou think to fright me with this talk? Know that I mean this day
+to strike off thy head in despite of the people of Bassora, and
+let the days do what they will, I care not; nor will I take
+thought to thy warning, but rather to what the poet says:
+
+Let the days do what they will, without debate, And brace thy
+     spirit against the doings of Fate.
+
+And also how well says another:
+
+He who lives a day after his foe Hath compassed his wishes, I
+     trow!
+
+Then he ordered his attendants to set Noureddin on the back of a
+mule, and they said to the youth (for indeed it was grievous to
+them), 'Let us stone him and cut him in pieces, though it cost us
+our lives.' 'Do it not,' replied Noureddin. 'Have ye not heard
+what the poet says?
+
+A term's decreed for me, which I must needs fulfil, And when its
+     days are spent, I die, do what I will.
+Though to their forest dens the lions should me drag, Whilst but
+     an hour remains, they have no power to kill.'
+
+Then they proceeded to proclaim before Noureddin, 'This is the
+least of the punishment of those who impose upon kings with
+forgery!' And they paraded him round about Bassora, till they
+came beneath the windows of the palace, where they made him kneel
+down on the carpet of blood and the headsman came up to him and
+said, 'O my lord, I am but a slave commanded in this matter: if
+thou hast any desire, let me know, that I may fulfil it; for now
+there remains of thy life but till the Sultan shall put his head
+out of the window.' So Noureddin looked in all directions and
+repeated the following verses:
+
+I see the headsman and the sword, I see the carpet spread, And
+     cry "Alas, my sorry plight! Alas, my humbled head!"
+How is't I have no pitying friend to help me in my need? Will no
+     one answer my complaint or heed the tears I shed?
+My time of life is past away and death draws nigh to me: Will no
+     one earn the grace of God by standing me in stead?
+Will none take pity on my state and succour my despair With but a
+     cup of water cold, to ease my torments dread?
+
+The people fell to weeping for him, and the headsman rose and
+brought him a draught of water; but the Vizier smote the gugglet
+with his hand and broke it: then he cried out at the executioner
+and bade him strike off Noureddin's head. So he proceeded to bind
+the latter's eyes; whilst the people cried out against the Vizier
+and there befell a great tumult and dispute amongst them. At this
+moment there arose a great cloud of dust and filled the air and
+the plain; and when the Sultan, who was sitting in the palace,
+saw this, he said to his attendants, 'Go and see what is the
+meaning of that cloud of dust.' 'When we have cut off this
+fellow's head,' replied Muin; but the Sultan said, 'Wait till we
+see what this means.'
+
+Now the cloud of dust in question was raised by Jaafer the
+Barmecide, Vizier to the Khalif, and his retinue; and the reason
+of his coming was as follows. The Khalif passed thirty days
+without calling to mind the affair of Noureddin Ali ben Khacan,
+and none reminded him of it, till one night, as he passed by the
+apartment of Enis el Jelis, he heard her weeping and reciting the
+following verse, in a low and sweet voice:
+
+Thine image is ever before me, though thou art far away, Nor doth
+     my tongue give over the naming of thee aye!
+
+And her weeping redoubled; when lo, the Khalif opened the door
+and entering the chamber, found her in tears. When she saw him,
+she fell to the earth and kissing his feet three times, repeated
+the following verses:
+
+O thou pure of royal lineage and exalted in thy birth! O thou
+     tree of fruitful branches, thou the all unstained of race!
+I recall to thee the promise that thy noble bounty made: God
+     forbid thou shouldst forget it or withhold the gifted grace!
+
+Quoth the Khalif, 'Who art thou?' And she answered, 'I am she
+whom thou hadst as a present from Noureddin Ali ben Khacan, and I
+crave the fulfilment of thy promise to send me to him with the
+dress of honour; for I have now been here thirty days, without
+tasting sleep.' Thereupon the Khalif sent for Jaafer and said to
+him, 'O Jaafer, it is thirty days since we had news of Noureddin
+Ali ben Khacan, and I doubt me the Sultan has killed him; but by
+the life of my head and the tombs of my forefathers, if aught of
+ill have befallen him, I will make an end of him who was the
+cause of it, though he be the dearest of all men to myself! So it
+is my wish that thou set out at once for Bassora and bring me
+news of my cousin Mohammed ben Suleiman ez Zeini and how he hath
+dealt with Noureddin; and do thou tell my cousin the young man's
+history and how I sent him to him with my letter, and if thou
+find that the King hath done otherwise than after my commandment,
+lay hands on him and his Vizier Muin ben Sawa and bring them to
+us, as thou shalt find them. Nor do thou tarry longer on the road
+than shall suffice for the journey, or I will strike off thy
+head.' 'I hear and obey,' replied Jaafer, and made ready at once
+and set out for Bassora, where he arrived in due course. When he
+came up and saw the crowd and turmoil, he enquired what was the
+matter and was told how it stood with Noureddin Ali, whereupon he
+hastened to go in to the Sultan and saluting him, acquainted him
+with his errand and the Khalif's determination, in case of any
+foul play having befallen Noureddin, to destroy whosoever should
+have been the cause of it. Then he seized upon the Sultan and his
+Vizier and laid them in ward, and commanding Noureddin to be
+released, seated him on the throne in the place of Mohammed ben
+Suleiman. After this Jaafer abode three days at Bassora, the
+usual guest-time, and on the morning of the fourth day, Noureddin
+turned to him and said, 'I long for the sight of the Commander of
+the Faithful.' Then said Jaafer to Mohammed ben Suleiman, 'Make
+ready, for we will pray the morning-prayer and take horse for
+Baghdad.' And he answered, 'I hear and obey.' So they prayed the
+morning-prayer and set out, all of them, taking with them the
+Vizier Muin ben Sawa, who began to repent of what he had done.
+Noureddin rode by Jaafer's side and they fared on without
+ceasing, till they arrived in due course at the Abode of Peace,
+Baghdad, and going in to the Khalif's presence, told him how
+they had found Noureddin nigh upon death. The Khalif said to
+Noureddin, 'Take this sword and strike off thine enemy's head.'
+So he took the sword and went up to Muin ben Sawa, but the latter
+looked at him and said, 'I did according to my nature; do thou
+according to thine.' So Noureddin threw the sword from his hand
+and said to the Khalif, 'O Commander of the Faithful, he hath
+beguiled me with his speech,' and he repeated the following
+verse:
+
+Lo, with the cunning of his speech my heart he hath beguiled, For
+     generous minds are ever moved by artful words and mild!
+
+'Leave him, thou,' said the Khalif, and turning to Mesrour,
+commanded him to behead Muin. So Mesrour drew his sword and smote
+off the Vizier's head. Then said the Khalif to Noureddin, 'Ask a
+boon of me.' 'O my lord,' answered he, 'I have no need of the
+sovereignty of Bassora: all my desire is to have the honour of
+serving thee and looking on thy face.' 'With all my heart,'
+replied the Khalif. Then he sent for Enis el Jelis and bestowed
+plentiful favours upon them both, assigning them a palace at
+Baghdad and regular allowances. Moreover, he made Noureddin one
+of his boon-companions, and the latter abode with him in the
+enjoyment of the most delectable life, till Death overtook him.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+              GHANIM BEN EYOUB THE SLAVE OF LOVE.
+
+
+
+There lived once at Damascus, in the days of the Khalif Haroun er
+Reshid, a wealthy merchant, who had a son like the moon at its
+full and withal sweet of speech, called Ghanim ben Eyoub, and a
+daughter called Fitneh, unique in her beauty and grace. Their
+father died and left them abundant wealth and amongst other
+things a hundred loads of silk and brocade and bladders of musk,
+on each of which was written, 'This is of the loads intended for
+Baghdad,' he having been about to make the journey thither, when
+God the Most High took him to Himself. After awhile, his son took
+the loads and bidding farewell to his mother and kindred and
+townsfolk, set out for Baghdad with a company of merchants,
+committing himself to God the Most High, who decreed him safety,
+so that he arrived without hindrance at that city. Here he hired
+a handsome house, which he furnished with carpets and cushions
+and hangings, and stored his goods therein and put up his mules
+and camels. Then he abode awhile, resting, whilst the merchants
+and notables of Baghdad came and saluted him; after which he took
+a parcel containing ten pieces of costly stuffs, with the prices
+written on them, and carried it to the bazaar, where the
+merchants received him with honour and made him sit down in the
+shop of the chief of the market, to whom he delivered the parcel
+of stuffs. He opened it and taking out the stuffs, sold them for
+him at a profit of two dinars on every one of prime cost. At this
+Ghanim rejoiced and went on to sell his stuffs, little by little,
+for a whole year. On the first day of the following year, he
+repaired, as usual, to the bazaar in the market-place, but found
+the gate shut and enquiring the reason, was told that one of the
+merchants was dead and that all the others had gone to wail in
+his funeral and was asked if he were minded to gain the favour of
+God by going with them. He assented and enquired where the
+funeral was to be held, whereupon they directed him to the place.
+So he made the ablution and repaired with the other merchants to
+the place of prayer, where they prayed over the dead, then went
+before the bier to the burial-place without the city and passed
+among the tombs till they came to the grave. Here they found that
+the dead man's people had pitched a tent over the tomb and
+brought thither lamps and candles. So they buried the dead and
+sat down to listen to the reading of the Koran over the tomb.
+Ghanim sat with them, being overcome with bashfulness and saying
+to himself, 'I cannot well go away till they do.' They sat
+listening to the recitation till nightfall, when the servants set
+the evening meal and sweetmeats before them and they ate till
+they were satisfied, then sat down again, after having washed
+their hands. But Ghanim was troubled for his house and property
+being in fear of thieves, and said to himself, 'I am a stranger
+here and thought to be rich, and if I pass the night abroad, the
+thieves will steal the money and the goods.' So he arose and left
+the company, having first asked leave to go about a necessary
+business, and following the beaten track, came to the gate of the
+city, but found it shut and saw none going or coming nor heard
+aught but the dogs barking and the wolves howling, for it was now
+the middle of the night. At this he exclaimed, 'There is no power
+and no virtue but in God! I was in fear for my property and came
+back on its account, but now I find the gate shut and am become
+in fear for my life!' And he retraced his steps, seeking a place
+where he might pass the night, till he found a tomb enclosed by
+four walls, with a palm-tree in its midst and a gate of granite.
+The gate stood open; so he entered and lay down, but sleep came
+not to him and fright and oppression beset him, for that he was
+alone among the tombs. So he rose to his feet and opening the
+door, looked out and saw, in the distance, a light making for the
+tomb from the direction of the city-gate. At this he was afraid
+and hastening to shut the gate, climbed up into the palm-tree and
+hid himself among the branches. The light came nearer and nearer,
+till he could see three black slaves, two carrying a chest and a
+third a lantern, an adze and a basket of plaster. When they came
+to the tomb, one of those who were carrying the chest cried out
+to the other, 'Hello, Sewab!' 'What ails thee, O Kafour?' said
+the other. 'Were we not here at nightfall,' asked the first, 'and
+did we not leave the gate open?' 'True,' replied Sewab. 'See,'
+said the other, 'it is now shut and barred.' 'How small is your
+wit!' broke in the bearer of the lantern, whose name was Bekhit.
+'Do ye not know that the owners of the gardens use to come out of
+Baghdad to tend them, and when the night overtakes them, they
+enter this place and shut the gate, for fear the blacks like
+ourselves should catch them and roast them and eat them?' 'Thou
+art right,' replied the others; 'but, by Allah, none of us is
+less of wit than thou!' 'If you do not believe me,' said Bekhit,
+'let us go into the tomb and I will unearth the rat for you; I
+doubt not but that, when he saw the light and us making for the
+tomb, he took refuge in the palm-tree, for fear of us.' When
+Ghanim heard this, he said to himself, 'O most damnable of
+slaves, may God not have thee in His keeping for this thy craft
+and quickness of wit! There is no power and no virtue but in God
+the Most High, the Supreme! How shall I escape from these
+blacks?' Then said the two bearers to him of the lantern, 'Climb
+over the wall and open the door to us, O Bekhit, for we are tired
+of carrying the chest on our shoulders; and thou shalt have one
+of those that we seize inside, and we will fry him for thee so
+featly that not a drop of his fat shall be lost.' But he said, 'I
+am afraid of somewhat that my little sense has suggested to me;
+we should do better to throw the chest over the wall; for it is
+our treasure.' 'If we throw it over, it will break,' replied
+they. And he said, 'I fear lest there be brigands within who kill
+four and steal their goods; for they are wont when night falls on
+them, to enter these places and divide their spoil.' 'O thou of
+little wit!' rejoined they, 'how could they get in here?' Then
+they set down the chest and climbing the wall, got down and
+opened the gate, whilst Bekhit held the light for them, after
+which they shut the door and sat down. Then said one of them, 'O
+my brothers, we are tired with walking and carrying the chest,
+and it is now the middle of the night, and we have no breath left
+to open the tomb and bury the chest: so let us rest two or three
+hours, then rise and do what we have to do. Meanwhile each of us
+shall tell how he came to be an eunuch and all that befell him
+from first to last, to pass away the time, whilst we rest
+ourselves.' 'Good,' answered the others; and Bekhit said, 'O my
+brothers, I will begin.' 'Say on,' replied they. So he began as
+follows, 'Know, O my brothers, that
+
+
+
+
+
+Story of the Eunuch Bekhit.
+
+
+
+I was brought from my native country, when I was five years old,
+by a slave-merchant, who sold me to one of the royal messengers.
+My master had a three-year-old daughter, with whom I was reared,
+and they used to make sport of me, letting me play with the girl
+and dance and sing to her, till I reached the age of twelve and
+she that of ten; and even then they did not forbid me from her.
+One day, I went in to her and found her sitting in an inner room,
+perfumed with essences and scented woods, and her face shone like
+the round of the moon on its fourteenth night, as if she had just
+come out of the bath that was in the house. She began to sport
+with me, and I with her. Now I had just reached the age of
+puberty, and my yard rose on end, as it were a great bolt. Then
+she threw me down and mounting my breast, pulled me hither and
+thither, till my yard became uncovered. When she saw this, and it
+in point, she seized it in her hand and fell to rubbing it
+against the lips of her kaze, outside her trousers. At this, heat
+stirred in me and I put my arms round her, whilst she wreathed
+hers about my neck and strained me to her with all her might,
+till, before I knew what I did, my yard thrust through her
+trousers, and entering her kaze, did away her maidenhead. When I
+saw what I had done, I fled and took refuge with one of my
+comrades. Presently, her mother came in to her, and seeing her in
+this state, was lost to the world. However, she smoothed the
+matter over and hid the girl's condition from her father, of the
+love they bore me, nor did they cease to call to me and coax me,
+till they took me from where I was. After two months had passed
+by, her mother married her to a young man, a barber, who used to
+shave her father, and portioned and fitted her out of her own
+monies, whilst her father knew nothing of what had passed. Then
+they took me unawares and gelded me: and when they brought her to
+her husband, they made me her eunuch, to go before her, wherever
+she went, whether to the bath or to her father's house. On the
+wedding-night, they slaughtered a young pigeon and sprinkled the
+blood on her shift;[FN#116] and I abode with her a long while,
+enjoying her beauty and grace, by way of kissing and clipping and
+clicketing, till she died and her husband and father and mother
+died also; when they seized me for the Treasury and I found
+my way hither, where I became your comrade. This then, O my
+brothers, is my story and how I came to be docked of my cullions;
+and peace be on you.' Then said the second eunuch, 'Know, O my
+brothers, that
+
+
+
+
+
+Story of the Eunuch Kafour.
+
+
+
+From the time when I was eight years old, I was wont to tell the
+slave-merchants one lie every year, so that they fell out with
+one another, till at last my master lost patience with me and
+carrying me down to the market, delivered me to a broker and bade
+him cry me for sale, saying, "Who will buy this slave with his
+fault?" He did so, and it was asked him, "What is his fault?"
+Quoth he, "He tells one lie every year." Then came up one of the
+merchants and said to the broker, "How much have they bidden for
+this slave, with his fault?" "Six hundred dirhems," replied the
+broker. "And twenty dirhems for thyself," said the merchant. So
+he brought him to the slave-dealer, who took the money, and the
+broker carried me to my master's house and went away, after
+having received his brokerage. The merchant clothed me as
+befitted my condition, and I bode in his service the rest of the
+year, until the new year came in with good omen. It was a blessed
+season, rich in herbage and the fruits of the earth, and the
+merchants began to give entertainments every day, each bearing
+the cost in turn, till it came to my master's turn to entertain
+them in a garden without the city. So he and the other merchants
+repaired to the garden, taking with them all that they required
+of food and so forth, and sat, eating and drinking and carousing,
+till noon, when my master, having need of something from the
+house, said to me, "O slave, mount the mule and go to the house
+and get such and such a thing from thy mistress and return
+quickly." I did as he bade me and started for the house, but as I
+drew near, I began to cry out and weep copiously, whereupon all
+the people of the quarter collected, great and small; and my
+master's wife and daughters, hearing the noise I was making,
+opened the door and asked me what was the matter. Quoth I, "My
+master and his friends were sitting beneath an old wall, and it
+fell on them: and when I saw what had befallen them, I mounted
+the mule and came hither, in haste, to tell you." When my
+master's wife and daughters heard this, they shrieked aloud
+and tore their clothes and buffeted their faces, whilst the
+neighbours came round them. Then my mistress overturned the
+furniture of the house, pell-mell, tore down the shelves, broke
+up the casements and the lattices and smeared the walls with mud
+and indigo. Presently she said to me, "Out on thee, O Kafour!
+Come and help me tear down these cupboards and break up these
+vessels and porcelain!" So I went to her and helped her break up
+all the shelves in the house, with everything on them, after
+which I went round about the roofs and every part of the house,
+demolishing all I could and leaving not a single piece of china
+or the like in the house unbroken, till I had laid waste the
+whole place, crying out the while, "Alas, my master!" Then my
+mistress sallied forth, with her face uncovered and only her
+kerchief on, accompanied by her sons and daughters, and said to
+me, "Go thou before us and show us the place where thy master
+lies dead under the wall, that we may take him out from the ruins
+and lay him on a bier and carry him to the house and give him a
+goodly funeral." So I went on before them, crying out, "Alas, my
+master!" and they after me, bareheaded, crying out, "Alas! Alas
+for the man!" And there was not a man nor a woman nor a boy nor
+an old woman in the quarter but followed us, buffeting their
+faces and weeping sore. On this wise, I traversed the city with
+them, and the folk asked what was the matter, whereupon they told
+them what they had heard from me, and they exclaimed, "There is
+no power and no virtue but in God!" Then said one of them, "He
+was a man of consideration; so let us go to the chief of the
+police and tell him what has happened." So they repaired to the
+magistrate and told him, whereupon he mounted and taking with him
+workmen with spades and baskets, set out for the scene of the
+accident, following my track, with all the people after him. I
+ran on before them, buffeting my face and throwing dust on my
+head and crying out, followed by my mistress and her children,
+shrieking aloud. But I outran them and reached the garden before
+them, and when my master saw me in this state and heard me crying
+out, "Alas, my mistress! Alas! Alas! Who is left to take pity on
+me, now that my mistress is dead? Would God I had died instead of
+her!" he was confounded and his colour paled. Then said he to me,
+"What ails thee, O Kafour? What is the matter?" "O my lord,"
+replied I, "When thou sentest me to the house, I found that the
+wall of the saloon had given way and the whole of it had fallen
+in upon my mistress and her children." "And did not thy mistress
+escape?" "No, by Allah, O my master!" answered I. "Not one of
+them was saved, and the first to die was my mistress, thine elder
+daughter." "Did not my younger daughter escape?" asked he. "No,"
+replied I; and he said, "What became of the mule I use to ride?
+Was she saved?" "No, by Allah," answered I; "the walls of the
+house and of the stable fell in on all that were in the dwelling,
+even to the sheep and geese and fowls, so that they all became a
+heap of flesh and the dogs ate them: not one of them is saved."
+"Not even thy master, my elder son?" asked he. "No, by Allah!"
+repeated I. "Not one of them was saved, and now there remains
+neither house nor inhabitants nor any trace of them: and as for
+the sheep and geese and fowls, the dogs and cats have eaten
+them." When my master heard this, the light in his eyes became
+darkness and he lost command of his senses and his reason, so
+that he could not stand upon his feet, for he was as one taken
+with the rickets and his back was broken. Then he rent his
+clothes and plucked out his beard and casting his turban from his
+head, buffeted his face, till the blood streamed down, crying
+out, "Alas, my children! Alas, my wife! Alas, what a misfortune!
+To whom did there ever happen the like of what hath befallen me?"
+The other merchants, his companions, joined in his tears and
+lamentations and rent their clothes, being moved to pity of his
+case; and my master went out of the garden' buffeting his face
+and staggering like a drunken man, for stress of what had
+befallen him and the much beating he had given his face. As he
+came forth of the garden-gate, followed by the other merchants,
+behold, they saw a great cloud of dust and heard a great noise of
+crying and lamentation. They looked, and behold, it was the chief
+of the police with his officers and the townspeople who had come
+out to look on, and my master's family in front of them, weeping
+sore and shrieking and lamenting. The first to accost my master
+were his wife and children; and when he saw them, he was
+confounded and laughed and said to them, "How is it with you all
+and what befell you in the house?" When they saw him, they
+exclaimed, "Praised be God for thy safety!" and threw themselves
+upon him, and his children clung to him, crying, "Alas, our
+father! Praised be God for thy preservation, O our father!" Then
+said his wife, "Thou art well, praised be God who hath shown us
+thy face in safety!" And indeed she was confounded and her reason
+fled, when she saw him, and she said, "O my lord, how did you
+escape, thou and thy friends the merchants?" "And how fared it
+with thee in the house?" asked he. "We were all in good health
+and case," answered they; "nor has aught befallen us in the
+house, save that thy slave Kafour came to us, bareheaded, with
+his clothes torn and crying out, 'Alas, my master! Alas, my
+master!' So we asked what was the matter, and he said, 'The wall
+of the garden has fallen on my master and his friends, and they
+are all dead.'" "By Allah," said my master, "he came to me but
+now, crying out, 'Alas, my mistress! Alas, her children!' and
+said, 'My mistress and her children are all dead.'" Then he
+looked round and seeing me with my torn turban hanging down my
+neck, shrieking and weeping violently and strewing earth on my
+head, cried out at me. So I came to him and he said, "Woe to
+thee, O pestilent slave, O whore-son knave, O accurst of race!
+What mischiefs hast thou wrought! But I will strip thy skin from
+thy flesh and cut thy flesh off thy bones!" "By Allah," replied
+I, "thou canst do nothing with me, for thou boughtest me with my
+fault, with witnesses to testify against thee that thou didst so
+and that thou knewest of my fault, which is that I tell one lie
+every year. This is but half a lie, but by the end of the year, I
+will tell the other half, and it will then be a whole lie." "O
+dog, son of a dog," exclaimed my master, "O most accursed of
+slaves, is this but a half lie? Indeed, it is a great calamity!
+Go out from me; thou art free before God!" "By Allah," rejoined
+I, "if thou free me, I will not free thee, till I have completed
+my year and told the other half lie. When that is done, take me
+down to the market and sell me, as thou boughtest me, to
+whosoever will buy me with my fault: but free me not, for I have
+no handicraft to get my living by: and this my demand is
+according to the law, as laid down by the doctors in the chapter
+of Manumission." Whilst we were talking, up came the people of
+the quarter and others, men and women, together with the chief of
+the police and his suite. So my master and the other merchants
+went up to him and told him the story and how this was but half a
+lie, at which the people wondered and deemed the lie an enormous
+one. And they cursed me and reviled me, whilst I stood laughing
+and saying, "How can my master kill me, when he bought me with
+this fault?" Then my master returned home and found his house in
+ruins, and it was I who had laid waste the most part of it,
+having destroyed things worth much money, as had also done his
+wife, who said to him, "It was Kafour who broke the vessels and
+the china." Thereupon his rage redoubled and he beat hand upon
+hand, exclaiming, "By Allah, never in my life did I see such a
+son of shame as this slave; and he says this is only half a lie!
+How if he had told a whole one? He would have laid waste a city
+or two!" Then in his rage he went to the chief of the police, who
+made me eat stick till I fainted: and whilst I was yet senseless,
+they fetched a barber, who gelded me and cauterized the parts.
+When I revived, I found myself an eunuch, and my master said to
+me, "Even as thou hast made my heart bleed for the most precious
+things I had, so will I grieve thy heart for that of thy members
+by which thou settest most store." Then he took me and sold me at
+a profit, for that I was become an eunuch, and I ceased not to
+make trouble, wherever I came, and was shifted from Amir to Amir
+and notable to notable, being bought and sold, till I entered the
+palace of the Commander of the Faithful, and now my spirit is
+broken and I have abjured my tricks, having lost my manhood.'
+
+When the others heard his story, they laughed and said, 'Verily,
+thou art dung, the son of dung! Thou liedst most abominably!'
+Then said they to the third slave, 'Tell us thy story.' 'O my
+cousins,' replied he, 'all that ye have said is idle: I will tell
+you how I came to lose my cullions, and indeed, I deserved more
+than this, for I swived my mistress and my master's son: but my
+story is a long one and this is no time to tell it, for the dawn
+is near, and if the day surprise us with this chest yet unburied,
+we shall be blown upon and lose our lives. So let us fall to work
+at once, and when we get back to the palace, I will tell you my
+story and how I became an eunuch.' So they set down the lantern
+and dug a hole between four tombs, the length and breadth of the
+chest, Kafour plying the spade and Sewab clearing away the earth
+by basketsful, till they had reached a depth of half a fathom,
+when they laid the chest in the hole and threw back the earth
+over it: then went out and shutting the door, disappeared from
+Ghanim's sight. When he was sure that they were indeed gone and
+that he was alone in the place, his heart was concerned to know
+what was in the chest and he said to himself; 'I wonder what was
+in the chest!' However, he waited till break of day, when he came
+down from the palm-tree and scraped away the earth with his
+hands, till he laid bare the chest and lifted it out of the hole.
+Then he took a large stone and hammered at the lock, till he
+broke it and raising the cover, beheld a beautiful young lady,
+richly dressed and decked with jewels of gold and necklaces of
+precious stones, worth a kingdom, no money could pay their price.
+She was asleep and her breath rose and fell, as if she had been
+drugged. When Ghanim saw her, he knew that some one had plotted
+against her and drugged her; so he pulled her out of the chest
+and laid her on the ground on her back. As soon as she scented
+the breeze and the air entered her nostrils and lungs, she
+sneezed and choked and coughed, when there fell from her mouth a
+pastille of Cretan henbane, enough to make an elephant sleep from
+night to night, if he but smelt it. Then she opened her eyes and
+looking round, exclaimed in a sweet and melodious voice, 'Out on
+thee, O breeze! There is in thee neither drink for the thirsty
+nor solace for him whose thirst is quenched! Where is Zehr el
+Bustan?' But no one answered her; so she turned and cried out,
+'Ho, Sebiheh, Shejeret ed Durr, Nour el Huda, Nejmet es Subh,
+Shehweh, Nuzheh, Hulweh, Zerifeh![FN#117] Out on ye, speak!'
+But no one answered her; and she looked about her and said,
+'Woe is me! they have buried me among the tombs! O Thou who
+knowest what is in the breasts and who wilt requite at the Day of
+Resurrection, who hath brought me out from among the screens and
+curtains of the harem and laid me between four tombs?' All this
+while Ghanim was standing by: then he said to her, 'O my lady,
+here are neither screens nor curtains nor palaces; only thy bond
+slave Ghanim ben Eyoub, whom He who knoweth the hidden things
+hath brought hither, that he night save thee from these perils
+and accomplish for thee all that thou desirest.' And he was
+silent. When she saw how the case stood, she exclaimed, 'I
+testify that there is no god but God and that Mohammed is the
+Apostle of God!' Then she put her hands to her face and turning
+to Ghanim, said in a sweet voice, 'O blessed youth, who brought
+me hither! See, I am now come to myself.' 'O my lady,' replied
+he, 'three black eunuchs came hither, bearing this chest;' and
+told her all that had happened and how his being belated had
+proved the means of her preservation from death by suffocation.
+Then he asked her who she was and what was her story. 'O youth,'
+said she, 'praised be God who hath thrown me into the hands of
+the like of thee! But now put me back into the chest and go out
+into the road and hire the first muleteer or horse-letter thou
+meetest, to carry it to thy house. When I am there, all will be
+well and I will tell thee my story and who am I, and good shall
+betide thee on my account.' At this he rejoiced and went out into
+the road. It was now broad day and the folk began to go about the
+ways: so he hired a muleteer and bringing him to the tomb, lifted
+up the chest, in which he had already replaced the young lady,
+and set it on the mule. Then he fared homeward, rejoicing, for
+that she was a damsel worth ten thousand dinars and adorned with
+jewels and apparel of great value, and love for her had fallen on
+his heart. As soon as he came to the house, he carried in the
+chest and opening it, took out the young lady, who looked about
+her, and seeing that the place was handsome, spread with carpets
+and decked with gay colours, and noting the stuffs tied up and
+the bales of goods and what not, knew that he was a considerable
+merchant and a man of wealth. So she uncovered her face and
+looking at him, saw that he was a handsome young man and loved
+him. Then said she to him, 'O my lord, bring us something to
+eat.' 'On my head and eyes,' replied he, and going to the market,
+bought a roasted lamb, a dish of sweetmeats, dried fruits and wax
+candles, besides wine and drinking gear and perfumes. With these
+he returned to the house, and when the damsel saw him, she
+laughed and kissed and embraced him. Then she fell to caressing
+him, so that love for her redoubled on him and got the mastery of
+his heart. They ate and drank, each in love with the other, for
+indeed they were alike in age and beauty, till nightfall, when
+Ghanim rose and lit the lamps and candles, till the place blazed
+with light; after which he brought the wine-service and set on
+the banquet. Then they sat down again and began to fill and give
+each other to drink; and they toyed and laughed and recited
+verses, whilst joy grew on them and each was engrossed with love
+of the other, glory be to Him, who uniteth hearts! They ceased
+not to carouse thus till near upon daybreak, when drowsiness
+overcame them and they slept where they were till the morning.
+Then Ghanim arose and going to the market, bought all that they
+required in the way of meat and drink and vegetables and what
+not, with which he returned to the house; and they both sat down
+and ate till they were satisfied, when he set on wine. They drank
+and toyed with each other, till their cheeks flushed and their
+eyes sparkled and Ghanim's soul yearned to kiss the girl and lie
+with her. So he said to her, 'O my lady, grant me a kiss of thy
+mouth; maybe it will quench the fire of my heart.' 'O Ghanim,'
+replied she, 'wait till I am drunk: then steal a kiss from me, so
+that I may not know thou hast kissed me.' Then she rose and
+taking off her upper clothes, sat in a shift of fine linen and a
+silken kerchief. At this, desire stirred in Ghanim and he said to
+her, 'O my mistress, wilt thou not vouchsafe me what I asked of
+thee!' 'By Allah,' replied she, 'this may not be, for there is a
+stubborn saying written on the ribbon of my trousers.' Thereupon
+Ghanim's heart sank and passion grew on him the more that what he
+sought was hard to get; and he recited the following verses:
+
+I sought of her who caused my pain A kiss to ease me of my woe.
+"No, no!" she answered; "hope it not!" And I, "Yes, yes! It shall
+     be so!"
+Then said she, smiling, "Take it then, With my consent, before I
+     know."
+And I, "By force!" "Not so," said she: "I freely it on thee
+     bestow."
+So do not question what befell, But seek God's grace and ask no
+     mo;
+Think what thou wilt of us; for love Is with suspect made sweet,
+     I trow.
+Nor do I reck if, after this, Avowed or secret be the foe.
+
+Then love increased on him, and the fires were loosed in his
+heart, while she defended herself from him, saying, 'I can never
+be thine.' They ceased not to make love and carouse, whilst
+Ghanim was drowned in the sea of passion and distraction and she
+redoubled in cruelty and coyness, till the night brought in the
+darkness and let fall on them the skirts of sleep, when Ghanim
+rose and lit the lamps and candles and renewed the banquet and
+the flowers; then took her feet and kissed them, and finding them
+like fresh cream, pressed his face on them and said to her, 'O my
+lady, have pity on the captive of thy love and the slain of thine
+eyes; for indeed I were whole of heart but for thee!' And he wept
+awhile. 'O my lord and light of my eyes,' replied she, 'by Allah,
+I love thee and trust in thee, but I know that I cannot be
+thine.' 'And what is there to hinder?' asked he. Quoth she,
+'Tonight, I will tell thee my story, that thou mayst accept my
+excuse.' Then she threw herself upon him and twining her arms
+about his neck, kissed him and wheedled him, promising him her
+favours; and they continued to toy and laugh till love got
+complete possession of them. They abode thus for a whole month,
+sleeping nightly on one couch, but whenever he sought to enjoy
+her, she put him off, whilst mutual love increased upon them,
+till they could hardly abstain from one another. One night as
+they lay, side by side, both heated with wine, he put his hand to
+her breast and stroked it, then passed it down over her stomach
+to her navel. She awoke and sitting up, put her hand to her
+trousers and finding them fast, fell asleep again. Presently, he
+put out his hand a second time and stroked her and sliding down
+to the ribbon of her trousers, began to pull at it, whereupon she
+awoke and sat up. Ghanim also sat up beside her and she said to
+him, 'What dost thou want?' 'I want to lie with thee,' answered
+he, 'and that we may deal frankly one with the other.' Quoth she,
+'I must now expound my case to thee, that thou mayst know my
+condition and my secret and that my excuse may be manifest to
+thee.' 'It is well,' replied he. Then she opened the skirt of her
+shift, and taking up the ribbon of her trousers, said to him, 'O
+my lord, read what is on this ribbon.' So he took it and saw,
+wrought in letters of gold, the following words, 'I am thine, and
+thou art mine, O descendant of the Prophet's Uncle!' When he read
+this, he dropped his hand and said to her, 'Tell me who thou
+art.' 'It is well,' answered she; 'know that I am one of the
+favourites of the Commander of the Faithful and my name is Cout
+el Culoub. I was reared in his palace, and when I grew up, he
+looked on me, and noting my qualities and the beauty and grace
+that God had bestowed on me, conceived a great love for me; so he
+took me and assigned me a separate lodging and gave me ten female
+slaves to wait on me and all this jewellery thou seest on me. One
+day he went on a journey to one of his provinces and the Lady
+Zubeideh came to one of my waiting-women and said to her, "I have
+somewhat to ask of thee." "What is it, O my lady?" asked she.
+"When thy mistress Cout el Culoub is asleep," said Zubeideh, "put
+this piece of henbane up her nostrils or in her drink, and thou
+shalt have of me as much money as will content thee." "With all
+my heart," replied the woman, and took the henbane, being glad
+because of the money and because she had aforetime been in
+Zubeideh's service. So she put the henbane in my drink, and when
+it was night, I drank, and the drug had no sooner reached my
+stomach than I fell to the ground, with my head touching my feet,
+and knew not but that I was in another world. When Zubeideh saw
+that her plot had succeeded, she put me in this chest and
+summoning the slaves, bribed them and the doorkeepers, and sent
+the former to do with me as thou sawest. So my delivery was at
+thy hands, and thou broughtest me hither and hast used me with
+the utmost kindness. This is my story, and I know not what is
+come of the Khalif in my absence. Know then my condition, and
+divulge not my affair.' When Ghanim heard her words and knew that
+she was the favourite of the Commander of the Faithful, he drew
+back, being smitten with fear of the Khalif, and sat apart from
+her in one of the corners of the place, blaming himself and
+brooding over his case and schooling his heart to patience,
+bewildered for love of one who might not be his. Then he wept,
+for excess of longing, and bemoaned the injustice and hostility
+of Fortune (Glory be to Him who occupies hearts with love!)
+reciting the following verses:
+
+The heart of the lover's racked with weariness and care, For his
+     reason ravished is for one who is passing fair.
+It was asked me, "What is the taste of love?" I answer made,
+     "Love is sweet water, wherein are torment and despair."
+
+
+Thereupon Cout el Culoub arose and pressed him to her bosom and
+kissed him, for love of him mastered her heart, so that she
+discovered to him her secret and the passion that possessed her
+and throwing her arms about his neck, embraced him; but he held
+off from her, for fear of the Khalif. Then they talked awhile
+(and indeed they were both drowned in the sea of mutual love)
+till day, when Ghanim rose and going to the market as usual, took
+what was needful and returned home. He found her in tears; but
+when she saw him, she ceased weeping and smiled and said, 'Thou
+hast made me desolate, O beloved of my heart! By Allah, the hour
+that thou hast been absent from me has been to me as a year! I
+have let thee see how it is with me for the excess of my passion
+for thee; so come now, leave what has been and take thy will of
+me.' 'God forbid that this should be!' replied he. 'How shall the
+dog sit in the lion's place? Verily, that which is the master's
+is forbidden to the slave.' And he withdrew from her and sat down
+on a corner of the mat. Her passion increased with his refusal;
+so she sat down beside him and caroused and sported with him,
+till they were both warm with wine, and she was mad for dishonour
+with him. Then she sang the following verses:
+
+The heart of the slave of passion is all but broken in twain: How
+     long shall this rigour last and this coldness of disdain?
+O thou that turnest away from me, in default of sin, Rather to
+     turn towards than away should gazelles be fain!
+Aversion and distance eternal and rigour and disdain; How can
+     youthful lover these hardships all sustain?
+
+Thereupon Ghanim wept and she wept because he did, and they
+ceased not to drink till nightfall, when he rose and spread two
+beds, each in its place. 'For whom is the second bed?' asked she.
+'One is for me and the other for thee,' answered he. 'Henceforth
+we must lie apart, for that which is the master's is forbidden to
+the slave.' 'O my lord,' exclaimed she, 'let us leave this, for
+all things happen according to fate and predestination.' But he
+refused, and the fire was loosed in her heart and she clung to
+him and said, 'By Allah, we will not sleep but together!' 'God
+forbid!' answered he, and he prevailed against her and lay apart
+till the morning, whilst love and longing and distraction
+redoubled on her. They abode thus three whole months, and
+whenever she made advances to him, he held aloof from her,
+saying, 'Whatever belongs to the master is forbidden to the
+slave.' Then, when this was prolonged upon her and affliction and
+anguish grew on her, for the weariness of her heart she recited
+the following verses:
+
+O marvel of beauty, how long this disdain? And who hath provoked
+     thee to turn from my pain?
+All manner of elegance in thee is found And all fashions of
+     fairness thy form doth contain.
+The hearts of all mortals thou stir'st with desire And on
+     everyone's lids thou mak'st sleeplessness reign.
+I know that the branch has been plucked before thee; So, O
+     capparis-branch, thou dost wrong, it is plain.
+I used erst to capture myself the wild deer. How comes it the
+     chase doth the hunter enchain?
+But the strangest of all that is told of thee is, I was snared,
+     and thou heard'st not the voice of my pain.
+Yet grant not my prayer. If I'm jealous for thee Of thyself how
+     much more of myself? Nor again,
+As long as life lasteth in me, will I say, "O marvel of beauty,
+     how long this disdain?"'
+
+Meanwhile, the Lady Zubeideh, when, in the absence of the Khalif,
+she had done this thing with Cout el Culoub, abode perplexed and
+said to herself, 'What answer shall I make the Khalif, when he
+comes back and asks for her?' Then she called an old woman, who
+was with her, and discovered her secret to her, saying, 'What
+shall I do, seeing that Cout el Culoub is no more?' 'O my lady,'
+replied the old woman, 'the time of the Khalif's return is at
+hand; but do thou send for a carpenter and bid him make a figure
+of wood in the shape of a corpse. We will dig a grave for it and
+bury it in the middle of the palace: then do thou build an
+oratory over it and set therein lighted lamps and candles and
+command all in the palace to put on mourning. Moreover, do thou
+bid thy slave-girls and eunuchs, as soon as they know of the
+Khalif's approach, spread straw in the vestibules, and when the
+Khalif enters and asks what is the matter, let them say, "Cout el
+Culoub is dead, may God abundantly replace her to thee! and for
+the honour in which she was held of our mistress, she hath buried
+her in her own palace." When the Khalif hears this, it will be
+grievous to him and he will weep: then will he cause recitations
+of the Koran to be made over her and will watch by night over her
+tomb. If he should say to himself, "My cousin Zubeideh has
+compassed the death of Cout el Culoub out of jealousy," or if
+love-longing should master him and he order to take her forth of
+the tomb, fear thou not; for when they dig and come to the
+figure, he will see it as it were a human body, shrouded in
+costly grave-clothes; and if he desire to take off the swathings,
+do thou forbid him and say to him, "It is unlawful to look upon
+her nakedness." The fear of the world to come will restrain him
+and he will believe that she is dead and will cause the image to
+be restored to its place and thank thee for what thou hast done:
+and so, if it please God, thou shalt be delivered from this
+strait.' Her advice commended itself to Zubeideh, who bestowed on
+her a dress of honour and a sum of money, bidding her do as she
+had said. So she at once ordered a carpenter to make the
+aforesaid figure, and as soon as it was finished, she brought it
+to Zubeideh, who shrouded it and buried it and built a pavilion
+over it, in which she set lighted lamps and candles and spread
+carpets round the tomb. Moreover, she put on black and ordered
+her household to do the same, and the news was spread abroad in
+the palace that Cout el Culoub was dead. After awhile, the Khalif
+returned from his journey and entered the palace, thinking only
+of Cout el Culoub. He saw all the pages and damsels and eunuchs
+in mourning, at which his heart quaked; and when he went in to
+the Lady Zubeideh, he found her also clad in black. So he asked
+the cause of this and was told that Cout el Culoub was dead,
+whereupon he fell down in a swoon. As soon as he came to himself,
+he enquired of her tomb, and Zubeideh said to him, 'Know, O
+Commander of the Faithful, that for the honour in which I held
+her, I have buried her in my own palace.' Then he repaired to her
+tomb, in his travelling dress, and found the place spread with
+carpets and lit with lamps. When he saw this, he thanked Zubeldeh
+for what she had done and abode perplexed, halting between belief
+and distrust, till at last suspicion got the better of him and he
+ordered the grave to be opened and the body exhumed. When he saw
+the figure and would have taken off the swathings to look upon
+the body, the fear of God the Most High restrained him, and the
+old woman (taking advantage of his hesitation) said, 'Restore her
+to her place.' Then he sent at once for readers and doctors of
+the Law and caused recitations of the Koran to be made over her
+grave and sat by it, weeping, till he lost his senses. He
+continued to frequent the tomb for a whole month, at the end of
+which time, he chanced one day, after the Divan had broken up and
+his Amirs and Viziers had gone away to their houses, to enter the
+harem, where he laid down and slept awhile, whilst one damsel sat
+at his head, fanning him, and another at his feet, rubbing them.
+Presently he awoke and opening his eyes, shut them again and
+heard the damsel at his head say to her at his feet, 'Hist,
+Kheizuran!' 'Well, Kezib el Ban?' answered the other. 'Verily,'
+said the first, 'our lord knows not what has passed and watches
+over a tomb in which there is only a carved wooden figure, of the
+carpenter's handiwork.' 'Then what is become of Cout el Culoub?'
+enquired the other. 'Know,' replied Kezib el Ban. 'that the Lady
+Zubeideh bribed one of her waiting-women to drug her with henbane
+and laying her in a chest, commanded Sewab and Kafour to take it
+and bury it among the tombs.' Quoth Kheizuran, 'And is not the
+lady Cout el Culoub dead?' 'No,' replied the other; 'God preserve
+her youth from death! but I have heard the Lady Zubeideh say that
+she is with a young merchant of Damascus, by name Ghanim ben
+Eyoub, and has been with him these four months, whilst this our
+lord is weeping and watching anights over an empty tomb.' When
+the Khalif heard the girls' talk and knew that the tomb was a
+trick and a fraud and that Cout el Culoub had been with Ghanim
+ben Eyoub for four months, he was sore enraged and rising up,
+summoned his officers of state, whereupon the Vizier Jaafer the
+Barmecide came up and kissed the earth before him, and the Khalif
+said to him, 'O Jaafer, take a company of men with thee and fall
+upon the house of Ghanim ben Eyoub and bring him to me, with my
+slave-girl Cout el Culoub, for I will assuredly punish him!' 'I
+hear and obey,' answered Jaafer, and setting out with his guards
+and the chief of the police, repaired to Ghanim's house. Now the
+latter had brought home a pot of meat and was about to put forth
+his hand to eat of it, he and Cout d Culoub, when the damsel,
+happening to look out, found the house beset on all sides by the
+Vizier and the chief of the police and their officers and
+attendants, with drawn swords in their hands, encompassing the
+place, as the white of the eye encompasses the black. At this
+sight, she knew that news of her had reached the Khalif, her
+master, and made sure of ruin, and her colour paled and her
+beauty changed. Then she turned to Ghanim and said to him, 'O my
+love, fly for thy life!' 'What shall I do?' said he; 'and whither
+shall I go, seeing that my substance and fortune are in this
+house?' 'Delay not,' answered she, 'lest thou lose both life and
+goods.' 'O my beloved and light of my eyes,' rejoined he, 'how
+shall I do to get away, when they have surrounded the house?'
+'Fear not,' said she: and taking off his clothes, made him put on
+old and ragged ones, after which she took the empty pot and put
+in it a piece of bread and a saucer of meat, and placing the
+whole in a basket, set it on his head and said, 'Go out in this
+guise and fear not for me, for I know how to deal with the
+Khalif.' So he went out amongst them, carrying the basket and its
+contents, and God covered him with His protection and he escaped
+the snares and perils that beset him, thanks to the purity of his
+intent. Meanwhile, Jaafer alighted and entering the house, saw
+Cout el Culoub, who had dressed and decked herself after the
+richest fashion and filled a chest with gold and jewellery and
+precious stones and rarities and what else was light of carriage
+and great of value. When she saw Jaafer, she rose and kissing the
+earth before him, said, 'O my lord, the pen[FN#118] hath written
+from of old that which God hath decreed.' 'By Allah, O my lady,'
+rejoined Jaafer, 'I am commanded to seize Ghanim ben Eyoub.' 'O
+my lord,' replied she, 'he made ready merchandise and set out
+therewith for Damascus and I know nothing more of him; but I
+desire thee to take charge of this chest and deliver it to me in
+the palace of the Commander of the Faithful.' 'I hear and obey,'
+said Jaafer, and bade his men carry the chest to the palace,
+together with Cout el Culoub, commanding them to use her with
+honour and consideration. And they did his bidding, after they
+had plundered Ghanim's house. Then Jaafer went in to the Khalif
+and told him what had happened, and he bade lodge Cout el Culoub
+in a dark chamber and appointed an old woman to serve her,
+thinking no otherwise than that Ghanim had certainly debauched
+her and lain with her. Then he wrote a letter to the Amir
+Mohammed ben Suleiman ez Zeini, the viceroy of Damascus, to the
+following purport, 'As soon as this letter reaches thee, lay
+hands on Ghanim ben Eyoub and send him to me.' When the letter
+came to the viceroy, he kissed it and laid it on his head, then
+caused proclamation to be made in the streets of Damascus, 'Whoso
+is minded to plunder, let him betake himself to the house of
+Ghanim ben Eyoub!' So they repaired to the house, where they
+found that Ghanim's mother and sister had made him a tomb midmost
+the house and sat by it, weeping for him, whereupon they seized
+them, without telling them the cause, and carried them before the
+Sultan, after having plundered the house. The viceroy questioned
+them of Ghanim, and they replied, 'This year or more we have had
+no news of him.' So they restored them to their place.
+
+Meanwhile Ghanim, finding himself despoiled of his wealth and
+considering his case, wept till his heart was well-nigh broken.
+Then he fared on at random, till the end of the day, and hunger
+was sore on him and he was worn out with fatigue. Coming to a
+village, he entered a mosque, where he sat down on a mat, leaning
+his back against the wall, and presently sank to the ground, in
+extremity for hunger and weariness, and lay there till morning,
+his heart fluttering for want of food. By reason of his sweating,
+vermin coursed over his skin, his breath grew fetid and he became
+in sorry case. When the people of the town came to pray the
+morning-prayer, they found him lying there, sick and weak with
+hunger, yet showing signs of gentle breeding. As soon as they had
+done their devotions, they came up to him and finding him cold
+and starving, threw over him an old mantle with ragged sleeves
+and said to him, 'O stranger, whence art thou and what ails
+thee?' He opened his eyes and wept, but made them no answer;
+whereupon, one of them, seeing that he was starving, brought him
+a saucerful of honey and two cakes of bread. So he ate a little
+and they sat with him till sunrise, when they went about their
+occupations. He abode with them in this state for a month, whilst
+sickness and infirmity increased upon him, and they wept for him
+and pitying his condition, took counsel together of his case and
+agreed to send him to the hospital at Baghdad. Meanwhile, there
+came into the mosque two beggar women, who were none other than
+Ghanim's mother and sister; and when he saw them, he gave them
+the bread that was at his head and they slept by his side that
+night, but he knew them not. Next day the villagers fetched a
+camel and said to the driver, 'Put this sick man on thy camel
+and carry him to Baghdad and set him down at the door of the
+hospital, so haply he may be medicined and recover his health,
+and God will reward thee.' 'I hear and obey,' said the
+camel-driver. So they brought Ghanim, who was asleep, out of the
+mosque and laid him, mat and all, on the back of the camel; and
+his mother and sister came out with the rest of the people to
+look on him, but knew him not. However, after considering him,
+they said, 'Verily, he favours our Ghanim! Can this sick man be
+he?' Presently, he awoke and finding himself bound with ropes on
+the back of a camel, began to weep and complain, and the people
+of the village saw his mother and sister weeping over him, though
+they knew him not. Then they set out for Baghdad, whither the
+camel-driver forewent them and setting Ghanim down at the door of
+the hospital, went away. He lay there till morning, and when the
+people began to go about the ways, they saw him and stood gazing
+on him, for indeed he was become as thin as a skewer, till the
+syndic of the market came up and drove them away, saying, 'I will
+gain Paradise through this poor fellow; for if they take him into
+the hospital, they will kill him in one day.' Then he made his
+servants carry him to his own house, where he spread him a
+new bed, with a new pillow, and said to his wife, 'Tend him
+faithfully.' 'Good,' answered she; 'on my head be it!' Then she
+tucked up her sleeves and heating some water, washed his hands
+and feet and body, after which she clothed him in a gown
+belonging to one of her slave-girls and gave him a cup of wine to
+drink and sprinkled rose-water over him. So he revived and
+moaned, as he thought of his beloved Cout el Culoub! and sorrows
+were sore upon him.
+
+Meanwhile, Cout el Culoub abode in duresse fourscore days, at the
+end of which time, the Khalif chancing one day to pass the place
+in which she was, heard her repeating verses and saying, 'O my
+beloved, O Ghanim, how great is thy goodness and how chaste is
+thy nature! Thou didst good to him who hath injured thee, thou
+guardedst his honour who hath violated thine, and didst protect
+the harem of him who hath despoiled thee and thine! But thou wilt
+surely stand, with the Commander of the Faithful, before the Just
+Judge and be justified of him on the day when the judge shall be
+the Lord of all (to whom belong might and majesty) and the
+witnesses the angels!' When the Khalif heard her complaint, he
+knew that she had been wrongfully entreated and returning to his
+palace sent Mesrour the eunuch for her. She came before him, with
+bowed head, tearful-eyed and mournful-hearted, and he said to
+her, 'O Cout el Culoub, I find thou taxest me with injustice and
+tyranny and avouchest that I have wronged him who did me good.
+Who is this that hath guarded my honour and whose honour I have
+violated, and who hath protected my harem, whilst I have enslaved
+his?' 'Ghanim ben Eyoub,' replied she; 'for by thy munificence, O
+Commander of the Faithful, he never approached me by way of
+lewdness nor with evil intent!' Then said the Khalif, 'There is
+no power and no virtue but in God! Ask what thou wilt of me, O
+Cout el Culoub, and it shall be granted to thee.' 'O Commander of
+the Faithful,' said she, 'I ask of thee my beloved Ghanim ben
+Eyoub.' The Khalif granted her prayer, and she said, 'O Commander
+of the Faithful, if I bring him to thee, wilt thou bestow me on
+him?' 'If he come,' replied the Khalif, 'I will bestow thee on
+him, the gift of a generous man who does not go back on his
+giving.' 'O Commander of the Faithful,' said she, 'suffer me to
+go in quest of him: it may be God will unite me with him.' 'Do
+what seemeth good to thee,' answered he. So she rejoiced and
+taking with her a thousand dinars, went out and visited the
+elders of the various religious orders and gave alms for Ghanim's
+sake. Next day she went to the merchants' bazaar and told the
+chief of the market what she sought and gave him money, saying,
+'Bestow this in alms on strangers.' The following week she took
+other thousand dinars and going to the market of the goldsmiths
+and jewellers, called the syndic and gave him the money, saying,
+'Bestow this in alms on strangers.' The syndic, who was none
+other than Ghanim's benefactor, looked at her and said, 'O my
+lady, wilt thou go to my house and look upon a strange youth I
+have there and see how goodly and elegant he is?' (Now this
+stranger was Ghanim, but the syndic had no knowledge of him and
+thought him to be some unfortunate debtor, who had been despoiled
+of his property, or a lover parted from his beloved.) When she
+heard his words, her heart fluttered and her bowels yearned, and
+she said to him, 'Send with me some one who shall bring me to thy
+house.' So he sent a little boy, who led her thither and she
+thanked him for this. When she reached the house, she went in and
+saluted the syndic's wife, who rose and kissed the ground before
+her, knowing her. Then said Cout el Culoub, 'Where is the sick
+man who is with thee?' 'O my lady,' replied she, weeping, 'here
+he is, lying on this bed. By Allah, he is a man of condition and
+bears traces of gentle breeding!' So Cout el Culoub turned and
+looked at him, but he was as if disguised in her eyes, being worn
+and wasted till he was become as thin as a skewer, so that his
+case was doubtful to her and she was not certain that it was he.
+Nevertheless, she was moved to compassion for him and wept,
+saying, 'Verily, strangers are unhappy, though they be princes in
+their own land!' And his case was grievous to her and her heart
+ached for him, though she knew him not to be Ghanim. Then she
+appointed him wine and medicines and sat by his head awhile,
+after which she mounted and returned to her palace and continued
+to make the round of the bazaars in search of Ghanim.
+
+Meanwhile Ghanim's mother and sister arrived at Baghdad and fell
+in with the charitable syndic, who carried them to Cout el Culoub
+and said to her, 'O princess of benevolent ladies, there be come
+to our city this day a woman and her daughter, who are fair of
+face and the marks of gentle breeding and fortune are manifest
+upon them, though they are clad in hair garments and have each
+a wallet hanging to her neck; and they are tearful-eyed and
+sorrowful-hearted. So I have brought them to thee, that thou
+mayest shelter them and rescue them from beggary, for they are
+not fit to ask alms, and if God will, we shall enter Paradise
+through them.' 'O my lord,' exclaimed she, 'thou makest me long
+to see them! Where are they? Bring them to me.' So he bade the
+eunuch bring them in; and when she looked on them and saw that
+they were both possessed of beauty, she wept for them and said,
+'By Allah, they are people of condition and show signs of former
+fortune.' 'O my lady,' said the syndic's wife, 'we love the poor
+and destitute, because of the recompense that God hath promised
+to such as succour them: as for these, belike the oppressors have
+done them violence and robbed them of their fortune and laid
+waste their dwelling-place.' Then Ghanim's mother and sister wept
+sore, recalling their former prosperity and contrasting it with
+their present destitute and miserable condition and thinking of
+Ghanim, whilst Cout el Culoub wept because they did. And they
+exclaimed, 'We beseech God to reunite us with him whom we desire,
+and he is none other than our son Ghanim ben Eyoub!' When Cout el
+Culoub heard this, she knew them to be the mother and sister of
+her beloved and wept till she lost her senses. When she revived,
+she turned to them and said, 'Have no care and grieve not, for
+this day is the first of your prosperity and the last of your
+adversity.' Then she bade the syndic take them to his own house
+and let his wife carry them to the bath and clothe them
+handsomely. And she charged him to take care of them and treat
+them with all honour, and gave him a sum of money. Next day, she
+mounted and riding to his house, went in to his wife, who rose
+and kissed her hands and thanked her for her goodness. There she
+saw Ghanim's mother and sister, whom the syndic's wife had taken
+to the bath and clothed afresh, so that the traces of their
+former condition were now plainly apparent. She sat awhile,
+conversing with them, after which she enquired for the sick
+youth, and the syndic's wife replied, 'He is in the same state.'
+Then said Cout el Culoub, 'Come, let us go and visit him.' So
+they all went into the room where he lay and sat down by him.
+Presently, Ghanim heard them mention the name of Cout el Culoub,
+whereupon his life came back to him, wasted and shrunken as he
+was, and he raised his head from the pillow and cried out, 'O
+Cout el Culoub!' 'Yes, O friend!' answered she. 'Draw near to
+me,' said he. So she looked at him earnestly and knew him and
+said to him, 'Surely thou art Ghanim ben Eyoub?' 'I am indeed
+he,' replied he. At this, she fell down in a swoon, and when
+Ghanim's mother and sister heard their words, they both cried
+out, 'O joy!' and swooned away. When they recovered, Cout el
+Culoub exclaimed, 'Praised be God who hath brought us together
+again and hath reunited thee with thy mother and sister!' Then
+she told him all that had befallen her with the Khalif and said,
+'I have made known the truth to the Commander of the Faithful,
+who believed me and approved of thee; and now he wishes to see
+thee.' Then she told him how the Khalif had bestowed her on him,
+at which he was beyond measure rejoiced, and she returned to the
+palace at once, charging them not to stir till she came back.
+There she opened the chest that she had brought from Ghanim's
+house, and taking out some of the money, carried it to the syndic
+and bade him buy them each four suits of the best stuffs and
+twenty handkerchiefs and what else they needed; after which she
+carried them all three to the bath and commanded to wash them and
+made ready for them broths and galingale and apple-water against
+their coming out. When they left the bath, they put on new
+clothes, and she abode with them three days, feeding them with
+fowls and broths and sherbet of sugar-candy, till their strength
+returned to them. After this, she carried them to the bath a
+second time, and when they came out and had changed their
+clothes, she took them back to the syndic's house and left them
+there, whilst she returned to the palace and craving an audience
+of the Khalif, told him the whole story and how her lord Ghanim
+and his mother and sister were now in Baghdad. When the Khalif
+heard this, he turned to his attendants and said, 'Bring hither
+to me Ghanim.' So Jaafer went to fetch him: but Cout el Culoub
+forewent him to the syndic's house and told Ghanim that the
+Khalif had sent for him and enjoined him to eloquence and
+self-possession and pleasant speech. Then she clad him in a
+rich habit and gave him much money, bidding him be lavish of
+largesse to the household of the Khalif, when he went in to him.
+Presently, Jaafer arrived, riding on his Nubian mule, and Ghanim
+met him and kissed the ground before him, wishing him long life.
+Now was the star of his good fortune risen and shone, and Jaafer
+took him and brought him to the Khalif. When he entered, he
+looked at the viziers and amirs and chamberlains and deputies and
+grandees and captains, Turks and Medes and Arabs and Persians,
+and then at the Khalif. Then he made sweet his speech and his
+eloquence and bowing his head, spoke the following verses:
+
+Long life unto a King, the greatest of the great, Still following
+     on good works and bounties without date!
+Glowering with high resolves, a fountain of largesse, For ever
+     full; 'tis said, of fire and flood and fate,
+That they none else would have for monarch of the world, For
+     sovran of the time and King in Kisra's gate.[FN#119]
+Kings, salutation-wise, upon his threshold's earth, For his
+     acceptance lay the jewels of their state;
+And when their eyes behold the glory of his might, Upon the
+     earth, in awe, themselves they do prostrate.
+This humbleness it is that profits them with thee And wins them
+     wealth and power and rank and high estate.
+Upon old Saturn's heights pitch thy pavilion, Since for thy
+     countless hosts the world is grown too strait,
+And teach the stars to know thine own magnificence, In kindness
+     to the prince who rules the starry state.
+May God with His consent for ever favour thee! For steadfastness
+     of soul and sense upon thee wait:
+Thy justice overspreads the surface of the earth, Till far and
+     near for it their difference abate.
+
+The Khalif was charmed with his eloquence and the sweetness of
+his speech and said to him, 'Draw near to me.' So he drew near
+and the Khalif said, 'Tell me thy story and expound to me thy
+case.' So Ghanim sat down and related to him all that had
+befallen him, from beginning to end. The Khalif was assured that
+he spoke the truth; so he invested him with a dress of honour and
+took him into favour. Then he said to him, 'Acquit me of the
+wrong I have done thee.' And Ghanim did so, saying, 'O Commander
+of the Faithful, the slave and all that is his belong to his
+lord.' The Khalif was pleased with this and bade set apart a
+palace for Ghanim, on whom he bestowed great store of gifts and
+assigned him bountiful stipends and allowances, sending his
+mother and sister to live with him; after which, hearing that his
+sister Fitneh was indeed a seduction[FN#120] for beauty, he
+demanded her in marriage of Ghanim, who replied, 'She is thy
+handmaid and I am thy servant.' The Khalif thanked him and gave
+him a hundred thousand dinars; then summoned the Cadi and the
+witnesses, who drew up the contracts of marriage between the
+Khalif and Fitneh on the one hand and Ghanim and Cout el Culoub
+on the other; and the two marriages were consummated in one and
+the same night. On the morrow, the Khalif ordered the history of
+Ghanim to be recorded and laid up in the royal treasury, that
+those who came after him might read it and wonder at the dealings
+of destiny and put their trust in Him who created the night and
+the day.
+
+
+
+End Of Vol. 1
+
+
+
+
+
+                     Footnotes to Volume 1.
+
+
+
+[FN#1] The visible and the invisible. Some authorities make it
+three worlds (those of men, of the angels and of the Jinn or
+genii), and ethers more.
+
+[FN#2] The Arabic word for island (jezireh) signifies also
+"peninsula," and doubtless here used in the latter sense. The
+double meaning of the word should be borne in mind, as it
+explains many apparent discrepancies in Oriental tales.
+
+[FN#3] A powerful species of genie. The name is generally (but
+not invariably) applied to an evil spirit.
+
+[FN#4] God on thee! abbreviated form of "I conjure thee (or call
+on thee) by God!"
+
+[FN#5] lit. bull
+
+[FN#6] Epithet of the ass and the cock. The best equivalent would
+be the French "Père L'Eveillé."
+
+[FN#7] i.e. stupid.
+
+[FN#8] The Arabic word for garden (bustan) applies to any
+cultivated or fertile spot, abounding in trees. An European would
+call such a place as that mentioned in the tale an oasis.
+
+[FN#9] in preparation for death.
+
+[FN#10] Jinn, plural of genie.
+
+[FN#11] A dinar (Lat. denarius) is a gold coin worth about 10s.
+
+[FN#12] i.e. I have nothing to give thee.
+
+[FN#13] A dirhem (Gr. drachma) is a silver coin worth about 6d.
+
+[FN#14] Afriteh, a female Afrit. Afrit means strictly an evil
+spirit; but the term is not unfrequently applied to benevolent
+Jinn, as will appear in the course of these stories.
+
+[FN#15] for his impatience.
+
+[FN#16] A Marid is a genie of the most powerful class. The name
+generally, though not invariably, denotes an evil spirit.
+
+[FN#17] Of Islam, which is fabled by the Muslims to have existed
+before Mohammed, under the headship, first of Abraham and
+afterwards of Solomon.
+
+[FN#18] From this point I omit the invariable formula which
+introduces each night, as its constant repetition is only
+calculated to annoy the reader and content myself with noting the
+various nights in the margin. {which will not be included in this
+electronic version}
+
+[FN#19] Probably the skin of some animal supposed to be a defence
+against poison.
+
+[FN#20] Literally, "eyes adorned with kohl:" but this expression
+is evidently used tropically to denote a natural beauty of the
+eye, giving it that liquid appearance which it is the object of
+the use of the cosmetic in question to produce.
+
+[FN#21] A fabulous tribe of giants mentioned in the Koran.
+
+[FN#22] The word here translated "eye" may also be rendered
+"understanding."  The exact meaning of the phrase (one of
+frequent recurrence in these stories) is doubtful.
+
+[FN#23] A fabulous range of mountains which, according to Muslim
+cosmography, encompasses the world.
+
+[FN#24] The prophet Mohammed.
+
+[FN#25] Various kinds of cakes and sweetmeats.
+
+[FN#26] The appearance of which is the signal for the
+commencement of the fast. All eyes being on the watch, it
+naturally follows that the new moon of this month is generally
+seen at an earlier stage than are those of the other months of
+the year, and its crescent is therefore apparently more slender.
+Hence the comparison.
+
+[FN#27] Caravanserai or public lodging-place.
+
+[FN#28] A kind of religious mendicant.
+
+[FN#29] One condition of which is that no violation of the
+ceremonial law (which prohibits the use of intoxicating liquors)
+be committed by the pilgrim, from the time of his assuming the
+pilgrim's habit to that of his putting it off; and this is
+construed by the stricter professors to take effect from the
+actual formation of the intent to make the pilgrimage. Haroun er
+Reshid, though a voluptuary, was (at all events, from time to
+time) a rigid observer of Muslim ritual.
+
+[FN#30] It is a frequent practice, in the East, gently to rub and
+knead the feet, for the purpose of inducing sleep or gradually
+arousing a sleeper.
+
+[FN#31] An expression frequent in Oriental works, meaning "The
+situations suggested such and such words or thoughts."
+
+[FN#32] Religious mendicants.
+
+[FN#33] Referring, of course, to the wine, which it appears to
+have been customary to drink warm or boiled (vinum coctum) as
+among several ancient nations and in Japan and China at the
+present day.
+
+[FN#34] Or chapter or formula.
+
+[FN#35] A play upon words is here intended turning upon the
+double meaning ("aloes" and "patience") of the Arabic word sebr.
+
+[FN#36] See note on p. 120. {Vol. 1, FN#35}
+
+[FN#37] Dar es Selam.
+
+[FN#38] A certain fixed succession of prayers and acts of
+adoration is called a rekah (or bow) from the inclination of the
+body that occurs in it. The ordained prayers, occurring five
+times a day, consist of a certain number of rekahs.
+
+[FN#39] i.e. "There is no god but God", etc.
+
+[FN#40] or sinister conjunction of the planets.
+
+[FN#41] Menkeleh, a game played with a board and draughtmen,
+partaking of the character of backgammon, draughts and
+fox-and-geese.
+
+[FN#42] A common Oriental substitute for soap.
+
+[FN#43] i.e. newly dug over.
+
+[FN#44] lit. rukh.
+
+[FN#45] A sweet-scented, variegated wood.
+
+[FN#46] The Arabs consider a slight division of the two middle
+teeth a beauty.
+
+[FN#47] The Egyptian privet; a plant whose flowers have a very
+delicious fragrance.
+
+[FN#48] A kind of mocking-bird.
+
+[FN#49] Of providence.
+
+[FN#50] Literally, "O my eyes!"
+
+[FN#51] A niche in the wall, which indicates the position the
+worshipper must assume, in order to face Mecca, in accordance
+with the ritual of prayer.
+
+[FN#52] cf. Germ. Zuckerpuppchen.
+
+[FN#53] i.e., moles, which are considered a great beauty in the
+East.
+
+[FN#54] A female genie.
+
+[FN#55] The unveiling or displaying of the bride before her
+husband is the culminating ceremony of a Muslim wedding of the
+better class. The bride is always displayed in the richest
+clothes and ornament that can be mustered or borrowed for the
+occasion.
+
+[FN#56] Moles?
+
+[FN#57] There is a play upon words in this line, founded upon the
+double meaning of the word shirk, sharing (or partnership) and
+polytheism or the attributing partners or equals to God (as in
+the Trinity), the one unpardonable sin of the Muslim religious
+code.
+
+[FN#58] Both afterwards Khalifs.
+
+[FN#59] i.e. God.
+
+[FN#60] lit "though lying save, yet truth saves and saves."
+
+[FN#61] On which she sits to be displayed.
+
+[FN#62] Placed there for the purpose of the ablution prescribed
+by the ceremonial law.
+
+[FN#63] Speaking, of course, ironically and supposing Bedreddin
+to be the hunchback.
+
+[FN#64] Bedreddin.
+
+[FN#65] Mosul is a town of Mesopotamia, some two hundred miles
+N.E. of Baghdad.  It is celebrated for its silk and muslin
+manufactories.  The Mosulis doubtless set the fashion in turbans
+to the inhabitants of Baghdad and Bassora, and it would appear
+from the Vizier's remark that this fashion was notably different
+from that followed at Cairo.
+
+[FN#66] Eye-powder.  The application of kohl to an infant's eyes
+is supposed to be beneficial.
+
+[FN#67] The North wind holds the same place in Oriental metaphor
+and poetry as does the West wind in those of Europe.
+
+[FN#68] Or kernel.
+
+[FN#69] lit. puppet or lay figure.
+
+[FN#70] Mole.
+
+[FN#71] A well-known legist and Cadi of Cufa in the seventh
+century.
+
+[FN#72] The Sun.
+
+[FN#73] The word melik 'king,' by changing the second (unwritten)
+vowel to e becomes melek 'angel'.
+
+[FN#74] A measure of about five bushels.
+
+[FN#75] The left hand is considered unclean, being used for
+certain ablutions, and it is therefore a breach of good manners
+to use it in eating.
+
+[FN#76] Between the two palaces.
+
+[FN#77] Apparently said in jest.
+
+[FN#78] i.e. do not forget me.
+
+[FN#79] A kind of edible arum.
+
+[FN#80] This is apparently some proverbial saying. The meaning
+appears to be, "Let every man be judge of his own case."
+
+[FN#81] That none might stare at or jostle her.
+
+[FN#82] About a hundred and twenty-five pounds.
+
+[FN#83] About five hundred pounds.
+
+[FN#84] i.e. of prime cost.
+
+[FN#85] The face of a mistress.
+
+[FN#86] It is a common Oriental figure to liken a languishing eye
+to a dying narcissus.
+
+[FN#87] One of the companions of Mohammed.
+
+[FN#88] Prater.
+
+[FN#89] Babbler.
+
+[FN#90] Gabbler.
+
+[FN#91] The Stone Mug.
+
+[FN#92] The Braggart.
+
+[FN#93] Noisy.
+
+[FN#94] Silent.
+
+[FN#95] Mohammed.
+
+[FN#96] Or attendant on the people in the bath.
+
+[FN#97] i.e. a stoker or man who keeps up the fire in the baths.
+
+[FN#98] A sort of sermon, which immediately follows, the noontide
+call to prayer on Fridays.
+
+[FN#99] Preliminary to the call to prayer.
+
+[FN#100] A.H. 623-640.
+
+[FN#101] A leather rug on which they make criminals kneel to be
+beheaded.
+
+[FN#102] It will be seen that the stories told by the barber do
+not account for the infirmities of all his brothers, as this
+would imply.
+
+[FN#103] A formula of refusal.
+
+[FN#104] lit. ladder; a sort of frame, like the triangles to
+which they bound criminals sentenced to be flogged.
+
+[FN#105] Dinars; 100,000 dirhems would be only five thousand
+dinars and it will be seen from the sequel that El Feshar
+proposed to spend half that amount upon the dowry and presents to
+the tire-women alone.
+
+[FN#106] i.e. try this.
+
+[FN#107] The moon is masculine in Arabic.
+
+[FN#108] Mohammed.
+
+[FN#109] Or Hajji, pilgrim; title given to those who have made
+the pilgrimage to Mecca.
+
+[FN#110] lit. the fundamentals are remembered.
+
+[FN#111] i.e. chanting the ninety-nine names of God or repeating
+the words "There is no god but God."
+
+[FN#112] i.e. a fair faced cup bearer.
+
+[FN#113] Generally, the floating ends of the turban. This was for
+the purpose of concealment and is a common practice with the
+Bedouins.
+
+[FN#114] The name Kerim means "generous."
+
+[FN#115] Or perhaps "cancelled."
+
+[FN#116] To simulate the customary evidence of virginity.
+
+[FN#117] Names of her waiting women.
+
+[FN#118] Of providence.
+
+[FN#119] i.e. monarch of Persia, the realm of the ancient Kisras
+or Chosroes.
+
+[FN#120] Fitneh.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Book Of The Thousand Nights And
+One Night, Volume I, by Anonymous
+
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Book Of The Thousand Nights And One Night, Volume I
+by  Anonymous
+
+Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the
+copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing
+this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook.
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+**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
+
+**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971**
+
+*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****
+
+
+Title: The Book Of The Thousand Nights And One Night, Volume I
+
+Author:  Anonymous
+
+Translator: John Payne
+
+Release Date: August, 2005  [EBook #8655]
+[This file was first posted on July 30, 2003]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: US-ASCII
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE BOOK OF THE THOUSAND NIGHTS AND ONE NIGHT, VOLUME I ***
+
+
+
+
+Text scanned by JC Byers <www.wollamshram.ca/1001>; proofreading by JC
+Byers, Janelle Maiu, Coralee Sheehan, and Cameron Fruit
+Editorial Note: Project Gutenberg also has the translation of this work by
+                Richard F. Burton in 16 volumes.
+
+
+
+
+         THE BOOK OF THE THOUSAND NIGHTS AND ONE NIGHT:
+
+             Now First Completely Done Into English
+           Prose and Verse, From The Original Arabic,
+
+                         By John Payne
+(Author of "The Masque of Shadows," "Intaglios: Sonnets," "Songs
+                      of Life and Death,"
+ "Lautrec," "The Poems of Master Francis Villon of Paris," "New
+                      Poems," Etc, Etc.).
+
+                        In Nine Volumes:
+
+
+
+                       VOLUME THE FIRST.
+
+
+
+                             London
+                  Printed For Subscribers Only
+
+                              1901
+
+                         Delhi Edition
+
+
+                 Contents of The First Volume.
+
+Introduction.  Story of King Shehriyar and his Brother
+     a.   Story of the Ox and the Ass
+1.   The Merchant and the Genie
+     a.   The First Old Man's Story
+     b.   The Second Old Man's Story
+     c.   The Third Old Man's Story
+2.   The Fisherman and the Genie
+     a.   Story of The Physician Douban
+          ab.  Story of King Sindbad and his Falcon
+          ac.  Story of The King's Son and the Ogress
+     b.   Story of the Enchanted Youth
+3.   The Porter and the Three Ladies of Baghdad
+     a.   The First Calender's Story
+     b.   The Second Calender's Story
+          ba.  Story of the Envier and the Envied
+     c.   The Third Calender's Story
+     d.   The Eldest Lady's Story
+     e.   The Story of the Portress
+4.   The Three Apples
+5.   Noureddin Ali of Cairo and His Son Bedreddin Hassan
+6.   Story of the Hunchback
+     a.   The Christian Broker's Story
+     b.   The Controller's Story
+     c.   The Jewish Physician's Story
+     d.   The Tailor's Story
+     e.   The Barber's Story
+          ea.  Story of the Barber's First Brother
+          eb.  Story of the Barber's Second Brother
+          ec.  Story of the Barber's Third Brother
+          ed.  Story of the Barber's Fourth Brother
+          ee.  Story of the Barber's Fifth Brother
+          ef.  Story of the Barber's Sixth Brother
+7.   Noureddin Ali and the Damsel Enis El Jelis
+8.   Ghanim Ben Eyoub the Slave of Love
+     a.   Story of the Eunuch Bekhit
+     b.   Story of the Eunich Kafour
+
+
+
+
+                        PREFATORY NOTE.
+
+
+
+The present is, I believe, the first complete translation of the
+great Arabic compendium of romantic fiction that has been
+attempted in any European language comprising about four times as
+much matter as that of Galland and three times as much as that of
+any other translator known to myself; and a short statement of
+the sources from which it is derived may therefore be acceptable
+to my readers. Three printed editions, more or less complete,
+exist of the Arabic text of the Thousand and One Nights; namely,
+those of Breslau, Boulac (Cairo) and Calcutta (1839), besides an
+incomplete one, comprising the first two hundred nights only,
+published at Calcutta in 1814. Of these, the first is horribly
+corrupt and greatly inferior, both in style and completeness, to
+the others, and the second (that of Boulac) is also, though in a
+far less degree, incomplete, whole stories (as, for instance,
+that of the Envier and the Envied in the present volume) being
+omitted and hiatuses, varying in extent from a few lines to
+several pages, being of frequent occurrence, whilst in addition
+to these defects, the editor, a learned Egyptian, has played
+havoc with the style of his original, in an ill-judged attempt to
+improve it, producing a medley, more curious than edifying, of
+classical and semi-modern diction and now and then, in his
+unlucky zeal, completely disguising the pristine meaning of
+certain passages. The third edition, that which we owe to Sir
+William Macnaghten and which appears to have been printed from a
+superior copy of the manuscript followed by the Egyptian editor,
+is by far the most carefully printed and edited of the three and
+offers, on the whole, the least corrupt and most comprehensive
+text of the work. I have therefore adopted it as my standard or
+basis of translation and have, to the best of my power, remedied
+the defects (such as hiatuses, misprints, doubtful or corrupt
+passages, etc.) which are of no infrequent occurrence even in
+this, the best of the existing texts, by carefully collating it
+with the editions of Boulac and Breslau (to say nothing of
+occasional references to the earlier Calcutta edition of the
+first two hundred nights), adopting from one and the other such
+variants, additions and corrections as seemed to me best
+calculated to improve the general effect and most homogeneous
+with the general spirit of the work, and this so freely that the
+present version may be said, in great part, to represent a
+variorum text of the original, formed by a collation of the
+different printed texts; and no proper estimate can, therefore,
+be made of the fidelity of the translation, except by those who
+are intimately acquainted with the whole of these latter. Even
+with the help of the new lights gained by the laborious process
+of collation and comparison above mentioned, the exact sense of
+many passages must still remain doubtful, so corrupt are the
+extant texts and so incomplete our knowledge, as incorporated in
+dictionaries, etc, of the peculiar dialect, half classical and
+half modern, in which the original work is written.
+
+One special feature of the present version is the appearance,
+for the first time, in English metrical shape, preserving the
+external form and rhyme movement of the originals, of the
+whole of the poetry with which the Arabic text is so freely
+interspersed. This great body of verse, equivalent to at least
+ten thousand twelve-syllable English lines, is of the most
+unequal quality, varying from poetry worthy of the name to the
+merest doggrel, and as I have, in pursuance of my original scheme,
+elected to translate everything, good and bad (with a very few
+exceptions in cases of manifest mistake or misapplication), I can
+only hope that my readers will, in judging of my success, take
+into consideration the enormous difficulties with which I have
+had to contend and look with indulgence upon my efforts to render,
+under unusually irksome conditions, the energy and beauty of the
+original, where these qualities exist, and in their absence, to
+keep my version from degenerating into absolute doggrel.
+
+The present translation being intended as a purely literary
+work produced with the sole object of supplying the general
+body of cultivated readers with a fairly representative and
+characteristic version of the most famous work of narrative
+fiction in existence, I have deemed it advisable to depart, in
+several particulars, from the various systems of transliteration
+of Oriental proper names followed by modern scholars, as,
+although doubtless admirably adapted to works having a scientific
+or non-literary object, they rest mainly upon devices (such as
+the use of apostrophes, accents, diacritical points and the
+employment of both vowels and consonants in unusual groups and
+senses) foreign to the genius of the English language and
+calculated only to annoy the reader of a work of imagination. Of
+these points of departure from established usage I need only
+particularize some of the more important; the others will, in
+general, be found to speak for themselves. One of the most salient
+is the case of the short vowel fet-heh, which is usually written
+[a breve], but which I have thought it better to render, as a
+rule, by [e breve], as in "bed" (a sound practically equivalent
+to that of a, as in "beggar," adopted by the late Mr. Lane to
+represent this vowel), reserving the English a, as in "father,"
+to represent the alif of prolongation or long Arabic a, since I
+should else have no means of differentiating the latter from the
+former, save by the use of accents or other clumsy expedients, at
+once, to my mind, foreign to the purpose and vexatious to the
+reader of a work of pure literature. In like manner, I have
+eschewed the use of the letter q, as an equivalent for the dotted
+or guttural kaf (choosing to run the risk of occasionally
+misleading the reader as to the original Arabic form of a word
+by leaving him in ignorance whether the k used is the dotted
+or undotted one,--a point of no importance whatever to the
+non-scientific public,--rather than employ an English letter in a
+manner completely unwarranted by the construction of our
+language, in which q has no power as a terminal or as moved by
+any vowel other than u, followed by one of the four others) and
+have supplied its place, where the dotted kaf occurs as a
+terminal or as preceding a hard vowel, by the hard c, leaving k
+to represent it (in common with the undotted kaf generally) in
+those instances where it is followed by a soft vowel. For
+similar reasons, I have not attempted to render the Arabic
+quasi-consonant ain, save by the English vowel corresponding to
+that by which it is moved, preferring to leave the guttural
+element of its sound (for which we have no approach to an
+equivalent in English) unrepresented, rather than resort to the
+barbarous and meaningless device of the apostrophe. Again, the
+principle, in accordance with which I have rendered the proper
+names of the original, is briefly (and subject to certain
+variations on the ground of convenience and literary fitness) to
+preserve unaltered such names as Tigris, Bassora, Cairo, Aleppo,
+Damascus, etc., which are familiar to us otherwise than by the
+Arabian Nights and to alter which, for the sake of mere
+literality, were as gratuitous a piece of pedantry as to insist
+upon writing Copenhagen Kjobenhavn, or Canton Kouang-tong, and to
+transliterate the rest as nearly as may consist with a due regard
+to artistic considerations. The use of untranslated Arabic words,
+other than proper names, I have, as far as possible, avoided,
+rendering them, with very few exceptions, by the best English
+equivalents in my power, careful rather to give the general
+sense, where capable of being conveyed by reasonable substitution
+of idiom or otherwise, than to retain the strict letter at the
+expense of the spirit; nor, on the other hand, have I thought it
+necessary to alter the traditional manner of spelling certain
+words which have become incorporated with our language, where
+(as in the case of the words genie, houri, roe, khalif, vizier,
+cadi, Bedouin, etc. etc.) the English equivalent is fairly
+representative of the original Arabic.
+
+I have to return my cordial thanks to Captain Richard F. Burton,
+the well-known traveller and author, who has most kindly
+undertaken to give me the benefit of his great practical
+knowledge of the language and customs of the Arabs in revising
+the manuscript of my translation for the press.
+
+
+
+
+                THE BOOK OF THE THOUSAND NIGHTS
+                         AND ONE NIGHT
+
+
+
+In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful! Praise be to
+God, the Lord of the two worlds,[FN#1] and blessing and peace
+upon the Prince of the Prophets, our lord and master Mohammed,
+whom God bless and preserve with abiding and continuing peace and
+blessing until the Day of the Faith! Of a verity, the doings of
+the ancients become a lesson to those that follow after, so that
+men look upon the admonitory events that have happened to others
+and take warning, and come to the knowledge of what befell bygone
+peoples and are restrained thereby. So glory be to Him who hath
+appointed the things that have been done aforetime for an example
+to those that come after! And of these admonitory instances are
+the histories called the Thousand Nights and One Night, with all
+their store of illustrious fables and relations.
+
+
+It is recorded in the chronicles of the things that have been
+done of time past that there lived once, in the olden days and in
+bygone ages and times, a king of the kings of the sons of Sasan,
+who reigned over the Islands[FN#2] of India and China and was
+lord of armies and guards and servants and retainers. He had two
+sons, an elder and a younger, who were both valiant cavaliers,
+but the elder was a stouter horseman than the younger. When their
+father died, he left his empire to his elder son, whose name was
+Shehriyar, and he took the government and ruled his subjects
+justly, so that the people of the country and of the empire loved
+him well, whilst his brother Shahzeman became King of Samarcand
+of Tartary. The two kings abode each in his own dominions, ruling
+justly over their subjects and enjoying the utmost prosperity and
+happiness, for the space of twenty years, at the end of which
+time the elder king yearned after his brother and commanded his
+Vizier to repair to the latter's court and bring him to his own
+capital. The Vizier replied, "I hear and obey," and set out at
+once and journeyed till he reached King Shahzeman's court in
+safety, when he saluted him for his brother and informed him that
+the latter yearned after him and desired that he would pay him a
+visit, to which King Shahzeman consented gladly and made ready
+for the journey and appointed his Vizier to rule the country in
+his stead during his absence. Then he caused his tents and camels
+and mules to be brought forth and encamped, with his guards and
+attendants, without the city, in readiness to set out next
+morning for his brother's kingdom. In the middle of the night,
+it chanced that he bethought him of somewhat he had forgotten
+in his palace; so he returned thither privily and entered his
+apartments, where he found his wife asleep in his own bed, in the
+arms of one of his black slaves. When he saw this, the world grew
+black in his sight, and he said to himself, "If this is what
+happens whilst I am yet under the city walls, what will be
+the condition of this accursed woman during my absence at my
+brother's court?" Then he drew his sword and smote the twain and
+slew them and left them in the bed and returned presently to his
+camp, without telling any one what had happened. Then he gave
+orders for immediate departure and set out a'once and travelled
+till he drew near his brother's capital when he despatched
+vaunt-couriers to announce his approach. His brother came forth
+to meet him and saluted him and rejoiced exceedingly and caused
+the city to be decorated in his honour. Then he sat down with him
+to converse and make merry; but King Shahzeman could not forget
+the perfidy of his wife and grief grew on him more and more and
+his colour changed and his body became weak. Shehriyar saw his
+condition, but attributed it to his separation from his country
+and his kingdom, so let him alone and asked no questions of him,
+till one day he said to him, "O my brother, I see that thou art
+grown weak of body and hast lost thy colour." And Shahzeman
+answered, "O my brother, I have an internal wound," but did not
+tell him about his wife. Said Shehriyar, "I wish thou wouldst
+ride forth with me a-hunting; maybe it would lighten thy heart."
+But Shahzeman refused; so his brother went out to hunt without
+him. Now there were in King Shahzeman's apartments lattice-
+windows overlooking his brother's garden, and as the former
+was sitting looking on the garden, behold a gate of the
+palace opened, and out came twenty damsels and twenty black
+slaves, and among them his brother's wife, who was wonderfully
+fair and beautiful. They all came up to a fountain, where the
+girls and slaves took off their clothes and sat down together.
+Then the queen called out, "O Mesoud!" And there came to her a
+black slave, who embraced her and she him. Then he lay with her,
+and on likewise did the other slaves with the girls. And they
+ceased not from kissing and clipping and cricketing and carousing
+until the day began to wane. When the King of Tartary saw this,
+he said to himself, "By Allah, my mischance was lighter than
+this!" And his grief and chagrin relaxed from him and he said,
+"This is more grievous than what happened to me!" So he put away
+his melancholy and ate and drank. Presently, his brother came
+back from hunting and they saluted each other: and Shehriyar
+looked at Shahzeman and saw that his colour had returned and his
+face was rosy and he ate heartily, whereas before he ate but
+little. So he said to him, "O my brother, when I last saw thee,
+thou wast pale and wan, and now I see that the colour has
+returned to thy face. Tell me how it is with thee." Quoth
+Shahzeman, "I will tell thee what caused my loss of colour, but
+excuse me from acquainting thee with the cause of its return to
+me." Said Shehriyar, "Let me hear first what was the cause of thy
+pallor and weakness." "Know then, O my brother," rejoined
+Shahzeman, "that when thou sentest thy vizier to bid me to thee,
+I made ready for the journey and had actually quitted my capital
+city, when I remembered that I had left behind me a certain
+jewel, that which I gave thee. So I returned to my palace, where
+I found my wife asleep in my bed, in the arms of a black slave. I
+slew them both and came to thee; and it was for brooding over
+this affair, that I lost my colour and became weak. But forgive
+me if I tell thee not the cause of my restoration to health."
+When his brother heard this, he said to him, "I conjure thee by
+Allah, tell me the reason of thy recovery!" So he told him all
+that he had seen, and Shehriyar said, "I must see this with my
+own eyes." "Then," replied Shahzeman, "feign to go forth to hunt
+and hide thyself in my lodging and thou shalt see all this and
+have ocular proof of the truth." So Shehriyar ordered his
+attendants to prepare to set out at once; whereupon the troops
+encamped without the city and he himself went forth with them and
+sat in his pavilion, bidding his servants admit no one. Then he
+disguised himself and returned secretly to King Shahzeman's
+palace and sat with him at the lattice overlooking the garden,
+until the damsels and their mistress came out with the slaves and
+did as his brother had reported, till the call to afternoon
+prayer. When King Shehriyar saw this, he was as one distraught
+and said to his brother, "Arise, let us depart hence, for we have
+no concern with kingship, and wander till we find one to whom the
+like has happened as to us, else our death were better than
+our life." Then they went out by a postern of the palace and
+journeyed days and nights till they came to a tree standing in
+the midst of a meadow, by a spring of water, on the shore of the
+salt sea, and they drank of the stream and sat down by it to
+rest. When the day was somewhat spent, behold, the sea became
+troubled and there rose from it a black column that ascended to
+the sky and made towards the meadow. When the princes saw this,
+they were afraid and climbed up to the top of the tree, which was
+a high one, that they might see what was the matter; and behold,
+it was a genie of lofty stature, broad-browed and wide-cheated,
+bearing on his head a coffer of glass with seven locks of steel.
+He landed and sat down under the tree, where he set down the
+coffer, and opening it, took out a smaller one. This also he
+opened, and there came forth a damsel slender of form and
+dazzlingly beautiful, as she were a shining sun, as says the poet
+Uteyeh:
+
+She shines out in the dusk, and lo! the day is here, And all the
+     trees flower forth with blossoms bright and clear,
+The sun from out her brows arises, and the moon, When she unveils
+     her face, cloth hide for shame and fear.
+All living things prostrate themselves before her feet, When she
+     unshrouds and all her hidden charms appear;
+And when she flashes forth the lightnings of her glance, She
+     maketh eyes to rain, like showers, with many a tear.
+
+When the genie saw her, he said to her, "O queen of noble ladies,
+thou whom indeed I stole away on thy wedding night, I have a mind
+to sleep awhile." And he laid his head on her knees and fell
+asleep. Presently the lady raised her eyes to the tree and saw
+the two kings among the branches; so she lifted the genie's head
+from her lap and laid it on the ground, then rose and stood
+beneath the tree and signed to them to descend, without heeding
+the Afrit.[FN#3] They answered her, in the same manner, "God on
+thee [FN#4] excuse us from this." But she rejoined by signs, as
+who should say, "If you do not come down, I will wake the Afrit
+on you, and he will kill you without mercy." So they were afraid
+and came down to her, whereupon she came up to them and offered
+them her favours, saying, "To it, both of you, and lustily; or I
+will set the Afrit on you." So for fear of him, King Shehriyar
+said to his brother Shahzeman, "O brother, do as she bids thee."
+But he replied, "Not I; do thou have at her first." And they made
+signs to each other to pass first, till she said, "Why do I see
+you make signs to each other? An you come not forward and fall
+to, I will rouse the Afrit on you." So for fear of the genie,
+they lay with her one after the other, and when they had done,
+she bade them arise, and took out of her bosom a purse containing
+a necklace made of five hundred and seventy rings, and said to
+them, "Know ye what these are?" They answered, "No." And she
+said, "Every one of the owners of these rings has had to do with
+me in despite of this Afrit. And now give me your rings, both of
+you." So each of them took off a ring and gave it to her. And she
+said to them, "Know that this genie carried me off on my wedding
+night and laid me in a box and shut the box up in a glass chest,
+on which he clapped seven strong locks and sank it to the bottom
+of the roaring stormy sea, knowing not that nothing can hinder a
+woman, when she desires aught, even as says one of the poets:
+
+I rede thee put no Faith in womankind, Nor trust the oaths they
+     lavish all in vain:
+For on the satisfaction of their lusts Depend alike their love
+     and their disdain.
+They proffer lying love, but perfidy Is all indeed their garments
+     do contain.
+Take warning, then, by Joseph's history, And how a woman sought
+     to do him bane;
+And eke thy father Adam, by their fault To leave the groves of
+     Paradise was fain.
+
+Or as another says:
+
+Out on yon! blame confirms the blamed one in his way. My fault is
+     not so great indeed as you would say.
+If I'm in love, forsooth, my case is but the same As that of
+     other men before me, many a day.
+For great the wonder were if any man alive From women and their
+     wiles escape unharmed away!"
+
+When the two kings heard this, they marvelled and said, "Allah!
+Allah! There is no power and no virtue save in God the Most High,
+the Supreme! We seek aid of God against the malice of women, for
+indeed their craft is great!" Then she said to them, "Go your
+ways." So they returned to the road, and Shehriyar said to
+Shahzeman, "By Allah, O my brother, this Afrit's case is more
+grievous than ours. For this is a genie and stole away his
+mistress on her wedding night and clapped her in a chest, which
+he locked with seven locks and sank in the midst of the sea,
+thinking to guard her from that which was decreed by fate, yet
+have we seen that she has lain with five hundred and seventy men
+in his despite, and now with thee and me to boot. Verily, this is
+a thing that never yet happened to any, and it should surely
+console us. Let us therefore return to our kingdoms and resolve
+never again to take a woman to wife; and as for me, I will show
+thee what I will do." So they set out at once and presently came
+to the camp outside Shehriyar's capital and, entering the royal
+pavilion, sat down on their bed of estate. Then the chamberlains
+and amirs and grandees came in to them and Shehriyar commanded
+them to return to the city. So they returned to the city and
+Shehriyar went up to his palace, where he summoned his Vizier and
+bade him forthwith put his wife to death. The Vizier accordingly
+took the queen and killed her, whilst Shehriyar, going into the
+slave girls and concubines, drew his sword and slew them all.
+Then he let bring others in their stead and took an oath that
+every night he would go in to a maid and in the morning put her
+to death, for that there was not one chaste woman on the face of
+the earth. As for Shahzeman, he sought to return to his kingdom
+at once; so his brother equipped him for the journey and he set
+out and fared on till he came to his own dominions. Meanwhile,
+King Shehriyar commanded his Vizier to bring him the bride of the
+night, that he might go in to her; so he brought him one of the
+daughters of the amirs and he went in to her, and on the morrow
+he bade the Vizier cut off her head. The Vizier dared not disobey
+the King's commandment, so he put her to death and brought him
+another girl, of the daughters of the notables of the land. The
+King went in to her also, and on the morrow he bade the Vizier
+kill her; and he ceased not to do thus for three years, till the
+land was stripped of marriageable girls, and all the women and
+mothers and fathers wept and cried out against the King, cursing
+him and complaining to the Creator of heaven and earth and
+calling for succour upon Him who heareth prayer and answereth
+those that cry to Him; and those that had daughters left fled
+with them, till at last there remained not a single girl in the
+city apt for marriage. One day the King ordered the Vizier to
+bring him a maid as of wont; so the Vizier went out and made
+search for a girl, but found not one and returned home troubled
+and careful for fear of the king's anger. Now this Vizier had two
+daughters, the elder called Shehrzad and the younger Dunyazad,
+and the former had read many books and histories and chronicles
+of ancient kings and stories of people of old time; it is said
+indeed that she had collected a thousand books of chronicles of
+past peoples and bygone kings and poets. Moreover, she had read
+books of science and medicine; her memory was stored with verses
+and stories and folk-lore and the sayings of kings and sages, and
+she was wise, witty, prudent and well-bred. She said to her
+father, "How comes it that I see thee troubled and oppressed with
+care and anxiety? Quoth one of the poets:
+
+'Tell him that is of care oppressed, That grief shall not endure
+     alway,
+But even as gladness fleeteth by, So sorrow too shall pass
+     away.'"
+
+When the Vizier heard his daughter's words, he told her his case,
+and she said, "By Allah, O my father, marry me to this king, for
+either I will be the means of the deliverance of the daughters of
+the Muslims from slaughter or I will die and perish as others
+have perished." "For God's sake," answered the Vizier, "do not
+thus adventure thy life!" But she said, "It must be so."
+Whereupon her father was wroth with her and said to her, "Fool
+that thou art, dost thou not know that the ignorant man who
+meddles in affairs falls into grievous peril, and that he who
+looks not to the issue of his actions finds no friend in time of
+evil fortune? As says the byword, 'I was sitting at my ease, but
+my officiousness would not let me rest.' And I fear lest there
+happen to thee what happened to the ox and the ass with the
+husbandman." "And what happened to them?" asked she. Quoth the
+Vizier, "Know, O my daughter, that
+
+
+
+
+               Story of the Ox[FN#5] and the Ass
+
+
+
+There was once a merchant who was rich in goods and cattle, and
+he had a wife and children and dwelt in the country and was
+skilled in husbandry. Now God had gifted him to understand the
+speech of beasts and birds of every kind, but under pain of death
+if he divulged his gift to any one; so he kept it secret for fear
+of death. He had in his byre an ox and an ass, each tied up in
+his stall, hard by the other. One day, as the merchant was
+sitting near at hand, he heard the ox say to the ass, 'I give
+thee joy, O Father Wakeful![FN#6] Thou enjoyest rest and
+attention and they keep thy stall always swept and sprinkled, and
+thine eating is sifted barley and thy drink fresh water, whilst I
+am always weary, for they take me in the middle of the night and
+gird the yoke on my neck and set me to plough and I toil without
+ceasing from break of morn till sunset. I am forced to work more
+than my strength and suffer all kinds of indignities, such as
+blows and abuse, from the cruel ploughman; and I return home at
+the end of the day, and indeed my sides are torn and my neck is
+flayed. Then they shut me up in the cow-house and throw me beans
+and straw mixed with earth and husks, and I lie all night in dung
+and stale. But thy place is always swept and sprinkled and thy
+manger clean and full of sweet hay and thou art always resting,
+except that, now and then, our master hath occasion to ride thee
+and returns speedily with thee; and but for this thou art always
+resting and I toiling, and thou sleeping and I waking; thou art
+full and I hungry and thou honoured and I despised.' 'O
+broadhead,' answered the ass,' he was in the right who dubbed
+thee ox [FN#7], for thou art stupid in the extreme, nor is there
+in thee thought or craft but thou showest zeal and cost thine
+utmost endeavour before thy master and fearest and killest
+thyself for the benefit of another. Thou goest forth at the time
+of morning prayer and returnest not till sundown and endurest all
+day all manner of afflictions, now blows now fatigue and now
+abuse. When thou returnest, the ploughman ties thee to a stinking
+manger, and thou friskest and pawest the ground and buttest with
+thy horns and bellowest greatly, and they think thou art content.
+No sooner have they thrown thee thy fodder than thou fallest on
+it greedily and hastenest to fill thy belly with it. But if thou
+wilt follow my counsel, it will be the better for thee and thou
+wilt get twice as much rest as I. When thou goest forth to the
+furrow and they lay the yoke on thy neck, lie down, and do not
+rise, even if they beat thee, or only rise and lie down again;
+and when they bring thee home, fall prostrate on thy back and
+refuse thy fodder, when they throw it thee and feign to be sick.
+Do this for a day or two and thou wilt have rest from toil and
+weariness.' The ox thanked the ass greatly for his advice and
+called down blessings on him; and the merchant heard all that
+passed between them.
+
+
+Next day the ploughman took the ox and yoked him to the plough
+and set him to work as usual. The ox began to fall short in his
+work, and the ploughman beat him till he broke the yoke and fled,
+following out the ass's precepts; but the man overtook him and
+beat him till he despaired of life. Yet for all that, he did
+nothing but stand still and fall down till the evening. Then the
+ploughman took him home and tied him in his stall; but he
+withdrew from the manger and neither frisked nor stamped nor
+bellowed as usual, and the man wondered at this. Then he brought
+him the beans and straw, but he smelt at them and left them and
+lay down at a distance and passed the night without eating. Next
+morning, the ploughman came and found the straw and beans
+untouched and the ox lying on his back, with his stomach swollen
+and his legs in the air; so he was concerned for him and said to
+himself, 'He has certainly fallen ill, and this is why he would
+not work yesterday.' Then he went to his master and told him that
+the ox was ill and would not touch his fodder. Now the farmer
+knew what this meant, for that he had overheard the talk between
+the ox and the ass as before mentioned. So he said, 'Take that
+knave of an ass and bind the yoke on his neck and harness him to
+the plough and try and make him do the ox's work.' So the
+ploughman took the ass and made him work all day beyond his
+strength to accomplish the ox's task; and he beat him till his
+skin and ribs were sore and his neck flayed with the yoke. When
+the evening came and the ass resumed home, he could hardly drag
+himself along. But as for the ox, he had lain all day, resting,
+and had eaten his fodder cheerfully and with a good appetite; and
+all day long he had called down blessings on the ass for his good
+counsel, not knowing what had befallen him on his account. So
+when the night came and the ass returned to the stable, the ox
+arose and said to him, 'Mayst thou be gladdened with good news, O
+Father Wakeful! Through thee, I have rested today and have eaten
+my food in peace and comfort.' The ass made him no answer, for
+rage and vexation and fatigue and the beating he had undergone;
+but he said to himself, 'All this comes of my folly in giving
+another good advice; as the saying goes, "I was lying at full
+length, but my officiousness would not let me be." But I will go
+about with him and return him to his place, else I shall perish.'
+Then he went to his manger weary, whilst the ox thanked him and
+blessed him. "And thou, O my daughter," said the Vizier, "like
+the ass, wilt perish through thy lack of sense, so do thou oft
+quiet and cast not thyself into perdition; indeed I give thee
+good counsel and am affectionately solicitous for thee." "O my
+father," answered she, "nothing will serve me but I must go up to
+this king and become his wife." Quoth he, "An thou hold not thy
+peace and bide still, I will do with thee even as the merchant
+did with his wife." "And what was that?" asked she. "Know,"
+answered he, "that the merchant and his wife and children came
+out on the terrace, it being a moonlit night and the moon at its
+full. Now the terrace overlooked the byre; and presently, as he
+sat, with his children playing before him, the merchant heard the
+ass say to the ox, 'Tell me, O Father Stupid, what dost thou mean
+to do tomorrow?' 'What but that thou advisest me?' answered the
+ox. 'Thine advice was as good as could be and has gotten me
+complete rest, and I will not depart from it in the least; so
+when they bring me my fodder, I will refuse it and feign sickness
+and swell out my belly.' The ass shook his head and said, 'Beware
+of doing that I' 'Why?' asked the ox, and the ass answered, 'Know
+that I heard our master say to the labourer, "If the ox do not
+rise and eat his fodder today, send for the butcher to slaughter
+him, and give his flesh to the poor and make a rug of his skin."
+And I fear for thee on account of this. So take my advice, ere
+ill-hap betide thee, and when they bring thee the fodder, eat it
+and arise and bellow and paw the ground with thy feet, or our
+master will assuredly slaughter thee.' Whereupon the ox arose and
+bellowed and thanked the ass, and said, 'Tomorrow, I will go with
+them readily.' Then he ate up all his fodder, even to licking the
+manger with his tongue.
+
+When the merchant heard this, he was amused at the ass's trick,
+and laughed, till he fell backward. 'Why dost thou laugh?' asked
+his wife; and he said, 'I laughed at something that I saw and
+heard, but it is a secret and I cannot disclose it, or I shall
+die.' Quoth she, 'There is no help for it but thou must tell me
+the reason of thy laughter, though thou die for it.' 'I cannot
+reveal it,' answered he, 'for fear of death.' 'It was at me thou
+didst laugh,' said she, and ceased not to importune him till he
+was worn out and distracted. So he assembled all his family and
+kinsfolk and summoned the Cadi and the witnesses, being minded to
+make his last dispositions and impart to her the secret and die,
+for indeed he loved her with a great love, and she was the
+daughter of his father's brother and the mother of his children.
+Moreover, he sent for all her family and the neighbours, and when
+they were all assembled, he told them the state of the case and
+announced to them the approach of his last hour. Then he gave his
+wife her portion and appointed guardians of his children and
+freed his slave girls and took leave of his people. They all
+wept, and the Cadi and the witnesses wept also and went up to the
+wife and said to her, 'We conjure thee, by Allah, give up this
+matter, lest thy husband and the father of thy children die. Did
+he not know that if he revealed the secret, he would surely die,
+he would have told thee.' But she replied, 'By Allah, I will not
+desist from him, till he tell me, though he die for it.' So they
+forbore to press her. And all who were present wept sore, and
+there was a general mourning in the house. Then the merchant rose
+and went to the cow-house, to make his ablutions and pray,
+intending after to return and disclose his secret and die.
+
+Now he had a cock and fifty hens and a dog, and he heard the
+latter say in his lingo to the cock, 'How mean is thy wit, O
+cock! May he be disappointed who reared thee! Our master is in
+extremity and thou clappest thy wings and crowest and fliest from
+one hen's back to another's! God confound thee! Is this a time
+for sport and diversion? Art thou not ashamed of thyself?' 'And
+what ails our master, O dog?' asked the cock. The dog told him
+what had happened and how the merchant's wife had importuned him,
+till he was about to tell her his secret and die, and the cock
+said, 'Then is our master little of wit and lacking in sense; if
+he cannot manage his affairs with a single wife, his life is not
+worth prolonging. See, I have fifty wives. I content this one and
+anger that, stint one and feed another, and through my good
+governance they are all under my control. Now, our master
+pretends to sense and accomplishments, and he has but one wife
+and yet knows not how to manage her.' Quoth the dog, 'What, then,
+should our master do?' 'He should take a stick,' replied the
+cock, 'and beat her soundly, till she says, "I repent, O my lord!
+I will never again ask a question as long as I live." And when
+once he has done this, he will be free from care and enjoy life.
+But he has neither sense nor judgment.'
+
+When the merchant heard what the cock said, he went to his wife
+(after he had hidden a rattan in an empty store-room) and said to
+her, 'Come with me into this room, that I may tell thee my secret
+and die and none see me.' So she entered gladly, thinking that he
+was about to tell her his secret, and he locked the door; then he
+took the rattan and brought it down on her back and ribs and
+shoulders, saying, 'Wilt thou ask questions about what is none of
+thy business?' He beat her till she was well-nigh senseless, and
+she cried out, 'By Allah, I will ask thee no more questions, and
+indeed I repent sincerely!' And she kissed his hands and feet.
+Then he unlocked the door and went out and told the company what
+had happened, whereat they rejoiced, and mourning was changed
+into joy and gladness. So the merchant learnt good management
+from a cock, and he and his wife lived happily until death.
+
+And thou, O my daughter," added the Vizier, "except thou desist
+from this thing, I will do with thee even as the merchant did
+with his wife." "I will never desist," answered she, "nor is it
+this story that can turn me from my purpose; and an thou yield
+not to me, I will go up myself to the King and complain to him of
+thee, in that thou grudges the like of me to the like of him."
+Quoth her father, "Must it be so?" And she answered "Yes." So
+being weary of striving with her and despairing of turning her
+from her purpose, he went up to King Shehriyar and kissing the
+earth before him, told him about his daughter and how she would
+have him give her to him that next night; whereat the King
+marvelled and said to him, "How is this? By Him who raised up the
+heavens, if thou bring her to me, I shall say to thee on the
+morrow, 'Take her and put her to death.' And if thou kill her
+not, I will kill thee without fail." "O king of the age,"
+answered the Vizier, "it is she who will have it so; and I told
+her all this, but she will not hear me and insists upon passing
+this night with thy highness." "It is well," answered Shehriyar;
+"go and make her ready, and tonight bring her to me." So the
+Vizier returned to his daughter and told her what had passed,
+saying, "May God not bereave us of thee!" But Shehrzad rejoiced
+with an exceeding joy and made ready all that she needed, and
+said to her sister Dunyazad, "O my sister, note well what I shall
+enjoin thee. When I go up to the Sultan, I will send after thee,
+and when thou comest to me and seest that the King has done his
+will of me, do thou say to me, 'O my sister, an thou be not
+asleep, tell us some of thy delightful stories, to pass away the
+watches of this our night.' Do this and (God willing) it shall be
+the means of my deliverance and of the ridding of the folk of
+this calamity, and by it I will turn the King from his custom."
+Dunyazad answered, "It is well." And the Vizier carried Shehrzad
+to the King, who took her to his bed and fell to toying with her.
+But she wept, and he said to her, "Why dost thou weep?" "O king
+of the age," answered she, "I have a young sister and I desire to
+take leave of her this night and that she may take leave of me
+before the morning." So he sent for Dunyazad, and she waited till
+the Sultan had done his desire of her sister and they were all
+three awake, when she coughed and said, "O my sister, an thou be
+not asleep, tell us one of thy pleasant stories, to beguile the
+watches of our night, and I will take leave of thee before the
+morning." "With all my heart," answered Shehrzad, "if the good
+king give me leave." The King being wakeful, was pleased to hear
+a story and said, "Tell on." Whereat she rejoiced greatly and
+said, "It is related, O august king, that
+
+
+
+
+                  THE MERCHANT AND THE GENIE.
+
+
+
+There was once a merchant, who had much substance and traded
+largely in foreign countries. One day, as he was riding through a
+certain country, whither he had gone to collect what was due to
+him, there overtook him the heat of the day and presently he
+espied a garden[FN#8] before him; so he made towards it for
+shelter and alighting, sat down under a walnut tree, by a spring
+of water. Then he put his hand to his saddle bags and took out a
+cake of bread and a date and ate them and threw away the date
+stone, when behold, there started up before him a gigantic Afrit,
+with a naked sword in his hand, who came up to him and said,
+'Arise, that I may slay thee, even as thou hast slain my son.'
+'How did I slay thy son?' asked the merchant, and the genie
+replied, 'When thou threwest away the date stone, it smote my
+son, who was passing at the time, on the breast, and he died
+forthright.' When the merchant heard this, he said, 'Verily we
+are God's and to Him we return! There is no power and no virtue
+but in God, the Most High, the Supreme! If I killed him, it was
+by misadventure, and I prithee pardon me.' But the genie said,
+'There is no help for it but I must kill thee.' Then he seized
+him and throwing him down, raised his sword to strike him:
+whereupon the merchant wept and said, 'I commit my affair to
+God!' and recited the following verses:
+
+Fate has two days, untroubled one, the other lowering, And life
+     two parts, the one content, the other sorrowing.
+Say unto him that taunteth us with fortune's perfidy, 'At whom
+     but those whose heads are high doth Fate its arrows fling?'
+If that the hands of Time have made their plaything of our life,
+     Till for its long protracted kiss ill-hap upon us spring,
+Dost thou not see the hurricane, what time the wild winds blow,
+     Smite down the stately trees alone and spare each lesser
+     thing?
+Lo! in the skies are many stars, no one can tell their tale, But
+     to the sun and moon alone eclipse brings darkening.
+The earth bears many a pleasant herb and many a plant and tree:
+     But none is stoned save only those to which the fair fruit
+     cling.
+Look on the sea and how the waifs float up upon the foam, But in
+     its deepest depths of blue the pearls have sojourning.
+
+'Cut short thy speech,' said the genie, 'for, by Allah, there is
+no help for it but I must kill thee.' 'Know, O Afrit,' replied
+the merchant, 'that I have a wife and children and much
+substance, and I owe debts and hold pledges: so let me return
+home and give every one his due, and I vow by all that is most
+sacred that I will return to thee at the end of the year, that
+thou mayest do with me as thou wilt, and God is witness of what I
+say.' The genie accepted his promise and released him, whereupon
+he returned to his dwelling-place and paid his debts and settled
+all his affairs. Moreover, he told his wife and children what had
+happened and made his last dispositions, and tarried with his
+family till the end of the year. Then he rose and made his
+ablutions[FN#9] and took his winding sheet under his arm and
+bidding his household and kinsfolk and neighbours farewell, set
+out, much against his will, to perform his promise to the genie;
+whilst his family set up a great noise of crying and lamentation.
+He journeyed on till he reached the garden, where he had met with
+the genie, on the first day of the new year, and there sat down
+to await his doom. Presently, as he sat weeping over what had
+befallen him, there came up an old man, leading a gazelle by a
+chain, and saluted the merchant, saying, 'What ails thee to sit
+alone in this place, seeing that it is the resort of the
+Jinn?'[FN#10] The merchant told him all that had befallen him
+with the Afrit, and he wondered and said, 'By Allah, O my
+brother, thy good faith is exemplary and thy story is a
+marvellous one! If it were graven with needles on the corners of
+the eye, it would serve as a warning to those that can profit by
+example.' Then he sat down by his side, saying, 'By Allah, O my
+brother, I will not leave thee till I see what befalls thee with
+this Afrit.' So they sat conversing, and fear and terror got hold
+upon the merchant and trouble increased upon him, notwithstanding
+the old man's company. Presently another old man came up, leading
+two black dogs, and saluting them, inquired why they sat in a
+place known to be haunted by Jinn, whereupon the merchant
+repeated his story to him. He had not sat long with them when
+there came up a third old man leading a dappled she-mule, and
+after putting to them the same question and receiving a like
+answer, sat down with them to await the issue of the affair. They
+had sat but a little while longer, when behold, there arose a
+cloud of dust and a great whirling column approached from the
+heart of the desert. Then the dust lifted and discovered the
+genie, with a drawn sword in his hand and sparks of fire issuing
+from his eyes. He came up to them and dragged the merchant from
+amongst them, saying, 'Rise, that I may slay thee as thou slewest
+my son, the darling of my heart!' Whereupon the merchant wept and
+bewailed himself and the three old men joined their cries and
+lamentations to his. Then came forward the first old man, he of
+the gazelle, and kissed the Afrit's hand and said to him, 'O
+genie and crown of the kings of the Jinn, if I relate to thee my
+history with this gazelle and it seem to thee wonderful, wilt
+thou grant me a third of this merchant's blood?' 'Yes, O old
+man,' answered the genie, 'if thou tell me thy story and I find
+it wonderful, I will remit to thee a third of his blood.' Then
+said the old man, 'Know, O Afrit, that
+
+
+
+
+                   The First Old Man's Story.
+
+
+
+This gazelle is the daughter of my father's brother and my own
+flesh and blood. I married her whilst she was yet of tender age
+and lived with her near thirty years, without being blessed with
+a child by her. So I took me a concubine and had by her a son
+like the rising full moon, with eyes and eyebrows of perfect
+beauty; and he grew up and flourished till he reached the age of
+fifteen, when I had occasion to journey to a certain city, and
+set out thither with great store of merchandise. Now my wife had
+studied sorcery and magic from her youth: so, I being gone, she
+turned my son into a calf and his mother into a cow and delivered
+them both to the cowherd: and when, after a long absence, I
+returned from my journey and inquired after my son and his
+mother, my wife said to me, "Thy slave died and her son ran
+away, whither I know not." I abode for the space of a year,
+mournful-hearted and weeping-eyed, till the coming of the Greater
+Festival, when I sent to the herdsman and bade him bring me a fat
+cow for the purpose of sacrifice. So he brought me the very cow
+into which my wife had changed my concubine by her art; and I
+tucked up my skirts and taking the knife in my hand, went up to
+the cow to slaughter her; but she lowed and moaned so piteously,
+that I was seized with wonder and compassion and held my hand
+from her and said to the herd, "Bring me another cow." "Not so!"
+cried my wife. "Slaughter this one, for we have no finer nor
+fatter." So I went up to her again, but she cried out, and I left
+her and ordered the herdsman to kill her and skin her. So he
+killed her and flayed her, but found on her neither fat nor
+flesh, only skin and bone. Then I was sorry for having slain her,
+when repentance availed me not; and I gave her to the herd and
+said to him, "Bring me a fat calf." So he brought me my son in
+the guise of a calf; and when he saw me, he broke his halter and
+came up to me and fawned on me and moaned and wept, till I took
+pity on him and said to the man, "Bring me a cow and let this
+calf go." But my wife cried out at me and said, "Not so: thou
+must sacrifice this calf and none other to-day: for it is a holy
+and a blessed day, on which it behoves us to offer up none but a
+good thing, and we have no calf fatter or finer than this one."
+Quoth I, "Look at the condition of the cow I slaughtered by thine
+order; we were deceived in her, and now I will not be persuaded
+by thee to slay this calf this time." "By the great God, the
+Compassionate, the Merciful," answered she, "thou must without
+fail sacrifice this calf on this holy day! Else thou art no
+longer my husband nor am I thy wife." When I heard this harsh
+speech from her, I went up to the calf, knowing not what she
+aimed at, and took the knife in my hand.'" Here Shehrzad perceived
+the day and was silent; and her sister said to her, "What a
+charming and delightful story!" Quoth Shehrzad, "This is nothing
+to what I will tell thee to-morrow night, if the King let me
+live." And the King said to himself, "By Allah, I will not kill
+her, till I hear the rest of the story!" So they lay together
+till morning, when the King went out to his hall of audience and
+the Vizier came in to him, with the winding-sheet under his arm.
+Then the King ordered and appointed and deposed, without telling
+the Vizier aught of what had happened, much to the former's
+surprise, until the end of the day, when the Divan broke up and
+he retired to his apartments.
+
+                And when it was the second night
+
+Dunyazad said to her sister Shehrzad, "O my sister, finish us thy
+story of the merchant and the genie." "With all my heart,"
+answered she, "if the King give me leave." The king bade her "Say
+on." So she began as follows: "It has reached me, O august king
+and wise governor, that the first old man continued his story as
+follows: 'O lord of the Kings of the Jinn, as I was about to kill
+the calf, my heart failed me and I said to the herdsman, "Keep
+this calf with the rest of the cattle." So he took it and went
+away. Next day the herd came to me, as I was sitting by myself,
+and said to me, "O my lord, I have that to tell thee will rejoice
+thee, and I claim a reward for good news." Quoth I, "It is well."
+And he said, "O merchant, I have a daughter, who learnt the art
+of magic in her youth from an old woman who lived with us, and
+yesterday, when I took home the calf that thou gavest me, she
+looked at it and veiled her face and fell a-weeping. Then she
+laughed and said to me, 'O my father, am I become of so little
+account in thine eyes that thou bringest in to me strange men?'
+'Where are the strange men?' asked I. 'And why dost thou weep and
+laugh?' Quoth she, 'The calf thou hast there is our master's son,
+who has been enchanted, as well as his mother, by his father's
+wife. This is why I laughed: and I wept for his mother, because
+his father slaughtered her.' I wondered exceedingly at this and
+the day had no sooner broken than I came to tell thee." When
+(continued the old man) I heard the herdsman's story, O genie, I
+went out with him, drunken without wine for stress of joy and
+gladness, and accompanied him to his house, where his daughter
+welcomed me and kissed my hand; and the calf came up to me and
+fawned on me. Said I to the girl, "Is it true what I hear about
+this calf?" "Yes, O my lord," answered she, "this is indeed thy
+son and the darling of thy heart." So I said to her, "O damsel,
+if thou wilt release him, all that is under thy father's hand of
+beasts and goods shall be thine!" But she smiled and said, "O my
+lord, I care not for wealth, but I will do what thou desirest
+upon two conditions, the first that thou marry me to this thy
+son, and the second that thou permit me to bewitch the sorceress
+and imprison her (in the shape of a beast); else I shall not be
+safe from her craft." I answered, "Besides what thou seekest,
+thou shalt have all that is under thy father's hand, and as to my
+wife, it shall be lawful to thee to shed her blood, if thou
+wilt." When she heard this, she took a cup full of water, and
+conjured over it; then sprinkled the calf with the water, saying,
+"If thou be a calf by the creation of the Almighty, abide in that
+form and change not: but if thou be enchanted, return to thine
+original form, with the permission of God the Most High!" With
+that he shook and became a man: and I fell upon him and said to
+him, "For God's sake, tell me what my wife did with thee and thy
+mother." So he told me what had befallen them and I said to
+him, "O my son, God hath sent thee one to deliver and avenge
+thee." Then I married him to the herdsman's daughter, and she
+transformed my wife into this gazelle, saying to me, "I have
+given her this graceful form for thy sake, that thou mayest look
+on her without aversion." She dwelt with us days and nights and
+nights and days, till God took her to Himself; and after her
+death, my son set out on a journey to the land of Ind, which is
+this merchant's native country; and after awhile, I took the
+gazelle and travelled with her from place to place, seeking news
+of my son, till chance led me to this garden, where I found this
+merchant sitting weeping; and this is my story.' Quoth the genie,
+'This is indeed a rare story, and I remit to thee a third part of
+his blood.' Then came forward the second old man, he of the two
+greyhounds, and said to the genie, 'I will tell thee my story
+with these two dogs, and if thou find it still rarer and more
+marvellous, do thou remit to me another third part of his blood.
+Quoth the genie, 'I agree to this.' Then said the second old man,
+'Know, O lord of the Kings of the Jinn, that
+
+
+
+
+                  The Second Old Man's Story.
+
+
+
+These two dogs are my elder brothers. Our father died and left us
+three thousand dinars,[FN#11] and I opened a shop that I might
+buy and sell therein, and my brothers did each the like. But
+before long, my eldest brother sold his stock for a thousand
+dinars and bought goods and merchandise and setting out on his
+travels, was absent a whole year. One day, as I was sitting in my
+shop, a beggar stopped before me and I said to him, "God assist
+thee!"[FN#12] But he said to me, weeping, "Dost thou not
+recognize me?" I took note of him, and behold, it was my brother.
+So I rose and welcomed him and made him sit down by me and
+inquired how he came in such a case: but he answered, "Do not ask
+me: my wealth is wasted and fortune has turned her back on me."
+Then I carried him to the bath and clad him in one of my own
+suits and took him to live with me. Moreover, I cast up my
+accounts and found that I had made a thousand dinars profit, so
+that my capital was now two thousand dinars. I divided this
+between my brother and myself, saying to him, "Put it that thou
+hast never travelled nor been abroad." He took it gladly and
+opened a shop with it. Presently, my second brother arose like
+the first and sold his goods and all that belonged to him and
+determined to travel. We would have dissuaded him, but he would
+not be dissuaded and bought merchandise with which he set out on
+his travels, and we saw no more of him for a whole year; at the
+end of which time he came to us as had done his elder brother,
+and I said to him, "O my brother, did I not counsel thee not to
+travel?" And he wept and said, "O my brother, it was decreed: and
+behold, I am poor, without a dirhem [FN#13] or a shirt to my
+back." Then I carried him to the bath and clad him in a new suit
+of my own and brought him back to my shop, where we ate and drank
+together; after which, I said to him, "O my brother, I will make
+up the accounts of my shop, as is my wont once a year, and the
+increase shall be between thee and me." So I arose and took stock
+and found I was worth two thousand dinars increase, in excess of
+capital, wherefore I praised the Divine Creator and gave my
+brother a thousand dinars, with which he opened a shop. In this
+situation we remained for some time, till one day, my brothers
+came to me and would have me go on a voyage with them; but I
+refused and said to them, "What did your travels profit you, that
+I should look to profit by the same venture?" And I would not
+listen to them; so we abode in our shops, buying and selling, and
+every year they pressed me to travel, and I declined, until six
+years had elapsed. At last I yielded to their wishes and said to
+them, "O my brothers, I will make a voyage with you, but first
+let me see what you are worth." So I looked into their affairs
+and found they had nothing left, having wasted all their
+substance in eating and drinking and merrymaking. However, I said
+not a word of reproach to them, but sold my stock and got in all
+I had and found I was worth six thousand dinars. So I rejoiced
+and divided the sum into two equal parts and said to my brothers,
+"These three thousand dinars are for you and me to trade with."
+The other three thousand I buried, in case what befell them
+should befall me also, so that we might still have, on our
+return, wherewithal to open our shops again. They were content
+and I gave them each a thousand dinars and kept the like myself.
+Then we provided ourselves with the necessary merchandise and
+equipped ourselves for travel and chartered a ship, which we
+freighted with our goods. After a month's voyage, we came to a
+city, in which we sold our goods at a profit of ten dinars on
+every one (of prime cost). And as we were about to take ship
+again, we found on the beach a damsel in tattered clothes, who
+kissed my hand and said to me, "O my lord, is there in thee
+kindness and charity? I will requite thee for them." Quoth I,
+"Indeed I love to do courtesy and charity, though I be not
+requited." And she said, "O my lord, I beg thee to marry me and
+clothe me and take me back to thy country, for I give myself to
+thee. Entreat me courteously, for indeed I am of those whom it
+behoves to use with kindness and consideration; and I will
+requite thee therefor: do not let my condition prejudice thee."
+When I heard what she said, my heart inclined to her, that what
+God (to whom belong might and majesty) willed might come to pass.
+So I carried her with me and clothed her and spread her a goodly
+bed in the ship and went in to her and made much of her. Then we
+set sail again and indeed my heart clove to her with a great love
+and I left her not night nor day and occupied myself with her to
+the exclusion of my brothers. Wherefore they were jealous of me
+and envied me my much substance; and they looked upon it with
+covetous eyes and took counsel together to kill me and to take my
+goods, saying, "Let us kill our brother, and all will be ours."
+And Satan made this to seem good in their eyes. So they took me
+sleeping beside my wife and lifted us both up and threw us into
+the sea. When my wife awoke, she shook herself and becoming an
+Afriteh,[FN#14] took me up and carried me to an island, where she
+left me for awhile. In the morning, she returned and said to me,
+"I have paid thee my debt, for it is I who bore thee up out of
+the sea and saved thee from death, by permission of God the Most
+High. Know that I am of the Jinn who believe in God and His
+Apostle (whom God bless and preserve!) and I saw thee and loved
+thee for God's sake. So I came to thee in the plight thou knowest
+of and thou didst marry me, and now I have saved thee from
+drowning. But I am wroth with thy brothers, and needs must I kill
+them." When I heard her words, I wondered and thanked her for
+what she had done and begged her not to kill my brothers. Then I
+told her all that had passed between us, and she said, "This very
+night will I fly to them and sink their ship and make an end of
+them." "God on thee," answered I, "do not do this, for the
+proverb says, 'O thou who dost good to those who do evil, let his
+deeds suffice the evil doer!' After all, they are my brothers."
+Quoth she, "By Allah, I must kill them." And I besought her till
+she lifted me up and flying away with me, set me down on the roof
+of my own house, where she left me. I went down and unlocked the
+doors and brought out what I had hidden under the earth and
+opened my shop, after I had saluted the folk and bought goods. At
+nightfall, I returned home and found these two dogs tied up in
+the courtyard: and when they saw me, they came up to me and wept
+and fawned on me. At the same moment, my wife presented herself
+and said to me, "These are thy brothers." "Who has done this
+thing unto them?" asked I; and she answered, "I sent to my
+sister, who turned them into this form, and they shall not be
+delivered from the enchantment till after ten years." Then she
+left me, after telling me where to find her; and now, the ten
+years having expired, I was carrying the dogs to her, that she
+might release them, when I fell in with this merchant, who
+acquainted me with what had befallen him. So I determined not to
+leave him, till I saw what passed between thee and him: and this
+is my story.' 'This is indeed a rare story,' said the genie, 'and
+I remit to thee a third part of his blood and his crime.' Then
+came forward the third old man, he of the mule, and said, 'O
+genie, I will tell thee a story still more astonishing than the
+two thou hast heard, and do thou remit to me the remainder of his
+blood and crime.' The genie replied, 'It is well.' So the third
+old man said, 'Know, O Sultan and Chief of the Jinn, that
+
+
+
+
+                   The Third Old Man's Story.
+
+
+
+This mule was my wife. Some time ago, I had occasion to travel
+and was absent from her a whole year; at the end of which time I
+returned home by night and found my wife in bed with a black
+slave, talking and laughing and toying and kissing and dallying.
+When she saw me, she made haste and took a mug of water and
+muttered over it; then came up to me and sprinkled me with the
+water, saying, "Leave this form for that of a dog!" And
+immediately I became a dog. She drove me from the house, and I
+went out of the door and ceased not running till I came to a
+butcher's shop, where I stopped and began to eat the bones. The
+butcher took me and carried me into his house; but when his
+daughter saw me, she veiled her face and said to her father, "How
+is it that thou bringest a man in to me?" "Where is the man?"
+asked he; and she replied, "This dog is a man, whose wife has
+enchanted him, and I can release him." When her father heard
+this, he said, "I conjure thee by Allah, O my daughter, release
+him!" So she took a mug of water and muttered over it, then
+sprinkled a little of it on me, saying, "Leave this shape and
+return to thy former one." And immediately I became a man again
+and kissed her hand and begged her to enchant my wife as she had
+enchanted me. So she gave me a little of the water and said to
+me, "When thou seest her asleep, sprinkle her with this water and
+repeat the words thou hast heard me use, naming the shape thou
+wouldst have her take, and she will become whatever thou
+wishest." So I took the water and returned home and went in to my
+wife. I found her asleep and sprinkled the water upon her,
+saying, "Quit this form for that of a mule." And she at once
+became a mule; and this is she whom thou seest before thee, O
+Sultan and Chief of the Kings of the Jinn!' Then he said to the
+mule, 'Is it true?' And she nodded her head and made signs as who
+should say, 'Yes, indeed: this is my history and what befell
+me.'" Here Shehrzad perceived the day and was silent. And
+Dunyazad said to her, "O my sister, what a delightful story is
+this of thine!" "This is nothing," answered Shehrzad, "to what I
+will tell thee to-morrow night, if the King let me live." Quoth
+the King to himself, "By Allah, I will not put her to death till
+I hear the rest of her story, for it is wonderful." And they lay
+together till the morning. Then the King rose and betook himself
+to his audience-chamber, and the Vizier and the troops presented
+themselves and the Court was full. The King judged and appointed
+and deposed and ordered and forbade till the end of the day, when
+the Divan broke up and he returned to his apartments.
+
+                And when it was the third night
+
+and the King had taken his will of the Vizier's daughter,
+Dunyazad said to her sister, "O my sister, finish us thy story."
+"With all my heart," answered Shehrzad. "Know, O august King,
+that when the genie heard the third old man's story, he marvelled
+exceedingly and shook with delight and said, 'I remit to thee the
+remainder of his crime.' Then he released the merchant, who went
+up to the three old men and thanked them; and they gave him joy
+of his escape and returned, each to his own country. Nor is this
+more wonderful than the story of the Fisherman and the Genie."
+"What is that?" asked the King: and she said, "I have heard tell,
+O august King, that
+
+
+
+
+
+                  THE FISHERMAN AND THE GENIE.
+
+
+
+There was once a poor fisherman, who was getting on in years and
+had a wife and three children; and it was his custom every day to
+cast his net four times and no more. One day he went out at the
+hour of noon and repaired to the sea-shore, where he set down his
+basket and tucked up his skirts and plunging into the sea, cast
+his net and waited till it had settled down in the water. Then he
+gathered the cords in his hand and found it heavy and pulled at
+it, but could not bring it up. So he carried the end of the cords
+ashore and drove in a stake, to which he made them fast. Then he
+stripped and diving round the net, tugged at it till he brought
+it ashore. Whereat he rejoiced and landing, put on his clothes;
+but when he came to examine the net, he found in it a dead ass;
+and the net was torn. When he saw this, he was vexed and said:
+'There is no power and no virtue save in God the Most High, the
+Supreme! This is indeed strange luck!' And he repeated the
+following verses:
+
+O thou that strivest in the gloom of darkness and distress, Cut
+     short thine efforts, for in strife alone lies not success!
+Seest not the fisherman that seeks his living in the sea, Midmost
+     the network of the stars that round about him press!
+Up to his midst he plunges in: the billows buffet him; But from
+     the bellying net his eyes cease not in watchfulness;
+Till when, contented with his night, he carries home a fish,
+     Whose throat the hand of Death hath slit with trident
+     pitiless,
+Comes one who buys his prey of him, one who has passed the night,
+     Safe from the cold, in all delight of peace and blessedness.
+Praise be to God who gives to this and cloth to that deny! Some
+     fish, and others eat the fish caught with such toil and
+     stress.
+
+Then he said, 'Courage! I shall have better luck next time,
+please God!' And repeated the following verses:
+
+If misfortune assail thee, clothe thyself thereagainst With
+     patience, the part of the noble: 'twere wiselier done.
+Complain not to men: that were indeed to complain, To those that
+     have no mercy, of the Merciful One.
+
+So saying, he threw out the dead ass and wrung the net and spread
+it out. Then he went down into the sea and cast again, saying,
+'In the name of God!' and waited till the net had settled down in
+the water, when he pulled the cords and finding it was heavy and
+resisted more than before, thought it was full of fish. So he
+made it fast to the shore and stripped and dived into the water
+round the net, till he got it free. Then he hauled at it till he
+brought it ashore, but found in it nothing but a great jar full
+of sand and mud. When he saw this, he groaned aloud and repeated
+the following verses:
+
+Anger of Fate, have pity and forbear, Or at the least hold back
+     thy hand and spare!
+I sally forth to seek my daily bread And find my living vanished
+     into air.
+How many a fool's exalted to the stars, Whilst sages hidden in
+     the mire must fare!
+
+Then he threw out the jar and wrung out and cleansed his net:
+after which he asked pardon of God the Most High[FN#15] and
+returning to the sea a third time, cast the net. He waited till
+it had settled down, then pulled it up and found in it potsherds
+and bones and broken bottles: whereat he was exceeding wroth and
+wept and recited the following verses:
+
+Fortune's with God: thou mayst not win to bind or set it free:
+     Nor letter-lore nor any skill can bring good hap to thee.
+Fortune, indeed, and benefits by Fate are lotted out: One
+     country's blest with fertile fields, whilst others sterile
+     be.
+The shifts of evil chance cast down full many a man of worth And
+     those, that merit not, uplift to be of high degree.
+So come to me, O Death! for life is worthless verily; When
+     falcons humbled to the dust and geese on high we see.
+'Tis little wonder if thou find the noble-minded poor, What while
+     the loser by main force usurps his sovranty.
+One bird will traverse all the earth and fly from East to West:
+     Another hath his every wish although no step stir he.
+
+Then he lifted his eyes to heaven and said, 'O my God, Thou
+knowest that I cast my net but four times a day; and now I have
+cast it three times and have taken nothing. Grant me then, O my
+God, my daily bread this time!' So he said, 'In the name of God!'
+and cast his net and waited till it had settled down in the
+water, then pulled it, but could not bring it up, for it was
+caught in the bottom Whereupon, 'There is no power and no virtue
+but in God!' said he and repeated the following verses:
+
+Away with the world, if it be like this, away! My part in it's
+     nought but misery and dismay!
+Though the life of a man in the morning be serene, He must drink
+     of the cup of woe ere ended day.
+And yet if one asked, 'Who's the happiest man alive?' The people
+     would point to me and 'He' would say.
+
+Then he stripped and dived down to the net and strove with it
+till he brought it to shore, where he opened it and found in it a
+brazen vessel, full and stoppered with lead, on which was
+impressed the seal of our lord Solomon, son of David (on whom be
+peace!). When he saw this, he was glad and said, 'I will sell
+this in the copper market, for it is worth half a score diners.'
+Then he shook it and found it heavy and said to himself, 'I
+wonder what is inside! I will open it and see what is in it,
+before I sell it.' So he took out a knife and worked at the
+leaden seal, till he extracted it from the vessel and laid it
+aside. Then he turned the vase mouth downward and shook it, to
+turn out its contents; but nothing came out, and he wondered
+greatly and laid it on the ground. Presently, there issued from
+it a smoke, which rose up towards the sky and passed over the
+face of the earth; then gathered itself together and condensed
+and quivered and became an Afrit, whose head was in the clouds
+and his feet in the dust. His head was like a dome, his hands
+like pitchforks, his legs like masts, his mouth like a cavern,
+his teeth like rocks, his nostrils like trumpets, his eyes like
+lamps, and he was stern and lowering of aspect. When the
+fisherman saw the Afrit, he trembled in every limb; his teeth
+chattered and his spittle dried up and he knew not what to do.
+When the Afrit saw him, he said, 'There is no god but God, and
+Solomon is His prophet! O prophet of God, do not kill me, for I
+will never again disobey thee or cross thee, either in word or
+deed !' Quoth the fisherman, 'O Marid,[FN#16] thou sayest,
+"Solomon is the prophet of God." Solomon is dead these eighteen
+hundred years, and we are now at the end of time. But what is thy
+history and how comest thou in this vessel?' When the Marid heard
+this, he said, 'There is no god but God! I have news for thee, O
+fisherman!' 'What news?' asked he, and the Afrit answered, 'Even
+that I am about to slay thee without mercy.' 'O chief of the
+Afrits,' said the fisherman, 'thou meritest the withdrawal of
+God's protection from thee for saying this! Why wilt thou kill me
+and what calls for my death? Did I not deliver thee from the
+abysses of the sea and bring thee to land and release thee from
+the vase?' Quoth the Afrit, 'Choose what manner of death thou
+wilt die and how thou wilt be killed.' 'What is my crime?' asked
+the fisherman. 'Is this my reward for setting thee free?' The
+Afrit answered, 'Hear my story, O fisherman!' 'Say on and be
+brief,' quoth he, 'for my heart is in my mouth.' Then said the
+Afrit, 'Know, O fisherman, that I was of the schismatic Jinn and
+rebelled against Solomon son of David (on whom be peace!), I and
+Sekhr the genie; and he sent his Vizier Asef teen Berkhiya, who
+took me by force and bound me and carried me, in despite of
+myself, before Solomon, who invoked God's aid against me and
+exhorted me to embrace the Faith[FN#17] and submit to his
+authority: but I refused. Then he sent for this vessel and shut
+me up in it and stoppered it with lead and sealed it with the
+Most High Name and commanded the Jinn to take me and throw me
+into the midst of the sea. There I remained a hundred years, and
+I said in my heart, "Whoso releaseth me, I will make him rich for
+ever." But the hundred years passed and no one came to release
+me, and I entered on another century and said, "Whoso releaseth
+me, I will open to him the treasures of the earth" But none
+released me, and other four hundred years passed over me, and I
+said, "Whoso releaseth me, I will grant him three wishes." But no
+one set me free. Then I was exceeding wroth and said to myself,
+"Henceforth, whoso releaseth me, I will kill him and let him
+choose what death he will die." And now, thou hast released me,
+and I give thee thy choice of deaths.' When the fisherman heard
+this, he exclaimed, 'O God, the pity of it that I should not have
+come to release thee till now!' Then he said to the Afrit, 'Spare
+me, that God may spare thee, and do not destroy me, lest God set
+over thee one who will destroy thee.' But he answered, 'There is
+no help for it, I must kill thee: so choose what death thou wilt
+die.' The fisherman again returned to the charge, saying, 'Spare
+me for that I set thee free.' 'Did I not tell thee,' replied the
+Marid, 'that is why I kill thee?' 'O head of the Afrits,' said
+the fisherman, 'I did thee a kindness, and thou repayest me with
+evil: indeed the proverb lieth not that saith:
+
+"We did them good, and they the contrary returned: And this, upon
+     my life, is what the wicked do!
+Who helps those, that deserve it not, shall be repaid As the
+     hyaena paid the man that helped her through."'
+
+'Make no more words about it,' said the Afrit; 'thou must die.'
+Quoth the fisherman to himself, 'This is a genie, and I am a man;
+and God hath given me a good wit. So I will contrive for his
+destruction by my wit and cunning, even as he plotted mine of his
+craft and perfidy.' Then he said to the Afrit, 'Is there no help
+for it, but thou must kill me?' He answered, 'No,' and the
+fisherman said, 'I conjure thee, by the Most High Name graven
+upon the ring of Solomon son of David (on whom be peace!), answer
+me one question truly.' When the Afrit heard him mention the Most
+High Name, he was agitated and trembled and replied, 'It is well:
+ask and be brief.' Quoth the fisherman, 'This vessel would not
+suffice for thy hand or thy foot: so how could it hold the whole
+of thee?' Said the Afrit, 'Dost thou doubt that I was in it?'
+'Yes,' answered the fisherman; 'nor will I believe it till I see
+it with my own eyes.'" Here Shehrzad perceived the day and was
+silent.
+
+            And when it was the fourth night[FN#18]
+
+Dunyazad said to her sister, "O sister, an thou be not asleep,
+finish us thy story." So Shehrzad began, "I have heard tell, O
+august King, that, when he heard what the fisherman said, the
+Afrit shook and became a smoke over the sea, which drew together
+and entered the vessel little by little, till it was all inside.
+Whereupon the fisherman made haste to take the leaden stopper and
+clapping it on the mouth of the vessel, called out to the Afrit,
+saying, 'Choose what death thou wilt die! By Allah, I will throw
+thee back into the sea and build myself a house hard by, and all
+who come hither I will warn against fishing here, and say to
+them, "There is an Afrit in these waters, that gives those who
+pull him out their choice of deaths and how he shall kill them."'
+When the Afrit heard this and found himself shut up in the
+vessel, he knew that the fisherman had outwitted him and strove
+to get out, but could not, for Solomon's seal prevented him; so
+he said to the fisherman, 'I did but jest with thee.' 'Thou
+liest, O vilest and meanest and foulest of Afrits!' answered he,
+and rolled the vessel to the brink of the sea; which when the
+Afrit felt, he cried out, 'No! No!' And the fisherman said, 'Yes!
+Yes!' Then the Afrit made his voice small and humbled himself and
+said, 'What wilt thou do with me, O fisherman?' 'I mean to throw
+thee back into the sea,' replied he; 'since thou hast lain there
+already eighteen hundred years, thou shalt lie there now till the
+hour of judgment. Did I not say to thee, "Spare me, so God may
+spare thee; and do not kill me, lest God kill thee?" but thou
+spurnedst my prayers and wouldst deal with me no otherwise than
+perfidiously. So I used cunning with thee and now God has
+delivered thee into my hand.' Said the Afrit, 'Let me out, that I
+may confer benefits on thee.' The fisherman answered, 'Thou
+liest, O accursed one! Thou and I are like King Younan's Vizier
+and the physician Douban.' 'Who are they,' asked the Afrit, 'and
+what is their story?' Then said the fisherman, 'Know, O Afrit,
+that
+
+
+
+
+                 Story of the Physician Douban.
+
+
+
+There was once in a city of Persia a powerful and wealthy king,
+named Younan, who had guards and troops and auxiliaries of every
+kind: but he was afflicted with a leprosy, which defied the
+efforts of his physicians and wise men. He took potions and
+powders and used ointments, but all to no avail, and not one of
+the doctors could cure him. At last, there came to the King's
+capital city a great physician, stricken in years, whose name was
+Douban: and he had studied many books, Greek, ancient and modern,
+and Persian and Turkish and Arabic and Syriac and Hebrew, and was
+skilled in medicine and astrology, both theoretical and
+practical. Moreover he was familiar with all plants and herbs and
+grasses, whether harmful or beneficial, and was versed in the
+learning of the philosophers; in brief, he had made himself
+master of all sciences, medical and other. He had not been long
+in the town before he heard of the leprosy with which God had
+afflicted the King, and of the failure of the physicians and men
+of science to cure him; whereupon he passed the night in study;
+and when the day broke and the morning appeared and shone, he
+donned his richest apparel and went in to the King and kissing
+the ground before him, wished him enduring honour and fair
+fortune, in the choicest words at his command. Then he told him
+who he was and said to him, "O King, I have learnt what has
+befallen thee in thy person and how a multitude of physicians
+have failed to find a means of ridding thee of it: but I will
+cure thee, O King, and that without giving thee to drink of
+medicine or anointing thee with ointment." When the King heard
+this, he wondered and said to him, "How wilt thou do this? By
+Allah, if thou cure me, I will enrich thee, even to thy
+children's children, and I will heap favours on thee, and
+whatever thou desirest shalt be shine, and thou shalt be my
+companion and my friend." Then he gave him a dress of honour and
+made much of him, saying, "Wilt thou indeed cure me without drugs
+or ointment?" "Yes," answered Douban, "I will cure thee from
+without." Whereat the King marvelled exceedingly and said, "O
+physician, when wilt thou do as thou hast said? Make haste, O my
+son!" Quoth Douban, "I hear and obey: it shall be done tomorrow."
+And he went down into the city and hired a house, in which he
+deposited his books and medicines. Then he took certain drugs and
+simples and fashioned them into a mall, which he hollowed out and
+made thereto a handle and a ball, adapted to it by his art. Next
+morning he presented himself before the King and kissing the
+ground before him, ordered him to repair to the tilting ground
+and play at mall there. So the King mounted and repaired thither
+with his amirs and chamberlains and viziers, and hardly had he
+reached the appointed place when the physician Douban came up and
+presented him with the mall and ball he had prepared, saying,
+"Take this mall and grip the handle thus and drive into the plain
+and stretch thyself well and strike this ball till thy hand and
+thy body sweat, when the drugs will penetrate thy hand and
+permeate thy body. When thou hast done and the medicine has
+entered into thee, return to thy palace and enter the bath and
+wash. Then sleep awhile and thou wilt awake cured, and peace be
+on thee!" The King took the mall and mounting a swift horse,
+threw the ball before him and drove after it with all his might
+and smote it: and his hand gripped the mall firmly. And he ceased
+not to drive after the bail and strike it, till his hand and all
+his body sweated, and Douban knew that the drugs had taken effect
+upon him and ordered him to return and enter the bath at once. So
+the King returned immediately and ordered the bath to be emptied
+for him. They turned the people out of the bath, and his servants
+and attendants hastened thither and made him ready change of
+linen and all that was necessary: and he went in and washed
+himself well and put on his clothes. Then he came out of the bath
+and went up to his palace and slept there. When he awoke, he
+looked at his body and found it clean as virgin silver, having no
+trace left of the leprosy: whereat he rejoiced exceedingly and his
+breast expanded with gladness. Next morning, he repaired to the
+Divan and sat down on his chair of estate, and the chamberlains
+and grandees attended on him. Presently, the physician Douban
+presented himself and kissed the earth before the king and
+repeated the following verses:
+
+The virtues all exalted are, when thou art styled their sire:
+     None else the title dares accept, of all that men admire.
+Lord of the radiant brow, whose light dispels the mists of doubt
+     From every goal of high emprize whereunto folk aspire,
+Ne'er may thy visage cease to shine with glory and with joy,
+     Although the face of Fate should gloom with unremitting ire!
+Even as the clouds pour down their dews upon the thirsting hills,
+     Thy grace pours favour on my head, outrunning my desire.
+With liberal hand thou casteth forth thy bounties far and nigh,
+     And so hast won those heights of fame thou soughtest to
+     acquire.
+
+The King rose to him in haste and embraced him and made him sit
+down and clad him in a splendid dress of honour. Then tables of
+rich food were brought in, and Douban ate with the King and
+ceased not to bear him company all that day. When it was night,
+the King gave him two thousand diners, besides other presents,
+and mounted him on his own horse; and the physician returned to
+his lodging, leaving the King astonished at his skill and saying,
+"This man cured me from without, without using ointments. By
+Allah, this is none other than consummate skill! And it behoves
+me to honour and reward him and make him my companion and bosom
+friend to the end of time." The King passed the night in great
+content, rejoicing in the soundness of his body and his
+deliverance from his malady. On the morrow, he went out and sat
+down on his throne; and the grandees stood before him, whilst the
+amirs and viziers sat on his right hand and on his left. Then he
+sent for the physician, who came and kissed the ground before
+him, whereupon the King rose to him and made him sit by his side
+and eat with him, and ceased not to converse with him and make
+much of him till night; when he commanded five dresses of honour
+and a thousand diners to be given to him, and he returned to his
+house, well contented with the King. Next morning, the King
+repaired as usual to his council-chamber, and the amirs and
+viziers and chamberlains took their places round him. Now he had
+among his viziers one who was forbidding of aspect, sordid,
+avaricious and envious: a man of ill omen, naturally inclined to
+malevolence: and when he saw the esteem in which the King held
+Douban and the favours he bestowed on him, he envied him and
+plotted evil against him; for, as says the byword, "Nobody is
+free from envy"--and again--"Tyranny is latent in the soul:
+weakness hides it and strength reveals it." So he came to the
+King and kissed the earth before him and said to him "O King of
+the age, thou in whose bounties I have grown up, I have a grave
+warning to give thee, which did I conceal from thee, I were a son
+of shame: wherefore, if thou command me to impart it to thee, I
+will do so." Quoth the King (and indeed the Vizier's words
+troubled him), "What is thy warning?" "O illustrious King,"
+answered the Vizier, "the ancients have a saying, 'Whoso looks
+not to the issue of events, fortune is no friend of his :' and
+indeed I see the King in other than the right way, in that he
+favours his enemy, who seeks the downfall of his kingdom, and
+makes much of him and honours him exceedingly and is beyond
+measure familiar with him: and of a truth I am fearful for the
+King." Quoth King Younan (and indeed he was troubled and his
+colour changed), "Of whom dost thou speak?" The Vizier answered,
+"If thou sleepest, awake. I mean the physician Douban." "Out on
+thee!" said the King. "He is my true friend and the dearest of
+all men to me; seeing that he medicined me by means of a thing I
+held in my hand and cured me of my leprosy, which the doctors
+were unable to cure; and there is not his like to be found in
+this time, no, not in the whole world, East nor West; and it is
+of him that thou speakest thus! But from to-day I will assign him
+stipends and allowances and appoint him a thousand diners a
+month: and if I should share my kingdom with him, it were but a
+little thing. Methinks thou sayest this out of pure envy and
+wouldst have me kill him and after repent, as King Sindbad
+repented the killing of his falcon." "Pardon me, O King of the
+age," said the Vizier, "but how was that! Quoth the King, "It is
+said that
+
+
+
+
+King Sindbad and His Falcon.
+
+
+
+There was once a King of Persia, who delighted in hunting; and he
+had reared a falcon, that left him not day or night, but slept
+all night long, perched upon his hand. Whenever he went out to
+hunt, he took the falcon with him; and he let make for it a cup
+of gold to hang round its neck, that he might give it to drink
+therein. One day, his chief falconer came in to him and said, 'O
+King, now is the time to go a-hunting.' So the King gave orders
+accordingly and took the falcon on his wrist and set out,
+accompanied by his officers and attendants. They rode on till
+they reached a valley, where they formed the circle of the chase,
+and behold, a gazelle entered the ring; whereupon quoth the King,
+'Whoso lets the gazelle spring over his head, I will kill him.'
+Then they drew the ring closelier round her, and behold, she came
+to the King's station and standing still, put her forelegs to her
+breast, as if to kill the earth before him. He bowed to her, but
+she sprang over his head and was off into the desert. The King
+saw his attendants nodding and winking to one another about him
+and said to his Vizier, 'O Vizier, what say my men?' 'They say,'
+answered the Vizier,  that thou didst threaten to kill him over
+whose head the gazelle should spring.' 'As my head liveth,'
+rejoined the King, 'I will follow her up, till I bring her back!'
+So he pricked on after her and followed her till he came to a
+mountain and she made for her lair; but the King cast off the
+falcon, which swooped down on her and pecked at her eyes, till he
+blinded her and dazed her; whereupon the King threw his mace at
+her and brought her down. Then he alighted and cut her throat and
+skinned her and made her fast to his saddle-bow. Now it was the
+hour of midday rest and the place, where he was, was desert, and
+the King was athirst and so was his horse. So he searched till he
+saw a tree, with water dripping slowly, like oil, from its
+branches. Now the King's hands were gloved with leather;[FN#19]
+so he took the cup from the falcon's neck and filled it with the
+liquid and set it before himself, when behold, the falcon smote
+the cup and overturned it. The King took it and refilled it with
+the falling drops and set it before the bird, thinking that it
+was athirst: but it smote it again and overturned it. At this,
+the King was vexed with the falcon and rose and filled the cup a
+third time and set it before the horse: but the falcon again
+overturned it with its wing. Then said the King, 'God confound
+thee, thou most mischievous of fowls, thou wilt neither drink
+thyself nor let me nor the horse drink!' And he smote it with his
+sword and cut off its wings: whereupon it erected its head and
+made signs as who should say, 'Look what is at the top of the
+tree.' The King raised his eyes and saw at the top of the tree a
+brood of snakes, and this was their venom dripping, which he had
+taken for water. So he repented him of having cut off the
+falcon's wings and mounting, rode on till he reached his tents
+and gave the gazelle to the cook to roast. Then he sat down on
+his chair, with the falcon on his wrist: and presently the bird
+gasped and died: whereupon the King cried out in sorrow and
+lament for having slain the bird that had saved him from death,
+and repented him when repentance availed him not. This, then, is
+the story of King Sindbad; and as for thee, O Vizier, envy hath
+entered into thee, and thou wouldst have me kill the physician
+and after repent, even as King Sindbad repented." "O mighty
+King," answered the Vizier, "what harm has this physician done me
+that I should wish his death? Indeed I only do this thing in
+compassion for thee and that thou mayst know the truth of the
+matter: else may I perish as perished the Vizier who plotted to
+destroy the king his master's son." "How was that? asked the
+King, and the Vizier replied, "Know, O King, that
+
+
+
+
+The King's Son and the Ogress.
+
+
+
+There was once a King's son who was passionately fond of the
+chase; and his father had charged one of his Viziers to attend
+him wherever he went. One day, the prince went out to hunt,
+accompanied by the Vizier, and as they were going along, they saw
+a great wild beast, whereupon the Vizier said to the prince, 'Up
+and after yonder beast!' So the prince rode after the beast and
+followed it, till he was lost to sight. After awhile, the beast
+disappeared in the desert, and the prince found himself alone,
+not knowing which way to turn. Presently he came upon a damsel,
+weeping, and said to her, 'Who art thou?' Quoth she, 'I am the
+daughter of one of the Kings of India, and I was journeying
+through this country, with a company of people, when sleep
+overcame me and I fell from my horse, not knowing what I did. My
+people did not note my fall and went on and left me; and now I am
+alone and bewildered.' When the prince heard this, he had pity on
+her case and took her up behind himself and they rode on, till
+they came to some ruins; when she said to him, 'O my lord, I wish
+to do an occasion here.' So he put her down, and she entered the
+ruins and tarried there till he became impatient and went in
+search of her; when he was ware that she was an ogress, and heard
+her say to her children, 'O my children, I have brought you to
+day a fat youth.' 'O mother,' answered they, 'bring him to us,
+that we may browse on him our bellyful.' When the prince heard
+this their talk, he trembled in every nerve and made sure of
+destruction and turned back. The ogress came out after him and
+finding him terrified and trembling, said to him, 'Why dost thou
+fear?' Quoth he, 'I have an enemy, of whom I am in fear.' 'Didst
+thou not say that thou wast a King's son?' asked she, and he
+answered 'Yes.' 'Then,'said she, 'why dost thou not give thine
+enemy money and so appease him?' He replied, 'Indeed he will not
+be satisfied with money nor with aught but life; and I fear him
+and am an oppressed man.' 'If thou be oppressed as thou sayst,'
+rejoined she, 'ask help of God; surely He will protect thee from
+thine enemy and from the mischief thou fearest from him.' So the
+prince raised his eyes to heaven and said, 'O Thou that answerest
+the prayer of the distressed, when they call on Thee, and
+dispellest evil from them, O my God, succour me against mine
+enemy and turn him back from me, for Thou indeed canst do
+whatsoever Thou wilt.' When the ogress heard his prayer, she
+departed from him and he resumed to the King his father and
+informed him of the Vizier's conduct: whereupon the King sent for
+the latter and put him to death. And thou, O King" (continued the
+envious Vizier), "if thou put thy trust in this physician, he
+will kill thee in the foulest fashion. He, verily, whom thou hast
+favoured and admitted to thy friendship, plots thy destruction:
+for know that he is a spy come from a far land with intent to
+destroy thee. Seest thou not that he cured thee of thy distemper
+from without, by means of a thing held in thy hand, and how canst
+thou be sure that he will not kill thee by some like means?"
+"Thou speakest sooth, O Vizier of good counsel!" said the King.
+"It must indeed be as thou sayst; this physician doubtless comes
+as a spy, seeking to destroy me; and indeed, if he could cure me
+by means of a handle held in my hand, he can kill me by means of
+something I shall smell. But what is to be done with him?" "Send
+after him at once," answered the Vizier, "and when he comes,
+strike off his head and play him false, ere he play thee false;
+and so shalt thou ward off his mischief and be at peace from
+him." "Thou art right, O Vizier," rejoined the King and sent for
+the physician, who came, rejoicing, for he knew not what the
+Compassionate had decreed unto him. As the saying runs:
+
+Thou that fearest ill fortune, be of good heart and hope! Trust
+     thine affairs to Him who fashioned the earth and sea!
+What is decreed of God surely shall come to pass; That which is
+     not decreed never shall trouble thee.
+
+When Douban entered, he recited the following verses:
+
+If all the thanks I speak come short of that which is your due,
+     Say for whom else my verse and prose I make except for you?
+You have indeed prevented me with many an unasked boon, Blest me,
+     unhindered of excuse, with favours not a few.
+How then should I omit to give your praise its full desert And
+     celebrate with heart and voice your goodness ever new?
+I will indeed proclaim aloud the boons I owe to you, Favours,
+     that, heavy to the hack, are light the thought unto.
+
+And also the following:
+
+Avert thy face from trouble and from care And trust in God to
+     order thine affair.
+Rejoice in happy fortune near at hand, In which thou shalt forget
+     the woes that were.
+Full many a weary and a troublous thing Is, in its issue,
+     solaceful and fair.
+God orders all according to His will: Oppose Him not in what He
+     doth prepare.
+
+And these also:
+
+Trust thine affairs to the Subtle, to God that knoweth all, And
+     rest at peace from the world, for nothing shall thee appal.
+Know that the things of the world not, as thou wilt, befall, But
+     as the Great God orders, to whom all kings are thrall!
+
+And lastly these:
+
+Take heart and rejoice and forget thine every woe, For even the
+     wit of the wise is eaten away by care.
+What shall thought-taking profit a helpless, powerless slave?
+     Leave it and be at peace in joy enduring fore'er!
+
+
+When he had finished, the King said to him, "Dost thou know why I
+have sent for thee?" And the physician answered, "None knoweth
+the hidden things save God the Most High." Quoth the King, "I
+have sent for thee to kill thee and put an end to thy life."
+Douban wondered greatly at these words and said, "O King,
+wherefore wilt thou kill me and what offence have I committed?"
+"I am told," replied Younan, "that thou art a spy and comest to
+kill me, but I will kill thee first." Then he cried out to his
+swordbearer, saying, "Strike off the head of this traitor and rid
+us of his mischief!" "Spare me," said Douban; "so may God spare
+thee; and kill me not, lest God kill thee!" And he repeated these
+words to him, even as I did to thee, O Afrit, and thou wouldst
+not spare me, but persistedst in thine intent to put me to death.
+Then the King said to Douban, "Verily I shall not be secure
+except I kill thee: for thou curedst me by means of a handle I
+held in my hand, and I have no assurance but thou wilt kill me by
+means of perfumes or otherwise." "O King," said Douban, "is this
+my reward from thee? Thou returnest evil for good?" The King
+replied, "It boots not: thou must die and that without delay."
+When the physician saw that the King was irrevocably resolved to
+kill him, he wept and lamented the good he had done to the
+undeserving, blaming himself for having sown in an ungrateful
+soil and repeating the following verses:
+
+Maimouneh has no wit to guide her by, Although her sire among the
+wise ranks high.
+The man, who has no sense to rule his steps, Slips, he the ground
+he treads on wet or dry.
+
+Then the swordbearer came forward and bandaged his eyes and
+baring his sword, said to the King, "Have I thy leave to strike?"
+Whereupon the physician wept and said, "Spare me, so God may
+spare thee: and kill me not, lest God kill thee!" And he recited
+the following verses:
+
+I acted in good faith and they betrayed: I came to nought: They
+     prospered, whilst my loyalty brought me to evil case.
+If that I live, I will to none good counsel give again: And if I
+     die, good counsellors be curst of every race!
+
+And he said to the King, "Is this my reward from thee? Thou
+givest me the crocodile's recompense." Quoth the King, "What is
+the story of the crocodile?" "I cannot tell it," answered Douban,
+"and I in this case; but, God on thee, spare me, so may He spare
+thee!" And he wept sore. Then one of the King's chief officers
+rose and said, "O King, grant me this man's life, for we see not
+that he has committed any offence against thee nor that he has
+done aught but cure thee of thy disorder, which baffled the
+doctors and sages." "Ye know not why I put him to death,"
+answered the King: "it is because I believe him to be a spy, who
+hath been suborned to kill me and came hither with that intent:
+and verily he who cured me by means of a handle held in my hand
+can easily poison me in like manner. If I spare him, he will
+infallibly destroy me: so needs must I kill him, and then I shall
+feel myself safe." When the physician was convinced that there
+was no hope for him, but that the King would indeed put him to
+death, he said to the latter, "O King, if thou must indeed kill
+me, grant me a respite, that I may go to my house and discharge
+my last duties and dispose of my medical books and give my people
+and friends directions for my burial. Among my books is one that
+is a rarity of rarities, and I will make thee a present of it,
+that thou mayst lay it up in thy treasury." "And what is in this
+book?" asked the King. Quoth Douban, "It contains things without
+number: the least of its secret virtues is that if, when thou
+hast cut off my head, thou open the book, turn over six leaves
+and read three lines of the left-hand page, my head will speak
+and answer whatever questions thou shalt ask it." At this the
+King marvelled greatly and shook with delight and said, "O
+physician, will thy head indeed speak to me, after it is cut
+off?" And he answered, "Yes, O King." Quoth the King, "This is
+indeed wonderful!" And sent him under guard to his house, where
+Douban spent the remainder of the day in setting his affairs in
+order. Next day, the amirs and viziers and chamberlains and all
+the great officers and notables of the kingdom came to the court,
+and the presence chamber was like a flower garden. Presently the
+physician entered, bearing an old book and a small pot full of
+powder; and sitting down, called for a dish. So they brought him
+a dish, and he poured the powder therein and levelled it. Then he
+said, "O King, take this book, but do not open it till my head
+has been cut off, placed on this dish and pressed down on the
+powder, when the blood will cease to flow: then open the book and
+do as I have enjoined thee." The King took the book and gave the
+signal to the headsman, who rose and struck off the physician's
+head and set it on the dish, pressing it down upon the powder,
+when the blood immediately ceased to flow, and the head unclosed
+its eyes and said, "Open the book, O King!" Younan opened the
+book and found the leaves stuck together; so he put his finger to
+his mouth and took of his spittle and loosened them therewith and
+turned over the pages in this manner, one after another, for the
+leaves would not come apart but with difficulty, till he came to
+the seventh page, but found nothing written thereon and said to
+the head, "O physician, there is nothing here." Quoth the head,
+"Open more leaves." So the King turned over more leaves in the
+same manner. Now the book was as poisoned, and before long the
+poison began to work upon the King, and he fell back in
+convulsions and cried out, "I am poisoned!" Whereupon the head
+repeated the following verses:
+
+Lo, these once were kings who governed with a harsh and haughty
+     sway! In a little, their dominion was as if it ne'er had
+     been.
+Had they swayed the sceptre justly, they had been repaid the
+     like, But they were unjust, and Fortune guerdoned them with
+     dole and teen.
+Now they're passed away, the moral of their case bespeaks them
+     thus, "This is what your sins have earnt you: Fate is not to
+     blame, I ween."
+
+No sooner had it done speaking, than the King fell down dead and
+the head also ceased to live. And know, O Afrit (continued the
+fisherman), that if King Younan had spared the physician Douban,
+God would have spared him; but he refused and sought his death;
+so God killed him. And thou, O Afrit, if thou hadst spared me, I
+would spare thee; but nothing would serve thee but thou must put
+me to death; so now I will kill thee by shutting thee up in this
+vessel and throwing thee into the sea.' At this the Marid roared
+out and said, 'God on thee, O fisherman, do not do that! Spare me
+and bear me not malice for what I did, for men's wit is still
+better than that of Jinn. If I did evil, do thou good, in
+accordance with the adage, "O thou that dost good to him that
+does evil, the deed of the evil-doer suffices him." Do not thou
+deal with me as did Umameh with Aatikeh.' 'And what did Umameh
+with Aatikeh?' asked the fisherman. But the Afrit answered, 'This
+is no time to tell stories, and I in this duresse: let me out,
+and I will tell thee.' Quoth the fisherman, 'Leave this talk: I
+must and will throw thee into the sea, and thou shalt never win
+out again; for I besought thee and humbled myself to thee, but
+nothing would serve thee but thou must kill me, who had committed
+no offence against thee deserving this nor done thee any ill, but
+only kindness, in that I delivered thee from duresse. When thou
+didst thus by me, I knew thee for an incorrigible evil-doer; and
+know that, when I have thrown thee back into the sea, I will tell
+every one what happened between me and thee and warn him, to the
+end that whoever fishes thee up may throw thee in again; and thou
+shalt remain in the sea till the end of time and suffer all
+manner of torments.' Quoth the Afrit, 'Let me out, for this is
+the season of generosity; and I will make a compact with thee
+never to do thee hurt and to help thee to what shall enrich
+thee.' The fisherman accepted his proposal and unsealed the
+vessel, after he had taken the Afrit's pledge and made him swear
+by the Most High Name never to hurt him, but on the contrary to
+do him service. Then the smoke ascended as before and gathered
+itself together and became an Afrit, who gave the vessel a kick
+and sent it into the sea. When the fisherman saw this, he let fly
+in his clothes and gave himself up for lost, saying, 'This bodes
+no good.' But he took courage and said to the Afrit, 'O Afrit,
+quoth God the Most High, "Be ye faithful to your covenants, for
+they shall be enquired of:" and verily thou madest a pact with me
+and sworest to me that thou wouldst do me no hurt. So play me not
+false, lest God do the like with thee: for indeed He is a jealous
+God, who delayeth to punish, yet letteth not the evil-doer
+escape. And I say to thee, as said the physician Douban to King
+Younan, "Spare me, so God may spare thee!"' The Afrit laughed and
+started off inland, saying to the fisherman, 'Follow me.' So he
+followed him, trembling and not believing that he should escape,
+and the Afrit led him to the backward of the town: then crossing
+a hill, descended into a spacious plain, in the midst of which
+was a lake of water surrounded by four little hills. He led the
+fisherman into the midst of the lake, where he stood still and
+bade him throw his net and fish. The fisherman looked into the
+water and was astonished to see therein fish of four colours,
+white and red and blue and yellow. Then he took out his net and
+cast and drawing it in, found in it four fish, one of each
+colour. At this he rejoiced, and the Afrit said to him, 'Carry
+them to the Sultan and present them to him, and he will give thee
+what shall enrich thee. And accept my excuse, for I know not any
+other way to fulfil my pro mise to thee, having lain in yonder
+sea eighteen hundred years and never seen the surface of the
+earth till this time. But do not fish here more than once a day;
+and I commend thee to God's care!' So saying, he struck the earth
+with his foot, and it opened and swallowed him up, whilst the
+fisherman returned, wondering at all that had befallen him, to
+his house, where he took a bowl of water and laid therein the
+fish, which began to frisk about. Then he set the bowl on his
+head and going up to the palace, as the Afrit had bidden him,
+presented the fish to the King, who wondered at them greatly, for
+that he had never seen their like, in shape or kind, and said to
+his Vizier, 'Give these fish to the cookmaid that the King of the
+Greeks sent us, and tell her to fry them.' Now this was a damsel
+that he had received as a present from the King of the Greeks
+three days before and of whom he had not yet made trial in
+cookery. So the Vizier carried the fish to the cookmaid and said
+to her, 'These fish have been brought as a present to the Sultan
+and he says to thee, "O my tear, I have reserved thee against my
+stress!" So do thou show us to-day thy skill and the excellence
+of thy cookery.' Then he returned to the Sultan, who bade him
+give the fisherman four hundred diners. So he gave them to him
+and he took the money in his lap and set off home, running and
+stumbling and falling and rising again and thinking that he was
+dreaming. And he bought what was needful for his family and
+returned to his wife, glad and happy. Meanwhile the cookmaid took
+the fish and cleaned them and set the frying-pan on the fire.
+Then she poured in oil of sesame and waited till it was hot, when
+she put in the fish. As soon as one side was done, she fumed
+them, when lo, the wall of the kitchen opened and out came a
+handsome and well-shaped young lady, with smooth cheeks and
+liquid black eyes.[FN#20] She was clad in a tunic of satin,
+yarded with spangles of Egyptian gold, and on her head she had a
+silken kerchief, fringed with blue. She wore rings in her ears
+and bracelets on her wrists and rings on her fingers, with
+beazels of precious stones, and held in her hand a rod of Indian
+cane. She came up to the brazier and thrust the rod into the
+frying-pan saying 'O fish, are you constant to your covenant?'
+And when the cookmaid heard this she swooned away. Then the
+damsel repeated her question a second and a third time; and the
+fish lifted up their heads and cried out with one voice, 'Yes,
+yes:
+
+Return, and we return: keep faith, and so will we: Or, if thou
+     wilt, forsake, and we'll do like to thee!'
+
+With this the damsel overturned the frying-pan and went out by
+the way she had come, and the wall closed up again as before.
+Presently the cookmaid came to herself and seeing the four fish
+burnt black as coal, said, 'My arms are broken in my first
+skirmish!' And fell down again in a swoon. Whilst she was in this
+state, in came the Vizier, to seek the fish, and found her
+insensible, not knowing Saturday from Thursday. So he stirred her
+with his foot and she came to herself and wept and told him what
+had passed. He marvelled and said, 'This is indeed a strange
+thing !' Then he sent for the fisherman and said to him, 'O
+fisherman, bring us four more fish of the same kind.' So the
+fisherman repaired to the lake and cast his net and hauling it
+in, found in it four fish like the first and carried them to the
+Vizier, who took them to the cookmaid and said to her, 'Come, fry
+them before me, that I may see what happens.' So she cleaned the
+fish and setting the frying-pan on the fire, threw them into it:
+and they had not lain long before the wall opened and the damsel
+appeared, after the same fashion, and thrust the rod into the
+pan, saying, 'O fish, O fish, are you constant to the old
+covenant?' And behold the fish all lifted up their heads and
+cried out as before, 'Yes, yes:
+
+Return, and we return: keep faith, and so will we: Or, if thou
+     wilt, forsake, and we'll do like to thee!'
+
+Then she overturned the pan and went out as she had come and the
+wall closed up again. When the Vizier saw this, he said, 'This is
+a thing that must not be kept from the King. So he went to him
+and told him what he had witnessed; and the King said, 'I must
+see this with my own eyes.' Then he sent for the fisherman and
+commanded him to bring him other four fish like the first; and
+the fisherman went down at once to the lake and casting his net,
+caught other four fish and returned with them to the King, who
+ordered him other four hundred diners and set a guard upon him
+till he should see what happened. Then he turned to the Vizier
+and said to him, 'Come thou and fry the fish before me.' Quoth
+the Vizier, 'I hear and obey.' So he fetched the frying-pan and
+setting it on the fire, cleaned the fish and threw them in: but
+hardly had he turned them, when the wall opened, and out came a
+black slave, as he were a mountain or one of the survivors of the
+tribe of Aad,[FN#21] with a branch of a green tree in his hand:
+and he said, in a terrible voice, 'O fish, O fish, are you
+constant to the old covenant?' Whereupon they lifted up their
+heads and cried out' 'Yes, yes; we are constant:
+
+Return, and we return: keep faith, and so will we: Or, if thou
+     wilt,  forsake, and we'll do like to thee!'
+
+Then the slave went up to the pan and overturning it with the
+branch, went out as he had come, and the wall closed up as
+before. The King looked at the fish and found them black as coal;
+whereat he was bewildered and said to the Vizier, 'This is a
+thing about which it is impossible to keep silence; and indeed
+there must be some strange circumstance connected with these
+fish.' Then he sent for the fisherman and said to him, 'Hark ye,
+sirrah, whence hadst thou those fish?' 'From a lake between four
+hills,' answered he, 'on the thither side of the mountain behind
+the city.' 'How many days' journey hence?' asked the King; and
+the fisherman said, 'O my lord Sultan, half an hour's journey.'
+At this the King was astonished and ordering the troops to mount,
+set out at once, followed by his suite and preceded by the
+fisherman, who began to curse the Afrit. They rode on over the
+mountain and descended into a wide plain, that they had never
+before set eyes on, whereat they were all amazed. Then they fared
+on till they came to the lake lying between the four hills and
+saw the fish therein of four colours, red and white and yellow
+and blue. The King stood and wondered and said to his attendants,
+'Has any one of you ever seen this lake before?' But they
+answered, 'Never did we set eyes on it in all our lives, O King
+of the age.' Then he questioned those stricken in years, and they
+made him the same answer. Quoth he, 'By Allah, I will not return
+to my capital nor sit down on my chair of estate till I know the
+secret of this pond and its fish!' Then he ordered his people to
+encamp at the foot of the hills and called his Vizier, who was a
+man of learning and experience, sagacious and skilful in
+business, and said to him, 'I mean to go forth alone to-night and
+enquire into the matter of the lake and these fish: wherefore do
+thou sit down at the door of my pavilion and tell the amirs and
+viziers and chamberlains and officers and all who ask after me
+that the Sultan is ailing and hath ordered thee to admit no one,
+and do thou acquaint none with my purpose.' The Vizier dared not
+oppose his design; so the King disguised himself and girt on his
+sword and going forth privily, took a path that led over one of
+the hills and fared on all that night and the next day, till the
+heat overcame him and he paused to rest. Then he set out again
+and fared on the rest of that day and all the next night, till on
+the morning of the second day, he caught sight of some black
+thing in the distance, whereat he rejoiced and said, 'Belike I
+shall find some one who can tell me the secret of the lake and
+the fish.' So he walked on, till he came to the black object,
+when he found it a palace built of black stone, plated with iron;
+and one leaf of its gate was open and the other shut. At this the
+King rejoiced and went up to the gate and knocked lightly, but
+heard no answer. So he knocked a second time and a third time,
+with the same result. Then he knocked loudly, but still no one
+answered; and he said to himself, 'It must be deserted.' So he
+took courage and entering the vestibule, cried out, 'Ho, people
+of the palace! I am a stranger and a wayfarer and hungry. Have ye
+any victual?' He repeated these words a second and a third time,
+but none answered. So he took heart and went on boldly into the
+interior of the palace, which he found hung and furnished with
+silken stuffs, embroidered with stars of gold, and curtains let
+down before the doors. In the midst was a spacious courtyard,
+with four estrades, one on each side, and a bench of stone.
+Midmost the courtyard was a great basin of water, from which
+sprang a fountain, and at the corners stood four lions of red
+gold, spouting forth water as it were pearls and jewels; and the
+place was full of birds, which were hindered from flying away by
+a network of gold stretched overhead. The King looked right and
+left, but there was no one to be seen; whereat he marvelled and
+was vexed to find none of whom he might enquire concerning the
+lake and the fish and the palace itself. So he returned to the
+vestibule and sitting down between the doors, fell to musing upon
+what he had seen, when lo, he heard a moaning that came from a
+sorrowful heart, and a voice chanted the following verses:
+
+I hid what I endured from thee: it came to light, And sleep was
+     changed to wake thenceforward to my sight.
+O Fate, thou sparest not nor dost desist from me; Lo, for my
+     heart is racked with dolour and affright!
+Have pity, lady mine, upon the great laid low, Upon the rich made
+     poor by love and its despite!
+Once, jealous of the breeze that blew on thee, I was, Alas! on
+     whom Fate falls, his eyes are veiled with night.
+What boots the archer's skill, if, when the foe draws near, His
+     bow-string snap and leave him helpless in the fight?
+So when afflictions press upon the noble mind, Where shall a man
+     from Fate and Destiny take flight?
+
+When the King heard this, he rose and followed the sound and
+found that it came from behind a curtain let down before the
+doorway of a sitting-chamber. So he raised the curtain and saw a
+young man seated upon a couch raised a cubit from the ground. He
+was a handsome well-shaped youth, with flower-white forehead and
+rosy cheeks and a black mole, like a grain of ambergris, on the
+table of his cheek, as says the poet:
+
+The slender one! From his brow and the night of his jetty hair,
+     The world in alternate gloom and splendour of day doth fare.
+Blame not the mole on his cheek. Is an anemone's cup Perfect,
+     except in its midst an eyelet of black it wear?
+
+He was clad in a robe of silk, laced with Egyptian gold, and had
+on his head a crown set with jewels, but his face bore traces of
+affliction. The King rejoiced when he saw him and saluted him;
+and the youth returned his salute in the most courteous wise,
+though without rising, and said to him, 'O my lord, excuse me if
+I do not rise to thee, as is thy due; indeed, I am unable to do
+so.' 'I hold thee excused, O youth!' answered the King. 'I am thy
+guest and come to thee on a pressing errand, beseeching thee to
+expound to me the mystery of the lake and the fish and of this
+palace, and why thou sittest here alone and weeping.' When the
+young man heard this, the tears ran down his cheeks and he wept
+sore, till his breast was drenched, and repeated the following
+verses:
+
+Say unto those that grieve, at whom doth Fate her arrows cast,
+     "How many an one hath she raised up but to lay low at last!
+Lo, if ye sleep, the eye of God is never closed in sleep. For
+     whom indeed is life serene, for whom is Fortune fast?"
+
+Then he gave a heavy sigh and repeated the following:
+
+Trust thine affair to the Ruler of all that be And put thought-
+     taking and trouble away from thee:
+Say not of aught that is past, "How came it so?" All things
+     depend upon the Divine decree.
+
+The King marvelled and said to him, 'What makes thee weep, O
+youth?' 'How should I not weep,' answered he 'being in such a
+plight?' Then he put out his hand and lifted the skirt of his
+robe, and behold, he was stone from the waist downward. When the
+King saw this his condition, he grieved sore and lamented and
+cried out, 'Alas! alas!' and said, 'Verily, O youth, thou addest
+trouble to my trouble. I came to enquire concerning the fish; and
+now I am concerned to know thy history also. But there is no
+power and no virtue save in God the Most High, the Supreme!
+Hasten therefore, O youth, and expound to me thy story.' Quoth
+the youth, 'Give me thine ears and understanding:' and the King
+replied, 'I am all attention.' Then said the youth, 'There hangs
+a strange story by these fish and by myself, a story which, were
+it graven with needles on the corners of the eye,[FN#22] would
+serve as a warning to those who can profit by example. 'How so ?'
+asked the King and the youth replied, 'Know, O my lord, that
+
+
+
+
+                 Story of the Enchanted Youth.
+
+
+
+My father was King of the city that stood in this place, and his
+name was Mohammed, Lord of the Black Islands, which are no other
+than the four hills of which thou wottest. He reigned seventy
+years, at the end of which time God took him to Himself, and I
+succeeded to his throne and took to wife the daughter of my
+father's brother, who loved me with an exceeding love, so that,
+whenever I was absent from her, she would neither eat nor drink
+till she saw me again. With her I lived for five years, till one
+day she went out to go to the bath, and I bade the cook hasten
+supper for us against her return. Then I entered the palace and
+lay down on the bed where we were wont to lie and ordered two
+slave-girls to sit, one at my head and the other at my feet, and
+fan me. Now I was disturbed at my wife's absence and could not
+sleep, but remained awake, although my eyes were closed.
+Presently I heard the damsel at my head say to the other one, "O
+Mesoudeh, how unhappy is our lord and how wretched is his youth,
+and oh, the pity of him with our accursed harlot of a mistress!"
+"Yes, indeed," replied Mesoudeh; "may God curse all unfaithful
+women and adulteresses! Indeed, it befits not that the like of
+our lord should waste his youth with this harlot, who lies abroad
+every night." Quoth the other, "Is our lord then a fool, that,
+when he wakes in the night and finds her not by his side, he
+makes no enquiry after her?" "Out on thee," rejoined Mesoudeh;
+"has our lord any knowledge of this or does she leave him any
+choice? Does she not drug him every night in the cup of drink she
+gives him before he sleeps, in which she puts henbane? So he
+sleeps like a dead man and knows nothing of what happens. Then
+she dresses and scents herself and goes forth and is absent till
+daybreak, when she returns and burns a perfume under his nose and
+he awakes." When I heard the girls' talk, the light in my eyes
+became darkness, and I thought the night would never come.
+Presently, my wife returned from the bath, and they served up
+supper and we ate and sat awhile drinking and talking as usual.
+Then she called for my sleeping-draught and gave me the cup: and
+I feigned to drink it, but made shift to pour it into my bosom
+and lay down at once and began to snore as if I slept. Then said
+she, "Sleep out thy night and never rise again! By Allah, I hate
+thee and I hate thy person; I am sick of thy company and I know
+not when God will take away thy life!" Then she rose and donned
+her richest clothes and perfumed herself and girt on my sword and
+opened the palace gate and went out. I rose and followed her, and
+she passed through the streets of the city, till she came to the
+gate, when she muttered words I understood not: and straight-way
+the locks fell off and the gate opened. She went forth and fared
+on among the rubbish heaps, I still following her without her
+knowledge, till she came to a reed fence, within which was a hut
+of brick. She entered the hut and I climbed up on the roof and
+looking down, saw my wife standing by a scurvy black slave, with
+blubber lips, one of which overlapped the other, like a coverlet,
+and swept up the sand from the gravel floor, lying upon a bed of
+sugar-cane refuse and wrapped in an old cloak and a few rags. She
+kissed the earth before him, and he raised his head to her and
+said, "Out on thee! why hast thou tarried till now? There have
+been some of my kinsmen the blacks here, drinking; and they have
+gone away, each with his wench; but I refused to drink on account
+of thine absence." "O my lord and my love and solace of my eyes,"
+answered she, "dost thou not know that I am married to my cousin,
+and that I hate to look upon him and abhor myself in his company.
+Did I not fear for thy sake, I would not let the sun rise again
+till his city was a heap of ruins wherein the owl and the raven
+should hoot and wolves and foxes harbour; and I would transport
+its stones behind the mountain Caf."[FN#23] "Thou liest, O
+accursed one!" said the black, "and I swear by the valour of the
+blacks (else may our manhood be as that of the whites!) that if
+thou tarry again till this hour, I will no longer keep thee
+company nor join my body to thine! O accursed one, wilt thou play
+fast and loose with us at thy pleasure, O stinkard, O bitch, O
+vilest of whites?" When I heard and saw what passed between them,
+the world grew dark in my eyes and I knew not where I was; whilst
+my wife stood weeping and humbling herself to him and saying, "O
+my love and fruit of my heart, if thou be angry with me, who is
+left me, and if thou reject me, who shall shelter me, O my
+beloved and light of mine eyes?" And she ceased not to weep and
+implore him till he forgave her. Then she was glad and rose and
+putting off her clothes, said to the slave, "O my lord, hast thou
+aught here for thy handmaid to eat?" "Take the cover off yonder
+basin," answered he; "thou wilt find under it cooked rats' bones,
+and there is a little millet beer left in this pot. Eat and
+drink." So she ate and drank and washed her hands and mouth; then
+lay down, naked, upon the rushes, beside the slave, and covered
+herself with the rags. When I saw this, I became as one
+distraught and coming down from the roof, went in by the door.
+Then I took the sword she had brought and drew it, thinking to
+kill them both. I struck first at the slave's neck and thought I
+had made an end of him; but the blow only severed the flesh and
+the gullet, without dividing the jugulars. He gave a loud
+gurgling groan and roused my wife, whereupon I drew back, after I
+had restored the sword to its place, and resuming to the palace,
+lay down on my bed till morning, when my wife came and awoke me,
+and I saw that she had cut off her hair and put on mourning
+garments. "O my cousin," said she, "do not blame me for this I
+have done; for I have news that my mother is dead, that my father
+has fallen in battle and that both my brothers are dead also, one
+of a snake-bite and the other of a fall from a precipice, so that
+I have good reason to weep and lament." When I heard this, I did
+not reproach her, but said to her, "Do what thou wilt: I will not
+baulk thee." She ceased not to mourn and lament for a whole year,
+at the end of which time she said to me, "I wish to build me in
+thy palace a tomb with a cupola and set it apart for mourning and
+call it House of Lamentations." Quoth I, "Do what seemeth good to
+thee." So she built herself a house of mourning, roofed with a
+dome, and a monument in the midst like the tomb of a saint.
+Thither she transported the slave and lodged him in the tomb. He
+was exceeding weak and from the day I wounded him he had remained
+unable to do her any service or to speak or do aught but drink;
+but he was still alive, because his hour was not yet come. She
+used to visit him morning and evening in the mausoleum and carry
+him wine and broths to drink and weep and make moan over him; and
+thus she did for another year, whilst I ceased not to have
+patience with her and pay no heed to her doings, till one day I
+came upon her unawares and found her weeping and saying, "Why art
+thou absent from my sight, O delight of my heart? Speak to me, O
+my life! speak to me, O my love!" And she recited the following
+verses:
+
+My patience fails me for desire: if thou forgettest me, My heart
+     and all my soul can love none other after thee.
+Carry me with thee, body and soul, wherever thou dost fare, And
+     where thou lightest down to rest, there let me buried be.
+Speak but my name above my tomb; the groaning of my bones,
+     Turning towards thy voice's sound, shall answer drearily.
+
+And she wept and recited the following:
+
+My day of bliss is that whereon thou drawest near to me; And that
+     whereon thou turn'st away, my day of death and fear.
+What though I tremble all the night and be in dread of death, Yet
+     thine embraces are to me than safety far more dear.
+
+And again the following:
+
+Though unto me were given all that can make life sweet, Though
+     the Chosroes empire, yea, and the world were mine,
+All were to me in value less than a midge's wing, If that mine
+     eyes must never look on that face of thine!
+
+When she had finished, I said to her, "O my cousin, let thy
+mourning suffice thee: for weeping profiteth nothing." She
+replied, "Thwart me not, or I will kill myself." So I held my
+peace and let her go her way: and she ceased not to mourn and
+weep for the space of another year. At the end of the third year,
+I came into the mausoleum one day, vexed at something that had
+crossed me and weary of this excessive affliction, and found her
+by the tomb under the dome, saying, "O my lord, I never hear thee
+speak to me, no, not one word. Why dost thou not answer me, O my
+lord?" And she recited the following verses:
+
+O tomb, O tomb, have his beauties ceased, or does thy light
+     indeed, The sheen of the radiant countenance, no more in
+     thee abound?
+O tomb, O tomb, thou art neither earth nor heaven unto me: How
+     comes it then that sun and moon at once in thee are found?
+
+When I heard this, it added wrath to my wrath, and I said, "Alas!
+how much more of this mourning?" and I repeated the following
+[parody of her] verses:
+
+O tomb, O tomb, has his blackness ceased, or does thy light
+     indeed, The sheen of the filthy countenance, no more in thee
+     abound?
+O tomb, thou art neither kitchen-stove nor sewer-pool for me! How
+     comes it then that mire and coal at once in thee are found?
+
+When she heard this, she sprang to her feet and said, "Out on
+thee, thou dog! it was thou that didst thus with me and woundedst
+the beloved of my heart and hast afflicted me and wasted his
+youth, so that these three years he hath lain, neither dead nor
+alive!" "O foulest of harlots and filthiest of whorish doxies of
+hired slaves," answered I, "it was indeed I who did this!" And I
+drew my sword and made at her to kill her; but she laughed and
+said, "Avaunt, thou dog! Thinkst thou that what is past can recur
+or the dead come back to life? Verily, God has given into my hand
+him who did this to me and against whom there was in my heart
+fire that might not be quenched and insatiable rage." Then she
+stood up and pronouncing some words I did not understand, said to
+me, "Let one half of thee by my enchantments become stone and the
+other half remain man." And immediately I became as thou seest me
+and have remained ever since neither sitting nor standing and
+neither dead nor alive. Then she enchanted the city with all its
+streets and gardens and turned it into the lake thou wottest of,
+and the inhabitants, who were of four religions, Muslims,
+Christians, Magians and Jews, she changed to fish of various
+colours, the Muslims white, the Christians blue, the Magians red
+and the Jews yellow; and the four islands she turned into four
+mountains encompassing the lake. Moreover, the condition to which
+she has reduced me does not suffice her: but every day she strips
+me and gives me a hundred lashes with a whip, so that the blood
+runs down me and my shoulders are torn. Then she clothes my upper
+half in a shirt of hair-cloth and over that she throws these rich
+robes.' And he wept and repeated the following verses:
+
+Lord, I submit myself to Thee and eke to Fate, Content, if so
+     Thou please, to suffer and to wait.
+My enemies oppress and torture me full sore: But Paradise at
+     last, belike, shall compensate.
+Though Fate press hard on me, I trust in the Elect,[FN#24] The
+     Accepted One of God, to be my advocate.
+
+With this the King turned to him and said, 'O youth, after having
+rid me of one trouble, thou addest another to me: but tell me,
+where is thy wife and where is the wounded slave?' 'The slave
+lies in the tomb under the dome,' answered the youth, 'and she is
+in the chamber over against the gate. Every day at sunrise, she
+comes out and repairs first to me and strips off my clothes and
+gives me a hundred strokes with the whip; and I weep and cry out,
+but cannot stir to keep her off. When she has done torturing me,
+she goes down to the slave with the wine and broth on which she
+feeds him; and to-morrow at sunrise she will come.' 'O youth,'
+rejoined the King, 'by Allah, I will assuredly do thee a service
+by which I shall be remembered and which men shall chronicle to
+the end of time!' Then he sat down by the youth and talked with
+him till nightfall, when they went to sleep. At peep of day, the
+King rose and put off his clothes and drawing his sword, repaired
+to the mausoleum, where, after noting the paintings of the place
+and the candles and Lamps and perfumes burning there, he sought
+for the slave till he came upon him and slew him with one blow of
+the sword; after which he took the body on his back and threw it
+into a well that was in the palace. Then he returned to the dome
+and wrapping himself in the black's clothes, lay down in his
+place, with his drawn sword by his side. After awhile, the
+accursed enchantress came out and, going first to her husband,
+stripped him and beat him with the whip, whilst he cried out,
+'Alas! the state I am in suffices me. Have mercy on me, O my
+cousin!' But she replied, 'Didst thou show me any mercy or spare
+my beloved?' And beat him till she was tired and the blood ran
+from his sides. Then she put the hair shirt on him and the royal
+robes over it, and went down to the dome with a goblet of wine
+and a bowl of broth in her hands. When she came to the tomb, she
+fell a-weeping and wailing and said, 'O my lord, speak to me!'
+And repeated the following verse:
+
+How long ere this rigour pass sway and thou relent? Is it not yet
+     enough of the tears that I have spent?'
+
+And she wept and said again, 'O my lord, speak to me!' The King
+lowered his voice and knotting his tongue, spoke after the
+fashion of the blacks and said, 'Alack! alack! there is no power
+and no virtue but in God the Most High the Supreme!' When she
+heard this, she screamed out for joy and swooned away; and when
+she revived, she said, 'O my lord, can it be true and didst thou
+indeed speak to me?' The King made his voice small and said, 'O
+accursed woman, thou deservest not that I should speak to thee!'
+'Why so?' asked she; and he replied, 'Because all day thou
+tormentest thy husband and his cries disturb me, and all night
+long he calls upon God for help and invokes curses on thee and me
+and keeps me awake from nightfall to daybreak and disquiets me;
+and but for this, I had been well long ago. This is what has
+hindered me from answering thee.' Quoth she, 'With thy leave, I
+will release him from his present condition.' 'Do so,' said the
+King, 'and rid us of his noise.' 'I hear and obey,' answered she,
+and going out into the palace, took a cup full of water and spoke
+over it certain words, whereupon the water began to boil and
+bubble as the cauldron bubbles over the fire. Then she went up to
+the young King and sprinkled him with it, saying, 'By the virtue
+of the words I have spoken, if thou art thus by my spells, quit
+this shape for thy former one.' And immediately he shook and rose
+to his feet, rejoicing in his deliverance, and said, 'I testify
+that there is no god but God and that Mohammed is His apostle,
+may God bless and preserve him!' Then she said to him, 'Depart
+hence and do not return, or I will kill thee.' And she screamed
+out in his face. So he went out from before her, and she returned
+to the dome and going down into the tomb, said, 'O my lord, come
+forth to me, that I may see thy goodly form!' The King replied in
+a weak voice, 'What hast thou done? Thou hast rid me of the
+branch, but not of the root.' 'O my beloved, O my little black,'
+said she, 'what is the root?' 'Out on thee, O accursed one!'
+answered he. 'Every night, at the middle hour, the people of the
+city, whom thou by thine enchantments didst change into fish,
+lift up their heads from the water and cry to God for help and
+curse thee and me; and this is what hinders my recovery: so do
+thou go quickly and set them free, and after return and take me
+by the hand and raise me up; for indeed health returns to me.'
+When she heard this speech of the King, whom she supposed to be
+the slave, she rejoiced and said, 'O my lord, on my head and eyes
+be it, in the name of God!' Then she went out, full of joy, and
+ran to the lake and taking a little of the water in her hand,
+spoke over it words that might not be understood, whereupon there
+was a great stir among the fish; and they raised their heads to
+the surface and stood upright and became men as before. Thus was
+the spell dissolved from the people of the city and the lake
+became again a populous city, with its streets and bazaars, in
+which the merchants bought and sold, and every one returned to
+his employment; whilst the four hills were restored to their
+original form of islands. Then the enchantress returned to the
+King and said to him, 'O my lord, give me thy noble hand and
+arise.' 'Come nearer to me,' answered he, in a faint voice. So
+she came close to him, and he took his sword and smote her in the
+breast, that the steel came forth, gleaming, from her back. He
+smote her again and cut her in twain, and she fell to the ground
+in two halves. Then he went out and found the young King standing
+awaiting him and gave him joy of his deliverance, whereupon the
+youth rejoiced and thanked him and kissed his hand. Quoth the
+Sultan, 'Wilt thou abide in this thy city or come with me to
+mine?' 'O King of the age,' rejoined he, 'dost thou know how far
+it is from here to thy capital?' And the Sultan replied, 'Two
+and a half days' journey.' 'O King,' said the other, 'if thou
+sleepest, awake! Between thee and thy capital is a full year's
+journey to a diligent traveller; and thou hadst not come hither
+in two days and a half, save that the city was enchanted. But, O
+King, I will never leave thee, no, not for the twinkling of an
+eye!' The Sultan rejoiced at his words and said, 'Praised be God,
+who hath bestowed thee upon me! Thou shalt be my son, for in all
+my life I have never been blessed with a son.' And they embraced
+each other and rejoiced with exceeding great joy. Then they
+returned to the palace, and the young King bade his officers make
+ready for a journey and prepare his baggage and all that he
+required. The preparations occupied ten days, at the end of which
+time the young King set out in company of the Sultan, whose heart
+burned within him at the thought of his long absence from his
+capital, attended by fifty white slaves and provided with
+magnificent presents. They journeyed day and night for a whole
+year, and God ordained them safety, till they drew near the
+Sultan's capital and sent messengers in advance to acquaint the
+Vizier with his safe arrival. Then came out the Vizier and the
+troops, who had given up all hope of the Sultan's return, and
+kissed the ground before him and gave him joy of his safety. So
+he entered his palace and sat down on his throne and the Vizier
+came in to him, to whom he related all that had befallen him with
+the young King: and the Vizier gave the latter joy of his
+deliverance. Then all things being set in order, the Sultan gave
+largesse to many of his people and sending for the fisherman who
+had brought him the enchanted fish and had thus been the first
+cause of the delivery of the people of the Black Islands,
+bestowed on him a dress of honour and enquired of his condition
+and whether he had any children, to which he replied that he had
+three children, two daughters and one son. So the King sent for
+them and taking one daughter to wife, married the other to the
+young King and made the son his treasurer. Moreover, he invested
+his Vizier with the sovereignty of the Black Islands and
+despatched him thither with the fifty officers, who had
+accompanied the young King thence, giving him robes of honour for
+all the amirs. So the Vizier kissed hands and set out for the
+Black Islands. The fisherman became the richest man of his time,
+and he and his daughters and the two Kings their husbands abode
+in peace till death came to them.
+
+
+
+
+
+               THE PORTER AND THE THREE LADIES OF
+                            BAGHDAD.
+
+
+
+
+There was once a porter of Baghdad who was a bachelor. One day,
+as he stood in the market, leant upon his basket, there came to
+him a lady, swathed in a wrapper of gold embroidered muslin,
+fringed with gold lace, and wearing embroidered boots and
+floating tresses plaited with silk and gold. She stopped before
+him and raising her kerchief, showed a pair of languishing black
+eyes of perfect beauty, bordered with long drooping lashes. Then
+she turned to the porter and said, in a clear sweet voice, 'Take
+thy basket and follow me.' No sooner had she spoken than he took
+up his basket in haste, saying, 'O day of good luck! O day of
+God's grace!' and followed her till she stopped and knocked at
+the door of a house, when there came out a Nazarene, to whom she
+gave a dinar, and he gave her in return an olive-green bottle,
+full of wine, which she put into the basket, saying to the
+porter, 'Hoist up and follow me.' Said he, 'By Allah, this is
+indeed a happy and fortunate day!' And shouldering the basket,
+followed her till she came to a fruiterer's, where she bought
+Syrian apples and Turkish quinces and Arabian peaches and autumn
+cucumbers and Sultani oranges and citrons, beside jessamine of
+Aleppo and Damascus water-lilies and myrtle and basil and
+henna-blossoms and blood-red anemones and violets and sweet-briar
+and narcissus and camomile and pomegranate flowers, all of which
+she put into the porter's basket, saying, 'Hoist up!' So he
+shouldered the basket and followed her, till she stopped at a
+butcher's shop and said to him, 'Cut me off ten pounds of meat.'
+He gave her the meat, wrapped in a banana leaf, and she put it in
+the basket, saying, 'Hoist up, O porter!' and went on to a
+grocer's, of whom she took pistachio kernels and shelled almonds
+and hazel-nuts and walnuts and sugar cane and parched peas and
+Mecca raisins and all else that pertains to dessert. Thence to a
+pastry-cook's, where she bought a covered dish and put therein
+open-work tarts and honey-fritters and tri-coloured jelly and
+march-pane, flavoured with lemon and melon, and Zeyneb's combs
+and ladies' fingers and Cadi's mouthfuls and widow's bread and
+meat-and-drink[FN#25] and some of every kind of sweetmeat in the
+shop and laid the dish in the basket of the porter, who said to
+her, 'Thou shouldst have told me, that I might have brought a
+mule or a camel to carry all these good things.' She smiled and
+gave him a tap on the nape, saying, 'Make haste and leave
+chattering and God willing, thou shalt have a good wage.' She
+stopped next at the shop of a druggist, where she bought
+rose-water and water-lily water and orange-flower water and
+willow-flower water and six other kinds of sweet waters and a
+casting bottle of rose-water mingled with musk, besides two
+loaves of sugar and frankincense and aloes-wood and ambergris and
+musk and saffron and candles of Alexandrian wax, all of which she
+put into the basket. Then she went on to a greengrocer's, of whom
+she bought pickled safflower and olives, in brine and fresh, and
+tarragon and juncates and Syrian cheese and put them all into the
+basket and said to the porter, 'Take up thy basket and follow
+me.' So he shouldered his load and followed her till she came to
+a tall handsome house, with a spacious court before it and a
+two-leaved door of ebony, inlaid with plates of glittering gold.
+The lady went up to the door and throwing back her kerchief,
+knocked softly, whilst the porter stood behind her, musing upon
+her beauty and grace. After awhile the door opened and both the
+leaves swung back; whereupon he looked to see who opened it, and
+behold, it was a damsel of dazzling beauty and symmetry,
+high-bosomed, with flower-white forehead and rosy cheeks, eyes
+like those of gazelles or wild oxen and eyebrows like the
+crescent of the new moon of Ramazan[FN#26], cheeks like blood-red
+anemones, mouth like Solomon's seal, lips red as coral and teeth
+like clustered pearls or camomile-petals, neck like an antelope's
+and bosom like a fountain, breasts like double pomegranates,
+belly like brocade and navel holding an ounce of benzoin
+ointment, even as says of her the poet:
+
+Look at her, with her slender shape and radiant beauty! this Is
+     she who is at once the sun and moon of palaces!
+Thine eyes shall ne'er see grace combine so featly black and
+     white As in her visage and the locks that o'er her forehead
+     kiss.
+She in whose cheeks the red flag waves, her beauty testifies Unto
+     her name, if that to paint her sweet seductions miss.
+With swimming gait she walks: I laugh for wonder at her hips, But
+     weep to see her waist, that all too slight to bear them is.
+
+When the porter saw her, his mind and heart were taken by storm,
+so that he well-nigh let fall the basket and exclaimed, 'Never in
+all my life saw I a more blessed day than this!' Then said the
+portress to the cateress, 'O my Sister, why tarriest thou? Come
+in from the gate and ease this poor man of his burden.' So the
+cateress entered, followed by the portress and the porter, and
+went on before them to a spacious saloon, elegantly built and
+handsomely decorated with all manner of colours and carvings and
+geometrical figures, with balconies and galleries and cupboards
+and benches and closets with curtains drawn before them. In the
+midst was a great basin of water, from which rose a fountain, and
+at the upper end stood a couch of juniper wood, inlaid with
+precious stones and surmounted by a canopy of red satin, looped
+up with pearls as big as hazel-nuts or bigger. Thereon sat a lady
+of radiant countenance and gentle and demure aspect, moonlike in
+face, with eyes of Babylonian witchcraft and arched eyebrows,
+sugared lips like cornelian and a shape like the letter I. The
+radiance of her countenance would have shamed the rising sun, and
+she resembled one of the chief stars of heaven or a pavilion of
+gold or a high-born Arabian bride on the night of her unveiling,
+even as says of her the poet:
+
+Her teeth, when she smiles, like pearls in a cluster show, Or
+     shredded camomile-petals or flakes of snow:
+Her ringlets seem, as it were, the fallen night, And her beauty
+     shames the dawn and its ruddy glow.
+
+Then she rose and coming with a stately gait to meet her sisters
+in the middle of the saloon, said to them, 'Why stand ye still?
+Relieve this poor porter of his burden.' So the cateress came and
+stood before and the portress behind him and with the help of the
+third damsel, lifted the basket from his head and emptying it,
+laid everything in its place. Then they gave him two dinars,
+saying, 'Go, O porter!' But he stood, looking at the ladies and
+admiring, their beauty and pleasant manners, never had he seen
+goodlier, and wondering greatly at the profusion of wine and meat
+and fruits and flowers and so forth that they had provided and to
+see no man with them, and made no movement to go. So the eldest
+lady said to him, 'What ails thee that thou dost not go away?
+Belike, thou grudgest at thy pay?' And she turned to the cateress
+and said to her, 'Give him another dinar.' 'No, by Allah, O
+lady!' answered the porter. 'I do not indeed grudge at my pay,
+for my right hire is scarce two dirhems; but of a truth my heart
+and soul are taken up with you and how it is that ye are alone
+and have no man with you and no one to divert you, although ye
+know that women's sport is little worth without men, nor is an
+entertainment complete without four at the table, and ye have no
+fourth. What says the poet?
+
+Dost thou not see that for pleasure four several things combine,
+     Instruments four, harp, hautboy and gittern and psaltery?
+And unto these, four perfumes answer and correspond, Violets,
+     roses and myrtle and blood-red anemone.
+Nor is our pleasure perfect, unless four things have we, Money
+     and wine and gardens and mistress fair and free.
+
+And ye are three and need a fourth, who should be a man, witty,
+sensible and discreet, one who can keep counsel.' When they heard
+what he said, it amused them and they laughed at him and replied,
+'What have we to do with that, we who are girls and fear to
+entrust our secrets to those who will not keep them? For we have
+read, in such and such a history, what says Ibn eth Thumam:
+
+Tell not thy secrets: keep them with all thy might. A secret
+     revealed is a secret lost outright.
+If thine own bosom cannot thy secrets hold, Why expect more
+     reserve from another wight?
+
+Or, as well says Abou Nuwas on the same subject:
+
+The fool, that to men doth his secrets avow, Deserves to be
+     marked with a brand on the brow.'
+
+'By your lives,' rejoined the porter, 'I am a man of sense and
+discretion, well read in books and chronicles. I make known what
+is fair and conceal what is foul, and as says the poet:
+
+None keeps a secret but the man who's trusty and discreet. A
+     secret's ever safely placed with honest folk and leal;
+And secrets trusted unto me are in a locked-up house Whose keys
+     are lost and on whose door is set the Cadi's seal.
+
+When the girls heard this, the eldest one said to him, 'Thou
+knowest that we have laid out much money in preparing this
+entertainment: hast thou aught to offer us in return? For we will
+not let thee sit with us and be our boon companion and gaze on
+our bright fair faces, except thou pay down thy share of the
+cost. Dost thou not know the saying:
+
+     Love without money
+     Is not worth a penny?'
+
+'If thou have aught, my friend,' added the portress, 'then art
+thou something: but if thou have nothing, be off without
+anything.' Here the cateress interposed, saying, 'O sisters, let
+him be: for by Allah, he has not failed us to-day: another had
+not been so patient with us. I will pay his share for him.'
+Whereupon the porter, overjoyed, kissed the earth and thanked
+her, saying, 'By Allah, it was thou didst handsel me this day!
+Here are the two dinars I had of you: take them and admit me to
+your company, not as a guest, but as a servant.' 'Sit down,'
+answered they; 'thou art welcome.' But the eldest lady said,
+'By Allah, we will not admit thee to our society but on one
+condition; and it is that thou enquire not of what does not
+concern thee; and if thou meddle, thou shalt be beaten.' Said the
+porter, 'I agree to this, O my lady, on my head and eyes!
+Henceforth I am dumb.' Then arose the cateress and girding her
+middle, laid the table by the fountain and set out the cups and
+flagons, with flowers and sweet herbs and all the requisites for
+drinking. Moreover, she strained the wine and set it on; and they
+sat down, she and her sisters, with the porter, who fancied
+himself in a dream. The cateress took the flagon of wine and
+filled a cup and drank it off. Then she filled again and gave it
+to one of her sisters, who drank and filled another cup and gave
+it to her other sister: then she filled a fourth time and gave it
+to the porter, saying:
+
+Drink and fare well and health attend thee still. This drink
+     indeed's a cure for every ill.
+
+He took the cup in his hand and bowed and returned thanks,
+reciting the following verses:
+
+Quaff not the cup except with one who is of trusty stuff, One who
+     is true of thought and deed and eke of good descent.
+Wine's like the wind, that, if it breathe on perfume, smells as
+     sweet, But, if o'er carrion it pass, imbibes its evil scent.
+
+And again:
+
+Drink not of wine except at the hands of a maiden fair, Who, like
+     unto thee and it, is joyous and debonair.
+
+Then he kissed their hands and drank and was merry with wine and
+swayed from side to side and recited the following verses:
+
+Hither, by Allah, I conjure thee! Goblets that full of the grape
+     juice be!
+And brim up, I prithee, a cup for me, For this is the water of
+     life, perdie!
+
+Then the cateress filled the cup and gave it to the portress, who
+took it from her hand and thanked her and drank. Then she filled
+again and gave it to the eldest, who filled another cup and
+handed it to the porter. He gave thanks and drank and recited the
+following verses:
+
+It is forbidden us to drink of any blood Except it be of that
+     which gushes from the vine.
+So pour it out to me, an offering to thine eyes, To ransom from
+     thy hands my soul and all that's mine.
+
+Then he turned to the eldest lady, who was the mistress of the
+house, and said to her, 'O my lady, I am thy slave and thy
+servant and thy bondman!' And repeated the following verses:
+
+There is a slave of all thy caves now standing at thy gate Who
+     ceases not thy bounties all to sing and celebrate.
+May he come in, O lady fair, to gaze upon thy charms? Desire and
+     I from thee indeed may never separate.
+
+
+And she said to him, 'Drink, and health and prosperity attend
+thee!' So he took the cup and kissed her hand and sang the
+following verses:
+
+
+I brought my love old wine and pure, the likeness of her cheeks,
+     Whose glowing brightness called to mind a brazier's heart of
+     red.
+She touched the wine-cup with her lips, and laughing roguishly,
+     "How canst thou proffer me to drink of my own cheeks?" she
+     said.
+"Drink!" answered I, "it is my tears; its hue is of my blood; And
+     it was heated at a fire that by my sighs was fed."
+
+And she answered him with the following verse:
+
+If, O my friend, thou hast indeed wept tears of blood for me, I
+     prithee, give them me to drink, upon thine eyes and head!
+
+Then she took the cup and drank it off to her sisters' health;
+and they continued to drink and make merry, dancing and laughing
+and singing and reciting verses and ballads. The porter fell to
+toying and kissing and biting and handling and groping and
+dallying and taking liberties with them: whilst one put a morsel
+into his mouth and another thumped him, and this one gave him a
+cuff and that pelted him with flowers; and he led the most
+delightful life with them, as if he sat in paradise among the
+houris. They ceased not to drink and carouse thus, till the wine
+sported in their heads and got the better of their senses, when
+the portress, arose, and putting off her clothes, let down her
+hair over her naked body, for a veil. Then she threw herself into
+the basin and sported in the water and swam about and dived like
+a duck and took water in her mouth and spurted it at the porter
+and washed her limbs and the inside of her thighs. Then she came
+up out of the water and throwing herself into the porter's lap,
+pointed to her commodity and said to him, 'O my lord O my friend,
+what is the name of this?' 'Thy kaze,' answered he; but she said,
+'Fie! art thou not ashamed!' And cuffed him on the nape of the
+neck. Quoth he, 'Thy catso.' And she dealt him a second cuff,
+saying, 'Fie! what an ugly word! Art thou not ashamed?' 'Thy
+commodity,' said he; and she, 'Fie! is there no shame in thee?'
+And thumped him and beat him. Then said he, 'Thy coney.'
+Whereupon the eldest fell on him and beat him, saying, 'Thou
+shalt not say that.' And whatever he said, they beat him more and
+more, till his neck ached again; and they made a laughing-stock
+of him amongst them, till he said at last, 'Well, what is its
+name amongst you women?' 'The sweet basil of the dykes,' answered
+they. 'Praised be God for safety!' cried he. 'Good, O sweet basil
+of the dikes!' Then they passed round the cup and presently the
+cateress rose and throwing herself into the porter's lap, pointed
+to her kaze and said to him, 'O light of mine eyes, what is the
+name of this?' 'Thy commodity,' answered he. 'Art thou not
+ashamed?' said she, and dealt him a buffet that made the place
+ring again, repeating, 'Fie! Fie! art thou not ashamed?' Quoth
+he, 'The sweet basil of the dykes.' 'No! No!' answered she, and
+beat him and cuffed him on the nape. Then said he, 'Thy kaze, thy
+tout, thy catso, thy coney.' But they replied, 'No! No!' And he
+said again, 'The sweet basil of the dykes.' Whereupon they
+laughed till they fell backward and cuffed him on the neck,
+saying, 'No; that is not its name.' At last he said, 'O my
+sisters, what is its name?' And they answered, 'What sayest thou
+to the peeled barleycorn?' Then the cateress put on her clothes
+and they sat down again to carouse, whilst the porter lamented
+over his neck and shoulders. The cup passed round among them
+awhile, and presently the eldest and handsomest of the ladies
+rose and put off her clothes; whereupon the porter took his neck
+in his hand and said, 'My neck and shoulders are in the way of
+God!' Then she threw herself into the basin and plunged and
+sported and washed; whilst the porter looked at her, naked, as
+she were a piece of the moon or the full moon when she waxes or
+the dawn at its brightest, and noted her shape and breasts and
+her heavy quivering buttocks, for she was naked as God created
+her. And he said, 'Alack!' Alack!' and repeated the following
+verses:
+
+If to the newly-budded branch thy figure I compare, I lay upon my
+     heart a load of wrong too great to bear;
+For that the branch most lovely is, when clad upon with green,
+     But thou, when free of every veil, art then by far most
+     fair.
+
+When she heard this, she came up out of the water and sitting
+down on his knees, pointed to her kaze and said, 'O my little
+lord, what is the name of this?' 'The sweet basil of the dykes,'
+answered he; but she said, 'No! No!' Quoth he, 'The peeled
+barleycorn.' And she said, 'Pshaw!' Then said he, 'Thy kaze.'
+Fie! Fie!' cried she. 'Art thou not ashamed?' And cuffed him on
+the nape of the neck. And whatever name he said, they beat him,
+saying, 'No! No!' till at last he said, 'O my sisters, what is
+its name?' 'The khan[FN#27] of Abou Mensour,' answered they. And
+he said, 'Praised be God for safety! Bravo! Bravo! O khan of Abou
+Mensour!' Then the damsel rose and put on her clothes and they
+returned to their carousing and the cup passed round awhile.
+Presently, the porter rose and putting off his clothes, plunged
+into the pool and swam about and washed under his chin and
+armpits, even as they had done. Then he came out and threw
+himself into the eldest lady's lap and putting his arms into the
+portress's lap and his feet into that of the cateress pointed to
+his codpiece and said, 'O my mistresses, what is the name of
+this?' They laughed till they fell backward and one of them
+answered, 'Thy yard.' 'Art thou not ashamed?' said he. 'A
+forfeit!' and took of each a kiss. Quoth another, 'Thy pintle.'
+But he replied, 'No,' and gave each of them a bite in play. Then
+said they, 'Thy pizzle.' 'No,' answered he, and gave each of them
+a hug; and they kept saying, 'Thy yard, thy pintle, thy pizzle,
+thy codpiece!' whilst he kissed and hugged and fondled them to
+his heart's content, and they laughed till they were well nigh
+dead. At last they said, 'O our brother, and what is its name?'
+'Don't you know?' asked he; and they said, 'No.' Quoth he, 'This
+is the mule Break-all, that browses on the basil of the dykes and
+gobbles up the peeled barleycorn and lies by night in the khan of
+Abou Mensour.' And they laughed till they fell backward. Then
+they fell again to drinking and continued after this fashion till
+the night came upon them, when they said to the porter, 'In the
+name of God, put on thy sandals and be off and let us see the
+breadth of thy shoulders!' Quoth he, 'By Allah, the leaving life
+were easier to me than the leaving you! Let us join the night to
+the day, and to-morrow we will each go our own way.' 'My life on
+you!' said the cateress, 'let him pass the night with us, that we
+may laugh at him, for he is a pleasant rogue; and we may never
+again chance upon the like of him.' So the mistress of the house
+said to the porter, 'Thou shalt pass the night with us on
+condition that thou submit to our authority and that, whatever
+thou seest, thou ask no questions about it nor enquire the reason
+of it.' 'It is well,' answered he; and they said, 'Go and read
+what is written over the door.' So he went to the door and found
+the following words written thereon in letters of gold, 'He who
+speaks of what concerns him not, shall hear what will not please
+him.' And he said, 'Be ye witness against me that I will not
+speak of what concerns me not.' Then rose the cateress and
+prepared food, and they ate: after which they lighted the lamps
+and candles and strewed on the latter ambergris and aloes-wood;
+then changed the service and set on fresh fruits and flowers and
+wine and so forth and sat down again to drink. They ceased not to
+eat and drink and make merry, hobnobbing and laughing and talking
+and frolicking, till there came a knocking at the door: whereupon
+one of them rose and went to the door, without disturbing the
+party, and presently returned, saying, 'Verily, our pleasure is
+to be complete to-night.' 'How so?' asked the others, and she
+replied, 'There are three foreign Calenders[FN#28] at the door,
+with shaven heads and chins and eyebrows and every one blind of
+the right eye, which is a most extraordinary coincidence.
+Apparently they are fresh from a journey and indeed the traces of
+travel are evident on them; and the reason of their knocking at
+the door is this. They are strangers to Baghdad and this is their
+first coming to our city: the night surprised them and they could
+not find a lodging in the city and know no one with whom to take
+shelter: so they said to each other, "Perhaps the owner of this
+house will give us the key of a stable or outhouse and let us
+sleep there." And, O my sisters, each of them is a laughing-stock
+after his own fashion; and if we let them in, they will make us
+sport this night, and on the morrow each shall go his own way.'
+And she ceased not to persuade them, till they said, 'Let them
+come in, on condition that they ask no questions of what does not
+concern them, on pain of hearing what will not please them.' So
+she rejoiced and going to the door, returned with the three
+Calenders, who saluted and bowed low and held back; but the
+ladies rose to them and welcomed them and gave them joy of their
+safety and made them sit down. The Calenders looked about them
+and seeing a pleasant place and a table elegantly spread with
+flowers and fruits and green herbs and dessert and wine, with
+candles burning and perfumes smoking, and the three maidens, with
+their faces unveiled, said with one voice ''Fore Allah, it is
+good!' Then they turned to the porter and saw that he was tipsy
+and jaded with drinking and dalliance. So they took him for one
+of themselves and said, 'He is a Calender like ourselves, either
+an Arab or a foreigner.' When the porter heard this, he rose and
+fixing his eyes on them, said, 'Sit still and do not meddle. Have
+you not read what is written on the door? It befits not folk,
+like yourselves, who come to us as mendicants, to loose your
+tongues on us.' 'We ask pardon of God, O fakir!' answered they.
+'Our heads are before thee.' The ladies laughed and making peace
+between them, set food before the Calenders. When they had eaten,
+they all sat down again to carouse, the portress serving the new
+comers, and the cup passed round awhile, till the porter said to
+the Calenders, 'O brothers, have ye no story or rare trait to
+divert us withal?' The Calenders, being warm with wine, called
+for musical instruments; so the portress brought them a
+tambourine and a lute and a Persian harp; and each Calender took
+one and tuned it and played and sang; and the girls joined in
+lustily and made a great noise. Whilst they were thus engaged,
+some one knocked at the gate and the portress rose and went to
+see who it was. Now the cause of this knocking was that, that
+very night, the Khalif Haroun er Reshid had gone down into the
+City, as was his wont, every now and then, to walk about for his
+diversion and hear what news was stirring, attended by his Vizier
+Jaafer and Mesrour his headsman, all three, as usual, disguised
+as merchants. Their way brought them to the house of the three
+ladies, where they heard the noise of musical instruments and of
+singing and merriment, and the Khalif said to Jaafer, 'I have a
+mind to enter this house and listen to this music and see the
+singers.' 'O Commander of the Faithful,' answered Jaafer, 'these
+people are certainly drunk, and I fear lest some mischief betide
+us at their hands.' 'It matters not,' rejoined the Khalif; 'I
+must and will go in and I desire that thou contrive some pretext
+to that end.' 'I hear and obey,' replied the Vizier and going up
+to the gate, knocked, whereupon the portress came down and
+opened. Jaafer came forward and kissing the earth before her,
+said, 'O lady, we are merchants from Tiberias: we reached Baghdad
+ten days ago and sold our merchandise and took up our lodging at
+the khan of the merchants. Now we were bidden to-night to an
+entertainment at the house of a certain merchant, who set food
+before us and we ate and caroused with him awhile, till he gave
+us leave to depart and we went out, intending for our lodging;
+but being strangers in Baghdad, we lost ourselves and could not
+find our way back to our khan: so we hope, of your courtesy, that
+you will admit us to pass the night with you, and God will
+requite you.' The portress looked at them and saw that they were
+dressed like merchants and appeared respectable; so she returned
+to her sisters and repeated to them Jaafer's story, and they took
+compassion on the supposed strangers and bade her admit them. So
+she resumed and opened the gate to them, and they said, 'Have we
+thy leave to enter?' 'Enter,' answered she; whereupon the Khalif
+and Jaafer and Mesrour entered; and when the girls saw them, they
+rose and welcomed them and made them sit down and served them,
+saying, 'Ye are welcome as our guests, but on one condition.'
+'What is that?' asked they; and the mistress of the house
+answered, 'It is that you be eyes without tongues and that,
+whatever you see, you enquire not thereof nor speak of that which
+concerns you not, lest you hear what will not please you.'
+'Good,' answered they: 'we are no meddlers.' Then they sat down
+to carouse; whilst the Khalif looked at the three Calenders and
+marvelled for that they were all blind of the right eye, and
+gazed upon the ladies and was amazed at their beauty and
+goodliness. They fell to drinking and talking and said to the
+Khalif, 'Drink.' But he answered, 'Excuse me, for I am vowed to
+the pilgrimage.'[FN#29] Whereupon the portress rose and spreading
+a gold-embroidered cloth before him, set thereon a china bowl,
+into which she poured willow-flower water, with a spoonful of
+snow and some pounded sugar-candy. The Khalif thanked her and
+said to himself, 'By Allah, I will reward her to-morrow for her
+kind office!' Then they addressed themselves to carousel, till
+the wine began to work upon them, when the eldest lady rose and
+making an obeisance to her guests, took the cateress by the hand
+and said, 'Come, sisters, let us do our duty.' And they answered,
+'It is well.' So the portress rose and cleared the middle of the
+saloon, after she had removed the table service and thrown away
+the remains of the banquet. Then she renewed the perfumes in the
+censers and made the Calenders sit down on a sofa by the dais and
+the Khalif and his companions on a sofa at the other end; after
+which she called to the porter, saying, 'How dull and slothful
+thou art! Come and help us: thou art no stranger, but one of the
+household!' So he rose and girt his middle and said, 'What would
+you have me do?' And she answered, 'Stay where thou art.' Then
+the cateress rose and setting a chair in the middle of the room,
+went to a closet, which she opened, saying to the porter, 'Come
+and help me.' So he went to her and she brought out two black
+bitches, with chains round their necks, and gave them to him,
+saying, 'Take them.' So he took them and carried them to the
+middle of the saloon; whereupon the mistress of the house tucked
+up her sleeves and taking a whip, said to the porter, 'Bring me
+one of the bitches.' So he brought it to her by the chain; and
+the bitch wept and shook its head at the damsel, who brought the
+whip down on it, whilst the porter held it by the chain. The
+bitch howled and whined, but the lady ceased not to beat it till
+her arm was tired; when she threw away the whip and pressing the
+bitch to her bosom, kissed it on the head and wiped away its
+tears. Then she said to the porter, 'Take it back and bring the
+other.' He did as she bade him, and she did with the second bitch
+as she had done with the first. The Khalif's mind was troubled at
+her doings and his breast contracted and he could not restrain
+his impatience to know the meaning of all this. So he winked to
+Jaafer to ask, but the latter turned and signed to him as who
+should say, 'Be silent: this is no time for impertinent
+curiosity.' Then said the portress to the mistress of the house,
+'O my lady, rise and go up to thy place, that I in turn may do my
+part.' 'It is well,' answered she and went up and sat down on the
+couch of juniper-wood, at the upper end of the dais; whilst the
+portress sat down on a chair and said to the cateress, 'Do what
+thou hast to do.' So the latter rose and going to a closet,
+brought out a bag of yellow satin, with cords of green silk and
+tassels of gold, and came and sat down before the portress. Then
+she opened the bag and took out a lute, which she tuned, and sang
+the following verses, accompanying herself on the lute:
+
+Thou art my wish, thou art my end; And in thy presence, O my
+     friend,
+There is for me abiding joy: Thine absence sets my heart a-flame
+For thee distraught, with thee possest, Thou reignest ever in my
+     breast,
+Nor in the love I bear to thee Is there for me reproach or shame.
+Life's veil for me was torn apart, When Love gat hold upon my
+     heart
+For Love still rends the veils in twain And brings dishonour on
+     fair fame.
+The cloak of sickness I did on; And straight my fault appeared
+     and shone.
+Since that my heart made choice of thee And love and longing on
+     me came,
+My eyes are ever wet with tears, And all my secret thought
+     appears,
+When with my tears' tumultuous flow Exhales the secret of thy
+     name.
+Heal thou my pains, for thou to me Art both disease and remedy.
+Yet him, whose cure is in thy hand, Affliction shall for ever
+     claim,
+Thy glances set my heart on fire, Slay me with swords of my
+     desire:
+How many, truly, of the best Have fallen beneath Love's sword of
+     flame?
+Yet may I not from passion cease Nor in forgetting seek release;
+For love's my comfort, pride and law, Public and private, aye the
+     same.
+Blest eyes that have of thee their fill And look upon thee at
+     their will!
+Ay, of my own unforced intent, The slave of passion I became.
+
+When the portress heard this foursome song, she cried out, 'Alas!
+Alas! Alas!' and tore her clothes and fell down in a swoon; and
+the Khalif saw on her body the marks of beating with rods and
+whips, and wondered greatly. Then the cateress rose and sprinkled
+water upon her and brought her a fresh dress and put it on her.
+When the company saw this, their minds were troubled, for they
+understood not the reason of these things. And the Khalif said to
+Jaafer, 'Didst thou not see the marks of beating with rods upon
+the girl's body! I cannot keep silence nor be at rest, except I
+come at the truth of all this and know the story of this damsel
+and the two bitches.' 'O my lord,' answered Jaafer, 'they made it
+a condition with us that we should not speak of what concerns us
+not, under pain of hearing what should not please us.' Then said
+the portress 'By Allah! O my sister, come and complete thy
+service to me.' 'With all my heart!' answered the cateress and
+took the lute and leant it against her breasts. Then she swept
+the strings with her finger-tips and sang the following verses:
+
+If we complain of absence, what alas! shall we say? Or if longing
+     assail us, where shall we take our way?
+If, to interpret for us, we trust to a messenger, How can a
+     message rightly a lover's plaint convey?
+Or if we put on patience, short is a lover's life, After his
+     heart's beloved is torn from him away.
+Nothing, alas! is left me but sorrow and despair And tears that
+     adown my cheeks without cessation stray.
+Thou that art ever absent from my desireful sight, Thou that art
+     yet a dweller within my heart alway,
+Hast thou kept troth, I wonder, with one who loves thee dear,
+     Whose faith, whilst time endureth, never shall know decay?
+Or hast thou e'en forgotten her who for love of thee, In tears
+     and sickness and passion, hath wasted many a day?
+Alas! though Love unite us again in one embrace, Reproach for thy
+     past rigour with me full long shall stay.
+
+When the portress heard this second song, she gave a loud scream
+and exclaimed, 'By Allah! it is good!' and putting her hand to
+her clothes, tore them as before and fell down in a swoon.
+Whereupon the cateress rose and brought her another dress, after
+she had sprinkled water on her. Then she sat up again and said to
+the cateress 'To it again and help me to do the rest of my duty;
+for there remains but one more song.' So the cateress took the
+lute and sang the following verses:
+
+How long, ah me! shall this rigour last and this inhumanity? Are
+     not the tears that I have shed enough to soften thee?
+If thou, of thy relentless will, estrangement do prolong,
+     Intending my despite, at last, I pray, contented be!
+If treacherous fortune were but just to lovers and their woe,
+     They would not watch the weary night in sleepless agony.
+Have ruth on me, for thy disdain is heavy on my heart; Is it not
+     time that thou relent at last, my king, to me?
+To whom but thee that slayest me should I reveal my pain? What
+     grief is theirs who love and prove the loved one's perfidy!
+Love and affliction hour by hour redouble in my breast: The days
+     of exile are prolonged; no end to them I see.
+Muslims, avenge a slave of love, the host of wakefulness, Whose
+     patience hath been trampled out by passion's tyranny!
+Can it be lawful, O my wish, that thou another bless With thine
+     embraces, whilst I die, in spite of Love's decree?
+Yet in thy presence, by my side, what peace should I enjoy, Since
+     he I love doth ever strive to heap despite on me?
+
+When the portress heard this third song, she screamed out and
+putting forth her hand, tore her clothes even to the skirt and
+fell down in a swoon for the third time, and there appeared once
+more on her body the marks of beat ing with rods. Then said the
+three Calenders, 'Would God we had never entered this house, but
+had slept on the rubbish-heaps! for verily our entertainment hath
+been troubled by things that rend the heart.' The Khalif turned
+to them and said, 'How so?' And they answered, 'Indeed, our minds
+are troubled about this matter.' Quoth he, 'Are you not then of
+the household?' 'No,' replied they; 'nor did we ever see the
+place till now.' Said the Khalif, 'There is the man by you: he
+will surely know the meaning of all this.' And he winked at the
+porter. So they questioned the latter and he replied, 'By the
+Almighty, we are all in one boat! I was brought up at Baghdad,
+but never in my life did I enter this house till to-day, and the
+manner of my coming in company with them was curious.' 'By
+Allah,' said they, 'we thought thee one of them, and now we see
+thou art but as one of ourselves.' Then said the Khalif, 'We are
+here seven men, and they are but three women: so let us question
+them of their case, and if they do not answer willingly, they
+shall do so by force.' They all agreed to this, except Jaafer,
+who said, 'This is not well-advised: let them be, for we are
+their guests, and as ye know, they imposed on us a condition, to
+which we all agreed. Wherefore it is better that we keep silence
+concerning this affair, for but a little remains of the night,
+and each go about his business.' And he winked to the Khalif and
+whispered to him, 'There is but a little longer to wait, and
+to-morrow I will bring them before thee and thou canst then
+question them of their story.' But the Khalif lifted his head
+and cried out angrily, 'I have not patience to wait till then:
+let the Calenders ask them.' And Jaafer said, 'This is not
+well-advised.' Then they consulted together, and there was much
+talk and dispute between them, who should put the question,
+before they fixed upon the porter. The noise drew the notice of
+the lady of the house, who said to them, 'O guests, what is the
+matter and what are you talking about?' Then the porter came
+forward and said to her, 'O lady, the company desire that thou
+acquaint them with the history of the two bitches and why thou
+didst beat them and after fellest to kissing and weeping over
+them and also concerning thy sister and why she has been beaten
+with rods, like a man. This is what they charge me to ask thee,
+and peace be on thee.' When she heard this, she turned to the
+others and said to them 'Is this true that he says of you?' And
+they all replied 'Yes;' except Jaafer, who held his peace. Then
+said she, 'By Allah! O guests, ye have done us a grievous wrong,
+for we made it a previous condition with you that whoso spoke of
+what concerned him not, should hear what should not please him.
+Is it not enough that we have taken you into our house and fed
+you with our victual! But the fault is not so much yours as that
+of her who brought you in to us.' Then she tucked up her sleeves
+and smote three times on the floor, saying, 'Come quickly!'
+Whereupon the door of a closet opened and out came seven black
+slaves, with drawn swords in their hands, to whom said the lady,
+'Bind these babblers' hands behind them and tie them one with
+another.' The slaves did as she bade, and said, 'O noble lady, is
+it thy will that we strike off their heads?' 'Hold your hands
+awhile,' answered she, 'till I question them of their condition,
+before ye strike off their heads.' 'By Allah, O my lady,'
+exclaimed the porter 'do not slay me for another's fault, for all
+have erred and offended save myself. And by Allah, our night
+would have been a pleasant one, had we not been afflicted with
+these Calenders, whose presence is enough to lay a flourishing
+city in ruins.' And he repeated the following verses:
+
+How fair a thing is mercy to the great! And how much more to
+     those of low estate!
+By all the love that has between us been, Doom not the guiltless
+     to the guilty's fate!
+
+When the lady heard this, she laughed, in spite of her anger, and
+coming up to the guests, said to them, 'Tell me who you are, for
+ye have but a little while to live, and were you not men of rank
+and consideration, you had never dared to act thus.' Then the
+Khalif said to Jaafer, 'Out on thee! Tell her who we are, or we
+shall be slain in a mistake, and speak her fair, ere an
+abomination befall us.' 'It were only a part of thy deserts,'
+replied Jaafer. Whereupon the Khalif cried out at him in anger
+and said, 'There is a time to jest and a time to be serious.'
+Then the lady said to the Calenders, 'Are ye brothers?' 'Not so,'
+answered they; 'we are only poor men and strangers.' And she said
+to one of them, 'Wast thou born blind of one eye?' 'No, by
+Allah!' replied he; 'but there hangs a rare story by the loss of
+my eye, a story which, were it graven with needles on the corners
+of the eye, would serve as a lesson to those that can profit by
+example.' She questioned the two other Calenders, and they made a
+like reply, saying, 'By Allah! O our mistress, each one of us
+comes from a different country and is the son of a king and a
+sovereign prince ruling over lands and subjects.' Then she turned
+to the others and said to them, 'Let each of you come forward in
+turn and tell us his history and the manner of his coming hither
+and after go about his business; but whoso refuses, I will cut
+off his head.' The first to come forward was the porter, who
+said, 'O my lady, I am a porter. This lady, the cateress, hired
+me and took me first to the vintner's, then to the butcher's,
+from the butcher's to the fruiterer's, from the fruiterer's to
+the grocer's, from the grocer's to the greengrocer's, from the
+greengrocer's to the confectioner's and the druggist's, and
+thence to this place, where there happened to me with you what
+happened. This is my story; and peace be on thee!' At this the
+lady laughed and said to him, 'Begone about thy business.' But he
+said, 'By Allah, I will not budge 'till I hear the others'
+stories.' Then came forward the first Calender and said, 'Know, O
+lady, that
+
+
+
+
+                  The First Calender's Story.
+
+
+
+My father was a king, and he had a brother, who was also a king
+over another city. The latter had a son and a daughter, and it
+chanced that I and the son of my uncle were both born on the same
+day. In due time we grew up to man's estate and there was a great
+affection between us. Now it was my wont every now and then to
+visit my uncle and abide with him several months at a time.
+One day, I went to visit him as usual and found him absent
+a-hunting; but my cousin received me with the utmost courtesy and
+slaughtered sheep and strained wine for me and we sat down to
+drink. When the wine had got the mastery of us, my cousin said to
+me, "O son of my uncle I have a great service to ask of thee, and
+I beg of thee not to baulk me in what I mean to do." "With all my
+heart," answered I; and he made me swear by the most solemn oaths
+to do his will. Then he went away and returning in a little, with
+a lady veiled and perfumed and very richly clad, said to me,
+"Take this lady and go before me to the burial-ground and enter
+such and such a sepulchre," and he described it to me and I knew
+it, "and wait till I come." I could not gainsay him, by reason of
+the oath I had sworn to him; so I took the lady and carried her
+to the cemetery, and entering the tomb sat down to await my
+cousin, who soon rejoined us, carrying a vessel of water, a bag
+containing plaster and an adze. He went up to the tomb in the
+midst of the sepulchre and loosening its stones with the adze,
+laid them on one side after which he fell to digging with the
+adze in the earth till he uncovered a trap of iron, as big as a
+small door, and raised it, when there appeared beneath it a
+winding stair. Then he turned to the lady and said to her, "Up
+and make thy choice." So she descended the stair and was lost to
+sight; and he said to me, "O my cousin, when I have descended,
+complete thy kindness to me by replacing the trap-door and
+throwing back the earth on it: then mix the plaster in the bag
+with the water in this vessel and build up the tomb again with
+the stones and plaster it over as before, lest any see it and
+say, 'This tomb has been newly opened, albeit it is an old one;'
+for I have been at work here a whole year, unknown to any save
+God. This then is the service I had to ask of thee, and may God
+never bereave thy friends of thee, O my cousin!" Then he
+descended the stair; and when he was out of sight, I replaced the
+trap-door and did as he had bidden me, till the tomb was restored
+to its original condition, and I the while in a state of
+intoxication; after which I returned to the palace, and found my
+uncle still absent. Next morning I called to mind what had
+happened and repented of having obeyed my cousin, when repentance
+was of no avail, but thought that it must have been a dream. So I
+fell to enquiring after my cousin; but none could give me any
+news of him; and I went out to the burial-ground and sought for
+the tomb where I had left him, but could not find it, and ceased
+not to go from sepulchre to sepulchre and from tomb to tomb,
+without success, till nightfall. Then I returned to the palace
+and could neither eat nor drink, for my heart was troubled about
+my cousin, seeing I knew not what was come of him; and I was
+extremely chagrined and slept not that night, but lay awake for
+anxiety till morning. As soon as it was day, I repaired again to
+the cemetery, pondering what my cousin had done and repenting me
+of having hearkened to him, and vent round among all the tombs,
+but could not find the one I sought. Thus I did for the space of
+seven days, but with no better success, and my trouble and
+anxiety increased till I was well-nigh mad and could find nothing
+for it but to return to my father. So I set out and journeyed
+till I reached his capital; but as I entered the gate of the
+city, a number of men sprang out on me and tied my hands behind
+me. At this I was beyond measure amazed, seeing that I was the
+son of the Sultan and that they were his servants and my own; and
+great fear fell on me, and I said to myself, "I wonder what has
+befallen my father!" Then I questioned my captors; but they
+returned me no answer. However, after awhile, one of them, who
+had been my servant, said to me, "Fortune has played thy father
+false; and the troops deserted him. So the Vizier slew him and
+seized on his throne; and we laid wait for thee by his command."
+Then they took me and carried me before the Vizier, well-nigh
+distraught for this news of my father. Now between me and this
+Vizier was an old feud, the cause of which was as follows. I was
+fond of shooting with a pellet-bow, and one day, as I was
+standing on the terrace of my palace, a bird lighted on the
+terrace of the Vizier's house, where the latter chanced to be
+standing at the time. I let fly at the bird, but, as fate and
+destiny would have it, the pellet swerved and striking the Vizier
+on the eye, put it out. As says the poet:
+
+Our footsteps follow on in their predestined way, Nor from the
+     ordered track can any mortal stray:
+And he whom Fate appoints in any land to die, No other place on
+     earth shall see his dying day.
+
+
+The Vizier dared say nothing, at the time, because I was the
+Sultan's son of the city, but thenceforward he nourished a deadly
+hatred against me. So when they brought me bound before him, he
+commanded my head to be smitten off; and I said, "For what crime
+wilt thou put me to death?" "What crime could be greater than
+this?" answered he, and pointed to his ruined eye. Quoth I, "That
+I did by misadventure." And he replied, "If thou didst it by
+misadventure, I will do the like with intent." Then said he,
+"Bring him to me." So they brought me up to him, and he put his
+finger into my right eye and pulled it out; and thenceforward I
+became one-eyed as ye see me. Then he caused me to be bound hand
+and foot and put in a chest and said to the headsman, "Take this
+fellow and carry him forth of the city and slay him and leave him
+for the beasts and birds to eat." So the headsman carried me
+without the city to the midst of the desert, where he took me out
+of the chest, bound hand and foot as I was, and would have
+bandaged my eyes, that he might slay me. But I wept sore till I
+made him weep, and looking at him, repeated the following verses:
+
+I counted on you as a coat of dart-proof mail toward The foeman's
+     arrows from my breast. Alas! ye are his sword!
+I hoped in you to succour me in every evil chance, Although my
+     right hand to my left no more should help afford.
+Yet stand aloof nor cast your lot with those who do me hate, And
+     let my foemen shoot their shafts against your whilom lord!
+If you refuse to succour me against my enemies, At least be
+     neutral, nor to me nor them your aid accord.
+
+And these also:
+
+How many of my friends, methought, were coats of mail! And so
+     they were, indeed, but on my foeman's part.
+Unerring shafts and true I deemed them; and they were Unerring
+     shafts, indeed, alas, but in my heart!
+
+When the headsman heard this (now he had been my father's
+headsman and I had done him kindness) he said, "O my lord what
+can I do, being but a slave commanded?" Then he said, "Fly for
+thy life and never return to this country, or thou art lost and I
+with thee." As says one of the poets:
+
+Escape with thy life, if oppression betide thee, And let the
+     house tell of its builder's fate!
+Country for country thou'lt find, if thou seek it; Life for life
+     never, early or late.
+It is strange men should dwell in the house of abjection, When
+     the plain of God's world is so wide and so great!
+
+I kissed his hands, hardly crediting my escape; and recked little
+of the loss of my eye, in consideration of my deliverance from
+death. Then I repaired to my uncle's capital and going in to him,
+told him what had befallen my father and myself; whereat he wept
+sore and said, "Verily, thou addest affliction to my affliction
+and sorrow to my sorrow; for thy cousin has been missing these
+many days; I know not what is become of him, and none can give me
+any news of him." Then he wept till he swooned away, and my heart
+was sore for him. When he revived, he would have medicined my
+eye, but found there was but the socket left and said, "O my son,
+it is well that it was thine eye and not thy life!" I could not
+keep silence about my cousin; so I told him all that had passed,
+and he rejoiced greatly at hearing news of his son and said,
+"Come, show me the tomb." "By Allah, O my uncle," answered I, "I
+know it not, for I went after many times to seek for it, but
+could not find it." However, we went out to the burial-ground and
+looked right and left, till at last I discovered the tomb. At
+this we both rejoiced greatly and entering, removed the earth,
+raised the trapdoor and descended fifty steps, till we came to
+the foot of the stair, where we were met by a great smoke that
+blinded our eyes: and my uncle pronounced the words, which whoso
+says shall never be confounded, that is to say, "There is no
+power and no virtue but in God the Most High, the Supreme!" Then
+we went on and found ourselves in a saloon, raised upon columns,
+drawing air and light from openings communicating with the
+surface of the ground and having a cistern in its midst. The
+place was full of crates and sacks of flour and grain and other
+victual; and at the upper end stood a couch with a canopy over
+it. My uncle went up to the bed and drawing the curtains, found
+his son and the lady in each other's arms; but they were become
+black coal, as they had been cast into a well of fire. When he
+saw this, he spat in his son's face and taking off his shoe,
+smote him with it, exclaiming, "Swine that thou art, thou hast
+thy deserts! This is thy punishment in this world, but there
+awaits thee a far sorer and more terrible punishment in the world
+to come!" His behaviour amazed me, and I mourned for my cousin,
+for that he was become a black coal, and said to the king, "O my
+uncle, is not that which hath befallen him enough, but thou must
+beat him with thy shoe?" "O son of my brother," answered my
+uncle, "this my son was from his earliest youth madly enamoured
+of his sister, and I forbade him from her, saying in myself,
+'They are but children.' But, when they grew up, sin befell
+between them, notwithstanding that his attendants warned him to
+abstain from so foul a thing, which none had done before nor
+would do after him, lest the news of it should be carried abroad
+by the caravans and he become dishonoured and unvalued among
+kings to the end of time. I heard of this and believed it not,
+but took him and upbraided him severely, saying, 'Have a care
+lest this thing happen to thee; for I will surely curse thee and
+put thee to death.' Then I shut her up and kept them apart, but
+this accursed girl loved him passionately, and Satan got the
+upper hand of them and made their deeds to seem good in their
+eyes. So when my son saw that I had separated them, he made this
+place under ground and transported victual hither, as thou seest,
+and taking advantage of my absence a-hunting, came here with his
+sister, thinking to enjoy her a long while. But the wrath of God
+descended on them and consumed them; and there awaits them in the
+world to come a still sorer and more terrible punishment." Then
+he wept and I with him, and he looked at me and said, "Henceforth
+thou art my son in his stead." Then I bethought me awhile of the
+world and its chances and how the Vizier had slain my father and
+usurped his throne and put out my eye and of the strange events
+that had befallen my cousin and wept again, and my uncle wept
+with me. Presently we ascended, and replacing the trap-door,
+restored the tomb to its former condition. Then we resumed to the
+palace, but hardly had we sat down when we heard a noise of drums
+and trumpets and cymbals and galloping of cavalry and clamour of
+men and clash of arms and clank of bridles and neighing of
+horses, and the world was filled with clouds of dust raised by
+the horses' hoofs. At this we were amazed and knew not what could
+be the matter so we enquired and were told that the Vizier, who
+had usurped my father's throne, had levied troops and hired the
+wild Arabs and was come with an army like the sands of the sea,
+none could tell their number nor could any avail against them.
+They assaulted the city unawares, and the people, being unable to
+withstand them, surrendered the place to them. My uncle was slain
+and I took refuge in the suburbs, knowing that, if I fell into
+the Vizier's hands, he would put me to death. Wherefore trouble
+was sore upon me and I bethought me of all that had befallen me
+and my father and uncle and knew not what to do, for if I showed
+myself, the people of the city and my father's troops would know
+me and hasten to win the usurpers favour by putting me to death;
+and I could find no means of escape but by shaving my face. So I
+shaved off my beard and eyebrows and donning a Calender's habit,
+left the town, without being known of any, and made for this
+city, in the hope that perhaps some one would bring me to the
+presence of the Commander of the Faithful and Vicar of the Lord
+of the Two Worlds, that I might relate to him my story and lay my
+case before him. I arrived here today and was standing, perplexed
+where I should go, when I saw this second Calender; so I saluted
+him, saying "I am a stranger," and he replied, "And I also am a
+stranger." Presently up came our comrade, this other Calender,
+and saluted us, saying, "I am a stranger." "We also are
+strangers," answered we; and we walked on together, till darkness
+overtook us, and destiny led us to your house. This, then, is my
+history and the manner of the loss of my right eye and the
+shaving of my beard and eyebrows.' They all marvelled at his
+story, and the Khalif said to Jaafer, 'By Allah, I never heard or
+saw the like of what happened to this Calender.' Then the
+mistress of the house said to the Calender, 'Begone about thy
+business.' But he answered, 'I will not budge till I hear the
+others' stories.' Then came forth the second Calender and kissing
+the earth, said, 'O my lady, I was not born blind of one eye, and
+my story is a marvellous one; were it graven with needles on the
+corners of the eye, it would serve as a warning to those that can
+profit by example.
+
+
+
+
+                  The Second Calender's Story.
+
+
+
+I am a king, son of a king. My father taught me to read and
+write, and I got the Koran by heart, according to the seven
+readings, and read all manner of books under the guidance of
+learned professors; I studied the science of the stars and the
+sayings of poets and applied myself to all branches of knowledge,
+till I surpassed all the folk of my time. In particular, my skill
+in handwriting excelled that of all the scribes, and my fame was
+noised abroad in all countries and at the courts of all the
+kings. Amongst others, the King of Ind heard of me and sent to my
+father to seek me, with gifts and presents such as befit kings.
+So my father fitted out six ships for me, and we put to sea and
+sailed for a whole month, till we reached the land. Then we
+brought out the horses that were with us in the ships, together
+with ten camels laden with presents for the King of Ind. and set
+out inland, but had not gone far, before there arose a great
+dust, that grew till it covered the whole country. After awhile
+it lifted and discovered fifty steel-clad horsemen, as they were
+fierce lions, whom we soon found to be Arab highwaymen. When they
+saw that we were but a small company and had with us ten laden
+camels, they drove at us with levelled spears. We signed to them
+with our fingers to do us no hindrance, for that we were
+ambassadors to the mighty King of Ind; but they replied (in the
+same manner) that they were not in his dominions nor under his
+rule. Then they set on us and slew some of my attendants and put
+the rest to flight; and I also fled, after I had gotten a sore
+wound whilst the Arabs were taken up with the baggage. I knew not
+whither to turn, being reduced from high to low estate; so I fled
+forth at a venture till I came to the top of a mountain, where I
+took shelter for the night in a cavern. On the morrow, I
+continued my journey and fared on thus for a whole month, till I
+reached a safe and pleasant city. The winter had passed away from
+it with its cold and the spring was come with its roses; its
+flowers were blowing and its streams welling and its birds
+warbling. As says the poet, describing the city in question:
+
+A town, wherein who dwells is free from all affray; Security and
+     peace are masters there alway.
+Like Paradise itself, it seemeth, for its folk, With all its
+     beauties rare decked out in bright array.
+
+I was both glad and sorry to reach the city, glad for that I was
+weary with my journey and pale for weakness and anxiety, and
+grieved to enter it in such sorry case. However, I went in,
+knowing not whither to betake me, and fared on till I came to a
+tailor sitting in his shop. I saluted him, and he returned my
+salute and bade me a kindly welcome, and seeing me to be a
+stranger and noting marks of gentle breeding on me, enquired how
+I came thither. I told him all that had befallen me; and he was
+concerned for me and said, "O my son, do not discover thyself to
+any, for the King of this city is the chief of thy father's foes
+and hath a mortal feud against him." Then he set meat and drink
+before me, and I ate and he with me, and we talked together till
+nightfall, when he lodged me in a chamber beside his own, and
+brought me a bed and coverlet. I abode with him three days, at
+the end of which time he said to me, "Dost thou know any craft by
+which thou mayst earn thy living?" I replied, "I am a doctor of
+the law and a man of learning, a scribe, a grammarian, a poet, a
+mathematician and a skilled penman." Quoth he, "Thy trade is not
+in demand in this country nor are there in this city any who
+understand science or writing or aught but money-getting." "By
+Allah," said I, "I know nought but what I have told thee!" And he
+said, "Gird thy middle and take axe and cord and go and cut
+firewood in the desert for thy living, till God send thee relief,
+and tell none who thou art, or they will kill thee." Then he
+bought me an axe and a cord and gave me in charge to certain
+woodcutters; with whom I went out into the desert and cut wood
+all day and carried home a load on my head. I sold it for half a
+dinar, with part of which I bought victual and laid up the rest.
+On this wise I lived a whole year, at the end of which time I
+went out one day into the desert, according to my wont, and
+straying from my companions, happened on a tract full of trees
+and running streams, in which there was abundance of firewood; so
+I entered and coming on the gnarled stump of a great tree, dug
+round it with my axe and cleared the earth away from it.
+Presently, the axe struck upon a ring of brass; so I cleared away
+the earth, till I uncovered a wooden trap-door, which I raised
+and there appeared beneath it a stair I descended the stair, till
+I came to a door, which I opened and found myself in a vaulted
+hall of goodly structure, wherein was a damsel like a pearl of
+great price, whose aspect banished pain and care and anxiety from
+the heart and whose speech healed the troubled soul and
+captivated the wise and the intelligent. She was slender of shape
+and swelling-breasted, delicate-cheeked and bright of colour and
+fair of form; and indeed her face shone like the sun through the
+night of her tresses, and her teeth glittered above the snows of
+her bosom. As says the poet of her:
+
+Slender of waist, with streaming hair the hue of night, is she,
+     With hips like hills of sand and shape straight as the
+     balsam-tree.
+
+And as says another:
+
+There are four things that ne'er unite, except it be To shed my
+     heart's best blood and take my soul by storm.
+And these are night-black locks and brow as bright as day, Cheeks
+     ruddy as the rose and straight and slender form.
+
+When I looked on her, I prostrated myself before her Maker, for
+the grace and beauty He had created in her and she looked at me
+and said, "Art thou a man or a genie?" "I am a man," answered I;
+and she said, "And who brought thee to this place, where I have
+dwelt five-and-twenty years without seeing man?" Quoth I (and
+indeed her speech was sweet to me), "O my lady, my good star
+brought me hither for the dispelling of my grief and anxiety."
+And I told her all that had befallen me from first to last. My
+case was grievous to her and she wept: then she said, "I will
+tell thee my story in turn. I am the daughter of a King of
+Farther India, by name Efitamous, Lord of the Ebony Islands, who
+married me to my cousin, but on my wedding-night an Afrit called
+Jerjis ben Rejmous, the mother's sister's son of Iblis, carried
+me off and flying away with me, set me down in this place whither
+he transported all that I needed of clothes and ornaments and
+furniture and meat and drink and so forth. Once in every ten days
+he comes to me and lies the night here, then goes his way; for he
+took me without the consent of his family: and he has agreed with
+me that, in case I should ever have occasion for him in the
+interval between his visits, whether by night or by day, I have
+only to touch these two lines engraved upon the alcove, and he
+will be with me before I take away my hand. It is now four days
+since he was here, and there remain six before he comes again.
+Wilt thou therefore spend five days with me and depart the day
+before his coming?" "I will well," answered I. "O rare! if it be
+not all a dream." At this she rejoiced and taking me by the hand,
+led me through a vaulted doorway into a small but elegant
+bath-room, where we put off our clothes and she washed me. Then
+she clad me in a new suit and seated me by her side on a high
+divan and gave me to drink of sherbet of sugar flavoured with
+musk. Then she brought food, and we ate and conversed. After
+awhile, she said to me, "Lie down and rest, for thou art weary."
+So I lay down and slept and forgot all that had befallen me. When
+I awoke, I found her rubbing my feet:[FN#30] so I thanked her and
+blessed her, and we sat talking awhile. Quoth she, "By Allah, I
+was sad at heart, for that I have dwelt alone under ground these
+five-and-twenty years, without any to talk withal. So praised be
+God who hath sent thee to me!" Then she said, "O youth, art thou
+for wine?" And I answered, "As thou wilt." Whereupon she went to
+the cupboard and took out a sealed flask of old wine and decked
+the table with flowers and green herbs. Then she recited the
+following verses:
+
+Had we thy coming known, we would for sacrifice Have poured thee
+     forth heart's blood and blackness of the eyes:
+Ay, and we would have laid our cheeks within thy way, That so thy
+     feet might tread on eyelids, carpet-wise!
+
+I thanked her, for indeed love of her had taken hold of me, and
+my grief and anxiety left me. We sat carousing till nightfall,
+and I passed the night with her, never knew I such a night. On
+the morrow, delight succeeded delight till the middle of the day,
+when I drank wine, till I lost my senses and rose, staggering
+from side to side, and said to her, "Come, O fair one! I will
+carry thee up from under the earth and rid thee of this genie."
+She laughed and replied, "Be content and hold thy peace. One day
+in every ten is the genie's, and the other nine shall be thine."
+Quoth I (and indeed drunkenness had got the better of me), "This
+very moment will I break the alcove, on which is graven the
+talisman, and summon the Afrit hither, that I may kill him, for I
+am used to kill Afrits ten at a time." When she heard this, she
+conjured me by Allah to refrain and repeated the following
+verses:
+
+This is a thing wherein thine own destruction lies: I rede thee
+     keep thyself therefrom, if thou be wise.
+
+And also these:
+
+O thou that seek'st to hasten on the feet Of parting's steeds,
+     the matchless swift of flight,
+Forbear, for fortune's nature is deceit, And parting is the end
+     of love delight.
+
+I paid no heed to her words, but kicked the alcove with all my
+might, and immediately the place grew dark, it thundered and
+lightened, the earth trembled and the world was wrapped in gloom.
+When I saw this, the fumes of the wine left my head and I said to
+the lady, "What is the matter?" "The Afrit is upon us," answered
+she "Did I not warn thee of this! By Allah, thou hast ruined me!
+But fly for thy life and return whence thou camest." So I
+ascended the stair, but, in the excess of my fear I forgot my
+sandals and hatchet. When I had mounted two steps, I turned to
+look, and behold, the ground clove in sunder and out came an
+Afrit of hideous aspect, who said to the lady, "What is this
+commotion with which thou disturbest me? What misfortune has
+befallen thee?" "Nothing has befallen me," answered she, "except
+that I was heavy at heart and drank a little wine to hearten
+myself. Then I rose to do an occasion, but my head became heavy
+and I fell against the alcove." "Thou liest, O harlot!" said he,
+and looked right and left, till he caught sight of the axe and
+the sandals and said, "These are some man's gear. Who has been
+with thee?" Quoth she, "I never set eyes on them till this
+moment; they must have clung to thee as thou camest hither." But
+he said, "This talk is absurd and will not impose on me, O
+strumpet!" Then he stripped her naked and stretching her on the
+ground, tied her hands and feet to four stakes and proceeded to
+torture her to make her confess. I could not bear to hear her
+weeping; so I ascended the stair, quaking for fear. When I
+reached the top, I replaced the trap-door and covered it over
+with earth; and I thought of the lady and her beauty and what had
+befallen her through my folly and repented me sore of what I had
+done. Then I bethought me of my father and his kingdom and how I
+had become a woodcutter, and how, after my life had been awhile
+serene, it had again become troubled, and I wept and repeated the
+following verse:
+
+What time the cruelties of Fate o'erwhelm thee with distress,
+     Think that one day must bring thee ease, another day
+     duresse.
+
+Then I went on till I reached the house of my friend, whom I
+found awaiting me, as he were on coals of fire on my account.
+When he saw me, he rejoiced and said, "O my brother, where didst
+thou pass the night? My heart has been full of anxiety on thine
+account, fearing for thee from the wild beasts or other peril:
+but praised be God for thy safety!" I thanked him for his
+solicitude, and retiring to my chamber, fell a-musing on what had
+passed and reproached myself grievously for my meddlesomeness in
+kicking the alcove. Presently the tailor came in to me and said,
+"O my son, there is without an old man, a foreigner, who seeks
+thee. He has thine axe and sandals and came to the woodcutters
+and said to them, 'I went out at the hour of the call to morning
+prayer and happened on these and know not whose they are: direct
+me to their owner.' They knew thine axe and sent him to thee; and
+he is now sitting in my shop. So do thou go out to him and thank
+him and take thy gear." When I heard this, my colour changed and
+I was sick for terror but before I could think, the floor clove
+asunder and up came the stranger, and lo, it was the Afrit! Now
+he had tortured the lady in the most barbarous manner, without
+being able to make her confess: so he took the axe and sandals,
+saying, "As sure as I am Jerjis of the lineage of Iblis, I will
+bring back the owner of this axe and these sandals!" So he went
+to the woodcutters with the tale aforesaid, and they directed him
+to me. He snatched me up without parley and flew high into the
+air, but presently descended and plunged into the ground with me,
+and I the while unconscious. Then he came up with me in the
+underground palace, where I saw the lady stretched out naked,
+with the blood running from her sides. At this sight, my eyes ran
+over with tears; but the Afrit unbound her and veiling her, said
+to her, "O wanton, is not this thy lover?" She looked at me and
+said, "I know not this man, nor have I ever seen him till now."
+Quoth he, "Wilt thou not confess after all this torture?" And she
+answered, "I never saw him in my life, and God forbid that I
+should lie against him and thou kill him." "Then," said he, "if
+thou know him not, take this sword and cut off his head." She
+took the sword and came and stood at my head; and I made signs to
+her with my eyebrows whilst the tears ran down my cheeks. She
+understood me and signed to me with her eyes as who should say,
+"Thou hast brought all this upon us." And I answered her, in the
+same fashion, that it was a time for forgiveness; and the tongue
+of the case spoke[FN#31] the words of the poet:
+
+My looks interpret for my tongue and tell of what I feel: And all
+     the love appears that I within my heart conceal.
+When as we meet and down our cheeks our tears are running fast,
+     I'm dumb, and yet my speaking eyes my thought of thee
+     reveal.
+She signs to me; and I, I know the things her glances say: I with
+     my fingers sign, and she conceives the mute appeal.
+Our eyebrows of themselves suffice unto our intercourse: We're
+     mute; but passion none the less speaks in the looks we
+     steal.
+
+Then she threw down the sword and said, "How shall I strike off
+the head of one whom I know not and who has done me no hurt? My
+religion will not allow of this." Quoth the Afrit, "It is
+grievous to thee to kill thy lover. Because he hath lain a night
+with thee, thou endurest this torture and wilt not confess upon
+him. It is only like that pities like." Then he turned to me and
+said, "O mortal, dost thou not know this woman?" "Who is she?"
+answered I. "I never saw her till now." "Then," said he "take
+this sword and strike off her head and I will believe that thou
+knowest her not and will let thee go and do thee no hurt." Quoth
+I, "It is well;" and taking the sword, went up to her briskly and
+raised my hand. But she signed to me with her eyebrows, as who
+should say, "What hurt have I done thee? Is it thus thou
+requitest me?" I understood what she would say and replied in the
+same manner, "I will ransom thee with my life." And the tongue of
+the case repeated the following verses:
+
+How many a lover with his eyelids speaks And doth his thought
+     unto his mistress tell
+He flashes signals to her with his eyes, And she at once is ware
+     of what befell.
+How swift the looks that pass betwixt the twain! How fair,
+     indeed, and how delectable!
+One with his eyelids writes what he would say: The other with her
+     eyes the writ doth spell.
+
+Then my eyes ran over with tears and I said, "O mighty Afrit and
+doughty hero! if a woman, lacking sense and religion, deem it
+unlawful to strike off my head, how can I, who am a man, bring
+myself to slay her whom I never saw in my life? Never will I
+do it, though I drink the cup of death and ruin!" And I threw
+the sword from my hand. Quoth the Afrit, "Ye show the good
+understanding between you, but I will let you see the issue of
+your doings." Then he took the sword and cut off the lady's hands
+and feet at four strokes; whilst I looked on and made sure of
+death; and she signed me a farewell with her eyes. Quoth he,
+"Thou cuckoldest me with thine eyes!" And struck off her head
+with a blow of his sword. Then he turned to me and said, "O
+mortal, by our law; when our wives commit adultery, it is lawful
+to us to put them to death. As for this woman, I stole her away
+on her wedding-night, when she was a girl of twelve, and she has
+known no one but myself. I used to come to her once in every
+ten days in the habit of a man, a foreigner, and pass one night
+with her; and when I was assured that she had played me false,
+I slew her. But as for thee, I am not sure that thou west her
+accomplice: nevertheless, I must not let thee go unharmed; but I
+will grant thee a favour." At this I rejoiced greatly and said,
+"What favour wilt thou grant me?" "I will give thee thy choice,"
+replied he, "whether I shall change thee into a dog, an ass or an
+ape." Quoth I (and indeed I had hoped that he would pardon me),
+"By Allah, spare me, and God will reward thee for sparing a true
+believer, who hath done thee no harm." And I humbled myself
+before him to the utmost and wept, saying, "Indeed, thou dost me
+injustice." "Do not multiply words on me," answered he; "it is in
+my power to kill thee: but I give thee thy choice." "O Afrit,"
+rejoined I, "it would best become thee to pardon me, even as the
+envied pardoned the envier." Quoth he, "And how was that?" "They
+say, O Afrit," answered I, "that
+
+
+
+
+Story of the Envier and the Envied.
+
+
+
+There dwelt once in a certain city two men, who occupied
+adjoining houses, having a common party-wall; and one of them
+envied the other and looked on him with an evil eye and did his
+utmost endeavour to work him ill; and his envy grew on him till
+he could hardly eat or enjoy the delight of sleep for it. But the
+envied man did nought but prosper, and the more the other strove
+to do him hurt, the more he increased and throve and flourished.
+At last the hatred his neighbour bore him and his constant
+endeavour to do him hurt came to his knowledge and he said, 'By
+Allah, I will renounce the world on his account!' So he left his
+native place and settled in a distant city, where he bought a
+piece of land, in which was a dried-up well, that had once been
+used for watering the fields. Here he built him an oratory, which
+he fitted up with all that he required, and took up his abode
+therein, devoting himself with a sincere heart to the service of
+God the Most High. Fakirs[FN#32] and poor folk soon flocked to
+him from all sides, and his fame spread abroad in the city, so
+that the notables resorted to him. After awhile, the news reached
+the envious man of the good fortune that had befallen his old
+neighbour and the high consideration in which he was held: so he
+set out for the town in which the latter dwelt and repaired to
+the hermitage, where the envied man welcomed him and received him
+with the utmost honour. Quoth the envier, 'I have journeyed
+hither on purpose to tell thee a piece of good news. So order thy
+fakirs to retire to their cells and go with me apart, for I will
+not say what I have to tell thee, except privately where none may
+overhear us.' Accordingly the envied man ordered the fakirs to
+retire to their cells; and they did so. Then he took the other by
+the hand and walked on with him a little way, till they came to
+the deserted well, when the envious man gave the other a push and
+cast him into the well, unseen of any; after which, he went out
+and went his way thinking that he had killed him. Now this well
+was haunted by Jinn, who bore up the envied man and let him down
+little by little, so that he reached the bottom unhurt, and they
+seated him on a stone. Then said one of the Jinn to the others,
+'Know ye who this is?' And they answered, 'No.' Quoth he, 'This
+is the envied man who fled from him who envied him and settled in
+our city, where he built him this oratory and entertains us with
+his litanies and recitations of the Koran. But the envious man
+set out and journeyed till he rejoined him and contrived to throw
+him into this well. Now the news of him hath this very night come
+to the Sultan of the city and he purposes to visit him to-morrow,
+on account of his daughter. 'And what ails his daughter?' asked
+another. 'She is possessed of an evil spirit,' replied the first,
+'for the genie Meimoun ben Demdem has fallen in love with her;
+but if the pious man knew the remedy, he could cure her; and it
+is the easiest of things.' 'And what is the remedy?' asked the
+other. Quoth the first speaker 'The black cat that is with him in
+the oratory has a white spot, the size of a dirhem, at the end of
+her tail: he should take seven white hairs from this spot and
+fumigate the princess therewith; whereupon the Marid will leave
+her and never return, and she will be cured immediately.' And the
+envied man heard all this. When the day broke and the morning
+appeared and shone, the fakirs came to seek their chief and found
+him rising from the well, wherefore he was magnified in their
+eyes; and he took the black cat and plucking seven white hairs
+from the spot at the end of her tail, laid them aside. The sun
+had hardly risen when the King arrived and entered the hermitage,
+attended by his chief officers, leaving the rest of his suite
+without. The envied man bade him welcome and drawing near to him,
+said, 'Shall I tell thee the object of thy visit?' 'Yes,'
+answered the King. And he said, 'Thou comest to consult me
+concerning thy daughter.' Quoth the King, 'Thou sayst truly, O
+virtuous elder!' Then said the envied man, 'Send and fetch her,
+and (God willing) I trust to cure her at once.' The King rejoiced
+and sent for his daughter; and they brought her bound hand and
+foot. The envied man made her sit down behind a curtain and
+taking out the hairs, fumigated her with them; whereupon the
+Afrit that was in her roared out and departed from her. And she
+was restored to her right mind and veiled her face, saying, 'What
+has happened and who brought me hither?' At this, the Sultan
+rejoiced beyond measure and kissed her on the eyes and kissed the
+envied man's hand. Then he turned to his officers and said, 'How
+say you? What reward doth he deserve who cured my daughter?' They
+answered, 'He deserves to have her to wife;' and the King, 'Ye
+say well.' So he married him to her, and the envied man became
+the King's son-in-law. After awhile, the Vizier died, and the
+King said, 'Whom shall we make Vizier in his stead?' 'Thy
+son-in-law,' answered the courtiers. So the envied man was made
+Vizier. Presently the Sultan also died, and the grandees
+determined to appoint the Vizier King in his place. So they made
+him Sultan, and he became King regnant. One day, as he was riding
+forth in his royal state, surrounded by his Viziers and Amirs and
+grandees, his eyes fell on his old neighbour, the envious man; so
+he turned to one of his viziers and said to him, 'Bring me yonder
+man and frighten him not.' So the Vizier went and returned with
+the envious man: and the King said, 'Give him a thousand dinars
+from my treasury and twenty loads of merchandise and send him
+under an escort to his own city.' Then he bade him farewell and
+sent him away and forbore to punish him for what he had done with
+him See, O Afrit, how the envied man forgave his envier, who had
+always hated him and borne him malice and had journeyed to him
+and made shift to throw him into the well: yet did he not requite
+him his ill-doing, but on the contrary was bountiful to him and
+forgave him." Then I wept before him exceeding sore, and repeated
+the following verses:
+
+I prithee, pardon mine offence: for men of prudent mind To pardon
+     unto those that sin their sins are still inclined.
+If I, alas! contain in me all fashions of offence, Let there in
+     thee forgiveness fair be found in every kind.
+For men are bound to pardon those that are beneath their hand, If
+     they themselves with those that be above them grace would
+     find.
+
+Quoth the Afrit, "I will neither kill thee nor let thee go free,
+but I will assuredly enchant thee." Then he tore me from the
+ground and flew up with me into the air, till I saw the earth as
+it were a platter midmost the water. Presently he set me down on
+a mountain and took a little earth, over which he muttered some
+magical words, then sprinkled me with it, saying, "Quit this
+shape for that of an ape." And immediately I became an ape, a
+hundred years old. Then he went away and left me; and when I saw
+myself in this ugly shape, I wept, but resigned myself to the
+tyranny of fate, knowing that fortune is constant to no one, and
+descended to the foot of the mountain, where found a wide plain.
+I fared on for the space of a month till my course brought me to
+the shore of the salt sea: where I stood awhile and presently
+caught sight of a ship in the midst of the sea, making for the
+land with a fair wind. I hid myself behind a rock on the beach
+and waited till the ship drew near, when I sprang on board. Quoth
+one of the passengers, "Turn this unlucky brute out from amongst
+us!" And the captain said, "Let us kill him." And a third, "I
+will kill him with this sword." But I laid hold of the captain's
+skirts and wept, and the tears ran down my face. The captain took
+pity on me and said, "O merchants, this ape appeals to me for
+protection, and I will protect him: henceforth he is under my
+safeguard, and none shall molest or annoy him." Then he entreated
+me kindly and whatever he said I understood and ministered to all
+his wants and waited on him, so that he loved me. The ship sailed
+on with a fair wind for the space of fifty days, at the end of
+which time we cast anchor over against a great city, wherein were
+much people, none could tell their number save God. No sooner had
+we come to an anchor, than we were boarded by officers from the
+King of the city; who said to the merchants, "Our King gives you
+joy of your safety and sends you this scroll of paper, on which
+each one of you is to write a line. For know that the King's
+Vizier, who was an excellent penman, is dead and the King has
+sworn a solemn oath that he will make none Vizier in his stead
+who cannot write like him." Then they gave them a scroll, ten
+cubits long by one wide, and each of the merchants, who could
+write, wrote a line therein: after which I rose and snatched the
+scroll from their hands, and they cried out at me and rated me,
+fearing that I would tear it or throw it into the sea. But I made
+signs that I would write; whereat they marvelled, saying, "We
+never saw an ape write!" And the captain said to them, "Let him
+alone; if he scrabble, we will drive him away and kill him; but
+if he write well, I will adopt him as my son, for I never saw so
+intelligent and well-mannered an ape; and would God my son had
+his sense and good breeding!" So I took the pen and dipping it in
+the inkhorn, wrote in an epistolary hand the following verses:
+
+Time hath recorded the virtues of the great: But thine have
+     remained unchronicled till now.
+May God not orphan the human race of thee, For sire and mother of
+     all good deeds art thou.
+
+Then I wrote the following in a running hand:
+
+Thou hast a pen whose use confers good gifts on every clime; Upon
+     all creatures of the world its happy favours fall.
+What are the bounties of the Nile to thy munificence, Whose
+     fingers five extend to shower thy benefits on all?
+
+And in an engrossing hand the following:
+
+There is no writer but he shall pass away: Yet what he writes
+     shall last for ever and aye.
+Write, therefore, nought but that which shall gladden thee, When
+     as it meets thine eye on the Judgment Day.
+
+And in a transcribing hand the following:
+
+When separation is to us by destiny decreed And 'gainst the cruel
+     chance of Fate our efforts are in vain,
+Unto the inkhorn's mouth we fly that, by the tongues of pens, Of
+     parting and its bitterness it may for us complain.
+
+And in a large formal hand the following:
+
+The regal state endureth not to any mortal man. If thou deny
+     this, where is he who first on earth held sway?
+Plant therefore saplings of good deeds, whilst that thou yet art
+     great Though thou be ousted from thy stead, they shall not
+     pass away.
+
+And in a court hand the following:
+
+When thou the inkhorn op'st of power and lordship over men, Make
+     thou thine ink of noble thoughts and generous purpose; then
+Write gracious deeds and good therewith, whilst that thy power
+     endures. So shall thy virtues blazoned be at point of sword
+     and pen.
+
+Then I gave the scroll to the officers, who took it and returned
+with it to the King. When he saw it, no writing pleased him but
+mine; so he said to his officers, "Go to the writer of these
+lines and dress him in a splendid robe; then mount him on a mule
+and bring him to me with a band of music before him." At this
+they smiled, and the King was wroth with them and said, "O
+accursed ones, I give you an order, and ye laugh at me!" "O
+King," answered they, "we have good cause to laugh." Quoth he,
+"What is it?" And they replied, "O King, thou orderest us to
+bring thee the man who wrote these lines: now he who wrote them
+is no man, but an ape belonging to the captain of the ship."
+"Can this be true?" asked he; and they said, "Yea, by thy
+munificence!" The King was astonished at their report and shook
+with mirth and said, "I have a mind to buy this ape of the
+captain." Then he sent messengers to the ship and said to them,
+"Dress him none the less in the robe and mount him on the mule
+and bring him hither in state, with the band of music before
+him." So they came to the ship and took me and clad me in the
+robe and mounted me on the mule and carried me in procession
+through the city; whilst the people were astounded and crowded to
+gaze upon me, and the place was all astir on my account. When I
+reached the King's presence, I kissed the earth before him three
+times, and he bade me be seated; so I sat down on my heels; and
+all the bystanders marvelled at my good manners, and the King
+most of all. After awhile the King dismissed his courtiers, and
+there remained but myself, his highness the King, an eunuch and a
+little white slave. Then the King gave orders and they brought
+the table of food, containing all kinds of birds that hop and fly
+and couple in the nests, such as grouse and quails and so forth.
+He signed to me to eat with him; so I rose and kissed the earth
+before him then sat down and ate with him. When we had done
+eating, the table was removed, and I washed my hands seven times.
+Then I took pen and ink and wrote the following verses:
+
+Weep for the cranes that erst within the porringers did lie, And
+     for the stews and partridges evanished heave a sigh!
+Mourn for the younglings of the grouse; lament unceasingly, As,
+     for the omelettes and the fowls browned in the pan, do I.
+How my heart yearneth for the fish, that in its different kinds,
+     Upon a paste of wheaten flour lay hidden in the pie!
+Praised be God for the roast meat! As in the dish it lay, With
+     pot-herbs, soaked in vinegar, in porringers hard by!
+My hunger was appeased: I lay, intent upon the gleam Of arms that
+     in the frumenty were buried bracelet high.
+I woke my sleeping appetite to eat, as 'twere in jest, Of all the
+     tarts that, piled on trays, shone fair unto the eye.
+O soul, have patience! For indeed, Fate full of marvel is: If
+     fortune straiten thee one day, the next relief is nigh.
+
+Then I rose and seated myself at a distance, whilst the King read
+what I had written and marvelled and said "Strange that an ape
+should be gifted with such fluency and skill in penmanship! By
+Allah, this is a wonder of wonders!" Then they set choice wine
+before the King in flagons of glass; and he drank, then passed
+the cup to me; and I kissed the earth and drank and wrote the
+following verses:
+
+They burnt me[FN#33] with fire, to make me speak, And found me
+     patient and debonair.
+For this I am borne on men's hands on high And kiss the rosy lips
+     of the fair!
+
+And these also:
+
+Morn struggles through the dusk; so pour me out, I pray, Of wine,
+     such wine as makes the saddest-hearted gay!
+So pure and bright it is, that whether wine in glass Or glass in
+     wine be held, i' faith, 'tis hard to say.
+
+The King read them and said, with a sigh, "If a man had this
+quickness of wit, he would excel all the folk of his age and
+time." Then he called for a chess-board and said to me, "Wilt
+thou play with me?" I signed with my head as who should say,
+"Yes," and came forward and placed the men and played two games
+with him, each of which I won, much to his amazement. Then I took
+the pen and wrote the following verses:
+
+Two hosts throughout the live-long day contend in deadly fight,
+     That waxes ever till the shades of night upon them creep;
+Then, when the darkness puts an end at last unto their strife,
+     Upon one couch and side by side, they lay them down to
+     sleep.
+
+These verses filled the King with wonder and delight, and he said
+to the eunuch, "Go to thy mistress, the Lady of Beauty, and bid
+her come and amuse herself with the sight of this wonderful ape."
+So the eunuch went out and presently returned with the lady, who,
+when she saw me, veiled her face, and said, "O my father, how
+comes it that thou art pleased to send for me and show me to
+strange men?" "O my daughter," said he, "there is none here save
+the little slave and the eunuch who reared thee and myself, thy
+father. From whom then dost thou veil thy face?" Quoth she, "This
+that thou deemest an ape is a wise and learned man, the son of a
+king; the Afrit Jerjis of the lineage of Iblis enchanted him
+thus, after putting to death his own wife, the daughter of King
+Efitamous, Lord of the Ebony Islands." At this the King wondered
+and turning to me, said, "Is this true that she says of thee?"
+And I signed with my head, as who should say, "Yes;" and wept.
+Then said he to his daughter, "Whence knewest thou that he was
+enchanted?" "O my father," answered she, "there was with me, in
+my childhood, an old woman who was skilled in magic and taught me
+its rules and practice; and I became skilled therein and
+committed to memory a hundred and seventy magical formulas, by
+the least of which I could transport the stones of thy?? behind
+the mountain Caf and make its site an abyss of the sea and its
+people fishes swimming in its midst." "O my daughter," said her
+father, "I conjure thee, by my life, to disenchant this young
+man, that I may make him my Vizier, for he is a right pleasant
+and ingenious youth." "With all my heart," replied she, and
+taking a knife, on which were engraved Hebrew characters, drew
+therewith a circle in the midst of the hall and wrote there in
+names and talismans and muttered words and charms, some of which
+we understood and others not. Presently the world darkened upon
+us, and the Afrit presented himself before us in his own shape
+and aspect, with hands like pitchforks legs like masts and eyes
+like flames of fire. We were affrighted at him, but the princess
+said to him, "An ill welcome to thee, O dog!" Whereupon he took
+the form of a lion and said to her, "O traitress, thou hast
+broken thy compact with me! Did we not swear that neither of us
+should molest the other?" "O accursed one," answered she, "how
+could there be a compact between me and the like of thee?"
+"Then," said he, "take what thou hast brought on thyself." And
+opening his mouth, rushed upon her: but she made haste and
+plucked a hair from her head and waved it in the air, muttering
+the while; and it at once became a sharp sword, with which she
+smote the lion and cut him in two. His head became a scorpion,
+whereupon the princess transformed herself into a great serpent
+and fell upon the scorpion and there befell a sore battle between
+them. Presently the scorpion changed to an eagle, and the serpent
+at once became a griffin, which pursued the eagle a long while,
+till the latter became a black cat. Thereupon the griffin became
+a piebald wolf and they fought long and sore, till the cat
+finding itself beaten, changed into a worm and crept into a
+pomegranate which lay beside the fountain in the midst of the
+hall whereupon the pomegranate swelled till it was as big as a
+watermelon. The wolf ran to seize it, but it rose into the air
+and falling on the pavement, broke in pieces, and all the seeds
+fell out and rolled hither and thither, till the floor was
+covered with them. Then the wolf shook itself and became a cock,
+which fell to picking up the seeds, till they were all gone,
+except one that, by the decree of Fate, had rolled to the side of
+the basin and lay hidden there. The cock began to crow and clap
+its wings and signed to us with his beak, as who should say,
+"Are there any grains left?" But we understood him not; and he
+gave such a cry that we thought the palace would fall on us.
+Then he ran about all over the hall, till he saw the remaining
+pomegranate-seed, and rushed to pick it up, but it sprang into
+the midst of the water and became a fish, which sank to the
+bottom of the basin. Thereupon the cock became big fish and
+plunged in after the other; and we saw nothing of them for
+a time, but heard a loud crying and screaming and trembled.
+Presently the Afrit rose out of the water, as he were one great
+flame, with fire and smoke issuing from his mouth and eyes and
+nostrils. Immediately after, the princess rose also, like a great
+coal of fire, and they fought till they were wrapped in flames
+and the hall was filled with smoke. As for us, we were well-nigh
+suffocated and hid ourselves and would have plunged into the
+water, fearing lest we be burnt up and destroyed: and the King
+said, "There is no power and no virtue but in God the Most High,
+the Supreme! We are God's and to Him we return! Would God I had
+not urged my daughter to attempt the delivery of this ape,
+whereby I have imposed on her this fearful labour with yonder
+accursed Afrit, against whom all the other Afrits in the world
+could not prevail! And would we had never seen this ape, may
+God's blessing not be on him nor on the hour of his coming! We
+thought to do him a kindness for the love of God, by freeing him
+from this enchantment, and lo, we have brought this terrible
+travail upon ourselves!" But my tongue was tied and I could not
+say a word to him. Suddenly, the Afrit roared out from under the
+flames and coming up to us, as we stood on the dais, blew fire in
+our faces. The princess pursued him and blew flames at him, and
+the sparks from them both fell upon us; her sparks did us no
+hurt, but of his one lighted on my right eye and destroyed it;
+another fell on the King's face and scorched the lower part,
+burning away half his beard and making his under teeth drop out,
+and a third lighted on the eunuch's breast and set him on fire,
+so that he was consumed and died forthright. So we despaired of
+life and looked for nothing but death; but presently we heard a
+voice exclaiming, "God is most great! He giveth aid and victory
+to the true believer and abandoneth him who denieth the religion
+of Mohammed, the Moon of the Faith!" And lo, the King's daughter
+had burnt up the Afrit and he was become a heap of ashes! Then
+she came up to us and said, "Bring me a cup of water." They did
+so: and she spoke over the water words we understood not and
+sprinkled me with it, saying, "By the virtue of the Truth and of
+the Most Great Name of God, return to thine original shape!" And
+immediately I shook and became a man as before, save that I had
+lost my right eye. Then she cried out, "The fire! The fire! O my
+father, I have but an instant to live, for I am not used to fight
+with Jinn: had he been a man, I had slain him long ago. I had no
+travail till the time when the pomegranate burst asunder and I
+overlooked the seed in which was the genie's life. Had I picked
+it up, he would have died at once; but as fate and destiny would
+have it, I knew not of this, so that he came upon me unawares and
+there befell between us a sore strife under the earth and in the
+air and in the water: and as often as I opened on him a
+gate[FN#34] (of magic), he opened on me another, till at last he
+opened on me the gate of fire, and seldom does he on whom the
+gate of fire is opened escape alive. But Providence aided me
+against him, so that I consumed him first, after I had summoned
+him to embrace the faith of Islam. As for me, I am a dead woman
+and may God supply my place to you!" Then she called upon God for
+help and ceased not to implore relief from the fire, till
+presently a tongue of fierce flame broke out from her clothes and
+shot up to her breast and thence to her face. When it reached her
+face, she wept and said, "I testify that there is no god but God
+and that Mohammed is the apostle of God!" And we looked at her
+and behold, she was a heap of ashes beside those of the genie. We
+mourned for her and I wished I had been in her place, so had I
+not seen the fair-faced one who had done me this good office
+reduced to ashes; but there is no averting the decree of God.
+When the King saw what had befallen his daughter, he plucked out
+the rest of his beard and buffeted his face and rent his clothes;
+and I did the like, and we both wept for her. Then came in the
+chamberlains and grandees and were amazed to find two heaps of
+ashes and the Sultan in a swoon. So they stood round him till he
+revived and told them what had happened, whereat they were sore
+afflicted and the women and slave-girls shrieked aloud and kept
+up their lamentation for the space of seven days. Moreover, the
+King bade build a great dome over his daughter's ashes and burn
+therein candles and lamps: but the Afrit's ashes they scattered
+to the winds, committing them to the malediction of God. The King
+was sick, well-nigh unto death, for a month's space, after which
+health returned to him and His beard grew again. Then he sent for
+me and said to me, "O youth, verily we led the happiest of lives,
+safe from the vicissitudes of fortune, till thou camest to us,
+when troubles flocked upon us. O that we had never seen thee nor
+the ugly face of thee! For through our taking pity on thee, we
+are come to this state of bereavement. I have lost, on thine
+account, first, my daughter, who was worth a hundred men;
+secondly, I have suffered what befell me by the fire and the loss
+of my teeth, and my eunuch also is dead. I do not indeed blame
+thee for aught of this; for all was decreed of God to us and to
+thee; and praised be He that my daughter delivered thee, though
+at the cost of her own life! But now, O my son, depart from my
+city and let what has befallen us on thine account suffice.
+Depart in peace, and if I see thee again I will kill thee." And
+he cried out at me. So I went forth from his presence, knowing
+not whither I should go, and hardly believing in my escape. And I
+recalled all that had befallen me from first to last and thanked
+God that it was my eye that I had lost and not my life. Before I
+left the town, I entered the bath and shaved my head and put on a
+hair-cloth garment. Then I fared forth at a venture, and every
+day I recalled all the misfortunes that had befallen me and wept
+and repeated the following verses:
+
+By the Compassionate, I'm dazed and know not where I go. Griefs
+     flock on me from every side, I know not whence they grow.
+I will endure till patience' self less patient is than I: I will
+     have patience till it please the Lord to end my woe.
+A vanquished man, without complaint, my doom I will endure, As
+     the parched traveller in the waste endures the torrid glow.
+I will endure till aloes'[FN#35] self confess that I, indeed, Can
+     'gainst a bitt'rer thing abide than even it can show.
+There is no bitt'rer thing; and yet if patience play me false, It
+     were to me a bitt'rer thing than all the rest, I trow.
+The wrinkles graven on my heart would speak my hidden pain If
+     through my breast the thought could pierce and read what
+     lies below.
+Were but my load on mountains laid, they'd crumble into dust; On
+     fire it would be quenched outright; on wind, 'twould cease
+     to blow.
+Let who will say that life is sweet; to all there comes a day
+     When they must needs a bitt'rer thing than aloes[FN#36]
+     undergo.
+
+Then I journeyed through many lands and cities, intending for the
+Abode of Peace[FN#37], Baghdad, in the hope that I might get
+speech of the Commander of the Faithful and tell him all that had
+befallen me. I arrived here this night and found my brother, this
+first Calender, standing perplexed; so I saluted him and entered
+into converse with him. Presently up came our brother, this third
+Calender, and said to us, "Peace be on you! I am a stranger." "We
+also are strangers," answered we, "and have come hither this
+blessed night." So we all three walked on together, none of us
+knowing the others' story, till chance brought us to this door
+and we came in to you. This, then, is my story and the manner of
+the shaving of my face and the loss of my eye.' Quoth the
+mistress of the house, 'Thy story is indeed a rare one: and now
+begone about thy business.' But he replied, 'I will not stir till
+I hear the others' stories.' Then came forward the third Calender
+and said, 'O illustrious lady, my history is not like that of
+these my comrades, but still stranger and more marvellous, in
+that, whilst destiny and fore-ordained fate overcame them
+unawares, I with mine own hand drew fate and affliction upon
+myself, as thou shalt presently hear. Know that
+
+
+
+
+                  Story of the Third Calender.
+
+
+
+I also am a king, the son of a king, and my name is Agib, son of
+Khesib. My father died, and I took the kingdom after him and
+ruled my subjects with justice and beneficence. My capital city
+stood on the shore of a wide spreading sea, on which I had fifty
+merchant ships and fifty smaller vessels for pleasure and a
+hundred and fifty cruisers equipped for war; and near at hand
+were many great islands in the midst of the ocean. Now I loved to
+sail the sea and had a mind to visit the islands aforesaid so I
+took ship with a month's victual and set out and took my pleasure
+in the islands and returned to my capital Then, being minded to
+make a longer voyage upon the ocean, I fitted out half a score
+ships with provision for two months and sailed twenty days, till
+one night the wind blew contrary and the sea rose against us with
+great billows; the waves clashed together and there fell on us a
+great darkness. So we gave ourselves up for lost and I said, "He
+who perils himself is not to be commended, though he come off
+safe." Then we prayed to God and besought Him, but the wind
+ceased not to rage and the waves to clash together, till
+daybreak, when the wind fell, the sea became calm and the sun
+shone out. Presently we sighted an island, where we landed and
+cooked food and ate and rested two days. Then we set out again
+and sailed other twenty days, without seeing land; but the
+currents carried us out of our true course, so that the captain
+lost his reckoning and finding himself in strange waters, bade
+the watch go up to the mast-head and look out. So he climbed the
+mast and looked out and said "O captain, I see nothing to right
+and left save sky and water, but ahead I see something looming
+afar off in the midst of the sea, now black and now white." When
+the captain heard the look-out's words, he cast his turban on the
+deck and plucked out his beard and buffeted his face and said, "O
+King, we are all dead men, not one of us can be saved." We all
+wept for his weeping and I said to him, "O captain, tell us what
+it is the look-out saw." "O my lord," answered he, "know that we
+lost our way on the night of the storm and since then we have
+gone astray one-and-twenty days and there is no wind to bring us
+back to our true course. To-morrow, by the end of the day, we
+shall come to a mountain of black stone, called loadstone, for
+thither the currents bear us perforce. As soon as we come within
+a certain distance, all the nails in the ships will fly out and
+fasten to the mountain, and the ships will open and fall to
+pieces, for that God the Most High has gifted the loadstone with
+a secret virtue, by reason whereof all iron is attracted to it;
+and on this mountain is much iron, how much God only knows, from
+the many ships that have been wrecked there from old time. On its
+summit there stands a dome of brass, raised on ten columns and on
+the top of the dome are a horse and horseman of the same metal.
+The latter holds in his hand a brazen lance and on his breast is
+a tablet of lead, graven with names and talismans: and, O King,
+it is nought but this horseman that causeth the folk to perish,
+nor will the charm be broken till he fall from his horse." Then
+he wept sore and we all made sure of death and each took leave of
+his comrade and charged him with his last wishes, in case he
+should be saved. That night we slept not, and in the morning, we
+sighted the loadstone mountain, towards which the currents
+carried us with irresistible force. When the ships came within a
+certain distance, they opened and the nails started out and all
+the iron in them sought the loadstone and clove to it; so that by
+the end of the day, we were all struggling in the sea round the
+mountain. Some of us were saved, but the most part drowned, and
+even those who escaped knew not one of the other, being stupefied
+by the raging wind and the buffeting of the waves. As for me, God
+preserved me that I might suffer that which He willed to me of
+trouble and torment and affliction, for I got on a plank from one
+of the ships and, the wind driving it ashore, I happened on a
+pathway leading to the top, as it were a stair hewn out of the
+rock. So I called upon the name of God the Most High and besought
+His succour and clinging to the steps, addressed myself to climb
+up little by little. And God stilled the wind and aided me in my
+ascent, so that I reached the summit in safety. There I found
+nothing but the dome; so I entered, mightily rejoiced at my
+escape, and made my ablutions and prayed a two-bow prayer[FN#38]
+in gratitude to God for my preservation. Then I fell asleep under
+the dome and saw in a dream one who said to me, "O son of Khesib,
+when thou awakest, dig under thy feet and thou wilt find a bow of
+brass and three leaden arrows, inscribed with talismanic
+characters. Take the bow and shoot the arrows at the horseman on
+the top of the dome and rid mankind of this great calamity. When
+thou shootest at him, he will fall into the sea and the horse
+will drop at thy feet: take it and bury it in the place of the
+bow. This done, the sea will swell and rise till it is level with
+the top of the mountain, and there will appear on it a boat
+containing a man of brass (other than he whom thou shalt have
+thrown down), with an oar in his hands. He will come to thee, and
+do thou embark with him, but beware of naming God. He will row
+with thee for the space of ten days, till he brings thee to a
+port of safety, where thou shalt find those who will carry thee
+to thine own country: and all this shall be fulfilled to thee, so
+thou pronounce not the name of God." I started up from my sleep
+and hastening to do the bidding of the mysterious voice, found
+the bow and arrows and shot at the horseman and overthrew him;
+whereupon he fell into the sea, whilst the horse dropped at my
+feet and I took it and buried it. Then the sea grew troubled and
+rose till it reached the top of the mountain; nor had I long to
+wait before I saw a boat in the midst of the sea coming towards
+me. So I gave thanks to God: and when the boat came up to me, I
+saw in it a man of brass, with a tablet of lead on his breast,
+inscribed with names and talismans; and I embarked without saying
+a word. The boatman rowed on with me for ten whole days, till I
+caught sight of islands and mountains and signs of safety;
+whereat I was beyond measure rejoiced and in the excess of my
+gladness, I called upon the name of the Almighty and exclaimed,
+"There is no god but God! God is most great!" When behold, the
+boat turned over and cast me out into the sea, then righted and
+sank beneath the water. Now, I knew how to swim, so I swam the
+whole day till nightfall, when my arms and shoulders failed me
+for fatigue, and I abode in mortal peril and made the profession
+of the Faith[FN#39], looking for nothing but death. Presently,
+the sea rose, for the greatness of the wind, and a wave like a
+great rampart took me and bearing me forward, cast me up on the
+land, that the will of God might be done. I clambered up the
+beach and, putting off my clothes, wrung them and spread them out
+to dry, then lay down and slept all night. As soon as it was day,
+I put on my clothes and rose to look about me. Presently I came
+to a grove of trees and making a circuit round it, found that I
+was on a little island, surrounded on all sides by the sea;
+whereupon I said to myself, "No sooner do I escape from one peril
+than I fall into a worse." But as I was pondering my case and
+wishing for death, I spied a ship afar off making towards me; so
+I climbed up into a tree and hid myself among the branches.
+Presently the ship came to an anchor, and ten slaves landed,
+bearing spades, and made for the middle of the island, where they
+dug till they uncovered a trapdoor and raised it. Then they
+returned to the ship and brought thence bread and flour and oil
+and honey and meat and carpets and all else that was needed to
+furnish one dwelling there; nor did they leave going back and
+forth till they had transferred to the underground dwelling all
+that was in the ship: after which they again repaired to the
+vessel and returned, laden with wearing apparel of the finest
+kind and in their midst a very old man, whom time had mauled till
+he was wasted and worn, as he were a bone wrapped in a rag of
+blue cloth, through which the winds blew East and West. As says
+the poet of him:
+
+Time makes us tremble ah, how piteously! For full of violence and
+     might is he.
+Once on a time I walked and was not tired: Now am I tired, yet
+     have not walked, ah me!
+
+He held by the hand a youth cast in the mould of symmetry and
+perfection, so fair that his beauty might well be the subject of
+proverbs; for he was like a tender sapling, ravishing every heart
+with his beauty and seducing every wit with his amorous grace. It
+was of him the poet spoke, when he said:
+
+Beauty they brought to liken it with him: But Beauty hung its
+     head for shame and fear.
+"O Beauty," said they, "dost thou know his like?" It answered,
+     "Never have I seen his peer."
+
+They proceeded to the underground, where they descended all and
+did not reappear for an hour or more, at the end of which time
+the old man and the slaves came up, without the youth, and
+replacing the trap-door, covered it again with earth; then
+returned to the ship and set sail. As soon as they were out of
+sight, I came down from the tree and going to the place I had
+seen them fill up, made shift to clear away the earth, till I
+came to the trap-door, which was of wood, the shape and bigness
+of a mill-stone, and raised it, when there appeared underneath a
+winding stair of stone. At this I wondered and descending, came
+to a fair chamber, spread with various kinds of carpets and hung
+with silken stuffs, where I saw the youth sitting alone upon a
+raised couch and leant upon a cushion, with a fan in his hand and
+sweet-scented flowers and herbs and fruits before him. When he
+saw me, he turned pale; but I saluted him, saying, "Calm thyself
+and put away fear; no harm shall come to thee: I am a man like
+unto thee and a king's son, whom Providence hath sent to bear
+thee company in thy solitude. But now tell me thy history and why
+thou dwellest underground by thyself." When he was assured that I
+was of his kind, he was glad and his colour returned; then he
+made me draw near to him and said, "O my brother, my story is a
+strange one, and it is as follows. My father is a merchant
+jeweller, possessed of great wealth and having black and white
+slaves, who make trading voyages, on his account, in ships and on
+camels, to the most distant countries; and he has dealings with
+kings. Until my birth, he had never been blessed with a child,
+but one night he dreamt that a son had been born to him, who
+lived but a short time, and awoke weeping and crying out. The
+following night my mother conceived and he took note of the date
+of her conception. The days of her pregnancy were accomplished
+and she gave birth to myself, whereupon my father rejoiced and
+made banquets and fed the poor and the needy for that I had been
+vouchsafed to him in his old age. Then he assembled the
+astrologers and mathematicians of the day and those learned in
+nativities and horoscopes; and they drew my horoscope and said to
+my father, 'Thy son will live till the age of fifteen, at which
+date there is a break[FN#40] in his line of life, which if he
+tide over in safety, he shall live long. The danger with which he
+is threatened is as follows. In the Sea of Peril stands a
+mountain called the Loadstone Mountain, on whose summit is a
+horseman of brass, seated on a horse of the same metal, with a
+tablet of lead on his breast. Fifty days after this horseman
+falls from his horse, thy son will die, and his slayer will be he
+who overthrows the statue, a king called Agib, son of Khesib.' My
+father was sore concerned at this prediction; but he brought me
+up and gave me a good education, till I attained my fifteenth
+year. Ten days ago, news came to him that the horseman had fallen
+into the sea and that he who overthrew him was Agib, son of King
+Khesib; whereat he was as one distraught and feared for my life.
+So he built me this place under the earth and stocking it with
+all that I need during the forty days that yet remain of the
+period of danger, transported me hither, that I might be safe
+from King Agib's hands. When the forty days are past, he will
+come back and fetch me; and this is my story and why thou findest
+me here alone." When I heard his story, I marvelled and said to
+myself, "I am that King Agib of whom he speaks; but, by Allah, I
+will assuredly not kill him!" And I said to him, "O my lord, God
+willing, thou shalt be spared suffering and death, nor shalt thou
+see trouble or sorrow or disquiet, for I will abide with thee and
+serve thee; and when I have borne thee company during the
+appointed days, I will go with thee to thy dwelling-place and
+thou shalt bring me to some of thy father's servants, with whom I
+may journey to my own country; and God shall requite thee for
+me." He rejoiced in my words and we sat conversing till nightfall
+when I rose and lighted a great wax candle and fed the lamps and
+set on meat and drink and sweetmeats. We ate and drank and sat
+talking till late into the night, when he lay down to sleep and I
+covered him up and went to sleep myself. Next morning, I rose and
+heated a little water, then woke him gently and brought him the
+warm water, with which he washed his face and thanked me, saying,
+"God requite thee with good, O youth! By Allah, if I escape from
+this my danger and from him they call Agib ben Khesib, I will
+make my father reward thee!" "May the day never come on which
+evil shall befall thee," answered I, "and may God appoint my last
+day before thine!" Then I set on food and we ate, and I made
+ready perfumes with which he scented himself. Moreover, I made
+him a backgammon board[FN#41], and we played and ate sweetmeats
+and played again till nightfall when I rose and lighting the
+lamps, set on food; and we ate and sat talking till the night was
+far spent. Then he lay down to sleep and I covered him up and
+went to sleep myself. Thus I did with him, day and night, and the
+love of him got hold upon my heart and I forgot my troubles and
+said to myself, "The astrologers lied; by Allah, I will not kill
+him!" I ceased not to serve him and bear him company and
+entertain him thus, till nine-and-thirty days were passed and we
+came to the morning of the fortieth day, when he rejoiced and
+said to me, "O my brother, the forty days are up to-day, praised
+be God who hath preserved me from death, and this by thy blessing
+and the blessing of thy coming to me, and I pray Him to restore
+thee to thy country! But now, O my brother, I prithee heat me
+some water, that I may wash my body and change my clothes."
+"With all my heart," answered I; and heated water in plenty
+and carrying it in to him, washed his body well with lupin-
+meal[FN#42] and rubbed him down and changed his clothes and
+spread him a high bed, on which he lay down to rest after the
+bath. Then said he, "O my brother, cut me a melon and sweeten it
+with sugar-candy." So I went to the closet and bringing a fine
+melon I found there on a platter, said to him, "O my lord, hast
+thou no knife?" "Here it is," answered he, "on the high shelf at
+my head." So I got up hurriedly and taking the knife, drew it
+from its sheath; but in stepping down backward, my foot slipped
+and I fell heavily on the youth, holding in my hand the knife,
+which hastened to fulfil that which was ordained and entered his
+heart, and he died forthright. When I saw that he was no more and
+that I had indeed killed him, I cried out grievously and buffeted
+my face and tore my clothes, saying, "We are God's and to Him we
+return! There remained for this youth but one day of the period
+of danger that the astrologers had foretold for him, and the
+death of this fair one was to be at my hand! Verily, my life is
+nought but disasters and afflictions! Would he had not asked me
+to cut the melon or would I had died before him! But what God
+decrees cometh to pass." When I was certain that there was no
+life left in him, I rose and ascending the stair, replaced the
+trap-door and covered it with earth. Then I looked out to sea and
+saw the ship cleaving the waters in the direction of the island.
+Whereat I was afeared and said, "They will be here anon and will
+find their son dead and know 'twas I killed him and will slay me
+without fail." So I climbed up into a high tree and hid myself
+among the leaves. Hardly had I done so, when the vessel came to
+an anchor and the slaves landed with the old man and made direct
+for the place, where they cleared away the earth and were
+surprised to find it soft.[FN#43] Then they raised the trap-door
+and going down, found the boy lying dead, clad in clean clothes,
+with his face shining from the bath and the knife sticking in his
+breast. At this sight, they shrieked aloud and wept and buffeted
+their faces and cried out, "Alas! woe worth the day!" whilst the
+old man swooned away and remained so long insensible, that the
+slaves thought he would not survive his son. So they wrapped the
+dead youth in his clothes and carried him up and laid him on the
+ground, covering him with a shroud of silk. Then they addressed
+themselves to transport all that was in the place to the ship,
+and presently the old man revived and coming up after them, saw
+his son laid out, whereupon he fell on the ground and strewed
+dust on his head and buffeted his face and tore his beard; and
+his weeping redoubled, as he hung over his dead son, till he
+swooned away again. After awhile the slaves came back, with a
+silken carpet, and laying the old man thereon, sat down at his
+head. All this time I was in the tree above them, watching them;
+and indeed my heart became hoary before my head, for all the
+grief and affliction I had undergone. The old man ceased not from
+his swoon till nigh upon sundown, when he came to himself and
+looking upon his dead son, recalled what had happened and how
+what he had feared had come to pass: and he buffeted his face and
+head and recited the following verses:
+
+My heart is cleft in twain for severance of loves; The burning
+     tears pour down in torrents from my eye.
+My every wish with him I loved is fled away: What can I do or
+     say? what help, what hope have I?
+Would I had never looked upon his lovely face! Alas, the ways on
+     me are straitened far and nigh!
+What charm can bring me peace, what drink forgetfulness, Whilst
+     in my heart the fire of love burns fierce and high?
+Would that my feet had trod with him the road of death! Then
+     should I not, as now, in lonely sorrow sigh.
+O God, that art my hope, have pity upon me! Unite us twain, I
+     crave, in Paradise for aye!
+How blessed were we once, whilst one house held us both And
+     twinned in pure content our happy lives passed by!
+Till fortune aimed at us the shafts of severance And parted us;
+     for who her arrows can defy?
+For lo! the age's pearl, the darling of his folk, The mould of
+     every grace, was singled out to die!
+I call him back: "Would God thine hour had never come!" What
+     while the case takes speech and doth forestall my cry.
+Which is the speediest way to win to thee, my son! My soul had
+     paid the price, if that thy life might buy.
+The sun could not compare with him, for lo! it sets. Nor yet the
+     moon that wanes and wasteth from the sky.
+Alas, my grief for thee and my complaint of fate! None can
+     console for thee nor aught thy place supply.
+Thy sire is all distraught with languishment for thee; Since
+     death upon thee came, his hopes are gone awry.
+Surely, some foe hath cast an envious eye on us: May he who
+     wrought this thing his just deserts aby!
+
+Then he sobbed once and gave up the ghost; whereupon the slaves
+cried out, "Alas, our master!" and strewed dust on their heads
+and wept sore. Then they carried the two bodies to the ship and
+set sail. As soon as they were out of sight, I came down from the
+tree and raising the trap-door, went down into the underground
+dwelling, where the sight of some of the youth's gear recalled
+him to my mind, and I repeated the following verses:
+
+I see their traces and pine for longing pain; My tears rain down
+     on the empty dwelling-place!
+And I pray to God, who willed that we should part, One day to
+     grant us reunion, of His grace!
+
+Then I went up again and spent the day in walking about the
+island, returning to the underground dwelling for the night. Thus
+I lived for a month, during which time I became aware that the
+sea was gradually receding day by day from the western side of
+the island, till by the end of the month, I found that the water
+was become low enough to afford a passage to the mainland. At
+this I rejoiced, making sure of delivery, and fording the little
+water that remained, made shift to reach the mainland, where I
+found great heaps of sand, in which even a camel would sink up to
+the knees. However, I took heart and making my way through the
+sand, espied something shining afar off, as it were a bright-
+blazing fire. So I made towards it, thinking to find succour
+and repeating the following verses:
+
+It may be Fate at last shall draw its bridle-rein And bring me
+     happy chance; for Fortune changes still;
+And things shall happen yet, despite the things fordone, To
+     further forth my hopes and bring me to my will.
+
+When I drew near the supposed fire, behold, it was a palace, with
+a gate of brass, whereon, when the sun shone, it gleamed and
+glistened and showed from afar, as it were a fire. I rejoiced at
+the sight and sat down before the palace gate; but hardly had I
+done so, when there came up ten young men, sumptuously clad and
+all blind of the right eye. They were accompanied by an old man;
+and I marvelled at their appearance and at their being all blind
+of the same eye. They saluted me and questioned me of my
+condition, whereupon I told them all that had befallen me. They
+wondered at my story and carried me into the palace, where I saw
+ten couches, with beds and coverlets of blue stuff, ranged in a
+circle, with a like couch of smaller size in the midst. As we
+entered, each of the young men went up to his own couch, and the
+old man seated himself on the smaller one in the middle. Then
+said they unto me, "O youth, sit down on the ground and enquire
+not of our doings nor of the loss of our right eyes." Presently
+the old man rose and brought each one of the young men and myself
+his portion of meat and drink in separate vessels; and we sat
+talking, they questioning me of my adventures and I replying,
+till the night was far spent. Then said they to the old man, "O
+elder, wilt thou not bring us our ordinary? The time is come."
+"Willingly," answered he, and rose and entering a closet,
+disappeared and presently returned, bearing on his head ten
+dishes, each covered with a piece of blue stuff. He set a dish
+before each youth and lighting ten wax-candles, set one upon each
+dish; after which he uncovered the dishes, and lo, they were full
+of ashes and powdered charcoal and soot. Then all the young men
+tucked up their sleeves and fell to weeping and lamenting; and
+they blackened their faces and rent their clothes and buffeted
+their cheeks and beat their breasts, exclaiming "We were seated
+at our ease, but our impertinent curiosity would not let us be!"
+They ceased not to do thus till near daybreak, when the old man
+rose and heated water for them, and they washed their faces and
+put on fresh clothes. When I saw this, my senses left me for
+wonderment and my heart was troubled and my mind perplexed, for
+their strange behaviour, till I forgot what had befallen me and
+could not refrain from questioning them; so I said to them, "What
+makes you do thus, after our sport and merry-making together?
+Praised be God, ye are whole of wit, yet these are the doings of
+madmen! I conjure you, by all that is most precious to you, tell
+me why you behave thus and how ye came to lose each an eye!" At
+this, they turned to me and said, "O young man, let not thy youth
+beguile thee, but leave thy questioning." Then they slept and I
+with them, and when we awoke, the old man served up food; and
+after we had eaten and the vessels had been removed, we sat
+conversing till nightfall, when the old man rose and lit the
+candles and lamps and set meat and drink before us. We ate and
+sat talking and carousing till midnight, when they said to the
+old man, "Bring us our ordinary, for the hour of sleep is at
+hand." So he rose and brought them the dishes of soot and ashes,
+and they did as they had done on the preceding night. I abode
+with them on this wise for a month, during which time they
+blackened their faces every night, then washed them and changed
+their clothes and my trouble and amazement increased upon me till
+I could neither eat nor drink. At last, I lost patience and said
+to them, "O young men, if ye will not relieve my concern and
+acquaint me with the reason of your blackening your faces and the
+meaning of your words, 'We were seated at our ease, but our
+impertinent curiosity would not let us be,' let me leave you and
+return to my own people and be at rest from seeing these things,
+for as says the proverb,
+
+'Twere wiser and better your presence to leave, For when the eye
+     sees not, the heart does not grieve."
+
+"O youth," answered they, "we have not concealed this thing from
+thee but in our concern for thee, lest what befell us before thee
+and thou become like unto us." "It avails not," said I; "you must
+tell me." "We give thee good advice," rejoined they; "do thou
+take it and leave questioning us of our case, or thou wilt become
+one-eyed like unto us." But I still persisted in my demand and
+they said, "O youth, if this thing befall thee, we warn thee that
+we will never again receive thee into our company nor let thee
+abide with us." Then they took a ram and slaughtering it, skinned
+it and gave me a knife, saying, "Lie down on the skin and we will
+sew thee up in it and leave thee and go away. Presently there
+will come to thee a bird called the roc[FN#44], that will catch
+thee up in its claws and fly away with thee and set thee down on
+a mountain. As soon as thou feelest it alight with thee, slit the
+skin with the knife and come forth; whereupon the bird will take
+fright at thee and fly away and leave thee. Then rise and fare on
+half a day's journey, till thou comest to a palace rising high
+into the air, builded of khelenj[FN#45] and aloes and sandal-wood
+and plated with red gold, inlaid with all manner emeralds and
+other jewels. There enter and thou wilt attain thy desire. We all
+have been in that place, and this is the cause of the loss of our
+right eyes and the reason why we blacken our faces. Were we to
+tell thee our stories, it would take too much time, for each lost
+his eye by a separate adventure." They then sewed me up in the
+skin and left me on the ground outside the palace; and the roc
+carried me off and set me down on the mountain. I cut open the
+skin and came out, whereupon the bird flew away and I walked on
+till I reached the palace. The door stood open; so I entered
+and found myself in a very wide and goodly hall, as big as a
+tilting-ground, round which were a hundred doors of sandal and
+aloes-wood, plated with red gold and furnished with rings of
+silver. At the upper end of the hall, I saw forty young ladies,
+sumptuously clad and adorned, as they were moons, one could never
+tire of gazing on them: and they all came up to me, saying,
+"Welcome and fair welcome, O my lord! This month past have we
+been expecting the like of thee; and praised be God who hath sent
+us one who is worthy of us and we of him!" Then they made me sit
+down on a high divan and said to me, "From to-day thou art our
+lord and master, and we are thy handmaids; so order us as thou
+wilt." And I marvelled at their case. Presently one of them arose
+and set food before me, and I ate, whilst others heated water and
+washed my hands and feet and changed my clothes, and yet others
+made ready sherbets and gave me to drink; and they were all full
+of joy and delight at my coming. Then they sat down and conversed
+with me till nightfall, when five of them arose and spreading a
+mat, covered it with flowers and fruits and confections in
+profusion and set on wine; and we sat down to drink, while some
+of them sang and others played the lute and psaltery and
+recorders and other instruments. So the cup went round amongst us
+and such gladness possessed me that I forgot all the cares of the
+world and said, "This is indeed life, but that it is fleeting."
+We ceased not to drink and make merry till the night was far
+spent and we were warm with wine, when they said to me, "O our
+lord, choose from amongst us one who shall be thy bedfellow this
+night and not lie with thee again till forty days be past." So I
+chose a girl fair of face, with liquid black eyes and jetty hair,
+slightly parted teeth[FN#46] and joining eyebrows, perfect in
+shape and form, as she were a palm-sapling or a stalk of sweet
+basil; such an one as troubles the heart and bewilders the wit,
+even as saith of her the poet:
+
+'Twere vain to liken her unto the tender branch, And out on who
+     compares her form to the gazelle!
+Whence should gazelles indeed her shape's perfection get Or yet
+     her honeyed lips so sweet to taste and smell,
+Or those great eyes of hers, so dire to those who love, That bind
+     their victims fast in passion's fatal spell?
+I dote on her with all the folly of a child. What wonder if he
+     turn a child who loves too well!
+
+And I repeated to her the following verses:
+
+My eyes to gaze on aught but thy grace disdain And none but thou
+     in my thought shall ever reign.
+The love of thee is my sole concern, my fair; In love of thee, I
+     will die and rise again.
+
+So I lay with her that night, never knew I a fairer, and when it
+was morning, the ladies carried me to the bath and washed me and
+clad me in rich clothes. Then they served up food and we ate and
+drank, and the cup went round amongst us till the night, when I
+chose from among them one who was fair to look upon and soft of
+sides, such an one as the poet describes, when he says:
+
+I saw upon her breast two caskets snowy-white, Musk-sealed; she
+     doth forbid to lovers their delight.
+She guards them with the darts that glitter from her eyes; And
+     those who would them press, her arrowy glances smite.
+
+I passed a most delightful night with her; and to make a long
+story short, I led the goodliest life with them, eating and
+drinking and carousing and every night taking one or other of
+them to my bed, for a whole year, at the end of which time they
+came in to me in tears and fell to bidding me farewell and
+clinging to me, weeping and crying out; whereat I marvelled and
+said to them, "What ails you? Indeed you break my heart." "Would
+we had never known thee!" answered they. "We have companied with
+many men, but never saw we a pleasanter or more courteous than
+thou: and now we must part from thee. Yet it rests with thee to
+see us again, and if thou hearken to us, we need never be parted:
+but our hearts forebode us that thou will not hearken to us; and
+this is the cause of our weeping" "Tell me how the case stands,"
+said I; and they answered, "Know that we are the daughters of
+kings, who have lived here together for years past, and once in
+every year we are absent for forty days; then we return and abide
+here for the rest of the year, eating and drinking and making
+merry. We are now about to depart according to our custom, and we
+fear lest thou disobey our injunctions in our absence, in which
+case we shall never see thee again; but if thou do as we bid
+thee, all will yet be well. Take these keys: they are those of
+the hundred apartments of the palace, each of which contains what
+will suffice thee for a day's entertainment. Ninety-and-nine of
+these thou mayst open and take thy pleasure therein, but beware
+lest thou open the hundredth, that which has a door of red gold;
+for therein is that which will bring about a separation between
+us and thee." Quoth I, "I will assuredly not open the hundredth
+door, if therein be separation from you." Then one of them came
+up to me and embraced me and repeated the following verses:
+
+If but the days once more our severed loves unite, If but my eyes
+     once more be gladdened by thy sight,
+Then shall the face of Time smile after many a frown, And I will
+     pardon Fate for all its past despite.
+
+And I repeated the following:
+
+When she drew near to bid farewell, upon our parting day, Whilst
+     on her heart the double stroke of love and longing smote,
+She wept pure pearls, and eke mine eyes did rain cornelians
+     forth; And lo, they all combined and made a necklace for her
+     throat!
+
+When I saw her weeping, I said, "By Allah, I will never open the
+hundredth door!" Then they bade me farewell and departed, leaving
+me alone in the palace. When the evening drew near, I opened the
+first door and found myself in an orchard, full of blooming
+trees, laden with ripe fruit, and the air resounded with the loud
+singing of birds and the ripple of running waters. The sight
+brought solace to my soul, and I entered and walked among the
+trees, inhaling the odours of the flowers and listening to the
+warble of the birds, that sang the praises of God the One, the
+Almighty. I looked upon the apple, whose colour is parcel red and
+parcel yellow, as says the poet:
+
+The apple in itself two colours doth unite, The loved one's cheek
+     of red, and yellow of despite.
+
+Then I looked upon the quince and inhaled its fragrance that puts
+musk and ambergris to shame, even as says the poet:
+
+The quince contains all pleasant things that can delight mankind,
+     Wherefore above all fruits that be its virtues are renowned.
+Its taste is as the taste of wine, its breath the scent of musk;
+     Its hue is that of virgin gold, its shape the full moon's
+     round.
+
+Thence I passed to the pear, whose taste surpasses rose-water and
+sugar, and the plum, whose beauty delights the eye, as it were a
+polished ruby. When I had taken my fill of looking on the place,
+I went and locked the door again. Next day, I opened the second
+door and found myself in a great pleasaunce, set with many
+palm-trees and watered by a running stream, whose borders were
+decked with bushes of rose and jessamine and henna[FN#47] and
+camomile and marjoram and sweetbriar and carpeted with narcissus
+and ox-eye and violets and lilies and gillyflowers. The breeze
+fluttered over all these sweet-smelling plants and scattered
+their scents right and left, possessing me with complete delight.
+I took my pleasure in the place awhile, and my chagrin was
+somewhat lightened. Then I went out and locked the door and
+opening the third door, found therein a great hall paved with
+vari-coloured marbles and other precious stones and hung with
+cages of sandal and aloes wood, full of singing-birds, such as
+the thousand-voiced nightingale[FN#48] and the cushat and the
+blackbird and the turtle-dove and the Nubian warbler. My heart
+was ravished by the song of the birds and I forgot my cares and
+slept in the aviary till the morning. Then I opened the fourth
+door and saw a great hall, with forty cabinets ranged on either
+side. The doors of the latter stood open; so I entered and found
+them full of pearls and rubies and chrysolites and beryls and
+emeralds and corals and carbuncles and all manner of precious
+stones and jewels of gold and silver, such as the tongue fails to
+describe. I was amazed at what I saw and said in myself
+"Methinks, if all the kings of the earth joined together they
+could not produce the like of these treasures!" And my heart
+dilated and I exclaimed, "Now am I king of my time, for all these
+riches are mine by the favour of God, and I have forty young
+ladies under my hand, nor is there any with them but myself!" In
+short, I passed nine-and-thirty days after this fashion,
+exploring the riches of the place, till I had opened all the
+doors, except that which the princesses had charged me not to
+open, but my thoughts ran ever on this latter and Satan urged me,
+for my ruin, to open it, nor had I patience to forbear; though
+there remained but one day of the appointed time. So I opened the
+hundredth door, that which was plated with red gold, and was met
+by a perfume, whose like I had never before smelt and which was
+of so subtle and penetrating a quality, that it invaded my head
+and I fell down, as if intoxicated, and lay awhile unconscious.
+Then I revived and took heart and entering, found myself in a
+place strewn with saffron and blazing with light shed by lamps of
+gold and candles, that diffused a scent of musk and aloes. In the
+midst stood two great censers, full of burning aloes wood and
+ambergris and other perfumes, and the place was full of their
+fragrance. Presently I espied a horse, black as night at its
+darkest, girt and bridled and saddled with red gold, standing
+before two mangers of white crystal, one full of winnowed sesame
+and the other of rose-water flavoured with musk. When I saw this,
+I was amazed and said to myself, "Surely this horse must be of
+extraordinary value!" and the devil tempted me, so that I took
+him out and mounted him, but he would not stir. So I spurred him
+with my heel, but he did not move; and I took a. switch and
+struck him with it. When he felt the blow, he gave a neigh like
+the roaring thunder, and spreading a pair of wings flew up with
+me high into the air. After awhile, he descended and set me down
+on the terrace of a palace; then, shaking me off his back, he
+smote me on the face with his tail and struck out my right eye
+and flew away, leaving me there. I went down into the palace and
+found myself again among the ten one-eyed youths, who exclaimed,
+when they saw me, "An ill welcome to thee!" Quoth I, "Behold, I
+am become like unto you, and now I would have you give me a dish
+of soot, that I may blacken my face and admit me to your
+company." "By Allah," answered they, "thou shalt not abide with
+us! Depart hence!" And they drove me away. I was grieved at their
+rejection of me and went out from them, mourning-hearted and
+tearful-eyed, saying to myself, "Of a truth, I was sitting at my
+ease, but my impertinent curiosity would not let me be." Then I
+shaved my beard and eyebrows and renouncing the world, became a
+Calender and wandered about God's earth, till by His blessing, I
+arrived at Baghdad in safety this evening and met with these two
+other Calenders standing bewildered. So I saluted them, saying,
+"I am a stranger;" to which they replied, "We also are strangers."
+And, as it chanced, we were all Calenders and each blind of the
+right eye. This, then, O my lady, is my story and the manner of
+the shaving of my face and the loss of my eye.' Quoth the
+mistress of the house, 'Begone about thy business.' But he said,
+'By Allah, I will not go, till I hear the others' stories!' Then
+she turned to the Khalif and his companions and said, 'Give me an
+account of yourselves.' So Jaafer came forward and repeated the
+story he had told the portress; whereupon the lady said, 'I
+pardon you all: go your ways.' So they all went out; and when
+they reached the street the Khalif said to the Calenders, 'O folk,
+whither are you bound now, seeing that it is not yet day?' 'By
+Allah, O my lord,' answered they, 'we know not where to go!'
+'Then come and pass the rest of the night with us,' said the
+Khalif, and turning to Jaafer, said to him, 'Take them home
+with thee and to-morrow bring them before me, that we may cause
+their adventures to be recorded.' Jaafer did as the Khalif
+bade him, and the latter returned to his palace. Sleep did not
+visit him that night, but he lay awake, pondering the adventures
+of the three Calenders and full of impatience to know the history
+of the two ladies and the black bitches; and no sooner had the
+day dawned than he went out and sat down on his chair of estate.
+Then his courtiers presented themselves and withdrew, whereupon
+he turned to Jaafer and said to him, 'Bring me the three ladies
+and the bitches and the Calenders, and make haste.' So Jaafer
+went out and brought them all before him and seated the ladies
+behind a curtain; then turned to them and said, speaking for the
+Khalif, 'O women, we pardon you your rough usage of us, in
+consideration of your previous kindness and for that ye knew us
+not: and now I would have you to know that you are in the
+presence of the fifth of the sons of Abbas, the Commander of the
+Faithful Haroun er Reshid, son of El Mehdi Mohammed, son of Abou
+Jaafer el Mensour. So do ye acquaint him with your stories and
+tell him nothing but the truth.' When the ladies heard Jaafer's
+speech, the eldest came forward and said, 'O Commander of the
+Faithful, my story is one which, were it graven with needles on
+the corners of the eye, would serve for an example to those who
+can profit by example and a warning to those who can take
+warning. And it is that
+
+
+
+
+                    The Eldest Lady's Story.
+
+
+
+These two bitches are my elder sisters by the same mother and
+father, and these two others, she on whom are the marks of blows
+and the cateress, are my sisters by another mother. When my
+father died, each took her portion of the heritage, and after
+awhile my mother died also and left me and my sisters-german a
+thousand dinars each. After awhile my two sisters married and
+lived with their husbands for a time; then the latter bought
+merchandise with their wives' money and set out on their travels,
+and I heard no more of them for five years: for their husbands
+spent their wives' fortunes and became bankrupt and deserted them
+in a foreign land. Presently, my eldest sister came back to me in
+the guise of a beggar, with tattered clothes and a dirty old
+veil, and altogether in so sorry a plight, that at first I knew
+her not; but when I recognised her, I asked her how she came in
+such a state. "O my sister," answered she, "talking profits not
+now: the pen[FN#49] hath written what was decreed." Then I sent
+her to the bath and clothed her in a suit of my own and entreated
+her kindly and said to her, "O my sister, thou standest to me in
+the stead of my father and mother; and God has blessed me in the
+share of the inheritance that fell to me and prospered it to me,
+so that I am now in flourishing case; and thou shalt share with
+me in my increase." So she abode with me a whole year, during
+which time we were much concerned to know what was become of our
+other sister. At last, she too came back to me, in a worse plight
+than the other, and I dealt still more kindly by her than by the
+first, and each of them had a share of my substance. After
+awhile, they said to me, "O sister, we desire to marry again, for
+we can no longer endure to live without husbands." "O my dear
+ones[FN#50]," answered I, "there is no good in marriage, for
+now-a-days good men are rare to find; nor do I see the advantage
+of marrying again, since ye have already made trial of matrimony
+and it has profited you nothing." They would not listen to me,
+but married without my consent; nevertheless I equipped them and
+portioned them with my own money and they went away with their
+husbands. After a little, the latter cheated them of all they had
+and went away and left them. Then they came to me, in abject
+case, and made their excuses to me, saying, "Do not reproach us;
+thou art younger than we, but riper of wit, so take us as thy
+handmaids, that we may eat our mouthful; and we will never again
+speak of marriage." Quoth I, "Ye are welcome, O my sisters: there
+is nothing dearer to me than you." And I took them in and
+redoubled in kindness to them. We lived thus for a whole year, at
+the end of which time I was minded to travel. So I fitted out a
+great ship at Bassora and loaded her with merchandise and victual
+and other necessaries for a voyage, and said to my sisters, "Will
+you come with me or abide at home till I return?" "We will go
+with thee," answered they, "for we cannot endure to be parted
+from thee." So I took them and set sail, after dividing my money
+into two parts, one of which I deposited with a trusty person,
+saying, "Maybe ill-hap shall betide the ship and yet we remain
+alive; but now, if we return, we shall find what will be of
+service to us." We sailed days and nights, till the captain
+missed the true course and the ship went astray with us and
+entered a sea other than that we aimed at. We knew not of this
+awhile and the wind blew fair for us ten days, at the end of
+which time, the watch went up to the mast-head, to look out, and
+cried, "Good news!" Then he came down, rejoicing, and said to us,
+"I see a city in the distance as it were a dove." At this we
+rejoiced and before an hour of the day was past, the city
+appeared to us afar off: and we said to the captain, "What is the
+name of yonder city?" "By Allah!" replied he, "I know not, for I
+never saw it before nor have I ever sailed this sea in my life;
+but since the affair has issued in safety, ye have nought to do
+but to land your goods, and if ye find a market, sell and buy and
+barter, as the occasion serves; if not, we will rest here two
+days, re-victual and depart." So we entered the harbour and the
+captain landed and was absent awhile, after which he returned and
+said to us, "Arise, go up into the city and marvel at God's
+dealings with His creatures and seek to be preserved from His
+wrath." So we landed and going up to the city, saw at the gate
+men with staves in their hands; but when we drew near them,
+behold, they had been stricken by the wrath of God and were
+become stones. Then we entered the city and found all its in
+habitants changed into black stones: there was not a living soul
+therein, no, not a blower of the fire. At this we were amazed and
+passed on through the bazaars, where we found all the goods and
+gold and silver left lying in their places, and rejoiced and
+said, "Doubtless, there is some mystery in all this." Then we
+dispersed about the streets of the city and each busied himself
+with making prize of the wealth and stuffs lying about and took
+no heed of his comrades, whilst I went up to the citadel and
+found it goodly of fashion. I entered the king's palace and saw
+all the vessels of gold and silver and the king himself seated in
+the midst of his officers and grandees, clad in raiment such as
+confounded the wit. The throne on which he sat was encrusted with
+pearls and jewels and his robes were of cloth of gold, adorned
+with all manner jewels, that shone like stars. Around him stood
+fifty white slaves, with drawn swords in their hands and clad in
+divers sorts of silken stuffs; but when I drew near to them,
+behold, they were all black stones. My understanding was
+confounded at the sight, but I went on and came to the saloon of
+the harem, which I found hung with tapestries of gold-striped
+silk and spread with carpets of the same, embroidered with
+flowers of gold. Here I saw the queen lying, arrayed in a robe
+covered with fresh pearls as big as hazel-nuts and crowned with a
+diadem set with all manner jewels. Her neck was covered with
+collars and necklaces and all her clothes and ornaments were
+unchanged, but she herself had been smitten of God and was become
+black stone. Presently I spied an open door, with seven steps
+leading to it, and going up, found myself in a place paved with
+marble and hung and carpeted with gold-embroidered stuffs. At the
+upper end stood an alcove with drawn curtains and I saw a light
+issuing thence. So I went up to the alcove and found therein a
+couch of juniper wood, inlaid with pearls and diamonds and set
+with bosses of emeralds, with silken coverings of bewildering
+richness and curtains of the same, looped up with pearls. At the
+head of the bed stood two lighted candles and in the midst of the
+alcove was a little stool, on which lay a jewel, the size of a
+goose's egg, that shone like a lamp and lighted the whole place;
+but there was no one to be seen. When I saw these things, I
+wondered and said, "Some one must have lighted these candles."
+Then I went out and came to the kitchen and thence to the buttery
+and the king's treasuries and continued to explore the palace and
+to go from place to place; and for wonderment at what I saw, I
+forgot myself and wandered on, lost in thought, till the night
+overtook me. Then I would have gone out, but lost my way and
+could not find the gate; so I returned to the alcove, where I lay
+down on the bed and covering myself with a quilt, repeated
+somewhat of the Koran and would have slept, but could not, for
+restlessness possessed me. In the middle of the night, I heard a
+low sweet voice reciting the Koran, whereat I rejoiced and
+rising, followed the sound, till it led me to a chamber with the
+door ajar. I looked through the chink of the door and saw an
+oratory, wherein was a prayer-niche[FN#51], with candles burning
+and lamps hanging from the ceiling. In the midst was spread a
+prayer-carpet, on which sat a handsome youth, with a copy of the
+Koran open before him, from which he was reading. I wondered to
+see him alone alive of all the people of the city and entered and
+saluted him; whereupon he raised his eyes and returned my
+salutation. Then said I, "I implore thee, by the truth of that
+thou readest from the book of God, to answer me my questions." He
+looked at me with a smile and said, "O handmaid of God, tell me
+first how thou camest hither, and I will tell thee what has
+befallen me and the people of this city and the manner of my
+preservation." So I told him my story, at which he marvelled, and
+questioned him of the people of the city. Quoth he, "Have
+patience with me a little, O my sister!" and shutting the Koran,
+laid it in a bag of satin. Then he made me sit down by his side,
+and I looked at him and behold, he was like the moon at its full,
+bright-faced, soft-sided, well-shaped and fair to look upon, as
+he were a figure of sugar,[FN#52] even as says the poet of the
+like of him:
+
+A seer of the stars one night was reading the book of the skies,
+     When lo, in his scroll he saw a lovely youth arise.
+Saturn had dyed his hair the hue of the raven's wing And
+     sprinkled upon his face the musk of Paradise[FN#53]:
+The rose of his cheeks from Mars its ruddy colour drew, And the
+     Archer winged the shafts that darted from his eyes.
+Hermes dowered the youth with his own mercurial wit, And the
+     Great Bear warded off the baleful glance of spies.
+Wonder seized on the sage at the sight of the lovely boy, For the
+     full moon kissed the earth before him, servant-wise.
+And indeed God the Most High had clad him in the garment of
+     perfection and broidered it with the shining fringes of his
+     cheeks, even as says the poet of him:
+By the perfume of his eyelids and his slender waist I swear, By
+     the arrows that he feathers with the witchery of his air,
+By his sides so soft and tender and his glances bright and keen,
+     By the whiteness of his forehead and the blackness of his
+     hair,
+By his arched imperious eyebrows, chasing slumber from my eyes,
+     With their yeas and noes that hold me 'twixt rejoicing and
+     despair,
+By the myrtle of his whiskers and the roses of his cheeks, By his
+     lips' incarnate rubies and his teeth's fine pearls and rare,
+By his neck and by its beauty, by the softness of his breast And
+     the pair of twin pomegranates that my eyes discover there,
+By his heavy hips that tremble, both in motion and repose, And
+     the slender waist above them, all too slim their weight to
+     bear,
+By his skin's unsullied satin and the quickness of his spright,
+     By the matchless combination in his form of all things fair,
+By his hand's perennial bounty and his true and trusty speech, By
+     the stars that smile upon him, favouring and debonair,
+Lo, the smell of musk none other than his very fragrance is, And
+     the ambergris's perfume breathes around him everywhere.
+Yea, the sun in all its splendour cannot with his grace compare,
+     Seeming but a shining fragment that he from his nail doth
+     pare.
+
+I stole a look at him, which cost me a thousand sighs, for my
+heart was taken with his love, and I said to him, "O my lord,
+tell me what I asked thee." "I hear and obey," answered he.
+"Know, O handmaid of God, that this city was the capital of my
+father, who is the king thou sawest on the throne, changed to a
+black stone, and as for the queen on the bed, she was my mother;
+and they and all the people of the city were Magians, worshipping
+the fire, instead of the All-powerful King, and swearing by the
+fire and the light and the shade and the heat and the revolving
+sphere. My father had no child, till I was vouchsafed to him in
+his old age, and he reared me and I grew up and flourished. Now,
+as my good star would have it, there was with us an old woman
+stricken in years, who was at heart a Muslim, believing in God
+and His prophet, but conforming outwardly to the religion of my
+people. My father had confidence in her, supposing her to be of
+his own belief, and showed her exceeding favour, for that he knew
+her to be trusty and virtuous; so when I grew to a fitting age,
+he committed me to her charge, saying, 'Take him and do thy best
+to give him a good education and teach him the things of our
+faith.' So she took me and taught me the tenets of Islam and the
+ordinances of ablution and prayer and made me learn the Koran by
+heart, bidding me worship none but God the Most High and charging
+me to keep my faith secret from my father, lest he should kill
+me. So I hid it from him, and I abode thus till, in a little
+while, the old woman died and the people of the city redoubled in
+their impiety and frowardness and in the error of their ways. One
+day, they heard a voice from on high, proclaiming aloud, with a
+noise like the resounding thunder, so that all heard it far and
+near, and saying, 'O people of the city, turn from your worship
+of the fire and serve God the Compassionate King!' At this, fear
+fell on the people of the city and they crowded to my father and
+said to him; 'What is this awful voice that we have heard and
+that has confounded us with the excess of its terror?' But
+he said, 'Let not a voice fright you nor turn you from your
+faith.' Their hearts inclined to his word and they ceased not to
+worship the fire, but redoubled in their frowardness, till the
+anniversary of the day on which they had heard the supernatural
+voice. When they heard it anew, and so again a third time at the
+end of the second year. Still they persisted in their evil ways,
+till one day, at break of dawn, judgment descended on them and
+wrath from heaven, and they were all turned into black stones,
+they and their beasts and cattle; and none was spared, save
+myself. From that day to this, I have remained as thou seest me,
+occupying myself with prayer and fasting and reading the Koran
+aloud; and indeed I am grown weary of solitude, having none to
+bear me company." Then said I to him (and indeed he had won my
+heart), "O youth, wilt thou go with me to the city of Baghdad and
+foregather with men of learning and theologians and grow in
+wisdom and understanding and knowledge of the Law? If so, I will
+be thy handmaid, albeit I am head of my family and mistress over
+men and slaves and servants. I have here a ship laden with
+merchandise; and indeed it was providence drove us to this city,
+that I might come to the knowledge of these things, for it was
+fated that we should meet." And I ceased not to speak him fair
+and persuade him, till he consented to go with me, and I passed
+the night at his feet, beside myself for joy. When it was day, we
+repaired to the treasuries and took thence what was little of
+weight and great of value; then went down into the town, where we
+met the slaves and the captain seeking for me. When they saw me,
+they rejoiced and I told them all I had seen and related to them
+the story of the young man and of the curse that had fallen on
+the people of the city. At this they wondered: but when my
+sisters saw me with the prince, they envied me on his account and
+were enraged and plotted mischief against me in their hearts.
+Then we took ship again, beside ourselves for joy in the booty we
+had gotten, though the most of my joy was in the prince, and
+waited till the wind blew fair for us, when we set sail and
+departed. As we sat talking, my sisters said to me, "O sister,
+what wilt thou do with this handsome young man?" "I purpose to
+make him my husband," answered I; and I turned to the prince and
+said, "O my lord, I have that to propose to thee, in which I will
+not have thee cross me: and it is that, when we reach Baghdad, I
+will give myself to thee as a handmaid in the way of marriage,
+and thou shalt be my husband and I thy wife." Quoth he, "I hear
+and obey; thou art my lady and my mistress, and whatever thou
+dost, I will not cross thee." Then I turned to my sisters and
+said to them, "This young man suffices me; and those who have
+gotten aught, it is theirs." "Thou sayest well," replied they;
+but in their hearts they purposed me evil. We sailed on with a
+fair wind, till we left the sea of peril and came into safe
+waters, and in a few days, we came in sight of the walls of
+Bassora, even as night overtook us. My sisters waited till the
+prince and I were asleep, when they took us up, bed and all, and
+threw us into the sea. The prince, who could not swim, was
+drowned and God wrote him of the company of the martyrs. As for
+me, would I had been drowned with him! But God decreed that I
+should be of the saved; so He threw in my way a piece of wood and
+I got astride of it, and the waters tossed me about till they
+cast me up on an island. I landed and walked about the island the
+rest of the night, and when the day broke, I saw a footway,
+leading to the mainland. By this time, the sun had risen; so I
+dried my clothes in its rays and ate of the fruits of the island
+and drank of its waters. Then I set out and fared on till I
+reached the mainland and found myself but two hours' distant from
+the city. So I sat down to rest and presently I saw a great
+serpent, the bigness of a palm-tree, come fleeing towards me,
+with all her might, whilst her tongue for weariness hung from her
+mouth a span's length and swept the dust as she went. She was
+pursued by a dragon, as long and thin as a spear, which presently
+overtook her and seized her by the tail whereat the tears
+streamed from her eyes and she wriggled from side to side. I took
+pity on her and catching up a stone, threw it at the dragon's
+head and killed him on the spot. Then the serpent spread a pair
+of wings and flew away out of sight, leaving me wondering. Now I
+was tired and drowsiness overcoming me, I slept where I was for
+awhile. When I awoke, I found a damsel sitting at my feet,
+rubbing them, and with her, two black bitches, and I was ashamed
+before her; so I sat up and said to her, "O my sister, who art
+thou?" "How quickly thou hast forgotten me!" answered she. "I am
+the serpent, whom thou didst deliver from my enemy by killing
+him, for I am a Jinniyeh[FN#54] and the dragon was a genie; and I
+was only saved from him by thy kindness. As soon as thou hadst
+done me this service, I flew on the wind to your ship and
+transported all that was therein to thy house. Then I sank the
+vessel and changed thy sisters into two black bitches, for I know
+all that has passed between thee and them: but as for the young
+man, he is drowned." So saying, she flew up with me and the two
+bitches and presently set us down on the roof of my house, where
+I found all the goods that were in my ship, nor was aught
+missing. Then she said to me, "By that which is written on the
+seal of our lord Solomon (on whom be peace!) except thou give
+each of these bitches three hundred lashes every day, I will come
+and make thee like unto them." "I hear and obey," answered I; and
+since then I have never failed to beat them thus, O Commander of
+the Faithful, pitying them the while; and they know it is no
+fault of mine that they are beaten and accept my excuse. And this
+is my story.' The Khalif marvelled at her story and said to the
+portress, 'And thou, how camest thou by the weals on thy body?'
+'O Commander of the Faithful,' answered she:
+
+
+
+
+                     Story of the Portress.
+
+
+
+'My father died and left me great wealth, and soon after his
+death I married one of the richest men of Baghdad. At the end of
+a year he too died and I inherited from him fourscore thousand
+dinars, being my lawful share of his property; so that I became
+passing rich and the report of my wealth spread abroad, for I got
+me half a score suits of clothes, each worth a thousand dinars.
+One day, as I was sitting alone, there came in to me an old woman
+with sunken cheeks and worn eyebrows, bleared eyes and broken
+teeth, blotched face and bald head, grizzled hair and bent and
+mangy body, running nose and sallow complexion, even as says the
+poet of the like of her:
+
+A right pernicious hag! Unshriven be her sins, Nor let her mercy
+     find what time she comes to die!
+So full of wile she is, that with a single thread Of spider's
+     silk she'd curb a thousand mules that shy.
+
+She saluted me and kissing the ground before me, said, "I have an
+orphan daughter whose wedding and unveiling[FN#55] I celebrate
+to-night. We are strangers in the city and know none of its
+inhabitants, and verily our hearts are broken so do thou earn
+through us a recompense and reward in the world to come by being
+present at her unveiling. When the ladies of the city hear that
+thou art to be present, they also will attend, and so wilt thou
+bring healing to her spirit, for now she is broken-hearted and
+has none to look to but God the Most High." Then she wept and
+kissed my feet, repeating the following verses:
+
+Thy presence honoureth us, and we Confess thy magnanimity:
+If thou forsake us, there is none Can stand to us in stead of
+     thee.
+
+I was moved to pity for her and said, "I hear and obey; and God
+willing, I will do more than this for her, for she shall not be
+unveiled but in my clothes and ornaments and jewellery." At this
+the old woman rejoiced and fell at my feet and kissed them,
+saying, "God requite thee with good and gladden thy heart as thou
+hast gladdened mine! But, O my lady, do not trouble thyself now,
+but be ready against the evening, when I will come and fetch
+thee." So saying, she kissed my hand and went away, whilst I
+attired myself and made my preparations. At the appointed time,
+the old woman returned, smiling, and kissed my hand, saying,
+"O my mistress, the most part of the ladies of the city are
+assembled; and I told them that thou hadst promised to be
+present, whereat they rejoiced and they are now awaiting thee and
+are looking eagerly for thy coming." So I veiled myself and taking
+my serving-maids with me, followed the old woman, till we came to
+a street swept and watered, through which blew a pleasant breeze.
+Here she stopped at a handsome portico vaulted with marble and
+leading to a palace that rose from the ground and took hold upon
+the clouds. The gateway was hung with a black curtain and lighted
+by a lamp of gold curiously wrought; and on the door were written
+the following verses:
+
+I am a dwelling, builded for delight; My time is still for
+     joyance day and night.
+Right in my midst a springing fountain wells, Whose waters banish
+     anguish and despite,
+Whose marge with rose, narcissus, camomile, Anemone and myrtle,
+     is bedight.
+
+The old woman knocked at the gate, which opened; and we entered a
+carpeted vestibule hung with lighted lamps and candles and
+adorned with pendants of precious stones and minerals. Through
+this we passed into a saloon, whose like is not to be found in
+the world, hung and carpeted with silken stuffs and lighted by
+hanging lamps and wax candles in rows. At the upper end stood a
+couch of juniper-wood, set with pearls and jewels and canopied
+with curtains of satin, looped up with pearls. Hardly had I taken
+note of all this, when there came out from the alcove a young
+lady more perfect than the moon at its full, with a forehead
+brilliant as the morning, when it shines forth, even as says the
+poet:
+
+Upon the imperial necks she walks, a loveling bright, For
+     bride-chambers of kings and emperors bedight.
+The blossom of her cheek is red as dragon's blood, And all her
+     face is flowered with roses red and white.
+Slender and sleepy-eyed and languorous of gait, All manner
+     loveliness is in her sweetest sight.
+The locks upon her brow are like a troubled night, From out of
+     which there shines a morning of delight.
+
+She came down from the dais and said to me, "Welcome, a thousand
+times welcome to the dear and illustrious sister!" and she
+recited the following verses:
+
+If the house knew who visits it, it would indeed rejoice And
+     stoop to kiss the happy place whereon her feet have stood;
+And in the voice with which the case, though mute, yet speaks,
+     exclaim, "Welcome and many a welcome to the generous and
+     good!"
+
+Then she sat down and said to me, "O my sister, I have a brother,
+who is handsomer than I; and he saw thee at certain festivals and
+assemblies and fell passionately in love with thee, for that thou
+art possessed of beauty and grace beyond thy share. He heard that
+thou wast thine own mistress, even as he also is the head of his
+family, and wished to make thine acquaintance; wherefore he used
+this device to bring thee in company with me; for he desires to
+marry thee according to the law of God and His prophet, and there
+is no shame in what is lawful." When I heard what she said, I
+bethought me that I was fairly entrapped and answered, "I hear
+and obey." At this she was glad and clapped her hands, whereupon
+a door opened and out came the handsomest of young men, elegantly
+dressed and perfect in beauty and symmetry and winning grace,
+with eyebrows like a bended bow and eyes that ravished hearts
+with lawful enchantments, even as says a poet, describing the
+like of him:
+
+His face is like unto the new moon's face With signs[FN#56], like
+     pearls, of fortune and of grace.
+
+And God bless him who said:
+
+He hath indeed been blest with beauty and with grace, And blest
+     be He who shaped and fashioned forth his face!
+All rarest charms that be unite to make him fair, His witching
+     loveliness distracts the human race.
+Beauty itself hath set these words upon his brow, "Except this
+     youth there's none that's fair in any place."
+
+When I looked at him, my heart inclined to him and I loved him;
+and he sat down by me and talked with me awhile. Presently the
+young lady clapped her hands a second time, and behold, a side
+door opened and there came out a Cadi and four witnesses, who
+saluted and sitting down, drew up the contract of marriage
+between me and the young man and retired. Then he turned to me
+and said, "May our night be blessed! O my mistress, I have a
+condition to lay on thee." Quoth I, "O my lord, what is it?"
+Whereupon he rose and fetching a copy of the Koran, said to me,
+"Swear to me that thou wilt never look upon another man than
+myself, nor incline to him." I did as he wished and he rejoiced
+with an exceeding joy and embraced me and my whole heart was
+taken with love of him. Presently they set food before us and we
+ate and drank, till we were satisfied and night closed in upon
+us. Then he took me and went to bed with me and ceased not to
+kiss and embrace me till the morning. I lived with him in all
+delight and happiness for a month, at the end of which time I
+asked his leave to go to the bazaar to buy certain stuffs that I
+wanted, and he gave me leave. So I veiled myself and taking with
+me the old woman and a serving-maid, went to the bazaar, where I
+sat down in the shop of a young merchant, whom the old woman knew
+and had recommended to me, saying, "The father of this young man
+died, when he was a boy, and left him great wealth: he has great
+store of goods, and thou wilt find what thou seekest with him,
+for none in the bazaar has finer stuffs than he." So she said to
+him, "Show this lady thy finest stuffs." And he answered, "I hear
+and obey." Then she began to sound his praises; but I said, "I
+have no concern with thy praises of him; all I want is to buy
+what I need of him and return home." So he brought me what I
+sought, and I offered him the price, but he refused to take it,
+saying, "It is a guest-gift to thee on the occasion of thy visit
+to me this day." Then I said to the old woman, "If he will not
+take the money, give him back the stuff." "By Allah!" said he, "I
+will take nothing from thee! I make thee a present of it all, in
+return for one kiss; for that is more precious to me than all
+that is in my shop." Quoth the old woman, "What will a kiss
+profit thee?" Then she said to me, "O my daughter, thou hearest
+what this young man says. What harm will it do thee, if he take
+from thee a kiss and thou get the stuffs for nothing?" "Dost thou
+not know," answered I, "that I am bound by an oath?" But she
+said, "Hold thy tongue and let him kiss thee, and thou shalt keep
+thy money and no harm shall betide thee." And she ceased not to
+persuade me till I put my head into the noose and consented. So I
+veiled my eyes and held up the edge of my veil between me and the
+street, that the passers-by might not see me; and he put his
+mouth to my cheek under the veil. But, instead of kissing me, he
+bit me so hard that he tore the flesh of my cheek, and I swooned
+away. The old woman took me in her arms and when I came to
+myself, I found the shop shut up and her lamenting over me and
+saying, "Thank God it was no worse!" Then she said to me, "Come,
+take courage and let us go home, lest the thing get wind and thou
+be disgraced. When thou returnest, do thou feign sickness and lie
+down and cover thyself up, and I will bring thee a remedy that
+will soon heal the wound." So, after awhile, I arose, full of
+fear and anxiety, and went little by little, till I came to the
+house, where I lay down and gave out that I was ill. When it was
+night, my husband came in to me and said, "O my lady, what has
+befallen thee in this excursion?" Quoth I, "I am not well: I have
+a pain in my head." Then he lighted a candle and drew near and
+looked at me and said, "What is that wound on thy cheek, in the
+soft part?" Said I, "When I went out to-day to buy stuffs, with
+thy leave, a camel laden with firewood jostled me and the end of
+one of the pieces of wood tore my veil and wounded my cheek, as
+thou seest; for indeed the ways are strait in this city."
+"To-morrow," rejoined he, "I will go to the governor and speak to
+him, that he may hang every firewood-seller in the city." "God on
+thee," cried I, "do not burden thy conscience with such a sin
+against any one! The truth is that I was riding on an ass, and it
+stumbled and threw me down, and my cheek fell on a piece of
+glass, which wounded it." "Then," said he, "to morrow I will go
+to Jaafer the Barmecide and tell him the case, and he will kill
+every ass in the city." "Wilt thou ruin all the folk on my
+account," said I, "when this that befell me was decreed of God?"
+"There is no help for it," answered he, and springing to his
+feet, plied me with questions and pressed me, till I was
+frightened and stammered in my speech, so that he guessed how the
+case stood and exclaimed, "Thou hast been false to thine oath!"
+Then he gave a great cry, whereupon a door opened and in came
+seven black slaves, whom he commanded to drag me from my bed and
+throw me down in the middle of the room. Moreover, he made one
+take me by the shoulders and sit upon my head and another sit on
+my knees and hold my feet and giving a third a naked sword, said
+to him, "Strike her, O Saad, and cut her in twain and let each
+take half and throw it into the Tigris that the fish may eat
+her, for this is the reward of her who breaks her oath and is
+unfaithful to her love." And he redoubled in wrath and repeated
+the following verses:
+
+If any other share with me in her whom I adore, I'll root out
+     passion from my heart, though longing me destroy;
+And I will say unto my soul, "Death is the better part;" For love
+     is naught that men with me in common do enjoy.
+
+Then he said to the slave, "Smite her, O Saad!" Whereupon the
+latter bent down to me and said, "O my lady, repeat the
+profession of the faith and tell us if there be aught thou
+wouldst have done, for thy last hour is come." "O good slave,"
+said I, "grant me a little respite, that I may give thee my last
+injunctions." Then I raised my head and considered my case and
+how I had fallen from high estate into abjection; wherefore the
+tears streamed from my eyes and I wept passing sore. He looked at
+me with angry eyes and repeated the following
+
+Say unto her who wronged us, on whom our kisses tire, Her that
+     hath chosen another for darling of desire,
+Lo, we will spurn thee from us, before thou cast us off! That
+     which is past between us suffices to our ire.
+
+When I heard this, I wept and looked at him and repeated the
+following verses:
+
+You doom my banishment from love and all unmoved remain; You rob
+     my wounded lids of rest and sleep whilst I complain.
+You make mine eyes familiar with watching and unrest; Yet can my
+     heart forget you not, nor eyes from tears refrain.
+You swore to me that you would keep, for aye, your plighted
+     faith; But when my heart was yours, you broke the oath that
+     you had ta'en.
+Are you secure against the shifts of time and evil chance, That
+     you've no mercy on my love nor aught of pity deign?
+If I must die, I prithee, write, 'fore God, upon my tomb, "A
+     slave of passion lieth here, who died of love in vain."
+It may be one shall pass that way, who knows the pangs of love,
+     And looking on a lover's grave, take pity on her pain.
+
+Then I wept; and when he heard what I said and saw my tears, his
+anger redoubled, and he repeated the following verses:
+
+I left the darling of my heart, not from satiety; But she had
+     sinned a sin that called aloud for punishment.
+She would have ta'en another in to share with me her love, But
+     the religion of my heart to share will not consent[FN#57].
+
+Then I wept again and implored him, saying to myself, "I will
+work on him with words; so haply he may spare my life, though he
+take all I have." So I complained to him of my sufferings and
+repeated the following verses:
+
+If thou indeed wert just to me, thou wouldst not take my life.
+     Alas! against the law of Death no arbiter is there!
+Thou layst upon my back the load of passion and desire, When I
+     for weakness scarce can lift the very gown I wear!
+That so my soul should waste away, small wonder is to me; But oh!
+     I wonder how my flesh can thine estrangement bear.
+
+Then I wept again, and he looked at me and reviled and reproached
+me, repeating the following verses:
+
+Thou hast forgotten my love in the arms of another than me; Thou
+     shew'st me estrangement, though I was never unfaithful to
+     thee.
+So I will cast thee away, since thou wast the first to forsake,
+     And by thy pattern content to live without thee will I be.
+And (like thyself) in the arms of another thy charms I'll forget;
+     'Tis thou that hast sundered our loves: thou canst not
+     reproach it to me.
+
+Then he called to the slave with the sword, saying "Cut her in
+half and rid us of her, for we have no profit of her." So the
+slave drew near to me and I gave myself up for lost and committed
+my affair to God the Most High; but, at this moment, in came the
+old woman and threw herself at my husband's feet and kissed them,
+saying, "O my son, for the sake of my fosterage of thee and my
+service to thee, spare this young lady, for indeed she has done
+nothing deserving of death. Thou art a very young man, and I fear
+lest her death be laid to thy count, for it is said, 'He who
+kills shall be killed.' As for this wretched woman, put her away
+from thee and from thy thought and heart." And she ceased not to
+weep and implore him, till he relented and said, "I pardon her,
+but I will set a mark on her that shall stay with her all her
+life." Then he made the slaves strip off my clothes and hold me
+down, and taking a rod of quince-wood beat me with it on the back
+and sides till I lost my senses for excess of pain and despaired
+of life. Then he commanded slaves, as soon as it was dark, to
+carry me back to the house in which I had lived before my
+marriage with him, taking the old woman with them to guide them.
+They did as he bade them and cast me down in my house and went
+away. I did not recover from my swoon till the morning, when I
+applied myself to the dressing of my wounds, and medicined myself
+and kept my bed for four months, at the end of which time my body
+healed and I was restored to health; but my sides still bore the
+marks of the blows, as thou hast seen. As soon as I could walk, I
+went to the house where all this had happened, but found the
+whole street pulled down and nothing but heaps of rubbish where
+the house had stood, nor could I learn how this had come about.
+Then I betook myself to this my half-sister and found with her
+these two black bitches. I saluted her and told her what had
+befallen me; and she said, "O my sister, who is safe from the
+vicissitudes of fortune? Praised be God, who hath brought thee
+off with thy life!" And she repeated the following verse:
+
+Fortune indeed was ever thus: endure it patiently, Whether thou
+     suffer loss of wealth or friends depart from thee.
+
+Then she told me her own story, and we abode together, she and I,
+never mentioning the name of marriage. After awhile there came to
+live with us this our other sister the cateress, who goes out
+every day and buys what we require for the day and night. We led
+this life till yesterday, when our sister went out as usual and
+fell in with the porter. Presently we were joined by these three
+Calenders and later on by three respectable merchants from
+Tiberias, all of whom we admitted to our company on certain
+conditions, which they infringed. But we forgave them their
+breach of faith, on condition that they should give us an account
+of themselves; so they told us their stories and went away; and
+we heard nothing more till this morning, when we were summoned to
+appear before thee; and this is our story.' The Khalif wondered
+at her story, and ordered it and those of her sister and the
+Calenders to be recorded in the archives of his reign and laid up
+in the royal treasury. Then he said to the eldest lady, 'Knowst
+thou where to find the Afriteh who enchanted thy sisters?' 'O
+Commander of the Faithful,' answered she, 'she gave me some of
+her hair, saying, "When thou wouldst see me, burn one or two of
+these hairs, and I will be with thee presently, though I be
+behind the mountain Caf."' Quoth the Khalif, 'Bring me the hair.'
+So she fetched it and he threw the whole lock into the fire,
+whereupon the palace shook and they heard a rumbling sound of
+thunder, and presently the Jinniyeh appeared and saluted the
+Khalif, saying, 'Peace be upon thee, O vicar of God!' 'And on
+thee be peace,' answered he, 'and the mercy of God and His
+blessing!' Quoth she, 'Know that this lady did me a service for
+which I cannot enough requite her, in that she saved me from
+death and slew my enemy. Now I had seen how her sisters dealt
+with her and felt bound to avenge her on them. At first, I was
+minded to kill them, but I feared it would be grievous to her, so
+I turned them into bitches; and now, O Commander of the Faithful,
+if thou wouldst have me release them, I will do so, out of
+respect to thee and to her, for I am of the true believers.'
+'Release them,' said the Khalif; 'and after we will proceed to
+look into the affair of the beaten lady, and if her account prove
+true, we will avenge her on him who wronged her.' 'O Commander of
+the Faithful,' replied she, 'I will release them forthwith and
+bring thee to the knowledge of him who maltreated this lady and
+took her property; and he is the nearest of all men to thee.' So
+saying, she took a cup of water and muttered over it and spoke
+words that might not be understood. Then she threw some of the
+water in the faces of the bitches, saying, 'Return to your former
+human shape;' whereupon they were restored to their original
+form, and the Afriteh said to the Khalif, 'O Commander of the
+Faithful, he who beat this lady is thy son El Amin, brother of El
+Mamoun[FN#58], who heard of her beauty and grace and laid a trap
+for her and married her; and indeed he is not to blame for
+beating her, for he laid a condition on her and took of her a
+solemn oath that she would not do a certain thing; but she was
+false to her vow; and he was minded to kill her, but was
+restrained by the fear of God the Most High and contented himself
+with beating her, as thou hast seen, and sending her back to her
+own place.' When the Khalif heard this, he wondered greatly and
+said, 'Glory be to God the Most High, the Supreme, who hath
+vouchsafed me the delivery of these two damsels from enchantment
+and torment and hath granted me to know the secret of this lady's
+history! By Allah, I will do a thing that shall be chronicled
+after me!' Then he summoned his son El Amin and questioned him of
+the story of the portress, and he told him the truth; whereupon
+the Khalif sent for Cadis and witnesses and married the eldest
+lady and her two sisters-german to the three Calenders, whom he
+made his chamberlains, appointing them stipends and all that they
+needed and lodging them in his palace at Baghdad. Moreover, he
+returned the beaten girl to her husband, his son El Amin,
+renewing the marriage contract between them, and gave her great
+wealth and bade rebuild the house more handsomely than before. As
+for himself, he took to wife the cateress and lay with her that
+night; and on the morrow he assigned her a separate lodging in
+his seraglio, with a fixed allowance and serving-maids to wait on
+her; and the people marvelled at his equity and magnificence and
+generosity.
+
+When Shehrzad had made an end of her story, Dunyazad said to her,
+"By Allah, this is indeed a pleasant and delightful story, never
+was heard its like! But now, O my sister, tell us another story,
+to beguile the rest of the waking hours of our night." "With all
+my heart," answered Shehrzad, "if the King give me leave." And he
+said, "Tell thy story, and that quickly." Then said she, "They
+say, O King of the age and lord of the time and the day, that
+
+
+
+
+                       THE THREE APPLES.
+
+
+
+The Khalif Haroun er Reshid summoned his Vizier Jaafer one night
+and said to him, 'I have a mind to go down into the city and
+question the common people of the conduct of the officers charged
+with its government; and those of whom they complain, we will
+depose, and those whom they commend, we will advance.' Quoth
+Jaafer, 'I hear and obey.' So the Khalif and Jaafer and Mesrour
+went down into the town and walked about the streets and markets
+till, as they were passing through a certain alley, they came
+upon an old man walking along at a leisurely pace, with a
+fishing-net and a basket on his head and a staff in his hand, and
+heard him repeat the following verses:
+
+They tell me I shine, by my wisdom and wit, Midst the rest of my
+     kind, as the moon in the night.
+"A truce to your idle discourses!" I cry, "What's knowledge,
+     indeed, unattended by might?"
+If you offered me, knowledge and wisdom and all, with my inkhorn
+     and papers, in pawn for a mite,
+To buy one day's victual, the pledge they'd reject And cast, like
+     an unread petition, from sight.
+Sorry, indeed, is the case of the poor, And his life, what a load
+     of chagrin and despite!
+In summer, he's pinched for a living and cowers O'er the fire-pot
+     in winter, for warmth and for light.
+The curs of the street dog his heels, as he goes, And the
+     scurviest rascal may rail at the wight.
+If he lift up his voice to complain of his case, He finds not a
+     soul who will pity his plight.
+Since such is the life and the lot of the poor, It were better he
+     lay in the graveyard forthright!
+
+When the Khalif heard this, he said to Jaafer, 'See yonder poor
+man and note his verses, for they show his necessity.' Then he
+went up to him and said, 'O old man, what is thy trade?' 'O my
+lord,' replied he, 'I am a fisherman, with a family to maintain;
+and I have been out since mid-day, but God has not vouchsafed me
+aught wherewith to feed them, and indeed I abhor myself and wish
+for death.' Quoth the Khalif, 'Wilt thou go back with me to the
+Tigris and cast thy net yet once more on my account, and I will
+buy of thee whatever comes up for a hundred dinars?' 'On my head
+be it!' answered the fisherman joyfully. 'I will go back with
+you.' So he returned with them to the river-bank and cast his net
+and waited awhile, then drew it up and found in it a chest,
+locked and heavy. The Khalif lifted it and found it weighty; so
+he gave the fisherman a hundred dinars, and he went his way;
+whilst Mesrour carried the chest to the palace, where he set it
+down before the Khalif and lighted the candles. Then Jaafer and
+Mesrour broke open the chest and found in it a basket of
+palm-leaves, sewn together with red worsted. This they cut open
+and found within a bundle wrapped in a piece of carpet. Under the
+carpet was a woman's veil and in this a young lady, as she were
+an ingot of silver, slain and cut in pieces. When the Khalif saw
+this, he was sore enraged and afflicted; the tears ran down his
+cheeks and he turned to Jaafer and said, "O dog of a Vizier,
+shall folk be murdered in my capital city and thrown into the
+river and their death laid to my account on the Day of Judgment?
+I must avenge this woman on her murderer and put him to death
+without mercy! And as surely as I am descended from the sons of
+Abbas, an thou bring me not him who slew her, that I may do her
+justice on him, I will hang thee and forty of thy kinsmen at the
+gate of my palace!' Quoth Jaafer, 'Grant me three days' respite.'
+And the Khalif said, 'I grant thee this.' So Jaafer went out from
+before him and returned to his house, full of sorrow and saying
+to himself, 'How shall I find him who killed the damsel, that I
+may bring him before the Khalif? If I bring other than the right
+man, it will be laid to my charge by God. Indeed, I know not what
+to do.' Then he kept his house three days, and on the fourth day,
+the Khalif sent one of his chamberlains for him and said to him,
+'Where is the murderer of the damsel?' 'O Commander of the
+Faithful,' replied the Vizier, 'am I inspector of murdered folk,
+that I should know who killed her?' The Khalif was enraged at his
+answer and commanded to hang him before his palace-gate and that
+proclamation should be made in the streets of Baghdad, 'Whoso
+hath a mind to witness the hanging of Jaafer the Barmecide,
+Vizier of the Khalif, and of forty of his kin, before the gate of
+the Khalif's palace, let him come out to see!' So the people came
+out from all quarters to witness the execution of Jaafer and his
+kinsmen, not knowing the reason. Then they set up the gallows and
+made Jaafer and the others stand underneath in readiness; but
+whilst they awaited the Khalif's signal for the execution and the
+people wept for Jaafer and his kinsmen, behold, a handsome and
+well-dressed young man, with shining face and bright black eyes,
+flower-white forehead, downy whiskers and rosy cheeks and a mole
+like a grain of ambergris, pressed through the crowd, till he
+stood before Jaafer and said to him, 'I come to deliver thee from
+this strait, O chief of the Amirs and refuge of the poor! I am he
+who killed the woman ye found in the chest; so hang me for her
+and do her justice on me!' When Jaafer heard this, he rejoiced at
+his own deliverance, but grieved for the young man; and whilst
+they were yet talking, behold, a man far advanced in years made
+his way when he saluted them and said, 'O Vizier and noble lord,
+credit not what this young man says. None killed the damsel but
+I; so do thou avenge her on me, or I do accuse thee before God
+the Most High.' Then said the youth, 'O Vizier, this is a doting
+old man, who knows not what he says: it was I killed her, so do
+thou avenge her on me.' 'O my son,' said the old man, 'thou art
+young and desirest the things of the world, and I am old and
+weary of the world. I will ransom thee and the Vizier and his
+kinsmen with my life. None killed the damsel but I; so God on
+thee, make haste to hang me, or there is no living for me after
+her!' The Vizier marvelled at all this and taking the youth and
+the old man, carried them before the Khalif and said to him, 'O
+Commander of the Faithful, I bring thee the murderer of the
+damsel.' 'Where is he?' asked the Khalif, and Jaafer answered,
+'This youth says he killed her, but this old man gives him the
+lie and affirms that he himself killed her: and behold, they are
+both in thy hands.' The Khalif looked at them and said, 'Which of
+you killed the damsel?' The youth replied, 'It was I.' And the
+old man, 'Indeed, none killed her but myself.' Then the Khalif
+said to Jaafer, 'Take them and hang them both.' But the Vizier
+replied, 'If one of them be the murderer, to hang the other were
+unjust.' 'By Him who vaulted the heavens and spread out the earth
+like a carpet,' cried the youth, 'it was I killed her!' And he
+set forth the circumstance of her death and how they had found
+her body, so that the Khalif was certified that he was the
+murderer, whereat he wondered and said to him, 'Why didst thou
+slay the damsel wrongfully and what made thee come and accuse
+thyself thus and confess thy crime without being beaten?' 'Know,
+O Commander of the Faithful,' answered the young man, 'that this
+damsel was my wife and the daughter of this old man, who is my
+father's brother, and she was a virgin when I married her. God
+blessed me with three male children by her, and she loved me and
+served me, and I also loved her with an exceeding love and saw no
+evil in her. We lived happily together till the beginning of this
+month, when she fell grievously ill. I fetched the doctors to her
+and she recovered slowly; and I would have had her take a bath;
+but she said, "There is something I long for, before I go to the
+bath." "What is it?" asked I, and she replied, "I have a longing
+for an apple, that I may smell it and bite a piece of it." So I
+went out into the city at once and sought for apples, but could
+find none, though, had they been a dinar apiece, I would have
+bought them. I was vexed at this and went home and said to my
+wife, "By Allah, my cousin, I can find none." She was distressed,
+being yet weak, and her weakness increased greatly on her that
+night, and I passed the night full of anxiety. As soon as it was
+day, I went out again and made the round of the gardens, but
+could find no apples anywhere. At last I met an old gardener, of
+whom I enquired for them, and he said to me, "O my son, this
+fruit is rare with us and is not now to be found but in the
+garden of the Commander of the Faithful at Bassora, where the
+gardener keeps them for the Khalif's table.' I returned home,
+troubled at my ill-success, and my love and concern for her moved
+me to undertake the journey to Bassora. So I set out and
+travelled thither and bought three apples of the gardener there
+for three dinars, with which I returned to Baghdad, after having
+been absent fifteen days and nights, going and coming. I went in
+to my wife and gave her the apples; but she took no pleasure in
+them and let them lie by her side; for weakness and fever had
+increased on her and did not leave her for ten days, at the end
+of which time she began to mend. So I left the house and went to
+my shop, where I sat buying and selling. About mid-day a great
+ugly black slave came into the bazaar, having in his hand one of
+the three apples, with which he was playing; so I called to him
+and said, "Prithee, good slave, tell me whence thou hadst that
+apple, that I may get the fellow to it." He laughed and answered,
+"I had it of my mistress; for I had been absent and on my return
+I found her lying ill, with three apples by her side: and she
+told me that the cuckold her husband had made a journey for them
+to Bassora, where he had bought them for three dinars. So I ate
+and drank with her and took this one from her." When I heard
+this, the world grew black in my eyes, and I rose and shut my
+shop and went home, beside myself for excess of rage. I looked
+for the apples and finding but two of them, said to my wife,
+"Where is the third apple?" Quoth she, "I know not what is come
+of it." This convinced me of the truth of the slave's story, so I
+took a knife and coming behind her, without word said, got up on
+her breast and cut her throat; after which I hewed her in pieces
+and wrapping her in her veil and a piece of carpet, sewed the
+whole up hurriedly in the basket. Then I put the basket in the
+chest and locking it up, set it on my mule and threw it into the
+Tigris with my own hands. So, God on thee, O Commander of the
+Faithful, make haste to hang me, for I fear lest she sue for
+vengeance on me at the Day of Resurrection! For when I had thrown
+her into the river, unknown of any, I returned home and found my
+eldest boy weeping, though he knew not what I had done with his
+mother; and I said to him "Why dost thou weep, my son?" He
+replied, "I took one of my mother's apples and went down with it
+into the street to play with my brothers, when lo, a tall black
+slave snatched it from my hand, saying, 'Whence hadst thou this?'
+Quoth I, 'My father journeyed to Bassora for it and brought it to
+my mother, who is ill, with two other apples for which he paid
+three dinars. Give it back to me and do not get me into trouble
+for it.' He paid no heed to my words and I demanded the apple a
+second and a third time; but he beat me and went away with it. I
+was afraid that my mother would beat me on account of the apple;
+so for fear of her, I went without the city with my brothers and
+abode there until night closed in upon us, and indeed I am in
+fear of her: so by Allah, O my father, say nothing to her of
+this, or it will add to her illness." When I heard what the child
+said, I knew that the slave was he who had forged a lie against
+my wife and was certified that I had killed her wrongfully. So I
+wept sore, and presently, this old man, her father, came in and I
+told him what had passed; and he sat down by my side and wept and
+we ceased not weeping half the night. This was five days ago and
+from that time to this, we have never ceased to bewail her and
+mourn for her, sorrowing sore for that she was unjustly put to
+death. All this came of the lying story of the slave, and this
+was the manner of my killing her; so I conjure thee, by the
+honour of thy forefathers, make haste to kill me and do her
+justice on me, for there is no living for me after her.' The
+Khalif wondered at his story and said, 'By Allah, the young man
+is excusable, and I will hang none but the accursed slave!' Then
+he fumed to Jaafer and said to him, 'Bring me the accursed slave,
+who was the cause of this calamity, and if thou bring him not in
+three days, thou shalt suffer in his stead.' And Jaafer went out,
+weeping and saying, 'Verily, I am beset by deaths; the pitcher
+does not come off for aye unbroken. I can do nothing in this
+matter; but He who saved me the first time may save me again. By
+Allah, I will not leave my house during the three days that
+remain to me, and God who is the Truth shall do what He will.' So
+he kept his house three days, and on the fourth day, he summoned
+Cadis and witnesses and made his last dispositions and bade
+farewell to his children, weeping. Presently in came a messenger
+from the Khalif and said to him, 'The Commander of the Faithful
+is beyond measure wroth and sends to seek thee and swears that
+the day shall not pass without thy being hanged.' When Jaafer
+heard this, he wept and his children and slaves and all that were
+in the house wept with him. Then they brought him his little
+daughter, that he might bid her farewell. Now he loved her more
+than all his other children; so he pressed her to his breast and
+kissed her and wept over his separation from her; when lo, he
+felt something round in her bosom and said to her, 'What's this
+in thy bosom?' 'O my father,' answered she, 'it is an apple with
+the name of our lord the Khalif written on it. Our slave Rihan
+brought it to me four days ago and would not let me have it, till
+I gave him two dinars for it.' When Jaafer heard this, he put his
+hand into her bosom and took out the apple and knew it and
+rejoiced, saying, 'O swift Dispeller of trouble[FN#59]!' Then he
+sent for the slave and said to him, 'Harkye Rihan, whence hadst
+thou this apple?' 'By Allah, O my lord,' replied he, 'though
+lying might get me off, yet is it safer to tell the truth[FN#60]!
+I did not steal it from thy palace nor from the palace of His
+Highness nor the garden of the Commander of the Faithful. The
+fact is that some days ago, I was passing along a certain alley
+of this city, when I saw some children playing and this apple in
+the hand of one of them. So I snatched it from him, and he wept
+and said, "O youth, this apple is my mother's and she is ill. She
+longed for apples, and my father journeyed to Bassora and bought
+her three for three dinars, and I took one of them to play with."
+But I paid no heed to what he said and beat him and went off with
+the apple and sold it to my little mistress for two dinars.' When
+Jaafer heard this, he wondered that the death of the damsel and
+all this misery should have been caused by his slave and grieved
+for the relation of the slave to himself, whilst rejoicing over
+his own delivery: and he repeated the following verses:
+
+If through a servant misfortune befall thee, Spare not to save
+thine own life at his cost.
+Servants in plenty thou'lt find to replace him, Life for life
+never, once it is lost.
+
+Then he carried the slave to the Khalif, to whom he related the
+whole story; and the Khalif wondered greatly and laughed till he
+fell backward and ordered the story to be recorded and published
+among the folk. Then said Jaafer, 'O Commander of the Faithful,
+wonder not at this story, for it is not more marvellous than that
+of Noureddin Ali of Cairo and his son Bedreddin Hassan.' 'What is
+that?' asked the Khalif; 'and how can it be more marvellous than
+this story?' 'O Commander of the Faithful,' answered Jaafer, 'I
+will not tell it thee except thou pardon my slave.' Quoth the
+Khalif, 'If it be indeed more marvellous than that of the three
+apples, I grant thee thy slave's life; but if not, I will kill
+him.' 'Know, then, O Commander of the Faithful,' said Jaafer,
+'that
+
+
+
+
+               NOUREDDIN ALI OF CAIRO AND HIS SON
+                       BEDREDDIN HASSAN.
+
+
+
+There was once in the land of Egypt a just and pious King who
+loved the poor and companied with the learned, and he had a
+Vizier, a wise and experienced man, well versed in affairs and in
+the art of government. This Vizier, who was a very old man, had
+two sons, as they were two moons, never was seen their like for
+beauty and grace, the elder called Shemseddin Mohammed and the
+younger Noureddin Ali; but the younger excelled his brother in
+comeliness and fair favour, so that folk heard of him in distant
+lands and journeyed to Egypt to get sight of him. After awhile
+the Vizier died, to the great grief of the Sultan, who sent for
+his two sons and invested them with robes of honour, saying, "Let
+not your hearts be troubled, for you shall stand in your father's
+stead and be joint Viziers of Egypt." At this they were glad and
+kissed the earth before him and mourned for their father a whole
+month, at the end of which time they entered upon the Vizierate,
+and the government passed into their hands, as it had been in
+those of their father, each ruling for a week at a time. Whenever
+the Sultan went on a journey, they took it in turns to accompany
+him; and the two brothers lived in one house, and there was
+perfect accord between them. It chanced, one night, that the
+Sultan purposed setting out on a journey on the morrow and the
+elder, whose turn it was to attend him, was sitting talking with
+his brother and said to him, "O my brother, it is my wish that
+we both marry and go in to our wives on the same night." "O my
+brother," replied Noureddin, "do as thou wilt; I will conform to
+thee." So they agreed upon this and Shemseddin said, "If it be
+the will of God that we both marry on the same night, and our
+wives be brought to bed on the same day, and thy wife bear a boy
+and mine a girl, we will marry the children to one another, for
+they will be cousins." "O my brother," asked Noureddin, "what
+dowry wilt thou require of my son for thy daughter!" Quoth the
+other, "I will have of him three thousand dinars and three
+gardens and three farms, for it would not be fitting that he
+bring her a smaller dowry than this." When Noureddin heard this,
+he said, "What dowry is this thou wouldst impose on my son?
+Knowest thou not that we are brothers and both by God's grace
+Viziers and equal in rank? It behoves thee to offer thy daughter
+to my son, without dowry: or if thou must have a dower, it should
+be something of nominal value, for mere show; for thou knowest
+the male to be more worthy than the female, and my son is a male,
+and our memory will be preserved by him, not by thy daughter; but
+I see thou wouldst do with me according to the saying, 'If thou
+wouldst drive away a purchaser, ask him a high price,' or as did
+one, who, being asked by a friend to do him a favour, replied,
+'In the name of God; I will comply with thy request, but not till
+tomorrow.' Whereupon the other answered him with this verse:
+
+'When one, of whom a favour's asked, postpones it till next day,
+     'Tis, to a man who knows the world, as if he said him nay.'"
+
+Quoth Shemseddin, "Verily, thou errest in that thou wouldst make
+thy son more worthy than my daughter, and it is plain that thou
+lackest both judgment and manners. Thou talkest of thy share in
+the Vizierate, when I only admitted thee to share with me, in
+pity for thee, not wishing to mortify thee, and that thou
+mightest help me. But since thou talkest thus, by Allah, I will
+not marry my daughter to thy son, though thou pay down her weight
+in gold!" When Noureddin heard this, he was angry and said, "And
+I, I will never marry my son to thy daughter." "I would not
+accept him as a husband for her," answered the other, "and were I
+not bound to attend the Sultan on his journey, I would make an
+example of thee; but when I return, I will let thee see what my
+dignity demands." When Noureddin heard this speech from his
+brother, he was beside himself for rage, but held his peace and
+stifled his vexation; and each passed the night in his own place,
+full of wrath against the other. As soon as it was day, the
+Sultan went out to Ghizeh and made for the Pyramids, accompanied
+by the Vizier Shemseddin, whilst Noureddin arose, sore enraged,
+and prayed the morning-prayer. Then he went to his treasury, and
+taking a small pair of saddle-bags, filled them with gold. And he
+called to mind his brother's words and the contempt with which he
+had treated him and repeated the following verses:
+
+Travel, for yon shall find new friends in place of those you
+     leave, And labour, for in toil indeed the sweets of life
+     reside.
+Nor gain nor honour comes to him who idly stays at home; So leave
+     thy native land behind and journey far and wide.
+Oft have I seen a stagnant pool corrupt with standing still; If
+     water run, 'tis sweet, but else grows quickly putrefied.
+If the full moon were always high and never waned nor set, Men
+     would not strain their watchful eyes for it at every tide.
+Except the arrow leave the bow, 'twill never hit the mark, Nor
+     will the lion chance on prey, if in the copse he bide.
+The aloes in its native land a kind of firewood is, And precious
+     metals are but dust whilst in the mine they hide.
+The one is sent abroad and grows more precious straight than
+     gold; The other's brought to light and finds its value
+     magnified.
+
+Then he bade one of his people saddle him his mule with a padded
+saddle. Now she was a dapple mule, high-backed, like a dome
+builded upon columns; her saddle was of cloth of gold and her
+stirrups of Indian steel, her housings of Ispahan velvet, and she
+was like a bride on her wedding night. Moreover, he bade lay on
+her back a carpet of silk and strap the saddle-bags on that and
+spread a prayer-rug over the whole. The man did as he bade him
+and Noureddin said to his servants, "I have a mind to ride out
+a-pleasuring towards Kelyoubiyeh, and I shall lie three nights
+abroad; but let none of you follow me, for my heart is heavy."
+Then he mounted the mule in haste and set out from Cairo, taking
+with him a little victual, and made for the open country. About
+mid-day, he reached the town of Belbeys, where he alighted and
+rested himself and the mule. Then he took out food and ate and
+fared on again in the direction of the desert, after having
+bought victual and fodder for the mule in the town. Towards
+nightfall, he came to a town called Saadiyeh, where he alighted
+and took out food and ate, then spread the carpet on the ground
+and laying the saddle bags under his head, slept in the open air,
+for he was still overcome with anger. As soon as it was day, he
+mounted and rode onward, till he reached the city of Jerusalem
+and thence to Aleppo, where he alighted at one of the khans and
+abode three days, to rest himself and the mule. Then, being still
+intent upon travel, he mounted and setting out again, he knew not
+whither, journeyed on without ceasing, till he reached the city
+of Bassora, where he alighted at a certain khan and spread out
+his prayer-carpet, after having taken the saddle-bags off the
+mule's back and given her to the porter that he might walk her
+about. As chance would have it, the Vizier of Bassora, who was a
+very old man, was sitting at a window of his palace opposite the
+khan and saw the porter walking the mule up and down. He remarked
+her costly trappings and took her to be a mule of parade, of such
+as are ridden by kings and viziers. This set him thinking and he
+became perplexed and said to one of his servants, "Bring me
+yonder porter." So the servant went and returned with the porter,
+who kissed the ground before the Vizier; and the latter said to
+him, "Who is the owner of that mule, and what manner of man is
+he?" "O my lord," replied the porter, "he is a comely young man
+of the sons of the merchants, grave and dignified of aspect."
+When the Vizier heard this, he rose at once and mounting his
+horse, rode to the khan and went in to Noureddin, who, seeing him
+making towards himself, rose and went to meet him and saluted
+him. The Vizier bade him welcome to Bassora and dismounting,
+embraced him and made him sit down by his side and said to him,
+"O my son, whence comest thou and what dost thou seek?" "O my
+lord." answered Noureddin, "I come from the city of Cairo;" and
+told him his story from beginning to end, saying, "I am resolved
+not to return home, till I have seen all the towns and countries
+of the world." When the Vizier heard this, he said to him, "O my
+son, follow not the promptings of thy soul, lest they bring thee
+into peril; for indeed the lands are waste and I fear the issues
+of Fortune for thee." Then he let load the saddle-bags and the
+carpets on the mule and carried Noureddin to his own house, where
+he lodged him in a pleasant place and made much of him, for he
+had conceived a great affection for him. After awhile, he said to
+him, "O my son, I am an old man and have no male child, but God
+has given me a daughter who is thy match for beauty, and I have
+refused many suitors for her hand. But love of thee has got hold
+upon my heart; so wilt thou accept of my daughter to thine
+handmaid and be her husband? If thou consent to this, I will
+carry thee to the Sultan of Bassora and tell him that thou art my
+brother's son and bring thee to be appointed Vizier in my stead,
+that I may keep the house, for, by Allah, O my son, I am a very
+old man and I am weary." When Noureddin heard the Vizier's
+proposal, he bowed his head awhile, then raised it and answered,
+"I hear and obey." At this the Vizier rejoiced and bade his
+servants decorate the great hall, in which they were wont to
+celebrate the marriages of nobles. Then he assembled his friends
+and the notables of the kingdom and the merchants of Bassora and
+said to them, "I had a brother who was Vizier in Cairo, and God
+vouchsafed him two sons, whilst to me, as you know, He has given
+a daughter. My brother proposed to me to marry my daughter to one
+of his sons, to which I consented; and when my daughter came at a
+marriageable age, he sent me one of his sons, this young man now
+present, to whom I purpose now to marry her, for he is better
+than a stranger, and that he shall go in to her in my house this
+night. After, if he please, he shall abide with me, or if he
+please, he shall return with his wife to his father." The guests
+replied, "It is well seen of thee." And they looked at Noureddin
+and were pleased with him. So the Vizier sent for Cadis and
+witnesses, and they drew up the marriage contract, after which
+the servants perfumed the guests with incense and sprinkled
+rose-water on them, and they drank sherbet of sugar and went
+away. Then the Vizier bade his servants take Noureddin to the
+bath and sent him a suit of the best of his own clothes, besides
+cups and napkins and perfume-burners and all else that he
+required. So he went to the bath, and when he came out and put on
+the suit, he was like the moon on the night of her full. Then he
+mounted his mule and returning to the Vizier's palace, went in to
+the latter and kissed his hands. The Vizier welcomed him and said
+to him, "Arise, go in to thy wife this night, and tomorrow I will
+carry thee to the Sultan; and I pray God to bless thee with all
+manner of good!" So Noureddin left him and went in to his wife,
+the Vizier's daughter. To return to his brother Shemseddin. When
+he came back to Cairo, after having been absent awhile with the
+Sultan, he missed his brother and enquired of his servants, who
+said, "On the day of thy departure with the Sultan, thy brother
+mounted his mule, caparisoned as for state, saying, 'I am going
+towards El Kelyoubiyeh and shall be absent a day or two, for I am
+heavy of heart; and let none follow me.' Then he rode away, and
+from that time to this we have heard nothing of him." Shemseddin
+was concerned at his brother's absence and became exceedingly
+uneasy, when he found that he did not return, and said to
+himself, "This is because I spoke harshly to him that night, and
+he has taken it to heart and gone away; but I must send after
+him." Then he went in to the King and acquainted him with what
+had happened, and he wrote letters and despatched couriers to his
+deputies in every province; but after awhile they returned
+without having been able to come at any news of Noureddin, who
+had by this time reached Bassora. So Shemseddin despaired of
+finding his brother and said, "Indeed, I went beyond all bounds
+in what I said to him, with reference to the marriage of our
+children. Would it had not been so! This all comes of my lack of
+sense and judgment." Soon after this he sought in marriage the
+daughter of a merchant of Cairo and took her to wife and went in
+to her (as it happened by the will of God the Most High, that so
+He might carry out what He had decreed to His creatures) on the
+very night on which Noureddin went in to the Vizier's daughter of
+Bassora. Moreover, it was as the two brothers had said; for their
+wives conceived by them and were brought to bed on the same day,
+the wife of Shemseddin of a daughter, never was seen in Cairo a
+fairer than she, and the wife of Noureddin of a son, than whom a
+handsomer was never seen in his time. They named the boy
+Bedreddin Hassan, and his grandfather, the Vizier of Bassora
+rejoiced in him and gave feasts and public entertainments, as for
+the birth of a king's son. Then he took Noureddin and went up
+with him to the Sultan. When Noureddin came in presence of the
+King, he kissed the ground before him and repeated the following
+verses, for he was facile of speech, firm of soul and abounding
+in good parts and natural gifts:
+
+May all delights of life attend thee, O my lord, And mayst thou
+     live as long as night and morning be!
+Lo! when meets tongues recall thy magnanimity, The age doth leap
+     for Joy and Time claps hands for glee.
+
+The Sultan rose to receive them and after thanking Noureddin for
+his compliment, asked the Vizier who he was. The Vizier replied,
+"This is my brother's son." And the Sultan said, "How comes it
+that we have never heard of him?" "O my lord the Sultan,"
+answered the Vizier, know that my brother was Vizier in Egypt and
+died, leaving two sons, whereof the elder became Vizier in his
+father's stead and the younger, whom thou seest, came to me. I
+had sworn that I would give my daughter in marriage to none but
+him; so when he came, I married him to her. Now he is young and I
+am old; my hearing grows dull and my judgment fails; wherefore I
+pray our lord the Sultan to make him Vizier in my room, for he is
+my brother's son and the husband of my daughter, and he is apt
+for the Vizierate, being a man of sense and judgment." The Sultan
+looked at Noureddin and was pleased with him, so granted the
+Vizier's request and appointed him to the Vizierate, presenting
+him with a splendid dress of honour and one of his choicest mules
+and allotting him stipends and allowances. Noureddin kissed the
+Sultan's hands and went home, he and his father-in-law, rejoicing
+greatly and saying, "This is of the good fortune of the new-born
+Hassan.'' Next day he presented himself before the King and
+repeated the following verses:
+
+New favours attend thee each day of thy life, And fortune to
+     counter the craft of thy foes!
+May thy days with God's favour be white to the end, And black be
+     their days with misfortune and woes!
+
+The Sultan commanded him to sit in the Vizier's place; so he sat
+down and applied himself to the business of his office, examining
+into the folks' affairs and giving judgment on their suits, after
+the usage of Viziers, whilst the Sultan watched him and wondered
+at his wit and good sense and judgment, wherefore he loved him
+and took him into favour. When the Divan broke up, Noureddin
+returned to his house and related what had passed to his
+father-in-law, who rejoiced. Thence-forward Noureddin ceased not
+so to apply himself to the duties of the Vizierate, that he left
+not the Sultan day or night and the latter increased his stipends
+and allowances till he amassed great wealth and became the owner
+of ships, that made trading voyages for his hand, as well as of
+slaves and servants, black and white, and laid out many estates
+and made irrigation-works and planted gardens. When his son
+Hassan was four years old, his father-in-law, the old Vizier,
+died, and he buried him with great pomp. Then he occupied himself
+with the education of his son and when he came to the age of
+seven, he brought him a doctor of the law, to teach him in his
+own house, and charged him to give him a good education and teach
+him good manners. So the tutor taught the boy to read and all
+manner of useful knowledge, after he had spent some years in
+committing the Koran to memory; and he grew in stature and beauty
+and symmetry, even as says the poet:
+
+The moon in the heaven of his grace shines full and fair to see,
+     And the sun of the morning glows in his cheeks' anemones.
+He's such a compend of beauties, meseems, indeed, from him The
+     world all beauty borrows that lives in lands and seas.
+
+The professor brought him up in his father's palace, and all his
+years of youth he never left the house, till one day his father
+clad him in his richest clothes, and mounting him on one of the
+best of his mules, carried him to the Sultan, who was struck with
+his beauty and loved him. As for the people of the city, when he
+passed through the streets on his way to the palace, they were
+dazzled with his loveliness and sat down in the road, awaiting
+his return, that they might gaze their fill on his beauty and
+grace and symmetry. The Sultan made much of the boy and bade his
+father bring him with him, whenever his affairs called him to the
+palace. Noureddin replied, "I hear and obey," and ceased not to
+carry him to the Sultan's court, till he reached the age of
+fifteen, when his father sickened and calling his son, said to
+him, "Know, O my son, that this world is but a temporary abode,
+whilst the next is an eternal one. Before I die, I wish to give
+thee certain last injunctions, so pay heed to my words and set
+thy mind to understand them." Then he gave him certain advice as
+to the proper way of dealing with folk and the conduct of his
+affairs; after which he called to mind his brother and his native
+land and wept for his separation from those he loved. Then he
+wiped away his tears and turning to his son, said to him, "Before
+I proceed to my parting exhortations, thou must know that thou
+hast an uncle who is Vizier in Cairo, and I left him and went
+away without his consent." Then he took a sheet of paper and
+wrote therein all that had happened to him from the day of the
+dispute, together with the dates of his marriage and going in to
+the Vizier's daughter and the birth of his son; after which he
+folded and sealed the paper and gave it to his son, saying, "keep
+this paper carefully, for in it is written thy rank and lineage
+and origin, and if any mishap befall thee, go to Cairo and ask
+for thine uncle and give him this and tell him that I died in a
+foreign land, full of longing for him." So Bedreddin took the
+paper and wrapping it in a piece of waxed cloth, sewed it into
+the lining of his skull-cap and wound the muslin of his turban
+over it, weeping the while at the thought of losing his father,
+whilst himself but a boy. Then said Noureddin, "I have five
+behests to lay on thee: and the first is that thou be not too
+familiar with any one, neither frequent him nor foregather with
+him over-much; so shalt thou be safe from his mischief, for in
+retirement is safety, and I have heard it said by a poet:
+
+There is no man in all the world, whose love is worth thy trust,
+     No friend who, if fate play thee false, will true and
+     constant be.
+Wherefore I'd have thee live apart and lean for help on none. In
+     this I give thee good advice; so let it profit thee.
+
+Secondly, O my son, oppress no one, lest Fortune oppress thee;
+for the fortune of this world is one day for thee and another
+against thee, and its goods are but a loan to be repaid. As I
+have heard a poet say:
+
+Be slow to move and hasten not to snatch thy heart's desire; Be
+     merciful to all, as thou on mercy reckonest;
+For no hand is there but the hand of God is over it, And no
+     oppressor but shall be with worse than he oppress.
+
+Thirdly, preserve silence and let thy faults distract thee from
+those of other men; for it is said that in silence is safety; and
+thereon I have heard the following verses:
+
+Silence is fair and safety lies in taciturnity. So, when thou
+     speak'st, I counsel thee, give not thy tongue the rein.
+Since, for one time that thou repent the having held thy tongue,
+     Thou shalt of having spoke repent again and yet again.
+
+Fourthly, O my son, beware of drinking wine, for wine is the root
+of all evils and the thief of wit. Guard thyself from it, for the
+poet says:
+
+Wine and the drinkers of wine I have put away, And am become of
+     those that of it mis-say.
+For wine indeed diverts from the road of right, And to all kinds
+     of evil opens the way.
+
+Lastly, O my son, keep thy wealth, that it may keep thee, and
+watch over it, that it may watch over thee. Squander not thy
+substance, or thou wilt come to need the meanest of folk. Guard
+well thy money, for it is a sovereign salve for the wounds of
+life, even as says the poet:
+
+If wealth should fail, there is no friend will bear thee company,
+     But whilst thy substance still abounds, all men are friends
+     to thee.
+How many a foe for money's sake hath companied with me! But when
+     wealth failed beneath my hand, my dearest friend did flee."
+
+And Noureddin ceased not to exhort his son till his spirit
+departed and his house became the abode of mourning. The King and
+all the Amirs grieved for him and buried him; but Bedreddin
+ceased not to bewail his father for two whole months, during
+which time he never left the house, nor did he attend the Divan
+or present himself before the Sultan. At last the latter became
+wroth with him and made one of his chamberlains Vizier in his
+stead and bade him seize on all Noureddin's houses and goods and
+possessions and seal them up. So the new Vizier went forth to do
+this and take Bedreddin Hassan and bring him before the Sultan,
+that he might deal with him as he thought fit. Now there was
+among the troops one who had been a servant of the deceased
+Vizier, and when he heard this order he spurred his steed and
+rode at full speed to Bedreddin's house, where he found him
+sitting at the gate, with downcast head, broken-hearted. So he
+dismounted and kissing his hand, said to him, "O my lord and son
+of my lord, hasten, ere destruction light on thee!" When
+Bedreddin heard this, he trembled and said, "What is the matter?"
+"The Sultan is wroth with thee," answered the other, "and has
+given orders for thine arrest, and calamity follows hard upon me,
+so flee for thy life." Quoth Bedreddin, "Is there time for me to
+go in and take somewhat to stand me in stead in my strangerhood?"
+But the other answered, "O my lord, rise at once and save thyself
+whilst it is yet time, and leave thy house." So Bedreddin covered
+his face with his skirt and went out and walked on till he came
+without the city. On his way, he heard the people saying that the
+Sultan had sent the new Vizier to the late Vizier's house, to
+seize on his possessions and take his son Bedreddin Hassan and
+bring him before him, that he might put him to death, and they
+grieved for him by reason of his beauty and grace. When he heard
+this, he fled forth at hazard, not knowing whither, and chance
+led him to the cemetery where his father was buried. So he passed
+among the tombs, till he came to his father's sepulchre and
+entering, sat down and let fall from over his head the skirt of
+his cassock, which was made of brocade, with the following lines
+embroidered in gold on the hem:
+
+Thou whose face with the rainbow might vie, That art bright as
+     the stars of the sky,
+May thy fortune ne'er fail to be fair And thy glory for ever be
+     high!
+
+As he sat by his father's tomb, there came up a Jew, as he were a
+money-changer, with a pair of saddle-bags full of gold, and
+accosted him, saying, "Whither away, O my lord? It is near the
+end of the day and thou art lightly clad and bearest the marks of
+chagrin on thy countenance." "I was asleep but now," answered
+Bedreddin, "when my father appeared to me and reproached me for
+not having visited his tomb, and I awoke, trembling, and came
+hither at once, fearing lest the day should pass, without my
+paying him a visit, which would have been grievous to me." "O my
+lord," said the Jew, "thy father had many ships at sea, whereof
+some are now due; and it is my wish to buy of thee the cargo of
+the first that comes into port for a thousand dinars." "I will
+well," answered Bedreddin; whereupon the Jew took out a purse of
+gold and counted out a thousand dinars, which he gave to
+Bedreddin, saying, "Write me an acknowledgment and seal it." So
+Bedreddin took pen and paper and wrote the following in double:
+"The writer, Bedreddin Hassan, son of the Vizier Noureddin of
+Bassora, has sold to Isaac the Jew all the cargo of the first of
+his father's ships that comes into port, at the price of a
+thousand dinars, which he has received in advance." Then he gave
+one copy to the Jew, who took it and went away, and put the other
+in the purse, which he thrust into his waistcloth. And he
+bethought him of his former estate of honour and consideration
+and wept and repeated the following verses:
+
+Home is no longer home to me, now ye are gone away, Nor are the
+     neighbours neighbours now, after our parting-day,
+The comrade, whom I loved whilere, no more a comrade is, And even
+     the very sun and moon' no longer bright are they.
+Ye went away and all the world was saddened for your loss, And
+     all the hills and plains grew dark with sorrow and dismay.
+O that the raven of ill-luck, that croaked our parting hour, May
+     lose his plumes nor find a nest in which his bead to lay!
+My patience fails me for desire, my body wasteth sore; How many a
+     veil the hands of death and parting rend in tway!
+I wonder, will our happy nights come ever back again, Or one
+     house hold us two once more, after the olden way!
+
+Then he wept sore and laying his head on his father's tomb,
+remained plunged in melancholy thought till drowsiness overcame
+him and he fell asleep. He slept on till the moon rose, when
+his head rolled off the tomb and he lay on his back, with his
+face gleaming in the moon. Now the cemetery was haunted by true-
+believing Jinn, and presently a Jinniyeh came out and seeing
+Bedreddin lying asleep, marvelled at his beauty and grace and
+said, "Glory be to God! This can be no other than one of the
+children of Paradise." Then she rose into the air to fly about,
+as was her wont, and met an Afrit flying, who saluted her, and
+she said to him, "Whence comest thou?" "From Cairo," replied he.
+Quoth she, "Wilt thou come with me and look on the beauty of a
+youth who sleeps in the burial-ground yonder?" And he said, "I
+will well." So they both flew down to the tomb and she showed him
+Bedreddin, saying, "Sawest thou ever the like of this young man?"
+The Afrit looked at him and exclaimed, "Blessed be God to whom
+there is none like! But, O my sister, shall I tell thee what I
+have seen this day?" "What is that?" asked she; and he answered,
+"I have seen a young lady in the land of Egypt, who is the
+counterpart of this youth. She is the daughter of the Vizier
+Shemseddin of Cairo and is possessed of beauty and grace and
+symmetry and perfection. When she reached the age of fifteen, the
+Sultan of Egypt heard of her and sending for the Vizier her
+father, said to him, 'O Vizier, it has come to my knowledge
+that thou hast a daughter and I wish to demand her of thee in
+marriage.' 'O my lord the Sultan,' replied the Vizier, 'I
+prithee accept my excuse and take compassion on my grief, for
+thou knowest that my brother Noureddin, who was my partner in the
+Vizierate, left us many years ago and went I know not whither.
+Now the reason of his departure was that one night we were
+sitting talking of marriage and children, when we came to words
+on the subject and he was angry with me and went away in his
+anger. But on the day her mother bore her, fifteen years ago, I
+swore that I would marry my daughter to none but my brother's
+son. Now, awhile ago, I heard that he is lately dead at Bassora,
+where he was Vizier, after having married the former Vizier's
+daughter and had by her a son; and I will not marry my daughter
+but to him, in honour of my brother's memory. Moreover, I
+recorded the date of my marriage and of the conception and birth
+of my daughter and drew her horoscope, and she is destined for
+her cousin and there are girls in plenty for our lord the
+Sultan.' When the Sultan heard the Vizier's answer, he was
+exceeding wroth and said, 'When the like of me demands in
+marriage the daughter of the like of thee, he confers a favour
+on her, and thou puttest me off with idle excuses! As my head
+liveth, I will marry her to the meanest of my serving men, to
+spite thee!' Now the Sultan had a hunchbacked groom, with a hump
+behind and before, and he sent for him and married him to the
+Vizier's daughter, whether she would or no, and bade carry him in
+procession and bring him in to his bride this very night. Now I
+have just come from Cairo, where I left the hunchback at the door
+of the bath, surrounded by the King's servants holding lighted
+flambeaux and making mock of him. As for the Vizier's daughter,
+she sits among her nurses and tire-women, weeping, for they have
+forbidden her father access to her. Never, O my sister, saw I one
+more hideous than the hunchback, whilst the young lady is the
+likest of all folk to this youth, though she is even handsomer
+than he." "Thou liest," replied the Jinniyeh; "this youth is
+handsomer than any one of his day." "By Allah, O my sister,"
+replied the Afrit, "the girl I speak of is handsomer than he, but
+none but he is worthy of her, for they resemble each other as
+they were brother and sister or brothers' children. Alas, the
+pity of her with that hunchback!" Then said she, "O my brother,
+let us take him up and carry him to Cairo, that we may compare
+him with the damsel and see whether of them is the handsomer."
+"I hear and obey," answered the Afrit; "this is right well
+advised, and I will carry him." So he took Bedreddin up and flew
+with him through the air, accompanied by the Afriteh, till he
+alighted in the city of Cairo and set him down on a stone bench.
+Then he aroused him, and when he found himself no longer on his
+father's tomb in Bassora, but in a strange city, he would have
+cried out, but the Afrit gave him a cuff and imposed silence on
+him. Then he brought him a splendid dress and made him put it on,
+and giving him a lighted flambeau, said to him, "Know that I have
+brought thee hither, meaning to do thee a good turn for the love
+of God; so take this torch and mingle with the people at the door
+of the bath and accompany them to the house of the wedding
+festival. Then advance and enter the hall and fear none, but sit
+down on the right hand of the humpbacked bridegroom; and as often
+as the tire-women and singers stop before thee, put thy hand into
+thy pocket and thou wilt find it full of gold. Take it out by
+handsful and give to all who come to thee and spare not, for as
+often as thou puttest thy hand into thy pocket, thou wilt find it
+without fail full of gold. So fear nothing, but put thy trust in
+Him who created thee, for all this is not by shine own strength
+but by that of God, that His decrees may take effect upon His
+creatures." Quoth Bedreddin to himself, "I wonder what is the
+meaning of all this!" And taking the torch, went to the bath,
+where he found the hunchback already on horseback. So he mixed
+with the people and moved on with the bridal-procession; and as
+often as the singing-women stopped to collect largesse from the
+people, he put his hand into his pocket and finding it full
+of gold, took out a handful and threw it into the singers'
+tambourine, till it was full of dinars. The singing women were
+amazed at his munificence and they and the people wondered at his
+beauty and grace and the richness of his dress. He ceased not to
+do thus, till he reached the Vizier's palace, where the
+chamberlains drove back the people and forbade them to enter;
+but the singing women said, "By Allah, we will not enter, unless
+this young man enter with us, for he has overwhelmed us with
+his bounties; nor shall the bride be displayed, except he be
+present." So the chamberlains let him pass, and he entered the
+bridal saloon with the singers, who made him sit down, in
+defiance of the humpbacked bridegroom. The wives of the Viziers
+and Amirs and chamberlains were ranged, each veiled to the eyes
+and holding a great lighted flambeau, in two ranks, extending
+right and left from the bride's throne[FN#61] to the upper end of
+the dais, in front of the door from which she was to issue. When
+the ladies saw Bedreddin and noted his beauty and grace and his
+face that shone like the new moon, they all inclined to him, and
+the singers said to all the women present, "You must know that
+this handsome youth has handselled us with nought but red gold,
+so fail ye not to wait on him and comply with all that he says."
+So all the women crowded round Bedreddin, with their torches, and
+gazed on his beauty arid envied him his grace; and each would
+gladly have lain in his bosom an hour or a year. In their
+intoxication, they let fall their veils from their faces and
+said, "Happy she who belongs to him or to whom he belongs!" And
+they cursed the humpbacked groom and him who was the cause of his
+marriage to that lovely lady; and as often as they invoked
+blessings on Bedreddin, they followed them up with imprecations
+on the hunchback, saying, "Indeed, this youth and he alone
+deserves our bride. Alas, the pity of her with this wretched
+hunchback, God's curse be on him and on the Sultan who will have
+her marry him!" Then the singers beat their tambourines and
+raised cries of joy, announcing the coming of the bride; and the
+Vizier's daughter entered, surrounded by her tire-women, who had
+perfumed her with essences and incensed her and decked her hair
+and dressed her in costly robes and ornaments such as were worn
+by the ancient kings of Persia. Over all she wore a robe
+embroidered in red gold with figures of birds and beasts with
+eyes and beaks of precious stones and feet and claws of red
+rubies and green beryl, and about her neck was clasped a necklace
+of Yemen work, worth many thousands of dinars, whose beazels were
+all manner jewels, never had Caesar or King of Yemen its like.
+She seemed as it were the full moon, when it shines out on the
+fourteenth night, or one of the houris of Paradise, glory be to
+Him who made her so splendidly fair! The women encompassed her as
+they were stars, and she in their midst as the moon breaking
+through the clouds. As she came forward, swaying gracefully to
+and fro, the hunchback rose to kiss her, but she turned from him
+and seeing Bedreddin Hassan seated, with all the company gazing
+on him, went and stood before him. When the folk saw her thus
+attracted towards Bedreddin, they laughed and shouted and the
+singers raised their voices, whereupon he put his hand to his
+pocket and cast gold by handsful into the tambourines of the
+singing-women, who rejoiced and said, "Would this bride were
+thine!" At this he smiled, and the people came round him, with
+the flambeaux in their hands, whilst the hunchback was left
+sitting alone, looking like an ape; for as often as they
+lighted a candle for him, it went out and he abode in darkness,
+speechless and confounded and grumbling to himself. When
+Bedreddin saw the bridegroom sitting moping alone and all the
+lights and people collected round himself, he was confounded and
+marvelled; but when he looked at his cousin, the Vizier's
+daughter, he rejoiced and was glad, for indeed her face was
+radiant with light and brilliancy. Then the tire-women took off
+the veil and displayed the bride in her first dress of red satin,
+and she moved to and fro with a languorous grace, till the heads
+of all the men and women were turned by her loveliness, for she
+was even as says the excellent poet:
+
+Like a sun at the end of a cane in a hill of sand, She shines in
+     a dress of the hue of pomegranate-flower.
+She gives me to drink of her cheeks and her honeyed lips, And
+     quenches the flaming fires that my heart devour.
+
+Then they changed her dress and displayed her in a robe of blue;
+and she reappeared like the moon when it bursts through the
+clouds, with her coal-black hair and her smiling teeth, her
+delicate cheeks and her swelling bosom, even as says the sublime
+poet:
+
+She comes in a robe the colour of ultramarine, Blue as the
+     stainless sky unflecked with white.
+I view her with yearning eyes, and she seems to me A moon of the
+     summer set in a winter's night.
+
+Then they clad her in a third dress and letting down her long
+black ringlets, veiled her face to her eyes with the super-
+abundance of her hair, which vied with the murkiest night in
+length and blackness; and she smote all hearts with the enchanted
+arrows of her glances. As says the poet:
+
+With hair that hides her rosy cheeks ev'n to her speaking eyes,
+     She comes; and I her locks compare unto a sable cloud
+And say to her, "Thou curtainest the morning with the night." But
+     she, "Not so; it is the moon that with the dark I shroud."
+
+Then they displayed her in the fourth dress, and she shone forth
+like the rising sun, swaying to and fro with amorous languor and
+turning from side to side with gazelle-like grace. And she
+pierced hearts with the arrows of her eyelashes; even as says the
+poet:
+
+A sun of beauty she appears to all that look on her, Glorious in
+     arch and amorous grace, with coyness beautified;
+And when the sun of morning sees her visage and her smile,
+     Conquered, he hasteneth his face behind the clouds to hide.
+
+Then they displayed her in the fifth dress, with her ringlets let
+down. The downy hair crept along her cheeks, and she swayed to
+and fro, like a willow-wand or a gazelle bending down to drink,
+with graceful motions of the neck and hips. As says the poet,
+describing her:
+
+Like the full moon she doth appear, on a calm night and fair;
+     Slender of shape and charming all with her seductive air.
+She hath an eye, whose glances pierce the hearts of all mankind,
+     Nor can cornelian with her cheeks for ruddiness compare.
+The sable torrent of her locks falls down unto her hips; Beware
+     the serpents of her curls, I counsel thee, beware!
+Indeed, her glance, her sides are soft, but none the less, alas!
+     Her heart is harder than the rock; there is no mercy there.
+The starry arrows of her looks she darts above her veil; They hit
+     and never miss the mark, though from afar they fare.
+When I clasp hands about her waist, to press her to my heart, The
+     swelling apples of her breast compel me to forbear.
+Alas, her beauty! it outdoes all other loveliness; Her shape
+     transcends the willow-wand and makes the branch despair.
+
+Then they unveiled her in the sixth dress, which was green. In
+this she reached the utmost bounds of loveliness, outvying in
+slender straightness the tawny spear-shaft, and in suppleness and
+flexile grace the bending branch, whilst the splendours of her
+face outshone the radiance of the full moon. Indeed, she
+transcended the fair of all quarters of the world and all hearts
+were broken by her loveliness; for she was even as says the poet:
+
+A damsel made for love and decked with subtle grace; You'd say
+     the very sun had borrowed from her face.
+She came in robes of green, the likeness of the leaf That the
+     pomegranate flower cloth in the bud encase.
+"How call'st thou this thy dress?" we said to her, and she Made
+     answer with a word full of malicious grace.
+"Breaker of Hearts," quoth she, "I call it, for therewith I've
+     broken many a heart among the human race."
+
+Then they dressed her in the seventh dress, which was of a colour
+between saffron and orange, even as says the poet:
+
+Scented with sandal and musk and ambergris, lo! she comes. The
+     blended hues of her dress 'twixt orange and saffron show.
+Slender and shapely she is; vivacity bids her arise, But the
+     weight of her hips says, "Sit, or softly and slowly go."
+When I solicit her kiss and sue for my heart's desire, "Be
+     gracious," her beauty says, but her coquetry answers, "No."
+
+They unveiled the bride, in all her seven dresses, before
+Bedreddin Hassan, leaving the hunchback sitting by himself; and
+when she opened her eyes, she said, "O my God, grant that this
+youth may be my husband and deliver me from this humpbacked
+groom." Then they dismissed the company and all who were present
+retired, except Bedreddin Hassan and the hunchback, whilst the
+tire-women carried off the bride to undress her and prepare her
+for the bridegroom. Thereupon the hunchback came up to Bedreddin
+Hassan and said to him, "O my lord, thou hast cheered us with
+thy company tonight and overwhelmed us with thy favours. Wilt
+thou not now rise and depart?" "In the name of God," replied
+Bedreddin, and rising, went out of the door, where the Afrit met
+him and said to him, "Stay where thou art, and when the hunchback
+goes out to the draught-house, enter thou the bride chamber and
+do not hesitate, but sit down in the alcove, and when the bride
+comes, say to her, ''Tis I who am thy husband, for the King only
+played this trick on thee, to conjure the evil eye from us; and
+he whom thou sawest is one of our grooms.' Then go up to her and
+uncover her face and fear nothing, for jealousy hath taken us of
+this affair and none is worthy to enjoy her youth but thyself.'
+As he was yet speaking, the groom came out and entering the
+closet, sat down on the stool. Hardly had he done so, when the
+Afrit appeared to him in the shape of a mouse, issuing from the
+water-trough,[FN#62] and cried "Queek!" Quoth the hunchback,
+"What ails thee?" And the mouse increased till it became a cat
+and said, "Miaou! Miaou!" Then it grew still more and became a
+dog and cried, "Bow! Wow!" When the hunchback saw this, he was
+terrified and exclaimed, "Begone, O unlucky one!" The dog
+increased and became an ass-colt, that brayed and cried out in
+his face, "Heehaw! Heehaw!" Whereupon the hunchback quaked and
+cried out, "Come to my aid, O people of the house!" But the ass
+increased and swelled, till it became a buffalo and barred the
+way against him and said with a human voice, "Out on thee,
+hunchback, thou stinkard!" The groom was seized with a colic and
+sat down on the jakes with his clothes on and his teeth
+chattering. Quoth the Afrit, "Is the world so small that thou
+canst find none to marry but my mistress?'' But he was silent,
+and the Afrit said, "Answer me, or I will make thee a dweller in
+the dust." "By Allah," replied the hunchback, "I am not to blame,
+for they forced me to marry her, and I knew not that she had a
+buffalo for a gallant; but I repent to God and to thee. What wilt
+thou have me do?" Quoth the Afrit, "I swear to thee that, if thou
+leave this place or speak before sunrise, I will wring thy neck!
+When the sun rises, go thy way and never return to this house."
+So saying, he seized the hunchback and set him upside down
+against the wall, with his head in the slit and his feet in the
+air, and said to him, "I will leave thee here and watch thee
+till sunrise; and if thou stir before then, I will seize thee by
+the feet and dash out thy brains against the wall." Meanwhile
+Bedreddin Hassan entered the bride chamber and sat down in the
+alcove. Presently, in came the bride, attended by an old woman,
+who stopped at the door of the chamber and said, "O father of
+symmetry,[FN#63] arise and take what God sends thee." Then the
+old woman went away, and the bride, whose name was the Lady of
+Beauty, entered, heart-broken and saying to herself, "By Allah, I
+will never yield myself to him, though he kill me!" When she came
+to the alcove, she saw Bedreddin sitting there and said, "O my
+friend, thou here at this hour! By Allah, I was wishing that thou
+wast my husband or that thou and the groom were partners in me!"
+"How should the groom have access to thee," asked Bedreddin,
+"and how should he share with me in thee?" Quoth she "Who is my
+husband, thou or he?" "O Lady of Beauty," replied Bedreddin, "all
+this was only a device to conjure the evil eye from us. Thy
+father hired the hunchback for ten diners to that end, and now he
+has taken his wage and gone away. Didst thou not see the singers
+and tire-women laughing at him and how thy people displayed thee
+before me?" When the Lady of Beauty heard this, she smiled and
+rejoiced and laughed softly. Then she said to him, "Thou hast
+quenched the fire of my heart, so, by Allah, take me and press me
+to thy bosom." Now she was without clothes; so she threw open the
+veil in which she was wrapped and showed her hidden charms. At
+this sight, desire stirred in Bedreddin, and he rose and put off
+his clothes. The purse of a thousand dinars he had received of
+the Jew he wrapped in his trousers and laid them under the
+mattress; then took off his turban and hung it on the settle,
+remaining in a skull-cap and shirt of fine silk, laced with gold.
+With this arose the Lady of Beauty and drew him to her, and he
+did the like with her. Then he took her to his embrace and
+pointing the engine that batters down the fortalice of virginity,
+stormed the citadel and found her an unpierced pearl and a filly
+that none but he had ridden. So he took her maidenhead and
+enjoyed her dower of youth; nor did he stint to return to the
+assault till he had furnished fifteen courses, and she conceived
+by him. Then he laid his hand under her head and she did the
+like, and they embraced and fell asleep in each other's arms,
+whilst the tongue of the case spoke the words of the poet:
+
+Cleave fast to her thou lov'st and let the envious rail amain,
+     For calumny and envy ne'er to favour love were fain.
+Lo! the Compassionate hath made no fairer thing to see Than when
+     one couch in its embrace enfoldeth lovers twain,
+Each to the other's bosom clasped, clad in their own delight,
+     Whilst hand with hand and arm with arm about their necks
+     enchain.
+Lo! when two hearts are straitly knit in passion and desire, But
+     on cold iron smite the folk that chide at them in vain.
+If in thy time thou find but one to love thee and be true, I rede
+     thee cast the world away and with that one remain.
+
+As soon as Bedreddin was asleep, the Afrit said to the Afriteh,
+"Come, let us take up the young man and carry him back to his
+place, ere the dawn overtake us, for the day is near." So she
+took up Bedreddin, as he lay asleep, clad only in his shirt and
+skull-cap, and flew away with him, accompanied by the Afrit. But
+the dawn overtook them midway and the muezzins began to chant the
+call to morning-prayer. Then God let His angels cast at the Afrit
+with shooting-stars, and he was consumed; but the Afriteh escaped
+and lighted down with Bedreddin, fearing to carry him further,
+lest he should come to harm. Now as fate would have it, she had
+reached the city of Damascus, so she laid Bedreddin down before
+one of its gates and flew away. As soon as it was day, the gate
+was thrown open and the folk came out, and seeing a handsome
+young man, clad in nothing but a shirt and skull-cap, lying on
+the ground, drowned in sleep by reason of his much swink of the
+night before, said, "Happy she with whom this youth lay the
+night! Would he had waited to put on his clothes!" Quoth another,
+"A sorry race are young men of family! Belike, this fellow but
+now came forth of the tavern on some occasion or other, but being
+overcome with drunkenness, missed the place he was making for and
+strayed till he came to the city gate, and finding it shut, lay
+down and fell asleep." As they were bandying words about him, the
+breeze blew on him and raising his shirt, showed a stomach and
+navel and legs and thighs, firm and clear as crystal and softer
+than cream; whereupon the bystanders exclaimed, "By Allah, it is
+good!" And made such a noise, that Bedreddin awoke and finding
+himself lying at the gate of a city, in the midst of a crowd of
+people, was astonished and said to them, "O good people, where am
+I, and why do you crowd round me thus?" "We found thee lying here
+asleep, at the time of the call to morning-prayer," replied
+they, "and this is all we know of the matter. Where didst thou
+lie last night?" "By Allah, good people," answered he, "I lay
+last night in Cairo!" Quoth one, "Thou hast eaten hashish." And
+another, "Thou art mad; how couldst thou lie yesternight in Cairo
+and awake this morning in Damascus?" "By Allah, good people,"
+rejoined he, "I do not lie to you; indeed I lay last night in the
+city of Cairo and yesterday I was in Bassora." "Good," said one;
+and another, "This youth is mad." And they clapped their hands at
+him and said to each other, "Alack, the pity of his youth! By
+Allah, there is no doubt of his madness." Then said they to him,
+"Collect thyself and return to thy senses. How couldst thou be in
+Bassora yesterday and in Cairo last night and yet awake in
+Damascus this morning?" But he said, "Indeed, I was a bridegroom
+in Cairo last night." "Doubtless thou hast been dreaming,"
+rejoined they, "and hast seen all this in sleep." So he bethought
+himself awhile, then said to them, "By Allah, it was no dream! I
+certainly went to Cairo and they displayed the bride before me,
+in the presence of the hunchback. By Allah, O my brethren, this
+was no dream; or if it was a dream, where is the purse of gold I
+had with me and my turban and trousers and the rest of my
+clothes?" Then he rose and entered the town and passed through
+its streets and markets; but the people followed him and pressed
+on him, crying out, "Madman! Madman!" till he took refuge in a
+cook's shop. Now this cook had been a robber and a sharper, but
+God had made him repent and turn from his evil ways and open a
+cookshop; and all the people of Damascus stood in awe of him and
+feared his mischief. So when they saw Bedreddin enter his shop,
+they dispersed for fear of him and went their ways. The cook
+looked at Bedreddin and noting his beauty and grace, fell in love
+with him and said to him, "Whence comest thou, O youth? Tell me
+thy case, for thou art become to me dearer than my soul." So
+Bedreddin told him all that had befallen him from first to last;
+and the cook said, "O my lord Bedreddin, this is indeed a strange
+thing and a rare story; but, O my son, keep thy case secret, till
+God grant thee relief, and abide here with me meanwhile, for I am
+childless and will adopt thee as my son." And Bedreddin answered,
+"I will well, O uncle." With this the cook went to the bazaar,
+where he bought him a handsome suit of clothes and made him put
+it on, then carried him to the Cadi and formally acknowledged him
+as his son. So Bedreddin passed in Damascus for the cook's son
+and abode with him, sitting in the shop to take the money.
+
+To return to the Lady of Beauty. When the day broke and she awoke
+from sleep, she missed Bedreddin from her side and thought he had
+gone to the lavatory, so lay expecting him awhile, when behold,
+her father entered. Now he was sore at heart by reason of what
+had passed between him and the Sultan and for that he had married
+his daughter by force to one of his servants, and he a lump of a
+hunchbacked groom; and he said to himself, "If she have suffered
+this damnable fellow to possess her, I will kill her." So he came
+to the door of the alcove and cried out, "Ho, Lady of Beauty!"
+She replied, "Here am I, O my lord"; and came out tottering for
+joy, with a face whose brightness and beauty had redoubled for
+that she had lain in the arms of that gazelle,[FN#64] and kissed
+the ground before her father. When the Vizier saw her thus, he
+said to her, "O accursed woman, dost thou rejoice in this groom?"
+At these words, the Lady of Beauty smiled and said, "O my lord,
+let what happened yesterday suffice, when all the folk were
+laughing at me and flouting me with that groom, who is not worth
+the paring of one of my husband's nails. By Allah, I never in all
+my life passed a pleasanter night! So do not mock me by reminding
+me of that hunchback." When her father heard this, he was filled
+with rage and glared at her, saving, "Out on thee! what words are
+these? It was the hunchbacked groom that lay with thee." "For
+God's sake," replied the Lady of Beauty, "do not mention him to
+me, may God curse his father! And mock me not, for the groom was
+only hired for ten dinars to conjure the evil eye from us, and he
+took his hire and departed. As for me, I entered the bridal
+chamber, where I found my true husband sitting in the alcove, him
+before whom the singers had unveiled me and who flung them the
+red gold by handsful, till he made all the poor there rich; and I
+passed the night in the arms of my sprightly husband, with the
+black eyes and joined eyebrows." When her father heard this, the
+light in his eyes became darkness, and he cried out at her,
+saying, "O wanton, what is this thou sayest? Where are thy
+senses?" "O my father," rejoined she, "thou breakest my heart
+with thy persistence in making mock of me! Indeed, my husband,
+who took my maidenhead, is in the wardrobe and I am with child by
+him." The Vizier rose, wondering, and entered the draught-house,
+where he found the hunchbacked groom with his head in the slit
+and his heels in the air. At this sight he was confounded and
+said, "This is none other than the hunchback." So he called to
+him, "Hallo, hunchback!" The groom made no answer but a grunt,
+thinking it was the Afrit who spoke to him. But the Vizier cried
+out at him, saying, "Speak, or I will cut off thy head with this
+sword." Then said the hunchback, "By Allah, O Chief of the
+Afrits, I have not lifted my head since thou didst set me here;
+so, God on thee, have mercy on me!" "What is this thou sayest?"
+quoth the Vizier. "I am no Afrit; I am the father of the bride."
+"It is enough that though hast already gone nigh to make me lose
+my life," replied the hunchback, "go thy ways ere he come upon
+thee who served me thus. Could ye find none to whom to marry me
+but the mistress of an Afrit and the beloved of a buffalo? May
+God curse him who married me to her and him who was the cause of
+it?" Then said the Vizier to him, "Come, get up out of this
+place." "Am I mad," answered the groom, "that I should go with
+thee without the Afrit's leave? He said to me, 'When the sun
+rises, get up and go thy way.' So has the sun risen or no? for I
+dare not budge till then." "Who brought thee hither?" asked the
+Vizier; and the hunchback replied, "I came here last night to do
+an occasion, when behold, a mouse came out of the water and
+squeaked and grew to a buffalo and spoke to me words that entered
+my ears. Then he left me here and went away, accursed be the
+bride and he who married me to her!" The Vizier went up to him
+and set him on his feet; and he went out, running, not crediting
+that the sun had risen, and repaired to the Sultan, to whom he
+related what had befallen him with the Afrit. Meanwhile, the
+Vizier returned to the bride's chamber, troubled in mind about
+his daughter, and said to her, "O my daughter, expound thy case
+to me." "O my father," answered she, "what more can I tell thee?
+Indeed, the bridegroom, he before whom they displayed me
+yesterday, lay with me all night and took my virginity, and I am
+with child by him. If thou believe me not, there is his turban,
+just as he left it, on the settle, and his trousers under the
+bed, with I know not what wrapped up in them." When her father
+heard this, he entered the alcove and found Bedreddin's turban;
+so he took it up and turning it about, said, "This is a Vizier's
+turban, except that it is of the Mosul cut."[FN#65] Then he
+perceived an amulet sewn in the cap of the turban so he unsewed
+the lining and took it out; then took the trousers, in which was
+the purse of a thousand dinars. In the latter he found the
+duplicate of Bedreddin's docket of sale to the Jew, naming him
+as Bedreddin Hassan, son of Noureddin Ali of Cairo. No sooner had
+he read this, than he cried out and fell down in a swoon; and
+when he revived, he wondered and said, "There is no god but God
+the Omnipotent! O my daughter, dost thou know who took thy
+maidenhead?" "No," answered she; and he said, "It was thy
+cousin, my brother's son, and these thousand dinars are thy
+dowry' Glory be to God! Would I knew how this had come about!"
+Then he opened the amulet and found therein a paper in the
+handwriting of his brother Noureddin; and when he saw his
+writing, he knew it and kissed it again and again, weeping and
+making moan for his brother. Then he read the scroll and found in
+it a record of the dates of Noureddin's marriage with the
+Vizier's daughter of Bassora, his going in to her, her conception
+and the birth of Bedreddin Hassan, and the history of his
+brother's life till his death. At this he wondered and was moved
+to joy and comparing the dates with those of his own marriage and
+the birth of his daughter the Lady of Beauty, found that they
+agreed in all respects. So he took the scroll and carrying it to
+the Sultan, told him the whole story from first to last, at which
+the King wondered and commanded the case to be at once set down
+in writing. The Vizier abode all that day awaiting his nephew,
+but he came not; and when seven days were past and he could learn
+nothing of him, he said, "By Allah, I will do a thing that none
+has done before me!" So he took pen and ink and paper and drew a
+plan of the bride-chamber, showing the disposition of all the
+furniture therein, as that the alcove was in such a place, this
+or that curtain in another, and so on with all that was in the
+room. Then he folded the paper and laid it aside, and causing all
+the furniture to be taken up and stored away, took Bedreddin's
+purse and turban and clothes and locked them up with an iron
+padlock, on which he set a seal, against his nephew's coming. As
+for the Lady of Beauty, she accomplished the months of her
+pregnancy and bore a son like the full moon, resembling his
+father in beauty and grace. They cut his navel and blackened his
+eyelids with kohl[FN#66] and committed him to the nurses, naming
+him Agib. His day was as a month and his month as a year, and
+when seven years had passed over him, his grandfather sent him to
+school, bidding the master teach him to read the Koran and give
+him a good education; and he remained at the school four years,
+till he began to bully the little ones and beat them and abuse
+them, saying, "Which of you is like me? I am the son of the
+Vizier of Egypt." At last the children came, in a body, to
+complain to the monitor of Agib's behavior to them, and he said,
+"I will tell you how to do with him, so that he shall leave
+coming to the school and you shall never see him again. It is
+this: when he comes to-morrow, sit down round him and let one of
+you say to the others, 'By Allah, none shall play at this game
+except he tell us the names of his father and mother; for he who
+knows not his parents' names is a bastard and shall not play with
+us.'" So next day, when Agib came to the school, they all
+assembled round him, and one of them said, "We will play a game,
+in which no one shall join except he tell us the names of his
+father and mother." And they all said, "By Allah, it is good."
+Then said one of them, "My name is Majid, my mother's name is
+Alawiyeh and my father's Izeddin." And the others said the like,
+till it came to Agib's turn and he said, "My name is Agib, my
+mother is the Lady of Beauty and my father Shemseddin, Vizier of
+Egypt." "By Allah," cried they, "the Vizier is not thy father."
+Said he, "He is indeed my father." Then they all laughed and
+clapped their hands at him, saying, "He does not know his father!
+Arise and go out from us, for none shall play with us, except he
+know his father's name." Thereupon they dispersed from around him
+and laughed him to scorn, leaving him choked with tears and
+mortification. Then said the monitor to him, "O Agib, knowst thou
+not that the Vizier is thy mother's father, thy grandfather and
+not thy father? As for thy father, thou knowest him not nor do
+we, for the Sultan married thy mother to a humpbacked groom; but
+the Jinn came and lay with her, and thou hast no known father.
+Wherefore, do thou leave evening thyself with the boys in the
+school, till thou know who is thy father; for till then thou wilt
+pass for a misbegotten brat amongst them. Dost thou not see that
+the huckster's son knows his own father? Thy grandfather is the
+Vizier of Egypt, but as for thy father, we know him not, and we
+say, thou hast no father. So return to thy senses." When Agib
+heard the insulting words of the children and the monitor, he
+went out at once and ran to his mother, to complain to her; but
+his tears would not let him speak awhile. When she heard his sobs
+and saw his tears, her heart was on fire for him and she said to
+him, "O my son, why dost thou weep? Tell me what is the matter."
+So he told her what the children and the monitor had said and
+said to her, "Who is my father, O my mother?" "Thy father is the
+Vizier of Egypt," answered she; but he said, "Do not lie to me.
+The Vizier is thy father, not mine. Who then is my father? Except
+thou tell me the truth, I will kill myself with this dagger."
+When the Lady of Beauty heard him speak of his father, she wept,
+as she thought of her cousin and her bridal-night, and repeated
+the following verses:
+
+Love in my breast, alas! they lit and went away; Far distant is
+     the camp that holds my soul's delight!
+Patience and reason fled from me, when they withdrew; Sleep
+     failed me, and despair o'ercame me like a blight.
+They left me, and with them departed all my joy; Tranquility and
+     peace with them have taken flight.
+They made my lids run down with tears of love laid waste; My eyes
+     for lack of them brim over day and night.
+When as my sad soul longs to see them once again And waiting and
+     desire are heavy on my spright;
+Midmost my heart of hearts their images I trace, Love and
+     desireful pain and longing for their sight.
+O ye, one thought of whom clings round me like a cloak, Whose
+     love it as a shirt about my body dight,
+O my beloved ones, how long will ye delay? How long must I endure
+     estrangement and despite?
+
+Then she wept and cried out and her son did the like, when in
+came the Vizier, whose heart burned within him at the sight of
+their weeping, and he said, "Why do ye weep?" The Lady of Beauty
+told him what had happened to Agib, and the Vizier also wept and
+called to mind his brother and all that had passed between them
+and what had befallen his daughter, and knew not the secret of
+the matter. Then he rose at once and going to the Divan, related
+the matter to the Sultan and begged his leave to travel eastward
+to the city of Bassora and enquire for his nephew. Moreover,
+he besought him for letters-patent, authorizing him to take
+Bedreddin, wherever he should find him. And he wept before the
+King, who took pity on him and wrote him royal letters-patent to
+his deputies in all his provinces; whereat the Vizier rejoiced
+and called down blessings on him. Then taking leave of him, he
+returned to his house, where he equipped himself and his daughter
+and grandson for the journey, and set out and travelled till he
+came to the city of Damascus and found it rich in trees and
+waters, even as says the poet:
+
+I mind me a night and a day spent in Damascus town, (Time swore
+     'twould ne'er again their like to man outmete).
+We lay in its languorous glades, where the careless calm of the
+     night And the morn, with its smiling eyes and its
+     twy-coloured tresses, meet.
+The dew to its branches clings like a glittering chain of pearl,
+     Whose jewels the zephyr smites and scatters beneath his
+     feet.
+The birds on the branches chant from the open book of the lake;
+     The breezes write on the scroll and the clouds mark the
+     points, as they fleet.
+
+The Vizier alighted without the city and pitched his tents in an
+open space called the Plain of Pebbles, saying to his servants,
+"We will rest here two days." So they went down into the city
+upon their several occasions, this to sell, that to buy, another
+to go to the bath and a fourth to visit the Mosque of the
+Ommiades, whose like is not in the world. Agib also went into the
+city to look about him, followed by an eunuch, carrying a knotted
+cudgel of almond-tree wood, wherewith if one smote a camel, it
+would not rise again. When the people of the city saw Agib's
+beauty and symmetry (for he was a marvel of loveliness and
+winning grace, blander than the Northern zephyr,[FN#67] sweeter
+than limpid water to the thirsty and more delightful than
+recovery to the sick), a great concourse of folk followed him,
+whilst others ran on before and sat down in the road, against he
+should come up, that they might gaze on him, till, as Fate would
+have it, the eunuch stopped before the shop of Bedreddin Hassan.
+Now the cook was dead and Bedreddin, having been formally adopted
+by him, had succeeded to his shop and property; and in the course
+of the twelve years that had passed over him, his beard had grown
+and his understanding ripened. When his son and the eunuch
+stopped before him, he had just finished preparing a mess of
+pomegranate-seed, dressed with sugar; and when he looked at Agib
+and saw how beautiful he was, his heart throbbed, blood drew to
+blood and his bowels yearned to him. So he called to him and
+said, "O my lord, O thou that hast gotten the mastery of my heart
+and my soul, thou to whom my bowels yearn, wilt thou not enter my
+shop and solace my heart by eating of my food?" And the tears
+welled up, uncalled, from his eyes, and he bethought him of his
+former estate and compared it with his present condition. When
+Agib heard his words his heart yearned to him, and he said to the
+eunuch, "Indeed, my heart inclines to this cook, and meseems he
+hath lost a child, so let us enter and gladden his soul by
+partaking of his hospitality. Perhaps God may requite us our
+kindness to him by reuniting us with my father." "By Allah!"
+replied the eunuch, "it were a fine thing for a Vizier's son to
+eat in a cookshop! Indeed, I keep off the folk with this stick,
+lest they look too closely on thee, and I dare not let thee enter
+a shop." When Bedreddin heard these words, he wondered and turned
+to the eunuch, with the tears running down his cheeks, and Agib
+said to the latter, "Indeed, my heart yearns for him." But he
+answered, "Leave this talk; indeed, thou shalt not go in." Then
+Bedreddin turned to the eunuch and said, "O noble sir, why wilt
+thou not gladden my soul by entering my shop? O thou who art as a
+chestnut, black without, but with a white heart,[FN#68] thou of
+whom the poet says ..........." The eunuch laughed and said,
+"What? Say on, by Allah, and be quick about it." So Bedreddin
+repeated the following verses:
+
+Were he not polished and discreet and worthy of all trust, He in
+     kings' houses would not be advanced to high estate.
+O what a guardian he is for a seraglio! The very angels of the
+     skies delight on him to wait.
+
+This pleased the eunuch, who laughed and taking Agib by the hand,
+entered the shop with him. Bedreddin ladled out a dishful of
+pomegranate-seed, conserved with almonds and sugar, and set it
+before them, saying, "Ye do me honour. Eat and may health and
+enjoyment attend you!" And Agib said to him, "Sit down and eat
+with us, so haply God may unite us with him for whom we long." "O
+my son," said Bedreddin, "hast thou then suffered the loss of
+friends, at thy tender age?" "Yes, O uncle!" answered Agib, "my
+heart irks me for the loss of a beloved one, who is none other
+than my father; and indeed my grandfather and myself have come
+forth to seek for him throughout the world. Alas I how I sigh to
+be united with him!" Then he wept sore, whilst Bedreddin wept at
+the sight of his tears and for his bereavement, which recalled to
+him his own separation from those he loved and from his father
+and mother, and the eunuch was moved to pity for him. Then they
+ate together till they were satisfied, and Agib and the eunuch
+rose and left the shop. At this, Bedreddin felt as if his soul
+had departed his body and gone with them, for he could not live a
+moment without their sight, albeit he knew not that Agib was his
+son. So he rose and shutting his shop, hastened after them and
+overtook them before they went out at the great gate. The eunuch
+turned and said to him, "What dost thou want?" "When you left
+me," replied Bedreddin, "meseemed my soul had quitted my body,
+and as I had an occasion without the city, I thought to bear you
+company till I had done my business and so return." The eunuch
+was vexed and said to Agib, "This is what I feared. Because we
+entered this fellow's shop and ate that unlucky mouthful, he
+thinks he has a right to presume upon us, for see, he follows us
+from place to place." Agib turned and seeing the cook following
+him, reddened for anger and said to the eunuch, "Let him walk in
+the high road of the Muslims; but if he follow us when we turn
+aside to our tents, we will drive him away." Then he bowed his
+head and walked on, with the eunuch behind him. When they came to
+the Plain of Pebbles and drew near their tents, Agib turned
+and saw Bedreddin still following him; whereat he was enraged,
+fearing least the eunuch should tell his grandfather and vexed
+that it should be said he had entered a cookshop and the cook had
+followed him. So he looked at Bedreddin and found his eyes fixed
+on him, for he was as it were a body without a soul; and it
+seemed to Agib that his eye was that of a knave or a lewd fellow.
+So his rage redoubled and he took up a stone and threw it at
+Bedreddin. It struck him on the forehead and cut it open; and he
+fell down in a swoon, with the blood streaming down his face,
+whilst Agib and the eunuch made for the tents. When he came to
+himself, he wiped away the blood and tore off a piece of the
+muslin of his turban, with which he bound his head, blaming
+himself and saying, "I wronged the lad in closing my shop and
+following him, so that he thought I was some lewd fellow." Then
+he returned to his shop, where he busied himself with the sale of
+his meats; and he yearned after his mother at Bassora and wept
+over her and recited the following verses:
+
+If thou demand fair play of Fate, therein thou dost it wrong; And
+     blame it not, for twas not made, indeed, for equity.
+Take what lies ready to thy hand and lay concern aside, For
+     troubled days and days of peace in life must surely be.
+
+Meanwhile, the Vizier, his uncle, tarried in Damascus three days,
+then departed for Hems, and passing through that city, fared on
+by way of Hemah and Aleppo and thence through Diarbekir, Maridin
+and Mosul, making enquiries at every place he came to, till he
+arrived at Bassora, where he halted and presented himself before
+the Sultan, who received him with honour and consideration and
+asked the reason of his coming. The Vizier related to him
+his history and told him that Noureddin Ali was his brother,
+whereupon the Sultan commended the latter's soul to the mercy of
+God and said, "Sir, he was my Vizier for fifteen years, and I
+loved him greatly. Then he died, leaving a son, who abode here
+but two months after his father's death; since which time he hath
+disappeared and we have never come upon any news of him. But his
+mother, who was the daughter of my former Vizier, is still with
+us." Shemseddin rejoiced to hear that his nephew's mother was
+still alive and said, "O King, I wish to see her." The King at
+once gave him leave to visit her; so he betook himself to his
+brother Noureddin's house and went round about it and kissed its
+threshold. And he bethought him of his brother and how he had
+died in a strange land and wept and repeated the following
+verses:
+
+I wander through the halls, the halls where Leila lived, And kiss
+     the lifeless walls that of her passage tell.
+It is not for the house that I with passion burn, But for the
+     cherished ones that erst therein did dwell.
+
+Then he entered the gate and found himself in a spacious
+courtyard, at the end whereof was a door vaulted over with hard
+stone, inlaid with vari-coloured marbles. He walked round about
+the house, and casting his eyes on the walls, saw the name of his
+brother Noureddin written on them in letters of gold. So he went
+up to the inscription and kissed it and wept for his brother's
+loss and repeated the following verses:
+
+I sue unto the rising sun, each morn, for news of thee, And of
+     the lightning's lurid gleam I do for thee enquire.
+The hands of passion and of pain sport with me all the night; Yet
+     I complain not of the ills I suffer from desire.
+O my beloved, if the times be yet for me prolonged, be all
+     consumed with separation's fire.
+Lo! if thy sight one happy day should bless my longing eyes,
+     There is no other thing on earth that I of Fate require.
+Think not that other loves avail to solace me for thee; My heart
+     can hold no love but thine, my faith can never tire.
+
+Then he walked on till he came to the lodging of his brother's
+widow. Now from the day of her son's disappearance, she had given
+herself up to weeping and lamentation day and night; and when the
+years grew long upon her, she made him a tomb of marble midmost
+the saloon and there wept for him day and night, sleeping not but
+thereby. When the Vizier drew near her apartment, he heard her
+weeping and repeating verses, so he went in to her and saluting
+her, informed her that he was her husband's brother and told her
+all that had passed between them, and how her son Bedreddin
+Hassan had spent a whole night with his daughter, twelve years
+ago, but had disappeared in the morning, and how she had
+conceived by him and borne a son, whom he had brought with him.
+When Bedreddin's mother heard this news of her son and grandson
+and that the former was haply still alive and saw her husband's
+brother, she threw herself at his feet and kissed them, repeating
+the following verses:
+
+
+May God be good to him who brought me news that they were come;
+     For never more delightful news unto my ears were borne.
+If he would take a worn-out weds for boon, I'd proffer him A
+     heart that at the parting hour was all to pieces torn.
+
+Then the Vizier sent for Agib; and his grandmother embraced him
+and wept, but Shemseddin said to her, "This is no time for
+weeping; it behoves thee to make ready to go with us to Egypt;
+perhaps God will reunite us with thy son, my nephew." "I hear and
+obey," answered she, and rising at once, collected her goods and
+treasures and equipped herself and her handmaids for the journey,
+whilst the Vizier went to take his leave of the Sultan of
+Bassora, who sent by him gifts and rarities to the Sultan of
+Egypt. Then he set out at once on his homeward journey and
+travelled till he came to Damascus, where he halted and pitched
+his tents as before, saying to his suite, "We will halt here a
+week, to buy presents and curiosities for the Sultan." Now the
+tie of blood drew Agib to his father, so he said to the eunuch,
+"O Laic, I have a mind to go a-walking; so come, let us go down
+into the streets of Damascus and see what is become of the cook
+whose victuals we ate and whose head we broke, for indeed he was
+kind to us and we used him scurvily." The eunuch replied, "I hear
+and obey." So they left the tents and going down into the city,
+stayed not till they came to the cookshop, where they found
+Bedreddin Hassan standing at the door. It was near the time of
+afternoon-prayer, and as chance would have it, he had just
+prepared a mess of pomegranate-seed. Agib looked at him and saw
+the scar of the blow on his forehead; wherefore his heart yearned
+to him and he said, "Peace be on thee! Know that my heart is with
+thee." When Bedreddin saw him, his bowels were troubled and his
+heart throbbed, and he bowed his head and would have spoken, but
+could not. Then he raised his head and looked at his son humbly
+and imploringly and repeated the following verses:
+
+I longed to look on him I love; but when I saw his face, I was as
+     one amazed and lost the use of tongue and eyes.
+I bowed my head down to his feet for reverence and awe, And would
+     have hidden what I felt, but could it not disguise.
+Volumes of plaining and reproach I had within my heart; Yet, when
+     we met, no word I spoke nor uttered aught but sighs.
+
+Then he said to them, "Heal my heart and eat of my food, for, by
+Allah, I cannot look at you but my heart throbs! I should not
+have followed you the other day, but that I was beside myself."
+"By Allah," replied Agib, "thou art too fond of us! We ate
+with thee before and thou madest us repent of it, in that thou
+followedst us and wouldst have put us to shame; so we will not
+eat with thee, except thou swear not to go out after us nor
+follow us. Else we will not visit thee again during our present
+stay, for we abide here a week, that my grandfather may take
+presents for the King." And Bedreddin said, "I grant you this."
+So Agib and the eunuch entered, and Bedreddin set before them a
+dish of pomegranate-seed. Quoth Agib, "Sit down and eat with us,
+so haply God may grant us relief." At this Bedreddin was glad and
+sat down and ate with them, with his eyes fixed on Agib's face,
+for indeed his heart and entrails were taken with his love, till
+the boy said to him, "What a tiresome dotard thou art! Leave thy
+staring in my face." When Bedreddin heard this, he repeated the
+following verses:
+
+
+Thy face excites in all men's hearts a love they do not own;
+     Folded in silence and concealed, it may not be made known.
+O thou whose beauty puts to shame the splendour of the moon,
+     Whose grace recalls the shining sight of morning newly
+     blown,
+In thy bright visage is a sign that may not be fulfilled, And
+     there all beauties that incite to tenderness are shown.
+Must I then die of thirst, what while thy lips with nectar flow?
+     Thy face is Paradise to me; must I in hell-fire groan?
+
+So they ate till they were satisfied, when Bedreddin rose and
+poured water on their hands, wiping them with a napkin of silk,
+which he loosed from his waist; after which he sprinkled
+rose-water on them from a casting-bottle he had by him. Then he
+went out and returned with a pitcher of sherbet, flavoured with
+rose-water and musk, which he set before them, saying, "Complete
+your favours to me, by drinking of this sherbet." So Agib took
+the pitcher and drank and passed it to the eunuch, and it went
+round amongst them till their stomachs were full, for they had
+eaten and drunken beyond their wont. Then they went away and
+made haste in walking till they reached the tents, and Agib went
+in to his grandmother, who kissed him, and thinking of her son
+Bedreddin Hassan, wept and repeated the following verses:
+
+But for my hope that God would yet our severed loves unite, I had
+     not lived for life to me is void of all delight.
+I swear there's nothing in my heart but love of thee alone, By
+     God, who reads the heart and brings the hidden things to
+     light!
+
+And she said to Agib, "O my son, where hast thou been?" Quoth he,
+"We have been in the city of Damascus. Then she rose and set
+before him confection of pomegranate-seed and said to the eunuch,
+"Sit down and eat with thy young master." The eunuch said to
+himself, "By Allah, we have no mind to eat!" but he sat down,
+and so did Agib, though his belly was full of what he had
+already eaten and drunk. Now the conserve lacked sugar, so
+he took a piece of bread and dipped it therein and ate, but
+found it insipid, for that he was already surfeited, and
+exclaimed, "Faugh! what is this nasty mess?" "O my son," said his
+grandmother, "dost thou find fault with my cookery? I cooked this
+myself, and there is not a cook in the land can compare with me,
+except it be thy father Bedreddin Hassan." "O my lady," replied
+Agib, "this thy dish is naught; for we saw but now in the city a
+cook who dresses pomegranate-seed, so that the very smell of it
+opens the heart and the taste would give a full man an appetite;
+and as for thy mess, compared with his, it is worth neither much
+nor little." When his grandmother heard this, she was exceeding
+wroth and said to the eunuch, "Out on thee, dost thou corrupt my
+grandson and take him into cookshops?" The eunuch was frightened
+and denied, saying, "We did not enter the shop, but only saw it
+in passing." "By Allah!" said Agib, "we went in and ate, and it
+was better than thine." Then his grandmother rose and went and
+told her brother-in-law, who was incensed against the eunuch and
+sending for him, said to him, "Why didst thou take my son into a
+cookshop?" "We did not go in," replied the eunuch. But Agib said,
+"We did go in and ate of pomegranate-seed, till we were full; and
+the cook gave us to drink of iced sherbet of sugar." At this, the
+Vizier's anger redoubled and he questioned the eunuch, but he
+still denied. Then said the Vizier, "If what thou sayest be true,
+sit down and eat before us." So he sat down and tried to eat, but
+could not and threw away the morsel, saying, "O my lord, indeed I
+am full since yesterday." By this, the Vizier knew that he had
+eaten at the cook's and bade his slaves throw him down and beat
+him. So they drubbed him, till he roared for mercy and said,
+"O my lord, do not beat me, and I will tell thee the truth."
+Whereupon the Vizier stopped the beating and said, "Speak the
+truth." Quoth the eunuch, "Know then that we did enter the shop
+of a cook, who was dressing pomegranate seed, and he set some of
+it before us; by Allah, I never ate the like of it in my life,
+nor did I ever taste aught nastier than that which is before us!"
+Bedreddin's mother was enraged at this and said to the eunuch,
+"Thou must go back to the cook and fetch us a dish of his
+pomegranate-seed and show it to thy master, that he may say which
+is the better, his or mine." "Good," answered he. So she gave him
+a dish and half a dinar, and he returned to the shop and said to
+Bedreddin, "We have made a wager about thy cookery in our lord's
+household, for they have pomegranate-seed there also; so give me
+half a dinar's worth of thy confection and let it be of thy best,
+for I have eaten my bellyful of stick on account of thy cookery."
+Bedreddin laughed and answered, "By Allah, none can dress this
+dish aright but myself and my mother, and she is far away." Then
+he filled the dish with pomegranate-seed and finishing it off
+with musk and rose-water, gave it to the eunuch, who hastened
+back with it and delivered it to Bedreddin's mother. No sooner
+had she tasted it and remarked the excellence of its flavour and
+cookery, than she knew who had dressed it and shrieked and fell
+down in a swoon, to the amazement of the Vizier, who sprinkled
+rose-water on her, till she came to herself and said, "If my son
+be yet of this world, none made this conserve but he! Without
+doubt, this cook is my son Bedreddin Hassan, for none knew how to
+dress this dish but he and I, and I taught him." The Vizier
+rejoiced greatly at her words, and said, "O how I long to see my
+brother's son! I wonder if the days will indeed reunite us with
+him! But it is to God alone that we look for reunion with him."
+Then he went out forthright and said to his men, "Let twenty of
+you go to the cook's shop and demolish it; then tie his hands
+behind him with the linen of his turban, saying, 'It was thou
+madest that vile mess of pomegranate-seed,' and bring him hither
+by force, but without doing him any hurt." And they replied, "It
+is well." Then he mounted and riding to the palace, foregathered
+with the Viceroy of Damascus and showed him the Sultan's letters-
+patent. He kissed them and laying them on his head, said to the
+Vizier, "Who is it hath offended against thee?" Quoth the Vizier,
+"He is a cook of this city." So the Viceroy at once despatched
+his chamberlains to the shop and they went thither and found it
+in ruins and everything in it broken; for whilst the Vizier was
+at the palace, his men had done his bidding and carried Bedreddin
+to the tents, where they were then awaiting their master's
+return, whilst Bedreddin said, "I wonder what they can have found
+in the pomegranate-seed to bring matters to this pass!" When the
+Vizier returned to the tents, after having gotten the Viceroy's
+permission to take his debtor and depart with him, he called for
+the cook, and they brought Bedreddin before him, with his hands
+bound behind his back. When he saw his uncle, he wept sore and
+said, "O my lord, what is my offence against thee?" "Art thou he
+who made the mess of pomegranate-seed?" asked Shemseddin. "Yes,"
+replied Bedreddin; "didst thou find aught in it to call for the
+cutting off of my head?" Quoth the Vizier, "That were the least
+of thy desert." "O my lord," said Bedreddin, "wilt thou not tell
+me my crime and what ails the pomegranate-seed?" "Presently,"
+answered the Vizier and called to his men, saying, "Bring the
+camels." So they struck camp and the Vizier caused Bedreddin to
+be put into a chest, which they locked and set on a camel. Then
+they departed and journeyed till nightfall, when they halted to
+eat and took Bedreddin out of his chest and fed him and locked
+him up again. Then they set out again and travelled till they
+reached Kumreh, where they took him out of the chest and brought
+him before the Vizier, who said to him, "Art thou he who made the
+mess of pomegranate-seed?" "Yes, O my lord," answered he; and
+Shemseddin said, "Shackle him." So they shackled him and returned
+him to the chest and fared on again, till they arrived at Cairo
+and halted in the suburb of Er Reidaniyeh. Then the Vizier
+commanded to take Bedreddin out of his chest and sent for a
+carpenter, to whom he said, "Make a cross[FN#69] of wood for this
+fellow." Quoth Bedreddin, "What wilt thou do with it?" "I mean
+to nail thee upon it," replied the Vizier, "and parade thee
+throughout the city." "And why wilt thou use me thus? asked
+Bedreddin; and the Vizier answered, "Because of thy villainous
+mess of pomegranate-seed and for that it lacked pepper." "And
+because it lacked pepper," said Bedreddin, "wilt thou do all this
+to me? Is it not enough that thou hast laid my shop in ruins and
+smashed my gear and imprisoned me and fed me but once a day?" "It
+lacked pepper," answered the Vizier; "and nothing less than death
+is thy desert." At this Bedreddin wondered and mourned for
+himself, till the Vizier said to him, "Of what art thou
+thinking?" "I was thinking of crack-brains like unto thee,"
+answered Bedreddin, "for hadst thou any sense, thou wouldst not
+treat me thus." Quoth the Vizier, "It behoves me to punish thee,
+lest thou do the like again." And Bedreddin said, "Verily, my
+offence were over-punished by the least of what thou hast already
+done to me." "It avails not," answered Shemseddin; "I must
+crucify thee." All this time the carpenter was shaping the cross,
+whilst Bedreddin looked on; and thus they did till nightfall,
+when the Vizier took him and clapped him in the chest, saying,
+"The thing shall be done tomorrow." Then he waited till he knew
+Bedreddin to be asleep, when he mounted and taking the chest up
+before him, rode into the town to his own house, where he
+alighted and said to his daughter, the Lady of Beauty, "Praised
+be God who hath reunited thee with thy cousin! Arise and order
+the house as it was on thy wedding-night." So the servants arose
+and lit the candles, whilst the Vizier took out his plan of the
+bride chamber and directed them what to do, till they had set
+everything in its place, so that whoever saw it would not doubt
+but it was the very night of the wedding. Then he made them lay
+Bedreddin's turban on the stool, where he had left it, and his
+trousers and purse under the mattress, and bade his daughter
+undress herself and go to bed, as on the wedding-night, adding,
+"When he comes in to thee, say to him, 'Thou has tarried long in
+the wardrobe,' and call him to lie with thee and hold him in
+converse till the morning, when we will explain the whole matter
+to him." Then he took Bedreddin out of the chest and laid him in
+the vestibule, after he had unbound him and taken off his
+clothes, leaving him in a shirt of fine silk, and he still asleep
+and knowing nothing. Presently he turned over and awoke, and
+finding himself in a lighted vestibule, said to himself, "Surely,
+I am dreaming." Then he rose and opening the inner door, found
+himself in the chamber, where he had passed his wedding-night,
+and knew the alcove and the stool by the bed-side, with his
+turban and clothes. When he saw this, he was confounded and
+advanced one foot and drew the other back, saying, "Am I asleep
+or awake?" And he began to rub his forehead and say, wondering,
+"By Allah, this is the chamber of the bride that was unveiled
+before me! But where can I be? I was surely but now in a chest."
+Whilst he was debating with himself, the Lady of Beauty lifted
+the curtain of the alcove and said to him, "O my lord, wilt thou
+not come in? Thou hast tarried long in the wardrobe." When he
+heard what she said and saw her face, he laughed and said, "This
+is certainly an imbroglio of dreams!" Then he entered, sighing,
+and recalled what had happened and was perplexed, and his affair
+became confused to him and he knew not what to think. Presently,
+he caught sight of his turban and trousers, so he handled the
+latter and feeling the purse of a thousand dinars, said, "God
+alone is all knowing! I am certainly in the mazes of a dream."
+Then said the Lady of Beauty to him, "What ails thee to stand
+agape and seem perplexed? Thou wast not thus the first part of
+the night." He laughed and said to her, "How long have I been
+absent from thee?" "God preserve thee!" exclaimed she. "The name
+of God encompass thee! Thou didst but go out an hour ago to do an
+occasion and return. Hast thou lost thy wits?" When Bedreddin
+heard this, he laughed and said, "Thou art right; but when I went
+out from thee, I forgot myself in the closet and dozed and dreamt
+that I was a cook in Damascus and abode there twelve years and
+that there came to me a boy, the son of some great man, and with
+him an eunuch." Here he put his hand to his forehead and feeling
+the scar made by the stone, said, "By Allah, O lady, it must have
+been true, for here is the scar made by the stone, with which he
+smote me and cut my forehead open. So it would seem as if it had
+really happened. But perhaps I dreamt it, when we embraced and
+fell asleep together: for meseemed I journeyed to Damascus
+without turban or drawers and set up as a cook there." Then he
+was perplexed and considered awhile and said, "By Allah, I
+fancied also that I made a mess of pomegranate-seed and put too
+little pepper in it. By Allah, I must have slept in the closet
+and dreamt all this!" "God on thee," said the Lady of Beauty,
+"tell me what else thou didst dream." "By Allah," replied he,
+"had I not woke up, they would have nailed me to a cross of
+wood!" "Wherefore?" asked she; and he said, "Because of the lack
+of pepper in the pomegranate-seed. Meseemed they demolished my
+shop and broke my utensils in pieces and put me in a chest;
+then they sent for a carpenter to make a cross and would have
+crucified me thereon. But praised be God who caused all this to
+happen to me in sleep and not on wake!" The Lady of Beauty
+laughed and pressed him to her bosom, and he returned her
+caresses; then he thought again and said, "By Allah, I cannot
+help thinking it must have been a reality after all! Indeed I
+know not what to think of it all." Then he lay down and passed
+the night in a state of perplexity, saying now, "I was dreaming,"
+and now, "I was awake," till the morning, when his uncle
+Shemseddin entered and saluted him. When Bedreddin saw him, he
+said to him, "By Allah, art thou not he who gave orders to bind
+me and demolish my shop and would have nailed me on a cross,
+and all because a mess of pomegranate-seed lacked pepper?" "O
+my son," replied the Vizier, "know that the truth has appeared
+and that which was hidden is divulged. Thou art my brother's
+son, and I did all this with thee but that I might certify
+myself that thou wast indeed he who lay with my daughter on her
+wedding-night. I could not be sure of this, till I saw that thou
+knewest the chamber and thy turban and clothes and purse and the
+scrolls in thy handwriting and that of my brother, for I had
+never seen thee and did not know thee; and I have brought thy
+mother with me from Bassora." So saying, he threw himself on him
+and they embraced and wept for excess of joy. Then said the
+Vizier to Bedreddin, "O my son, all this came of what passed
+between thy father and myself." And he told him what had taken
+place between them and the manner of his father's flight to
+Bassora; after which he sent for Agib, and when his father saw
+him, he exclaimed, "This is he who threw the stone at me!" Quoth
+the Vizier, "This is thy son." And Bedreddin threw himself on
+Agib and repeated the following verses:
+
+Long time 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 should 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.
+
+Presently, Bedreddin's mother came in and fell on him, repeating
+the following verses:
+
+
+When we met, to each other we both did complain Of the manifold
+     things that we each had to say;
+For the lover's complaint of the anguish he feels The tongue of a
+     messenger cannot convey.
+
+Then she wept and related to him what had befallen her since his
+departure, and he told her what he had suffered and they thanked
+God the Most High for their reunion with one another. Two days
+after his arrival, the Vizier went in to the Sultan and kissing
+the earth before him, saluted him after the fashion of salutation
+to kings. The Sultan rejoiced at his return and received him with
+distinguished favour. Then he desired to hear what had befallen
+him in his travels; so the Vizier told him all that had passed,
+and the Sultan said, "Praised be God for that thou hast attained
+thy desire and returned in safety to thy kinsfolk and family! I
+must see thy brother's son, so do thou bring him to the Divan
+tomorrow." Shemseddin replied, "God willing, thy slave shall be
+present tomorrow." Then he saluted him and returning to his own
+house, informed his nephew of the King's wish to see him, to
+which Bedreddin replied, "The slave is obedient to his lord's
+commands." So next day he accompanied his uncle to the Divan and
+after saluting the Sultan in the most punctilious and elegant
+manner, repeated the following verses:
+
+All ranks and classes kiss the earth, in homage to thy state, For
+     lo I through thee their every wish is crowned with happy
+     fate.
+For thou the fount of honour art for those that hope in thee, And
+     from thy hand the bounties flow that make there rich and
+     great.
+
+The Sultan smiled and signed to him to sit down. So he sat down
+beside the Vizier, and the King enquired his name. Quoth
+Bedreddin, "The meanest of thy slaves is known as Bedreddin
+Hassan of Bassora, who prays for thee day and night." The Sultan
+was pleased at his words and being minded to try him and prove
+his knowledge and good-breeding, said to him, "Dost thou remember
+any verses in praise of a mole on the cheek?" "Yes," replied
+Bedreddin, and repeated the following:
+
+When I think of my loved one, the sighs from my breast Burst up
+     and the tears to my eyes quickly start.
+She's a mole, that resembles, in beauty and hue, The black of the
+     eye and the core of the heart.
+
+The Sultan liked these verses and said, "Let us have some more.
+Heaven bless thy sire! May thy tongue never tire!" So he repeated
+the following:
+
+The mole's black spot upon her cheek they liken to a grain Of
+     musk; yet wonder not at that, for wonder were in vain.
+But rather wonder at her face, wherein all beauty is: There is no
+     particle of grace that it doth not contain.
+
+The Sultan shook with delight and said to him, "More! God bless
+thy life!" So he repeated the following:
+
+O thou, the moles upon whose cheek recall Globules of musk upon
+     cornelian strewed,
+Grant me thy favours, be not hard of heart, O thou, my heart's
+     desire, my spirit's food!
+
+Then said the King, "Thou hast done well, O Hassan, and hast
+acquitted thyself most excellently. But tell me how many meanings
+hath the word khal[FN#70] in the Arabic language." "Fifty,"
+replied Hassan, "and some say eight and-fifty." Quoth the King,
+"Thou art right. Canst thou tell me the points of excellence in
+beauty?" "Yes," answered Bedreddin, "Brightness of face, purity
+of skin, shapeliness in the nose, softness in the eyes, sweetness
+in the mouth, elegance in speech, slenderness of shape and
+quickness of wit; and the perfection of beauty is in the hair.
+And indeed Es Shihab el Hijazi has brought them all together in
+the following doggrel:
+
+Say to the face, 'Be bright,' and to the skin, say, 'See, I show
+     thee what befits thee best: 'tis purity.'
+For elegance of shape the nose we chiefly prize, And languor soft
+     it is, that best becomes the eyes.
+Then say unto the mouth, 'Sweetness, but mark thou me; Let
+     fragrancy of breath fail never unto thee.'
+Chaste be the speech, the shape be slender and well knit, And
+     quickness mark the thought, the manners and the wit.
+Then say that in the hair is ever beauty's prime. Give ear to me
+     and eke forgive my doggrel rhyme."
+
+The Sultan rejoiced in his converse and said to him "What is the
+meaning of the popular saying, 'Shureih is more cunning than the
+fox'?" "Know, O King," answered Bedreddin, "may God aid thee!
+that Shureih[FN#71] was wont during the days of the plague, to go
+out to Nejef, and whenever he stood up to pray, there came a fox,
+which would plant itself over against him and distract him from
+his devotions by mimicking his movements. This went on for some
+time, till the man became weary of it; so one day he took off his
+shirt and put it on a cane and shook out the sleeves. Then he set
+his turban on top of the cane and tied a girdle round the middle
+of the effigy and planted it in the place where he used to say
+his prayers. Presently up came the fox, according to his wont,
+and stood over against the figure; whereupon Shureih came behind
+him and took him: hence the saying." When the Sultan heard
+Bedreddin's explanation, he said to his uncle Shemseddin,
+"Verily, this thy nephew is perfect in all kinds of culture. I do
+not believe that his like is to be found in Egypt." At this,
+Bedreddin arose and kissed the earth and sat down again in the
+posture of a servant before his master. When the Sultan had
+thus assured himself of his proficiency in the liberal arts,
+he rejoiced greatly and bestowing on him a splendid dress of
+honour, invested him with an office, whereby he might better his
+condition. Then Bedreddin arose and kissing the earth before the
+King, wished him enduring glory and craved leave to retire. The
+Sultan gave him leave; so he returned home with his uncle and
+they set food before them and they ate, after which Bedreddin
+repaired to his wife's apartment and told her what had passed
+between the Sultan and himself. Quoth she, "He cannot fail to
+make thee his boon-companion and load thee with favours and
+presents; and by the grace of God, the splendours of thy
+perfections shall shine like the greater light,[FN#72] wherever
+thou goest, by land or sea." Then said he, "I purpose to make an
+ode in the King's praise, that he may redouble in affection for
+me." "That is well thought," replied she. "Consider it well and
+word thy thought elegantly, and I doubt not but it will procure
+thee his favour." So Bedreddin shut himself up and composed the
+following verses, which he copied in an ornamental hand:
+
+My King hath reached the height of lordlihead; The shining path
+     of virtue he cloth tread.
+His justice blocks the ways against his foes And peace and plenty
+     showers on every stead.
+Bold as a lion, pious, quick of wit, Angel or King,[FN#73] he's
+     whichsoe'er is said.
+He sends the suppliant content away. Words fail, indeed, to paint
+     his goodlihead.
+In time of gifts, he's like the brilliant moon; Like night, in
+     battle, lowering and dread.
+Our necks are girt with his munificence; He rules by favours on
+     the noble shed.
+May God prolong his life for our behoof And ward the blows of
+     Fortune from his head.
+
+When he had finished transcribing the poem, he despatched it by
+one of his uncle's slaves to the King, who perused it, and it
+gladdened his heart; so he read it out to those present before
+him and they praised it exceedingly. Then he sent for Bedreddin
+to his sitting-chamber and said to him, "Henceforth thou art my
+boon-companion and I appoint thee a stipend of a thousand
+dirhems a month, over and above what I have already given thee."
+So he arose and kissing the earth three times before the Sultan,
+wished him abiding glory and length of life. Then Bedreddin
+increased in honour and estate, so that his report spread into
+all countries, and he abode in the enjoyment of all the delights
+and comforts of life, he and his uncle and family, till Death
+overtook him.'
+
+When the Khalif Haroun er Reshid heard this story from the mouth
+of his Vizier Jaafer, he wondered and said, 'It behoves that
+these stories be written in letters of gold.' Then he set the
+slave at liberty and assigned the young man who had killed his
+wife such a monthly allowance as sufficed to make his life easy.
+Moreover he gave him one of his female slaves to wife, and he
+became one of his boon-companions.
+
+
+
+
+
+                     STORY OF THE HUNCHBACK
+
+
+
+There lived once in the city of Bassora a tailor, who was
+openhanded and loved pleasure and merrymaking: and he was wont,
+he and his wife, to go out by times, a-pleasuring, to the
+public places of recreation. One day they went out as usual and
+were returning home in the evening, when they fell in with a
+hunchback, the sight of whom would make the disappointed laugh
+and dispel chagrin from the sorrowful. So they went up to look at
+him and invited him to go home and make merry with them that
+night. He consented and accompanied them to their house;
+whereupon, the night being now come, the tailor went out to the
+market and buying fried fish and bread and lemon and conserve of
+roses by way of dessert, set them before the hunchback, and they
+ate. Presently, the tailor's wife took a great piece of fish and
+cramming it into the hunchback's mouth, clapped her hand over it,
+saying, 'By Allah, thou must swallow it at one gulp; and I will
+give thee no time to chew it.' So he bolted it; but there was a
+great bone in it, which stuck in his gullet, and his hour being
+come, it choked him, and he died at once. When the tailor saw
+this, he exclaimed, 'There is no power and no virtue but in God!
+Alas, poor wretch, that he should have come by his death at our
+hands!' 'Why dost thou waste time in idle lamentation?' rejoined
+his wife. 'Hast thou not heard it said......?' And she repeated
+the following verses:
+
+What ails me that I waste the time in idle grief, Until I find no
+     friend mishap for me to bear?
+Who but a fool would sit upon an unquenched fire? To wait upon
+     mischance as great a folly were.
+
+'What is to be done?' asked he; and she replied, 'Rise and take
+the hunchback in thine arms and cover him with a silk handkerchief:
+then go out with him, and I will go before thee: and if thou meet
+any one, say, "This is my son: his mother and I are taking him
+to the doctor, that he may look at him." So he rose and taking
+the hunchback in his arms, carried him along the streets, preceded
+by his wife, who kept saying, 'O my son, God keep thee! Where has
+this smallpox attacked thee and in what part dost thou feel pain?'
+So that all who saw them said, 'It is a child ill of smallpox.'
+They went along, enquiring for a doctor, till the people directed
+them to the house of one, who was a Jew. They knocked at the gate,
+and a black servant-maid came down and opened the door and seeing
+a man carrying a child and a woman with him, said to them, 'What
+is your business?' 'We have a sick child here,' answered the
+tailor's wife, 'whom we want the doctor to look at: so take
+this quarter-dinar and give it to thy master, and let him come
+down and see my son.' The girl went up to tell her master,
+leaving the tailor and his wife in the vestibule, whereupon
+the latter said to her husband, 'Let us leave the hunchback
+here and be off.' So the tailor carried the dead man to the
+top of the stairs and propping him up against the wall, went
+away, he and his wife. Meanwhile the serving-maid went in to the
+Jew and said to him, 'There are a man and a woman at the gate,
+with a sick child; and they have given me a quarter-dinar for
+thee, that thou mayst go down and see the child and prescribe for
+him.' When the Jew saw the quarter-dinar, he was glad and rose
+hastily and went down in the dark. Hardly had he made a step,
+when he stumbled on the dead body and threw it down, and it
+rolled to the bottom of the stairs. So he cried out to the girl
+to make haste with the light, and she brought it, whereupon he
+went down and examining the hunchback, found that he was dead. 'O
+Esdras and Moses and the ten Commandments!' exclaimed he; 'O
+Aaron and Joshua, son of Nun! I have stumbled against the sick
+person and he has fallen downstairs and is dead! How shall I get
+the body out of my house?' Then he took it up and carrying it
+into the house, told his wife what had happened. Quoth she, 'Why
+dost thou sit still? If he be found here when the day rises, we
+shall both of us lose our lives. Let us carry him up to the roof
+and throw him over into the house of our neighbour the Muslim;
+for if he abide there a night, the dogs will come down on him
+from the terraces and eat him all up.' Now the neighbour in
+question was controller of the Sultan's kitchen and was wont to
+bring home great store of fat and broken meats; but the cats and
+mice used to eat it, or, if the dogs scented a fat sheep's tail,
+they would come down from the roofs and tear at it; and in this
+way he lost much of what he brought home. So the Jew and his wife
+carried the hunchback up to the roof, and letting him down,
+through the windshaft, into the controller's house, stood him up
+against the wall and went away. Hardly had they done so, when the
+controller, who had been spending the evening with some of his
+friends, hearing a recitation of the Koran, came home and going
+up with a lighted candle, found a man standing in the corner,
+under the ventilator. When he saw this, he said, 'By Allah, this
+is a fine thing! He who steals my goods is none other than a
+man.' Then he turned to the hunchback and said to him, 'So it is
+thou that stealest the meat and fat. I thought it was the cats
+and dogs, and I kill the cats and dogs of the quarter and sin
+against them. And all the while it is thou comest down through
+the windshaft! But I will take my wreak of thee with my own
+hand.' So he took-a great cudgel and smote him on the breast, and
+he fell down. Then he examined him and finding that he was dead,
+cried out in horror, thinking that he had killed him, and said,
+'There is no power and no virtue but in God the Supreme, the
+Omnipotent!' And he feared for himself and said, 'May God curse
+the fat and the sheep's tails, that have caused this man's death
+to be at my hand!' Then he looked at the dead man and seeing him
+to be humpbacked, said, 'Did it not suffice thee to be a
+hunchback, but thou must turn thief and steal meat and fat? O
+Protector, extend to me Thy gracious protection!' Then he took
+him up on his shoulders and going forth with him, carried him to
+the beginning of the market, where he set him on his feet against
+the wall of a shop, at the corner of a dark lane, and went away.
+After awhile, there came up a Christian, the Sultan's broker, who
+had sallied forth, in a state of intoxication, intending for the
+bath, for in his drunkenness he thought that matins were near.
+He came staggering along, till he drew near the hunchback and
+squatted down over against him to make water, when, happening to
+look round, he saw a man standing against the wall. Now some one
+had snatched off the broker's turban early in the night, and
+seeing the hunchback standing there he concluded that he meant
+to play him the same trick. So he clenched his fist and smote him
+on the neck. Down fell the hunchback, whilst the broker called to
+the watchman of the market and fell on the dead man, pummelling
+and throttling him in the excess of his drunken rage. Presently,
+the watchman came up and finding a Christian kneeling on a Muslim
+and beating him, said to the former, 'What is the matter?' 'This
+fellow tried to snatch off my turban,' answered the broker;
+and the watchman said, 'Get up from him.' So he rose, and
+the watchman went up to the hunchback and finding him dead,
+exclaimed, 'By Allah, it is a fine thing that a Christian should
+kill a Muslim!' Then he seized the broker and tying his hands
+behind him, carried him to the house of the prefect of police,
+where they passed the night; and all the while the broker kept
+saying, 'O Messiah! O Virgin! how came I to kill this man?
+Indeed, he must have been in a great hurry to die of one blow
+with the fist!' And his drunkenness left him and reflection came
+in its stead. As soon as it was day, the prefect came out and
+commanded to hang the supposed murderer and bade the executioner
+make proclamation of the sentence. So they set up a gallows,
+under which they made the broker stand, and the hangman put the
+rope round his neck and was about to hoist him up, when behold,
+the controller of the Sultan's kitchen, passing by, saw the
+broker about to be hanged, and pressing through the crowd, cried
+out to the executioner, saying, 'Stop! Stop! I am he who killed
+the hunchback.' Quoth the prefect, 'What made thee kill him?' And
+he replied, 'I came home last night and found this man who had
+come down the windshaft to steal my goods; so I struck him with a
+cudgel on the breast and he died. Then I took him up and carried
+him to the market and set him up against the wall in such a
+place. Is it not enough for me to have killed a Muslim, without
+burdening my conscience with the death of a Christian also? Hang
+therefore none but me.' When the prefect heard this, he released
+the broker and said to the executioner, 'Hang up this man on his
+own confession.' So he loosed the rope from the broker's neck and
+threw it round that of the controller, and placing him under the
+gallows, was about to hang him, when behold, the Jewish physician
+pushed through the press and cried out, 'Stop! It was I and none
+else who killed him! I was sitting at home last night, when a man
+and a woman knocked at the door, carrying this hunchback, who was
+sick, and gave my servant a quarter-dinar, bidding her give it to
+me and tell me to come down to see him. Whilst she was gone, they
+brought the hunchback into the house and setting him on the
+stairs, went away. Presently, I came down and not seeing him,
+stumbled on him in the dark, and he fell to the foot of the stair
+and died forthright. Then we took him up, I and my wife, and
+carried him on to the roof, whence we let him down, through the
+windshaft, into the house of this controller, which adjoins my
+own. When he came home and found the hunchback, he took him for a
+robber and beat him, so that he fell to the ground, and he
+concluded that he had killed him. So is it not enough for me to
+have killed one Muslim unwittingly, without burdening myself with
+the death of another wittingly?' When the prefect heard the Jew's
+story, he said to the hangman, 'Let the controller go, and hang
+the Jew.' So the hangman took the Jew and put the rope round his
+neck, when behold, the tailor pressed through the folk and cried
+out to him, 'Hold thy hand! None killed him save I, and it fell
+out thus. I had been out a-pleasuring yesterday and coming back
+in the evening, met this hunchback, who was drunk and singing
+lustily to a tambourine. So I carried him to my house and bought
+fish, and we sat down to eat. Presently, my wife took a piece of
+fish and crammed it down the hunchback's throat; but it went the
+wrong way and stuck in his gullet and choked him, so that he died
+at once. So we lifted him up, I and my wife, and carried him to
+the Jew's house, where the girl came down and opened the door to
+us, and I said to her, "Give thy master this quarter-dinar and
+tell him that there are a man and a woman at the door, who have
+brought a sick person for him to see." So she went in to tell her
+master, and whilst she was gone, I carried the hunchback to the
+top of the stair, where I propped him up, and went away with my
+wife. When the Jew came out, he stumbled over him and thought
+that he had killed him.' Then he said to the Jew, 'Is not this
+the truth?' 'It is,' replied the Jew. And the tailor turned to
+the prefect and said, 'Let the Jew go, and hang me.' When the
+prefect heard the tailor's story, he wondered at the adventure of
+the hunchback and exclaimed, 'Verily, this is a matter that
+should be recorded in books!' Then he said to the hangman, 'Let
+the Jew go, and hang the tailor on his own confession.' So the
+hangman took the tailor and put the rope round his neck, saying,
+'I am tired of taking this man and loosing that, and no one
+hanged after all.'
+
+Now the hunchback in question was the favourite buffoon of the
+Sultan, who could not bear him out of his sight: so when he got
+drunk and did not make his appearance that night or next day, the
+Sultan asked the courtiers about him and they replied, 'O our
+lord, the chief of the police has come upon him dead and ordered
+his murderer to be hanged: but, as the hangman was about to
+hoist him up, there came a second and a third and a fourth,
+each declaring himself to be the sole murderer and giving the
+prefect an account of the manner in which the crime had been
+committed.' When the King heard this, he cried out to one of his
+chamberlains, saying, 'Go down to the chief of the police and
+bring me all four of them.' So the chamberlain went down at once
+to the place of execution, where he found the hangman on the
+point of hanging the tailor and cried out to him to stop. Then he
+gave the King's order to the prefect, who took the tailor, the
+physician, the controller and the broker, and brought them all,
+together with the dead hunchback, before the King. When he came
+into the presence, he kissed the earth and told the King all that
+had passed; whereat he was moved to wonder and mirth and
+commended the story to be written in letters of gold, saying to
+the courtiers, 'Did you ever hear a more wonderful story than
+that of this hunchback?' With this came forward the Christian
+broker and said, 'O King of the age, with thy leave, I will tell
+thee a thing that happened to myself and which is still stranger
+and more wonderful and pleasant than the story of the hunchback.'
+Quoth the King, 'Let us hear it.' Then said the broker, 'O King
+of the age, I came to this city with merchandise, and Fate made
+me settle here with you, but
+
+
+
+
+                 The Christian Broker's Story.
+
+
+
+I am by birth a Copt, and a native of Cairo, where I was brought
+up. My father was a broker, and when I came to man's estate, he
+died and I became a broker in his stead. One day, as I was
+sitting in my shop, there came up to me a young man as handsome
+as could be, richly clad and riding on an ass. When he saw me, he
+saluted me, and I rose to do him honour. Then he pulled out a
+handkerchief, containing a sample of sesame, and said to me,
+"What is the worth of an ardebb[FN#74] of this?" "A hundred
+dirhems," replied I; and he said, "Take porters and measures and
+come to-morrow to the Khan of El Jaweli, by the Gate of Victory,
+where thou wilt find me." Then he went away, leaving with me the
+handkerchief containing the sample of sesame; and I went round to
+the buyers and agreed for a hundred and twenty dirhems an ardebb.
+Next day, I took four gaugers and carried them to the Khan, where
+I found him awaiting me. As soon as he saw me, he rose and opened
+his magazines, and we measured the contents and found them fifty
+ardebbs of sesame, making five thousand dirhems. Then said he to
+me, "Thou shalt have ten dirhems an ardebb to thy brokerage; so
+take the price and lay by four thousand five hundred dirhems for
+me; and when I have made an end of selling my other goods, I will
+come to thee and take the amount." "It is well," replied I, and
+kissed his hand and went away, having made that day a profit of a
+thousand dirhems, besides the brokerage. I saw no more of him for
+a month, at the end of which time he came to me and said, "Where
+is the money?" I rose and saluted him and said to him, "Wilt thou
+not eat somewhat with me?" But he refused, saying, "Get the money
+ready, and I will come back for it." So I brought out the money
+and sat down to await his return, but saw no more of him for
+another month, at the end of which time he came to me and said,
+"Where is the money?" I rose and saluted him and said, "Wilt thou
+not eat a morsel with me?" But he refused, saying, "Have the
+money ready against my return," and rode away. So I fetched the
+dirhems and sat awaiting him; but he did not come near me for
+another month, and I said, "Verily, this young man is the
+incarnation of liberality." At the end of the month, he came up,
+riding on a mule and clad in sumptuous raiment. His face shone
+like the moon at its full and he seemed as if he had just come
+from the bath, with his rosy cheeks and flower-white forehead and
+mole like a grain of ambergris, even as says the poet:
+
+Within one mansion of the sky the sun and moon combine; With all
+     fair fortune and delight of goodliness they shine.
+Their beauty stirs all those that see to passion and to love:
+     Good luck to them, for that they move to ravishment divine!
+In grace and beauty they increase and aye more perfect grow: All
+     souls yearn out to them for love, all hearts to them
+     incline.
+Blessed be God, whose creatures are so full of wonderment!
+     Whate'er He wills He fashions forth, even as He doth design.
+
+When I saw him, I rose and saluted him and kissed his hand,
+saying, "O my lord, wilt thou not take thy money?" "What hurry is
+there?" replied he; "wait till I have made an end of my business,
+when I will come and take it." Then he went away, and I said to
+myself, "By Allah, when he comes next time, I must press him to
+eat with me," for I had traded with his money and profited
+largely by it. At the end of the year he came again, dressed even
+more richly than before, and I conjured him to dismount and eat
+of my victual; and he said to me, "I consent, on condition that
+what thou expendest on me shall be of my money in thy hands." "So
+be it," replied I, and made him sit down, whilst I made ready
+what was needful of meat and drink and so forth and set the tray
+before him, saying, "In the name of God." So he came to the table
+and put out his left hand and ate with me; and I wondered at his
+using his left hand.[FN#75] When we had done eating, I poured
+water on his hand and gave him wherewith to wipe it. Then we sat
+talking, after I had set sweetmeats before him, and I said to
+him, "O my lord, I prithee relieve my mind by telling me why thou
+eatest with thy left hand. Belike something ails thy right hand?"
+When he heard my words, he recited the following verses:
+
+Ask not, I prithee, my friend, of the anguish that burns in my
+     heart 'Twould but the infirmities show that now in my bosom
+     lie hid.
+If with Selma I company now and harbour with Leila no more,
+     Believe me, 'tis none of my will; needs must, if necessity
+     bid.
+
+Then he drew his right arm out from his sleeve, and behold, it
+was a stump without a hand, the latter having been cut off at the
+wrist. I was astonished at this, and he said to me, "Thou seest
+that my eating with the left hand arose, not from conceit, but
+from necessity; and there hangs a strange story by the cutting
+off of my right hand." "And how came it to be cut off?" asked I.
+"Know," answered he, "that I am a native of Baghdad and the son
+of one of the principal men of that city. When I came to man's
+estate, I heard the pilgrims and travellers and merchants talk of
+the land of Egypt, and this abode in my thought till my father
+died, when I laid out a large sum of money in the purchase of
+stuffs of Baghdad and Mosul, with which I set out on my travels
+and God decreed me safety, till I reached this your city." And he
+wept and recited the following verses:
+
+It chances oft that the blind man escapes a pit, Whilst he that
+is clear of sight falls into it:
+The ignorant man can speak with impunity A word that is death to
+the wise and the ripe of wit:
+The true believer is pinched for his daily bread, Whilst infidel
+rogues enjoy all benefit.
+What is a man's resource and what shall he do? It is the
+Almighty's will: we must submit.
+
+"So I entered Cairo," continued he, "and put up at the Khan of
+Mesrour, where I unpacked my goods and stored them in the
+magazines. Then I gave the servant money to buy me something to
+eat and lay down to sleep awhile. When I awoke, I went to the
+street called Bein el Kesrein[FN#76] and presently returned and
+passed the night at the Khan. Next morning, I said to myself, 'I
+will walk through the bazaars and see the state of the market.'
+So I opened a bale and took out certain stuffs, which I gave to
+one of my servants to carry, then repaired to the Bazaar of
+Jergis, where I was accosted by the brokers, who had heard of my
+arrival. They took my stuffs and cried them for sale, but could
+not get the prime cost of them. I was vexed at this; but the
+chief of the brokers said to me, 'O my lord, I will tell thee
+how thou mayst make a profit of thy goods. Thou shouldst do
+as the other merchants do and sell thy goods on credit, for a
+fixed period, on a contract drawn up by a scrivener, and duly
+witnessed, and employ a money-changer and take thy money every
+Monday and Thursday. So shalt thou profit two dirhems for every
+one; and besides this, thou canst amuse thyself meanwhile at
+leisure in viewing Cairo and the Nile.' Quoth I, 'This advice is
+good,' and carried the brokers to the Khan. They took my stuffs
+and transported them to the bazaar, where I sold them to various
+merchants, taking their bonds for the value. These bonds I
+deposited with a money-changer, who gave me an acknowledgment in
+writing, with which I returned to my Khan. Here I abode a month,
+breaking my fast with a cup of wine every morning and sending out
+for mutton and sweetmeats, till the time came when my receipts
+began to fall due. So, every Monday and Thursday, I used to
+repair to the bazaar and sit in the shop of one or other of the
+merchants, whilst the scrivener and money-changer went round to
+collect the money from the different merchants, till after the
+time of afternoon-prayer, when they brought me the amount, and I
+counted it and gave receipts for it, then took it and returned to
+my Khan. One day I went to the bath and retured to the Khan,
+where I broke my fast on a cup of wine, after which I slept a
+little. When I awoke, I ate a fowl, and scenting myself, repaired
+to the shop of a merchant called Bedreddin el Bustani, who
+welcomed me; and I sat talking with him till the market should
+open. Presently, there came up a lady of stately figure, wearing
+a magnificent head-dress and exhaling perfumes, as she walked
+along with a swimming gait. She stopped before Bedreddin and
+saluted him, raising her kerchief and showing a pair of large
+black eyes. He returned her salute and stood talking with her;
+and when I heard her speech, the love of her got hold upon my
+heart. Then she said to Bedreddin, 'Hast thou any stuffs of
+figured cloth of gold?' So he brought out to her a piece that he
+had had of me and she bought it of him for twelve hundred
+dirhems, saying, 'I will take it with me and send thee the
+price.' 'It may not be, O my lady,' answered he. 'This is the
+owner of the stuff and I owe him the price of it.' 'Out on thee!'
+said she. 'Do I not use to take great store of costly stuffs of
+thee, at a greater profit than thou askest, and send thee the
+money?' 'Yes,' rejoined he; 'but I am in pressing need of the
+price to-day.' With this she took the piece of stuff and threw it
+back into his lap, saying, 'You merchants have no respect for any
+one!' Then she turned to go, and I felt as if my soul went with
+her; so I rose and stopped her, saying, 'O my lady, favour me by
+retracing thy gracious steps!' She smiled and saying, 'For thy
+sake, I will return,' came back and sat down in the shop opposite
+me. Then I said to Bedreddin, 'What is the price set upon this
+piece?' And he replied, 'Eleven hundred dirhems.' 'The other
+hundred shall be thy profit,' rejoined I. 'Give me a piece of
+paper and I will write thee a discharge for it! So I wrote him a
+docket to that effect and gave the piece of stuff to the lady,
+saying, 'Take it and, if thou wilt, bring me the price next
+market-day; or, better still, accept it as a gift from me to
+thee.' 'May God requite thee with good,' answered she, 'and make
+thee my husband and master of my property!'[FN#77] (And God heard
+her prayer.) 'O my lady,' replied I, 'this piece of stuff is
+thine and another like it, if thou wilt but let me see thy face.'
+So she lifted her veil, and I took one look at her face, that
+caused me a thousand regrets, and fell so violently in love with
+her, that I was no longer master of my reason. Then she let down
+her veil and taking the piece of stuff, said, 'O my lord, leave
+me not desolate!'[FN#78] and went away, whilst I remained sitting
+in the shop till the time of afternoon-prayer was past, lost to
+the world and fairly distraught for love; and the violence of my
+passion prompted me to make enquiries about her of the merchant,
+who replied, 'She is a lady of wealth, the daughter of an Amir,
+who died and left her a large fortune.' Then I took leave of him
+and returned to the Khan, where they set the evening meal before
+me; but I could not eat, for thinking of her, and laid down to
+rest. But sleep came not to me and I lay awake till daylight,
+when I rose and changed my dress. I broke my fast on a cup of
+wine and a morsel of bread and going to the market, saluted
+Bedreddin and sat down by him in his shop. Presently up came the
+lady, followed by a slave-girl, and more richly dressed than
+before, and saluting me, instead of Bedreddin, said to me, in a
+voice than which I never heard a sweeter or softer, 'Send with me
+some one to take the twelve hundred dirhems, the price of the
+stuff.' 'What hurry is there?' asked I. And she said, 'May we
+never lose thee!' And gave me the money. Then I sat talking with
+her, and presently I made signs to her, by which she understood
+that I desired to  enjoy her and rose hastily, as if vexed with
+me, and went away. My heart clung to her and I rose and followed
+in her track; but as I went along, a slave-girl accosted me,
+saying. 'O my lord, my mistress would speak with thee.' At this I
+was astonished, and said, 'There is no one who knows me here.' 'O
+my lord,' answered the slave, 'how quickly thou hast forgotten
+her! My mistress is she who was to-day at the shop of the
+merchant Bedreddin.' So I followed her to the money-changer's,
+where I found the lady, who drew me to her side and said to me,
+'O my beloved, thou hast made prize of my heart, and love of thee
+has conquered my soul. Since the day I saw thee first, I have
+taken no delight in sleep nor in meat nor drink.' 'My sufferings
+have been still greater than thine,' answered I; 'and my state
+dispenses me from complaint.' Then said she, 'O my lord, shall I
+come to thee or wilt thou come to me?' Quoth I, 'I am a stranger
+here and have no lodging but the Khan; so by thy favour, it
+shall be at thy house.' 'It is well,' replied she; 'to-night
+is Friday eve, and nothing can be done; but to-morrow, after
+the morning-prayer, mount thine ass and enquire for the house
+of Berekat the Syndic, known as Abou Shameh, in the Hebbaniyeh
+quarter; for I live there; and do not delay, for I shall be
+expecting thee.' At this, I rejoiced greatly and took leave of
+her and returned to the Khan, where I passed a sleepless night.
+As soon as it was day, I rose and changed my clothes and
+perfumed myself with essences and sweet-scented smoke. Then I
+took fifty dinars in a handkerchief and went out to the Zuweyleh
+Gate, where I hired an ass, bidding the driver carry me to the
+Hebbaniyeh. So he set off with me and brought me in the twinkling
+of an eye to a by-street called El Munkeri, where I bade him go
+in and enquire for the Syndic's house. After a little he returned
+and said, 'Alight.' But I made him guide me to the house, where I
+dismounted and giving him a quarter-dinar, said, 'Come back
+to-morrow at daybreak and fetch me away.' 'In the name of God,'
+answered he, and went away. Then I knocked at the gate and there
+came out two young girls, high-bosomed maids, as they were moons,
+and said to me, 'Enter, for our mistress awaits thee, and she
+slept not last night for joyance in thee.' So I entered and they
+brought me, through a vestibule, into an upper chamber with seven
+doors, paved with vari-coloured marbles and furnished with
+hangings and carpets of coloured silk. The walls were plastered
+with stucco-royal, in which one might see his own face, and the
+roof was ribbed with gold and bordered with inscriptions
+emblazoned in ultramarine. All around were latticed windows
+overlooking a garden, full of fruits of all colours, with streams
+running and birds singing on the branches, and midmost the hall
+was a fountain, at whose angles stood birds fashioned in red
+gold, spouting forth water as it were pearls and jewels; and
+indeed the place comprised all kinds of beauty and dazzled the
+beholder with its radiance. I entered and sat down; but hardly
+had I done so, when the lady came up to me, crowned with a diadem
+of pearls and jewels and having her eyebrows pencilled and her
+hands stained with henna. When she saw me, she smiled on me and
+embraced me and pressed me to her bosom; and she set her mouth to
+mine and sucked my tongue, and I did the like with her. Then she
+said, 'Can it be true that thou art indeed come to me?' 'I am thy
+slave,' answered I; and she said, 'Welcome, a thousand times! By
+Allah, since I first saw thee, sleep has not been sweet to me nor
+food pleasant!' Quoth I, 'So has it been with me also.' Then we
+sat down to converse, and I bowed my head for bashfulness.
+Presently, she set before me a tray of the most exquisite meats,
+such as ragouts and fritters soaked in honey and fricassees and
+fowls stuffed with sugar and pistachio-nuts, and we ate till we
+were satisfied. Then they brought ewer and basin and I washed my
+hands, after which we scented ourselves with rose-water mingled
+with musk and sat down again to converse. We complained to each
+other of the sufferings we had undergone, and my love for her
+took such hold on me, that all my wealth was of little account to
+me, in comparison with her. We passed the time in toying and
+kissing and dalliance, till nightfall, when the damsels set
+before us a banquet of food and wine and we sat carousing half
+the night. Then we went to bed and I lay with her till the
+morning, never in my life saw I the like of that night. As soon
+as it was day, I arose and took leave of her, after having
+slipped under the mattress the handkerchief containing the
+dinars; and she wept and said 'O my lord, when shall I see that
+fair face again?' 'I will be with thee at eventide,' answered I,
+and going out, found the ass-man waiting for me at the door. So I
+mounted and rode to the Khan of Mesrour, where I alighted and
+gave the driver half a dinar, saying, 'Come back at sun down.'
+And he said, 'Good.' Then I broke my fast and went out to seek
+the price of my stuffs, after which I returned and taking a roast
+lamb and some sweetmeats, called a porter and despatched them by
+him to the lady, paying him his hire in advance. I occupied
+myself with my affairs till sunset, when the ass-driver came for
+me and I took fifty dinars in a handkerchief and rode to the
+house, where I found the marble floor swept, the brass burnished,
+the lamps filled and the candles lighted, the meats ready dished
+and the wines strained. When my mistress saw me, she threw her
+arms round my neck and exclaimed, 'Thou hast desolated me by
+thine absence!' Then they set the tables and we ate till we were
+satisfied, when the serving-maids took away the tray of food and
+set on wine. We gave not over drinking till midnight, when we
+went to the sleeping-chamber and lay together till morning. Then
+I rose and went away, leaving the fifty dinars with her as
+before. I found the ass-driver at the door and mounting, rode to
+the Khan, where I slept awhile, then went out to prepare the
+evening-meal. I took a brace of geese with broth on two platters
+of dressed rice, together with colocasia-roots[FN#79], fried and
+soaked in honey, and wax candles and fruits and conserves and
+flowers and nuts and almonds, and sent them all to her. As soon
+as it was night, I mounted the ass as usual, taking with me fifty
+dinars in a handkerchief, and rode to the house, where we ate and
+drank and lay together till morning, when I left the handkerchief
+and dinars with her and rode back to the Khan. I ceased not to
+lead this life, till one fine morning I found myself without a
+single dirhem and said, 'This is Satan's doing!' And I repeated
+the following verses:
+
+
+When a rich man grows poor, his lustre dies away, Like to the
+     setting sun that pales with ended day.
+Absent, his name is not remembered among men: Present, he hath no
+     part in life and its array.
+He passes through the streets and fain would hide his head And
+     pours out floods of tears in every desert way.
+By Allah, when distress and want descend on men, But strangers
+     midst their kin and countrymen are they.
+
+Then I left the Khan and walked along Bein el Kesrein till I came
+to the Zuweyleh Gate, where I found the folk crowded together and
+the gate blocked up for the much people. As Fate would have it, I
+saw there a trooper, against whom I pressed, without meaning it,
+so that my hand came on his pocket and I felt a purse inside. I
+looked and seeing a string of green silk hanging from the pocket,
+knew that it belonged to the purse. The crowd increased every
+moment and just then, a camel bearing a load of wood jostled the
+trooper on the other side and he turned to ward it off from him,
+lest it should tear his clothes. When I saw this, Satan tempted
+me; so I pulled  the string and drew out a little purse of blue
+silk, full of something that chinked like money. Hardly had
+I done so, when the soldier turned and feeling his pocket
+lightened, put his hand to it and found it empty; whereupon he
+turned to me and raising his mace, smote me on the head I fell to
+the ground, whilst the people came round us and seizing the
+soldier's horse by the bridle, said to him, 'Is it because he
+pushed against thee in the throng, that thou smitest this young
+man such a blow?' But he cried out at them and said, 'This fellow
+is an accursed thief!' With this I came to myself and stood up,
+and the folk looked at me and said, 'This is a comely youth and
+would not steal aught.' Some took part for me and others against
+me and there was a great clamour, and the people pulled at me and
+would have rescued me from the trooper; but as Fate would have
+it, the chief of the police and the captain and officers of the
+watch entered by the gate at this moment; and the prefect, seeing
+the crowd about the soldier and myself, enquired what was the
+matter. 'O my lord,' replied the soldier, 'this fellow is a
+thief. I had a blue purse in my pocket, containing twenty dinars,
+and he took it, whilst I was in the crush.' 'Was any one else by
+thee?' asked the magistrate, and the trooper answered, 'No.' Then
+the prefect cried out to the officers of the watch, who seized me
+and stripping me by his order, found the purse in my clothes. He
+took it and found in it twenty dinars, as the soldier had said,
+whereat he was wroth and calling to the officers to bring me
+before him, said to me, 'O young man tell me the truth. Didst
+thou steal this purse?' At this I hung down my head and said to
+myself, 'It is useless for me to say I did not steal the purse,
+for they found it in my clothes: and if I confess to the theft, I
+fall into trouble.' So I raised my head and said, 'Yes: I took
+it.' When the prefect heard what I said, he wondered and called
+for witnesses, who came forward and attested by confession. Then
+he bade the hangman cut off my right hand, and he did so; after
+which he would have cut off my left foot also; but the trooper
+took pity on me and interceded for me with the prefect, who left
+me and went away; whilst the folk remained round me and gave me a
+cup of wine to drink. As for the trooper, he gave me the purse,
+saying, 'Thou art a comely youth, and it befits not that thou be
+a thief.' And I repeated the following verses:
+
+By Allah, trusty brother mine, I am indeed no thief, Nor, O most
+     bountiful of men, a highwayman am I.
+But the vicissitudes of fate overthrew me suddenly, And care and
+     stress and penury full sorely did me try.
+It was not thou, but God who cast the fatal shaft at me, The
+     shaft that made from off my head the crown of honour fly.
+
+Then he left me, and I went away, after having wrapt my hand in a
+piece of rag and thrust it into my bosom. I betook me to my
+mistress's house, faint and ill at ease and pale by reason of
+what had befallen me, and threw myself on the couch. She saw that
+my colour was changed and said to me, 'What ails thee and why do
+I see thee thus changed?' 'My head irks me,' answered I; 'I am
+not well.' When she heard this, she was vexed and concerned for
+me and said to me, 'Fret not my heart, O my lord! Sit up and
+raise thy head and let me know what has happened to thee to-day,
+for thy face tells me a tale.' 'Spare me this talk,' replied I.
+But she wept and said, 'Meseems thou art tired of me, for I see
+that thou art contrary to thy wont.' But I was silent, and she
+continued to talk to me, though I made her no answer, till
+nightfall, when she brought me food: but I refused it, fearing to
+let her see me eat with my left hand, and said to her, 'I do not
+care to eat at present.' Quoth she 'Tell me what has befallen
+thee to-day and what ails thee, that thou art troubled and broken
+in heart and spirit.' 'Presently,' replied I; 'I will tell thee
+at my leisure.' Then she brought me wine, saying, 'Take it for it
+will dispel thy care: thou must indeed drink and tell me what is
+thy matter with thee.' 'Must I tell thee?' said I; and she
+answered, 'Yes.' Then said I, 'If it must be so, give me to drink
+with thine own hand.' So she filled and drank then filled again
+and gave me the cup. I took it from her with my left hand and
+repeated the following verses with tears running from my eyes:
+
+When God would execute His will in anything On one endowed with
+     sight, hearing and reasoning,
+He stops his ears and blinds his eyes and draws his wit From him,
+     as one draws out the hairs to paste that cling;
+Till, His decrees fulfilled, He gives him back his wit, That
+     therewithal he may receive admonishing.
+
+At this she gave a loud cry and said to me, 'What makes thee
+weep? Thou settest my heart on fire. And what ails thee to take
+the cup with thy left hand?' 'I have a boil on my right hand,'
+answered I; and she said, 'Put it out and I will lance it for
+thee.' 'It is not ripe for lancing,' answered I; 'so do not
+torment me, for I will not show it thee at present.' Then I drank
+off the cup, and she plied me with wine till I became drowsy and
+fell asleep in my place; whereupon she looked at my right arm and
+saw that it was but a stump without a hand. So she searched me
+and found the purse of gold and my severed hand wrapt in a piece
+of rag. With this, there overcame her such grief as none ever
+knew, and she ceased not to lament for my sake till the morning.
+When I awoke, I found she had made me a dish of broth of four
+boiled fowls, which she brought to me, together with a cup of
+wine. I ate and drank and laying down the purse, would have gone
+out; but she said to me, 'Whither goest thou?' 'Where my business
+calls me,' replied I; and she said, 'Thou shalt not go: sit
+down.' So I sat down, and she said, 'Has thy love for me brought
+thee to such a pass, that thou hast wasted thy substance and lost
+thy hand on my account? Since this is so, I call God to witness
+against me that I will never part with thee: and thou shalt see
+the truth of my words.' Then she sent for the Cadi and the
+witnesses and said to them, 'Draw up a contract of marriage
+between me and this young man and bear witness that I have
+received the dowry.' So they drew up our marriage contract, and
+she said to them, 'Be witness that all my money that is in this
+chest and all that belongs to me and all my slaves, male and
+female, are the property of this young man.' So they took act of
+this and withdrew, after having received their fees. Then she
+took me by the hand and leading me to a closet, opened a large
+chest and said to me, 'See what is herein.' I looked and behold,
+it was full of handkerchiefs. Quoth she, 'This is the money I had
+of thee; for every time thou gavest me a handkerchief, with fifty
+dinars in it, I wrapped it together and threw it into this chest;
+so now take thy money, for indeed it returns to thee, and thou
+to-day art become of high estate. Fate afflicted thee, so that
+thou didst lose thy right hand for my sake, and I can never
+requite thee: nay, though I gave my life, it were little and I
+should still remain thy debtor.' Then she said to me, 'Take
+possession of thy property!' and transferred the contents of the
+other chest to that which contained the money I had given her. At
+this, my heart was gladdened and my grief forsook me, and I rose
+and kissed and thanked her. Quoth she, 'Thou hast lost thy hand
+for love of me, and how can I requite thee? By Allah, if I gave
+my life for thy love, it were far short of thy due!' Then she
+made over to me by deed all her clothes and jewels and other
+property and lay not down to sleep that night, being in sore
+concern on my account, till I told her all that had befallen me.
+I passed the night with her; but before we had lived together a
+month's time, she fell grievously ill and sickness was upon her,
+by reason of her grief for the loss of my hand; and she endured
+but fifty days before she was numbered of the folk of the other
+world. So I laid her in the ground and had recitations of the
+Koran made over her tomb and gave much money in alms for her;
+after which I returned to the house and found that she had
+left much substance in money and houses and lands. Among her
+storehouses was one full of sesame, whereof I sold part to thee;
+and it was the fact of my being busied in selling the rest of my
+goods and all that was in the storehouses, that diverted my
+attention from thee; nor have I till now made an end of receiving
+the price. This, then, is the reason of the cutting off of my
+right hand and of my eating with the left. Now thou shalt not
+baulk me in what I am about to say, for that I have eaten of thy
+victual; and it is that I make thee a gift of the money that is
+in thy hands." "Indeed," replied I, "thou hast shown me the
+utmost kindness and liberality." Then said he, "Wilt thou journey
+with me to my native country, whither I am about to return with a
+lading of Cairo and Alexandria stuffs?" "I will well," answered
+I, and appointed with him for the end of the month. So I sold all
+I had and bought merchandise; then we set out, he and I, and
+journeyed till we came to this town, where he sold his goods, and
+buying others in their stead, set out again for Egypt. But it was
+my lot to abide here, so that there befell me in my strangerhood
+what befell last night. This, then, is my story, O King of the
+age. Is it not more marvellous than that of the hunchback?' 'Not
+so,' answered the King; 'and needs must you all be hanged.' Then
+came forward the controller of the Sultan's kitchen and said,
+'With thy leave, I will tell thee what happened to me but lately
+and if it be more marvellous than the story of the hunchback, do
+thou grant us our lives.' 'So be it,' answered the King. Then
+said the controller, 'Know, O King, that
+
+
+
+
+The Controller's Story.
+
+
+
+I was the night before last in company with a number of persons
+who were assembled for the purpose of hearing a recitation of the
+Koran. The doctors of the law attended, and when the readers had
+made an end of reading, the table was spread, and amongst other
+things they set before us a ragout flavoured with cumin-seed.
+So we sat down to eat it; but one of our number held back and
+abstained from eating. We conjured him to eat of the ragout; but
+he swore that he would not, and we pressed him till he said,
+"Press me not; what has already befallen me through eating of
+this dish suffices me." And he repeated the following verses:
+
+Shoulder thy tray, 'fore God, and get thee gone with it, And to
+     thine eyes apply such salve as thou deem'st fit.[FN#80]
+
+"For God's sake," said we, "tell us the reason of thy refusal to
+eat of the ragout!" "If I must eat of it," replied he, "I will
+not do so, except I may wash my hands forty times with soap,
+forty times with potash and forty times with galingale, in all a
+hundred and twenty times." So the master of the house ordered his
+servants to bring water and all that he required; and the young
+man washed his hands as he had said. Then he sat down, as if
+afraid, and dipping his hand into the ragout, began to eat,
+though with evident repugnance and as if doing himself violence,
+whilst we regarded him with the utmost wonder; for his hand
+trembled and we saw that his thumb had been cut off and he ate
+with his four fingers only. So we said to him, "God on thee, what
+has become of thy thumb? Is thy hand thus by the creation of God
+or has it been mutilated by accident?" "O my brothers, answered
+he, "it is not this thumb alone that has been cut off, but also
+that of the other hand and the great toe of each of my feet, as
+ye shall see." Then he bared his left hand and his feet, and we
+saw that the left hand was even as the right and that each of his
+feet lacked the great toe. At this sight, our amazement increased
+and we said to him, "We are impatient to know thy history and the
+manner of the cutting off of thy thumbs and great toes and the
+reason of thy washing thy hands a hundred and twenty times."
+"Know then," answered he, "that my father was chief of the
+merchants of Baghdad in the time of the Khalif Haroun er Reshid;
+but he was given to drinking wine and listening to the lute and
+other instruments, so that when he died, he left nothing. I
+buried him and had recitations of the Koran made over him and
+mourned for him days and nights. Then I opened his shop and found
+he had left little but debts. However, I compounded with his
+creditors for time to pay and betook myself to buying and
+selling, paying them something week by week on account, till at
+last I succeeded in clearing off the debts and began to add to my
+capital. One day, as I sat in my shop, there came up to the
+entrance of the bazaar a lady, than whom my eyes never saw a
+fairer, richly clad and decked and riding on a mule, with one
+slave walking before and another behind her. She halted the mule
+at the entrance of the bazaar and entered, followed by an eunuch,
+who said to her, 'O my lady, come out, without telling any one,
+or thou wilt bring us into trouble.' And he stood before
+her,[FN#81] whilst she looked at the shops. She found no shop
+open but mine, so came up, with the eunuch behind her, and
+sitting down in my shop, saluted me; never did I hear aught
+sweeter than her voice or more pleasant than her speech. Then she
+unveiled her face and I saw she was like the moon and stole at
+her a glance that cost me a thousand sighs. My heart was
+captivated with her love and I could not take my eyes off her
+face; and I repeated the following verses:
+
+Say to the fairest fair, her in the dove-coloured veil, "Death
+     would be welcome to me, to save me from thy bale:
+Grant me thy favours, I pray! so I may live perchance. Lo! I
+     stretch forth my palm: let not thy bounties fail."
+
+When she heard this, she answered me by repeating the following
+verses:
+
+Power to forget thee, for desire, fails even unto me: My heart
+     and all my soul will love none other after thee.
+If my eyes ever look on aught except thy loveliness, May union
+     after severance ne'er brighten them with glee!
+I've sworn an oath by my right hand ne'er to forget thy grace. My
+     sad heart pineth for thy love and never may win free.
+Passion hath given me to drink a brimming cup of love; Would it
+     had given the self-same draught to drink, dear heart, to
+     thee!
+If thou shouldst ask me what I'd crave most earnestly of God,
+     "The Almighty's favour first, then thine," I'd say, "my
+     prayer shall be."
+
+Then she said to me, 'O youth, hast thou any handsome stuffs?' 'O
+my lady,' answered I, 'thy slave is poor: but wait till the
+merchants open their shops, and I will get thee what thou wilt.'
+Then we sat talking, she and I, whilst I was drowned in the sea
+of her love and dazed with passion for her, till the merchants
+opened their shops, when I rose and fetched her all she sought,
+to the value of five thousand dirhems. She gave the stuffs to the
+slave and leaving the bazaar, mounted the mule and rode away,
+without telling me whence she came, and I was ashamed to ask her.
+So I became answerable to the merchants for the price of the
+goods and thus took on myself a debt of five thousand dirhems.
+Then I went home, drunken with love of her, and they set the
+evening-meal before me. I ate a mouthful and lay down to rest,
+musing upon her beauty and grace: but sleep came not to me. A
+week passed thus, and the merchants sought their money of me,
+but I persuaded them to wait another week, at the end of which
+time she came up, riding on the mule and attended by an eunuch
+and two slaves. She saluted me and said, 'O my lord, we have
+been long in bringing thee the price of the stuffs; but now
+fetch a money-changer and take the amount.' So I sent for the
+money-changer, and the eunuch counted me out the money, and we
+sat talking, the lady and I, till the market opened, when she
+said to me, 'Get me this and this.' So I got her from the
+merchants what she wanted, and she took it and went away, without
+saying a word to me about the price. As soon as she was out of
+sight, I repented me of what I had done, for the price of what
+I had bought for her was a thousand dinars, and I said to
+myself, 'What doting is this? She has brought me five thousand
+dirhems[FN#82], and taken a thousand dinars'[FN#83] worth of
+goods.' And I feared lest I should be beggared, through having to
+pay the merchants their money, and said, 'They know none but me
+and this woman is none other than a cheat, who hath cozened me
+with her beauty and grace, for she saw that I was young and
+laughed at me; and I did not ask her address.' She did not come
+again for more than a month, and I abode in constant distress and
+perplexity, till at last the merchants dunned me for their money
+and pressed me so that I put up my property for sale and looked
+for nothing but ruin. However, as I was sitting in my shop, one
+day, absorbed in melancholy thought, she rode up and dismounting
+at the gate of the bazaar, came in and made towards me. When I
+saw her, my anxiety ceased and I forgot my troubles. She came up
+to me and greeting me with her pleasant speech, said to me,
+'Fetch the money-changer and take thy money.' So she gave me the
+price of the goods I had gotten for her and more, and fell to
+conversing freely with me, till I was like to die of joy and
+delight. Presently, she said to me, 'Hast thou a wife?' 'No,'
+answered I; 'I have never known woman.' And fell a-weeping. Quoth
+she, 'Why dost thou weep?' 'It is nothing,' replied I; and giving
+the eunuch some of the dinars, begged him to use his influence
+with her for me; but he laughed and said, 'She is more in love
+with thee than thou with her. She had no occasion for the stuffs
+she bought of thee and did all this but out of love for thee. So
+ask of her what thou wilt; she will not deny thee.' When she saw
+me give the eunuch money, she returned and sat down again; and I
+said to her, 'Be charitable to thy slave and pardon him what he
+is about to say.' Then I told her what was in my mind, and she
+assented and said to the eunuch, 'Thou shalt carry my message to
+him.' Then to me, 'Do as the eunuch bids thee.' Then she rose and
+went away, and I paid the merchants what I owed them, and they
+all profited; but as for me, I gained nought but regret for the
+breaking off of our intercourse. I slept not all that night; but
+before many days were past, the eunuch came to me, and I made
+much of him and asked after his mistress. 'She is sick for love
+of thee,' replied he; and I said, 'Tell me who she is.' Quoth he,
+'She is one of the waiting-women of the Lady Zubeideh, the wife
+of the Khalif Haroun er Reshid, who brought her up and advanced
+her to be stewardess of the harem and granted her the right of
+going in and out at will. She told her mistress of thee and
+begged her to marry her to thee; but she said, "I will not do
+this, till I see the young man; and if he be worthy of thee, I
+will marry thee to him." So now we wish to bring thee into the
+palace at once and if thou succeed in entering without being
+seen, thou wilt win to marry her; but if the affair get wind,
+thou wilt lose thy head. What sayst thou?' And I answered, 'I
+will go with thee and abide the risk of which thou speakest.'
+Then said he, 'As soon as it is night, go to the mosque built by
+the Lady Zubeideh on the Tigris and pray and pass the night
+there.' 'With all my heart,' answered I. So at nightfall I
+repaired to the mosque, where I prayed and passed the night. Just
+before daybreak, there came up some eunuchs in a boat, with a
+number of empty chests, which they deposited in the mosque and
+went away all, except one who remained behind and whom, on
+examination, I found to be he who served as our go-between.
+Presently, in came my mistress herself and I rose to her and
+embraced her. She kissed me, weeping, and we talked awhile; after
+which she made me get into one of the chests and locked it upon
+me. Then the eunuchs came back with a number of packages; and she
+fell to stowing them in the chests and locking the latter one by
+one, till she had filled them all. Then they embarked the chests
+in the boat and made for the Lady Zubeideh's palace. With this,
+reflection came to me and I said to myself, 'My lust will surely
+bring me to destruction, nor do I know whether I shall gain my
+end or no!' And I began to weep, shut up as I was in the chest,
+and to pray to God to deliver me from the peril I was in, whilst
+the boat ceased not going till it reached the palace gate, where
+they lifted out the chests and amongst them that in which I was.
+Then they carried them into the palace, passing through a troop
+of eunuchs, guardians of the harem and door-keepers, till they
+came to the post of the chief of the eunuchs, who started up from
+sleep and called out to the lady, saying, 'What is in those
+chests?' Quoth she, 'They are full of wares for the Lady
+Zubeideh.' 'Open them,' said he, 'one by one, that I may see what
+is in them.'--'Why wilt thou open them?' asked she: but he cried
+out at her, saying, 'Give me no words! They must and shall be
+opened.' Now the first that they brought to him to open was that
+in which I was: and when I felt this, my senses failed me and I
+bepissed myself for terror, and the water ran out of the chest.
+Then said she to the eunuch, 'O chief, thou hast undone me and
+thyself also, for thou hast spoiled that which is worth ten
+thousand dinars. This box contains coloured dresses and four
+flasks of Zemzem water; and now one of the bottles has broken
+loose and the water is running out over the clothes and their
+colours will be ruined.' Then said the eunuch, 'Take up thy
+chests and begone with God's malison!' So the slaves took up the
+chests and hurried on with them, till suddenly I heard a voice
+saying, 'Alas! Alas! the Khalif! the Khalif!' When I heard this,
+my heart died within me and I spoke the words which whoso says
+shall not be confounded, that is to say, 'There is no power and
+no virtue but in God the Most High, the Supreme! I have brought
+this affliction on myself.' Presently I heard the Khalif say to
+my mistress, 'Harkye, what is in those chests of thine ?'
+'Clothes for the Lady Zubeideh,' answered she; and he said, 'Open
+them to me.' When I heard this, I gave myself up for lost and
+said, 'By Allah, this is the last of my worldly days!' and began
+to repeat the profession of the Faith. Then I heard the lady say
+to the Khalif, 'These chests have been committed to my charge by
+the Lady Zubeideh, and she does not wish their contents to be
+seen of any one.'--'No matter,' said he; 'I must open them and
+see what is in them.' And he cried out to the eunuchs saying,
+'Bring them to me.' At this, I made sure of death and swooned
+away. Then the slaves brought the chests up to him and opened
+them, one after another, and he saw in them perfumes and stuffs
+and rich clothes, till none remained unopened but that in which I
+was. They put their hands to it to open it, but the lady made
+haste and said to the Khalif, 'This one thou shalt see in the
+Lady Zubeideh's presence, for that which is in it is her secret.'
+When he heard this, he ordered them to carry in the chests; so
+they took up that in which I was and carried it, with the rest,
+into the harem and set it down in the middle of the saloon; and
+indeed my spittle was dried up for fear. Then my mistress opened
+the chest and took me out, saying, 'Fear not: no harm shall
+befall thee, but be of good courage and sit down, till the Lady
+Zubeideh comes, and thou shalt surely win thy wish of me.' So I
+sat down, and after awhile, in came ten maidens like moons and
+ranged themselves in two rows, one facing the other, and after
+them other twenty, high-bosomed maids with the Lady Zubeideh, who
+could hardly walk for the weight of her dresses and ornaments. As
+she drew near, the damsels dispersed from around her, and I
+advanced and kissed the earth before her. She signed to me to be
+seated and questioned me of my condition and family, to which I
+made such answers as pleased her, and she said to my mistress, 'O
+damsel, our nurturing of thee has not been in vain.' Then she
+said to me, 'Know that this damsel is to us even as our own
+child, and she is a trust committed to thee by God.' I kissed the
+earth again before her, well pleased that I should marry my
+mistress, and she bade me sojourn ten days in the palace. So I
+abode there ten days, during which time I saw not my mistress nor
+any one save a serving-maid, who brought me the morning and
+evening meals. After this the Lady Zubeideh took counsel with the
+Khalif on the marriage of her favourite, and he gave leave and
+assigned her a wedding portion of ten thousand dinars. So the
+Lady Zubeideh sent for the Cadi and the witnesses, and they drew
+up our marriage contract, after which the women made sweetmeats
+and rich viands and distributed them among the inmates of the
+harem. Thus they did other ten days, at the end of which time my
+mistress entered the bath. Meanwhile, they set before me a tray
+of food, on which was a basin containing a ragout of fricasseed
+fowls' breasts dressed with cumin-seed and flavoured with sugar
+and rose-water, mixed with musk, and many another dish, such as
+amazed the wit; and by Allah, I did not hesitate, but fell upon
+the ragout and ate my fill of it. Then I wiped my hands, but
+forgot to wash them and sat till it grew dark, when they lit the
+candles and the singing-women came with tambourines and proceeded
+to display the bride and carry her in procession from room to
+room, receiving largesse of gold and pieces of silk, till they
+had made the round of the palace. Then they brought her to me and
+disrobed her. When I found myself alone in bed with her, I
+embraced her, hardly believing in my good fortune; but she smelt
+the odour of the ragout on my hands and gave a loud cry, at which
+the maids came running to her from all sides. I was alarmed and
+trembled, not knowing what was the matter, and the girls said to
+her, 'What ails thee, O sister?' Quoth she, 'Take this madman
+away from me: methought he was a man of sense.' 'What makes thee
+think me mad?' asked I. 'O madman,' answered she, 'what made thee
+eat of ragout of cumin-seed, without washing thy hands? By Allah,
+I will punish thee for thy misconduct! Shall the like of thee
+come to bed to the like of me, with unwashed hands?' Then she
+took from her side a whip of plaited thongs and laid on to my
+back and buttocks till I swooned away for the much beating; when
+she said to the maids, 'Take him and carry him to the chief of
+the police, that he may cut off the hand wherewith he ate of the
+ragout and washed it not.' When I heard this, I said, 'There is
+no power and no virtue but in God! Wilt thou cut off my hand,
+because I ate of a ragout and did not wash?' And the girls
+interceded with her, saying, 'O our sister, forgive him this
+once!' But she said, 'By Allah, I must and will dock him of
+somewhat!' Then she went away and I saw no more of her for ten
+days, at the end of which time, she came in to me and said, 'O
+black-a-vice, I will not make peace with thee, till I have
+punished thee for eating ragout of cumin-seed, without washing
+thy hands!' Then she cried out to the maids, who bound me; and
+she took a sharp razor and cut off my thumbs and toes, as ye have
+seen. Thereupon I swooned away and she sprinkled the severed
+parts with a powder which staunched the blood; and I said, 'Never
+again will I eat of ragout of cumin-seed without washing my hands
+forty times with potash, forty times with galingale and forty
+times with soap!' And she took of me an oath to that effect. So
+when the ragout was set before me, my colour changed and I said
+to myself, 'It was this that was the cause of the cutting off of
+my thumbs and toes.' And when ye forced me, I said, 'I must needs
+fulfil the oath I have taken.'" "And what befell thee after
+this?" asked the others. "After this," replied he, "her heart was
+appeased and I lay with her that night. We abode thus awhile,
+till she said to me, one day, 'It befits not that we continue in
+the Khalif's palace: for none ever came hither but thou, and thou
+wonst not in but by the grace of the Lady Zubeideh. Now she has
+given me fifty thousand dinars; so take this money and go out and
+buy us a commodious house.' So I went forth and bought a handsome
+and spacious house, whither she transported all her goods and
+valuables." Then (continued the controller) we ate and went away:
+and after, there happened to me with the hunchback that thou
+wottest of. This then is my story and peace be on thee.' Quoth
+the King, 'This story is not more agreeable than that of the
+hunchback: on the contrary, it is less so, and you must all be
+hanged.' Then came forward the Jewish physician and kissing the
+earth, said, 'O King of the age, I will tell thee a story more
+wonderful than that of the hunchback.' 'Tell on,' answered the
+King; and the Jew said, 'The strangest adventure that ever befell
+me was as follows:
+
+
+
+
+
+The Jewish Physician's Story.
+
+
+
+In my younger days I lived at Damascus, where I studied my art;
+and one day, as I sat in my house, there came to me a servant
+with a summons from the governor of the city. So I followed him
+to the house and entering the saloon, saw, lying on a couch of
+juniper-wood, set with plates of gold, that stood at the upper
+end, a sick youth, never was seen a handsomer. I sat down at his
+head and offered up a prayer for his recovery. He made a sign to
+me with his eyes and I said to him, "O my lord, give me thy
+hand." So he put forth his left hand, at which I wondered and
+said to myself, "By Allah, it is strange that so handsome a
+young man of high family should lack good breeding! This can be
+nothing but conceit." However, I felt his pulse and wrote him a
+prescription and continued to visit him for ten days, at the end
+of which time he recovered and went to the bath, whereupon the
+governor gave me a handsome dress of honour and appointed me
+superintendent of the hospital at Damascus. I accompanied
+him to the bath, the whole of which they had cleared for his
+accommodation, and the servants came in with him and took off his
+clothes within the bath, when I saw that his right hand had been
+newly cut off, and this was the cause of his illness. At this I
+was amazed and grieved for him: then looking at his body I
+saw on it the marks of beating with rods, for which he had used
+ointments. I was perplexed at this and my perplexity appeared in
+my face. The young man looked at me and reading my thought, said
+to me, "O physician of the age, marvel not at my case. I will
+tell thee my story, when we leave the bath." Then we washed and
+returning to his house, partook of food and rested awhile; after
+which he said to me, "What sayest thou to taking the air in the
+garden?" "I will well," answered I; so he bade the slaves carry
+out carpets and cushions and roast a lamb and bring us some
+fruit. They did as he bade them, and we ate of the fruits, he
+using his left hand for the purpose. After awhile, I said to him,
+"Tell me thy story." "O physician of the age," answered he, "hear
+what befell me. Know that I am a native of Mosul and my father
+was the eldest of ten brothers, who were all married, but none of
+them was blessed with children except my father, to whom God had
+vouchsafed me. So I grew up among my uncles, who rejoiced in me
+with exceeding joy, till I came to man's estate. One Friday, I
+went to the chief mosque of Mosul with my father and my uncles,
+and we prayed the congregational prayers, after which all the
+people went out, except my father and uncles, who sat conversing
+of the wonders of foreign lands and the strange things to be seen
+in various cities. At last they mentioned Egypt and one of my
+uncles said, 'Travellers say that there is not on the face of the
+earth aught fairer than Cairo and its Nile.' Quoth my father,
+'Who has not seen Cairo has not seen the world. Its dust is gold
+and its Nile a wonder; its women are houris and its houses
+palaces: its air is temperate and the fragrance of its breezes
+outvies the scent of aloes-wood: and how should it be otherwise,
+being the  mother of the world? Bravo for him who says,' And he
+repeated the following verses:
+
+Shall I from Cairo wend and leave the sweets of its delight? What
+     sojourn after it indeed were worth a longing thought?
+How shall I leave its fertile plains, whose earth unto the scent
+     Is very perfume, for the land contains no thing that's
+     naught?
+It is indeed for loveliness a very Paradise, With all its goodly
+     carpet[FN#84] spread and cushions richly wrought.
+A town that maketh heart and eye yearn with its goodliness,
+     Uniting all that of devout and profligate is sought,
+Or comrades true, by God His grace conjoined in brotherhood,
+     Their meeting-place the groves of palms that cluster round
+     about.
+O men of Cairo, if it be God's will that I depart, Let bonds of
+     friendship and of love unite us still in thought!
+Name not the city to the breeze, lest for its rival lands It
+     steal the perfumes, wherewithal its garden-ways are fraught.
+
+'And if,' added my father, 'you saw its gardens in the evenings,
+with the tree-shadows sloping over them, you would behold a
+marvel and incline to them with delight.' And they fell to
+describing Cairo and the Nile. When I heard their accounts of
+Cairo, my mind dwelt on it and I longed to visit it; and when
+they had done talking, each went to his own dwelling. As for me,
+I slept not that night, for stress of yearning after Egypt, nor
+was meat nor drink pleasant to me. After awhile, my uncles
+prepared to set out for Cairo, and I wept before my father, till
+he made ready for me merchandise and consented to my going wish
+them, saying to them, 'Let him not enter Egypt, but leave him to
+sell his goods at Damascus.' Then I took leave of my father and
+we left Mosul and journeyed till we reached Aleppo, where we
+abode some days. Then we fared on, till we came to Damascus and
+found it a city as it were a paradise, abounding in trees and
+rivers and birds and fruits of all kinds. We alighted at one of
+the Khans, where my uncles tarried awhile, selling and buying:
+and they sold my goods also at a profit of five dirhems on every
+one, to my great satisfaction; after which they left me and went
+on to Egypt, whilst I abode at Damascus in a handsome house, such
+as the tongue fails to describe, which I had hired for two dinars
+a month. Here I remained, eating and drinking and spending the
+money in my hands, till, one day, as I sat at the door of my
+lodging, there came up a young lady, clad in costly apparel,
+never saw my eyes richer. I winked at her; and she entered
+without hesitation. I entered with her and shut the door, and she
+raised her kerchief and did off her veil, when I found her of
+surpassing beauty, and love of her took hold upon my heart. So I
+rose and fetched a tray of the most delicate viands and fruits
+and all that was needed for a carouse, and we ate and sported and
+drank till we were warm with wine. Then I lay with her the most
+delightful of nights, till the morning, when I offered to give
+her ten dinars; but she frowned and knit her brows and said, 'For
+shame! Thinkest thou I covet thy money?' And she took out from
+the bosom of her shift ten dinars and laid them before me,
+saying, 'By Allah, except thou take them, I will never come
+back!' So I accepted them, and she said to me, 'O my beloved,
+expect me again in three days' time, when I will be with thee
+between sundown and nightfall; and do thou provide us with these
+dinars the like of yesterday's entertainment.' So saying, she
+bade me adieu and went away, taking my reason with her. At the
+end of the three days, she came again, dressed in gold brocade
+and wearing richer ornaments than before. I had made ready a
+repast; so we ate and drank and lay together, as before, till the
+morning, when she gave me other ten dinars and appointed me again
+for three days thence. Accordingly, I made ready as before, and
+at the appointed time she came again, more richly dressed than
+ever, and said to me, 'O my lord, am I not fair?' 'Yea, by
+Allah!' answered I. Then she said, 'Wilt thou give me leave to
+bring with me a young lady handsomer than I and younger, that she
+may frolic with us and that thou and she may laugh and make merry
+and rejoice her heart, for she has been sad at heart this long
+time past and has asked me to let her go out and spend the night
+abroad with me?' 'Ay, by Allah!' answered I; and we drank till we
+were warm with wine and slept together till the morning, when she
+gave me twenty dinars and said to me, 'Add to thy usual
+provision, on account of the young lady who will come with me.'
+Then she went away, and on the fourth day, I made ready as usual,
+and soon after sundown she came, accompanied by another damsel,
+wrapped in a veil. They entered and sat down; and when I saw
+them, I repeated the following verses:
+
+How lovely and how pleasant is our day! The railer's absent,
+     reckless of our play,
+Love and delight and wine with us abide, Each one enough to charm
+     the wit away;
+The full moon[FN#85] glitters through the falling veil;
+     Bough-like, the shapes within the vestments sway:
+The rose blooms in the cheeks, and in the eyes Narcissus
+     languishes, in soft decay[FN#86].
+Delight with those I love fulfilled for me And life, as I would
+     have it, fair and gay!
+
+Then I lighted the candles and received them with joy and
+gladness. They put off their outer clothing, and the new damsel
+unveiled her face, when I saw that she was like the moon at its
+full, never beheld I one more beautiful. Then I rose and set meat
+and drink before them, and we ate and drank: and I began to feed
+the new damsel and to fill her cup and drink with her. At this
+the first lady was secretly jealous and said to me, 'Is not this
+girl more charming than I?' 'Ay, by Allah!' replied I. Quoth she,
+'It is my intent that thou lie with her this night.' And I
+answered, 'On my head and eyes!' Then she rose and spread the bed
+for us, and I took the young lady and lay with her that night
+till the morning, when I awoke and found myself wet, as I
+thought, with sweat. I sat up and tried to rouse the damsel, but
+when I shook her by the shoulders, her head rolled off the
+pillow. Thereupon my reason fled and I cried out, saying, 'O
+gracious Protector, extend to me Thy protection!' Then I saw that
+she had been murdered, and the world became black in my sight and
+I sought the lady my first mistress, but could not find her. So I
+knew that it was she who had murdered the girl, out of jealousy,
+and said, 'There is no power and no virtue but in God the Most
+High, the Supreme! What is to be done?' I considered awhile, then
+rose and taking off my clothes, dug a hole midmost the courtyard,
+in which I laid the dead girl, with her jewellery and ornaments,
+and throwing back the earth over her, replaced the marble of the
+pavement. After this I washed and put on clean clothes and taking
+what money I had left, locked up the house and took courage and
+went to the owner of the house, to whom I paid a year's rent,
+telling him that I was about to join my uncles at Cairo. Then I
+set out and journeying to Egypt, foregathered with my uncles, who
+rejoiced in me and I found that they had made an end of selling
+their goods. They enquired the reason of my coming, and I said,
+'I yearned after you;' but did not let them know that I had any
+money with me. I abode with them a year, enjoying the pleasures
+of the city and the Nile and squandering the rest of my money in
+feasting and drinking, till the time drew near for my uncles'
+departure when I hid myself from them and they sought for me, but
+could hear no news of me and said, 'He must have gone back to
+Damascus.' So they departed, and I came out from my hiding and
+sojourned in Cairo three years, sending year by year the rent of
+the house at Damascus to its owner, until at last I had nothing
+left but one year's rent. At this my breast was straitened and I
+set out and journeyed till I reached Damascus, where my landlord
+received me with joy. I alighted at the house and found
+everything locked up as I had left it: so I opened the closets
+and took out what was in them and found under the bed, where I
+had lain with the murdered girl, a necklet of gold set with
+jewels. I took it up and cleansing it of her blood, examined it
+and wept awhile. Then I abode in the house two days and on the
+third day, I went to the bath and changed my clothes. I had now
+no money left and the devil prompted me to sell the necklet, that
+destiny might be accomplished; so I took it to the market and
+handed it to a broker, who made me sit down in the shop of my
+landlord and waited till the market was full, when he took the
+necklet and offered it for sale privily without my knowledge. The
+price bidden for it was two thousand dinars; but the broker
+returned and said to me, 'This necklet is a brass counterfeit of
+Frank manufacture, and a thousand dirhems have been bidden for
+it.' 'Yes,' answered I; 'I knew it to be brass, for we had it
+made for such an one, that we might mock her: and now my wife has
+inherited it and we wish to sell it; so go and take the thousand
+dirhems.' When the broker heard this, his suspicions were roused;
+so he carried the necklet to the chief of the market, who took it
+to the prefect of police and said to him, 'This necklet was
+stolen from me, and we have found the thief in the habit of a
+merchant.' So the officers fell on me unawares and brought me to
+the prefect, who questioned me and I told him what I had told the
+broker: but he laughed and said, 'This is not the truth.' Then,
+before I knew what was toward, his people stripped me and beat me
+with rods on my sides, till for the smart of the blows I said, 'I
+did steal it,' bethinking me that it was better to confess that I
+stole it than let them know that she who owned it had been
+murdered in my house, lest they should put me to death for her.
+So they wrote down that I had stolen it and cut off my hand. The
+stump they seared with boiling oil and I swooned away: but they
+gave me wine to drink, and I revived and taking up my hand, was
+returning to my lodging, when the landlord said to me, 'After
+what has passed, thou must leave my house and look for another
+lodging, since thou art convicted of theft.' 'O my lord,' said I,
+'have patience with me two or three days, till I look me out a
+new lodging.' 'So be it,' he answered and I returned to the
+house, where I sat weeping and saying, 'How shall I return
+to my people with my hand cut off and they know not that I am
+innocent?' Then I abode in sore trouble and perplexity for two
+days, and on the third day the landlord came in to me, and with
+him some officers of police and the chief of the market, who had
+accused me of stealing the necklace. I went out to them and
+enquired what was the matter, but they seized on me, without
+further parley, and tied my hands behind me and put a chain about
+my neck, saying, 'The necklet that was with thee has been shown
+to the Governor of Damascus, and he recognizes it as one that
+belonged to his daughter, who has been missing these three
+years.' When I heard this, my heart sank within me, and I said to
+myself, 'I am lost without resource; but I must needs tell the
+governor my story; and if he will, let him kill me, and if he
+will, let him pardon me.' So they carried me to the governor's
+house and made me stand before him. When he saw me, he looked at
+me out of the corner of his eye and said to those present, 'Why
+did ye cut off his hand? This man is unfortunate and hath
+committed no offense; and indeed ye wronged him in cutting off
+his hand.' When I heard this, I took heart and said to him, 'By
+Allah, O my lord, I am no thief! But they accused me of this
+grave offence and beat me with rods in the midst of the market,
+bidding me confess, till for the pain of the beating, I lied
+against myself and confessed to the theft, although I am
+innocent.' 'Fear not,' said the governor; 'no harm shall come to
+thee.' Then he laid the chief of the market under arrest, saying
+to him, 'Give this man the price of his hand, or I will hang thee
+and seize on all thy goods.' And he cried out to the officers,
+who took him and dragged him away, leaving me with the governor,
+who made his people unbind me and take the chain off my neck.
+Then he looked at me and said, 'O my son, speak the truth and
+tell me how thou camest by the necklet.' And he repeated the
+following verse:
+
+To tell the whole truth is thy duty, although It bring thee to
+     burn on the brasier of woe!
+
+'By Allah, O my lord,' answered I, 'such is my intent!' And I
+told him all that had passed between me and the first lady and
+how she had brought the second one to me and had slain her out of
+jealousy. When he heard my story, he shook his head and beat hand
+upon hand; then putting his handkerchief to his eyes, wept awhile
+and repeated the following verses:
+
+I see that Fortune's maladies are many upon me, For, every
+     dweller in the world, sick unto death is he.
+To every gathering of friends there comes a parting day: And few
+     indeed on earth are those that are from parting free?
+
+Then he turned to me and said, 'Know, O my son, that she who
+first came to thee was my eldest daughter. I brought her up in
+strict seclusion and when she came to womanhood, I sent her to
+Cairo and married her to my brother's son. After awhile, he died
+and she came back to me: but she had learnt profligate habits
+from the natives of Cairo: so she visited thee four times and at
+last brought her younger sister. Now they were sisters by the
+same mother and much attached to each other; and when this
+happened to the elder, she let her sister into her secret, and
+she desired to go out with her. So she asked thy leave and
+carried her to thee; after which she returned alone, and I
+questioned her of her sister, finding her weeping for her; but
+she said, "I know nothing of her." However, after this, she told
+her mother privily what had happened and how she had killed her
+sister; and her mother told me. Then she ceased not to weep and
+say, "By Allah, I will never leave weeping for her till I die!"
+And so it fell out. This, O my son, is what happened, and now I
+desire that thou baulk me not in what I am about to say to thee;
+it is that I purpose to marry thee to my youngest daughter, for
+she is a virgin and born of another mother, and I will take no
+dower from thee, but on the contrary will appoint thee an
+allowance, and thou shalt be to me as my very son.' 'I will
+well,' replied I; 'how could I hope for such good fortune?' Then
+he sent at once for the Cadi and the witnesses and married me to
+his daughter, and I went in to her. Moreover, he got me a large
+sum of money from the chief of the market and I became in high
+favour with him. Soon after, news came to me that my father was
+dead so the governor despatched a courier to fetch me the
+property he had left behind him, and now I am living in all
+prosperity. This is how I came to lose my right hand." His story
+amazed me (continued the Jew) and I abode with him three days,
+after which he gave me much money and I set out and travelled,
+till I reached this thy city. The sojourn liked me well, so I
+took up my abode here and there befell me what thou knowest with
+the hunchback.' Quoth the King, 'This thy story is not more
+wonderful than that of the hunchback, and I will certainly hang
+you all. However, there still remains the tailor, who was the
+head of the offending.' Then he said to the tailor, 'O tailor, if
+thou canst tell me aught more wonderful than the story of the
+hunchback, I will pardon you all your offenses.' So the tailor
+came forward and said, 'Know, O King of the age, that a most rare
+thing happened to me yesterday before I fell in with the
+hunchback.
+
+
+
+
+
+The Tailor's Story.
+
+
+
+Yesterday morning early I was at an entertainment given by a
+friend of mine, at which there were assembled near twenty men of
+the people of the city, amongst them tailors and silk-weavers and
+carpenters and other craftsmen. As soon as the sun had risen,
+they set food before us that we might eat, when behold, the
+master of the house entered, and with him a comely young man, a
+stranger from Baghdad, dressed in the finest of clothes and
+perfectly handsome, except that he was lame. He saluted us, while
+we rose to receive him; and he was about to sit down, when he
+espied amongst us a certain barber; whereupon he refused to sit
+and would have gone away. But we stopped him and the host seized
+him and adjured him, saying, "What is the reason of thy coming in
+and going out again at once?" "By Allah, O my lord," answered he,
+"do not hinder me, for the cause of my turning back is yonder
+barber of ill-omen sitting there." When the host heard this, he
+wondered and said, "How comes this young man, who is from
+Baghdad. to be troubled in his mind about this barber?" Then we
+looked at the young man and said to him, "Tell us the reason of
+thine anger against the barber." "O company," replied he, "there
+befell me a strange adventure with this barber in my native city
+of Baghdad; he was the cause of the breaking of my leg and of my
+lameness, and I have sworn that I will never sit in the same
+place with him nor tarry in any city of which he is an
+inhabitant. I left Baghdad, to be rid of him, and took up my
+abode in this city and lo, I find him with you! But now not
+another night shall pass, before I depart hence." So we begged
+him to sit down and tell us what had passed between him and the
+barber in Baghdad, whereat the latter changed colour and hung
+down his head. Then said the young man, "Know, O company, that my
+father was one of the chief merchants of Baghdad, and God had
+vouchsafed him no child but myself. When I grew up to man's
+estate, my father was translated to the mercy of God, leaving me
+great wealth in money and slaves and servants, and I began to
+dress handsomely and feed daintily. Now God had made me a hater
+of women, and one day, as I was going along one of the streets of
+Baghdad, a company of women stopped the way before me; so I fled
+from them, and entering a by-street without an outlet, sat down
+upon a stone bench at the other end. I had not sat long, before
+the lattice of one of the houses in the street opened and a young
+lady, as she were the moon at its full, never in my life saw I
+her like, put forth her head and began to water some flowers she
+had on the balcony. Then she turned right and left and seeing me
+watching her, smiled and shut the window and went away.
+Therewithal, fire flamed up in my heart and my mind was taken up
+with her, and my hatred (of women) was changed to love. I
+continued sitting there, lost to the world, till sundown, when
+the Cadi of the city came riding up the street, with slaves
+before him and servants behind him, and alighting, entered the
+very house at which the young lady had appeared. By this I
+guessed that he was her father; so I went home, sorrowful, and
+fell on my bed, oppressed with melancholy thoughts. My women came
+in to me and sat round me, puzzled to know what ailed me; but I
+would not speak to them nor answer their questions, and they wept
+and lamented over me. Presently, in came an old woman, who looked
+at me and saw at once what was the matter with me. So she sat
+down at my head and spoke me fair and said, 'O my son, tell me
+what ails thee, and I will bring thee to thy desire.' So I told
+her what had happened to me, and she said, 'O my son, this girl is
+the Cadi's daughter of Baghdad; she is kept in strict seclusion,
+and the window at which thou sawest her is that of her apartment,
+where she dwells alone, her father occupying a great suite of
+rooms underneath. I often visit her, and thou shalt not come at
+her but through me; so gird thy middle and be of good cheer.' So
+saying, she went away, whilst I took comfort at what she said and
+arose in the morning well, to the great satisfaction of my
+people. By-and-by the old woman came in, chopfallen, and said to
+me, 'O my son, do not ask how I have fared with her! When I
+opened the subject to her, she said to me, "An thou leave not
+this talk, pestilent hag that thou art, I will assuredly use thee
+as thou deserves!" But needs must I have at her again.' When I
+heard this, it added sickness to my sickness: but after some
+days, the old woman came again and said to me, 'O my son, I must
+have of thee a present for good news.' With this, life returned
+to me, and I said, 'Whatever thou wilt is thine.' Then said she,
+'O my son, I went yesterday to the young lady, who seeing me
+broken-spirited and tearful-eyed, said to me, "O my aunt, what
+ails thee that I see thy heart thus straitened?" Whereupon I wept
+and replied, "O my lady, I am just come from a youth who loves
+thee and is like to die for thy sake." Quoth she (and indeed her
+heart was moved to pity), "And who is this youth of whom thou
+speakest?" "He is my son," answered I, "and the darling of my
+heart. He saw thee, some days since, at the window, tending thy
+flowers, and fell madly in love with thee. I told him what passed
+between thee and me the other day, whereupon his disorder
+increased and he took to his bed and will surely die." At this
+her colour changed and she said, "Is all this on my account?"
+"Yea, by Allah!" answered I. "What wouldst thou have me do?" Then
+said she, "Go back to him and salute him for me and tell him that
+my sufferings are twice as great as his. And on Friday, before
+the time of prayer, let him come hither and I will come down and
+open the door to him. Then I will carry him to my chamber, where
+we can converse awhile and he can go away, before my father comes
+back from the mosque."' When I heard this, my anguish ceased and
+my heart was comforted. So I took off the clothes I was wearing
+and gave them to the old woman; and she said, 'Be of good cheer.'
+'There is no pain left in me,' answered I; and she went away. My
+household and friends rejoiced in my restoration to health, and I
+abode thus till Friday, when the old woman entered and asked me
+how I did, to which I replied that I was well and in good case.
+Then I dressed and perfumed myself and sat down to await the
+going in of the folk to the mosque, that I might betake myself to
+the young lady. But the old woman said to me, 'Thou hast time and
+to spare; so thou wouldst do well to go to the bath and have thy
+head shaved, to do away the traces of thy disorder.' 'It is well
+thought,' answered I; 'I will first have my head shaved and then
+go to the bath.' Then I said to my servant, 'Go to the market and
+bring me a barber, and look that he be no meddler, but a man of
+sense, who will not split my head with his much talk.' So he went
+out and returned with this wretched old man. When he came in, he
+saluted me, and I returned his salutation. Then said he, 'Surely,
+I see thee thin of body.' And I replied, 'I have been ill.' Quoth
+he, 'God cause affliction and trouble and anxiety to depart from
+thee!' 'May God hear thy prayer!' answered I: and he said, 'Be of
+good cheer, O my lord, for indeed recovery is come to thee. Dost
+thou wish to be polled or let blood? Indeed, it is reported, on
+the authority of Ibn Abbas[FN#87] (whom God accept!), that the
+Prophet said, "Whoso is polled on a Friday, God shall avert from
+him threescore and ten diseases;" and again, "He who is cupped
+on a Friday is safe from loss of sight and a host of other
+ailments."' 'Leave this talk,' said I; 'come, shave my head at
+once, for I am yet weak.' With this he pulled out a handkerchief,
+from which he took an astrolabe with seven plates, mounted in
+silver, and going into the courtyard, held the instrument up to
+the sun's rays and looked for some time. Then he came back and
+said to me, 'Know that eight degrees and six minutes have elapsed
+of this our day, which is Friday, the tenth of Sefer, in the six
+hundred and fifty-third year of the Flight of the Prophet (upon
+whom be the most excellent of blessing and peace!) and the seven
+thousand three hundred and twentieth year of the Alexandrian era,
+and the planet now in the ascendant, according to the rules of
+mathematics, is Mars, which being in conjunction with Mercury,
+denotes a favourable time for cutting hair; and this also
+indicates to me that thou purposest to foregather with some one
+and that your interview will be propitious; but after this there
+occurs a sign, respecting a thing which I will not name to thee.'
+'By Allah,' exclaimed I, 'thou weariest me and pesterest me with
+thy foolish auguries, when I only sent for thee to shave my head!
+So come, shave me at once and give me no more talk.' 'By Allah,'
+rejoined he, 'if thou knewest what is about to befall thee, thou
+wouldst do nothing this day; and I counsel thee to do as I shall
+tell thee, by observation of the stars.' 'By Allah,' said I, 'I
+never saw a barber skilled in astrology except thee: but I think
+and know that thou art prodigal of idle talk. I sent for thee to
+shave my head, and thou plaguest me with this sorry prate!' 'What
+more wouldst thou have!' replied he. 'God hath vouchsafed thee a
+barber, who is an astrologer, versed in the arts of alchemy and
+white magic, syntax, grammar and lexicology, rhetoric and logic,
+arithmetic, astronomy and geometry, as well as in the knowledge
+of the Law and the Traditions of the Prophet and in exegesis.
+Moreover, I have read many books and digested them and have had
+experience of affairs and understand them thoroughly. In short, I
+have examined into all things and studied all arts and crafts and
+sciences and mastered them; and thy father loved me because of my
+lack of officiousness, for which reason my service is obligatory
+on thee. I am no meddler, as thou pretendest, and on this account
+I am known as the Silent, the Grave One. Wherefore it behoves
+thee to give thanks to God and not cross me for I am a true
+counsellor to thee and take an affectionate interest in thee. I
+would I were in thy service a whole year, that thou mightst do me
+justice: and I would ask no hire of thee for this.' When I heard
+this, I said, 'Thou wilt certainly be the death of me this day!'
+'O my lord,' replied he, 'I am he whom the folk call the Silent,
+by reason of my few words, to distinguish me from my six
+brothers, the eldest of whom was called Becbac,[FN#88] the
+second Heddar,[FN#89] the third Fekic,[FN#90] the fourth El
+Kouz el Aswani,[FN#91] the fifth El Feshar,[FN#92] the sixth
+Shecashic[FN#93] and the seventh (myself) Samit[FN#94].' Whilst
+he thus overwhelmed me with his talk, I thought my gall-bladder
+would burst so I said to the servant, 'Give him a quarter-dinar
+and let him go, for God's sake! I won't have my head shaved
+to-day.' 'What words are these, O my lord?' said he. 'By Allah, I
+will take no hire of thee till I have served thee; and needs must
+I serve thee, for indeed it is incumbent on me to do so and
+fulfil thy need; and I care not if I take no money of thee. If
+thou knowest not my worth, I know thine; and I owe thy father
+(may God the Most High have mercy on him!) many a kindness, for
+he was a generous man. By Allah, he sent for me one day as it
+were this blessed day, and I went in to him and found a company
+of his friends with him. He would have had me let him blood; but
+I pulled out my astrolabe and taking an altitude for him, found
+the aspect inauspicious and the hour unfavourable for the letting
+of blood. I told him of this and he conformed to my advice and
+put off the operation to a more convenient season. So I recited
+the following verses in his honour:
+
+I came one day unto my lord, that I might let him blood, But
+     found that for his body's health the season was not good;
+So sat me down and talked with him of many a pleasant thing And
+     all the treasures of my mind before him freely strewed.
+Well pleased, he listened, then, "O mine of knowledge!" he did
+     say, "Thy wit and wisdom overpass the bounds of likelihood!"
+"Not so," quoth I; "my wit indeed were little, but for thee, O
+     prince of men, that pour'st on me thy wisdom like a flood!
+Thou seem'st indeed the lord of grace, bounty and excellence,
+     World's treasure-house of knowledge, wit, sense and
+     mansuetude!"
+
+Thy father was charmed and cried out to the servant, saying,
+"Give him a hundred and three dinars and a dress of honour." The
+servant did as he bade, and I waited till a favourable moment,
+when I let him blood; and he did not cross me, but thanked me,
+and all present also praised me. When the cupping was over, I
+could not help saying to him, "By Allah, O my lord, what made
+thee say to the servant, 'Give him a hundred and three dinars'?"
+Quoth he, "One dinar was for the astrological observation,
+another for thine entertaining converse, the third for the
+bloodletting and the remaining hundred and the dress for thy
+verses in my honour."' 'May God show no mercy to my father,'
+exclaimed I, 'for knowing the like of thee?' He laughed and said,
+'There is no god but God and Mohammed is His Apostle! Glory be to
+Him who changes but is not changed! I took thee for a man of
+sense; but I see thou dotest for illness. God says, in His
+precious Book, that Paradise is prepared for "those who restrain
+their wrath and forgive men", and in any case thou art excused.
+But I am ignorant of the cause of thy haste, and thou must know
+that thy father and grandfather did nothing without consulting
+me, for indeed it is said that he with whom one takes counsel
+should be trustworthy and that he who takes counsel shall not be
+disappointed. It is said also that he who hath not an elder (to
+advise him) will never be an elder himself; and indeed the poet
+says:
+
+Ere thou decide to venture thyself in aught, Consult an
+     experienced man and cross him not.
+
+And indeed thou wilt find none better versed in affairs than I,
+and I am here standing on my feet to serve thee. I am not vexed
+with thee: why shouldst thou be vexed with me? But I will bear
+with thee for the sake of the favours I owe thy father.' 'By
+Allah,' exclaimed I, 'O thou whose tongue is as long as a
+jackass's tail, thou persistest in pestering me with talk and
+pelting me with words, when all I want of thee is to shave my
+head and take thyself off!' Then he lathered my head, saying, 'I
+know that thou art vexed with me, but I bear thee no malice; for
+thy wit is weak and thou art a boy: it was but yesterday I took
+thee on my shoulders and carried thee to the school' 'O my
+brother,'. cried I, 'for God's sake, do what I want and go thy
+way!' And I rent my clothes. When he saw me do this, he took the
+razor and fell to sharpening it and stinted not, till I was
+well-nigh distraught. Then he came up to me and shaved a part of
+my head, then held his hand and said, 'O my lord, hurry is of the
+Devil and deliberation of the Merciful One. Methinks thou knowest
+not my station; verily my hand falls on the heads of kings and
+amirs and viziers and sages and learned men: and it was of me the
+poet said:
+
+All the trades are like necklets of jewels and gold And this
+     barber indeed's the chief pearl of the strings.
+He excelleth all others that boast of their skill. And under his
+     hand are the topknots of kings.'
+
+'Leave what concerns thee not,' said I: 'indeed thou hast
+straitened my breast and troubled my mind.' Quoth he, Meseems
+thou art in haste. 'Yes, yes, yes!' answered I, and he, 'Thou
+wouldst do well to proceed with deliberation, for haste is of the
+Devil and bequeaths repentance and disappointment. Verily he upon
+whom be blessing and peace[FN#95] hath said, "The best affair is
+that which is undertaken with deliberation." By Allah, thy case
+troubles me, and I would have thee let me know what it is thou
+art in such haste to do, for I fear me it is other than good.'
+Then said he, 'It wants three hours yet of the time of prayer.
+However, I do not wish to be in doubt as to this, but am minded
+to know the time for certain; for speech, when it is conjectural,
+is but faulty, especially in the like of me, whose merit is plain
+and known of all men; and it does not befit me to talk at random,
+as do the common sort of astrologers.' So saying, he threw down
+the razor and taking up the astrolabe, went out under the sun and
+stood a long while, after which he returned and said to me, 'It
+wants three hours of the time of prayer, neither more nor less.'
+'By Allah,' answered I, 'hold thy tongue, for thou breakest my
+heart in pieces!' So he took his razor and after sharpening it as
+before, shaved another part of my head. Then he said, 'I am
+concerned about thy haste; and indeed thou wouldst do well to
+tell me the cause of it, for thou knowest that thy father and
+grandfather did nothing without my counsel.' When I saw that
+there was no getting rid of him, I said to myself, 'The time of
+prayer draws near and I wish to go to her before the folk come
+out from the mosque. If I am delayed much longer, I know not
+how I shall come at her.' Then I said to him, 'Be quick and
+leave this prating and officiousness, for I have to go to an
+entertainment at the house of one of my friends.' When he heard
+me speak of an entertainment, he said, 'This thy day is a blessed
+one for me! Verily, yesterday I invited a party of my intimate
+friends and I have forgotten to provide aught for them to eat. I
+bethought me of it but now, on hearing thee speak of an
+entertainment. Alack, how I shall be disgraced in their eyes!'
+'Be in no concern for that,' answered I. 'Have I not told thee
+that I am bidden abroad to-day? All the meat and drink in the
+house shall be thine, so thou despatch my affair and make haste
+to shave my head.' 'God requite thee with good!' rejoined he.
+'Tell me what thou hast for my guests, that I may know.' Quoth I,
+'I have five dishes of meat and ten fricasseed fowls and a
+roasted lamb.' 'Bring them out to me,' said he, 'that I may see
+them.' So I had all this brought, and when he saw it, he said,
+'There lacks the wine.' 'I have a flagon or two in the house,'
+answered I; and he said, 'Have it brought out.' So I sent for it,
+and he exclaimed, 'God bless thee for a generous soul! But there
+are still the perfumes and the essences.' So I brought him a box,
+containing fifty dinars' worth of aloes-wood and ambergris and
+musk and other perfumes. By this, the time began to run short and
+my heart was straitened; so I said to him, 'Take it all and
+finish shaving my head, by the life of Mohammed, whom God bless
+and preserve!' 'By Allah,' said he, 'I will not take it till
+I see all that is in it.' So I made the servant open the box,
+and the barber threw down the astrolabe and sitting down on
+the ground, turned over the contents, till I was well-nigh
+distracted. Then he took the razor and coming up to me, shaved
+some little of my head and recited the following verse:
+
+The boy after his father's guise grows up and follows suit As
+     surely as the tree springs up from out its parent root.
+
+Then said he, 'O my son, I know not whether to thank thee or thy
+father; for my entertainment to-day is all due to thy kindness
+and liberality, and none of my company is worthy of it; though I
+have none but men of consideration, such as Zentout the
+bath-keeper and Selya the corn-chandler and Silet the bean-seller
+and Akresheh the grocer and Hemid the scavenger and Said the
+camel-driver and Suweyd the porter and Abou Mukarish the
+bathman[FN#96] and Cassim the watchman and Kerim the groom.
+There is not among them all one curmudgeon or make-bate or
+meddler or spoil-sport; each has his own dance that he dances
+and his own couplets that he repeats, and the best of them is
+that they are like thy servant, knowing not abundance of talk
+nor meddlesomeness. The bath-keeper sings enchantingly to the
+tambourine and dances and says, "I am going, O my mother, to fill
+my jar!" As for the corn-chandler, he brings more skill to it
+than any of them; he dances and says, "O mourner, my mistress,
+thou dost not fall short!" and draws the very heart out of one
+for laughing at him. Whilst the scavenger sings, so that the
+birds stop to listen to him, and dances and says, "News with my
+wife is not kept in a chest!" And indeed he is a witty,
+accomplished rogue, and of his excellence I use to say the
+following:
+
+My life redeem the scavenger! I love him passing dear, For, in
+     his goodly gait, he's like the zephyr-shaken bough.
+Fate blessed my eyes with him one night; and I to him did say,
+     (Whilst in my bosom, as I spoke, desire did ebb and flow,)
+"Thou'st lit thy fire within my heart!" Whereto he answer made
+     "What wonder though the scavenger have turned a
+     fire-man[FN#97] now?"
+
+And indeed each is perfection in all that can charm the wit with
+mirth and jollity. But hearing is not like seeing; and indeed if
+thou wilt join us and put off going to thy friends, it will be
+better both for us and for thee: for the traces of sickness are
+yet upon thee and belike thou art going amongst talkative folk,
+who will prate of what does not concern them, or there may be
+amongst them some impertinent busybody who will split thy head,
+and thou still weak from illness.' 'This shall be for another
+day,' answered I and laughed in spite of my anger. 'Finish what
+thou hast to do for me and go in peace and enjoy thyself with thy
+friends, for they will be awaiting thy coming.' 'O my lord,'
+replied he, 'I only seek to bring thee in company with these
+pleasant folk, amongst whom there is neither meddlesomeness nor
+excess of talk; for never, since I came to years of discretion,
+could I endure to consort with those who ask of what concerns
+them not, nor with any except those who are, like myself, men of
+few words. Verily, if thou wert once to see them and company with
+them, thou wouldst forsake all thy friends.' 'God fulfil thy
+gladness with them!' rejoined I. 'Needs must I foregather with
+them one of these days.' And he said, 'I would it were to be
+to-day, for I had made up my mind that thou shouldst make one of
+us: but if thou must indeed go to thy friends to-day, I will take
+the good things, with which thy bounty hath provided me for them,
+to my guests, and leave them to eat and drink, without waiting
+for me, whilst I return to thee in haste and accompany thee
+whither thou goest; for there is no ceremony between me and my
+friends to hinder me from leaving them.' 'There is no power and
+no virtue but in God the Most High, the Supreme!' cried I. 'Go
+thou to thy friends and make merry with them and let me go to
+mine and be with them this day, for they expect me.' 'I will
+not let thee go alone,' replied he: and I said, 'None can enter
+where I am going but myself.' Then said he, 'I believe thou
+hast an assignation with some woman to-day; else thou wouldst
+take me with thee, for it is the like of me that furnishes a
+merry-making; or if thou go to any one with whom thou wouldst be
+private, I am the fittest of all men for thy purpose, for I would
+help thee to what thou desirest and look that none saw thee. I
+fear lest thou go in to some strange woman and lose thy life; for
+in this city one cannot do aught of the kind, especially on a day
+like this and under so keen and masterful a chief of the police
+as ours of Baghdad.' 'Out on thee, O wretched old man!' cried I.
+'Avaunt! what words are these thou givest me?' 'O dolt!' rejoined
+he, 'thou sayest to me what is not true and hidest thy mind from
+me; but I know that this is so and am certain of it, and I only
+seek to help thee this day.' I was fearful lest my people or the
+neighbours should hear the barber's talk, so kept silence, whilst
+he finished shaving my head; by which time the hour of prayer was
+come and it was wellnigh time for the exhortation.[FN#98] When he
+had done, I said to him, 'Take the meat and drink and carry them
+to thy friends. I will await thy return.' For I thought it best
+to dissemble with the accursed fellow and feign compliance with
+his wishes, so haply he might go away and leave me. Quoth he,
+'Thou art deceiving me and wilt go alone and cast thyself into
+some peril, from which there will be no escape for thee. For
+God's sake, do not go till I return, that I may accompany thee
+and see what comes of thine affair.' 'It is well,' answered I:
+'do not be long absent.' Then he took all that I had given him
+and went out; but, instead of going home with it, the cursed
+fellow delivered it to a porter, to carry to his house, and hid
+himself in a by-street. As for me, I rose at once, for the
+Muezzins had already chanted the Salutation,[FN#99] and, dressing
+myself in haste, went out and hurried to the house where I had
+seen the young lady. I found the old woman standing at the door,
+awaiting me, and went up with her to the young lady's apartment.
+Hardly had I done so, when the master of the house returned from
+the mosque and entering the saloon, shut the door. I looked out
+from the window and saw this barber (God's malison on him!)
+sitting over against the door, and said, 'How did this devil find
+me out?' At this moment, as God had decreed it for my undoing, it
+befell that a slave-girl belonging to the master of the house
+committed some offence, for which he beat her. She cried out, and
+a male slave came in to deliver her, whereupon the Cadi beat him
+also, and he too cried out. The cursed barber concluded that it
+was I he was beating and fell to tearing his clothes and strewing
+dust on his head, shrieking and calling for help. So the folk
+came round him, and he said to them, 'My master is being murdered
+in the Cadi's house!' Then he ran, shrieking, to my house, with
+the folk after him, and told my people and servants: and before I
+knew what was forward, up they came, with torn clothes and
+dishevelled hair, calling out, 'Alas, our master!' and the barber
+at their head, in a fine pickle, tearing his clothes and
+shouting. They made for the house in which I was, headed by the
+barber, crying out, 'Woe is us for our murdered master!' And the
+Cadi, hearing the uproar at his door, said to one of his
+servants, 'Go and see what is the matter.' The man went out and
+came back, saying, 'O my lord, there are more than ten thousand
+men and women at the door, crying out, "Woe is us for our
+murdered master!" and pointing to our house.' When the Cadi heard
+this, he was troubled and vexed; so he went to the door and
+opening it, saw a great concourse of people; whereat he was
+amazed and said, 'O folk, what is the matter?' 'O accursed one, O
+dog, O hog,' replied my servants, 'thou hast killed our master!'
+Quoth he, 'And what has your master done to me that I should kill
+him? Behold, this my house is open to you!' 'Thou didst beat him
+but now with rods,' answered the barber; 'for I heard his cries.'
+'What has he done that I should beat him?' repeated the Cadi;
+'and what brings him into my house?' 'Be not a vile, perverse old
+man!' replied the barber; 'I know the whole story. The long and
+the short of it is that thy daughter is in love with him and he
+with her; and when thou knewest that he had entered the house,
+thou badest thy servants beat him, and they did so. By Allah,
+none shall judge between us and thee but the Khalif! So bring us
+out our master, that his people may take him, before I go and
+fetch him forth of thy house and thou be put to shame.' When the
+Cadi heard this, he was dumb for amazement and confusion before
+the people, but presently said to the barber, 'If thou speak
+truth, come in and fetch him out.' Whereupon the barber pushed
+forward and entered the house. When I saw this, I looked about
+for a means of escape, but saw no hiding-place save a great chest
+that stood in the room. So I got into the chest and pulled the
+lid down on me and held my breath. Hardly had I done this, when
+the barber came straight to the place where I was and catching up
+the chest, set it on his head and made off with it in haste. At
+this, my reason forsook me and I was assured that he would not
+let me be; so I took courage and opening the chest, threw myself
+to the ground. My leg was broken in the fall, and the door of the
+house being opened, I saw without a great crowd of people. Now I
+had much gold in my sleeve, which I had provided against the like
+of this occasion; so I fell to scattering it among the people, to
+divert their attention from me; and whilst they were busy
+scrambling for it, I set off running through the by-streets of
+Baghdad, and this cursed barber, whom nothing could divert from
+me, after me. Wherever I went, he followed, crying out, 'They
+would have bereft me of my master and slain him who has been a
+benefactor to me and my family and friends! But praised be God
+who aided me against them and delivered my lord from their hands!
+Where wilt thou go now? Thou persistedst in following thine own
+evil devices, till thou broughtest thyself to this pass, and if
+God had not vouchsafed me to thee, thou hadst never won free from
+this strait, for they would have plunged thee into irremediable
+ruin. How long dost thou expect I shall live to save thee? By
+Allah, thou hast well-nigh undone me by thy folly and thy
+perverseness in wishing to go by thyself! But I will not reproach
+thee with ignorance, for thou art little of wit and hasty.' 'Does
+not what thou hast brought upon me suffice thee,' replied I, 'but
+thou must pursue me with the like of this talk through the public
+streets?' And I well-nigh gave up the ghost for excess of rage
+against him. Then I took refuge in the shop of a weaver in the
+midst of the market and sought protection of the owner, who drove
+the barber away. I sat down in the back shop and said to myself,
+'If I return home, I shall never be able to get rid of this
+accursed barber, for he will be with me night and day, and I
+cannot endure the sight of him.' So I sent out at once for
+witnesses and made a will, dividing the greater part of my money
+among my people, and appointed a guardian over them, to whom I
+committed the charge of great and small directing him to sell my
+house and estates. Then I set out at once on my travels, that I
+might be free of this ruffian, and came to settle in your town,
+where I have lived for some time. When you invited me and I came
+hither the first thing I saw was this accursed pimp seated in the
+place of honour. How, then, can I be at my ease and how can it be
+pleasant to me to consort with you, in company with this fellow,
+who brought all this upon me and was the cause of the breaking of
+my leg and of my exile from my country and family?" And he
+refused to sit down and went away. When we heard the young man's
+story (continued the tailor), we were beyond measure amazed and
+diverted and said to the barber, "Is it true that this young man
+says of thee?" "By Allah," replied he, "I dealt thus with him of
+my courtesy and good sense and humanity. But for me, he had
+perished and none but I was the cause of his escape. Well for him
+that it was in his leg that he suffered and not in his life! Were
+I a man of many words or a busybody, I had not done him this
+kindness; but now I will tell you something that happened to me,
+that ye may know that I am indeed sparing of speech and no
+impertinent meddler, as were my six brothers; and it is this:
+
+
+
+
+
+The Barber's Story.
+
+
+
+I was living at Baghdad, in the time of the Khalif Mustensir
+Billah,[FN#100] who loved the poor and needy and companied with
+the learned and the pious. One day, it befell that he was wroth
+with a band of highway robbers, ten in number, who infested the
+neighbourhood, and ordered the chief of the Baghdad police to
+bring them before him on the day of the Festival. So the prefect
+sallied out and capturing the robbers, embarked with them in a
+boat. I caught sight of them, as they were embarking, and said to
+myself, 'These people are surely bound on some party of pleasure;
+methinks they mean to spend the day in eating and drinking, and
+none shall be their messmate but I.' So, of the greatness of my
+courtesy and the gravity of my understanding, I embarked in the
+boat and mingled with them. They rowed across to the opposite
+bank, where they landed, and there came up soldiers and police
+officers with chains, which they put round the necks of the
+robbers. They chained me with the rest, and, O company, is it not
+a proof of my courtesy and spareness of speech that I kept
+silence and did not choose to speak? Then they took us away in
+chains and next morning they carried us all before the Commander
+of the Faithful, who bade strike off the heads of the ten
+robbers. So the herdsman came forward and made us kneel before
+him on the carpet of blood;[FN#101] then drawing his sword,
+struck off one head after another, till none was left but
+myself. The Khalif looked at me and said to the headsman, 'What
+ails thee thou thou struck off but nine heads?' 'God forbid,'
+replied he, 'that I should behead only nine, when thou didst
+order me to behead ten!' Quoth the Khalif, 'Meseems, thou hast
+beheaded but nine and he who is before thee is the tenth.' 'By
+thy munificence,' replied the headsman, 'I have beheaded ten!' So
+they counted the dead men, and behold, they were ten. Then said
+the Khalif to me, 'What made thee keep silence at such a time and
+how camest thou in company with these men of blood? Thou art a
+man of great age, but assuredly thy wit is but little.' When I
+heard the Khalif's words, I replied, 'Know, O Commander of the
+Faithful, that I am the Silent Elder, and am thus called to
+distinguish me from my six brothers. I am a man of great
+learning, whilst, as for the gravity of my understanding, the
+excellence of my apprehension and the spareness of my speech,
+there is no end to them; and by craft I am a barber. I went out
+early yesterday morning and saw these ten men making for a boat,
+and thinking they were bound on a party of pleasure, joined
+myself to them and embarked with them. After awhile, there came
+up the officers, who put chains round their necks and round mine
+amongst the rest, but in the excess of my courtesy, I kept
+silence and did not speak, nor was this other than generosity on
+my part. Then they brought us before thee and thou didst order
+the ten robbers' heads to be stricken off; yet did I not make
+myself known to thee, purely of my great generosity and courtesy,
+which led me to share with them in their death. But all my life
+have I dealt thus nobly with the folk, and they still requite me
+after the foulest fashion.' When the Khalif heard what I said and
+knew that I was a man of exceeding generosity and few words and
+no meddler (as this young man would have it, whom I rescued from
+horrors and who has so scurvily repaid me), he laughed so
+immoderately that he fell backward. Then said he to me, 'O silent
+man, are thy six brothers like thee distinguished for wisdom and
+knowledge and spareness of speech?' 'Never were they like me,'
+answered I; 'thou dost me injustice, O Commander of the Faithful,
+and it becomes thee not to even my brothers with me: for, of the
+abundance of their speech and their lack of conduct and courtesy,
+each one of them has gotten some bodily defect. One is blind of
+an eye, another paralysed, a third blind, a fourth cropped of the
+ears and nose, a fifth crop-lipped and a sixth hunchbacked and a
+cripple. Thou must not think, O Commander of the Faithful, that I
+am a man of many words; but I must needs explain to thee that I
+am a man of greater worth and of fewer words than they. By each
+one of my brothers hangs a tale of how he came by his defect,
+[FN#102] and these I will relate to thee. Know then, O Commander
+of the Faithful that
+
+
+
+
+
+Story of the Barber's First Brother.
+
+
+
+My first brother, the hunchback, was a tailor in Baghdad, and
+plied his craft in a shop, which he hired of a very rich man, who
+dwelt over against him and had a mill in the lower part of the
+house. One day, as my brother the hunchback was sitting in his
+shop, sewing, he chanced to raise his head and saw, at the
+bay-window of his landlord's house, a lady like the rising full
+moon, engaged in looking at the passers-by. His heart was taken
+with love of her and he passed the day gazing at her and
+neglecting his business, till the evening. Next day, he opened
+his shop and sat down to sew: but as often as he made a stitch,
+he looked at the bay-window and saw her as before; and his
+passion and infatuation for her redoubled. On the third day, as
+he was sitting in his usual place, gazing on her, she caught
+sight of him, and perceiving that he had fallen a captive to her
+love, smiled in his face, and he smiled back at her. Then she
+withdrew and sent her slave-girl to him with a parcel of red
+flowered silk. The girl accosted him and said to him, "My lady
+salutes thee and would have thee cut out for her, with a skilful
+hand, a shift of this stuff and sew it handsomely." "I hear and
+obey," answered he; and cut out the shift and made an end of
+sewing it the same day. Next morning early, the girl came back
+and said to him, "My mistress salutes thee and would fain know
+how thou hast passed the night; for she has not tasted sleep by
+reason of her heart being taken up with thee." Then she laid
+before him a piece of yellow satin and said to him, "My mistress
+bids thee cut her two pairs of trousers of this stuff and sew
+them this day." "I hear and obey," answered he; "salute her for
+me with abundant salutation and say to her, 'Thy slave is
+obedient to thy commands so order him as thou wilt.'" Then he
+applied himself to cut out the trousers and used all diligence in
+sewing them. Presently the lady appeared at the window and
+saluted him by signs, now casting down her eyes and now smiling
+in his face, so that he made sure of getting his will of her. She
+did not let him budge till he had finished the two pairs of
+trousers, when she withdrew and sent the slave-girl, to whom he
+delivered them, and she took them and went away. When it was
+night, he threw himself on his bed and tossed from side to side,
+till morning, when he rose and sat down in his shop. By-and-by,
+the slave-girl came to him and said, "My master calls for thee."
+When he heard this, he was afraid; but the girl, seeing his
+alarm, to him, "Fear not: nought but good shall befall thee. My
+lady would have thee make acquaintance with my master." So my
+brother rejoiced greatly and went out with her. When he came into
+his landlord's presence he kissed the earth before him, and the
+latter returned his salute; then gave him a great piece of linen,
+saying, "Make this into shirts for me." "I hear and obey,"
+replied my brother, and fell to work at once and cut out twenty
+shirts by nightfall, without stopping to taste food. Then said
+the husband "What is thy hire for this?" "Twenty dirhems,"
+answered my brother. So the man cried out to the slave-girl to
+give him twenty dirhems; but the lady signed to my brother not to
+take them, and he said, "By Allah, I will take nothing from
+thee!" And took his work and went away, though he was sorely in
+want of money. Then he applied himself to do their work, eating
+and drinking but little for three days, in his great diligence.
+At the end of this time, the slave-girl came to him and said,
+"What hast thou done?" Quoth he, "They are finished;" and carried
+the shirts to his landlord, who would have paid him his hire; but
+he said, "I will take nothing," for fear of the lady, and
+returning to his shop, passed the night without sleep for hunger.
+Now the lady had told her husband how the case stood, and they
+had agreed to take advantage of his infatuation to make him sew
+for them for nothing and laugh at him. Next morning, as he sat in
+his shop, the servant came to him and said, "My master would
+speak with thee." So he accompanied her to the husband, who said
+to him, "I wish thee to make me five cassocks." So he cut them
+out and took the stuff and went away. Then he sewed them and
+carried them to the man, who praised his work and offered him a
+purse of money. He put out his hand to take it, but the lady
+signed to him from behind her husband not to do so, and he
+replied, "O my lord, there is no hurry: by-and-by." Then he went
+out, more abject than an ass, for verily five things at once were
+sore upon him, love and beggary and hunger and nakedness and
+toil; nevertheless, he heartened himself with the hope of gaining
+the lady's favours. When he had made an end of all their work,
+they put a cheat upon him and married him to their slave-girl.
+but when he thought to go in to her, they said to him, "Lie this
+night in the mill; and to-morrow all will be well." My brother
+concluded that there was some good reason for this and passed the
+night alone in the mill. Now the husband had set on the miller to
+make my brother turn the mill; so in the middle of the night, the
+miller came in and began to say, "This ox is lazy and stands
+still and will not turn, and there is much wheat to be ground. So
+I will yoke him and make him finish grinding it this night, for
+the folk are impatient for their flour." Then he filled the
+hoppers with grain and going up to my brother, with a rope in his
+hand, bound him to the yoke and said to him, "Come, turn the
+mill! Thou thinkest of nothing but eating and voiding." Then he
+took a whip and laid on to my brother, who began to weep and cry
+out; but none came to his aid, and he was forced to grind the
+wheat till near daylight, when the husband came in and seeing him
+yoked to the shaft and the miller flogging him, went away. At
+daybreak the miller went away and left him still yoked and well
+nigh dead; and soon after in came the slave-girl, who unbound him
+and said to him, "I am grieved for what has befallen thee, and
+both I and my lady are full of concern for thee." But he had no
+tongue wherewith to answer her, for excess of beating and toil.
+Then he returned to his lodging, and presently the notary who had
+drawn up the marriage contract came to him and saluted him,
+saying, "God give thee long life! May thy marriage be blessed!
+Thou hast doubtless passed the night clipping and kissing and
+dalliance from dusk to dawn." "May God curse thee for a liar,
+thousandfold cuckold that thou art!" replied my brother. "By
+Allah, I did nothing but turn the mill in the place of the ox all
+night!" Quoth the notary, "Tell me thy story." So my brother told
+him what had happened, and he said, "Thy star agrees not with
+hers: but if thou wilt, I can alter the contract for thee." And
+my brother answered, "See if thou have another device." Then the
+notary left him and he sat down in his shop, till some one should
+bring him work by which he might earn his day's bread. Presently
+the slave-girl came to him and said, "My mistress would speak
+with thee." "Go, my good girl," replied he; "I will have no more
+to do with thy mistress." So the girl returned to her mistress
+and told her what my brother had said, and presently she put her
+head out of the window, weeping and saying, "O my beloved, why
+wilt thou have no more to do with me?" But he made her no answer.
+Then she swore to him that all that had befallen him in the mill
+was without her sanction and that she was guiltless of the whole
+affair. When he saw her beauty and grace and heard the sweetness
+of her speech, he forgot what had befallen him and accepted her
+excuse and rejoiced in her sight. So he saluted her and talked
+with her and sat at his sewing awhile, after which the servant
+came to him and said, "My mistress salutes thee and would have
+thee to know that her husband purposes to lie this night abroad
+with some intimate friends of his; so when he is gone, do thou
+come to us and pass the night with her in all delight till the
+morning." Now the man had said to his wile, "How shall we do to
+turn him away from thee?" Quoth she, "Let me play him another
+trick and make him a byword in the city." But my brother knew
+nothing of the malice of women. As soon as it was night, the
+servant came to him and carried him to the house; and when the
+lady saw him, she said to him, "By Allah, O my lord, I have been
+longing for thee!" "By Allah," replied he, "make haste and give
+me a kiss first of all." Hardly had he spoken, when the master of
+the house came in from an inner room and seized him, saying, "By
+Allah, I will not let thee go, till I deliver thee to the chief
+of the police." My brother humbled himself to him; but he would
+not listen to him and carried him to the prefect, who gave him a
+hundred lashes with a whip and mounting him on a camel, paraded
+him about the city, whilst the folk proclaimed aloud, "This is
+the punishment of those who violate people's harems!" Moreover,
+he fell off the camel and broke his leg and so became lame. Then
+the prefect banished him from the city and he went forth, not
+knowing whither to turn; but I heard of his mishap and going out
+after him, brought him back and took him to live with me.'
+
+The Khalif laughed at my story and said, 'Thou hast done well, O
+Silent One, O man of few words!' and bade me take a present and
+go away. But I said, 'I will take nothing except I tell thee what
+befell my other brothers: and do not think me a man of many
+words. Know, O Commander of the Faithful, that
+
+
+
+
+
+Story of the Barber's Second Brother.
+
+
+
+My second brother's name was Becbac and he was the paralytic. One
+day, as he was going about his business, an old woman accosted
+him and said to him, "Harkye, stop a little, that I may tell thee
+of somewhat, which, if it please thee, thou shalt do for me." My
+brother stopped and she went on, "I will put thee in the way of a
+certain thing, so thy words be not many." "Say on," replied my
+brother; and she, "What sayest thou to a handsome house and a
+pleasant garden, with running waters and fruits and wine and a
+fair-faced one to hold in thine arms from dark till dawn?" "And
+is all this in the world?" asked my brother. "Yes," answered she;
+"and it shall be thine, so thou be reasonable and leave
+impertinent curiosity and many words and do as I bid thee." "I
+will well, O my lady," rejoined my brother; "but what made thee
+choose me of all men for this affair and what is it pleases thee
+in me?" Quoth she, "Did I not bid thee be sparing of speech? Hold
+thy peace and follow me. Thou must know that the young lady, to
+whom I shall carry thee, loves to have her own way and hates to
+be crossed, so if thou fall in with her humour, thou shalt come
+to thy desire of her." And my brother said, "I will not thwart
+her in aught." Then she went on and he followed her, eager to
+enjoy what she had promised him, till she brought him to a fine
+large house, richly furnished and full of servants, and carried
+him to an upper story. When the people of the house saw him, they
+said to him, "What dost thou here?" But the old woman bade them,
+"Let him be and trouble him not; for he is a workman and we have
+occasion for him." Then she brought him into a fine great
+gallery, with a fair garden in its midst, and made him sit down
+upon a handsome couch. He had not sat long, before he heard a
+great noise and in came a troop of damsels, with a lady in their
+midst, as she were the moon on the night of its full. When he saw
+her, he rose and made an obeisance to her; whereupon she bade him
+welcome and ordered him to be seated. So he sat down and she said
+to him. "God advance thee! Is all well with thee?" "O my lady,"
+replied my brother, "all is well." Then she called for food, and
+they brought her a table richly served. So she sat down to eat,
+making a show of affection to my brother and jesting with him,
+though all the while she could not keep from laughing: but as
+often as he looked at her, she signed towards the waiting-maids,
+as if she laughed at them. My ass of a brother understood
+nothing, but concluded, in the blindness of his doting, that the
+lady was in love with him and would admit him to his desire. When
+they had finished eating, they set on wine, and there came in ten
+damsels like moons, with strung lutes in their hands, and fell a
+singing right melodiously; whereupon delight got hold upon him
+and he took the cup from the lady's hands and drank it off. Then
+she drank a cup of wine, and he rose and bowed to her, saying,
+"Health to thee!" She filled him another cup and he drank it off,
+and she gave him a cuff on the nape of his neck; whereupon he
+rose and went out in a rage; but the old woman followed him and
+winked to him to return. So he came back and the lady bade him
+sit, and he sat down without speaking. Then she dealt him a
+second cuff, and nothing would serve her but she must make all
+her maids cuff him also. Quoth he to the old woman, "Never saw I
+aught finer than this!" And she kept saying, "Enough, enough, I
+conjure thee, O my lady!" The women cuffed him till he was
+well-nigh senseless, and he rose and went out again in a rage;
+but the old woman followed him and said, "Wait a little, and thou
+shalt come to what thou wishest." "How much longer must I wait?"
+asked he. "Indeed I am faint with cuffing." "As soon as she is
+warm with wine," answered she, "thou shalt have thy desire." So
+he returned to his place and sat down, whereupon all the damsels
+rose and the lady bade them fumigate him and sprinkle rose-water
+on his face. Then said she to him, "God advance thee! Thou hast
+entered my house and submitted to my conditions; for whoso
+thwarts me, I turn him away, but he who is patient has his
+desire." "O my lady," replied he, "I am thy slave and in the
+hollow of thy hand." "Know then," continued she, "that God has
+made me passionately fond of frolic, and whoso falls in with my
+humour comes by what he wishes." Then she ordered the damsels to
+sing with loud voices, and they sang, till the whole company was
+in ecstasy: after which she said to one of the maids, "Take thy
+lord and do what is wanting to him and bring him back to me
+forthright." So the damsel took my brother, who knew not what she
+would do with him; but the old woman came up to him and said, "Be
+patient; there remains but little to do." At this his face
+cleared and he said, "Tell me what she would have the maid do
+with me." "Nothing but good," replied she, as I am thy ransom.
+She only wishes to dye thine eyebrows and pluck out thy
+moustaches." Quoth he, "As for the dyeing of my eyebrows, that
+will come off with washing, but the plucking out of my moustaches
+will be irksome." "Beware of crossing her," said the old woman;
+"for her heart is set on thee." So my brother suffered them to
+dye his eyebrows and pluck out his moustaches, after which the
+damsel returned to her mistress and told her. Quoth she, "There
+is one thing more to be done; thou must shave his chin, that he
+may be beardless." So the maid went back and told my brother what
+her mistress bade her do, whereupon cried my fool of a brother,
+"How can I do what will dishonour me among the folk?" But the old
+woman said, "She only wishes to do thus with thee, that thou
+mayst be as a beardless youth and that no hair may be left on thy
+face to prick her; for she is passionately in love with thee. Be
+patient and thou shalt attain thy desire." So he submitted to
+have his beard shaved off and his face rouged, after which they
+carried him back to the lady. When she saw him with his eyebrows
+dyed, his whiskers and moustaches plucked out, his beard shaved
+off and his face rouged, she was affrighted at him, then laughed
+till she fell backward and said, "O my lord, thou hast won my
+heart with thy good nature!" Then she conjured him, by her life,
+to rise and dance; so he began to dance, and there was not a
+cushion in the place but she threw it at him, whilst the damsels
+pelted him with oranges and limes and citrons, till he fell down
+senseless. When he came to himself, the old woman said to him,
+"Now thou hast attained thy desire. There is no more beating for
+thee and there remains but one thing more. It is her wont, when
+she is heated with wine, to let no one have to do with her till
+she put off her clothes and remain stark naked. Then she will bid
+thee strip, in like manner, and run before thee from place to
+place, as if she fled from thee, and thou after her, till thy
+yard be in good point, when she will stop and give herself up to
+thee. So now rise and put off thy clothes." So he rose, well-nigh
+beside himself, and stripped himself stark naked; whereupon the
+lady stripped also and saying to my brother, "Follow me, if thou
+desire aught," set off running in at one place and out at another
+and he after her, transported for desire, till his yard rose, as
+he were mad. Presently she entered a dark passage, and in
+following her, he trod upon a soft place, which gave way with
+him, and before he knew where he was, he found himself in the
+midst of the market of the fell-mongers, who were calling skins
+for sale and buying and selling. When they saw him in this
+plight, naked, with yard on end, shaven face, dyed eyebrows and
+rouged cheeks, they cried out and clapped their hands at him and
+flogged him with skins upon his naked body, till he swooned away;
+when they set him on an ass and carried him to the chief of the
+police, who said, "What is this?" Quoth they, "This fellow came
+out upon us from the Vizier's house, in this plight." So the
+prefect gave him a hundred lashes and banished him from Baghdad.
+However, I went out after him and brought him back privily into
+the city and made him an allowance for his living, though, but
+for my generous disposition, I had not put up with such a fellow.
+
+
+
+
+
+Story of the Barber's Third Brother
+
+
+
+The name of my third brother was Fekic and he was blind. One day,
+chance and destiny led him to a great house and he knocked at the
+door, desiring speech of the owner, that he might beg of him
+somewhat. Quoth the master of the house, "Who is at the door?"
+But my brother was silent and heard him repeat, in a loud voice,
+"Who is there?" Still he made no answer and presently heard the
+master come to the door and open it and say, "What dost thou
+want?" "Charity," replied my brother, "for the love of God the
+Most High!" "Art thou blind?" asked the man; and my brother said,
+"Yes." Quoth the other, "Give me thy hand." So my brother put out
+his hand, thinking that he would give him something; but he took
+it and drawing him into the house, carried him up, from stair to
+stair, till they reached the housetop, my brother thinking the
+while that he would surely give him food or money. Then said
+he to my brother, "What dost thou want, O blind man?" "Charity,
+for the love of God!" repeated my brother. "God succour
+thee!"[FN#103] answered the master of the house. "O man,"
+answered my brother, "why couldst thou not tell me this
+downstairs?" "O loser," answered he, "why didst thou not answer
+me, when I asked who was at the door?" Quoth my brother, "What
+wilt thou with me now?" And the other replied, "I have nothing to
+give thee." "Then take me down again," said my brother. But he
+answered, "The way lies before thee." So my brother rose and made
+his way down the stairs, till he came within twenty steps of the
+door, when his foot slipped and he rolled to the bottom and broke
+his head. Then he went out, knowing not whither to turn, and
+presently fell in with other two blind men, comrades of his, who
+enquired how he had fared that day. He told them what had passed
+and said to them, "O my brothers, I wish to take some of the
+money in my hands and provide my self with it." Now the master of
+the house had followed him and heard what they said, but neither
+my brother nor his fellows knew of this. So my brother went on to
+his lodging and sat down to await his comrades, and the owner of
+the house entered after him without his knowledge. When the other
+blind men arrived, my brother said to them, "Shut the door and
+search the house, lest any stranger have followed us." The
+intruder, hearing this, caught hold of a rope that hung from the
+ceiling and clung to it, whilst the blind men searched the whole
+place, but found nothing. So they came back and sitting down
+beside my brother, brought out their money, which they counted,
+and lo, it was twelve thousand dirhems. Each took what he wanted
+and the rest they buried in a corner of the room. Then they set
+on food and sat down to eat. Presently my brother heard a strange
+pair of jaws wagging at his side; so he said to his comrades,
+"There is a stranger amongst us;" and putting out his hand,
+caught hold of that of the intruder. Therewith they all fell on
+him and beat him, crying out, "O Muslims, a thief is come in to
+us, seeking to take our property!" So much people flocked to
+them, whereupon the owner of the house caught hold of the blind
+men and shutting his eyes, feigned to be blind like unto them, so
+that none doubted of it. Then he complained of them, even as they
+of him, crying out, "O Muslims, I appeal to God and the Sultan
+and the chief of the police! I have a grave matter to make known
+to the chief of the police." At this moment, up came the watch
+and seizing them all, dragged them before the chief of the
+police, who enquired what was the matter. Quoth the spy, "See
+here; thou shalt come at nought except by torture: so begin by
+beating me, and after me, beat this my captain." And he pointed
+to my brother. So they threw the man down and gave him four
+hundred strokes on the backside. The beating pained him, and he
+opened one eye; and as they redoubled their blows, he opened the
+other. When the chief of the police saw this, he said to him,
+"What is this, O accursed one?" "Give me the seal-ring of
+pardon!" replied he. "We are four who feign ourselves blind and
+impose upon people, that we may enter houses and gaze upon women
+and contrive for their corruption. In this way, we have gotten
+much money, even twelve thousand dirhems. So I said to my
+comrades, 'Give me my share, three thousand dirhems.' But they
+fell on me and beat me and took away my money, and I appeal to
+God and thee for protection; better thou have my share than they.
+So, an thou wouldst know the truth of my words, beat each of the
+others more than thou hast beaten me and he will surely open his
+eyes." The prefect bade begin with my brother: so they bound him
+to the whipping-post,[FN#104] and the prefect said, "O rascals,
+do ye abjure the gracious gifts of God and pretend to be blind?"
+"Allah! Allah!" cried my brother, "by Allah, there is not one
+amongst us who can see!" Then they beat him, till he fainted and
+the prefect said, "Leave him till he revives and then beat him
+again." And he caused each of the others to be beaten with more
+than three hundred blows, whilst the sham blind man stood by,
+saying to them, "Open your eyes, or you will be beaten anew."
+Then he said to the prefect, "Send some one with me to fetch the
+money, for these fellows will not open their eyes, lest they be
+put to shame before the folk." So the prefect sent to fetch the
+money and gave the impostor three thousand dirhems to his
+pretended share. The rest he took for himself and banished the
+three blind men from the city. But, O Commander of the Faithful,
+I went out and overtaking my brother, questioned him of his case;
+whereupon he told me what I have told thee. So I carried him back
+privily into the city and appointed him in secret wherewithal to
+eat and drink.' The Khalif laughed at my story and said, 'Give
+him a present and let him go.' By Allah,' rejoined I, 'I will
+take nothing till I have made known to the Commander of the
+Faithful what happened to my other brothers, for I am a man of
+few words.' Then I went on as follows
+
+
+
+
+
+Story of the Barber's Fourth Brother.
+
+
+
+'My fourth brother, the one-eyed, was a butcher at Baghdad, who
+sold meat and reared rams; and the notables and men of wealth
+used to buy meat of him, so that he amassed much wealth and got
+him cattle and houses. He fared thus a long while' till one day,
+as he was sitting in his shop, there came up to him an old man
+with a long beard, who laid down some money and said, "Give me
+meat for this." So he gave him his money's worth of meat, and the
+old man went away. My brother looked at the money he had paid
+him, and seeing that it was brilliantly white, laid it aside by
+itself. The old man continued to pay him frequent visits for five
+months, and my brother threw the money he received from him into
+a chest by itself. At the end of this time, he thought to take
+out the money to buy sheep; so he opened the chest, but found in
+it nothing but white paper, cut round. When he saw this, he
+buffeted his face and cried out, till the folk came round him and
+he told them his story, at which they wondered. Then he rose, as
+of his wont, and slaughtering a ram, hung it up within the shop;
+after which he cut off some of the meat and hung it up outside,
+saying the while, "Would God that pestilent old man would come!"
+And surely before long up came the old man, with his money in his
+hand; whereupon my brother rose and caught hold of him, crying
+out, "Come to my help, O Muslims, and hear what befell me with
+this scoundrel!" When the old man heard this, he said to him, "An
+thou loose me not, I will expose thee before the folk!" "In what
+wilt thou expose me?" asked my brother, and the other replied,
+"In that thou sellest man's flesh for mutton." "Thou liest, O
+accursed one!" cried my brother: and the old man said, "He is the
+accursed one who has a man hanging up in his shop." "If it be as
+thou sayest," rejoined my brother, "I give thee leave to take my
+property and my life." Then said the old man, "Ho, people of the
+city! an ye would prove the truth of my words, enter this man's
+shop." So they rushed into the shop, when they saw the ram was
+become a dead man hanging up and seized on my brother, crying
+out, "O infidel! O villain!" And his best friends fell to beating
+him and saying, "Dost thou give us man's flesh to eat?" Moreover,
+the old man struck him on the eye and put it out. Then they
+carried the carcase to the chief of the police, to whom said the
+old man, "O Amir, this fellow slaughters men and sells their
+flesh for mutton, and we have brought him to thee; so arise and
+execute the justice of God, to whom belong might and majesty!" My
+brother would have defended himself, but the prefect refused to
+hear him and sentenced him to receive five hundred blows with a
+stick and to forfeit all his property. And indeed, but for his
+wealth, they had put him to death. Then he banished him from the
+city and my brother fared forth at a venture, till he came to a
+great city, where he thought well to set up as a cobbler. So he
+opened a shop and fell to working for his living. One day, as he
+went on an occasion, he heard the tramp of horse, and enquiring
+the cause, was told that the King was going out to hunt and
+stopped to look on his state. It chanced that the King's eye met
+his, whereupon he bowed his head, saying, "I take refuge with God
+from the evil of this day!" And drawing bridle, rode back to his
+palace, followed by his retinue. Then he gave an order to his
+guards, who seized my brother and beat him grievously, till he
+was well-nigh dead, without telling him the reason: after which
+he returned to his shop, in a sorry plight, and told one of the
+King's household, who laughed till he fell backward and said to
+him, "O my brother, know that the King cannot endure the sight of
+a one-eyed man; especially if he be blind of the left eye, in
+which case, he does not let him go without killing him." When my
+brother heard this, he resolved to fly that city, so went forth
+and repaired to another country, where he was known of none. Here
+he abode a long while, till one day, being heavy at heart for
+what had befallen him, he went out to divert himself. As he was
+walking along, he heard the tramp of horse behind him; whereupon
+he exclaimed, "The judgment of God is upon me!" and looked out
+for a hiding-place, but found none. At last he saw a closed door,
+and pushing against it, it yielded and he found himself in a long
+corridor, in which he took refuge. Hardly had he done so, when
+two men laid hold of him, exclaiming, "Praise be to God, who hath
+delivered thee into our hands, O enemy of Allah! These three
+nights thou hast bereft us of sleep and given us no peace and
+made us taste the agonies of death!" "O folk," said my brother,
+"what ails you?" And they answered, "Thou givest us the change
+and goest about to dishonour us and to murder the master of the
+house! Is it not enough that thou hast brought him to beggary,
+thou and thy comrades? But give us up the knife, wherewith thou
+threatenest us every night." Then they searched him and found in
+his girdle the knife he used to cut leather; and he said, "O
+folk, have the fear of God before your eyes and maltreat me not,
+for know that my story is a strange one." "What is thy story?"
+asked they. So he told them what had befallen him, hoping that
+they would let him go; however, they paid no heed to what he
+said, but beat him and tore off his clothes, and finding on his
+sides the marks of beating with rods, said, "O accursed one,
+these scars bear witness to thy guilt!" Then they carried him to
+the chief of the police, whilst he said to himself, "I am undone
+for my sins and none can save me but God the Most High!" The
+prefect said to him, "O villain, what made thee enter their house
+with murderous intent?" "O Amir," replied my brother, "I conjure
+thee by Allah, hear my words and hasten not to condemn me!" But
+the two men said to the prefect, "Wilt thou listen to a robber,
+who beggars the folk and has the scars of beating on his back?"
+When the Amir saw the scars on my brother's sides, he said to
+him, "They had not done this to thee, save for some great crime."
+And he sentenced him to receive a hundred lashes. So they flogged
+him and mounting him on a camel, paraded him about the city,
+crying out, "This is the reward and the least of the reward of
+those who break into people's houses!" Then they thrust him forth
+the city, and he wandered at random, till I heard what had
+befallen him and going in search of him, questioned him of his
+case. So he told me all that passed and I carried him back
+privily to Baghdad, where I made him an allowance for his living.
+
+
+
+
+
+Story of the Barber's Fifth Brother.
+
+
+
+My fifth brother, he of the cropt ears, O Commander of the
+Faithful, was a poor man, who used to ask alms by night and live
+by day on what he got thus. Now, our father, who was an old man,
+far advanced in years, fell sick and died, leaving us seven
+hundred dirhems. So we took each of us a hundred; but when my
+brother received his share, he was at a loss to know what to do
+with it, till he bethought him to buy glass of all sorts and sell
+it at a profit. So he bought a hundred dirhems' worth of glass
+and putting it in a great basket, sat down, to sell it, on a
+raised bench, at the foot of a wall, against which he leant his
+back. As he sat, with the basket before him: be fell to musing in
+himself and said, "I have laid out a hundred dirhems on this
+glass and I will sell it for two hundred, with which I will buy
+other glass and sell it for four hundred; nor will I cease to
+buy and sell thus, till I have gotten much wealth. With this I
+will buy all kinds of merchandise and jewels and perfumes and
+gain great profit on them, till, God willing, I will make my
+capital a hundred thousand dirhems. Then I will buy a handsome
+house, together with slaves and horses and trappings of gold,
+and eat and drink, nor will I leave a singing-man or woman in
+the city but I will have them to sing to me. As soon as I have
+amassed a hundred thousand dirhems,[FN#105] I will send out
+marriage-brokers to demand for me in marriage the daughters of
+kings and viziers; and I will seek the hand of the Vizier's
+daughter, for I hear that she is perfect in beauty and of
+surpassing grace. I will give her a dowry of a thousand dinars,
+and if her father consent, well; if not, I will take her by
+force, in spite of him. When I return home, I will buy ten little
+eunuchs and clothes for myself such as are worn by kings and
+sultans and get me a saddle of gold, set thick with jewels of
+price. Then I will mount and parade the city, with slaves before
+and behind me, whilst the folk salute me and call down blessings
+upon me: after which I will repair to the Vizier, the girl's
+father, with slaves behind and before me, as well as on my either
+hand. When he sees me, he will rise and seating me in his own
+place, sit down below me, for that I am his son-in-law. Now I
+will have with me two eunuchs with purses, in each a thousand
+dinars, and I will deliver him the thousand dinars of the dowry
+and make him a present of other thousand, that he may have cause
+to know my nobility and generosity and greatness of mind and the
+littleness of the world in my eyes; and for ten words he proffers
+me, I will answer him two. Then I will return to my house, and if
+one come to me on the bride's part, I will make him a present of
+money and clothe him in a robe of honour; but if he bring me a
+present, I will return it to him and will not accept it, that
+they may know that I am great of soul. Then I will command them
+to bring her to me in state and will order my house fittingly in
+the meantime. When the time of the unveiling is come, I will don
+my richest clothes and sit down on a couch of brocaded silk,
+leaning on a cushion and turning neither to the right nor to the
+left, for the haughtiness of my mind and the gravity of my
+understanding. My wife shall stand before me like the full moon,
+in her robes and ornaments, and I, of my pride and my disdain,
+will not look at her, till all who are present shall say to me,
+'O my lord, thy wife and thy handmaid stands before thee: deign
+to look upon her! for standing is irksome to her.' And they will
+kiss the earth before me many times, whereupon I will lift my
+eyes and give one glance at her, then bend down my head again.
+Then they will carry her to the bride-chamber, and meanwhile I
+will rise and change my clothes for a richer suit. When they
+bring in the bride for the second time, I will not look at her
+till they have implored me several times, when I will glance at
+her and bow down my head; nor will I leave to do thus, till they
+have made an end of displaying her, when I will order one of my
+eunuchs to fetch a purse of five hundred dinars and giving it to
+the tire-women, command them to lead me to the bride-chamber.
+When they leave me alone with the bride, I will not look at her
+or speak to her, but will lie by her with averted face, that she
+may say I am high of soul. Presently her mother will come to me
+and kiss my head and hands and say to me, 'O my lord, look on thy
+handmaid, for she longs for thy favour, and heal her spirit. But
+I will give her no answer; and when she sees this, she will come
+and kiss my feet repeatedly and say, 'O my lord, verily my
+daughter is a beautiful girl, who has never seen man; and if thou
+show her this aversion, her heart will break; so do thou incline
+to her and speak to her.' Then she will rise and fetch a cup of
+wine, and her daughter will take it and come to me; but I will
+leave her standing before me, whilst I recline upon a cushion of
+cloth of gold, and will not look at her for the haughtiness of my
+heart, so that she will think me to be a Sultan of exceeding
+dignity and will say to me, 'O my lord, for God's sake, do not
+refuse to take the cup from thy servant's hand, for indeed I am
+thy handmaid.' But I will not speak to her, and she will press
+me, saying, 'Needs must thou drink it,' and put it to my lips.
+Then I will shake my fist in her face and spurn her with my foot
+thus." So saying, he gave a kick with his foot and knocked over
+the basket of glass, which fell to the ground, and all that was
+in it was broken. "All this comes of my pride!" cried he, and
+fell to buffeting his face and tearing his clothes and weeping.
+The folk who were going to the Friday prayers saw him, and some
+of them looked at him and pitied him, whilst others paid no heed
+to him, and in this way my brother lost both capital and profit.
+Presently there came up a beautiful lady, on her way to the
+Friday prayers, riding on a mule with a saddle of gold and
+attended by a number of servants and filling the air with the
+scent of musk, as she passed along. When she saw the broken glass
+and my brother weeping, she was moved to pity for him; so she
+asked what ailed him and was told that he had a basket full of
+glass, by the sale of which he thought to make his living, but it
+was broken, and this was the cause of his distress. So she called
+one of her attendants and said to him, "Give this poor man what
+is with thee." And he gave my brother a purse in which he found
+five hundred dinars, whereupon he was like to die for excess of
+joy and called down blessings on her. Then he returned to his
+house, a rich man; and as he sat considering, some one knocked at
+the door. So he rose and opened and saw an old woman whom he knew
+not. "O my son," said she, "the time of prayer is at hand, and I
+have not yet made the ablution; so I beg thee to let me do so in
+thy house." "I hear and obey," replied he, and bade her come in.
+So she entered and he brought her an ewer, wherewith to wash, and
+sat down, beside himself for joy in the dinars When she had made
+an end of her ablutions, she came up to where he sat and prayed a
+two-bow prayer, after which she offered up a goodly prayer my
+brother, who thanked her and putting his hand to the bag of
+money, gave her two dinars, saying in himself, "This is an alms
+from me." "Glory to God!" exclaimed she. "Why dost thou look on
+one, who loves thee, as if she were a beggar? Put up thy money! I
+have no need of it; or if thou want it not, return it to her who
+gave it thee, when thy glass was broken." "O my mother," asked
+he, "how shall I do to come at her?" "O my son," replied she,
+"she hath an inclination for thee, but she is the wife of a
+wealthy man of the city; so take all thy money with thee and
+follow me, that I may guide thee to thy desire: and when thou art
+in company with her, spare neither fair words nor persuasion, and
+thou shalt enjoy her beauty and her wealth to thy heart's
+content." So my brother took all his money and rose and followed
+the old woman, hardly believing in his good fortune. She led him
+on till they came to the door of a great house, at which she
+knocked, and a Greek slave-girl came out and opened to them. Then
+the old woman took my brother and brought him into a great
+saloon, spread with magnificent carpets and hung with curtains,
+where he sat down, with his money before him and his turban on
+his knee. Presently in came a young lady richly dressed, never
+saw eyes handsomer than she; whereupon my brother rose to his
+feet, but she smiled upon him and welcoming him, signed to him to
+be seated. Then she bade shut the door and taking my brother by
+the hand, led him to a private chamber, furnished with various
+kinds of brocaded silk. Here he sat down and she seated herself
+by his side and toyed with him awhile; after which she rose and
+saying, "Do not stir till I come back," went away. After awhile,
+in came a great black slave, with a drawn sword in his hand, who
+said to him, "Woe to thee! who brought thee hither and what dost
+thou want?" My brother could make no answer, being tongue-tied
+for fear; so the black seized him and stripping him of his
+clothes, beat him with the flat of his sword till he swooned
+away. Then the pestilent black concluded that he was dead, and my
+brother heard him say, "Where is the salt-wench?" Whereupon in
+came a slave-girl, with a great dish of salt, and the black
+strewed salt upon my brother's wounds; but he did not stir, lest
+he should know that he was alive and finish him. Then the
+salt-girl went away and the black cried out, "Where is the
+cellaress?" With this in came the old woman, and taking my
+brother by the feet, dragged him to an underground vault, where
+she threw him down upon a heap of dead bodies. There he remained
+two whole days, but God made the salt the means of saving his
+life, for it stayed the flow of blood. Presently, he found
+himself strong enough to move; so he rose and opening the
+trap-door, crept out fearfully; and God protected him, so that he
+went on in the darkness and hid himself in the vestibule till the
+morning, when he saw the cursed old woman sally forth in quest of
+other prey. So he went out after her, without her knowledge, and
+made for his own house, where he dressed his wounds and tended
+himself till he was whole. Meanwhile he kept a watch upon the old
+woman and saw her accost one man after another and carry them to
+the house. However, he said nothing; but as soon as he regained
+health and strength, he took a piece of stuff and made it into a
+bag, which he filled with broken glass and tied to his middle.
+Then he disguised himself in the habit of a foreigner, that none
+might know him, and hid a sword under his clothes. Then he went
+out and presently falling in with the old woman, accosted her and
+said to her, with a foreign accent, "O dame, I am a stranger, but
+this day arrived here, and know no one. Hast thou a pair of
+scales wherein I may weigh nine hundred dinars? I will give
+thee somewhat of the money for thy pains." "I have a son, a
+moneychanger," replied she, "who has all kinds of scales; so come
+with me to him, before he goes out, and he will weigh thy gold
+for thee." And he said, "Lead the way." So she led him to the
+house and knocked at the door; and the young lady herself came
+out and opened it; whereupon the old woman smiled in her face,
+saying, "I bring thee fat meat to-day." Then the damsel took him
+by the hand and carrying him to the same chamber as before, sat
+with him awhile, then rose and went out, bidding him stir not
+till she came back. Ere long in came the villainous black, with
+his sword drawn, and said to my brother, "Rise, O accursed one!"
+So he rose and as the slave went on before him, he drew the sword
+from under his clothes and smiting him with it, made his head fly
+from his body; after which he dragged the corpse by the feet to
+the vault and cried out, "Where is the salt-wench?" Up came the
+girl with the dish of salt, and seeing my brother sword in hand,
+turned to fly; but he followed her and smote her and struck off
+her head. Then he called out, "Where is the cellaress?" And in
+came the old woman, to whom said he, "Dost thou know me, O
+pestilent old woman?" "No, my lord," replied she; and he said, "I
+am he of the five hundred dinars, to whose house thou camest to
+make the ablution and pray, and whom thou didst after lure
+hither." "Fear God and spare me!" exclaimed she. But he paid no
+heed to her and striking her with the sword, cut her in four.
+Then he went in search of the young lady; and when she saw him,
+her reason fled and she called out for mercy. So he spared her
+and said to her, "How camest thou to consort with this black?"
+Quoth she, "I was slave to a certain merchant and the old woman
+used to visit me, till I became familiar with her. One day she
+said to me, 'We have to-day a wedding at our house, the like of
+which was never beheld, and I wish thee to see it.' 'I hear and
+obey,' answered I, and rising, donned my handsomest clothes and
+jewellery and took with me a purse containing a hundred dinars.
+Then she brought me hither, and hardly had I entered the house,
+when the black seized on me, and I have remained in this case
+these three years, through the perfidy of the accursed old
+woman." Then said my brother, "Is there aught of his in the
+house?" "He had great store of wealth," replied she: "and if thou
+canst carry it away, do so, and may God prosper it to thee!" Then
+she opened to him several chests full of purses, at which he was
+confounded, and said to him, "Go now and leave me here and fetch
+men to carry off the money." So he went out and hired ten men,
+but, when he returned, he found the door open and the damsel
+gone, and nothing left but a little of the money and the
+household stuff. By this, he knew that she had cheated him; so he
+opened the closets and took what was in them, together with the
+rest of the money, leaving nothing in the house, and passed the
+night in all content. When he arose in the morning, he found at
+the door a score of troopers, who seized him, saying, "The chief
+of the police seeks for thee." My brother implored them to let
+him return to his house, but they would grant him no delay,
+though he offered them a large sum of money, and binding him fast
+with cords, carried him off. On the way, there met them a friend
+of my brother, who clung to his skirts and implored him to stop
+and help to deliver him from their hands. So he stopped and
+enquired what was the matter; to which they replied, "The chief
+of the police has ordered us to bring this man before him, and we
+are doing so." The man interceded with them and offered them five
+hundred dinars to let my brother go, saying, "Tell the magistrate
+that ye could not find him." But they refused and dragged him
+before the prefect, who said to him, "Whence hadst thou these
+stuffs and money?" Quoth my brother, "Grant me indemnity." So the
+magistrate gave him the handkerchief of pardon, and he told him
+all that had befallen him, from first to last, including the
+flight of the damsel, adding, "Take what thou wilt, so thou leave
+me enough to live on." But the prefect took the whole of the
+stuff and money for himself and fearing lest the affair should
+reach the Sultan's ears, said to my brother, "Depart from this
+city, or I will hang thee." "I hear and obey," replied my
+brother, and set out for another town. On the way thieves fell on
+him and stripped him and beat him and cut off his ears. But I
+heard of his misfortunes and went out after him, taking him
+clothes, and brought him back privily to the city, where I made
+him an allowance for meat and drink.
+
+
+
+
+
+Story of the Barber's Sixth Brother
+
+
+
+My sixth brother, he of the cropt lips, O Commander of the
+Faithful, was once rich, but after became poor. One day he went
+out to seek somewhat to keep life in him and came presently to a
+handsome house, with a wide and lofty portico and servants and
+others at the door, ordering and forbidding. My brother enquired
+of one of those standing there and he told him that the house
+belonged to one of the Barmecide family. So he accosted the
+door-keepers and begged an alms of them. "Enter," said they, "and
+thou shalt get what thou seekest of our master." Accordingly, he
+entered and passing through the vestibule, found himself in a
+mansion of the utmost beauty and elegance, paved with marble and
+hung with curtains and having in the midst a garden whose like he
+had never seen. He stood awhile perplexed, knowing not whither to
+direct his steps: then seeing the door of a sitting-chamber,
+he entered and saw at the upper end a man of comely presence
+and goodly beard. When the latter saw my brother, he rose and
+welcomed him and enquired how he did; to which he replied that he
+was in need of charity. Whereupon the other showed great concern
+and putting his hand to his clothes, rent them, exclaiming, "Art
+thou hungry in a city of which I am an inhabitant? I cannot
+endure this!" and promised him all manner of good. Then said he,
+"Thou must eat with me." "O my lord," replied my brother, "I can
+wait no longer; for I am sore an hungred." So, the Barmecide
+cried out, "Ho, boy! bring the ewer and the basin!" and said to
+my brother, "O my guest, come forward and wash thy hands." My
+brother rose to do so, but saw neither ewer nor basin. However,
+the host made as if he were washing his hands and cried out,
+"Bring the table." But my brother saw nothing. Then said the
+Barmecide, "Honour me by eating of this food and be not ashamed."
+And he made as if he ate, saying the while, "Thou eatest but
+little: do not stint thyself, for I know thou art famished."
+So my brother began to make as if he ate, whilst the other said
+to him, "Eat and note the excellence of this bread and its
+whiteness." My brother could see nothing and said to himself,
+"This man loves to jest with the folk." So he replied, "O my
+lord, never in my life have I seen whiter or more delicious
+bread." And the host said, "I gave five hundred dinars for the
+slave-girl who bakes it for me." Then he called out, "Ho, boy!
+bring the frumenty first and do not spare butter on it." And
+turning to my brother, "O my guest," said he, "sawst thou ever
+aught better than this frumenty? Eat, I conjure thee, and be not
+ashamed!" Then he cried out again, "Ho, boy! bring in the pasty
+with the fatted grouse in it." And he said to my brother, "Eat, O
+my guest, for thou art hungry and needest it." So my brother
+began to move his jaws and make as if he chewed; whilst the other
+ceased not to call for dish after dish and press my brother to
+eat, though not a thing appeared. Presently, he cried out, "Ho,
+boy I bring us the chickens stuffed with pistachio-kernels!"
+And said to my brother, "These chickens have been fattened on
+pistachio-nuts; eat, for thou hast never tasted the like of
+them." "O my lord," replied my brother, "they are indeed
+excellent." Then the host feigned to put his hand to my brother's
+mouth, as if to feed him, and ceased not to name various dishes
+and expatiate upon their excellence. Meanwhile my brother was
+starving, and hunger was so sore on him that his soul lusted for
+a cake of barley bread. Quoth the Barmecide, "Didst thou ever
+taste aught more delicious than the seasoning of these dishes?"
+"Never, O my lord," replied my brother. "Eat heartily and be not
+ashamed," repeated the host. "O my lord," said my brother, "I
+have had enough of meat." So the Barmecide cried out, "Take away
+and bring the sweetmeats." Then he said, "Eat of this almond
+conserve, for it is excellent, and of these fritters. My life on
+thee, take this one before the syrup runs out of it!" "May I
+never be bereaved of thee, O my lord!" replied my brother, and
+asked him of the abundance of musk in the fritters. "It is my
+custom," said the other, "to have three pennyweights of musk and
+half that quantity of ambergris put into each fritter." All
+this time my brother was wagging his jaws and moving his head
+and mouth, till the host said, "Enough of this! Bring us the
+dessert." Then said he to him, "Eat of these almonds and walnuts
+and raisins and of this and that," naming different kinds of
+dried fruits, "and be not ashamed." "O my lord," answered my
+brother, "indeed I am full: I can eat no more." "O my guest,"
+repeated the other, "if thou have a mind to eat more, for God's
+sake do not remain hungry!" "O my lord," replied my brother, "how
+should one who has eaten of all these dishes be hungry?" Then he
+considered and said to himself "I will do that which shall make
+him repent of having acted thus." Presently the host called out,
+"Bring me the wine," and making as if it had come, feigned to
+give my brother to drink, saying, "Take this cup, and if it
+please thee, let me know." "O my lord," replied he, "it has a
+pleasant smell, but I am used to drink old wine twenty years of
+age." "Then knock at this door,"[FN#106] said his host; "for thou
+canst not drink of aught better." "O my lord, this is of thy
+bounty!" replied my brother and made as if he drank. "Health and
+pleasure to thee!" exclaimed the host, and feigned, in like wise,
+to fill a cup and drink it off and hand a second cup to my
+brother, who pretended to drink and made as if he were drunken.
+Then he took the Barmecide unawares and raising his arm, till the
+whiteness of his arm-pit appeared, dealt him such a buffet on the
+neck that the place rang to it. Then he gave him a second cuff
+and the host exclaimed, "What is this, O vile fellow?" "O my
+lord," replied my brother "thou hast graciously admitted thy
+slave into thine abode and fed him with thy victual and plied him
+with old wine, till he became drunk and dealt unmannerly by thee;
+but thou art too noble not to bear with his ignorance and pardon
+his offence." When the Barmecide heard my brother's words, he
+laughed heartily and exclaimed, "Long have I used to make mock of
+men and play the fool with those who are apt at jesting and
+horse-play; but never have I come across any, who had patience
+and wit to enter into all my humours, but thee; so I pardon thee,
+and now thou shalt be my boon companion, in very deed, and never
+leave me." Then he bade his servants lay the table in good
+earnest, and they set on all the dishes of which he had spoken,
+and he and my brother ate till they were satisfied, after which
+they removed to the drinking-chamber, where they found damsels
+like moons, who sang all manner of songs and played on all kinds
+of musical instruments. There they remained, drinking, till
+drunkenness overcame them, and the host used my brother as a
+familiar friend, so that he became as it were his brother, and
+bestowed on him a dress of honour and loved him with an exceeding
+love. Next morning, they fell again to feasting and carousing,
+and ceased not to lead this life for twenty years, at the end of
+which time the Barmecide died and the Sultan laid hands on all
+his property and squeezed my brother, till he stripped him of all
+he had. So he left the city and fled forth at random, but the
+Arabs fell on him midway and taking him prisoner, carried him to
+their camp, where the Bedouin, his captor, tortured him, saying,
+"Ransom thyself with money, or I will kill thee." My brother fell
+a-weeping and replied, "By Allah, I have nought! I am thy
+prisoner; do with me as thou wilt." Thereupon the Bedouin took
+out a knife and cut off my brother's lips, still urging his
+demand. Now this Bedouin had a handsome wife, who used to make
+advances to my brother, in her husband's absence, and offer him
+her favours, but he held off from her. One day, she began to
+tempt him as usual, and he toyed with her and took her on his
+knee, when lo, in came the Bedouin, and seeing this, cried out,
+"Woe to thee, thou villain! Wouldst thou debauch my wife?" Then
+he took out a knife and cut off my brother's yard, after which he
+set him on a camel and carried him to a mountain, where he threw
+him down and left him. Here he was found by some travellers, who
+recognized him and gave him meat and drink and acquainted me with
+his plight, whereupon I went forth to him and brought him back to
+Baghdad, where I provided him with enough to live on. This then,
+O Commander of the Faithful, is the history of my brothers, and I
+was unwilling to go away without relating it to thee, that I
+might disabuse thee of thine error in confounding me with them.
+And now thou knowest that I have six brothers and support them
+all.' When the Khalif heard my words, he laughed and said, 'Thou
+sayst sooth, O Silent One! Thou art neither a man of many words
+nor an impertinent meddler; but now go out from this city and
+settle in another.' And he banished me from the city; so I left
+Baghdad and travelled in foreign countries, till I heard of his
+death and the coming of another to the Khalifate. Then I returned
+to Baghdad, where I found my brothers dead and fell in with this
+young man, to whom I rendered the best of services, for without
+me he had been killed. Indeed he accuses me of what is foreign to
+my nature and what he relates of my impertinence is false; for
+verily I left Baghdad on his account and wandered in many
+countries, till I came to this city and happened on him with you;
+and was not this, O good people, of the generosity of my nature?"
+
+When we heard the barber's story (continued the tailor) and saw
+the abundance of his speech and the way in which he had oppressed
+the young man, we laid hands on him and shut him up, after which
+we sat down in peace and ate and drank till the time of the call
+to afternoon-prayer, when I left the company and returned home.
+My wife was sulky and said to me, "Thou hast taken thy pleasure
+all day, whilst I have been moping at home. So now, except thou
+carry me abroad and amuse me for the rest of the day, it will be
+the cause of my separation from thee." So I took her out and we
+amused ourselves till nightfall, when we returned home and met
+the hunchback, brimming over with drunkenness and repeating the
+following verses:
+
+The glass is pellucid, and so is the wine: So bring them together
+and see them combine:
+Tis a puzzle; one moment, all wine and no cup; At another, in
+turn, 'tis all cup and no wine.
+
+So I invited him to pass the evening with us and went out to buy
+fried fish, after which we sat down to eat. Presently my wife
+took a piece of bread and fish and crammed them into his mouth,
+and he choked and died. Then I took him up and made shift to
+throw him into the house of the Jewish physician. He in his turn
+let him down into the house of the controller, who threw him in
+the way of the Christian broker. This, then, is my story. Is it
+not more wonderful than that of the hunchback?'
+
+When the King heard the tailor's story, he shook his head for
+delight and showed astonishment, saying, 'This that passed
+between the young man and the meddlesome barber is indeed more
+pleasant and more wonderful than the story of that knave of a
+hunchback.' Then he bade the tailor take one of the chamberlains
+and fetch the barber out of his duresse, saying, 'Bring him to
+me, that I may hear his talk, and it shall be the means of the
+release of all of you. Then we will bury the hunchback, for he is
+dead since yesterday, and set up a tomb over him.' So the
+chamberlain and the tailor went away and presently returned with
+the barber. The King looked at him and behold, he was a very old
+man, more than ninety years of age, of a swarthy complexion and
+white beard and eyebrows, flap-eared, long-nosed and simple and
+conceited of aspect. The King laughed at his appearance and said
+to him, 'O silent man, I desire thee to tell me somewhat of thy
+history.' 'O King of the age,' replied the barber, 'why are all
+these men and this dead hunchback before thee?' Said the King,
+'Why dost thou ask?' 'I ask this,' rejoined the barber, 'that
+your Majesty may know that I am no impertinent meddler and that I
+am guiltless of that they lay to my charge of overmuch talk; for
+I am called the Silent, and indeed I am the man of my name, as
+says the poet:
+
+Thine eyes shall seldom see a man that doth a nickname bear, But,
+     if thou search, thou'lt find the name his nature doth
+     declare.
+
+So the King said, 'Explain the hunchback's case to him and repeat
+to him the stories told by the physician, the controller, the
+broker and the tailor.' They did as he commanded, and the barber
+shook his head and exclaimed, 'By Allah, this is indeed a wonder
+of wonders!' Then said he, 'Uncover the hunchback's body, that
+I may see it.' They did so, and he sat down and taking the
+hunchback's head in his lap, looked at his face and laughed till
+he fell backward. Then said he, 'To every death there is a cause;
+but the story of this hunchback deserves to be recorded in
+letters of gold!' The bystanders were astounded at his words and
+the King wondered and said to him, 'O silent man, explain thy
+words to us.' 'O King of the age,' replied the barber, 'by thy
+munificence, there is yet life in this hunchback.' Then he pulled
+out from his girdle a barber's budget, whence he took a pot of
+ointment and anointed therewith the neck of the hunchback and its
+veins. Then he took out a pair of tweezers and thrusting them
+down the hunchback's throat, drew out the piece of fish and its
+bone, soaked in blood. Thereupon the hunchback sneezed and sat
+up, and passing his hand over his face, exclaimed, 'I testify
+that there is no god but God and that Mohammed is His Apostle!'
+At this all present wondered and the King laughed, till he
+fainted, and so did the others. Then said the King, 'By Allah,
+this is the most wonderful thing I ever saw! O Muslims, O
+soldiers all, did you ever in your lives see a man die and come
+to life again? For verily, had not God vouchsafed him this barber
+to be the cause of his preservation, he had been dead!' 'By
+Allah,' said they, 'this is a wonder of wonders!' Then the King
+caused the whole history to be recorded and laid up in the royal
+treasury; after which he bestowed splendid dresses of honour on
+the Jew, the broker and the controller and sent them away. Then
+he gave the tailor a costly dress of honour and appointed him his
+own tailor, with a suitable stipend, and made peace between him
+and the hunchback, on whom he also bestowed a rich and fair dress
+of honour and made him his boon-companion, appointing him due
+allowances. As for the barber, he made him a like present and
+appointed him state barber and one of his boon-companions,
+assigning him regular allowances and a fixed salary. And they all
+ceased not from the enjoyment of all the delights and comforts of
+life, till there overtook them the Destroyer of delights and the
+Sunderer of companies.
+
+
+
+
+
+          NOUREDDIN ALI AND THE DAMSEL ENIS EL JELIS.
+
+
+
+There was once a King in Bassora who cherished the poor and needy
+and loved his subjects and bestowed of his wealth on those who
+believed in Mohammed (whom God bless and preserve!) and he was
+even as the poet hath described him:
+
+A King who, when the hostile hosts assault him in the field,
+     Smites them and hews them, limb from limb, with trenchant
+     sword and spear
+Full many a character of red he writes upon the breasts What time
+     the mailed horsemen break before his wild career.
+
+His name was King Mohammed ben Suleiman ez Zeini, and he had two
+Viziers, one called Muin ben Sawa and the other Fezl ben Khacan.
+Fezl was the most generous man of his time; noble and upright of
+life, all hearts concurred in loving him, and the wise complied
+with his counsel, whilst all the people wished him long life; for
+that he was a compend of good qualities, encouraging good and
+preventing evil and mischief. The Vizier Muin, on the contrary,
+was a hater of mankind and loved not good, being indeed
+altogether evil; even as says of him the poet:
+
+Look thou consort with the generous, sons of the gen'rous; for
+     lo! The generous, sons of the gen'rous, beget the gen'rous,
+     I trow.
+And let the mean-minded men, sons of the mean-minded, go, For the
+     mean-minded, sons of the mean, beget none other than so.
+
+And as much as the people loved Fezl, so much did they hate Muin.
+It befell one day, that the King, being seated on his throne,
+with his officers of state about him, called his Vizier Fezl and
+said to him, 'I wish to have a slave-girl of unsurpassed beauty,
+perfect in grace and symmetry and endowed with all praiseworthy
+qualities.' Said the courtiers, 'Such a girl is not to be had for
+less than ten thousand dinars!' whereupon the King cried out to
+his treasurer and bade him carry ten thousand dinars to Fezl's
+house. The treasurer did so, and the Vizier went away, after the
+King had charged him to go to the market every day and employ
+brokers and had given orders that no girl worth more than a
+thousand dinars should be sold, without being first shown to the
+Vizier. Accordingly, the brokers brought him all the girls that
+came into their hands, but none pleased him, till one day a
+broker came to his house and found him mounting his horse, to go
+to the palace; so he caught hold of his stirrup and repeated the
+following verses:
+
+O thou whose bounties have restored the uses of the state, O
+     Vizier helped of heaven, whose acts are ever fortunate!
+Thou hast revived the virtues all were dead among the folk. May
+     God's acceptance evermore on thine endeavours wait!
+
+Then said he, 'O my lord, she for whom the august mandate was
+issued is here.' 'Bring her to me,' replied the Vizier. So he
+went away and returned in a little with a damsel of elegant
+shape, swelling-breasted, with melting black eyes and smooth
+cheeks, slender-waisted and heavy-hipped, clad in the richest of
+clothes. The dew of her lips was sweeter than syrup, her shape
+more symmetrical than the bending branch and her speech softer
+than the morning zephyr, even as says one of those who have
+described her:
+
+A wonder of beauty! Her face full moon of the palace sky; Of a
+     tribe of gazelles and wild cows the dearest and most high!
+The Lord of the empyrean hath given her pride and state,
+     Elegance, charm and a shape that with the branch may vie;
+She hath in the heaven of her face a cluster of seven stars, That
+     keep the ward of her cheek to guard it from every spy.
+So if one think to steal a look, the imps of her glance Consume
+     him straight with a star, that shoots from her gleaming eye.
+
+When the Vizier saw her she pleased him exceedingly, so he turned
+to the broker and said to him, 'What is the price of this
+damsel?' 'Her price is ten thousand dinars,' replied he, 'and
+her owner swears that this sum will not cover the cost of the
+chickens she hath eaten, the wine she hath drunk and the
+dresses of honour bestowed on her teachers; for she hath learnt
+penmanship and grammar and lexicology and the exposition of the
+Koran and the rudiments of law and theology, medicine and the
+calendar, as well as the art of playing on instruments of music.'
+Then said the Vizier, 'Bring me her master.' So the broker
+brought him at once, and behold, he was a foreigner, who had
+lived so long that time had worn him to bones and skin. Quoth
+the Vizier to him, 'Art thou content to sell this damsel to
+the Sultan for ten thousand dinars?' 'By Allah,' replied the
+merchant, 'if I made him a present of her, it were but my duty!'
+So the Vizier sent for the money and gave it to the slave-dealer,
+who said, 'By the leave of our lord the Vizier, I have something
+to say.' 'Speak,' said the Vizier: and the slave-dealer said, 'If
+thou wilt be ruled by me, thou wilt not carry the damsel to the
+King to-day, for she is newly off a journey; the change of air
+has affected her and the journey has fretted her. But let her
+abide in thy palace ten days, that she may recover her good
+looks. Then send her to the bath and dress her in the richest of
+clothes and go up with her to the Sultan, and this will be more
+to thy profit.' The Vizier considered the man's advice and
+approved it; so he took her to his palace, where he appointed her
+a separate lodging and a daily allowance of meat and drink and so
+forth, and she abode thus awhile.
+
+Now the Vizier Fezl had a son like the rising full moon, with
+shining visage, red cheeks covered with a tender down and a mole
+like a grain of ambergris; as says of him the poet and therein
+errs not:
+
+A moon,[FN#107] whose glances slay the folk, on whom he turns his
+     eye; A branch, whose graces break all hearts, as he goes
+     stately by
+Slack as the night his browlocks are, his face the hue of gold;
+     Fair is his person, and his shape the spear-shaft doth
+     outvie.
+Ah me, how hard his heart, how soft and slender is his waist! Why
+     is the softness not transferred from this to that, ah why?
+Were but the softness of his sides made over to his heart, He'd
+     ne'er to lovers be unjust nor leave them thus to sigh.
+O thou that blam'st my love of thee, excuse me rather thou, Nor
+     chide me, if my body pine for languor like to die.
+The fault, indeed, lies not with me, but with my heart and eye;
+     So chide me not, but let me be in this my misery.
+
+Now he knew not the affair of the damsel, and his father had
+lessoned her, saying, 'Know, O my daughter, that I have bought
+thee for the bed of the King Mohammed ben Suleiman ez Zeini, and
+I have a son who leaves no girl in the quarter but he has to do
+with her; so be on thy guard against him and beware of letting
+him see thy face or hear thy voice.' 'I hear and obey,' replied
+she; and the Vizier left her and went away. Some days after this
+it chanced, as Fate would have it, that the damsel went to the
+bath in the house, where some of the serving-women washed her,
+after which she arrayed herself in rich apparel, and her beauty
+and grace redoubled. Then she went in to the Vizier's wife and
+kissed her hand; and the lady said to her, 'May it profit thee, O
+Enis el Jelis! How didst thou find the bath?' 'O my lady,'
+answered she, 'I lacked but thy presence there.' Thereupon said
+the mistress to her waiting-women, 'Come with me to the bath, for
+it is some days since I went thither.' 'We hear and obey,'
+answered they; and rose and accompanied her to the bath, after
+Enis el Jelis had retired to her own chamber and the lady had set
+two little slave-girls to keep the door, charging them to let
+none go in to the damsel. Presently, as Enis el Jelis sat resting
+after the bath, in came the Vizier's son, whose name was
+Noureddin Ali, and asked after his mother and her women, to which
+the two little slaves replied that they had gone to the bath. The
+damsel heard Noureddin's voice and said to herself, 'I wonder
+what like is this youth, of whom his father says that there is
+not a girl in the quarter but he has had to do with her. By
+Allah, I long to see him!' So she rose, fresh as she was from the
+bath, and going to the door, looked at Noureddin and saw that he
+was like the moon at its full. The sight cost her a thousand
+sighs, and Noureddin, chancing to look that way, caught a glance
+of her that caused him also a thousand regrets, and each fell
+into the snare of the other's love. Then he went up to the two
+little slaves and cried out at them, whereupon they fled before
+him and stood afar off to see what he would do. And behold, he
+went up to the door of the damsel's chamber and entering, said to
+her, 'Art thou she whom my father bought for me?' 'Yes,' answered
+she: whereupon Noureddin, who was heated with wine, went up to
+her and embraced her, whilst she wreathed her arms about his neck
+and met him with kisses and sighs and amorous gestures. Then he
+sucked her tongue and she his, and he did away her maidenhead.
+When the two little slaves saw their young master go in to the
+damsel, they cried out and shrieked. So, as soon as he had done
+his desire, he rose and fled, fearing the issue of his conduct.
+When the Vizier's wife heard the slaves' cries, she sprang up and
+came out of the bath, with the sweat dripping from her, saying,
+'What is this clamour in the house?' Then she came up to the two
+little slaves, and said to them, 'Out on you! what is the
+matter?' 'Our lord Noureddin came in and beat us,' answered they:
+'so we fled and he went in to the damsel and embraced her, and we
+know not what he did after this: but when we cried out to thee,
+he fled.' Thereupon, the mistress went in to Enis el Jelis and
+enquired what had happened. 'O my lady,' answered she, 'as I was
+sitting here, there came in a handsome young man, who said to me,
+"Art thou she whom my father bought for me?" I answered, "Yes;"
+(for by Allah, O my lady, I believed that he spoke the truth!)
+and with this he came up to me and embraced me.' 'Did he nought
+else with thee?' asked the lady. 'Yes,' replied Enis el Jelis:
+'he took of me three kisses.' 'He did not leave thee without
+deflowering thee!' cried the Vizier's wife, and fell to weeping
+and buffeting her face, she and her women, fearing that
+Noureddin's father would kill him. Whilst they were thus, in came
+the Vizier and asked what was the matter, and his wife said to
+him, 'Swear that thou wilt hearken to what I say.' 'It is well,'
+replied he. So she told him what his son had done, and he was
+greatly afflicted and tore his clothes and buffeted his face and
+plucked out his beard. 'Do not kill thyself,' said his wife: 'I
+will give thee the ten thousand dinars, her price, of my own
+money.' But he raised his head and said to her, 'Out on thee! I
+have no need of her price, but I fear to lose both life and
+goods.' 'How so?' asked his wife, and he said, 'Dost thou not
+know that yonder is our enemy Muin ben Sawa, who, when he hears
+of this affair, will go up to the Sultan and say to him, "Thy
+Vizier, who thou wilt have it loves thee, had of thee ten
+thousand dinars and bought therewith a slave-girl, whose like was
+never seen; but when he saw her, she pleased him and he said to
+his son, 'Take her: thou art worthier of her than the Sultan.' So
+he took her and did away her maidenhead, and she is now with
+him." The King will say, "Thou liest!" To which Muin will reply,
+"With thy leave, I will fall on him at unawares and bring her to
+thee." The King will order him to do this, and he will come down
+upon the house and take the damsel and bring her before the King,
+who will question her and she will not be able to deny what has
+passed. Then Muin will say, "O my lord, thou knowest that I give
+thee true counsel, but I am not in favour with thee." Thereupon
+the Sultan will make an example of me, and I shall be a
+gazing-stock to all the people and my life will be lost.' Quoth
+his wife, 'Tell none of this thing, which has happened privily,
+but commit thy case to God and trust in Him to deliver thee from
+this strait.' With this the Vizier's heart was set at rest, and
+his wrath and chagrin subsided.
+
+Meanwhile, Noureddin, fearing the issue of the affair, spent the
+whole day in the gardens and came back by night to his mother's
+apartment, where he slept and rising before day, returned to the
+gardens. He lived thus for a whole month, not showing his face to
+his father, till at last his mother said to the Vizier, 'O my
+lord, shall we lose our own son as well as the damsel? If things
+continue thus for long, the lad will flee forth from us.' 'What
+is to be done?' said he: and she answered, 'Do thou watch this
+night, and when he comes, seize on him and frighten him. I will
+rescue him from thee and do thou then make peace with him and
+give him the girl, for she loves him and he her; and I will pay
+thee her price.' So the Vizier watched that night and when his
+son came, he seized him and throwing him down, knelt on his
+breast and made as if he would cut his throat; but his mother
+came to his succour and said to her husband, 'What wilt thou do
+with him?' Quoth he, 'I mean to kill him.' And Noureddin said to
+his father 'Am I of so little account with thee?' Whereupon the
+Vizier's eyes filled with tears and he replied, 'O my son, is the
+loss of my goods and my life of so little account in thine eyes?'
+Quoth Noureddin, 'Hear, O my father, what the poet says:
+
+Pardon me: true, I have sinned: yet the sagacious man Ceases
+     never to pardon freely the erring wight.
+Surely, therefore, thy foe may hope for pardon from thee, Since
+     he is in the abyss and thou on honour's height!'
+
+Then the Vizier rose from off his breast, saying, 'O my son, I
+forgive thee!' for his heart was softened. Noureddin rose and
+kissed the hand of his father, who said to him, 'If I knew that
+thou wouldst deal fairly by Enis el Jelis, I would give her to
+thee.' 'O my father,' replied Noureddin, 'how should I not deal
+fairly by her?' Quoth the Vizier, 'O my son, I charge thee not to
+take another wife nor concubine to share with her nor sell her.'
+'O my father,' answered Noureddin, 'I swear to thee that I will
+do none of these things.' Then he went in to the damsel and abode
+with her a whole year, whilst God caused the King to forget the
+affair. The matter, indeed, came to Muin's ears, but he dared not
+speak of it, by reason of the favour in which the Vizier Fezl
+stood with the Sultan. At the end of the year, the Vizier Fezl
+went one day to the bath and coming out, whilst still in a sweat,
+the air smote him and he caught cold and took to his bed. His
+malady gained upon him and sleeplessness was long upon him; so he
+called his son Noureddin and said to him, 'O my son, know that
+fortune is lotted out and the term of life fixed, and needs must
+every soul drain the cup of death.' And he repeated the following
+verses:
+
+I'm dead: yet glory be to Him that dieth not; For that I needs
+     must die, indeed, full well I wot,
+He is no king, who dies with kingship in his hand, For sovranty
+     belongs to Him that dieth not.
+
+Then he continued, 'O my son, I have no charge to lay on thee,
+except that thou fear God and look to the issue of thine actions
+and cherish the damsel Enis el Jelis.' 'O my father,' said
+Noureddin, 'who is like unto thee? Indeed thou art renowned for
+the practice of virtue and the praying of the preachers for thee
+in the pulpits.' Quoth Fezl, 'O my son, I hope for acceptance
+from God the Most High.' Then he pronounced the two professions
+of the faith and was numbered among the blessed. The palace was
+filled with crying and lamentation, and the news of his death
+reached the King and the people of the city, and even the
+children in the schools wept for Fezi ben Khacan. Then his son
+Noureddin arose and took order for his funeral, and the Amirs and
+Viziers and grandees were present, amongst them the Vizier Muin
+ben Sawa; and as the funeral train came forth of the palace, one
+of the mourners recited the following verses:
+
+The fifth day I departed and left my friends alone: They laid me
+     out and washed me upon a slab of stone;
+Then stripped me of the raiment that on my body was, That they
+     might put upon me clothes other than my own
+On four men's necks they bore me unto the place of prayer And
+     prayed a prayer above me by no prostration known.
+Then in a vaulted dwelling they laid me. Though the years Shall
+     waste, its door will never be open to them thrown.
+
+When they had laid him in the earth, Noureddin returned with the
+folk; and he lamented with groans and tears and the tongue of the
+case repeated the following verses:
+
+On the fifth day they departed in the eventide, and I Took of
+     them the last leave-taking, when they went and left me here.
+When they turned away and left me, lo! the soul with them did go.
+     And I said, "Return." It answered, "Where, alas! should I
+     recur;
+Shall I come back to a body whence the life and blood are flown?
+     Nothing now but bones are left it, rattling in the
+     sepulchre.
+Lo! my eyes, excess of weeping hath put out their sight, I trow,
+     And a deafness eke is fallen on my ears: I cannot hear."
+
+He abode a long while in great grief for his father, till one
+day, as he sat in his house, there came a knocking at the door;
+so he rose and opening the door, found there a man who had been
+one of his father's friends and boon-companions. He entered and
+kissing Noureddin's hand, said to him, 'O my lord, he who has
+left the like of thee is not dead; and to this pass (death) came
+even the lord of the first and the last.[FN#108] O my lord, take
+comfort and leave mourning!' Thereupon Noureddin rose and going
+to the guest-chamber, transported thither all that he needed.
+Then his friends gathered together to him and he took his
+slave-girl again and collecting round him ten of the sons of the
+merchants, began to eat meat and drink wine, giving entertainment
+after entertainment and dispensing gifts and favours with a
+lavish hand, till one day his steward came to him and said, 'O my
+lord Noureddin, hast thou not heard the saying, "He who spends
+and does not reckon, becomes poor without knowing it?"' And he
+repeated the following verses:
+
+I'll hold my money fast, knowing, as well as I know, That 'tis my
+     sword and shield against my every foe.
+If I should lavish it on those who love me not, My luck among the
+     folk would change to grief and woe.
+So I will eat and drink my wealth for my own good Nor upon any
+     man a single doit bestow.
+I will preserve with care my money from all those By nature base
+     and true to none. 'Tis better so
+Than that I e'er should say unto the mean of soul, "Lend me so
+     much I'll pay to-morrow five-fold mo,"
+And see my friend avert his face and turn away, Leaving my soul
+     cast down, as 'twere a dog's, I trow!
+O what a sorry lot is his, who hath no pelf, E'en though his
+     virtues bright like to the sun should show!
+
+'O my lord,' continued the steward, 'this lavish expense and
+prodigal giving waste away wealth.' When Noureddin heard his
+steward's words, he looked at him and said, 'I will not hearken
+to one word of all thou hast said, for I have heard the following
+saying of the poet:
+
+If I be blessed with wealth and be not liberal with it, May my
+     hand wither and my foot eke paralysed remain!
+Show me the niggard who hath won glory by avarice! Show me the
+     liberal man his own munificence hath slain!
+
+And he said, 'Know, O steward, it is my desire that so long as
+there remains in thy hands enough for my morning meal, thou
+trouble me not with taking care for my evening meal.' Therewith
+the steward went away and Noureddin continued his extravagant way
+of living; and if any of his boon-companions chanced to say to
+him, 'This thing is handsome,' he would answer, 'It is thine as a
+gift;' or if another said, 'O my lord, such and such a house is
+handsome,' he would say, 'Take it: it is thine.' In this manner
+he continued to live for a whole year, giving his friends a
+banquet in the morning and another in the evening, till one day
+as they were sitting together, the damsel Enis el Jelis repeated
+the following verses:
+
+Thou madest fair thy thought of Fate, when that the days were
+     fair, And fearedst not the unknown ills that they to thee
+     might bring:
+The nights were fair and calm to thee; thou wert deceived by
+     them, For in the peace of night is born full many a
+     troublous thing.
+
+
+Just as she had finished, there came a knocking at the door; so
+Noureddin rose to open it, and one of his companions followed him
+without his knowledge. At the door he found his steward and said
+to him, 'What is the matter?' 'Omylord,' replied he, 'what I
+feared for thee has come to pass!' 'How so?' asked Noureddin; and
+the steward said, 'Know that there remains not a dirhem's worth,
+less nor more, in my hands. Here are registers containing an
+account of the original state of thy property and the way in
+which thou hast spent it.' At this, Noureddin bowed his head and
+exclaimed, 'There is no power and no virtue but in God!' When the
+man who had followed him secretly to spy on him heard what the
+steward said, he returned to his companions and said to them,
+'Look what ye do; for Noureddin Ali is bankrupt.' When Noureddin
+returned, they read trouble in his face; so one of them rose and
+said to him, 'O my lord, maybe thou wilt give me leave to
+retire?' 'Why wilt thou go away to-day?' said he. 'My wife is
+brought to bed,' replied the other; 'and I cannot be absent from
+her; I wish to return and see how she does.' So Noureddin gave
+him leave, whereupon another rose and said, 'O my lord, I wish to
+go to my brother, for he circumcises his son to-day.' And each
+made some excuse to retire, till they were all gone and Noureddin
+remained alone. Then he called his slave-girl and said to her, 'O
+Enis el Jelis, hast thou seen what has befallen me?' And he
+related to her what the steward had told him. 'O my lord,'
+replied she, 'some nights ago I had it in my mind to speak with
+thee of this matter; but I heard thee reciting the following
+verses:
+
+If fortune be lavish to thee, look thou be lavish with it Unto
+     all classes of men, ere it escapes from thy hand!
+Munificence will not undo it, whilst it is constant to thee, Nor,
+     when it turneth away, will avarice force it to stand.
+
+When I heard thee speak thus, I held my peace and cared not to
+say aught to thee.' 'O Enis el Jelis,' said Noureddin, 'thou
+knowest that I have not expended my substance but on my friends,
+who have beggared me, and I think they will not leave me without
+help.' 'By Allah,' replied she, 'they will not profit thee in
+aught.' Said he, 'I will rise at once and go to them and knock at
+their doors: maybe I shall get of them somewhat with which I may
+trade and leave pleasure and merry-making.' So he rose and
+repaired to a certain street, where all his ten comrades lived.
+He went up to the first door and knocked, whereupon a maid came
+out and said, 'Who art thou?' 'Tell thy master,' replied he,
+'that Noureddin Ali stands at the door and says to him, "Thy
+slave kisses thy hands and awaits thy bounty."' The girl went in
+and told her master, who cried out at her, saying, 'Go back and
+tell him that I am not at home.' So she returned and said to
+Noureddin, 'O my lord, my master is from home.' With this, he
+went away, saying to himself, 'Though this fellow be a whoreson
+knave and deny himself, another may not be so.' Then he came to
+the second door and sent in a like message to the master of the
+house, who denied himself as the first had done, whereupon
+Noureddin repeated the following verse:
+
+They're gone who, if before their door thou didst arrest thy
+     feet, Would on thy poverty bestow both flesh and roasted
+     meat.
+
+And said 'By Allah, I must try them all: there may be one amongst
+them who will stand me in the stead of the rest.' So he went
+round to all the ten, but not one of them opened his door to him
+or showed himself to him or broke a cake of bread in his face;
+whereupon he repeated the following verses:
+
+A man in time of affluence is like unto a tree, Round which the
+     folk collect, as long as fruit thereon they see,
+Till, when its burden it hath cast, they turn from it away, Leave
+     it to suffer heat and dust and all inclemency.
+Out on the people of this age! perdition to them all! Since not a
+     single one of ten is faithful found to be.
+
+Then he returned to his slave-girl, and indeed his concern was
+doubled, and she said to him, 'O my lord, did I not tell thee
+that they would not profit thee aught?' 'By Allah,' replied he,
+'not one of them would show me his face or take any notice of
+me!' 'O my lord! said she, 'sell some of the furniture and
+household stuff, little by little, and live on the proceed,
+against God the Most High provide.' So he sold all that was in
+the house, till there was nothing left, when he turned to her and
+said, 'What is to be done now?' 'O my lord,' replied she, 'it is
+my advice that thou rise and take me down to the market and sell
+me. Thou knowest that thy father bought me for ten thousand
+dinars; perhaps God may help thee to near that price, and if it
+be His will that we be reunited, we shall meet again.' 'O Enis el
+Jelis,' replied Noureddin, 'by Allah, I cannot endure to be
+parted from thee for a single hour!' 'By Allah, O my lord,'
+rejoined she, 'nor is it easy to me; but necessity compels, as
+says the poet:
+
+Necessity in life oft drives one into ways That to the courteous
+mind are foreign and abhorred.
+We do not trust our weight unto a rope, unless It be to do some
+thing adapted to the cord.'
+
+With this, he rose to his feet and took her, whilst the tears
+streamed down his cheeks like rain and he recited with the tongue
+of the case what follows:
+
+Stay and vouchsafe me one more look before our parting hour, To
+     soothe the anguish of a heart well-nigh for reverence slain!
+Yet, if it irk thee anywise to grant my last request, Far rather
+     let me die of love than cause thee aught of pain!
+
+Then he went down to the market and delivered the damsel to a
+broker, to whom he said, 'O Hajj[FN#109] Hassan, I would have
+thee note the value of her thou hast to offer for sale!' 'O my
+lord Noureddin,' replied the broker, 'I have not forgotten my
+business.[FN#110] Is not this Enis el Jelis, whom thy father
+bought of me for ten thousand dinars?' 'Yes,' said Noureddin.
+Then the broker went round to the merchants, but found they were
+not all assembled; so he waited till the rest had arrived and the
+market was full of all kinds of female slaves, Turks and Franks
+and Circassians and Abyssinians and Nubians and Egyptians and
+Tartars and Greeks and Georgians and others; when he came forward
+and said, 'O merchants! O men of wealth! every round thing is not
+a walnut nor every long thing a banana; every thing red is not
+meat nor everything white fat. O merchants, I have here this
+unique pearl, this unvalued jewel! What price shall I set on
+her?' 'Say four thousand five hundred dinars,' cried one. So the
+broker opened the biddings for her at that sum and as he was yet
+calling, behold, the Vizier Muin ben Sawa passed through the
+market and seeing Noureddin standing in a corner, said to
+himself, 'What doth the son of Khacan here? Has this gallows-bird
+aught left to buy girls withal?' Then he looked round and seeing
+the broker crying out and the merchants round him, said to
+himself, 'Doubtless he is ruined and has brought the damsel Enis
+el Jelis hither to sell her! What a solace to my heart!' Then he
+called the crier, who came up and kissed the ground before him,
+and he said to him, 'Show me the girl thou art crying for sale.'
+The broker dared not cross him, so he answered, 'O my lord, in
+the name of God!' And brought the damsel and showed her to him.
+She pleased him and he said, 'O Hassan, what is bidden for this
+damsel?' 'Four thousand five hundred dinars,' replied the broker,
+'as an upset price.' Quoth the Vizier, 'I take that bid on
+myself.' When the merchants heard this, they hung back and dared
+not bid another dirhem, knowing what they did of the Vizier's
+tyranny. Then Muin looked at the broker and said to him, 'What
+ails thee to stand still? Go and offer four thousand dinars for
+her, and the five hundred shall be for thyself.' So the broker
+went to Noureddin and said to him, 'O my lord, thy slave is gone
+for nothing!' 'How so?' said he. The broker answered, 'We had
+opened the biddings for her at four thousand five hundred dinars,
+when that tyrant Muin ben Sawa passed through the market and when
+he saw the damsel, she pleased him and he said to me, "Call me
+the buyer for four thousand dinars, and thou shalt have five
+hundred for thyself." I doubt not but he knows she belongs to
+thee, and if he would pay thee down her price at once, it were
+well; but I know, of his avarice and upright, he will give thee a
+written order on some of his agents and will send after thee to
+say to them, "Give him nothing." So as often as thou shalt go to
+seek the money, they will say, "We will pay thee presently," and
+so they will put thee off day after day, for all thy high spirit,
+till at last, when they are tired of thine importunity, they will
+say, "Show us the bill." Then, as soon as they get hold of it,
+they will tear it up, and so thou wilt lose the girl's price.'
+When Noureddin heard this, he looked at the broker and said
+to him, 'What is to be done?' 'I will give thee a counsel,'
+answered he, 'which if thou follow, it will be greatly to thine
+advantage.' 'What is that?' asked Noureddin. 'Do thou come to me
+presently,' said the broker, 'when I am standing in the midst of
+the market and taking the girl from my hand, give her a cuff and
+say to her, "O baggage, I have kept my vow and brought thee down
+to the market, because I swore that I would put thee up for sale
+and make the brokers cry thee." If thou do this, it may be the
+device will impose upon the Vizier and the folk, and they will
+believe that thou broughtest her not to the market but for
+the quittance of thine oath.' 'This is a good counsel,' said
+Noureddin. Then the broker left him and returning to the midst of
+the market, took the damsel by the hand; then beckoned to Muin
+and said to him, 'O my lord, here comes her owner.' With this up
+came Noureddin and snatching the girl from the broker, gave her a
+cuff and said to her, 'Out on thee, thou baggage! I have brought
+thee down to the market for the quittance of my oath; so now
+begone home and look that thou cross me not again. Out on thee!
+do I need thy price, that I should sell thee? The furniture of my
+house would fetch many times thy value, if I sold it.' When Muin
+saw this, he said to Noureddin, 'Out on thee! Hast thou aught
+left to sell?' And he made to lay violent hands on him; but the
+merchants interposed, for they all loved Noureddin, and the
+latter said to them, 'Behold, I am in your hands, and ye all know
+his tyranny!' 'By Allah,' exclaimed the Vizier, 'but for you, I
+would have killed him!' Then all the merchants signed to
+Noureddin with their eyes as who should say, 'Work thy will of
+him; not one of us will come betwixt him and thee.' Whereupon
+Noureddin, who was a stout-hearted fellow, went up to the Vizier
+and dragging him from his saddle, threw him to the ground. Now
+there was in that place a mortar-pit, into the midst of which he
+fell, and Noureddin fell to cuffing and pummelling him, and one
+of the blows smote his teeth, dyeing his beard with his blood.
+There were with the Vizier ten armed slaves, who, seeing their
+master thus evil entreated, clapped their hands to their swords
+and would have drawn them and fallen on Noureddin, to kill him;
+but the bystanders said to them, 'This is a Vizier and that a
+Vizier's son; it may be they will make peace with one another
+anon, in which case you will have gotten the hatred of both of
+them. Or a blow may fall on your lord, and you will all die the
+foulest of deaths; so you would do wisely not to interfere.' So
+they held aloof and when Noureddin had made an end of beating the
+Vizier, he took his slave-girl and went home; and Muin rose, with
+his white clothes dyed of three colours with black mud, red blood
+and ashes. When he saw himself in this plight, he put a halter
+round his neck and taking a bundle of coarse grass in either
+hand, went up to the palace and standing under the King's
+windows, cried out, 'O King of the age, I am a man aggrieved!' So
+they brought him before the Sultan, who looked at him and knowing
+him for his chief Vizier, asked who had entreated him thus.
+Whereupon he wept and sobbed and repeated the following verses:
+
+Shall fortune oppress me, and that in thy day, O King? Shall
+     wolves devour me, whilst thou art a lion proud?
+Shall all that are thirsty drink of thy water-tanks And shall I
+     thirst in thy courts, whilst thou art a rain-fraught cloud?
+
+'O my lord,' continued he, 'thus fare all who love and serve
+thee.' 'Make haste,' said the Sultan, 'and tell me how this
+happened and who hath dealt thus with thee, whose honour is a
+part of my own honour.' 'Know then, O my lord,' replied the
+Vizier, 'that I went out this day to the slave-market to buy me a
+cook-maid, when I saw in the bazaar a damsel, whose like for
+beauty I never beheld. She pleased me and I thought to buy her
+for our lord the Sultan; so I asked the broker of her and her
+owner, and he replied, "She belongs to Noureddin Ali son of Fezl
+ben Khacan." Now our lord the Sultan aforetime gave his father
+ten thousand dinars to buy him a handsome slave-girl, and he
+bought therewith this damsel, who pleased him, so that he grudged
+her to our lord the Sultan and gave her to his own son. When Fezl
+died, his son sold all that he possessed of houses and gardens
+and household stuff and squandered the price, till he became
+penniless. Then he brought the girl down to the market, to
+sell her, and handed her to the broker, who cried her and the
+merchants bid for her, till her price reached four thousand
+dinars; whereupon I said to myself, "I will buy her for our lord
+the Sultan, for it was his money that paid for her." So I said to
+Noureddin, "O my son, sell her to me for four thousand dinars."
+He looked at me and replied, "O pestilent old man, I will sell
+her to a Jew or a Christian rather than to thee!" "I do not buy
+her for myself," said I, "but for our lord and benefactor the
+Sultan." When he heard my words, he flew into a passion and
+dragging me off my horse, for all I am an old man, beat me till
+he left me as thou seest; and all this has befallen me but
+because I thought to buy the girl for thee.' Then the Vizier
+threw himself on the ground and lay there, weeping and trembling.
+When the Sultan saw his condition and heard his story, the vein
+of anger started out between his eyes, and he turned to his
+guards, who stood before him, forty swordsmen, and said to them,
+'Go down at once to the house of Noureddin ben Fezl, and sack it
+and raze it; then take him and the damsel and drag them hither
+with their hands bound behind them.' 'We hear and obey,' answered
+they: and arming themselves, set out for Noureddin's house. Now
+there was with the Sultan a man called Ilmeddin Senjer, who had
+aforetime been servant to Noureddin's father Fezl ben Khacan, but
+had left his service for that of the Sultan, who had advanced him
+to be one of his chamberlains. When he heard the Sultan's order
+and saw the enemies intent upon killing his master's son, it was
+grievous to him; so he went out from before the Sultan and
+mounting his steed, rode to Noureddin's house and knocked at the
+door. Noureddin came out and knowing him, would have saluted
+him: but he said, 'O my lord, this is no time for greeting or
+converse.' 'O Ilmeddin,' asked Noureddin, 'what is the matter?'
+'Arise and flee for your lives, thou and the damsel,' replied he:
+'for Muin ben Sawa hath laid a snare for you; and if you fall
+into his hands, he will kill you. The Sultan hath despatched
+forty swordsmen against you and I counsel you flee ere evil
+overtake you.' Then Senjer put his hand to his pouch and finding
+there forty dinars, took them and gave them to Noureddin, saying,
+'O my lord, take these and journey with them. If I had more, I
+would give them to thee; but this is no time to take exception.'
+So Noureddin went in to the damsel and told her what had
+happened, at which she wrung her hands. Then they went out at
+once from the city, and God let down the veil of His protection
+over them, so that they reached the river-bank, where they found
+a ship about to sail. Her captain stood in the waist, saying,
+'Whoso has aught to do, whether in the way of victualling or
+taking leave of his friends, or who has forgotten any necessary
+thing, let him do it at once and return, for we are about to
+sail.' And every one said, 'O captain, we have nothing left to
+do.' Whereupon he cried out to his crew, saying, 'Ho, there! cast
+off the moorings and pull up the pickets!' Quoth Noureddin,
+'Whither bound, O captain?' 'To the Abode of Peace, Baghdad,'
+replied he. So Noureddin and the damsel embarked with him, and
+they launched out and spread the sails, and the ship sped forth,
+as she were a bird in full flight, even as says right well the
+poet:
+
+Look at a ship, how ravishing a sight she is and fair! In her
+     swift course she doth outstrip the breezes of the air.
+She seems as 'twere a scudding bird that, lighting from the sky,
+     Doth on the surface of the stream with outspread pinions
+     fare.
+
+Meanwhile the King's officers came to Noureddin's house and
+breaking open the doors, entered and searched the whole place,
+but could find no trace of him and the damsel; so they demolished
+the house and returning to the Sultan, told him what they had
+done; whereupon he said, 'Make search for them, wherever they
+are!' And they answered, 'We hear and obey.' Then he bestowed
+upon the Vizier Muin a dress of honour and said to him, 'None
+shall avenge thee but myself.' So Muin's heart was comforted and
+he wished the King long life and returned to his own house. Then
+the Sultan caused proclamation to be made in the town, saying, 'O
+all ye people! It is the will of our lord the Sultan that whoso
+happens on Noureddin Ali ben Khacan and brings him to the Sultan
+shall receive a dress of honour and a thousand dinars, and he who
+conceals him or knows his abiding-place and informs not thereof,
+deserves the exemplary punishment that shall befall him.' So
+search was made for Noureddin, but they could find neither trace
+nor news of him; and meantime he and the damsel sailed on with a
+fair wind, till they arrived safely at Baghdad and the captain
+said to them, 'This is Baghdad, and it is a city of safety: the
+winter hath departed from it, with its cold, and the season of
+the Spring is come, with its roses; its trees are in blossom and
+its streams flowing.' So Noureddin landed, he and the damsel, and
+giving the captain five dinars, walked on awhile, till chance
+brought them among the gardens and they came to a place swept and
+sprinkled, with long benches on either hand and hanging pots full
+of water. Overhead was a trelliswork of canes shading the whole
+length of the alley, and at the further end was the door of a
+garden; but this was shut. 'By Allah,' said Noureddin to the
+damsel, 'this is a pleasant place!' And she answered, 'O my lord,
+let us sit down on these benches and rest awhile.' So they
+mounted and sat down on the benches, after having washed their
+faces and hands; and the air smote on them and they fell asleep,
+glory be to Him who never sleeps! Now the garden in question was
+called the Garden of Delight and therein stood a pavilion called
+the Pavilion of Pictures, belonging to the Khalif Haroun er
+Reshid, who used, when sad at heart, to repair thither and there
+sit. In this pavilion were fourscore windows and fourscore
+hanging lamps and in the midst a great chandelier of gold. When
+the Khalif entered, he was wont to have all the windows opened
+and to order his boon-companion Isaac ben Ibrahim and the
+slave-girls to sing, till his care left him and his heart was
+lightened. Now the keeper of the garden was an old man by name
+Gaffer Ibrahim, and he had found, from time to time, on going out
+on his occasions, idlers taking their case with courtezans in the
+alley leading to the door of the garden, at which he was sore
+enraged; so he complained to the Khalif, who said, 'Whomsoever
+thou findest at the door of the garden, do with him as thou
+wilt.' As chance would have it, he had occasion to go abroad that
+very day and found these two sleeping at the gate, covered with
+one veil; whereupon, 'By Allah,' said he, 'this is fine! These
+two know not that the Khalif has given me leave to kill any one
+whom I may catch at the door of the garden: but I will give them
+a sound drubbing, that none may come near the gate in future.' So
+he cut a green palm-stick and went out to them and raising his
+arm, till the whiteness of his armpit appeared, was about to lay
+on to them, when he bethought himself and said, 'O Ibrahim, wilt
+thou beat them, knowing not their case? Maybe they are strangers
+or wayfarers, and destiny hath led them hither. I will uncover
+their faces and look on them.' So he lifted up the veil from
+their faces and said, 'They are a handsome pair! It were not
+fitting that I should beat them.' Then he covered their faces
+again, and going to Noureddin's feet, began to rub them,
+whereupon the young man awoke, and seeing an old man of venerable
+appearance rubbing his feet, was abashed and drawing them in, sat
+up; then took Ibrahim's hand and kissed it. Quoth the old man, 'O
+my son, whence art thou?' 'O my lord,' replied Noureddin, 'we are
+strangers.' And the tears started to his eyes. 'O my son,' said
+Ibrahim, 'know that the Prophet (whom God bless and preserve!)
+hath charged us to be hospitable to strangers. Wilt thou not
+rise, O my son, and pass into the garden and take thy pleasure
+therein and gladden thy heart?' 'O my lord,' said Noureddin, 'to
+whom does the garden belong?' And he replied, 'O my son, I
+inherited it from my family.' Now his object in saying this was
+to put them at their ease and induce them to enter the garden. So
+Noureddin thanked him and rose, he and the damsel, and followed
+him into the garden. They entered through a gateway, vaulted like
+a gallery and overhung with vines bearing grapes of various
+colours, the red like rubies and the black like ebony, and
+passing under a bower of trellised boughs, found themselves in a
+garden, and what a garden! There were fruit-trees growing singly
+and in clusters and birds warbling melodiously on the branches,
+whilst the thousand-voiced nightingale repeated the various
+strains: the turtle-dove filled the place with her cooing, and
+there sang the blackbird, with its warble like a human voice, and
+the ring-dove, with her notes like a drinker exhilarated with
+wine. The trees were laden with all manner of ripe fruits, two of
+each: the apricot in its various kinds, camphor and almond and
+that of Khorassan, the plum, whose colour is as that of fair
+women, the cherry, that does away discoloration of the teeth, and
+the fig of three colours, red and white and green. There bloomed
+the flower of the bitter orange, as it were pearls and coral,
+the rose whose redness puts to shame the cheeks of the fair,
+the violet, like sulphur on fire by night, the myrtle, the
+gillyflower, the lavender, the peony and the blood-red anemone.
+The leaves were jewelled with the tears of the clouds; the
+camomile smiled with her white petals like a lady's teeth, and
+the narcissus looked at the rose with her negro's eyes: the
+citrons shone like cups and the limes like balls of gold, and the
+earth was carpeted with flowers of all colours; for the Spring
+was come and the place beamed with its brightness; whilst the
+birds sang and the stream rippled and the breeze blew softly, for
+the attemperance of the air. Ibrahim carried them up into the
+pavilion, and they gazed on its beauty and on the lamps aforesaid
+in the windows; and Noureddin called to mind his banquetings of
+time past and said, 'By Allah, this is a charming place!' Then
+they sat down and the gardener set food before them; and they ate
+their fill and washed their hands; after which Noureddin went up
+to one of the windows and calling the damsel, fell to gazing on
+the trees laden with all manner of fruits. Then he turned to the
+gardener and said to him, 'O Gaffer Ibrahim, hast thou no drink
+here, for folk use to drink after eating?' The old man brought
+him some fresh sweet cold water, but he said, 'This is not the
+kind of drink I want.' 'Belike,' said Ibrahim, 'thou wishest for
+wine?' 'I do,' replied Noureddin. 'God preserve me from it!' said
+the old man. 'It is thirteen years since I did this thing, for
+the Prophet (whom God bless and preserve!) cursed its drinker,
+its presser, its seller and its carrier.' 'Hear two words from
+me,' said Noureddin. 'Say on,' replied Ibrahim. 'If,' said
+Noureddin, 'that unlucky ass there be cursed, will any part of
+the curse fall on thee?' 'Not so,' replied the old man. 'Then,'
+said Noureddin, 'take this dinar and these two dirhems and mount
+the ass and stop at a distance (from the wineshop); then call the
+first man thou seest buying, and say to him, "Take these two
+dirhems and buy me this dinar's worth of wine and set it on the
+ass." Thus thou wilt be neither the purchaser nor the carrier of
+the wine and no part of the curse will fall on thee.' At this the
+gardener laughed and said, 'O my son, never have I seen one
+readier-witted than thou nor heard aught sweeter than thy
+speech.' So he did as Noureddin had said, and the latter thanked
+him, saying, 'We are dependent on thee, and it is only fitting
+that thou comply with our wishes; so bring us what we require.'
+'O my son,' replied he, 'there is my buttery before thee.' (Now
+this was the store-room provided for the Commander of the
+Faithful.) Enter and take what thou wilt; there is more there
+than thou needest.' So Noureddin entered the pantry and found
+therein vessels of gold and silver and crystal, incrusted with
+all kinds of jewels, and was amazed and delighted at what he saw.
+Then he took what he wanted and set it on and poured the wine
+into flagons and decanters, whilst Ibrahim brought them fruits
+and flowers and withdrew and sat down at a distance. So they
+drank and made merry, till the wine got the mastery of them, so
+that their cheeks flushed and their eyes sparkled and their hair
+became dishevelled. Then said Ibrahim to himself, 'What ails me
+to sit apart? Why should I not sit with them? When shall I find
+myself in company with the like of these two, who are like two
+moons?' So he came and sat down at the corner of the dais, and
+Noureddin said to him, 'O my lord, my life on thee, come and sit
+with us!' So he came and sat by them, and Noureddin filled a cup
+and said to him, 'Drink, that thou mayst know the flavour of it.'
+'God forbid!' replied he. 'I have not done such a thing these
+thirteen years.' Noureddin did not press him, but drank off the
+cup, and throwing himself on the ground, feigned to be overcome
+with drunkenness. Then said the damsel, 'O Gaffer Ibrahim, see
+how he serves me!' 'O my lady,' replied he, 'what ails him?'
+'This is how he always treats me,' said she; 'he drinks awhile,
+then falls asleep and leaves me alone, with none to bear me
+company over my cup nor to whom I may sing whilst he drinks.' 'By
+Allah,' said he (and indeed her words touched his heart and made
+his soul incline to her), 'this is not well!' Then she looked at
+him and filling a cup said to him, 'I conjure thee, on my life,
+not to refuse me, but take this cup and drink it off and solace
+my heart.' So he took it and drank it off and she filled a second
+cup and set it on the chandelier, saying, 'O my lord, there is
+still this one left for thee.' 'By Allah, I cannot take it,'
+answered he; 'that which I have drunk suffices me.' 'By Allah,'
+said she, 'thou must indeed drink it.' So he took the cup and
+drank; and she filled him a third cup, which he took and was
+about to drink, when behold, Noureddin opened his eyes and
+sitting up, exclaimed, 'Hello, Gaffer Ibrahim, what is this? Did
+I not adjure thee just now, and thou refusedst, saying, "I have
+not done such a thing these thirteen years"?' 'By Allah,' replied
+he (and indeed he was abashed), 'it is her fault, not mine.'
+Noureddin laughed and they sat down again to carouse, but the
+damsel turned to Noureddin and whispered to him, 'O my lord,
+drink and do not press him, and I will show thee some sport with
+him.' Then she began to fill her master's cup and he to fill to
+her, and so they did time after time, till at last Ibrahim looked
+at them and said, 'What manner of good fellowship is this? God's
+malison on the glutton who keeps the cup to himself! Why dost
+thou not give me to drink, O my brother? What manners are these,
+O Blessed One!' At this they laughed till they fell backward;
+then they drank and gave him to drink and ceased not to carouse
+thus, till a third part of the night was past. Then said the
+damsel, 'O Gaffer Ibrahim, with thy leave, I will light one of
+these candles.' 'Do so,' said he; 'but light no more then one.'
+So she rose and beginning with one candle, lighted fourscore and
+sat down again. Presently Noureddin said, 'O Gaffer Ibrahim, how
+stands my favour with thee? May I not light one of these lamps ?'
+'Light one,' replied he, 'and plague me no more.' So Noureddin
+rose and lighted one lamp after another, till he had lighted the
+whole eighty and the palace seemed to dance with light. Quoth
+Ibrahim (and indeed intoxication had mastered him), 'Ye are more
+active than I.' Then he rose and opened all the windows and sat
+down again; and they fell to carousing and reciting verses, till
+the place rang with their mirth.
+
+Now as God the All-powerful, who appointeth a cause to
+everything, had decreed, the Khalif was at that moment seated at
+one of the windows of his palace, overlooking the Tigris, in the
+light of the moon. He saw the lustre of the candles and lamps
+reflected in the river and lifting his eyes, perceived that it
+came from the garden-palace, which was in a blaze with light. So
+he called Jaafer the Barmecide and said to him, 'O dog of a
+Vizier, has the city of Baghdad been taken from me and thou hast
+not told me?' 'What words are these?' said Jaafer. 'If Baghdad
+were not taken from me,' rejoined the Khalif, 'the Pavilion of
+Pictures would not be illuminated with lamps and candles, nor
+would its windows be open. Out on thee! Who would dare to do this
+except the Khalifate were taken from me?' Quoth Jaafer (and
+indeed he trembled in every limb), 'Who told thee that the
+pavilion was illuminated and the windows open?' 'Come hither and
+look,' replied the Khalif. So Jaafer came to the window and
+looking towards the garden, saw the pavilion flaming with light,
+in the darkness of the night, and thinking that this might be by
+the leave of the keeper, for some good reason of his own, was
+minded to make an excuse for him. So he said, 'O Commander of the
+Faithful, Gaffer Ibrahim said to me last week, "O my lord Jaafer,
+I desire to circumcise my sons during thy life and that of the
+Commander of the Faithful." "What dost thou want?" asked I; and
+he said, "Get me leave from the Khalif to hold the festival in
+the pavilion." So I said to him, "Go, circumcise them, and I will
+see the Khalif and tell him." So he went away and I forgot to
+tell thee.' 'O Jaafer,' said the Khalif, 'thou hast committed two
+offences against me, first, in that thou didst not tell me,
+secondly, in that thou didst not give the old man what he sought;
+for he only came and told thee this, by way of hinting a request
+for some small matter of money, to help him out with the
+expenses; and thou gavest him nothing nor toldest me.' 'O
+Commander of the Faithful,' replied Jaafer, 'I forgot.' 'By the
+virtue of my forefathers,' rejoined the Khalif, 'I will not pass
+the rest of the night but with him, for he is a pious man, who
+consorts with the elders of the faith and the fakirs: doubtless
+they are now assembled with him and it may be that the prayer of
+one of them may profit us both in this world and the next.
+Besides, my presence will advantage him and he will be pleased.'
+'O Commander of the Faithful,' objected Jaafer, 'the night is far
+spent, and they will now be about to break up.' 'It matters not,'
+replied the Khalif; 'I must and will go to them.' And Jaafer was
+silent, being perplexed and knowing not what to do. Then the
+Khalif rose to his feet and taking with him Jaafer and Mesrour
+the eunuch, they all three disguised themselves as merchants and
+leaving the palace, walked on through the by-streets till they
+came to the garden. The Khalif went up to the gate and finding it
+open, was surprised and said to the Vizier, 'Look, Jaafer, how
+Gaffer Ibrahim has left the gate open to this hour, contrary to
+his wont!' They entered and walked on till they came under the
+pavilion, when the Khalif said, 'O Jaafer, I wish to look in upon
+them privily before I join them, that I may see what they are
+about, for up to now I hear no sound nor any fakir naming[FN#111]
+God.' Then he looked about and seeing a tall walnut-tree, said to
+Jaafer, 'I will climb this tree, for its branches come near the
+windows, and so look in upon them.' So he mounted the tree and
+climbed from branch to branch, till he reached a bough that came
+up to one of the windows. On this he seated himself and looking
+in at the window, saw a young lady and a young man as they were
+two moons (glory be to Him who created them and fashioned them!),
+and by them Gaffer Ibrahim seated, with a cup in his hand,
+saying, 'O princess of fair ones, drink without music is nothing
+worth; indeed I have heard a poet say:
+
+Pass round the wine in the great and the small cup too, And take
+     the bowl from the hands of the shining moon.[FN#112]
+But without music, I charge you, forbear to drink, For sure I see
+     even horses drink to a whistled tune.'
+
+When the Khalif saw this, the vein of anger started out between
+his eyes and he descended and said to the Vizier, 'O Jaafer,
+never saw I men of piety in such a case! Do thou mount this tree
+and look upon them, lest the benisons of the devout escape thee.'
+So Jaafer climbed up, perplexed at these words, and looking in,
+saw Noureddin and the damsel and Gaffer Ibrahim with a cup in his
+hand. At this sight, he made sure of ruin and descending, stood
+before the Commander of the Faithful, who said to him, 'O Jaafer,
+praised be God who hath made us of those who observe the external
+forms of the Divine ordinances!' Jaafer could make no answer for
+excess of confusion, and the Khalif continued, 'I wonder how
+these people came hither and who admitted them into my pavilion!
+But the like of the beauty of this youth and this girl my eyes
+never beheld!' 'Thou art right, O Commander of the Faithful,'
+replied Jaafer, hoping to propitiate him. Then said the Khalif,
+'O Jaafer, let us both mount the branch that overlooks the
+window, that we may amuse ourselves with looking at them.' So
+they both climbed the tree and looking in, heard Ibrahim say, 'O
+my lady, I have laid aside gravity in drinking wine, but this is
+not thoroughly delectable without the melodious sound of the
+strings. 'By Allah,' replied Enis el Jelis, 'if we had but some
+musical instrument, our joy would be complete!' When the old man
+heard what she said, he rose to his feet, and the Khalif said to
+Jaafer, 'I wonder what he is going to do.' 'I know not,' replied
+Jaafer. Then Ibrahim went out and returned with a lute; and
+the Khalif looked at it and knew it for that of Isaac the
+boon-companion. 'By Allah,' said he, 'if this damsel sing ill, I
+will crucify you, all of you; but if she sing well, I will pardon
+them and crucify thee.' 'God grant she may sing ill!' said Jaafer
+'Why so?' asked the Khalif. 'Because,' replied Jaafer 'if thou
+crucify us all together, we shall keep each other company.' The
+Khalif laughed at his speech; then the damsel took the lute and
+tuning it, played a measure which made all hearts yearn to her,
+then sang the following verses:
+
+O ye that to help unhappy lovers are fain! We burn with the fire
+     of love and longing in vain.
+Whatever ye do, we merit it: see, we cast Ourselves on your ruth!
+     Do not exult in our pain.
+For we are children of sadness and low estate. Do with us what
+     you will; we will not complain.
+What were your glory to slay us within your courts? Our fear is
+     but lest you sin in working us bane.
+
+'By Allah,' said the Khalif, 'it is good, O Jaafer! Never in my
+life have I heard so enchanting a voice!' 'Belike,' said Jaafer,
+'the Khalif's wrath hath departed from him.' 'Yes,' said the
+Khalif, 'it is gone.' Then they descended from the tree, and the
+Khalif said to Jaafer, 'I wish to go in and sit with them and
+hear the damsel sing before me.' 'O Commander of the Faithful,'
+replied Jaafer, 'if thou go in to them, they will most like be
+troubled and Gaffer Ibrahim will assuredly die of fright.' 'O
+Jaafer,' said the Khalif, 'thou must teach me some device,
+whereby I may foregather with them, without being known of them.'
+So they walked on towards the Tigris, considering of this affair,
+and presently came upon a fisher man standing fishing under the
+windows of the pavilion. Now some time before this, the Khalif
+(being in the pavilion) had called to Gaffer Ibrahim and said to
+him, 'What is this noise I hear under the windows?' 'It is the
+voices of the fishermen, fishing,' answered he; and the Khalif
+commanded him to go down and forbid them to resort thither; so
+the fishermen were forbidden to fish there. However, that night a
+fisherman named Kerim, happening to pass by and seeing the garden
+gate open, said to himself, 'This is a time of negligence: I will
+take advantage of it to fish.' So he went in, but had hardly cast
+his net, when the Khalif came up alone and standing behind
+him, knew him and called out to him, saying, 'Ho, Kerim!' The
+fisherman, hearing himself called by his name, turned round, and
+seeing the Khalif, trembled in every limb and exclaimed, 'O
+Commander of the Faithful, I did it not in mockery of the edict;
+but poverty and distress drove me to what thou seest.' Quoth the
+Khalif, 'Make a cast in my name.' At this the fisherman was glad
+and going to the bank, cast his net, then waiting till it had
+spread out to the utmost and settled down, pulled it up and found
+in it various kinds of fish. The Khalif was pleased and said, 'O
+Kerim, put off thy clothes.' So he put off a gown of coarse
+woollen stuff, patched in a hundred places and full of disgusting
+vermin, and a turban that had not been unwound for three years,
+but to which he had sewn every rag he came across. The Khalif
+pulled off his cassock and mantle and two vests of Alexandria and
+Baalbec silk and saying to the fisherman, 'Take these and put
+them on,' donned the latter's gown and turban and tied a chin
+band [FN#113] round the lower part of his face. Then said he to
+the fisherman, 'Go about thy business.' So he kissed the Khalif's
+feet and thanked him and recited the following verses:
+
+Thou hast heaped benefits on me, past all that I could crave! My
+     tongue suffices not to praise thy goodness to thy slave.
+So I will thank thee whilst I live; and when I come to die, My
+     very bones shall never cease to thank thee in the grave.
+
+Hardly had he finished, when the lice began to crawl over the
+skin of the Khalif, who fell to snatching them with either hand
+from his neck and throwing them down, exclaiming, 'Out on thee, O
+fisherman, this gown is swarming with vermin!' 'O my lord,'
+replied the fisherman, 'they torment thee just now, but before a
+week has passed, thou wilt not feel them nor think of them.' The
+Khalif laughed and said, 'Out on thee! Dost thou think I mean to
+leave this gown on my body?' 'O my lord,' said the fisherman,
+'I desire to say one word to thee.' 'Say on,' answered the
+Khalif. 'It occurs to me, O Commander of the Faithful,' said the
+fisherman, 'that if thou wish to learn hunting, so thou mayst
+have an useful trade ready to thy hand, this gown will be the
+very thing for thee.' The Khalif laughed, and the fisherman went
+his way. Then the Khalif took up the basket of fish, and laying a
+little grass over it, carried it to Jaafer and stood before him.
+Jaafer, concluding that it was Kerim the fisherman, was alarmed
+for him and said, 'O Kerim, what brings thee hither? Flee for thy
+life, for the Khalif is in the garden to-night, and if he see
+thee, thou wilt lose thy head.' At this the Khalif laughed, and
+Jaafer knew him and said, 'Surely thou art our lord the Khalif?'
+'Yes, O Jaafer,' replied he. 'And thou art my Vizier and I came
+hither with thee; yet thou knewest me not; so how should Gaffer
+Ibrahim know me, and he drunk? Stay here, till I come back.' 'I
+hear and obey,' answered Jaafer. Then the Khalif went up to the
+door of the pavilion and knocked softly, whereupon said
+Noureddin, 'O Gaffer Ibrahim, some one knocks at the door.' 'Who
+is at the door?' cried the old man; and the Khalif replied, 'It
+is I, O Gaffer Ibrahim!' 'Who art thou?' asked the gardener. 'I,
+Kerim the fisherman,' rejoined the Khalif. 'I hear thou hast
+company, so have brought thee some fine fish.' When Noureddin
+heard the mention of fish, he was glad, he and the damsel, and
+they both said to Ibrahim, 'O my lord, open the door and let him
+bring the fish in to us.' So he opened the door, and the Khalif
+entered, in his fisherman's disguise, and began by saluting them.
+Quoth Ibrahim, 'Welcome to the brigand, the robber, the gambler!
+Let us see thy fish.' So the Khalif showed them the fish and
+behold, they were still alive and moving, whereupon the damsel
+exclaimed, 'O my lord, these are indeed fine fish! Would that
+they were fried!' 'By Allah, O my mistress,' replied Ibrahim,
+'thou art right.' Then said he to the Khalif, 'O fisherman, why
+didst thou not bring us the fish ready fried? Go now and fry them
+and bring them to us.' 'It shall be done at once,' answered he.
+Said they, 'Be quick about it.' So he went out, running, and
+coming up to Jaafer, cried out, 'Hallo, Jaafer!' 'Here am I, O
+Commander of the Faithful!' replied he. 'They want the fish
+fried,' said the Khalif. 'O Commander of the Faithful,' answered
+Jaafer, 'give it to me and I will fry it for them.' 'By the tombs
+of my forefathers,' said the Khalif, 'none shall fry it but I,
+with my own hand!' So he repaired to the keeper's hut, where he
+searched and found all that he required, even to salt and saffron
+and marjoram and so forth. Then he laid the fish on the
+frying-pan and setting it on the brazier, fried them handsomely.
+When they were done, he laid them on a banana-leaf, and gathering
+some lemons from the garden, carried the dish to the pavilion and
+set it before them. So Noureddin and the damsel and Ibrahim came
+forward and ate, after which they washed their hands and
+Noureddin said to the Khalif, 'O fisherman, thou hast done us a
+right welcome service this night!' Then he put his hand to his
+pouch and taking out three of the dinars that Senjer had given
+him, said, 'O fisherman, excuse me. By Allah, had I known thee
+before that which has lately befallen me, I had done away the
+bitterness of poverty from thy heart; but take this as an earnest
+of my good will!' Then he threw the dinars to the Khalif, who
+took them and kissed them and put them up. Now the Khalif's sole
+desire in all this was to hear the damsel sing; so he said to
+Noureddin, 'O my lord, thou hast rewarded me munificently, but I
+beg of thy great bounty that thou wilt let this damsel sing an
+air, that I may hear her.' So Noureddin said, 'O Enis el Jelis!'
+'Yes,' replied she. And he said, 'My life on thee, sing us
+something for the sake of this fisherman, for he wishes to hear
+thee.' So she took the lute and struck the strings, after she had
+tuned them, and sang the following verses:
+
+The fingers of the lovely maid went wandering o'er the lute, And
+     many a soul to ravishment its music did compel.
+She sang, and lo, her singing cured the deaf man of his ill, And
+     he that erst was dumb exclaimed, "Thou hast indeed done
+     well!"
+
+
+Then she played again, so admirably that she ravished their wits,
+and sang the following verses:
+
+Thou honour'dst us, when thou didst in our land alight; Thy
+     lustre hath dispelled the moonless midnight gloom!
+Wherefore with camphor white and rose-water and musk It e'en
+     behoveth us our dwelling to perfume.
+
+At this the Khalif was agitated and so overcome with emotion that
+he was not master of himself for excess of delight, and he
+exclaimed, 'By Allah, it is good! By Allah, it is good! By Allah,
+it is good!' Quoth Noureddin, 'O fisherman, doth this damsel
+please thee?' 'Ay, by Allah!' replied he. Whereupon said
+Noureddin, 'I make thee a present of her, the present of a
+generous man who does not go back on his giving nor will revoke
+his gift.' Then he sprang to his feet and taking a mantle, threw
+it over the pretended fisherman and bade him take the damsel and
+begone. But she looked at him and said, 'O my lord, art thou
+going away without bidding me adieu? If it must be so, at least,
+stay whilst I bid thee farewell and make known my case.' And she
+repeated the following verses:
+
+I am filled full of longing pain and memory and dole, Till I for
+     languor am become a body without soul.
+Say not to me, beloved one, "Thou'lt grow consoled for me;" When
+     such affliction holds the heart, what is there can console?
+If that a creature in his tears could swim as in a sea, I to do
+     this of all that breathe were surely first and sole.
+O thou, the love of whom doth fill my heart and overflow, Even
+     when wine, with water mixed, fills up the brimming bowl,
+O thou for whom desire torments my body and my spright! This
+     severance is the thing I feared was writ on fortune's
+     scroll.
+O thou, whose love from out my heart shall nevermore depart, O
+     son of Khacan, thou my wish, my hope unshared and whole,
+On my account thou didst transgress against our lord and king And
+     left'st thy native land for me, to seek a foreign goal.
+Thou givest me unto Kerim,[FN#114] may he for aye be praised! And
+     may th' Almighty for my loss my dearest lord console!
+
+When she had finished, Noureddin answered her by repeating the
+following:
+
+She bade me adieu on the day of our parting And said, whilst for
+     anguish she wept and she sighed,
+"Ah, what wilt thou do, when from me thou art severed?" "Ask that
+     of the man who'll survive," I replied.
+
+When the Khalif heard what she said in her verses, 'Thou hast
+given me to Kerim,' his interest in her redoubled and it was
+grievous to him to separate them; so he said to Noureddin, 'O my
+lord, verily the damsel said in her verses that thou hadst
+transgressed against her master and him who possessed her; so
+tell me, against whom didst thou transgress and who is it that
+has a claim on thee?' 'By Allah, O fisherman,' replied Noureddin
+'there hangs a rare story by me and this damsel, a story, which,
+were it graven with needles on the corners of the eye, would
+serve as a lesson to him who can profit by example.' Said the
+Khalif, 'Wilt thou not tell us thy story and acquaint us with thy
+case? Peradventure it may bring thee relief, for the help of God
+is near at hand.' 'O fisher man,' said Noureddin, 'wilt thou hear
+our story in prose or verse?' 'Prose is but words,' replied the
+Khalif, 'but verse is strung pearls.' Then Noureddin bowed his
+head and spoke the following verses.
+
+     O my friend, I have bidden farewell to repose, And the
+          anguish of exile has doubled my woes
+     I once had a father, who loved me right dear, But left me,
+          to dwell in the tombs, where all goes.
+     There fell on me after him hardship and pain And Fate broke
+          in pieces my heart with its blows.
+     He bought me a slave-girl, the fairest of maids; Her shape
+          shamed the branch and her colour the rose.
+     I wasted the substance he left me, alas! And lavished it
+          freely on these and on those,
+     Till for need I was minded to sell the fair maid, Though
+          sorely I grudged at the parting, God knows!
+     But lo! when the crier 'gan call her for sale, A scurvy old
+          skin-flint to bid for her chose.
+     At this I was angered beyond all control And snatched her
+          away ere the crier could close;
+     Whereupon the old rancorous curmudgeon flamed up With
+          despite and beset me with insults and blows.
+     In my passion I smote him with right hand and left, Till my
+          wrath was assuaged; after which I arose
+     And returning, betook me in haste to my house, Where I hid
+          me for feat of the wrath of my foes.
+     Then the king of the city decreed my arrest: But a
+          kind-hearted chamberlain pitied my woes
+     And warned me to flee from the city forthright, Ere my
+          enemies' springes my life should enclose.
+     So we fled from our house in the dead of the night And came
+          to Baghdad for a place of repose.
+     I have nothing of value, nor treasures nor gold, Or I'd
+          handsel thee, fisherman, freely with those!
+     But I give thee, instead, the beloved of my soul, And in her
+          thou hast gotten my heart's blood, God knows!
+
+When he had finished, the Khalif said to him, 'O my lord
+Noureddin, explain to me thy case more fully!' So he told him the
+whole story from beginning to end, and the Khalif said to him,
+'Whither dost thou now intend?' 'God's world is wide!' replied
+he. Quoth the Khalif, 'I will write thee a letter to carry to the
+Sultan Mohammed ben Suleiman ez Zeini, which when he reads, he
+will do thee no hurt.' 'Who ever heard of a fisherman writing to
+kings?' said Noureddin. 'Such a thing can never be.' 'True,'
+replied the Khalif; 'but I will tell thee the reason. Know that
+he and I learnt in the same school, under one master, and that I
+was his monitor. Since that time, fortune has betided him and he
+is become a Sultan, whilst God hath abased me and made me a
+fisherman: yet I never send to him to seek aught, but he does my
+desire; nay, though I should ask of him a thousand favours a day,
+he would comply.' When Noureddin heard this, he said, 'Good:
+write that I may see.' So the Khalif took pen and inkhorn and
+wrote as follows: 'In the name of God, the Compassionate, the
+Merciful! This letter is from Haroun er Reshid son of el Mehdi
+to His Highness Mohammed ben Suleiman ez Zeini, whom I have
+compassed about with my favour and made governor for me in
+certain of my dominions. The bearer of these presents is
+Noureddin son of Felz ben Khacan the Vizier. As soon as they come
+to thy hand, do thou put off thy kingly dignity and invest him
+therewith, and look thou oppose not my commandment, so peace be
+on thee.' Then he gave the letter to Noureddin, who took it and
+kissed it, then put it in his turban and set out at once on his
+journey. As soon as he was gone, Gaffer Ibrahim fumed to the
+Khalif and said to him, 'O vilest of fishermen, thou hast brought
+us a couple of fish, worth a score of paras, and hast gotten
+three dinars for them; and thinkest thou to take the damsel
+also?' When the Khalif heard this, he cried out at him and made a
+sign to Mesrour, who discovered himself and rushed upon him. Now
+Jaafer had sent one of the gardeners to the doorkeeper of the
+palace for a suit of the royal raiment for the Commander of the
+Faithful; so he went and returning with the suit, kissed the
+earth before the Khalif and gave it to him. Then he threw off the
+clothes he had on and dressed himself in those which the gardener
+had brought, to the great amazement of Gaffer Ibrahim, who bit
+his nails in bewilderment and exclaimed, 'Am I asleep or awake?'
+'O Gaffer Ibrahim,' said the Khalif, 'what state is this in which
+I see thee?' With this, he recovered from his drunkenness and
+throwing himself on the ground, repeated the following verses:
+
+Forgive the error into which my straying feet did fall, For the
+     slave sues for clemency from him to whom he's thrall!
+Lo, by confessing I have done what the offence requires! Where
+     then is that for which good grace and generous mercy call?
+
+The Khalif forgave him and bade carry the damsel to the palace,
+where he assigned her a separate lodging and servants to wait
+upon her, saying to her, 'Know that we have sent thy master to be
+Sultan in Bassora, and God willing, we will despatch him a dress
+of honour and thee with it.'
+
+Meanwhile, Noureddin fared on, till he reached Bassora, when he
+repaired to the Sultan's palace and gave a loud cry. The Sultan
+heard him and sent for him; and when he came into his presence,
+he kissed the earth before him and pulling out the letter, gave
+it to him. The Sultan, seeing that the superscription was in the
+handwriting of the Khalif, rose to his feet and kissed the letter
+three times, then read it and said, 'I hear and obey God and the
+Commander of the Faithful!' Then he summoned the four Cadis and
+the Amirs and was about to divest himself of the kingly office,
+when in came the Vizier Muin ben Sawa. The Sultan gave him the
+Khalif's letter, and he read it, then tore it in pieces and
+putting it in his mouth, chewed it and threw it away. 'Out on
+thee!' exclaimed the Sultan (and indeed he was angry); 'what made
+thee do that?' 'By thy life, O our lord the Sultan,' replied
+Muin, 'this fellow hath never seen the Khalif nor his Vizier:
+but he is a gallows-bird, a crafty imp who, happening upon a
+blank[FN#115] sheet in the Khalif's handwriting, hath written his
+own desire in it. The Khalif would surely not have sent him to
+take the Sultanate from thee, without a royal mandate and a
+patent appended thereto, nor would he have omitted to send with
+him a chamberlain or a vizier. But he is alone and hath never
+come from the Khalif, never! never!' 'What is to be done?' said
+the Sultan. 'Leave him to me,' replied the Vizier: 'I will send
+him in charge of a chamberlain to the city of Baghdad. If what he
+says be true, they will bring us back royal letters-patent and a
+diploma of investiture; and if not, I will pay him what I owe
+him.' When the Sultan heard the Vizier's words, he said, 'Take
+him.' So Muin carried Noureddin to his own house and cried out to
+his servants, who threw him down and beat him, till he swooned
+away. Then he caused heavy shackles to be put on his feet and
+carried him to the prison, where he called the gaoler, whose name
+was Cuteyt, and said to him, 'O Cuteyt, take this fellow and
+throw him into one of the underground cells in the prison and
+torture him night and day.' 'I hear and obey,' replied he, and
+taking Noureddin into the prison, locked the door on him. Then he
+bade sweep a bench behind the door and laying  thereon a mattress
+and a leather rug, made Noureddin sit down. Moreover, he loosed
+his fetters and treated him kindly. The Vizier sent every day to
+the gaoler, charging him to beat him, but he abstained from this,
+and things abode thus forty days' time. On the forty-first day,
+there came a present from the Khalif: which when the Sultan saw,
+it pleased him and he took counsel about it with his Viziers, one
+of whom said, 'Mayhap this present was intended for the new
+Sultan.' Quoth Muin, 'We should have done well to put him to
+death at his first coming;' and the Sultan said, 'By Allah, thou
+remindest me of him! Go down to the prison and fetch him, and I
+will strike off his head.' 'I hear end obey,' replied Muin. 'With
+thy leave I will have proclamation made in the city, "Whoso hath
+a mind to look upon the beheading of Noureddin Ali ben Khacan,
+let him repair to the palace!" So, great and small will come out
+to gaze on him and I shall heal my heart and mortify those that
+envy me.' 'As thou wilt,' said the Sultan; whereupon the Vizier
+went out, rejoicing, and commanded the chief of the police to
+make the aforesaid proclamation. When the folk heard the crier,
+they all mourned and wept, even to the little ones in the schools
+and the tradersin the shops, and some hastened to get them places
+to see the sight, whilst others repaired to the prison thinking
+to accompany him thence. Presently, the Vizier came to the
+prison, attended by ten armed slaves, and the gaoler said to him,
+'What seekest thou, O our lord the Vizier?' 'Bring me that
+gallows-bird,' replied the Vizier; and the gaoler said, 'He is in
+the sorriest of plights for the much beating I have given him.'
+Then Cuteyt went into the prison, where he found Noureddin
+repeating the following verses:
+
+Who shall avail me against the woes that my life enwind? Indeed
+     my disease is sore and the remedy hard to find.
+Exile hath worn my heart and my spirit with languishment, And
+     evil fortune hath turned my very lovers unkind.
+O folk, is there none of you all will answer my bitter cry! Is
+     there never a merciful friend will help me of all mankind?
+Yet death and the pains of death are a little thing to me; I have
+     put off the hope of life and left its sweets behind.
+O Thou that sentest the Guide, the Chosen Prophet to men, The
+     Prince of the Intercessors, gifted to loose and bind,
+I prithee, deliver me and pardon me my default, And put the
+     troubles to flight that crush me, body and mind I
+
+The gaoler took off his clean clothes and clothing him in two
+filthy garments, carried him to the Vizier. Noureddin looked at
+him, and knowing him for his enemy who still sought to compass
+his death, wept and said to him, 'Art thou then secure against
+Fate? Hast thou not heard the saying of the poet?
+
+Where are now the old Chosroes, tyrants of a bygone day? Wealth
+     they gathered; but their treasures and themselves have
+     passed away!
+
+O Vizier,' continued he, 'know that God (blessed and exalted be
+He!) doth whatever He will!' 'O Ali,' replied the Vizier, 'dost
+thou think to fright me with this talk? Know that I mean this day
+to strike off thy head in despite of the people of Bassora, and
+let the days do what they will, I care not; nor will I take
+thought to thy warning, but rather to what the poet says:
+
+Let the days do what they will, without debate, And brace thy
+     spirit against the doings of Fate.
+
+And also how well says another:
+
+He who lives a day after his foe Hath compassed his wishes, I
+     trow!
+
+Then he ordered his attendants to set Noureddin on the back of a
+mule, and they said to the youth (for indeed it was grievous to
+them), 'Let us stone him and cut him in pieces, though it cost us
+our lives.' 'Do it not,' replied Noureddin. 'Have ye not heard
+what the poet says?
+
+A term's decreed for me, which I must needs fulfil, And when its
+     days are spent, I die, do what I will.
+Though to their forest dens the lions should me drag, Whilst but
+     an hour remains, they have no power to kill.'
+
+Then they proceeded to proclaim before Noureddin, 'This is the
+least of the punishment of those who impose upon kings with
+forgery!' And they paraded him round about Bassora, till they
+came beneath the windows of the palace, where they made him kneel
+down on the carpet of blood and the headsman came up to him and
+said, 'O my lord, I am but a slave commanded in this matter: if
+thou hast any desire, let me know, that I may fulfil it; for now
+there remains of thy life but till the Sultan shall put his head
+out of the window.' So Noureddin looked in all directions and
+repeated the following verses:
+
+I see the headsman and the sword, I see the carpet spread, And
+     cry "Alas, my sorry plight! Alas, my humbled head!"
+How is't I have no pitying friend to help me in my need? Will no
+     one answer my complaint or heed the tears I shed?
+My time of life is past away and death draws nigh to me: Will no
+     one earn the grace of God by standing me in stead?
+Will none take pity on my state and succour my despair With but a
+     cup of water cold, to ease my torments dread?
+
+The people fell to weeping for him, and the headsman rose and
+brought him a draught of water; but the Vizier smote the gugglet
+with his hand and broke it: then he cried out at the executioner
+and bade him strike off Noureddin's head. So he proceeded to bind
+the latter's eyes; whilst the people cried out against the Vizier
+and there befell a great tumult and dispute amongst them. At this
+moment there arose a great cloud of dust and filled the air and
+the plain; and when the Sultan, who was sitting in the palace,
+saw this, he said to his attendants, 'Go and see what is the
+meaning of that cloud of dust.' 'When we have cut off this
+fellow's head,' replied Muin; but the Sultan said, 'Wait till we
+see what this means.'
+
+Now the cloud of dust in question was raised by Jaafer the
+Barmecide, Vizier to the Khalif, and his retinue; and the reason
+of his coming was as follows. The Khalif passed thirty days
+without calling to mind the affair of Noureddin Ali ben Khacan,
+and none reminded him of it, till one night, as he passed by the
+apartment of Enis el Jelis, he heard her weeping and reciting the
+following verse, in a low and sweet voice:
+
+Thine image is ever before me, though thou art far away, Nor doth
+     my tongue give over the naming of thee aye!
+
+And her weeping redoubled; when lo, the Khalif opened the door
+and entering the chamber, found her in tears. When she saw him,
+she fell to the earth and kissing his feet three times, repeated
+the following verses:
+
+O thou pure of royal lineage and exalted in thy birth! O thou
+     tree of fruitful branches, thou the all unstained of race!
+I recall to thee the promise that thy noble bounty made: God
+     forbid thou shouldst forget it or withhold the gifted grace!
+
+Quoth the Khalif, 'Who art thou?' And she answered, 'I am she
+whom thou hadst as a present from Noureddin Ali ben Khacan, and I
+crave the fulfilment of thy promise to send me to him with the
+dress of honour; for I have now been here thirty days, without
+tasting sleep.' Thereupon the Khalif sent for Jaafer and said to
+him, 'O Jaafer, it is thirty days since we had news of Noureddin
+Ali ben Khacan, and I doubt me the Sultan has killed him; but by
+the life of my head and the tombs of my forefathers, if aught of
+ill have befallen him, I will make an end of him who was the
+cause of it, though he be the dearest of all men to myself! So it
+is my wish that thou set out at once for Bassora and bring me
+news of my cousin Mohammed ben Suleiman ez Zeini and how he hath
+dealt with Noureddin; and do thou tell my cousin the young man's
+history and how I sent him to him with my letter, and if thou
+find that the King hath done otherwise than after my commandment,
+lay hands on him and his Vizier Muin ben Sawa and bring them to
+us, as thou shalt find them. Nor do thou tarry longer on the road
+than shall suffice for the journey, or I will strike off thy
+head.' 'I hear and obey,' replied Jaafer, and made ready at once
+and set out for Bassora, where he arrived in due course. When he
+came up and saw the crowd and turmoil, he enquired what was the
+matter and was told how it stood with Noureddin Ali, whereupon he
+hastened to go in to the Sultan and saluting him, acquainted him
+with his errand and the Khalif's determination, in case of any
+foul play having befallen Noureddin, to destroy whosoever should
+have been the cause of it. Then he seized upon the Sultan and his
+Vizier and laid them in ward, and commanding Noureddin to be
+released, seated him on the throne in the place of Mohammed ben
+Suleiman. After this Jaafer abode three days at Bassora, the
+usual guest-time, and on the morning of the fourth day, Noureddin
+turned to him and said, 'I long for the sight of the Commander of
+the Faithful.' Then said Jaafer to Mohammed ben Suleiman, 'Make
+ready, for we will pray the morning-prayer and take horse for
+Baghdad.' And he answered, 'I hear and obey.' So they prayed the
+morning-prayer and set out, all of them, taking with them the
+Vizier Muin ben Sawa, who began to repent of what he had done.
+Noureddin rode by Jaafer's side and they fared on without
+ceasing, till they arrived in due course at the Abode of Peace,
+Baghdad, and going in to the Khalif's presence, told him how
+they had found Noureddin nigh upon death. The Khalif said to
+Noureddin, 'Take this sword and strike off thine enemy's head.'
+So he took the sword and went up to Muin ben Sawa, but the latter
+looked at him and said, 'I did according to my nature; do thou
+according to thine.' So Noureddin threw the sword from his hand
+and said to the Khalif, 'O Commander of the Faithful, he hath
+beguiled me with his speech,' and he repeated the following
+verse:
+
+Lo, with the cunning of his speech my heart he hath beguiled, For
+     generous minds are ever moved by artful words and mild!
+
+'Leave him, thou,' said the Khalif, and turning to Mesrour,
+commanded him to behead Muin. So Mesrour drew his sword and smote
+off the Vizier's head. Then said the Khalif to Noureddin, 'Ask a
+boon of me.' 'O my lord,' answered he, 'I have no need of the
+sovereignty of Bassora: all my desire is to have the honour of
+serving thee and looking on thy face.' 'With all my heart,'
+replied the Khalif. Then he sent for Enis el Jelis and bestowed
+plentiful favours upon them both, assigning them a palace at
+Baghdad and regular allowances. Moreover, he made Noureddin one
+of his boon-companions, and the latter abode with him in the
+enjoyment of the most delectable life, till Death overtook him.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+              GHANIM BEN EYOUB THE SLAVE OF LOVE.
+
+
+
+There lived once at Damascus, in the days of the Khalif Haroun er
+Reshid, a wealthy merchant, who had a son like the moon at its
+full and withal sweet of speech, called Ghanim ben Eyoub, and a
+daughter called Fitneh, unique in her beauty and grace. Their
+father died and left them abundant wealth and amongst other
+things a hundred loads of silk and brocade and bladders of musk,
+on each of which was written, 'This is of the loads intended for
+Baghdad,' he having been about to make the journey thither, when
+God the Most High took him to Himself. After awhile, his son took
+the loads and bidding farewell to his mother and kindred and
+townsfolk, set out for Baghdad with a company of merchants,
+committing himself to God the Most High, who decreed him safety,
+so that he arrived without hindrance at that city. Here he hired
+a handsome house, which he furnished with carpets and cushions
+and hangings, and stored his goods therein and put up his mules
+and camels. Then he abode awhile, resting, whilst the merchants
+and notables of Baghdad came and saluted him; after which he took
+a parcel containing ten pieces of costly stuffs, with the prices
+written on them, and carried it to the bazaar, where the
+merchants received him with honour and made him sit down in the
+shop of the chief of the market, to whom he delivered the parcel
+of stuffs. He opened it and taking out the stuffs, sold them for
+him at a profit of two dinars on every one of prime cost. At this
+Ghanim rejoiced and went on to sell his stuffs, little by little,
+for a whole year. On the first day of the following year, he
+repaired, as usual, to the bazaar in the market-place, but found
+the gate shut and enquiring the reason, was told that one of the
+merchants was dead and that all the others had gone to wail in
+his funeral and was asked if he were minded to gain the favour of
+God by going with them. He assented and enquired where the
+funeral was to be held, whereupon they directed him to the place.
+So he made the ablution and repaired with the other merchants to
+the place of prayer, where they prayed over the dead, then went
+before the bier to the burial-place without the city and passed
+among the tombs till they came to the grave. Here they found that
+the dead man's people had pitched a tent over the tomb and
+brought thither lamps and candles. So they buried the dead and
+sat down to listen to the reading of the Koran over the tomb.
+Ghanim sat with them, being overcome with bashfulness and saying
+to himself, 'I cannot well go away till they do.' They sat
+listening to the recitation till nightfall, when the servants set
+the evening meal and sweetmeats before them and they ate till
+they were satisfied, then sat down again, after having washed
+their hands. But Ghanim was troubled for his house and property
+being in fear of thieves, and said to himself, 'I am a stranger
+here and thought to be rich, and if I pass the night abroad, the
+thieves will steal the money and the goods.' So he arose and left
+the company, having first asked leave to go about a necessary
+business, and following the beaten track, came to the gate of the
+city, but found it shut and saw none going or coming nor heard
+aught but the dogs barking and the wolves howling, for it was now
+the middle of the night. At this he exclaimed, 'There is no power
+and no virtue but in God! I was in fear for my property and came
+back on its account, but now I find the gate shut and am become
+in fear for my life!' And he retraced his steps, seeking a place
+where he might pass the night, till he found a tomb enclosed by
+four walls, with a palm-tree in its midst and a gate of granite.
+The gate stood open; so he entered and lay down, but sleep came
+not to him and fright and oppression beset him, for that he was
+alone among the tombs. So he rose to his feet and opening the
+door, looked out and saw, in the distance, a light making for the
+tomb from the direction of the city-gate. At this he was afraid
+and hastening to shut the gate, climbed up into the palm-tree and
+hid himself among the branches. The light came nearer and nearer,
+till he could see three black slaves, two carrying a chest and a
+third a lantern, an adze and a basket of plaster. When they came
+to the tomb, one of those who were carrying the chest cried out
+to the other, 'Hello, Sewab!' 'What ails thee, O Kafour?' said
+the other. 'Were we not here at nightfall,' asked the first, 'and
+did we not leave the gate open?' 'True,' replied Sewab. 'See,'
+said the other, 'it is now shut and barred.' 'How small is your
+wit!' broke in the bearer of the lantern, whose name was Bekhit.
+'Do ye not know that the owners of the gardens use to come out of
+Baghdad to tend them, and when the night overtakes them, they
+enter this place and shut the gate, for fear the blacks like
+ourselves should catch them and roast them and eat them?' 'Thou
+art right,' replied the others; 'but, by Allah, none of us is
+less of wit than thou!' 'If you do not believe me,' said Bekhit,
+'let us go into the tomb and I will unearth the rat for you; I
+doubt not but that, when he saw the light and us making for the
+tomb, he took refuge in the palm-tree, for fear of us.' When
+Ghanim heard this, he said to himself, 'O most damnable of
+slaves, may God not have thee in His keeping for this thy craft
+and quickness of wit! There is no power and no virtue but in God
+the Most High, the Supreme! How shall I escape from these
+blacks?' Then said the two bearers to him of the lantern, 'Climb
+over the wall and open the door to us, O Bekhit, for we are tired
+of carrying the chest on our shoulders; and thou shalt have one
+of those that we seize inside, and we will fry him for thee so
+featly that not a drop of his fat shall be lost.' But he said, 'I
+am afraid of somewhat that my little sense has suggested to me;
+we should do better to throw the chest over the wall; for it is
+our treasure.' 'If we throw it over, it will break,' replied
+they. And he said, 'I fear lest there be brigands within who kill
+four and steal their goods; for they are wont when night falls on
+them, to enter these places and divide their spoil.' 'O thou of
+little wit!' rejoined they, 'how could they get in here?' Then
+they set down the chest and climbing the wall, got down and
+opened the gate, whilst Bekhit held the light for them, after
+which they shut the door and sat down. Then said one of them, 'O
+my brothers, we are tired with walking and carrying the chest,
+and it is now the middle of the night, and we have no breath left
+to open the tomb and bury the chest: so let us rest two or three
+hours, then rise and do what we have to do. Meanwhile each of us
+shall tell how he came to be an eunuch and all that befell him
+from first to last, to pass away the time, whilst we rest
+ourselves.' 'Good,' answered the others; and Bekhit said, 'O my
+brothers, I will begin.' 'Say on,' replied they. So he began as
+follows, 'Know, O my brothers, that
+
+
+
+
+
+Story of the Eunuch Bekhit.
+
+
+
+I was brought from my native country, when I was five years old,
+by a slave-merchant, who sold me to one of the royal messengers.
+My master had a three-year-old daughter, with whom I was reared,
+and they used to make sport of me, letting me play with the girl
+and dance and sing to her, till I reached the age of twelve and
+she that of ten; and even then they did not forbid me from her.
+One day, I went in to her and found her sitting in an inner room,
+perfumed with essences and scented woods, and her face shone like
+the round of the moon on its fourteenth night, as if she had just
+come out of the bath that was in the house. She began to sport
+with me, and I with her. Now I had just reached the age of
+puberty, and my yard rose on end, as it were a great bolt. Then
+she threw me down and mounting my breast, pulled me hither and
+thither, till my yard became uncovered. When she saw this, and it
+in point, she seized it in her hand and fell to rubbing it
+against the lips of her kaze, outside her trousers. At this, heat
+stirred in me and I put my arms round her, whilst she wreathed
+hers about my neck and strained me to her with all her might,
+till, before I knew what I did, my yard thrust through her
+trousers, and entering her kaze, did away her maidenhead. When I
+saw what I had done, I fled and took refuge with one of my
+comrades. Presently, her mother came in to her, and seeing her in
+this state, was lost to the world. However, she smoothed the
+matter over and hid the girl's condition from her father, of the
+love they bore me, nor did they cease to call to me and coax me,
+till they took me from where I was. After two months had passed
+by, her mother married her to a young man, a barber, who used to
+shave her father, and portioned and fitted her out of her own
+monies, whilst her father knew nothing of what had passed. Then
+they took me unawares and gelded me: and when they brought her to
+her husband, they made me her eunuch, to go before her, wherever
+she went, whether to the bath or to her father's house. On the
+wedding-night, they slaughtered a young pigeon and sprinkled the
+blood on her shift;[FN#116] and I abode with her a long while,
+enjoying her beauty and grace, by way of kissing and clipping and
+clicketing, till she died and her husband and father and mother
+died also; when they seized me for the Treasury and I found
+my way hither, where I became your comrade. This then, O my
+brothers, is my story and how I came to be docked of my cullions;
+and peace be on you.' Then said the second eunuch, 'Know, O my
+brothers, that
+
+
+
+
+
+Story of the Eunuch Kafour.
+
+
+
+From the time when I was eight years old, I was wont to tell the
+slave-merchants one lie every year, so that they fell out with
+one another, till at last my master lost patience with me and
+carrying me down to the market, delivered me to a broker and bade
+him cry me for sale, saying, "Who will buy this slave with his
+fault?" He did so, and it was asked him, "What is his fault?"
+Quoth he, "He tells one lie every year." Then came up one of the
+merchants and said to the broker, "How much have they bidden for
+this slave, with his fault?" "Six hundred dirhems," replied the
+broker. "And twenty dirhems for thyself," said the merchant. So
+he brought him to the slave-dealer, who took the money, and the
+broker carried me to my master's house and went away, after
+having received his brokerage. The merchant clothed me as
+befitted my condition, and I bode in his service the rest of the
+year, until the new year came in with good omen. It was a blessed
+season, rich in herbage and the fruits of the earth, and the
+merchants began to give entertainments every day, each bearing
+the cost in turn, till it came to my master's turn to entertain
+them in a garden without the city. So he and the other merchants
+repaired to the garden, taking with them all that they required
+of food and so forth, and sat, eating and drinking and carousing,
+till noon, when my master, having need of something from the
+house, said to me, "O slave, mount the mule and go to the house
+and get such and such a thing from thy mistress and return
+quickly." I did as he bade me and started for the house, but as I
+drew near, I began to cry out and weep copiously, whereupon all
+the people of the quarter collected, great and small; and my
+master's wife and daughters, hearing the noise I was making,
+opened the door and asked me what was the matter. Quoth I, "My
+master and his friends were sitting beneath an old wall, and it
+fell on them: and when I saw what had befallen them, I mounted
+the mule and came hither, in haste, to tell you." When my
+master's wife and daughters heard this, they shrieked aloud
+and tore their clothes and buffeted their faces, whilst the
+neighbours came round them. Then my mistress overturned the
+furniture of the house, pell-mell, tore down the shelves, broke
+up the casements and the lattices and smeared the walls with mud
+and indigo. Presently she said to me, "Out on thee, O Kafour!
+Come and help me tear down these cupboards and break up these
+vessels and porcelain!" So I went to her and helped her break up
+all the shelves in the house, with everything on them, after
+which I went round about the roofs and every part of the house,
+demolishing all I could and leaving not a single piece of china
+or the like in the house unbroken, till I had laid waste the
+whole place, crying out the while, "Alas, my master!" Then my
+mistress sallied forth, with her face uncovered and only her
+kerchief on, accompanied by her sons and daughters, and said to
+me, "Go thou before us and show us the place where thy master
+lies dead under the wall, that we may take him out from the ruins
+and lay him on a bier and carry him to the house and give him a
+goodly funeral." So I went on before them, crying out, "Alas, my
+master!" and they after me, bareheaded, crying out, "Alas! Alas
+for the man!" And there was not a man nor a woman nor a boy nor
+an old woman in the quarter but followed us, buffeting their
+faces and weeping sore. On this wise, I traversed the city with
+them, and the folk asked what was the matter, whereupon they told
+them what they had heard from me, and they exclaimed, "There is
+no power and no virtue but in God!" Then said one of them, "He
+was a man of consideration; so let us go to the chief of the
+police and tell him what has happened." So they repaired to the
+magistrate and told him, whereupon he mounted and taking with him
+workmen with spades and baskets, set out for the scene of the
+accident, following my track, with all the people after him. I
+ran on before them, buffeting my face and throwing dust on my
+head and crying out, followed by my mistress and her children,
+shrieking aloud. But I outran them and reached the garden before
+them, and when my master saw me in this state and heard me crying
+out, "Alas, my mistress! Alas! Alas! Who is left to take pity on
+me, now that my mistress is dead? Would God I had died instead of
+her!" he was confounded and his colour paled. Then said he to me,
+"What ails thee, O Kafour? What is the matter?" "O my lord,"
+replied I, "When thou sentest me to the house, I found that the
+wall of the saloon had given way and the whole of it had fallen
+in upon my mistress and her children." "And did not thy mistress
+escape?" "No, by Allah, O my master!" answered I. "Not one of
+them was saved, and the first to die was my mistress, thine elder
+daughter." "Did not my younger daughter escape?" asked he. "No,"
+replied I; and he said, "What became of the mule I use to ride?
+Was she saved?" "No, by Allah," answered I; "the walls of the
+house and of the stable fell in on all that were in the dwelling,
+even to the sheep and geese and fowls, so that they all became a
+heap of flesh and the dogs ate them: not one of them is saved."
+"Not even thy master, my elder son?" asked he. "No, by Allah!"
+repeated I. "Not one of them was saved, and now there remains
+neither house nor inhabitants nor any trace of them: and as for
+the sheep and geese and fowls, the dogs and cats have eaten
+them." When my master heard this, the light in his eyes became
+darkness and he lost command of his senses and his reason, so
+that he could not stand upon his feet, for he was as one taken
+with the rickets and his back was broken. Then he rent his
+clothes and plucked out his beard and casting his turban from his
+head, buffeted his face, till the blood streamed down, crying
+out, "Alas, my children! Alas, my wife! Alas, what a misfortune!
+To whom did there ever happen the like of what hath befallen me?"
+The other merchants, his companions, joined in his tears and
+lamentations and rent their clothes, being moved to pity of his
+case; and my master went out of the garden' buffeting his face
+and staggering like a drunken man, for stress of what had
+befallen him and the much beating he had given his face. As he
+came forth of the garden-gate, followed by the other merchants,
+behold, they saw a great cloud of dust and heard a great noise of
+crying and lamentation. They looked, and behold, it was the chief
+of the police with his officers and the townspeople who had come
+out to look on, and my master's family in front of them, weeping
+sore and shrieking and lamenting. The first to accost my master
+were his wife and children; and when he saw them, he was
+confounded and laughed and said to them, "How is it with you all
+and what befell you in the house?" When they saw him, they
+exclaimed, "Praised be God for thy safety!" and threw themselves
+upon him, and his children clung to him, crying, "Alas, our
+father! Praised be God for thy preservation, O our father!" Then
+said his wife, "Thou art well, praised be God who hath shown us
+thy face in safety!" And indeed she was confounded and her reason
+fled, when she saw him, and she said, "O my lord, how did you
+escape, thou and thy friends the merchants?" "And how fared it
+with thee in the house?" asked he. "We were all in good health
+and case," answered they; "nor has aught befallen us in the
+house, save that thy slave Kafour came to us, bareheaded, with
+his clothes torn and crying out, 'Alas, my master! Alas, my
+master!' So we asked what was the matter, and he said, 'The wall
+of the garden has fallen on my master and his friends, and they
+are all dead.'" "By Allah," said my master, "he came to me but
+now, crying out, 'Alas, my mistress! Alas, her children!' and
+said, 'My mistress and her children are all dead.'" Then he
+looked round and seeing me with my torn turban hanging down my
+neck, shrieking and weeping violently and strewing earth on my
+head, cried out at me. So I came to him and he said, "Woe to
+thee, O pestilent slave, O whore-son knave, O accurst of race!
+What mischiefs hast thou wrought! But I will strip thy skin from
+thy flesh and cut thy flesh off thy bones!" "By Allah," replied
+I, "thou canst do nothing with me, for thou boughtest me with my
+fault, with witnesses to testify against thee that thou didst so
+and that thou knewest of my fault, which is that I tell one lie
+every year. This is but half a lie, but by the end of the year, I
+will tell the other half, and it will then be a whole lie." "O
+dog, son of a dog," exclaimed my master, "O most accursed of
+slaves, is this but a half lie? Indeed, it is a great calamity!
+Go out from me; thou art free before God!" "By Allah," rejoined
+I, "if thou free me, I will not free thee, till I have completed
+my year and told the other half lie. When that is done, take me
+down to the market and sell me, as thou boughtest me, to
+whosoever will buy me with my fault: but free me not, for I have
+no handicraft to get my living by: and this my demand is
+according to the law, as laid down by the doctors in the chapter
+of Manumission." Whilst we were talking, up came the people of
+the quarter and others, men and women, together with the chief of
+the police and his suite. So my master and the other merchants
+went up to him and told him the story and how this was but half a
+lie, at which the people wondered and deemed the lie an enormous
+one. And they cursed me and reviled me, whilst I stood laughing
+and saying, "How can my master kill me, when he bought me with
+this fault?" Then my master returned home and found his house in
+ruins, and it was I who had laid waste the most part of it,
+having destroyed things worth much money, as had also done his
+wife, who said to him, "It was Kafour who broke the vessels and
+the china." Thereupon his rage redoubled and he beat hand upon
+hand, exclaiming, "By Allah, never in my life did I see such a
+son of shame as this slave; and he says this is only half a lie!
+How if he had told a whole one? He would have laid waste a city
+or two!" Then in his rage he went to the chief of the police, who
+made me eat stick till I fainted: and whilst I was yet senseless,
+they fetched a barber, who gelded me and cauterized the parts.
+When I revived, I found myself an eunuch, and my master said to
+me, "Even as thou hast made my heart bleed for the most precious
+things I had, so will I grieve thy heart for that of thy members
+by which thou settest most store." Then he took me and sold me at
+a profit, for that I was become an eunuch, and I ceased not to
+make trouble, wherever I came, and was shifted from Amir to Amir
+and notable to notable, being bought and sold, till I entered the
+palace of the Commander of the Faithful, and now my spirit is
+broken and I have abjured my tricks, having lost my manhood.'
+
+When the others heard his story, they laughed and said, 'Verily,
+thou art dung, the son of dung! Thou liedst most abominably!'
+Then said they to the third slave, 'Tell us thy story.' 'O my
+cousins,' replied he, 'all that ye have said is idle: I will tell
+you how I came to lose my cullions, and indeed, I deserved more
+than this, for I swived my mistress and my master's son: but my
+story is a long one and this is no time to tell it, for the dawn
+is near, and if the day surprise us with this chest yet unburied,
+we shall be blown upon and lose our lives. So let us fall to work
+at once, and when we get back to the palace, I will tell you my
+story and how I became an eunuch.' So they set down the lantern
+and dug a hole between four tombs, the length and breadth of the
+chest, Kafour plying the spade and Sewab clearing away the earth
+by basketsful, till they had reached a depth of half a fathom,
+when they laid the chest in the hole and threw back the earth
+over it: then went out and shutting the door, disappeared from
+Ghanim's sight. When he was sure that they were indeed gone and
+that he was alone in the place, his heart was concerned to know
+what was in the chest and he said to himself; 'I wonder what was
+in the chest!' However, he waited till break of day, when he came
+down from the palm-tree and scraped away the earth with his
+hands, till he laid bare the chest and lifted it out of the hole.
+Then he took a large stone and hammered at the lock, till he
+broke it and raising the cover, beheld a beautiful young lady,
+richly dressed and decked with jewels of gold and necklaces of
+precious stones, worth a kingdom, no money could pay their price.
+She was asleep and her breath rose and fell, as if she had been
+drugged. When Ghanim saw her, he knew that some one had plotted
+against her and drugged her; so he pulled her out of the chest
+and laid her on the ground on her back. As soon as she scented
+the breeze and the air entered her nostrils and lungs, she
+sneezed and choked and coughed, when there fell from her mouth a
+pastille of Cretan henbane, enough to make an elephant sleep from
+night to night, if he but smelt it. Then she opened her eyes and
+looking round, exclaimed in a sweet and melodious voice, 'Out on
+thee, O breeze! There is in thee neither drink for the thirsty
+nor solace for him whose thirst is quenched! Where is Zehr el
+Bustan?' But no one answered her; so she turned and cried out,
+'Ho, Sebiheh, Shejeret ed Durr, Nour el Huda, Nejmet es Subh,
+Shehweh, Nuzheh, Hulweh, Zerifeh![FN#117] Out on ye, speak!'
+But no one answered her; and she looked about her and said,
+'Woe is me! they have buried me among the tombs! O Thou who
+knowest what is in the breasts and who wilt requite at the Day of
+Resurrection, who hath brought me out from among the screens and
+curtains of the harem and laid me between four tombs?' All this
+while Ghanim was standing by: then he said to her, 'O my lady,
+here are neither screens nor curtains nor palaces; only thy bond
+slave Ghanim ben Eyoub, whom He who knoweth the hidden things
+hath brought hither, that he night save thee from these perils
+and accomplish for thee all that thou desirest.' And he was
+silent. When she saw how the case stood, she exclaimed, 'I
+testify that there is no god but God and that Mohammed is the
+Apostle of God!' Then she put her hands to her face and turning
+to Ghanim, said in a sweet voice, 'O blessed youth, who brought
+me hither! See, I am now come to myself.' 'O my lady,' replied
+he, 'three black eunuchs came hither, bearing this chest;' and
+told her all that had happened and how his being belated had
+proved the means of her preservation from death by suffocation.
+Then he asked her who she was and what was her story. 'O youth,'
+said she, 'praised be God who hath thrown me into the hands of
+the like of thee! But now put me back into the chest and go out
+into the road and hire the first muleteer or horse-letter thou
+meetest, to carry it to thy house. When I am there, all will be
+well and I will tell thee my story and who am I, and good shall
+betide thee on my account.' At this he rejoiced and went out into
+the road. It was now broad day and the folk began to go about the
+ways: so he hired a muleteer and bringing him to the tomb, lifted
+up the chest, in which he had already replaced the young lady,
+and set it on the mule. Then he fared homeward, rejoicing, for
+that she was a damsel worth ten thousand dinars and adorned with
+jewels and apparel of great value, and love for her had fallen on
+his heart. As soon as he came to the house, he carried in the
+chest and opening it, took out the young lady, who looked about
+her, and seeing that the place was handsome, spread with carpets
+and decked with gay colours, and noting the stuffs tied up and
+the bales of goods and what not, knew that he was a considerable
+merchant and a man of wealth. So she uncovered her face and
+looking at him, saw that he was a handsome young man and loved
+him. Then said she to him, 'O my lord, bring us something to
+eat.' 'On my head and eyes,' replied he, and going to the market,
+bought a roasted lamb, a dish of sweetmeats, dried fruits and wax
+candles, besides wine and drinking gear and perfumes. With these
+he returned to the house, and when the damsel saw him, she
+laughed and kissed and embraced him. Then she fell to caressing
+him, so that love for her redoubled on him and got the mastery of
+his heart. They ate and drank, each in love with the other, for
+indeed they were alike in age and beauty, till nightfall, when
+Ghanim rose and lit the lamps and candles, till the place blazed
+with light; after which he brought the wine-service and set on
+the banquet. Then they sat down again and began to fill and give
+each other to drink; and they toyed and laughed and recited
+verses, whilst joy grew on them and each was engrossed with love
+of the other, glory be to Him, who uniteth hearts! They ceased
+not to carouse thus till near upon daybreak, when drowsiness
+overcame them and they slept where they were till the morning.
+Then Ghanim arose and going to the market, bought all that they
+required in the way of meat and drink and vegetables and what
+not, with which he returned to the house; and they both sat down
+and ate till they were satisfied, when he set on wine. They drank
+and toyed with each other, till their cheeks flushed and their
+eyes sparkled and Ghanim's soul yearned to kiss the girl and lie
+with her. So he said to her, 'O my lady, grant me a kiss of thy
+mouth; maybe it will quench the fire of my heart.' 'O Ghanim,'
+replied she, 'wait till I am drunk: then steal a kiss from me, so
+that I may not know thou hast kissed me.' Then she rose and
+taking off her upper clothes, sat in a shift of fine linen and a
+silken kerchief. At this, desire stirred in Ghanim and he said to
+her, 'O my mistress, wilt thou not vouchsafe me what I asked of
+thee!' 'By Allah,' replied she, 'this may not be, for there is a
+stubborn saying written on the ribbon of my trousers.' Thereupon
+Ghanim's heart sank and passion grew on him the more that what he
+sought was hard to get; and he recited the following verses:
+
+I sought of her who caused my pain A kiss to ease me of my woe.
+"No, no!" she answered; "hope it not!" And I, "Yes, yes! It shall
+     be so!"
+Then said she, smiling, "Take it then, With my consent, before I
+     know."
+And I, "By force!" "Not so," said she: "I freely it on thee
+     bestow."
+So do not question what befell, But seek God's grace and ask no
+     mo;
+Think what thou wilt of us; for love Is with suspect made sweet,
+     I trow.
+Nor do I reck if, after this, Avowed or secret be the foe.
+
+Then love increased on him, and the fires were loosed in his
+heart, while she defended herself from him, saying, 'I can never
+be thine.' They ceased not to make love and carouse, whilst
+Ghanim was drowned in the sea of passion and distraction and she
+redoubled in cruelty and coyness, till the night brought in the
+darkness and let fall on them the skirts of sleep, when Ghanim
+rose and lit the lamps and candles and renewed the banquet and
+the flowers; then took her feet and kissed them, and finding them
+like fresh cream, pressed his face on them and said to her, 'O my
+lady, have pity on the captive of thy love and the slain of thine
+eyes; for indeed I were whole of heart but for thee!' And he wept
+awhile. 'O my lord and light of my eyes,' replied she, 'by Allah,
+I love thee and trust in thee, but I know that I cannot be
+thine.' 'And what is there to hinder?' asked he. Quoth she,
+'Tonight, I will tell thee my story, that thou mayst accept my
+excuse.' Then she threw herself upon him and twining her arms
+about his neck, kissed him and wheedled him, promising him her
+favours; and they continued to toy and laugh till love got
+complete possession of them. They abode thus for a whole month,
+sleeping nightly on one couch, but whenever he sought to enjoy
+her, she put him off, whilst mutual love increased upon them,
+till they could hardly abstain from one another. One night as
+they lay, side by side, both heated with wine, he put his hand to
+her breast and stroked it, then passed it down over her stomach
+to her navel. She awoke and sitting up, put her hand to her
+trousers and finding them fast, fell asleep again. Presently, he
+put out his hand a second time and stroked her and sliding down
+to the ribbon of her trousers, began to pull at it, whereupon she
+awoke and sat up. Ghanim also sat up beside her and she said to
+him, 'What dost thou want?' 'I want to lie with thee,' answered
+he, 'and that we may deal frankly one with the other.' Quoth she,
+'I must now expound my case to thee, that thou mayst know my
+condition and my secret and that my excuse may be manifest to
+thee.' 'It is well,' replied he. Then she opened the skirt of her
+shift, and taking up the ribbon of her trousers, said to him, 'O
+my lord, read what is on this ribbon.' So he took it and saw,
+wrought in letters of gold, the following words, 'I am thine, and
+thou art mine, O descendant of the Prophet's Uncle!' When he read
+this, he dropped his hand and said to her, 'Tell me who thou
+art.' 'It is well,' answered she; 'know that I am one of the
+favourites of the Commander of the Faithful and my name is Cout
+el Culoub. I was reared in his palace, and when I grew up, he
+looked on me, and noting my qualities and the beauty and grace
+that God had bestowed on me, conceived a great love for me; so he
+took me and assigned me a separate lodging and gave me ten female
+slaves to wait on me and all this jewellery thou seest on me. One
+day he went on a journey to one of his provinces and the Lady
+Zubeideh came to one of my waiting-women and said to her, "I have
+somewhat to ask of thee." "What is it, O my lady?" asked she.
+"When thy mistress Cout el Culoub is asleep," said Zubeideh, "put
+this piece of henbane up her nostrils or in her drink, and thou
+shalt have of me as much money as will content thee." "With all
+my heart," replied the woman, and took the henbane, being glad
+because of the money and because she had aforetime been in
+Zubeideh's service. So she put the henbane in my drink, and when
+it was night, I drank, and the drug had no sooner reached my
+stomach than I fell to the ground, with my head touching my feet,
+and knew not but that I was in another world. When Zubeideh saw
+that her plot had succeeded, she put me in this chest and
+summoning the slaves, bribed them and the doorkeepers, and sent
+the former to do with me as thou sawest. So my delivery was at
+thy hands, and thou broughtest me hither and hast used me with
+the utmost kindness. This is my story, and I know not what is
+come of the Khalif in my absence. Know then my condition, and
+divulge not my affair.' When Ghanim heard her words and knew that
+she was the favourite of the Commander of the Faithful, he drew
+back, being smitten with fear of the Khalif, and sat apart from
+her in one of the corners of the place, blaming himself and
+brooding over his case and schooling his heart to patience,
+bewildered for love of one who might not be his. Then he wept,
+for excess of longing, and bemoaned the injustice and hostility
+of Fortune (Glory be to Him who occupies hearts with love!)
+reciting the following verses:
+
+The heart of the lover's racked with weariness and care, For his
+     reason ravished is for one who is passing fair.
+It was asked me, "What is the taste of love?" I answer made,
+     "Love is sweet water, wherein are torment and despair."
+
+
+Thereupon Cout el Culoub arose and pressed him to her bosom and
+kissed him, for love of him mastered her heart, so that she
+discovered to him her secret and the passion that possessed her
+and throwing her arms about his neck, embraced him; but he held
+off from her, for fear of the Khalif. Then they talked awhile
+(and indeed they were both drowned in the sea of mutual love)
+till day, when Ghanim rose and going to the market as usual, took
+what was needful and returned home. He found her in tears; but
+when she saw him, she ceased weeping and smiled and said, 'Thou
+hast made me desolate, O beloved of my heart! By Allah, the hour
+that thou hast been absent from me has been to me as a year! I
+have let thee see how it is with me for the excess of my passion
+for thee; so come now, leave what has been and take thy will of
+me.' 'God forbid that this should be!' replied he. 'How shall the
+dog sit in the lion's place? Verily, that which is the master's
+is forbidden to the slave.' And he withdrew from her and sat down
+on a corner of the mat. Her passion increased with his refusal;
+so she sat down beside him and caroused and sported with him,
+till they were both warm with wine, and she was mad for dishonour
+with him. Then she sang the following verses:
+
+The heart of the slave of passion is all but broken in twain: How
+     long shall this rigour last and this coldness of disdain?
+O thou that turnest away from me, in default of sin, Rather to
+     turn towards than away should gazelles be fain!
+Aversion and distance eternal and rigour and disdain; How can
+     youthful lover these hardships all sustain?
+
+Thereupon Ghanim wept and she wept because he did, and they
+ceased not to drink till nightfall, when he rose and spread two
+beds, each in its place. 'For whom is the second bed?' asked she.
+'One is for me and the other for thee,' answered he. 'Henceforth
+we must lie apart, for that which is the master's is forbidden to
+the slave.' 'O my lord,' exclaimed she, 'let us leave this, for
+all things happen according to fate and predestination.' But be
+refused, and the fire was loosed in her heart and she clung to
+him and said, 'By Allah, we will not sleep but together!' 'God
+forbid!' answered he, and he prevailed against her and lay apart
+till the morning, whilst love and longing and distraction
+redoubled on her. They abode thus three whole months, and
+whenever she made advances to him, he held aloof from her,
+saying, 'Whatever belongs to the master is forbidden to the
+slave.' Then, when this was prolonged upon her and affliction and
+anguish grew on her, for the weariness of her heart she recited
+the following verses:
+
+O marvel of beauty, how long this disdain? And who hath provoked
+     thee to turn from my pain?
+All manner of elegance in thee is found And all fashions of
+     fairness thy form doth contain.
+The hearts of all mortals thou stir'st with desire And on
+     everyone's lids thou mak'st sleeplessness reign.
+I know that the branch has been plucked before thee; So, O
+     capparis-branch, thou dost wrong, it is plain.
+I used erst to capture myself the wild deer. How comes it the
+     chase doth the hunter enchain?
+But the strangest of all that is told of thee is, I was snared,
+     and thou heard'st not the voice of my pain.
+Yet grant not my prayer. If I'm jealous for thee Of thyself how
+     much more of myself? Nor again,
+As long as life lasteth in me, will I say, "O marvel of beauty,
+     how long this disdain?"'
+
+Meanwhile, the Lady Zubeideh, when, in the absence of the Khalif,
+she had done this thing with Cout el Culoub, abode perplexed and
+said to herself, 'What answer shall I make the Khalif, when he
+comes back and asks for her?' Then she called an old woman, who
+was with her, and discovered her secret to her, saying, 'What
+shall I do, seeing that Cout el Culoub is no more?' 'O my lady,'
+replied the old woman, 'the time of the Khalif's return is at
+hand; but do thou send for a carpenter and bid him make a figure
+of wood in the shape of a corpse. We will dig a grave for it and
+bury it in the middle of the palace: then do thou build an
+oratory over it and set therein lighted lamps and candles and
+command all in the palace to put on mourning. Moreover, do thou
+bid thy slave-girls and eunuchs, as soon as they know of the
+Khalif's approach, spread straw in the vestibules, and when the
+Khalif enters and asks what is the matter, let them say, "Cout el
+Culoub is dead, may God abundantly replace her to thee! and for
+the honour in which she was held of our mistress, she hath buried
+her in her own palace." When the Khalif hears this, it will be
+grievous to him and he will weep: then will he cause recitations
+of the Koran to be made over her and will watch by night over her
+tomb. If he should say to himself, "My cousin Zubeideh has
+compassed the death of Cout el Culoub out of jealousy," or if
+love-longing should master him and he order to take her forth of
+the tomb, fear thou not; for when they dig and come to the
+figure, he will see it as it were a human body, shrouded in
+costly grave-clothes; and if he desire to take off the swathings,
+do thou forbid him and say to him, "It is unlawful to look upon
+her nakedness." The fear of the world to come will restrain him
+and he will believe that she is dead and will cause the image to
+be restored to its place and thank thee for what thou hast done:
+and so, if it please God, thou shalt be delivered from this
+strait.' Her advice commended itself to Zubeideh, who bestowed on
+her a dress of honour and a sum of money, bidding her do as she
+had said. So she at once ordered a carpenter to make the
+aforesaid figure, and as soon as it was finished, she brought it
+to Zubeideh, who shrouded it and buried it and built a pavilion
+over it, in which she set lighted lamps and candles and spread
+carpets round the tomb. Moreover, she put on black and ordered
+her household to do the same, and the news was spread abroad in
+the palace that Cout el Culoub was dead. After awhile, the Khalif
+returned from his journey and entered the palace, thinking only
+of Cout el Culoub. He saw all the pages and damsels and eunuchs
+in mourning, at which his heart quaked; and when he went in to
+the Lady Zubeideh, he found her also clad in black. So he asked
+the cause of this and was told that Cout el Culoub was dead,
+whereupon he fell down in a swoon. As soon as he came to himself,
+he enquired of her tomb, and Zubeideh said to him, 'Know, O
+Commander of the Faithful, that for the honour in which I held
+her, I have buried her in my own palace.' Then he repaired to her
+tomb, in his travelling dress, and found the place spread with
+carpets and lit with lamps. When he saw this, he thanked Zubeldeh
+for what she had done and abode perplexed, halting between belief
+and distrust, till at last suspicion got the better of him and he
+ordered the grave to be opened and the body exhumed. When he saw
+the figure and would have taken off the swathings to look upon
+the body, the fear of God the Most High restrained him, and the
+old woman (taking advantage of his hesitation) said, 'Restore her
+to her place.' Then he sent at once for readers and doctors of
+the Law and caused recitations of the Koran to be made over her
+grave and sat by it, weeping, till he lost his senses. He
+continued to frequent the tomb for a whole month, at the end of
+which time, he chanced one day, after the Divan had broken up and
+his Amirs and Viziers had gone away to their houses, to enter the
+harem, where he laid down and slept awhile, whilst one damsel sat
+at his head, fanning him, and another at his feet, rubbing them.
+Presently he awoke and opening his eyes, shut them again and
+heard the damsel at his head say to her at his feet, 'Hist,
+Kheizuran!' 'Well, Kezib el Ban?' answered the other. 'Verily,'
+said the first, 'our lord knows not what has passed and watches
+over a tomb in which there is only a carved wooden figure, of the
+carpenter's handiwork.' 'Then what is become of Cout el Culoub?'
+enquired the other. 'Know,' replied Kezib el Ban. 'that the Lady
+Zubeideh bribed one of her waiting-women to drug her with henbane
+and laying her in a chest, commanded Sewab and Kafour to take it
+and bury it among the tombs.' Quoth Kheizuran, 'And is not the
+lady Cout el Culoub dead?' 'No,' replied the other; 'God preserve
+her youth from death! but I have heard the Lady Zubeideh say that
+she is with a young merchant of Damascus, by name Ghanim ben
+Eyoub, and has been with him these four months, whilst this our
+lord is weeping and watching anights over an empty tomb.' When
+the Khalif heard the girls' talk and knew that the tomb was a
+trick and a fraud and that Cout el Culoub had been with Ghanim
+ben Eyoub for four months, he was sore enraged and rising up,
+summoned his officers of state, whereupon the Vizier Jaafer the
+Barmecide came up and kissed the earth before him, and the Khalif
+said to him, 'O Jaafer, take a company of men with thee and fall
+upon the house of Ghanim ben Eyoub and bring him to me, with my
+slave-girl Cout el Culoub, for I will assuredly punish him!' 'I
+hear and obey,' answered Jaafer, and setting out with his guards
+and the chief of the police, repaired to Ghanim's house. Now the
+latter had brought home a pot of meat and was about to put forth
+his hand to eat of it, he and Cout d Culoub, when the damsel,
+happening to look out, found the house beset on all sides by the
+Vizier and the chief of the police and their officers and
+attendants, with drawn swords in their hands, encompassing the
+place, as the white of the eye encompasses the black. At this
+sight, she knew that news of her had reached the Khalif, her
+master, and made sure of ruin, and her colour paled and her
+beauty changed. Then she turned to Ghanim and said to him, 'O my
+love, fly for thy life!' 'What shall I do?' said he; 'and whither
+shall I go, seeing that my substance and fortune are in this
+house?' 'Delay not,' answered she, 'lest thou lose both life and
+goods.' 'O my beloved and light of my eyes,' rejoined he, 'how
+shall I do to get away, when they have surrounded the house?'
+'Fear not,' said she: and taking off his clothes, made him put on
+old and ragged ones, after which she took the empty pot and put
+in it a piece of bread and a saucer of meat, and placing the
+whole in a basket, set it on his head and said, 'Go out in this
+guise and fear not for me, for I know how to deal with the
+Khalif.' So he went out amongst them, carrying the basket and its
+contents, and God covered him with His protection and he escaped
+the snares and perils that beset him, thanks to the purity of his
+intent. Meanwhile, Jaafer alighted and entering the house, saw
+Cout el Culoub, who had dressed and decked herself after the
+richest fashion and filled a chest with gold and jewellery and
+precious stones and rarities and what else was light of carriage
+and great of value. When she saw Jaafer, she rose and kissing the
+earth before him, said, 'O my lord, the pen[FN#118] hath written
+from of old that which God hath decreed.' 'By Allah, O my lady,'
+rejoined Jaafer, 'I am commanded to seize Ghanim ben Eyoub.' 'O
+my lord,' replied she, 'he made ready merchandise and set out
+therewith for Damascus and I know nothing more of him; but I
+desire thee to take charge of this chest and deliver it to me in
+the palace of the Commander of the Faithful.' 'I hear and obey,'
+said Jaafer, and bade his men carry the chest to the palace,
+together with Cout el Culoub, commanding them to use her with
+honour and consideration. And they did his bidding, after they
+had plundered Ghanim's house. Then Jaafer went in to the Khalif
+and told him what had happened, and he bade lodge Cout el Culoub
+in a dark chamber and appointed an old woman to serve her,
+thinking no otherwise than that Ghanim had certainly debauched
+her and lain with her. Then he wrote a letter to the Amir
+Mohammed ben Suleiman ez Zeini, the viceroy of Damascus, to the
+following purport, 'As soon as this letter reaches thee, lay
+hands on Ghanim ben Eyoub and send him to me.' When the letter
+came to the viceroy, he kissed it and laid it on his head, then
+caused proclamation to be made in the streets of Damascus, 'Whoso
+is minded to plunder, let him betake himself to the house of
+Ghanim ben Eyoub!' So they repaired to the house, where they
+found that Ghanim's mother and sister had made him a tomb midmost
+the house and sat by it, weeping for him, whereupon they seized
+them, without telling them the cause, and carried them before the
+Sultan, after having plundered the house. The viceroy questioned
+them of Ghanim, and they replied, 'This year or more we have had
+no news of him.' So they restored them to their place.
+
+Meanwhile Ghanim, finding himself despoiled of his wealth and
+considering his case, wept till his heart was well-nigh broken.
+Then he fared on at random, till the end of the day, and hunger
+was sore on him and he was worn out with fatigue. Coming to a
+village, he entered a mosque, where he sat down on a mat, leaning
+his back against the wall, and presently sank to the ground, in
+extremity for hunger and weariness, and lay there till morning,
+his heart fluttering for want of food. By reason of his sweating,
+vermin coursed over his skin, his breath grew fetid and he became
+in sorry case. When the people of the town came to pray the
+morning-prayer, they found him lying there, sick and weak with
+hunger, yet showing signs of gentle breeding. As soon as they had
+done their devotions, they came up to him and finding him cold
+and starving, threw over him an old mantle with ragged sleeves
+and said to him, 'O stranger, whence art thou and what ails
+thee?' He opened his eyes and wept, but made them no answer;
+whereupon, one of them, seeing that he was starving, brought him
+a saucerful of honey and two cakes of bread. So he ate a little
+and they sat with him till sunrise, when they went about their
+occupations. He abode with them in this state for a month, whilst
+sickness and infirmity increased upon him, and they wept for him
+and pitying his condition, took counsel together of his case and
+agreed to send him to the hospital at Baghdad. Meanwhile, there
+came into the mosque two beggar women, who were none other than
+Ghanim's mother and sister; and when he saw them, he gave them
+the bread that was at his head and they slept by his side that
+night, but he knew them not. Next day the villagers fetched a
+camel and said to the driver, 'Put this sick man on thy camel
+and carry him to Baghdad and set him down at the door of the
+hospital, so haply he may be medicined and recover his health,
+and God will reward thee.' 'I hear and obey,' said the camel-
+driver. So they brought Ghanim, who was asleep, out of the
+mosque and laid him, mat and all, on the back of the camel; and
+his mother and sister came out with the rest of the people to
+look on him, but knew him not. However, after considering him,
+they said, 'Verily, he favours our Ghanim! Can this sick man be
+he?' Presently, he awoke and finding himself bound with ropes on
+the back of a camel, began to weep and complain, and the people
+of the village saw his mother and sister weeping over him, though
+they knew him not. Then they set out for Baghdad, whither the
+camel-driver forewent them and setting Ghanim down at the door of
+the hospital, went away. He lay there till morning, and when the
+people began to go about the ways, they saw him and stood gazing
+on him, for indeed he was become as thin as a skewer, till the
+syndic of the market came up and drove them away, saying, 'I will
+gain Paradise through this poor fellow; for if they take him into
+the hospital, they will kill him in one day.' Then he made his
+servants carry him to his own house, where he spread him a
+new bed, with a new pillow, and said to his wife, 'Tend him
+faithfully.' 'Good,' answered she; 'on my head be it!' Then she
+tucked up her sleeves and heating some water, washed his hands
+and feet and body, after which she clothed him in a gown
+belonging to one of her slave-girls and gave him a cup of wine to
+drink and sprinkled rose-water over him. So he revived and
+moaned, as he thought of his beloved Cout el Culoub! and sorrows
+were sore upon him.
+
+Meanwhile, Cout el Culoub abode in duresse fourscore days, at the
+end of which time, the Khalif chancing one day to pass the place
+in which she was, heard her repeating verses and saying, 'O my
+beloved, O Ghanim, how great is thy goodness and how chaste is
+thy nature! Thou didst good to him who hath injured thee, thou
+guardedst his honour who hath violated thine, and didst protect
+the harem of him who hath despoiled thee and thine! But thou wilt
+surely stand, with the Commander of the Faithful, before the Just
+Judge and be justified of him on the day when the judge shall be
+the Lord of all (to whom belong might and majesty) and the
+witnesses the angels!' When the Khalif heard her complaint, he
+knew that she had been wrongfully entreated and returning to his
+palace sent Mesrour the eunuch for her. She came before him, with
+bowed head, tearful-eyed and mournful-hearted, and he said to
+her, 'O Cout el Culoub, I find thou taxest me with injustice and
+tyranny and avouchest that I have wronged him who did me good.
+Who is this that hath guarded my honour and whose honour I have
+violated, and who hath protected my harem, whilst I have enslaved
+his?' 'Ghanim ben Eyoub,' replied she; 'for by thy munificence, O
+Commander of the Faithful, he never approached me by way of
+lewdness nor with evil intent!' Then said the Khalif, 'There is
+no power and no virtue but in God! Ask what thou wilt of me, O
+Cout el Culoub, and it shall be granted to thee.' 'O Commander of
+the Faithful,' said she, 'I ask of thee my beloved Ghanim ben
+Eyoub.' The Khalif granted her prayer, and she said, 'O Commander
+of the Faithful, if I bring him to thee, wilt thou bestow me on
+him?' 'If he come,' replied the Khalif, 'I will bestow thee on
+him, the gift of a generous man who does not go back on his
+giving.' 'O Commander of the Faithful,' said she, 'suffer me to
+go in quest of him: it may be God will unite me with him.' 'Do
+what seemeth good to thee,' answered he. So she rejoiced and
+taking with her a thousand dinars, went out and visited the
+elders of the various religious orders and gave alms for Ghanim's
+sake. Next day she went to the merchants' bazaar and told the
+chief of the market what she sought and gave him money, saying,
+'Bestow this in alms on strangers.' The following week she took
+other thousand dinars and going to the market of the goldsmiths
+and jewellers, called the syndic and gave him the money, saying,
+'Bestow this in alms on strangers.' The syndic, who was none
+other than Ghanim's benefactor, looked at her and said, 'O my
+lady, wilt thou go to my house and look upon a strange youth I
+have there and see how goodly and elegant he is?' (Now this
+stranger was Ghanim, but the syndic had no knowledge of him and
+thought him to be some unfortunate debtor, who had been despoiled
+of his property, or a lover parted from his beloved.) When she
+heard his words, her heart fluttered and her bowels yearned, and
+she said to him, 'Send with me some one who shall bring me to thy
+house.' So he sent a little boy, who led her thither and she
+thanked him for this. When she reached the house, she went in and
+saluted the syndic's wife, who rose and kissed the ground before
+her, knowing her. Then said Cout el Culoub, 'Where is the sick
+man who is with thee?' 'O my lady,' replied she, weeping, 'here
+he is, lying on this bed. By Allah, he is a man of condition and
+bears traces of gentle breeding!' So Cout el Culoub turned and
+looked at him, but he was as if disguised in her eyes, being worn
+and wasted till he was become as thin as a skewer, so that his
+case was doubtful to her and she was not certain that it was he.
+Nevertheless, she was moved to compassion for him and wept,
+saying, 'Verily, strangers are unhappy, though they be princes in
+their own land!' And his case was grievous to her and her heart
+ached for him, though she knew him not to be Ghanim. Then she
+appointed him wine and medicines and sat by his head awhile,
+after which she mounted and returned to her palace and continued
+to make the round of the bazaars in search of Ghanim.
+
+Meanwhile Ghanim's mother and sister arrived at Baghdad and fell
+in with the charitable syndic, who carried them to Cout el Culoub
+and said to her, 'O princess of benevolent ladies, there be come
+to our city this day a woman and her daughter, who are fair of
+face and the marks of gentle breeding and fortune are manifest
+upon them, though they are clad in hair garments and have each
+a wallet hanging to her neck; and they are tearful-eyed and
+sorrowful-hearted. So I have brought them to thee, that thou
+mayest shelter them and rescue them from beggary, for they are
+not fit to ask alms, and if God will, we shall enter Paradise
+through them.' 'O my lord,' exclaimed she, 'thou makest me long
+to see them! Where are they? Bring them to me.' So he bade the
+eunuch bring them in; and when she looked on them and saw that
+they were both possessed of beauty, she wept for them and said,
+'By Allah, they are people of condition and show signs of former
+fortune.' 'O my lady,' said the syndic's wife, 'we love the poor
+and destitute, because of the recompense that God hath promised
+to such as succour them: as for these, belike the oppressors have
+done them violence and robbed them of their fortune and laid
+waste their dwelling-place.' Then Ghanim's mother and sister wept
+sore, recalling their former prosperity and contrasting it with
+their present destitute and miserable condition and thinking of
+Ghanim, whilst Cout el Culoub wept because they did. And they
+exclaimed, 'We beseech God to reunite us with him whom we desire,
+and he is none other than our son Ghanim ben Eyoub!' When Cout el
+Culoub heard this, she knew them to be the mother and sister of
+her beloved and wept till she lost her senses. When she revived,
+she turned to them and said, 'Have no care and grieve not, for
+this day is the first of your prosperity and the last of your
+adversity.' Then she bade the syndic take them to his own house
+and let his wife carry them to the bath and clothe them
+handsomely. And she charged him to take care of them and treat
+them with all honour, and gave him a sum of money. Next day, she
+mounted and riding to his house, went in to his wife, who rose
+and kissed her hands and thanked her for her goodness. There she
+saw Ghanim's mother and sister, whom the syndic's wife had taken
+to the bath and clothed afresh, so that the traces of their
+former condition were now plainly apparent. She sat awhile,
+conversing with them, after which she enquired for the sick
+youth, and the syndic's wife replied, 'He is in the same state.'
+Then said Cout el Culoub, 'Come, let us go and visit him.' So
+they all went into the room where he lay and sat down by him.
+Presently, Ghanim heard them mention the name of Cout el Culoub,
+whereupon his life came back to him, wasted and shrunken as he
+was, and he raised his head from the pillow and cried out, 'O
+Cout el Culoub!' 'Yes, O friend!' answered she. 'Draw near to
+me,' said he. So she looked at him earnestly and knew him and
+said to him, 'Surely thou art Ghanim ben Eyoub?' 'I am indeed
+he,' replied he. At this, she fell down in a swoon, and when
+Ghanim's mother and sister heard their words, they both cried
+out, 'O joy!' and swooned away. When they recovered, Cout el
+Culoub exclaimed, 'Praised be God who hath brought us together
+again and hath reunited thee with thy mother and sister!' Then
+she told him all that had befallen her with the Khalif and said,
+'I have made known the truth to the Commander of the Faithful,
+who believed me and approved of thee; and now he wishes to see
+thee.' Then she told him how the Khalif had bestowed her on him,
+at which he was beyond measure rejoiced, and she returned to the
+palace at once, charging them not to stir till she came back.
+There she opened the chest that she had brought from Ghanim's
+house, and taking out some of the money, carried it to the syndic
+and bade him buy them each four suits of the best stuffs and
+twenty handkerchiefs and what else they needed; after which she
+carried them all three to the bath and commanded to wash them and
+made ready for them broths and galingale and apple-water against
+their coming out. When they left the bath, they put on new
+clothes, and she abode with them three days, feeding them with
+fowls and broths and sherbet of sugar-candy, till their strength
+returned to them. After this, she carried them to the bath a
+second time, and when they came out and had changed their
+clothes, she took them back to the syndic's house and left them
+there, whilst she returned to the palace and craving an audience
+of the Khalif, told him the whole story and how her lord Ghanim
+and his mother and sister were now in Baghdad. When the Khalif
+heard this, he turned to his attendants and said, 'Bring hither
+to me Ghanim.' So Jaafer went to fetch him: but Cout el Culoub
+forewent him to the syndic's house and told Ghanim that the
+Khalif had sent for him and enjoined him to eloquence and
+self-possession and pleasant speech. Then she clad him in a
+rich habit and gave him much money, bidding him be lavish of
+largesse to the household of the Khalif, when he went in to him.
+Presently, Jaafer arrived, riding on his Nubian mule, and Ghanim
+met him and kissed the ground before him, wishing him long life.
+Now was the star of his good fortune risen and shone, and Jaafer
+took him and brought him to the Khalif. When he entered, he
+looked at the viziers and amirs and chamberlains and deputies and
+grandees and captains, Turks and Medes and Arabs and Persians,
+and then at the Khalif. Then he made sweet his speech and his
+eloquence and bowing his head, spoke the following verses:
+
+Long life unto a King, the greatest of the great, Still following
+     on good works and bounties without date!
+Glowering with high resolves, a fountain of largesse, For ever
+     full; 'tis said, of fire and flood and fate,
+That they none else would have for monarch of the world, For
+     sovran of the time and King in Kisra's gate.[FN#119]
+Kings, salutation-wise, upon his threshold's earth, For his
+     acceptance lay the jewels of their state;
+And when their eyes behold the glory of his might, Upon the
+     earth, in awe, themselves they do prostrate.
+This humbleness it is that profits them with thee And wins them
+     wealth and power and rank and high estate.
+Upon old Saturn's heights pitch thy pavilion, Since for thy
+     countless hosts the world is grown too strait,
+And teach the stars to know thine own magnificence, In kindness
+     to the prince who rules the starry state.
+May God with His consent for ever favour thee! For steadfastness
+     of soul and sense upon thee wait:
+Thy justice overspreads the surface of the earth, Till far and
+     near for it their difference abate.
+
+The Khalif was charmed with his eloquence and the sweetness of
+his speech and said to him, 'Draw near to me.' So he drew near
+and the Khalif said, 'Tell me thy story and expound to me thy
+case.' So Ghanim sat down and related to him all that had
+befallen him, from beginning to end. The Khalif was assured that
+he spoke the truth; so he invested him with a dress of honour and
+took him into favour. Then he said to him, 'Acquit me of the
+wrong I have done thee.' And Ghanim did so, saying, 'O Commander
+of the Faithful, the slave and all that is his belong to his
+lord.' The Khalif was pleased with this and bade set apart a
+palace for Ghanim, on whom he bestowed great store of gifts and
+assigned him bountiful stipends and allowances, sending his
+mother and sister to live with him; after which, hearing that his
+sister Fitneh was indeed a seduction[FN#120] for beauty, he
+demanded her in marriage of Ghanim, who replied, 'She is thy
+handmaid and I am thy servant.' The Khalif thanked him and gave
+him a hundred thousand dinars; then summoned the Cadi and the
+witnesses, who drew up the contracts of marriage between the
+Khalif and Fitneh on the one hand and Ghanim and Cout el Culoub
+on the other; and the two marriages were consummated in one and
+the same night. On the morrow, the Khalif ordered the history of
+Ghanim to be recorded and laid up in the royal treasury, that
+those who came after him might read it and wonder at the dealings
+of destiny and put their trust in Him who created the night and
+the day.
+
+
+
+End Of Vol. 1
+
+
+
+
+
+                     Footnotes to Volume 1.
+
+
+
+[FN#1] The visible and the invisible. Some authorities make it
+three worlds (those of men, of the angels and of the Jinn or
+genii), and ethers more.
+
+[FN#2] The Arabic word for island (jezireh) signifies also
+"peninsula," and doubtless here used in the latter sense. The
+double meaning of the word should be borne in mind, as it
+explains many apparent discrepancies in Oriental tales.
+
+[FN#3] A powerful species of genie. The name is generally (but
+not invariably) applied to an evil spirit.
+
+[FN#4] God on thee! abbreviated form of "I conjure thee (or call
+on thee) by God!"
+
+[FN#5] lit. bull
+
+[FN#6] Epithet of the ass and the cock. The best equivalent would
+be the French "Pere L'Eveille."
+
+[FN#7] i.e. stupid.
+
+[FN#8] The Arabic word for garden (bustan) applies to any
+cultivated or fertile spot, abounding in trees. An European would
+call such a place as that mentioned in the tale an oasis.
+
+[FN#9] in preparation for death.
+
+[FN#10] Jinn, plural of genie.
+
+[FN#11] A dinar (Lat. denarius) is a gold coin worth about 10s.
+
+[FN#12] i.e. I have nothing to give thee.
+
+[FN#13] A dirhem (Gr. drachma) is a silver coin worth about 6d.
+
+[FN#14] Afriteh, a female Afrit. Afrit means strictly an evil
+spirit; but the term is not unfrequently applied to benevolent
+Jinn, as will appear in the course of these stories.
+
+[FN#15] for his impatience.
+
+[FN#16] A Marid is a genie of the most powerful class. The name
+generally, though not invariably, denotes an evil spirit.
+
+[FN#17] Of Islam, which is fabled by the Muslims to have existed
+before Mohammed, under the headship, first of Abraham and
+afterwards of Solomon.
+
+[FN#18] From this point I omit the invariable formula which
+introduces each night, as its constant repetition is only
+calculated to annoy the reader and content myself with noting the
+various nights in the margin. {which will not be included in this
+electronic version}
+
+[FN#19] Probably the skin of some animal supposed to be a defence
+against poison.
+
+[FN#20] Literally, "eyes adorned with kohl:" but this expression
+is evidently used tropically to denote a natural beauty of the
+eye, giving it that liquid appearance which it is the object of
+the use of the cosmetic in question to produce.
+
+[FN#21] A fabulous tribe of giants mentioned in the Koran.
+
+[FN#22] The word here translated "eye" may also be rendered
+"understanding."  The exact meaning of the phrase (one of
+frequent recurrence in these stories) is doubtful.
+
+[FN#23] A fabulous range of mountains which, according to Muslim
+cosmography, encompasses the world.
+
+[FN#24] The prophet Mohammed.
+
+[FN#25] Various kinds of cakes and sweetmeats.
+
+[FN#26] The appearance of which is the signal for the
+commencement of the fast. All eyes being on the watch, it
+naturally follows that the new moon of this month is generally
+seen at an earlier stage than are those of the other months of
+the year, and its crescent is therefore apparently more slender.
+Hence the comparison.
+
+[FN#27] Caravanserai or public lodging-place.
+
+[FN#28] A kind of religious mendicant.
+
+[FN#29] One condition of which is that no violation of the
+ceremonial law (which prohibits the use of intoxicating liquors)
+be committed by the pilgrim, from the time of his assuming the
+pilgrim's habit to that of his putting it off; and this is
+construed by the stricter professors to take effect from the
+actual formation of the intent to make the pilgrimage. Haroun er
+Reshid, though a voluptuary, was (at all events, from time to
+time) a rigid observer of Muslim ritual.
+
+[FN#30] It is a frequent practice, in the East, gently to rub and
+knead the feet, for the purpose of inducing sleep or gradually
+arousing a sleeper.
+
+[FN#31] An expression frequent in Oriental works, meaning "The
+situations suggested such and such words or thoughts."
+
+[FN#32] Religious mendicants.
+
+[FN#33] Referring, of course, to the wine, which it appears to
+have been customary to drink warm or boiled (vinum coctum) as
+among several ancient nations and in Japan and China at the
+present day.
+
+[FN#34] Or chapter or formula.
+
+[FN#35] A play upon words is here intended turning upon the
+double meaning ("aloes" and "patience") of the Arabic word sebr.
+
+[FN#36] See note on p. 120. {Vol. 1, FN#35}
+
+[FN#37] Dar es Selam.
+
+[FN#38] A certain fixed succession of prayers and acts of
+adoration is called a rekah (or bow) from the inclination of the
+body that occurs in it. The ordained prayers, occurring five
+times a day, consist of a certain number of rekahs.
+
+[FN#39] i.e. "There is no god but God", etc.
+
+[FN#40] or sinister conjunction of the planets.
+
+[FN#41] Menkeleh, a game played with a board and draughtmen,
+partaking of the character of backgammon, draughts and
+fox-and-geese.
+
+[FN#42] A common Oriental substitute for soap.
+
+[FN#43] i.e. newly dug over.
+
+[FN#44] lit. rukh.
+
+[FN#45] A sweet-scented, variegated wood.
+
+[FN#46] The Arabs consider a slight division of the two middle
+teeth a beauty.
+
+[FN#47] The Egyptian privet; a plant whose flowers have a very
+delicious fragrance.
+
+[FN#48] A kind of mocking-bird.
+
+[FN#49] Of providence.
+
+[FN#50] Literally, "O my eyes!"
+
+[FN#51] A niche in the wall, which indicates the position the
+worshipper must assume, in order to face Mecca, in accordance
+with the ritual of prayer.
+
+[FN#52] cf. Germ. Zuckerpuppchen.
+
+[FN#53] i.e., moles, which are considered a great beauty in the
+East.
+
+[FN#54] A female genie.
+
+[FN#55] The unveiling or displaying of the bride before her
+husband is the culminating ceremony of a Muslim wedding of the
+better class. The bride is always displayed in the richest
+clothes and ornament that can be mustered or borrowed for the
+occasion.
+
+[FN#56] Moles?
+
+[FN#57] There is a play upon words in this line, founded upon the
+double meaning of the word shirk, sharing (or partnership) and
+polytheism or the attributing partners or equals to God (as in
+the Trinity), the one unpardonable sin of the Muslim religious
+code.
+
+[FN#58] Both afterwards Khalifs.
+
+[FN#59] i.e. God.
+
+[FN#60] lit "though lying save, yet truth saves and saves."
+
+[FN#61] On which she sits to be displayed.
+
+[FN#62] Placed there for the purpose of the ablution prescribed
+by the ceremonial law.
+
+[FN#63] Speaking, of course, ironically and supposing Bedreddin
+to be the hunchback.
+
+[FN#64] Bedreddin.
+
+[FN#65] Mosul is a town of Mesopotamia, some two hundred miles
+N.E. of Baghdad.  It is celebrated for its silk and muslin
+manufactories.  The Mosulis doubtless set the fashion in turbans
+to the inhabitants of Baghdad and Bassora, and it would appear
+from the Vizier's remark that this fashion was notably different
+from that followed at Cairo.
+
+[FN#66] Eye-powder.  The application of kohl to an infant's eyes
+is supposed to be beneficial.
+
+[FN#67] The North wind holds the same place in Oriental metaphor
+and poetry as does the West wind in those of Europe.
+
+[FN#68] Or kernel.
+
+[FN#69] lit. puppet or lay figure.
+
+[FN#70] Mole.
+
+[FN#71] A well-known legist and Cadi of Cufa in the seventh
+century.
+
+[FN#72] The Sun.
+
+[FN#73] The word melik 'king,' by changing the second (unwritten)
+vowel to e becomes melek 'angel'.
+
+[FN#74] A measure of about five bushels.
+
+[FN#75] The left hand is considered unclean, being used for
+certain ablutions, and it is therefore a breach of good manners
+to use it in eating.
+
+[FN#76] Between the two palaces.
+
+[FN#77] Apparently said in jest.
+
+[FN#78] i.e. do not forget me.
+
+[FN#79] A kind of edible arum.
+
+[FN#80] This is apparently some proverbial saying. The meaning
+appears to be, "Let every man be judge of his own case."
+
+[FN#81] That none might stare at or jostle her.
+
+[FN#82] About a hundred and twenty-five pounds.
+
+[FN#83] About five hundred pounds.
+
+[FN#84] i.e. of prime cost.
+
+[FN#85] The face of a mistress.
+
+[FN#86] It is a common Oriental figure to liken a languishing eye
+to a dying narcissus.
+
+[FN#87] One of the companions of Mohammed.
+
+[FN#88] Prater.
+
+[FN#89] Babbler.
+
+[FN#90] Gabbler.
+
+[FN#91] The Stone Mug.
+
+[FN#92] The Braggart.
+
+[FN#93] Noisy.
+
+[FN#94] Silent.
+
+[FN#95] Mohammed.
+
+[FN#96] Or attendant on the people in the bath.
+
+[FN#97] i.e. a stoker or man who keeps up the fire in the baths.
+
+[FN#98] A sort of sermon, which immediately follows, the noontide
+call to prayer on Fridays.
+
+[FN#99] Preliminary to the call to prayer.
+
+[FN#100] A.H. 623-640.
+
+[FN#101] A leather rug on which they make criminals kneel to be
+beheaded.
+
+[FN#102] It will be seen that the stories told by the barber do
+not account for the infirmities of all his brothers, as this
+would imply.
+
+[FN#103] A formula of refusal.
+
+[FN#104] lit. ladder; a sort of frame, like the triangles to
+which they bound criminals sentenced to be flogged.
+
+[FN#105] Dinars; 100,000 dirhems would be only five thousand
+dinars and it will be seen from the sequel that El Feshar
+proposed to spend half that amount upon the dowry and presents to
+the tire-women alone.
+
+[FN#106] i.e. try this.
+
+[FN#107] The moon is masculine in Arabic.
+
+[FN#108] Mohammed.
+
+[FN#109] Or Hajji, pilgrim; title given to those who have made
+the pilgrimage to Mecca.
+
+[FN#110] lit. the fundamentals are remembered.
+
+[FN#111] i.e. chanting the ninety-nine names of God or repeating
+the words "There is no god but God."
+
+[FN#112] i.e. a fair faced cup bearer.
+
+[FN#113] Generally, the floating ends of the turban. This was for
+the purpose of concealment and is a common practice with the
+Bedouins.
+
+[FN#114] The name Kerim means "generous."
+
+[FN#115] Or perhaps "cancelled."
+
+[FN#116] To simulate the customary evidence of virginity.
+
+[FN#117] Names of her waiting women.
+
+[FN#118] Of providence.
+
+[FN#119] i.e. monarch of Persia, the realm of the ancient Kisras
+or Chosroes.
+
+[FN#120] Fitneh.
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE BOOK OF THE THOUSAND NIGHTS AND ONE NIGHT, VOLUME I ***
+
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@@ -0,0 +1,13895 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Book Of The Thousand Nights And One Night, Volume I
+by  Anonymous
+
+Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the
+copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing
+this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook.
+
+This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project
+Gutenberg file.  Please do not remove it.  Do not change or edit the
+header without written permission.
+
+Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the
+eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file.  Included is
+important information about your specific rights and restrictions in
+how the file may be used.  You can also find out about how to make a
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+**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
+
+**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971**
+
+*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****
+
+
+Title: The Book Of The Thousand Nights And One Night, Volume I
+
+Author:  Anonymous
+
+Translator: John Payne
+
+Release Date: August, 2005  [EBook #8655]
+[This file was first posted on July 30, 2003]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE BOOK OF THE THOUSAND NIGHTS AND ONE NIGHT, VOLUME I ***
+
+
+
+
+Text scanned by JC Byers <www.wollamshram.ca/1001>; proofreading by JC
+Byers, Janelle Maiu, Coralee Sheehan, and Cameron Fruit
+
+Editorial Note: Project Gutenberg also has the translation of this work by
+                Richard F. Burton in 16 volumes.
+
+
+
+
+         THE BOOK OF THE THOUSAND NIGHTS AND ONE NIGHT:
+
+             Now First Completely Done Into English
+           Prose and Verse, From The Original Arabic,
+
+                         By John Payne
+(Author of "The Masque of Shadows," "Intaglios: Sonnets," "Songs
+                      of Life and Death,"
+ "Lautrec," "The Poems of Master Francis Villon of Paris," "New
+                      Poems," Etc, Etc.).
+
+                        In Nine Volumes:
+
+
+
+                       VOLUME THE FIRST.
+
+
+
+                             London
+                  Printed For Subscribers Only
+
+                              1901
+
+                         Delhi Edition
+
+
+                 Contents of The First Volume.
+
+Introduction.  Story of King Shehriyar and his Brother
+     a.   Story of the Ox and the Ass
+1.   The Merchant and the Genie
+     a.   The First Old Man's Story
+     b.   The Second Old Man's Story
+     c.   The Third Old Man's Story
+2.   The Fisherman and the Genie
+     a.   Story of The Physician Douban
+          ab.  Story of King Sindbad and his Falcon
+          ac.  Story of The King's Son and the Ogress
+     b.   Story of the Enchanted Youth
+3.   The Porter and the Three Ladies of Baghdad
+     a.   The First Calender's Story
+     b.   The Second Calender's Story
+          ba.  Story of the Envier and the Envied
+     c.   The Third Calender's Story
+     d.   The Eldest Lady's Story
+     e.   The Story of the Portress
+4.   The Three Apples
+5.   Noureddin Ali of Cairo and His Son Bedreddin Hassan
+6.   Story of the Hunchback
+     a.   The Christian Broker's Story
+     b.   The Controller's Story
+     c.   The Jewish Physician's Story
+     d.   The Tailor's Story
+     e.   The Barber's Story
+          ea.  Story of the Barber's First Brother
+          eb.  Story of the Barber's Second Brother
+          ec.  Story of the Barber's Third Brother
+          ed.  Story of the Barber's Fourth Brother
+          ee.  Story of the Barber's Fifth Brother
+          ef.  Story of the Barber's Sixth Brother
+7.   Noureddin Ali and the Damsel Enis El Jelis
+8.   Ghanim Ben Eyoub the Slave of Love
+     a.   Story of the Eunuch Bekhit
+     b.   Story of the Eunich Kafour
+
+
+
+
+                        PREFATORY NOTE.
+
+
+
+The present is, I believe, the first complete translation of the
+great Arabic compendium of romantic fiction that has been
+attempted in any European language comprising about four times as
+much matter as that of Galland and three times as much as that of
+any other translator known to myself; and a short statement of
+the sources from which it is derived may therefore be acceptable
+to my readers. Three printed editions, more or less complete,
+exist of the Arabic text of the Thousand and One Nights; namely,
+those of Breslau, Boulac (Cairo) and Calcutta (1839), besides an
+incomplete one, comprising the first two hundred nights only,
+published at Calcutta in 1814. Of these, the first is horribly
+corrupt and greatly inferior, both in style and completeness, to
+the others, and the second (that of Boulac) is also, though in a
+far less degree, incomplete, whole stories (as, for instance,
+that of the Envier and the Envied in the present volume) being
+omitted and hiatuses, varying in extent from a few lines to
+several pages, being of frequent occurrence, whilst in addition
+to these defects, the editor, a learned Egyptian, has played
+havoc with the style of his original, in an ill-judged attempt to
+improve it, producing a medley, more curious than edifying, of
+classical and semi-modern diction and now and then, in his
+unlucky zeal, completely disguising the pristine meaning of
+certain passages. The third edition, that which we owe to Sir
+William Macnaghten and which appears to have been printed from a
+superior copy of the manuscript followed by the Egyptian editor,
+is by far the most carefully printed and edited of the three and
+offers, on the whole, the least corrupt and most comprehensive
+text of the work. I have therefore adopted it as my standard or
+basis of translation and have, to the best of my power, remedied
+the defects (such as hiatuses, misprints, doubtful or corrupt
+passages, etc.) which are of no infrequent occurrence even in
+this, the best of the existing texts, by carefully collating it
+with the editions of Boulac and Breslau (to say nothing of
+occasional references to the earlier Calcutta edition of the
+first two hundred nights), adopting from one and the other such
+variants, additions and corrections as seemed to me best
+calculated to improve the general effect and most homogeneous
+with the general spirit of the work, and this so freely that the
+present version may be said, in great part, to represent a
+variorum text of the original, formed by a collation of the
+different printed texts; and no proper estimate can, therefore,
+be made of the fidelity of the translation, except by those who
+are intimately acquainted with the whole of these latter. Even
+with the help of the new lights gained by the laborious process
+of collation and comparison above mentioned, the exact sense of
+many passages must still remain doubtful, so corrupt are the
+extant texts and so incomplete our knowledge, as incorporated in
+dictionaries, etc, of the peculiar dialect, half classical and
+half modern, in which the original work is written.
+
+One special feature of the present version is the appearance,
+for the first time, in English metrical shape, preserving the
+external form and rhyme movement of the originals, of the
+whole of the poetry with which the Arabic text is so freely
+interspersed. This great body of verse, equivalent to at least
+ten thousand twelve-syllable English lines, is of the most
+unequal quality, varying from poetry worthy of the name to the
+merest doggrel, and as I have, in pursuance of my original scheme,
+elected to translate everything, good and bad (with a very few
+exceptions in cases of manifest mistake or misapplication), I can
+only hope that my readers will, in judging of my success, take
+into consideration the enormous difficulties with which I have
+had to contend and look with indulgence upon my efforts to render,
+under unusually irksome conditions, the energy and beauty of the
+original, where these qualities exist, and in their absence, to
+keep my version from degenerating into absolute doggrel.
+
+The present translation being intended as a purely literary
+work produced with the sole object of supplying the general
+body of cultivated readers with a fairly representative and
+characteristic version of the most famous work of narrative
+fiction in existence, I have deemed it advisable to depart, in
+several particulars, from the various systems of transliteration
+of Oriental proper names followed by modern scholars, as,
+although doubtless admirably adapted to works having a scientific
+or non-literary object, they rest mainly upon devices (such as
+the use of apostrophes, accents, diacritical points and the
+employment of both vowels and consonants in unusual groups and
+senses) foreign to the genius of the English language and
+calculated only to annoy the reader of a work of imagination. Of
+these points of departure from established usage I need only
+particularize some of the more important; the others will, in
+general, be found to speak for themselves. One of the most salient
+is the case of the short vowel fet-heh, which is usually written
+[a breve], but which I have thought it better to render, as a
+rule, by [e breve], as in "bed" (a sound practically equivalent
+to that of a, as in "beggar," adopted by the late Mr. Lane to
+represent this vowel), reserving the English a, as in "father,"
+to represent the alif of prolongation or long Arabic a, since I
+should else have no means of differentiating the latter from the
+former, save by the use of accents or other clumsy expedients, at
+once, to my mind, foreign to the purpose and vexatious to the
+reader of a work of pure literature. In like manner, I have
+eschewed the use of the letter q, as an equivalent for the dotted
+or guttural kaf (choosing to run the risk of occasionally
+misleading the reader as to the original Arabic form of a word
+by leaving him in ignorance whether the k used is the dotted
+or undotted one,--a point of no importance whatever to the
+non-scientific public,--rather than employ an English letter in a
+manner completely unwarranted by the construction of our
+language, in which q has no power as a terminal or as moved by
+any vowel other than u, followed by one of the four others) and
+have supplied its place, where the dotted kaf occurs as a
+terminal or as preceding a hard vowel, by the hard c, leaving k
+to represent it (in common with the undotted kaf generally) in
+those instances where it is followed by a soft vowel. For
+similar reasons, I have not attempted to render the Arabic
+quasi-consonant aïn, save by the English vowel corresponding to
+that by which it is moved, preferring to leave the guttural
+element of its sound (for which we have no approach to an
+equivalent in English) unrepresented, rather than resort to the
+barbarous and meaningless device of the apostrophe. Again, the
+principle, in accordance with which I have rendered the proper
+names of the original, is briefly (and subject to certain
+variations on the ground of convenience and literary fitness) to
+preserve unaltered such names as Tigris, Bassora, Cairo, Aleppo,
+Damascus, etc., which are familiar to us otherwise than by the
+Arabian Nights and to alter which, for the sake of mere
+literality, were as gratuitous a piece of pedantry as to insist
+upon writing Copenhagen Kjobenhavn, or Canton Kouang-tong, and to
+transliterate the rest as nearly as may consist with a due regard
+to artistic considerations. The use of untranslated Arabic words,
+other than proper names, I have, as far as possible, avoided,
+rendering them, with very few exceptions, by the best English
+equivalents in my power, careful rather to give the general
+sense, where capable of being conveyed by reasonable substitution
+of idiom or otherwise, than to retain the strict letter at the
+expense of the spirit; nor, on the other hand, have I thought it
+necessary to alter the traditional manner of spelling certain
+words which have become incorporated with our language, where
+(as in the case of the words genie, houri, roe, khalif, vizier,
+cadi, Bedouin, etc. etc.) the English equivalent is fairly
+representative of the original Arabic.
+
+I have to return my cordial thanks to Captain Richard F. Burton,
+the well-known traveller and author, who has most kindly
+undertaken to give me the benefit of his great practical
+knowledge of the language and customs of the Arabs in revising
+the manuscript of my translation for the press.
+
+
+
+
+                THE BOOK OF THE THOUSAND NIGHTS
+                         AND ONE NIGHT
+
+
+
+In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful! Praise be to
+God, the Lord of the two worlds,[FN#1] and blessing and peace
+upon the Prince of the Prophets, our lord and master Mohammed,
+whom God bless and preserve with abiding and continuing peace and
+blessing until the Day of the Faith! Of a verity, the doings of
+the ancients become a lesson to those that follow after, so that
+men look upon the admonitory events that have happened to others
+and take warning, and come to the knowledge of what befell bygone
+peoples and are restrained thereby. So glory be to Him who hath
+appointed the things that have been done aforetime for an example
+to those that come after! And of these admonitory instances are
+the histories called the Thousand Nights and One Night, with all
+their store of illustrious fables and relations.
+
+
+It is recorded in the chronicles of the things that have been
+done of time past that there lived once, in the olden days and in
+bygone ages and times, a king of the kings of the sons of Sasan,
+who reigned over the Islands[FN#2] of India and China and was
+lord of armies and guards and servants and retainers. He had two
+sons, an elder and a younger, who were both valiant cavaliers,
+but the elder was a stouter horseman than the younger. When their
+father died, he left his empire to his elder son, whose name was
+Shehriyar, and he took the government and ruled his subjects
+justly, so that the people of the country and of the empire loved
+him well, whilst his brother Shahzeman became King of Samarcand
+of Tartary. The two kings abode each in his own dominions, ruling
+justly over their subjects and enjoying the utmost prosperity and
+happiness, for the space of twenty years, at the end of which
+time the elder king yearned after his brother and commanded his
+Vizier to repair to the latter's court and bring him to his own
+capital. The Vizier replied, "I hear and obey," and set out at
+once and journeyed till he reached King Shahzeman's court in
+safety, when he saluted him for his brother and informed him that
+the latter yearned after him and desired that he would pay him a
+visit, to which King Shahzeman consented gladly and made ready
+for the journey and appointed his Vizier to rule the country in
+his stead during his absence. Then he caused his tents and camels
+and mules to be brought forth and encamped, with his guards and
+attendants, without the city, in readiness to set out next
+morning for his brother's kingdom. In the middle of the night,
+it chanced that he bethought him of somewhat he had forgotten
+in his palace; so he returned thither privily and entered his
+apartments, where he found his wife asleep in his own bed, in the
+arms of one of his black slaves. When he saw this, the world grew
+black in his sight, and he said to himself, "If this is what
+happens whilst I am yet under the city walls, what will be
+the condition of this accursed woman during my absence at my
+brother's court?" Then he drew his sword and smote the twain and
+slew them and left them in the bed and returned presently to his
+camp, without telling any one what had happened. Then he gave
+orders for immediate departure and set out a'once and travelled
+till he drew near his brother's capital when he despatched
+vaunt-couriers to announce his approach. His brother came forth
+to meet him and saluted him and rejoiced exceedingly and caused
+the city to be decorated in his honour. Then he sat down with him
+to converse and make merry; but King Shahzeman could not forget
+the perfidy of his wife and grief grew on him more and more and
+his colour changed and his body became weak. Shehriyar saw his
+condition, but attributed it to his separation from his country
+and his kingdom, so let him alone and asked no questions of him,
+till one day he said to him, "O my brother, I see that thou art
+grown weak of body and hast lost thy colour." And Shahzeman
+answered, "O my brother, I have an internal wound," but did not
+tell him about his wife. Said Shehriyar, "I wish thou wouldst
+ride forth with me a-hunting; maybe it would lighten thy heart."
+But Shahzeman refused; so his brother went out to hunt without
+him. Now there were in King Shahzeman's apartments lattice-
+windows overlooking his brother's garden, and as the former
+was sitting looking on the garden, behold a gate of the
+palace opened, and out came twenty damsels and twenty black
+slaves, and among them his brother's wife, who was wonderfully
+fair and beautiful. They all came up to a fountain, where the
+girls and slaves took off their clothes and sat down together.
+Then the queen called out, "O Mesoud!" And there came to her a
+black slave, who embraced her and she him. Then he lay with her,
+and on likewise did the other slaves with the girls. And they
+ceased not from kissing and clipping and cricketing and carousing
+until the day began to wane. When the King of Tartary saw this,
+he said to himself, "By Allah, my mischance was lighter than
+this!" And his grief and chagrin relaxed from him and he said,
+"This is more grievous than what happened to me!" So he put away
+his melancholy and ate and drank. Presently, his brother came
+back from hunting and they saluted each other: and Shehriyar
+looked at Shahzeman and saw that his colour had returned and his
+face was rosy and he ate heartily, whereas before he ate but
+little. So he said to him, "O my brother, when I last saw thee,
+thou wast pale and wan, and now I see that the colour has
+returned to thy face. Tell me how it is with thee." Quoth
+Shahzeman, "I will tell thee what caused my loss of colour, but
+excuse me from acquainting thee with the cause of its return to
+me." Said Shehriyar, "Let me hear first what was the cause of thy
+pallor and weakness." "Know then, O my brother," rejoined
+Shahzeman, "that when thou sentest thy vizier to bid me to thee,
+I made ready for the journey and had actually quitted my capital
+city, when I remembered that I had left behind me a certain
+jewel, that which I gave thee. So I returned to my palace, where
+I found my wife asleep in my bed, in the arms of a black slave. I
+slew them both and came to thee; and it was for brooding over
+this affair, that I lost my colour and became weak. But forgive
+me if I tell thee not the cause of my restoration to health."
+When his brother heard this, he said to him, "I conjure thee by
+Allah, tell me the reason of thy recovery!" So he told him all
+that he had seen, and Shehriyar said, "I must see this with my
+own eyes." "Then," replied Shahzeman, "feign to go forth to hunt
+and hide thyself in my lodging and thou shalt see all this and
+have ocular proof of the truth." So Shehriyar ordered his
+attendants to prepare to set out at once; whereupon the troops
+encamped without the city and he himself went forth with them and
+sat in his pavilion, bidding his servants admit no one. Then he
+disguised himself and returned secretly to King Shahzeman's
+palace and sat with him at the lattice overlooking the garden,
+until the damsels and their mistress came out with the slaves and
+did as his brother had reported, till the call to afternoon
+prayer. When King Shehriyar saw this, he was as one distraught
+and said to his brother, "Arise, let us depart hence, for we have
+no concern with kingship, and wander till we find one to whom the
+like has happened as to us, else our death were better than
+our life." Then they went out by a postern of the palace and
+journeyed days and nights till they came to a tree standing in
+the midst of a meadow, by a spring of water, on the shore of the
+salt sea, and they drank of the stream and sat down by it to
+rest. When the day was somewhat spent, behold, the sea became
+troubled and there rose from it a black column that ascended to
+the sky and made towards the meadow. When the princes saw this,
+they were afraid and climbed up to the top of the tree, which was
+a high one, that they might see what was the matter; and behold,
+it was a genie of lofty stature, broad-browed and wide-cheated,
+bearing on his head a coffer of glass with seven locks of steel.
+He landed and sat down under the tree, where he set down the
+coffer, and opening it, took out a smaller one. This also he
+opened, and there came forth a damsel slender of form and
+dazzlingly beautiful, as she were a shining sun, as says the poet
+Uteyeh:
+
+She shines out in the dusk, and lo! the day is here, And all the
+     trees flower forth with blossoms bright and clear,
+The sun from out her brows arises, and the moon, When she unveils
+     her face, cloth hide for shame and fear.
+All living things prostrate themselves before her feet, When she
+     unshrouds and all her hidden charms appear;
+And when she flashes forth the lightnings of her glance, She
+     maketh eyes to rain, like showers, with many a tear.
+
+When the genie saw her, he said to her, "O queen of noble ladies,
+thou whom indeed I stole away on thy wedding night, I have a mind
+to sleep awhile." And he laid his head on her knees and fell
+asleep. Presently the lady raised her eyes to the tree and saw
+the two kings among the branches; so she lifted the genie's head
+from her lap and laid it on the ground, then rose and stood
+beneath the tree and signed to them to descend, without heeding
+the Afrit.[FN#3] They answered her, in the same manner, "God on
+thee [FN#4] excuse us from this." But she rejoined by signs, as
+who should say, "If you do not come down, I will wake the Afrit
+on you, and he will kill you without mercy." So they were afraid
+and came down to her, whereupon she came up to them and offered
+them her favours, saying, "To it, both of you, and lustily; or I
+will set the Afrit on you." So for fear of him, King Shehriyar
+said to his brother Shahzeman, "O brother, do as she bids thee."
+But he replied, "Not I; do thou have at her first." And they made
+signs to each other to pass first, till she said, "Why do I see
+you make signs to each other? An you come not forward and fall
+to, I will rouse the Afrit on you." So for fear of the genie,
+they lay with her one after the other, and when they had done,
+she bade them arise, and took out of her bosom a purse containing
+a necklace made of five hundred and seventy rings, and said to
+them, "Know ye what these are?" They answered, "No." And she
+said, "Every one of the owners of these rings has had to do with
+me in despite of this Afrit. And now give me your rings, both of
+you." So each of them took off a ring and gave it to her. And she
+said to them, "Know that this genie carried me off on my wedding
+night and laid me in a box and shut the box up in a glass chest,
+on which he clapped seven strong locks and sank it to the bottom
+of the roaring stormy sea, knowing not that nothing can hinder a
+woman, when she desires aught, even as says one of the poets:
+
+I rede thee put no Faith in womankind, Nor trust the oaths they
+     lavish all in vain:
+For on the satisfaction of their lusts Depend alike their love
+     and their disdain.
+They proffer lying love, but perfidy Is all indeed their garments
+     do contain.
+Take warning, then, by Joseph's history, And how a woman sought
+     to do him bane;
+And eke thy father Adam, by their fault To leave the groves of
+     Paradise was fain.
+
+Or as another says:
+
+Out on yon! blame confirms the blamed one in his way. My fault is
+     not so great indeed as you would say.
+If I'm in love, forsooth, my case is but the same As that of
+     other men before me, many a day.
+For great the wonder were if any man alive From women and their
+     wiles escape unharmed away!"
+
+When the two kings heard this, they marvelled and said, "Allah!
+Allah! There is no power and no virtue save in God the Most High,
+the Supreme! We seek aid of God against the malice of women, for
+indeed their craft is great!" Then she said to them, "Go your
+ways." So they returned to the road, and Shehriyar said to
+Shahzeman, "By Allah, O my brother, this Afrit's case is more
+grievous than ours. For this is a genie and stole away his
+mistress on her wedding night and clapped her in a chest, which
+he locked with seven locks and sank in the midst of the sea,
+thinking to guard her from that which was decreed by fate, yet
+have we seen that she has lain with five hundred and seventy men
+in his despite, and now with thee and me to boot. Verily, this is
+a thing that never yet happened to any, and it should surely
+console us. Let us therefore return to our kingdoms and resolve
+never again to take a woman to wife; and as for me, I will show
+thee what I will do." So they set out at once and presently came
+to the camp outside Shehriyar's capital and, entering the royal
+pavilion, sat down on their bed of estate. Then the chamberlains
+and amirs and grandees came in to them and Shehriyar commanded
+them to return to the city. So they returned to the city and
+Shehriyar went up to his palace, where he summoned his Vizier and
+bade him forthwith put his wife to death. The Vizier accordingly
+took the queen and killed her, whilst Shehriyar, going into the
+slave girls and concubines, drew his sword and slew them all.
+Then he let bring others in their stead and took an oath that
+every night he would go in to a maid and in the morning put her
+to death, for that there was not one chaste woman on the face of
+the earth. As for Shahzeman, he sought to return to his kingdom
+at once; so his brother equipped him for the journey and he set
+out and fared on till he came to his own dominions. Meanwhile,
+King Shehriyar commanded his Vizier to bring him the bride of the
+night, that he might go in to her; so he brought him one of the
+daughters of the amirs and he went in to her, and on the morrow
+he bade the Vizier cut off her head. The Vizier dared not disobey
+the King's commandment, so he put her to death and brought him
+another girl, of the daughters of the notables of the land. The
+King went in to her also, and on the morrow he bade the Vizier
+kill her; and he ceased not to do thus for three years, till the
+land was stripped of marriageable girls, and all the women and
+mothers and fathers wept and cried out against the King, cursing
+him and complaining to the Creator of heaven and earth and
+calling for succour upon Him who heareth prayer and answereth
+those that cry to Him; and those that had daughters left fled
+with them, till at last there remained not a single girl in the
+city apt for marriage. One day the King ordered the Vizier to
+bring him a maid as of wont; so the Vizier went out and made
+search for a girl, but found not one and returned home troubled
+and careful for fear of the king's anger. Now this Vizier had two
+daughters, the elder called Shehrzad and the younger Dunyazad,
+and the former had read many books and histories and chronicles
+of ancient kings and stories of people of old time; it is said
+indeed that she had collected a thousand books of chronicles of
+past peoples and bygone kings and poets. Moreover, she had read
+books of science and medicine; her memory was stored with verses
+and stories and folk-lore and the sayings of kings and sages, and
+she was wise, witty, prudent and well-bred. She said to her
+father, "How comes it that I see thee troubled and oppressed with
+care and anxiety? Quoth one of the poets:
+
+'Tell him that is of care oppressed, That grief shall not endure
+     alway,
+But even as gladness fleeteth by, So sorrow too shall pass
+     away.'"
+
+When the Vizier heard his daughter's words, he told her his case,
+and she said, "By Allah, O my father, marry me to this king, for
+either I will be the means of the deliverance of the daughters of
+the Muslims from slaughter or I will die and perish as others
+have perished." "For God's sake," answered the Vizier, "do not
+thus adventure thy life!" But she said, "It must be so."
+Whereupon her father was wroth with her and said to her, "Fool
+that thou art, dost thou not know that the ignorant man who
+meddles in affairs falls into grievous peril, and that he who
+looks not to the issue of his actions finds no friend in time of
+evil fortune? As says the byword, 'I was sitting at my ease, but
+my officiousness would not let me rest.' And I fear lest there
+happen to thee what happened to the ox and the ass with the
+husbandman." "And what happened to them?" asked she. Quoth the
+Vizier, "Know, O my daughter, that
+
+
+
+
+               Story of the Ox[FN#5] and the Ass
+
+
+
+There was once a merchant who was rich in goods and cattle, and
+he had a wife and children and dwelt in the country and was
+skilled in husbandry. Now God had gifted him to understand the
+speech of beasts and birds of every kind, but under pain of death
+if he divulged his gift to any one; so he kept it secret for fear
+of death. He had in his byre an ox and an ass, each tied up in
+his stall, hard by the other. One day, as the merchant was
+sitting near at hand, he heard the ox say to the ass, 'I give
+thee joy, O Father Wakeful![FN#6] Thou enjoyest rest and
+attention and they keep thy stall always swept and sprinkled, and
+thine eating is sifted barley and thy drink fresh water, whilst I
+am always weary, for they take me in the middle of the night and
+gird the yoke on my neck and set me to plough and I toil without
+ceasing from break of morn till sunset. I am forced to work more
+than my strength and suffer all kinds of indignities, such as
+blows and abuse, from the cruel ploughman; and I return home at
+the end of the day, and indeed my sides are torn and my neck is
+flayed. Then they shut me up in the cow-house and throw me beans
+and straw mixed with earth and husks, and I lie all night in dung
+and stale. But thy place is always swept and sprinkled and thy
+manger clean and full of sweet hay and thou art always resting,
+except that, now and then, our master hath occasion to ride thee
+and returns speedily with thee; and but for this thou art always
+resting and I toiling, and thou sleeping and I waking; thou art
+full and I hungry and thou honoured and I despised.' 'O
+broadhead,' answered the ass,' he was in the right who dubbed
+thee ox [FN#7], for thou art stupid in the extreme, nor is there
+in thee thought or craft but thou showest zeal and cost thine
+utmost endeavour before thy master and fearest and killest
+thyself for the benefit of another. Thou goest forth at the time
+of morning prayer and returnest not till sundown and endurest all
+day all manner of afflictions, now blows now fatigue and now
+abuse. When thou returnest, the ploughman ties thee to a stinking
+manger, and thou friskest and pawest the ground and buttest with
+thy horns and bellowest greatly, and they think thou art content.
+No sooner have they thrown thee thy fodder than thou fallest on
+it greedily and hastenest to fill thy belly with it. But if thou
+wilt follow my counsel, it will be the better for thee and thou
+wilt get twice as much rest as I. When thou goest forth to the
+furrow and they lay the yoke on thy neck, lie down, and do not
+rise, even if they beat thee, or only rise and lie down again;
+and when they bring thee home, fall prostrate on thy back and
+refuse thy fodder, when they throw it thee and feign to be sick.
+Do this for a day or two and thou wilt have rest from toil and
+weariness.' The ox thanked the ass greatly for his advice and
+called down blessings on him; and the merchant heard all that
+passed between them.
+
+
+Next day the ploughman took the ox and yoked him to the plough
+and set him to work as usual. The ox began to fall short in his
+work, and the ploughman beat him till he broke the yoke and fled,
+following out the ass's precepts; but the man overtook him and
+beat him till he despaired of life. Yet for all that, he did
+nothing but stand still and fall down till the evening. Then the
+ploughman took him home and tied him in his stall; but he
+withdrew from the manger and neither frisked nor stamped nor
+bellowed as usual, and the man wondered at this. Then he brought
+him the beans and straw, but he smelt at them and left them and
+lay down at a distance and passed the night without eating. Next
+morning, the ploughman came and found the straw and beans
+untouched and the ox lying on his back, with his stomach swollen
+and his legs in the air; so he was concerned for him and said to
+himself, 'He has certainly fallen ill, and this is why he would
+not work yesterday.' Then he went to his master and told him that
+the ox was ill and would not touch his fodder. Now the farmer
+knew what this meant, for that he had overheard the talk between
+the ox and the ass as before mentioned. So he said, 'Take that
+knave of an ass and bind the yoke on his neck and harness him to
+the plough and try and make him do the ox's work.' So the
+ploughman took the ass and made him work all day beyond his
+strength to accomplish the ox's task; and he beat him till his
+skin and ribs were sore and his neck flayed with the yoke. When
+the evening came and the ass resumed home, he could hardly drag
+himself along. But as for the ox, he had lain all day, resting,
+and had eaten his fodder cheerfully and with a good appetite; and
+all day long he had called down blessings on the ass for his good
+counsel, not knowing what had befallen him on his account. So
+when the night came and the ass returned to the stable, the ox
+arose and said to him, 'Mayst thou be gladdened with good news, O
+Father Wakeful! Through thee, I have rested today and have eaten
+my food in peace and comfort.' The ass made him no answer, for
+rage and vexation and fatigue and the beating he had undergone;
+but he said to himself, 'All this comes of my folly in giving
+another good advice; as the saying goes, "I was lying at full
+length, but my officiousness would not let me be." But I will go
+about with him and return him to his place, else I shall perish.'
+Then he went to his manger weary, whilst the ox thanked him and
+blessed him. "And thou, O my daughter," said the Vizier, "like
+the ass, wilt perish through thy lack of sense, so do thou oft
+quiet and cast not thyself into perdition; indeed I give thee
+good counsel and am affectionately solicitous for thee." "O my
+father," answered she, "nothing will serve me but I must go up to
+this king and become his wife." Quoth he, "An thou hold not thy
+peace and bide still, I will do with thee even as the merchant
+did with his wife." "And what was that?" asked she. "Know,"
+answered he, "that the merchant and his wife and children came
+out on the terrace, it being a moonlit night and the moon at its
+full. Now the terrace overlooked the byre; and presently, as he
+sat, with his children playing before him, the merchant heard the
+ass say to the ox, 'Tell me, O Father Stupid, what dost thou mean
+to do tomorrow?' 'What but that thou advisest me?' answered the
+ox. 'Thine advice was as good as could be and has gotten me
+complete rest, and I will not depart from it in the least; so
+when they bring me my fodder, I will refuse it and feign sickness
+and swell out my belly.' The ass shook his head and said, 'Beware
+of doing that I' 'Why?' asked the ox, and the ass answered, 'Know
+that I heard our master say to the labourer, "If the ox do not
+rise and eat his fodder today, send for the butcher to slaughter
+him, and give his flesh to the poor and make a rug of his skin."
+And I fear for thee on account of this. So take my advice, ere
+ill-hap betide thee, and when they bring thee the fodder, eat it
+and arise and bellow and paw the ground with thy feet, or our
+master will assuredly slaughter thee.' Whereupon the ox arose and
+bellowed and thanked the ass, and said, 'Tomorrow, I will go with
+them readily.' Then he ate up all his fodder, even to licking the
+manger with his tongue.
+
+When the merchant heard this, he was amused at the ass's trick,
+and laughed, till he fell backward. 'Why dost thou laugh?' asked
+his wife; and he said, 'I laughed at something that I saw and
+heard, but it is a secret and I cannot disclose it, or I shall
+die.' Quoth she, 'There is no help for it but thou must tell me
+the reason of thy laughter, though thou die for it.' 'I cannot
+reveal it,' answered he, 'for fear of death.' 'It was at me thou
+didst laugh,' said she, and ceased not to importune him till he
+was worn out and distracted. So he assembled all his family and
+kinsfolk and summoned the Cadi and the witnesses, being minded to
+make his last dispositions and impart to her the secret and die,
+for indeed he loved her with a great love, and she was the
+daughter of his father's brother and the mother of his children.
+Moreover, he sent for all her family and the neighbours, and when
+they were all assembled, he told them the state of the case and
+announced to them the approach of his last hour. Then he gave his
+wife her portion and appointed guardians of his children and
+freed his slave girls and took leave of his people. They all
+wept, and the Cadi and the witnesses wept also and went up to the
+wife and said to her, 'We conjure thee, by Allah, give up this
+matter, lest thy husband and the father of thy children die. Did
+he not know that if he revealed the secret, he would surely die,
+he would have told thee.' But she replied, 'By Allah, I will not
+desist from him, till he tell me, though he die for it.' So they
+forbore to press her. And all who were present wept sore, and
+there was a general mourning in the house. Then the merchant rose
+and went to the cow-house, to make his ablutions and pray,
+intending after to return and disclose his secret and die.
+
+Now he had a cock and fifty hens and a dog, and he heard the
+latter say in his lingo to the cock, 'How mean is thy wit, O
+cock! May he be disappointed who reared thee! Our master is in
+extremity and thou clappest thy wings and crowest and fliest from
+one hen's back to another's! God confound thee! Is this a time
+for sport and diversion? Art thou not ashamed of thyself?' 'And
+what ails our master, O dog?' asked the cock. The dog told him
+what had happened and how the merchant's wife had importuned him,
+till he was about to tell her his secret and die, and the cock
+said, 'Then is our master little of wit and lacking in sense; if
+he cannot manage his affairs with a single wife, his life is not
+worth prolonging. See, I have fifty wives. I content this one and
+anger that, stint one and feed another, and through my good
+governance they are all under my control. Now, our master
+pretends to sense and accomplishments, and he has but one wife
+and yet knows not how to manage her.' Quoth the dog, 'What, then,
+should our master do?' 'He should take a stick,' replied the
+cock, 'and beat her soundly, till she says, "I repent, O my lord!
+I will never again ask a question as long as I live." And when
+once he has done this, he will be free from care and enjoy life.
+But he has neither sense nor judgment.'
+
+When the merchant heard what the cock said, he went to his wife
+(after he had hidden a rattan in an empty store-room) and said to
+her, 'Come with me into this room, that I may tell thee my secret
+and die and none see me.' So she entered gladly, thinking that he
+was about to tell her his secret, and he locked the door; then he
+took the rattan and brought it down on her back and ribs and
+shoulders, saying, 'Wilt thou ask questions about what is none of
+thy business?' He beat her till she was well-nigh senseless, and
+she cried out, 'By Allah, I will ask thee no more questions, and
+indeed I repent sincerely!' And she kissed his hands and feet.
+Then he unlocked the door and went out and told the company what
+had happened, whereat they rejoiced, and mourning was changed
+into joy and gladness. So the merchant learnt good management
+from a cock, and he and his wife lived happily until death.
+
+And thou, O my daughter," added the Vizier, "except thou desist
+from this thing, I will do with thee even as the merchant did
+with his wife." "I will never desist," answered she, "nor is it
+this story that can turn me from my purpose; and an thou yield
+not to me, I will go up myself to the King and complain to him of
+thee, in that thou grudges the like of me to the like of him."
+Quoth her father, "Must it be so?" And she answered "Yes." So
+being weary of striving with her and despairing of turning her
+from her purpose, he went up to King Shehriyar and kissing the
+earth before him, told him about his daughter and how she would
+have him give her to him that next night; whereat the King
+marvelled and said to him, "How is this? By Him who raised up the
+heavens, if thou bring her to me, I shall say to thee on the
+morrow, 'Take her and put her to death.' And if thou kill her
+not, I will kill thee without fail." "O king of the age,"
+answered the Vizier, "it is she who will have it so; and I told
+her all this, but she will not hear me and insists upon passing
+this night with thy highness." "It is well," answered Shehriyar;
+"go and make her ready, and tonight bring her to me." So the
+Vizier returned to his daughter and told her what had passed,
+saying, "May God not bereave us of thee!" But Shehrzad rejoiced
+with an exceeding joy and made ready all that she needed, and
+said to her sister Dunyazad, "O my sister, note well what I shall
+enjoin thee. When I go up to the Sultan, I will send after thee,
+and when thou comest to me and seest that the King has done his
+will of me, do thou say to me, 'O my sister, an thou be not
+asleep, tell us some of thy delightful stories, to pass away the
+watches of this our night.' Do this and (God willing) it shall be
+the means of my deliverance and of the ridding of the folk of
+this calamity, and by it I will turn the King from his custom."
+Dunyazad answered, "It is well." And the Vizier carried Shehrzad
+to the King, who took her to his bed and fell to toying with her.
+But she wept, and he said to her, "Why dost thou weep?" "O king
+of the age," answered she, "I have a young sister and I desire to
+take leave of her this night and that she may take leave of me
+before the morning." So he sent for Dunyazad, and she waited till
+the Sultan had done his desire of her sister and they were all
+three awake, when she coughed and said, "O my sister, an thou be
+not asleep, tell us one of thy pleasant stories, to beguile the
+watches of our night, and I will take leave of thee before the
+morning." "With all my heart," answered Shehrzad, "if the good
+king give me leave." The King being wakeful, was pleased to hear
+a story and said, "Tell on." Whereat she rejoiced greatly and
+said, "It is related, O august king, that
+
+
+
+
+                  THE MERCHANT AND THE GENIE.
+
+
+
+There was once a merchant, who had much substance and traded
+largely in foreign countries. One day, as he was riding through a
+certain country, whither he had gone to collect what was due to
+him, there overtook him the heat of the day and presently he
+espied a garden[FN#8] before him; so he made towards it for
+shelter and alighting, sat down under a walnut tree, by a spring
+of water. Then he put his hand to his saddle bags and took out a
+cake of bread and a date and ate them and threw away the date
+stone, when behold, there started up before him a gigantic Afrit,
+with a naked sword in his hand, who came up to him and said,
+'Arise, that I may slay thee, even as thou hast slain my son.'
+'How did I slay thy son?' asked the merchant, and the genie
+replied, 'When thou threwest away the date stone, it smote my
+son, who was passing at the time, on the breast, and he died
+forthright.' When the merchant heard this, he said, 'Verily we
+are God's and to Him we return! There is no power and no virtue
+but in God, the Most High, the Supreme! If I killed him, it was
+by misadventure, and I prithee pardon me.' But the genie said,
+'There is no help for it but I must kill thee.' Then he seized
+him and throwing him down, raised his sword to strike him:
+whereupon the merchant wept and said, 'I commit my affair to
+God!' and recited the following verses:
+
+Fate has two days, untroubled one, the other lowering, And life
+     two parts, the one content, the other sorrowing.
+Say unto him that taunteth us with fortune's perfidy, 'At whom
+     but those whose heads are high doth Fate its arrows fling?'
+If that the hands of Time have made their plaything of our life,
+     Till for its long protracted kiss ill-hap upon us spring,
+Dost thou not see the hurricane, what time the wild winds blow,
+     Smite down the stately trees alone and spare each lesser
+     thing?
+Lo! in the skies are many stars, no one can tell their tale, But
+     to the sun and moon alone eclipse brings darkening.
+The earth bears many a pleasant herb and many a plant and tree:
+     But none is stoned save only those to which the fair fruit
+     cling.
+Look on the sea and how the waifs float up upon the foam, But in
+     its deepest depths of blue the pearls have sojourning.
+
+'Cut short thy speech,' said the genie, 'for, by Allah, there is
+no help for it but I must kill thee.' 'Know, O Afrit,' replied
+the merchant, 'that I have a wife and children and much
+substance, and I owe debts and hold pledges: so let me return
+home and give every one his due, and I vow by all that is most
+sacred that I will return to thee at the end of the year, that
+thou mayest do with me as thou wilt, and God is witness of what I
+say.' The genie accepted his promise and released him, whereupon
+he returned to his dwelling-place and paid his debts and settled
+all his affairs. Moreover, he told his wife and children what had
+happened and made his last dispositions, and tarried with his
+family till the end of the year. Then he rose and made his
+ablutions[FN#9] and took his winding sheet under his arm and
+bidding his household and kinsfolk and neighbours farewell, set
+out, much against his will, to perform his promise to the genie;
+whilst his family set up a great noise of crying and lamentation.
+He journeyed on till he reached the garden, where he had met with
+the genie, on the first day of the new year, and there sat down
+to await his doom. Presently, as he sat weeping over what had
+befallen him, there came up an old man, leading a gazelle by a
+chain, and saluted the merchant, saying, 'What ails thee to sit
+alone in this place, seeing that it is the resort of the
+Jinn?'[FN#10] The merchant told him all that had befallen him
+with the Afrit, and he wondered and said, 'By Allah, O my
+brother, thy good faith is exemplary and thy story is a
+marvellous one! If it were graven with needles on the corners of
+the eye, it would serve as a warning to those that can profit by
+example.' Then he sat down by his side, saying, 'By Allah, O my
+brother, I will not leave thee till I see what befalls thee with
+this Afrit.' So they sat conversing, and fear and terror got hold
+upon the merchant and trouble increased upon him, notwithstanding
+the old man's company. Presently another old man came up, leading
+two black dogs, and saluting them, inquired why they sat in a
+place known to be haunted by Jinn, whereupon the merchant
+repeated his story to him. He had not sat long with them when
+there came up a third old man leading a dappled she-mule, and
+after putting to them the same question and receiving a like
+answer, sat down with them to await the issue of the affair. They
+had sat but a little while longer, when behold, there arose a
+cloud of dust and a great whirling column approached from the
+heart of the desert. Then the dust lifted and discovered the
+genie, with a drawn sword in his hand and sparks of fire issuing
+from his eyes. He came up to them and dragged the merchant from
+amongst them, saying, 'Rise, that I may slay thee as thou slewest
+my son, the darling of my heart!' Whereupon the merchant wept and
+bewailed himself and the three old men joined their cries and
+lamentations to his. Then came forward the first old man, he of
+the gazelle, and kissed the Afrit's hand and said to him, 'O
+genie and crown of the kings of the Jinn, if I relate to thee my
+history with this gazelle and it seem to thee wonderful, wilt
+thou grant me a third of this merchant's blood?' 'Yes, O old
+man,' answered the genie, 'if thou tell me thy story and I find
+it wonderful, I will remit to thee a third of his blood.' Then
+said the old man, 'Know, O Afrit, that
+
+
+
+
+                   The First Old Man's Story.
+
+
+
+This gazelle is the daughter of my father's brother and my own
+flesh and blood. I married her whilst she was yet of tender age
+and lived with her near thirty years, without being blessed with
+a child by her. So I took me a concubine and had by her a son
+like the rising full moon, with eyes and eyebrows of perfect
+beauty; and he grew up and flourished till he reached the age of
+fifteen, when I had occasion to journey to a certain city, and
+set out thither with great store of merchandise. Now my wife had
+studied sorcery and magic from her youth: so, I being gone, she
+turned my son into a calf and his mother into a cow and delivered
+them both to the cowherd: and when, after a long absence, I
+returned from my journey and inquired after my son and his
+mother, my wife said to me, "Thy slave died and her son ran
+away, whither I know not." I abode for the space of a year,
+mournful-hearted and weeping-eyed, till the coming of the Greater
+Festival, when I sent to the herdsman and bade him bring me a fat
+cow for the purpose of sacrifice. So he brought me the very cow
+into which my wife had changed my concubine by her art; and I
+tucked up my skirts and taking the knife in my hand, went up to
+the cow to slaughter her; but she lowed and moaned so piteously,
+that I was seized with wonder and compassion and held my hand
+from her and said to the herd, "Bring me another cow." "Not so!"
+cried my wife. "Slaughter this one, for we have no finer nor
+fatter." So I went up to her again, but she cried out, and I left
+her and ordered the herdsman to kill her and skin her. So he
+killed her and flayed her, but found on her neither fat nor
+flesh, only skin and bone. Then I was sorry for having slain her,
+when repentance availed me not; and I gave her to the herd and
+said to him, "Bring me a fat calf." So he brought me my son in
+the guise of a calf; and when he saw me, he broke his halter and
+came up to me and fawned on me and moaned and wept, till I took
+pity on him and said to the man, "Bring me a cow and let this
+calf go." But my wife cried out at me and said, "Not so: thou
+must sacrifice this calf and none other to-day: for it is a holy
+and a blessed day, on which it behoves us to offer up none but a
+good thing, and we have no calf fatter or finer than this one."
+Quoth I, "Look at the condition of the cow I slaughtered by thine
+order; we were deceived in her, and now I will not be persuaded
+by thee to slay this calf this time." "By the great God, the
+Compassionate, the Merciful," answered she, "thou must without
+fail sacrifice this calf on this holy day! Else thou art no
+longer my husband nor am I thy wife." When I heard this harsh
+speech from her, I went up to the calf, knowing not what she
+aimed at, and took the knife in my hand.'" Here Shehrzad perceived
+the day and was silent; and her sister said to her, "What a
+charming and delightful story!" Quoth Shehrzad, "This is nothing
+to what I will tell thee to-morrow night, if the King let me
+live." And the King said to himself, "By Allah, I will not kill
+her, till I hear the rest of the story!" So they lay together
+till morning, when the King went out to his hall of audience and
+the Vizier came in to him, with the winding-sheet under his arm.
+Then the King ordered and appointed and deposed, without telling
+the Vizier aught of what had happened, much to the former's
+surprise, until the end of the day, when the Divan broke up and
+he retired to his apartments.
+
+                And when it was the second night
+
+Dunyazad said to her sister Shehrzad, "O my sister, finish us thy
+story of the merchant and the genie." "With all my heart,"
+answered she, "if the King give me leave." The king bade her "Say
+on." So she began as follows: "It has reached me, O august king
+and wise governor, that the first old man continued his story as
+follows: 'O lord of the Kings of the Jinn, as I was about to kill
+the calf, my heart failed me and I said to the herdsman, "Keep
+this calf with the rest of the cattle." So he took it and went
+away. Next day the herd came to me, as I was sitting by myself,
+and said to me, "O my lord, I have that to tell thee will rejoice
+thee, and I claim a reward for good news." Quoth I, "It is well."
+And he said, "O merchant, I have a daughter, who learnt the art
+of magic in her youth from an old woman who lived with us, and
+yesterday, when I took home the calf that thou gavest me, she
+looked at it and veiled her face and fell a-weeping. Then she
+laughed and said to me, 'O my father, am I become of so little
+account in thine eyes that thou bringest in to me strange men?'
+'Where are the strange men?' asked I. 'And why dost thou weep and
+laugh?' Quoth she, 'The calf thou hast there is our master's son,
+who has been enchanted, as well as his mother, by his father's
+wife. This is why I laughed: and I wept for his mother, because
+his father slaughtered her.' I wondered exceedingly at this and
+the day had no sooner broken than I came to tell thee." When
+(continued the old man) I heard the herdsman's story, O genie, I
+went out with him, drunken without wine for stress of joy and
+gladness, and accompanied him to his house, where his daughter
+welcomed me and kissed my hand; and the calf came up to me and
+fawned on me. Said I to the girl, "Is it true what I hear about
+this calf?" "Yes, O my lord," answered she, "this is indeed thy
+son and the darling of thy heart." So I said to her, "O damsel,
+if thou wilt release him, all that is under thy father's hand of
+beasts and goods shall be thine!" But she smiled and said, "O my
+lord, I care not for wealth, but I will do what thou desirest
+upon two conditions, the first that thou marry me to this thy
+son, and the second that thou permit me to bewitch the sorceress
+and imprison her (in the shape of a beast); else I shall not be
+safe from her craft." I answered, "Besides what thou seekest,
+thou shalt have all that is under thy father's hand, and as to my
+wife, it shall be lawful to thee to shed her blood, if thou
+wilt." When she heard this, she took a cup full of water, and
+conjured over it; then sprinkled the calf with the water, saying,
+"If thou be a calf by the creation of the Almighty, abide in that
+form and change not: but if thou be enchanted, return to thine
+original form, with the permission of God the Most High!" With
+that he shook and became a man: and I fell upon him and said to
+him, "For God's sake, tell me what my wife did with thee and thy
+mother." So he told me what had befallen them and I said to
+him, "O my son, God hath sent thee one to deliver and avenge
+thee." Then I married him to the herdsman's daughter, and she
+transformed my wife into this gazelle, saying to me, "I have
+given her this graceful form for thy sake, that thou mayest look
+on her without aversion." She dwelt with us days and nights and
+nights and days, till God took her to Himself; and after her
+death, my son set out on a journey to the land of Ind, which is
+this merchant's native country; and after awhile, I took the
+gazelle and travelled with her from place to place, seeking news
+of my son, till chance led me to this garden, where I found this
+merchant sitting weeping; and this is my story.' Quoth the genie,
+'This is indeed a rare story, and I remit to thee a third part of
+his blood.' Then came forward the second old man, he of the two
+greyhounds, and said to the genie, 'I will tell thee my story
+with these two dogs, and if thou find it still rarer and more
+marvellous, do thou remit to me another third part of his blood.
+Quoth the genie, 'I agree to this.' Then said the second old man,
+'Know, O lord of the Kings of the Jinn, that
+
+
+
+
+                  The Second Old Man's Story.
+
+
+
+These two dogs are my elder brothers. Our father died and left us
+three thousand dinars,[FN#11] and I opened a shop that I might
+buy and sell therein, and my brothers did each the like. But
+before long, my eldest brother sold his stock for a thousand
+dinars and bought goods and merchandise and setting out on his
+travels, was absent a whole year. One day, as I was sitting in my
+shop, a beggar stopped before me and I said to him, "God assist
+thee!"[FN#12] But he said to me, weeping, "Dost thou not
+recognize me?" I took note of him, and behold, it was my brother.
+So I rose and welcomed him and made him sit down by me and
+inquired how he came in such a case: but he answered, "Do not ask
+me: my wealth is wasted and fortune has turned her back on me."
+Then I carried him to the bath and clad him in one of my own
+suits and took him to live with me. Moreover, I cast up my
+accounts and found that I had made a thousand dinars profit, so
+that my capital was now two thousand dinars. I divided this
+between my brother and myself, saying to him, "Put it that thou
+hast never travelled nor been abroad." He took it gladly and
+opened a shop with it. Presently, my second brother arose like
+the first and sold his goods and all that belonged to him and
+determined to travel. We would have dissuaded him, but he would
+not be dissuaded and bought merchandise with which he set out on
+his travels, and we saw no more of him for a whole year; at the
+end of which time he came to us as had done his elder brother,
+and I said to him, "O my brother, did I not counsel thee not to
+travel?" And he wept and said, "O my brother, it was decreed: and
+behold, I am poor, without a dirhem [FN#13] or a shirt to my
+back." Then I carried him to the bath and clad him in a new suit
+of my own and brought him back to my shop, where we ate and drank
+together; after which, I said to him, "O my brother, I will make
+up the accounts of my shop, as is my wont once a year, and the
+increase shall be between thee and me." So I arose and took stock
+and found I was worth two thousand dinars increase, in excess of
+capital, wherefore I praised the Divine Creator and gave my
+brother a thousand dinars, with which he opened a shop. In this
+situation we remained for some time, till one day, my brothers
+came to me and would have me go on a voyage with them; but I
+refused and said to them, "What did your travels profit you, that
+I should look to profit by the same venture?" And I would not
+listen to them; so we abode in our shops, buying and selling, and
+every year they pressed me to travel, and I declined, until six
+years had elapsed. At last I yielded to their wishes and said to
+them, "O my brothers, I will make a voyage with you, but first
+let me see what you are worth." So I looked into their affairs
+and found they had nothing left, having wasted all their
+substance in eating and drinking and merrymaking. However, I said
+not a word of reproach to them, but sold my stock and got in all
+I had and found I was worth six thousand dinars. So I rejoiced
+and divided the sum into two equal parts and said to my brothers,
+"These three thousand dinars are for you and me to trade with."
+The other three thousand I buried, in case what befell them
+should befall me also, so that we might still have, on our
+return, wherewithal to open our shops again. They were content
+and I gave them each a thousand dinars and kept the like myself.
+Then we provided ourselves with the necessary merchandise and
+equipped ourselves for travel and chartered a ship, which we
+freighted with our goods. After a month's voyage, we came to a
+city, in which we sold our goods at a profit of ten dinars on
+every one (of prime cost). And as we were about to take ship
+again, we found on the beach a damsel in tattered clothes, who
+kissed my hand and said to me, "O my lord, is there in thee
+kindness and charity? I will requite thee for them." Quoth I,
+"Indeed I love to do courtesy and charity, though I be not
+requited." And she said, "O my lord, I beg thee to marry me and
+clothe me and take me back to thy country, for I give myself to
+thee. Entreat me courteously, for indeed I am of those whom it
+behoves to use with kindness and consideration; and I will
+requite thee therefor: do not let my condition prejudice thee."
+When I heard what she said, my heart inclined to her, that what
+God (to whom belong might and majesty) willed might come to pass.
+So I carried her with me and clothed her and spread her a goodly
+bed in the ship and went in to her and made much of her. Then we
+set sail again and indeed my heart clove to her with a great love
+and I left her not night nor day and occupied myself with her to
+the exclusion of my brothers. Wherefore they were jealous of me
+and envied me my much substance; and they looked upon it with
+covetous eyes and took counsel together to kill me and to take my
+goods, saying, "Let us kill our brother, and all will be ours."
+And Satan made this to seem good in their eyes. So they took me
+sleeping beside my wife and lifted us both up and threw us into
+the sea. When my wife awoke, she shook herself and becoming an
+Afriteh,[FN#14] took me up and carried me to an island, where she
+left me for awhile. In the morning, she returned and said to me,
+"I have paid thee my debt, for it is I who bore thee up out of
+the sea and saved thee from death, by permission of God the Most
+High. Know that I am of the Jinn who believe in God and His
+Apostle (whom God bless and preserve!) and I saw thee and loved
+thee for God's sake. So I came to thee in the plight thou knowest
+of and thou didst marry me, and now I have saved thee from
+drowning. But I am wroth with thy brothers, and needs must I kill
+them." When I heard her words, I wondered and thanked her for
+what she had done and begged her not to kill my brothers. Then I
+told her all that had passed between us, and she said, "This very
+night will I fly to them and sink their ship and make an end of
+them." "God on thee," answered I, "do not do this, for the
+proverb says, 'O thou who dost good to those who do evil, let his
+deeds suffice the evil doer!' After all, they are my brothers."
+Quoth she, "By Allah, I must kill them." And I besought her till
+she lifted me up and flying away with me, set me down on the roof
+of my own house, where she left me. I went down and unlocked the
+doors and brought out what I had hidden under the earth and
+opened my shop, after I had saluted the folk and bought goods. At
+nightfall, I returned home and found these two dogs tied up in
+the courtyard: and when they saw me, they came up to me and wept
+and fawned on me. At the same moment, my wife presented herself
+and said to me, "These are thy brothers." "Who has done this
+thing unto them?" asked I; and she answered, "I sent to my
+sister, who turned them into this form, and they shall not be
+delivered from the enchantment till after ten years." Then she
+left me, after telling me where to find her; and now, the ten
+years having expired, I was carrying the dogs to her, that she
+might release them, when I fell in with this merchant, who
+acquainted me with what had befallen him. So I determined not to
+leave him, till I saw what passed between thee and him: and this
+is my story.' 'This is indeed a rare story,' said the genie, 'and
+I remit to thee a third part of his blood and his crime.' Then
+came forward the third old man, he of the mule, and said, 'O
+genie, I will tell thee a story still more astonishing than the
+two thou hast heard, and do thou remit to me the remainder of his
+blood and crime.' The genie replied, 'It is well.' So the third
+old man said, 'Know, O Sultan and Chief of the Jinn, that
+
+
+
+
+                   The Third Old Man's Story.
+
+
+
+This mule was my wife. Some time ago, I had occasion to travel
+and was absent from her a whole year; at the end of which time I
+returned home by night and found my wife in bed with a black
+slave, talking and laughing and toying and kissing and dallying.
+When she saw me, she made haste and took a mug of water and
+muttered over it; then came up to me and sprinkled me with the
+water, saying, "Leave this form for that of a dog!" And
+immediately I became a dog. She drove me from the house, and I
+went out of the door and ceased not running till I came to a
+butcher's shop, where I stopped and began to eat the bones. The
+butcher took me and carried me into his house; but when his
+daughter saw me, she veiled her face and said to her father, "How
+is it that thou bringest a man in to me?" "Where is the man?"
+asked he; and she replied, "This dog is a man, whose wife has
+enchanted him, and I can release him." When her father heard
+this, he said, "I conjure thee by Allah, O my daughter, release
+him!" So she took a mug of water and muttered over it, then
+sprinkled a little of it on me, saying, "Leave this shape and
+return to thy former one." And immediately I became a man again
+and kissed her hand and begged her to enchant my wife as she had
+enchanted me. So she gave me a little of the water and said to
+me, "When thou seest her asleep, sprinkle her with this water and
+repeat the words thou hast heard me use, naming the shape thou
+wouldst have her take, and she will become whatever thou
+wishest." So I took the water and returned home and went in to my
+wife. I found her asleep and sprinkled the water upon her,
+saying, "Quit this form for that of a mule." And she at once
+became a mule; and this is she whom thou seest before thee, O
+Sultan and Chief of the Kings of the Jinn!' Then he said to the
+mule, 'Is it true?' And she nodded her head and made signs as who
+should say, 'Yes, indeed: this is my history and what befell
+me.'" Here Shehrzad perceived the day and was silent. And
+Dunyazad said to her, "O my sister, what a delightful story is
+this of thine!" "This is nothing," answered Shehrzad, "to what I
+will tell thee to-morrow night, if the King let me live." Quoth
+the King to himself, "By Allah, I will not put her to death till
+I hear the rest of her story, for it is wonderful." And they lay
+together till the morning. Then the King rose and betook himself
+to his audience-chamber, and the Vizier and the troops presented
+themselves and the Court was full. The King judged and appointed
+and deposed and ordered and forbade till the end of the day, when
+the Divan broke up and he returned to his apartments.
+
+                And when it was the third night
+
+and the King had taken his will of the Vizier's daughter,
+Dunyazad said to her sister, "O my sister, finish us thy story."
+"With all my heart," answered Shehrzad. "Know, O august King,
+that when the genie heard the third old man's story, he marvelled
+exceedingly and shook with delight and said, 'I remit to thee the
+remainder of his crime.' Then he released the merchant, who went
+up to the three old men and thanked them; and they gave him joy
+of his escape and returned, each to his own country. Nor is this
+more wonderful than the story of the Fisherman and the Genie."
+"What is that?" asked the King: and she said, "I have heard tell,
+O august King, that
+
+
+
+
+
+                  THE FISHERMAN AND THE GENIE.
+
+
+
+There was once a poor fisherman, who was getting on in years and
+had a wife and three children; and it was his custom every day to
+cast his net four times and no more. One day he went out at the
+hour of noon and repaired to the sea-shore, where he set down his
+basket and tucked up his skirts and plunging into the sea, cast
+his net and waited till it had settled down in the water. Then he
+gathered the cords in his hand and found it heavy and pulled at
+it, but could not bring it up. So he carried the end of the cords
+ashore and drove in a stake, to which he made them fast. Then he
+stripped and diving round the net, tugged at it till he brought
+it ashore. Whereat he rejoiced and landing, put on his clothes;
+but when he came to examine the net, he found in it a dead ass;
+and the net was torn. When he saw this, he was vexed and said:
+'There is no power and no virtue save in God the Most High, the
+Supreme! This is indeed strange luck!' And he repeated the
+following verses:
+
+O thou that strivest in the gloom of darkness and distress, Cut
+     short thine efforts, for in strife alone lies not success!
+Seest not the fisherman that seeks his living in the sea, Midmost
+     the network of the stars that round about him press!
+Up to his midst he plunges in: the billows buffet him; But from
+     the bellying net his eyes cease not in watchfulness;
+Till when, contented with his night, he carries home a fish,
+     Whose throat the hand of Death hath slit with trident
+     pitiless,
+Comes one who buys his prey of him, one who has passed the night,
+     Safe from the cold, in all delight of peace and blessedness.
+Praise be to God who gives to this and cloth to that deny! Some
+     fish, and others eat the fish caught with such toil and
+     stress.
+
+Then he said, 'Courage! I shall have better luck next time,
+please God!' And repeated the following verses:
+
+If misfortune assail thee, clothe thyself thereagainst With
+     patience, the part of the noble: 'twere wiselier done.
+Complain not to men: that were indeed to complain, To those that
+     have no mercy, of the Merciful One.
+
+So saying, he threw out the dead ass and wrung the net and spread
+it out. Then he went down into the sea and cast again, saying,
+'In the name of God!' and waited till the net had settled down in
+the water, when he pulled the cords and finding it was heavy and
+resisted more than before, thought it was full of fish. So he
+made it fast to the shore and stripped and dived into the water
+round the net, till he got it free. Then he hauled at it till he
+brought it ashore, but found in it nothing but a great jar full
+of sand and mud. When he saw this, he groaned aloud and repeated
+the following verses:
+
+Anger of Fate, have pity and forbear, Or at the least hold back
+     thy hand and spare!
+I sally forth to seek my daily bread And find my living vanished
+     into air.
+How many a fool's exalted to the stars, Whilst sages hidden in
+     the mire must fare!
+
+Then he threw out the jar and wrung out and cleansed his net:
+after which he asked pardon of God the Most High[FN#15] and
+returning to the sea a third time, cast the net. He waited till
+it had settled down, then pulled it up and found in it potsherds
+and bones and broken bottles: whereat he was exceeding wroth and
+wept and recited the following verses:
+
+Fortune's with God: thou mayst not win to bind or set it free:
+     Nor letter-lore nor any skill can bring good hap to thee.
+Fortune, indeed, and benefits by Fate are lotted out: One
+     country's blest with fertile fields, whilst others sterile
+     be.
+The shifts of evil chance cast down full many a man of worth And
+     those, that merit not, uplift to be of high degree.
+So come to me, O Death! for life is worthless verily; When
+     falcons humbled to the dust and geese on high we see.
+'Tis little wonder if thou find the noble-minded poor, What while
+     the loser by main force usurps his sovranty.
+One bird will traverse all the earth and fly from East to West:
+     Another hath his every wish although no step stir he.
+
+Then he lifted his eyes to heaven and said, 'O my God, Thou
+knowest that I cast my net but four times a day; and now I have
+cast it three times and have taken nothing. Grant me then, O my
+God, my daily bread this time!' So he said, 'In the name of God!'
+and cast his net and waited till it had settled down in the
+water, then pulled it, but could not bring it up, for it was
+caught in the bottom Whereupon, 'There is no power and no virtue
+but in God!' said he and repeated the following verses:
+
+Away with the world, if it be like this, away! My part in it's
+     nought but misery and dismay!
+Though the life of a man in the morning be serene, He must drink
+     of the cup of woe ere ended day.
+And yet if one asked, 'Who's the happiest man alive?' The people
+     would point to me and 'He' would say.
+
+Then he stripped and dived down to the net and strove with it
+till he brought it to shore, where he opened it and found in it a
+brazen vessel, full and stoppered with lead, on which was
+impressed the seal of our lord Solomon, son of David (on whom be
+peace!). When he saw this, he was glad and said, 'I will sell
+this in the copper market, for it is worth half a score diners.'
+Then he shook it and found it heavy and said to himself, 'I
+wonder what is inside! I will open it and see what is in it,
+before I sell it.' So he took out a knife and worked at the
+leaden seal, till he extracted it from the vessel and laid it
+aside. Then he turned the vase mouth downward and shook it, to
+turn out its contents; but nothing came out, and he wondered
+greatly and laid it on the ground. Presently, there issued from
+it a smoke, which rose up towards the sky and passed over the
+face of the earth; then gathered itself together and condensed
+and quivered and became an Afrit, whose head was in the clouds
+and his feet in the dust. His head was like a dome, his hands
+like pitchforks, his legs like masts, his mouth like a cavern,
+his teeth like rocks, his nostrils like trumpets, his eyes like
+lamps, and he was stern and lowering of aspect. When the
+fisherman saw the Afrit, he trembled in every limb; his teeth
+chattered and his spittle dried up and he knew not what to do.
+When the Afrit saw him, he said, 'There is no god but God, and
+Solomon is His prophet! O prophet of God, do not kill me, for I
+will never again disobey thee or cross thee, either in word or
+deed !' Quoth the fisherman, 'O Marid,[FN#16] thou sayest,
+"Solomon is the prophet of God." Solomon is dead these eighteen
+hundred years, and we are now at the end of time. But what is thy
+history and how comest thou in this vessel?' When the Marid heard
+this, he said, 'There is no god but God! I have news for thee, O
+fisherman!' 'What news?' asked he, and the Afrit answered, 'Even
+that I am about to slay thee without mercy.' 'O chief of the
+Afrits,' said the fisherman, 'thou meritest the withdrawal of
+God's protection from thee for saying this! Why wilt thou kill me
+and what calls for my death? Did I not deliver thee from the
+abysses of the sea and bring thee to land and release thee from
+the vase?' Quoth the Afrit, 'Choose what manner of death thou
+wilt die and how thou wilt be killed.' 'What is my crime?' asked
+the fisherman. 'Is this my reward for setting thee free?' The
+Afrit answered, 'Hear my story, O fisherman!' 'Say on and be
+brief,' quoth he, 'for my heart is in my mouth.' Then said the
+Afrit, 'Know, O fisherman, that I was of the schismatic Jinn and
+rebelled against Solomon son of David (on whom be peace!), I and
+Sekhr the genie; and he sent his Vizier Asef teen Berkhiya, who
+took me by force and bound me and carried me, in despite of
+myself, before Solomon, who invoked God's aid against me and
+exhorted me to embrace the Faith[FN#17] and submit to his
+authority: but I refused. Then he sent for this vessel and shut
+me up in it and stoppered it with lead and sealed it with the
+Most High Name and commanded the Jinn to take me and throw me
+into the midst of the sea. There I remained a hundred years, and
+I said in my heart, "Whoso releaseth me, I will make him rich for
+ever." But the hundred years passed and no one came to release
+me, and I entered on another century and said, "Whoso releaseth
+me, I will open to him the treasures of the earth" But none
+released me, and other four hundred years passed over me, and I
+said, "Whoso releaseth me, I will grant him three wishes." But no
+one set me free. Then I was exceeding wroth and said to myself,
+"Henceforth, whoso releaseth me, I will kill him and let him
+choose what death he will die." And now, thou hast released me,
+and I give thee thy choice of deaths.' When the fisherman heard
+this, he exclaimed, 'O God, the pity of it that I should not have
+come to release thee till now!' Then he said to the Afrit, 'Spare
+me, that God may spare thee, and do not destroy me, lest God set
+over thee one who will destroy thee.' But he answered, 'There is
+no help for it, I must kill thee: so choose what death thou wilt
+die.' The fisherman again returned to the charge, saying, 'Spare
+me for that I set thee free.' 'Did I not tell thee,' replied the
+Marid, 'that is why I kill thee?' 'O head of the Afrits,' said
+the fisherman, 'I did thee a kindness, and thou repayest me with
+evil: indeed the proverb lieth not that saith:
+
+"We did them good, and they the contrary returned: And this, upon
+     my life, is what the wicked do!
+Who helps those, that deserve it not, shall be repaid As the
+     hyæna paid the man that helped her through."'
+
+'Make no more words about it,' said the Afrit; 'thou must die.'
+Quoth the fisherman to himself, 'This is a genie, and I am a man;
+and God hath given me a good wit. So I will contrive for his
+destruction by my wit and cunning, even as he plotted mine of his
+craft and perfidy.' Then he said to the Afrit, 'Is there no help
+for it, but thou must kill me?' He answered, 'No,' and the
+fisherman said, 'I conjure thee, by the Most High Name graven
+upon the ring of Solomon son of David (on whom be peace!), answer
+me one question truly.' When the Afrit heard him mention the Most
+High Name, he was agitated and trembled and replied, 'It is well:
+ask and be brief.' Quoth the fisherman, 'This vessel would not
+suffice for thy hand or thy foot: so how could it hold the whole
+of thee?' Said the Afrit, 'Dost thou doubt that I was in it?'
+'Yes,' answered the fisherman; 'nor will I believe it till I see
+it with my own eyes.'" Here Shehrzad perceived the day and was
+silent.
+
+            And when it was the fourth night[FN#18]
+
+Dunyazad said to her sister, "O sister, an thou be not asleep,
+finish us thy story." So Shehrzad began, "I have heard tell, O
+august King, that, when he heard what the fisherman said, the
+Afrit shook and became a smoke over the sea, which drew together
+and entered the vessel little by little, till it was all inside.
+Whereupon the fisherman made haste to take the leaden stopper and
+clapping it on the mouth of the vessel, called out to the Afrit,
+saying, 'Choose what death thou wilt die! By Allah, I will throw
+thee back into the sea and build myself a house hard by, and all
+who come hither I will warn against fishing here, and say to
+them, "There is an Afrit in these waters, that gives those who
+pull him out their choice of deaths and how he shall kill them."'
+When the Afrit heard this and found himself shut up in the
+vessel, he knew that the fisherman had outwitted him and strove
+to get out, but could not, for Solomon's seal prevented him; so
+he said to the fisherman, 'I did but jest with thee.' 'Thou
+liest, O vilest and meanest and foulest of Afrits!' answered he,
+and rolled the vessel to the brink of the sea; which when the
+Afrit felt, he cried out, 'No! No!' And the fisherman said, 'Yes!
+Yes!' Then the Afrit made his voice small and humbled himself and
+said, 'What wilt thou do with me, O fisherman?' 'I mean to throw
+thee back into the sea,' replied he; 'since thou hast lain there
+already eighteen hundred years, thou shalt lie there now till the
+hour of judgment. Did I not say to thee, "Spare me, so God may
+spare thee; and do not kill me, lest God kill thee?" but thou
+spurnedst my prayers and wouldst deal with me no otherwise than
+perfidiously. So I used cunning with thee and now God has
+delivered thee into my hand.' Said the Afrit, 'Let me out, that I
+may confer benefits on thee.' The fisherman answered, 'Thou
+liest, O accursed one! Thou and I are like King Younan's Vizier
+and the physician Douban.' 'Who are they,' asked the Afrit, 'and
+what is their story?' Then said the fisherman, 'Know, O Afrit,
+that
+
+
+
+
+                 Story of the Physician Douban.
+
+
+
+There was once in a city of Persia a powerful and wealthy king,
+named Younan, who had guards and troops and auxiliaries of every
+kind: but he was afflicted with a leprosy, which defied the
+efforts of his physicians and wise men. He took potions and
+powders and used ointments, but all to no avail, and not one of
+the doctors could cure him. At last, there came to the King's
+capital city a great physician, stricken in years, whose name was
+Douban: and he had studied many books, Greek, ancient and modern,
+and Persian and Turkish and Arabic and Syriac and Hebrew, and was
+skilled in medicine and astrology, both theoretical and
+practical. Moreover he was familiar with all plants and herbs and
+grasses, whether harmful or beneficial, and was versed in the
+learning of the philosophers; in brief, he had made himself
+master of all sciences, medical and other. He had not been long
+in the town before he heard of the leprosy with which God had
+afflicted the King, and of the failure of the physicians and men
+of science to cure him; whereupon he passed the night in study;
+and when the day broke and the morning appeared and shone, he
+donned his richest apparel and went in to the King and kissing
+the ground before him, wished him enduring honour and fair
+fortune, in the choicest words at his command. Then he told him
+who he was and said to him, "O King, I have learnt what has
+befallen thee in thy person and how a multitude of physicians
+have failed to find a means of ridding thee of it: but I will
+cure thee, O King, and that without giving thee to drink of
+medicine or anointing thee with ointment." When the King heard
+this, he wondered and said to him, "How wilt thou do this? By
+Allah, if thou cure me, I will enrich thee, even to thy
+children's children, and I will heap favours on thee, and
+whatever thou desirest shalt be shine, and thou shalt be my
+companion and my friend." Then he gave him a dress of honour and
+made much of him, saying, "Wilt thou indeed cure me without drugs
+or ointment?" "Yes," answered Douban, "I will cure thee from
+without." Whereat the King marvelled exceedingly and said, "O
+physician, when wilt thou do as thou hast said? Make haste, O my
+son!" Quoth Douban, "I hear and obey: it shall be done tomorrow."
+And he went down into the city and hired a house, in which he
+deposited his books and medicines. Then he took certain drugs and
+simples and fashioned them into a mall, which he hollowed out and
+made thereto a handle and a ball, adapted to it by his art. Next
+morning he presented himself before the King and kissing the
+ground before him, ordered him to repair to the tilting ground
+and play at mall there. So the King mounted and repaired thither
+with his amirs and chamberlains and viziers, and hardly had he
+reached the appointed place when the physician Douban came up and
+presented him with the mall and ball he had prepared, saying,
+"Take this mall and grip the handle thus and drive into the plain
+and stretch thyself well and strike this ball till thy hand and
+thy body sweat, when the drugs will penetrate thy hand and
+permeate thy body. When thou hast done and the medicine has
+entered into thee, return to thy palace and enter the bath and
+wash. Then sleep awhile and thou wilt awake cured, and peace be
+on thee!" The King took the mall and mounting a swift horse,
+threw the ball before him and drove after it with all his might
+and smote it: and his hand gripped the mall firmly. And he ceased
+not to drive after the bail and strike it, till his hand and all
+his body sweated, and Douban knew that the drugs had taken effect
+upon him and ordered him to return and enter the bath at once. So
+the King returned immediately and ordered the bath to be emptied
+for him. They turned the people out of the bath, and his servants
+and attendants hastened thither and made him ready change of
+linen and all that was necessary: and he went in and washed
+himself well and put on his clothes. Then he came out of the bath
+and went up to his palace and slept there. When he awoke, he
+looked at his body and found it clean as virgin silver, having no
+trace left of the leprosy: whereat he rejoiced exceedingly and his
+breast expanded with gladness. Next morning, he repaired to the
+Divan and sat down on his chair of estate, and the chamberlains
+and grandees attended on him. Presently, the physician Douban
+presented himself and kissed the earth before the king and
+repeated the following verses:
+
+The virtues all exalted are, when thou art styled their sire:
+     None else the title dares accept, of all that men admire.
+Lord of the radiant brow, whose light dispels the mists of doubt
+     From every goal of high emprize whereunto folk aspire,
+Ne'er may thy visage cease to shine with glory and with joy,
+     Although the face of Fate should gloom with unremitting ire!
+Even as the clouds pour down their dews upon the thirsting hills,
+     Thy grace pours favour on my head, outrunning my desire.
+With liberal hand thou casteth forth thy bounties far and nigh,
+     And so hast won those heights of fame thou soughtest to
+     acquire.
+
+The King rose to him in haste and embraced him and made him sit
+down and clad him in a splendid dress of honour. Then tables of
+rich food were brought in, and Douban ate with the King and
+ceased not to bear him company all that day. When it was night,
+the King gave him two thousand diners, besides other presents,
+and mounted him on his own horse; and the physician returned to
+his lodging, leaving the King astonished at his skill and saying,
+"This man cured me from without, without using ointments. By
+Allah, this is none other than consummate skill! And it behoves
+me to honour and reward him and make him my companion and bosom
+friend to the end of time." The King passed the night in great
+content, rejoicing in the soundness of his body and his
+deliverance from his malady. On the morrow, he went out and sat
+down on his throne; and the grandees stood before him, whilst the
+amirs and viziers sat on his right hand and on his left. Then he
+sent for the physician, who came and kissed the ground before
+him, whereupon the King rose to him and made him sit by his side
+and eat with him, and ceased not to converse with him and make
+much of him till night; when he commanded five dresses of honour
+and a thousand diners to be given to him, and he returned to his
+house, well contented with the King. Next morning, the King
+repaired as usual to his council-chamber, and the amirs and
+viziers and chamberlains took their places round him. Now he had
+among his viziers one who was forbidding of aspect, sordid,
+avaricious and envious: a man of ill omen, naturally inclined to
+malevolence: and when he saw the esteem in which the King held
+Douban and the favours he bestowed on him, he envied him and
+plotted evil against him; for, as says the byword, "Nobody is
+free from envy"--and again--"Tyranny is latent in the soul:
+weakness hides it and strength reveals it." So he came to the
+King and kissed the earth before him and said to him "O King of
+the age, thou in whose bounties I have grown up, I have a grave
+warning to give thee, which did I conceal from thee, I were a son
+of shame: wherefore, if thou command me to impart it to thee, I
+will do so." Quoth the King (and indeed the Vizier's words
+troubled him), "What is thy warning?" "O illustrious King,"
+answered the Vizier, "the ancients have a saying, 'Whoso looks
+not to the issue of events, fortune is no friend of his :' and
+indeed I see the King in other than the right way, in that he
+favours his enemy, who seeks the downfall of his kingdom, and
+makes much of him and honours him exceedingly and is beyond
+measure familiar with him: and of a truth I am fearful for the
+King." Quoth King Younan (and indeed he was troubled and his
+colour changed), "Of whom dost thou speak?" The Vizier answered,
+"If thou sleepest, awake. I mean the physician Douban." "Out on
+thee!" said the King. "He is my true friend and the dearest of
+all men to me; seeing that he medicined me by means of a thing I
+held in my hand and cured me of my leprosy, which the doctors
+were unable to cure; and there is not his like to be found in
+this time, no, not in the whole world, East nor West; and it is
+of him that thou speakest thus! But from to-day I will assign him
+stipends and allowances and appoint him a thousand diners a
+month: and if I should share my kingdom with him, it were but a
+little thing. Methinks thou sayest this out of pure envy and
+wouldst have me kill him and after repent, as King Sindbad
+repented the killing of his falcon." "Pardon me, O King of the
+age," said the Vizier, "but how was that! Quoth the King, "It is
+said that
+
+
+
+
+King Sindbad and His Falcon.
+
+
+
+There was once a King of Persia, who delighted in hunting; and he
+had reared a falcon, that left him not day or night, but slept
+all night long, perched upon his hand. Whenever he went out to
+hunt, he took the falcon with him; and he let make for it a cup
+of gold to hang round its neck, that he might give it to drink
+therein. One day, his chief falconer came in to him and said, 'O
+King, now is the time to go a-hunting.' So the King gave orders
+accordingly and took the falcon on his wrist and set out,
+accompanied by his officers and attendants. They rode on till
+they reached a valley, where they formed the circle of the chase,
+and behold, a gazelle entered the ring; whereupon quoth the King,
+'Whoso lets the gazelle spring over his head, I will kill him.'
+Then they drew the ring closelier round her, and behold, she came
+to the King's station and standing still, put her forelegs to her
+breast, as if to kill the earth before him. He bowed to her, but
+she sprang over his head and was off into the desert. The King
+saw his attendants nodding and winking to one another about him
+and said to his Vizier, 'O Vizier, what say my men?' 'They say,'
+answered the Vizier,  that thou didst threaten to kill him over
+whose head the gazelle should spring.' 'As my head liveth,'
+rejoined the King, 'I will follow her up, till I bring her back!'
+So he pricked on after her and followed her till he came to a
+mountain and she made for her lair; but the King cast off the
+falcon, which swooped down on her and pecked at her eyes, till he
+blinded her and dazed her; whereupon the King threw his mace at
+her and brought her down. Then he alighted and cut her throat and
+skinned her and made her fast to his saddle-bow. Now it was the
+hour of midday rest and the place, where he was, was desert, and
+the King was athirst and so was his horse. So he searched till he
+saw a tree, with water dripping slowly, like oil, from its
+branches. Now the King's hands were gloved with leather;[FN#19]
+so he took the cup from the falcon's neck and filled it with the
+liquid and set it before himself, when behold, the falcon smote
+the cup and overturned it. The King took it and refilled it with
+the falling drops and set it before the bird, thinking that it
+was athirst: but it smote it again and overturned it. At this,
+the King was vexed with the falcon and rose and filled the cup a
+third time and set it before the horse: but the falcon again
+overturned it with its wing. Then said the King, 'God confound
+thee, thou most mischievous of fowls, thou wilt neither drink
+thyself nor let me nor the horse drink!' And he smote it with his
+sword and cut off its wings: whereupon it erected its head and
+made signs as who should say, 'Look what is at the top of the
+tree.' The King raised his eyes and saw at the top of the tree a
+brood of snakes, and this was their venom dripping, which he had
+taken for water. So he repented him of having cut off the
+falcon's wings and mounting, rode on till he reached his tents
+and gave the gazelle to the cook to roast. Then he sat down on
+his chair, with the falcon on his wrist: and presently the bird
+gasped and died: whereupon the King cried out in sorrow and
+lament for having slain the bird that had saved him from death,
+and repented him when repentance availed him not. This, then, is
+the story of King Sindbad; and as for thee, O Vizier, envy hath
+entered into thee, and thou wouldst have me kill the physician
+and after repent, even as King Sindbad repented." "O mighty
+King," answered the Vizier, "what harm has this physician done me
+that I should wish his death? Indeed I only do this thing in
+compassion for thee and that thou mayst know the truth of the
+matter: else may I perish as perished the Vizier who plotted to
+destroy the king his master's son." "How was that? asked the
+King, and the Vizier replied, "Know, O King, that
+
+
+
+
+The King's Son and the Ogress.
+
+
+
+There was once a King's son who was passionately fond of the
+chase; and his father had charged one of his Viziers to attend
+him wherever he went. One day, the prince went out to hunt,
+accompanied by the Vizier, and as they were going along, they saw
+a great wild beast, whereupon the Vizier said to the prince, 'Up
+and after yonder beast!' So the prince rode after the beast and
+followed it, till he was lost to sight. After awhile, the beast
+disappeared in the desert, and the prince found himself alone,
+not knowing which way to turn. Presently he came upon a damsel,
+weeping, and said to her, 'Who art thou?' Quoth she, 'I am the
+daughter of one of the Kings of India, and I was journeying
+through this country, with a company of people, when sleep
+overcame me and I fell from my horse, not knowing what I did. My
+people did not note my fall and went on and left me; and now I am
+alone and bewildered.' When the prince heard this, he had pity on
+her case and took her up behind himself and they rode on, till
+they came to some ruins; when she said to him, 'O my lord, I wish
+to do an occasion here.' So he put her down, and she entered the
+ruins and tarried there till he became impatient and went in
+search of her; when he was ware that she was an ogress, and heard
+her say to her children, 'O my children, I have brought you to
+day a fat youth.' 'O mother,' answered they, 'bring him to us,
+that we may browse on him our bellyful.' When the prince heard
+this their talk, he trembled in every nerve and made sure of
+destruction and turned back. The ogress came out after him and
+finding him terrified and trembling, said to him, 'Why dost thou
+fear?' Quoth he, 'I have an enemy, of whom I am in fear.' 'Didst
+thou not say that thou wast a King's son?' asked she, and he
+answered 'Yes.' 'Then,'said she, 'why dost thou not give thine
+enemy money and so appease him?' He replied, 'Indeed he will not
+be satisfied with money nor with aught but life; and I fear him
+and am an oppressed man.' 'If thou be oppressed as thou sayst,'
+rejoined she, 'ask help of God; surely He will protect thee from
+thine enemy and from the mischief thou fearest from him.' So the
+prince raised his eyes to heaven and said, 'O Thou that answerest
+the prayer of the distressed, when they call on Thee, and
+dispellest evil from them, O my God, succour me against mine
+enemy and turn him back from me, for Thou indeed canst do
+whatsoever Thou wilt.' When the ogress heard his prayer, she
+departed from him and he resumed to the King his father and
+informed him of the Vizier's conduct: whereupon the King sent for
+the latter and put him to death. And thou, O King" (continued the
+envious Vizier), "if thou put thy trust in this physician, he
+will kill thee in the foulest fashion. He, verily, whom thou hast
+favoured and admitted to thy friendship, plots thy destruction:
+for know that he is a spy come from a far land with intent to
+destroy thee. Seest thou not that he cured thee of thy distemper
+from without, by means of a thing held in thy hand, and how canst
+thou be sure that he will not kill thee by some like means?"
+"Thou speakest sooth, O Vizier of good counsel!" said the King.
+"It must indeed be as thou sayst; this physician doubtless comes
+as a spy, seeking to destroy me; and indeed, if he could cure me
+by means of a handle held in my hand, he can kill me by means of
+something I shall smell. But what is to be done with him?" "Send
+after him at once," answered the Vizier, "and when he comes,
+strike off his head and play him false, ere he play thee false;
+and so shalt thou ward off his mischief and be at peace from
+him." "Thou art right, O Vizier," rejoined the King and sent for
+the physician, who came, rejoicing, for he knew not what the
+Compassionate had decreed unto him. As the saying runs:
+
+Thou that fearest ill fortune, be of good heart and hope! Trust
+     thine affairs to Him who fashioned the earth and sea!
+What is decreed of God surely shall come to pass; That which is
+     not decreed never shall trouble thee.
+
+When Douban entered, he recited the following verses:
+
+If all the thanks I speak come short of that which is your due,
+     Say for whom else my verse and prose I make except for you?
+You have indeed prevented me with many an unasked boon, Blest me,
+     unhindered of excuse, with favours not a few.
+How then should I omit to give your praise its full desert And
+     celebrate with heart and voice your goodness ever new?
+I will indeed proclaim aloud the boons I owe to you, Favours,
+     that, heavy to the hack, are light the thought unto.
+
+And also the following:
+
+Avert thy face from trouble and from care And trust in God to
+     order thine affair.
+Rejoice in happy fortune near at hand, In which thou shalt forget
+     the woes that were.
+Full many a weary and a troublous thing Is, in its issue,
+     solaceful and fair.
+God orders all according to His will: Oppose Him not in what He
+     doth prepare.
+
+And these also:
+
+Trust thine affairs to the Subtle, to God that knoweth all, And
+     rest at peace from the world, for nothing shall thee appal.
+Know that the things of the world not, as thou wilt, befall, But
+     as the Great God orders, to whom all kings are thrall!
+
+And lastly these:
+
+Take heart and rejoice and forget thine every woe, For even the
+     wit of the wise is eaten away by care.
+What shall thought-taking profit a helpless, powerless slave?
+     Leave it and be at peace in joy enduring fore'er!
+
+
+When he had finished, the King said to him, "Dost thou know why I
+have sent for thee?" And the physician answered, "None knoweth
+the hidden things save God the Most High." Quoth the King, "I
+have sent for thee to kill thee and put an end to thy life."
+Douban wondered greatly at these words and said, "O King,
+wherefore wilt thou kill me and what offence have I committed?"
+"I am told," replied Younan, "that thou art a spy and comest to
+kill me, but I will kill thee first." Then he cried out to his
+swordbearer, saying, "Strike off the head of this traitor and rid
+us of his mischief!" "Spare me," said Douban; "so may God spare
+thee; and kill me not, lest God kill thee!" And he repeated these
+words to him, even as I did to thee, O Afrit, and thou wouldst
+not spare me, but persistedst in thine intent to put me to death.
+Then the King said to Douban, "Verily I shall not be secure
+except I kill thee: for thou curedst me by means of a handle I
+held in my hand, and I have no assurance but thou wilt kill me by
+means of perfumes or otherwise." "O King," said Douban, "is this
+my reward from thee? Thou returnest evil for good?" The King
+replied, "It boots not: thou must die and that without delay."
+When the physician saw that the King was irrevocably resolved to
+kill him, he wept and lamented the good he had done to the
+undeserving, blaming himself for having sown in an ungrateful
+soil and repeating the following verses:
+
+Maimouneh has no wit to guide her by, Although her sire among the
+wise ranks high.
+The man, who has no sense to rule his steps, Slips, he the ground
+he treads on wet or dry.
+
+Then the swordbearer came forward and bandaged his eyes and
+baring his sword, said to the King, "Have I thy leave to strike?"
+Whereupon the physician wept and said, "Spare me, so God may
+spare thee: and kill me not, lest God kill thee!" And he recited
+the following verses:
+
+I acted in good faith and they betrayed: I came to nought: They
+     prospered, whilst my loyalty brought me to evil case.
+If that I live, I will to none good counsel give again: And if I
+     die, good counsellors be curst of every race!
+
+And he said to the King, "Is this my reward from thee? Thou
+givest me the crocodile's recompense." Quoth the King, "What is
+the story of the crocodile?" "I cannot tell it," answered Douban,
+"and I in this case; but, God on thee, spare me, so may He spare
+thee!" And he wept sore. Then one of the King's chief officers
+rose and said, "O King, grant me this man's life, for we see not
+that he has committed any offence against thee nor that he has
+done aught but cure thee of thy disorder, which baffled the
+doctors and sages." "Ye know not why I put him to death,"
+answered the King: "it is because I believe him to be a spy, who
+hath been suborned to kill me and came hither with that intent:
+and verily he who cured me by means of a handle held in my hand
+can easily poison me in like manner. If I spare him, he will
+infallibly destroy me: so needs must I kill him, and then I shall
+feel myself safe." When the physician was convinced that there
+was no hope for him, but that the King would indeed put him to
+death, he said to the latter, "O King, if thou must indeed kill
+me, grant me a respite, that I may go to my house and discharge
+my last duties and dispose of my medical books and give my people
+and friends directions for my burial. Among my books is one that
+is a rarity of rarities, and I will make thee a present of it,
+that thou mayst lay it up in thy treasury." "And what is in this
+book?" asked the King. Quoth Douban, "It contains things without
+number: the least of its secret virtues is that if, when thou
+hast cut off my head, thou open the book, turn over six leaves
+and read three lines of the left-hand page, my head will speak
+and answer whatever questions thou shalt ask it." At this the
+King marvelled greatly and shook with delight and said, "O
+physician, will thy head indeed speak to me, after it is cut
+off?" And he answered, "Yes, O King." Quoth the King, "This is
+indeed wonderful!" And sent him under guard to his house, where
+Douban spent the remainder of the day in setting his affairs in
+order. Next day, the amirs and viziers and chamberlains and all
+the great officers and notables of the kingdom came to the court,
+and the presence chamber was like a flower garden. Presently the
+physician entered, bearing an old book and a small pot full of
+powder; and sitting down, called for a dish. So they brought him
+a dish, and he poured the powder therein and levelled it. Then he
+said, "O King, take this book, but do not open it till my head
+has been cut off, placed on this dish and pressed down on the
+powder, when the blood will cease to flow: then open the book and
+do as I have enjoined thee." The King took the book and gave the
+signal to the headsman, who rose and struck off the physician's
+head and set it on the dish, pressing it down upon the powder,
+when the blood immediately ceased to flow, and the head unclosed
+its eyes and said, "Open the book, O King!" Younan opened the
+book and found the leaves stuck together; so he put his finger to
+his mouth and took of his spittle and loosened them therewith and
+turned over the pages in this manner, one after another, for the
+leaves would not come apart but with difficulty, till he came to
+the seventh page, but found nothing written thereon and said to
+the head, "O physician, there is nothing here." Quoth the head,
+"Open more leaves." So the King turned over more leaves in the
+same manner. Now the book was as poisoned, and before long the
+poison began to work upon the King, and he fell back in
+convulsions and cried out, "I am poisoned!" Whereupon the head
+repeated the following verses:
+
+Lo, these once were kings who governed with a harsh and haughty
+     sway! In a little, their dominion was as if it ne'er had
+     been.
+Had they swayed the sceptre justly, they had been repaid the
+     like, But they were unjust, and Fortune guerdoned them with
+     dole and teen.
+Now they're passed away, the moral of their case bespeaks them
+     thus, "This is what your sins have earnt you: Fate is not to
+     blame, I ween."
+
+No sooner had it done speaking, than the King fell down dead and
+the head also ceased to live. And know, O Afrit (continued the
+fisherman), that if King Younan had spared the physician Douban,
+God would have spared him; but he refused and sought his death;
+so God killed him. And thou, O Afrit, if thou hadst spared me, I
+would spare thee; but nothing would serve thee but thou must put
+me to death; so now I will kill thee by shutting thee up in this
+vessel and throwing thee into the sea.' At this the Marid roared
+out and said, 'God on thee, O fisherman, do not do that! Spare me
+and bear me not malice for what I did, for men's wit is still
+better than that of Jinn. If I did evil, do thou good, in
+accordance with the adage, "O thou that dost good to him that
+does evil, the deed of the evil-doer suffices him." Do not thou
+deal with me as did Umameh with Aatikeh.' 'And what did Umameh
+with Aatikeh?' asked the fisherman. But the Afrit answered, 'This
+is no time to tell stories, and I in this duresse: let me out,
+and I will tell thee.' Quoth the fisherman, 'Leave this talk: I
+must and will throw thee into the sea, and thou shalt never win
+out again; for I besought thee and humbled myself to thee, but
+nothing would serve thee but thou must kill me, who had committed
+no offence against thee deserving this nor done thee any ill, but
+only kindness, in that I delivered thee from duresse. When thou
+didst thus by me, I knew thee for an incorrigible evil-doer; and
+know that, when I have thrown thee back into the sea, I will tell
+every one what happened between me and thee and warn him, to the
+end that whoever fishes thee up may throw thee in again; and thou
+shalt remain in the sea till the end of time and suffer all
+manner of torments.' Quoth the Afrit, 'Let me out, for this is
+the season of generosity; and I will make a compact with thee
+never to do thee hurt and to help thee to what shall enrich
+thee.' The fisherman accepted his proposal and unsealed the
+vessel, after he had taken the Afrit's pledge and made him swear
+by the Most High Name never to hurt him, but on the contrary to
+do him service. Then the smoke ascended as before and gathered
+itself together and became an Afrit, who gave the vessel a kick
+and sent it into the sea. When the fisherman saw this, he let fly
+in his clothes and gave himself up for lost, saying, 'This bodes
+no good.' But he took courage and said to the Afrit, 'O Afrit,
+quoth God the Most High, "Be ye faithful to your covenants, for
+they shall be enquired of:" and verily thou madest a pact with me
+and sworest to me that thou wouldst do me no hurt. So play me not
+false, lest God do the like with thee: for indeed He is a jealous
+God, who delayeth to punish, yet letteth not the evil-doer
+escape. And I say to thee, as said the physician Douban to King
+Younan, "Spare me, so God may spare thee!"' The Afrit laughed and
+started off inland, saying to the fisherman, 'Follow me.' So he
+followed him, trembling and not believing that he should escape,
+and the Afrit led him to the backward of the town: then crossing
+a hill, descended into a spacious plain, in the midst of which
+was a lake of water surrounded by four little hills. He led the
+fisherman into the midst of the lake, where he stood still and
+bade him throw his net and fish. The fisherman looked into the
+water and was astonished to see therein fish of four colours,
+white and red and blue and yellow. Then he took out his net and
+cast and drawing it in, found in it four fish, one of each
+colour. At this he rejoiced, and the Afrit said to him, 'Carry
+them to the Sultan and present them to him, and he will give thee
+what shall enrich thee. And accept my excuse, for I know not any
+other way to fulfil my pro mise to thee, having lain in yonder
+sea eighteen hundred years and never seen the surface of the
+earth till this time. But do not fish here more than once a day;
+and I commend thee to God's care!' So saying, he struck the earth
+with his foot, and it opened and swallowed him up, whilst the
+fisherman returned, wondering at all that had befallen him, to
+his house, where he took a bowl of water and laid therein the
+fish, which began to frisk about. Then he set the bowl on his
+head and going up to the palace, as the Afrit had bidden him,
+presented the fish to the King, who wondered at them greatly, for
+that he had never seen their like, in shape or kind, and said to
+his Vizier, 'Give these fish to the cookmaid that the King of the
+Greeks sent us, and tell her to fry them.' Now this was a damsel
+that he had received as a present from the King of the Greeks
+three days before and of whom he had not yet made trial in
+cookery. So the Vizier carried the fish to the cookmaid and said
+to her, 'These fish have been brought as a present to the Sultan
+and he says to thee, "O my tear, I have reserved thee against my
+stress!" So do thou show us to-day thy skill and the excellence
+of thy cookery.' Then he returned to the Sultan, who bade him
+give the fisherman four hundred diners. So he gave them to him
+and he took the money in his lap and set off home, running and
+stumbling and falling and rising again and thinking that he was
+dreaming. And he bought what was needful for his family and
+returned to his wife, glad and happy. Meanwhile the cookmaid took
+the fish and cleaned them and set the frying-pan on the fire.
+Then she poured in oil of sesame and waited till it was hot, when
+she put in the fish. As soon as one side was done, she fumed
+them, when lo, the wall of the kitchen opened and out came a
+handsome and well-shaped young lady, with smooth cheeks and
+liquid black eyes.[FN#20] She was clad in a tunic of satin,
+yarded with spangles of Egyptian gold, and on her head she had a
+silken kerchief, fringed with blue. She wore rings in her ears
+and bracelets on her wrists and rings on her fingers, with
+beazels of precious stones, and held in her hand a rod of Indian
+cane. She came up to the brazier and thrust the rod into the
+frying-pan saying 'O fish, are you constant to your covenant?'
+And when the cookmaid heard this she swooned away. Then the
+damsel repeated her question a second and a third time; and the
+fish lifted up their heads and cried out with one voice, 'Yes,
+yes:
+
+Return, and we return: keep faith, and so will we: Or, if thou
+     wilt, forsake, and we'll do like to thee!'
+
+With this the damsel overturned the frying-pan and went out by
+the way she had come, and the wall closed up again as before.
+Presently the cookmaid came to herself and seeing the four fish
+burnt black as coal, said, 'My arms are broken in my first
+skirmish!' And fell down again in a swoon. Whilst she was in this
+state, in came the Vizier, to seek the fish, and found her
+insensible, not knowing Saturday from Thursday. So he stirred her
+with his foot and she came to herself and wept and told him what
+had passed. He marvelled and said, 'This is indeed a strange
+thing !' Then he sent for the fisherman and said to him, 'O
+fisherman, bring us four more fish of the same kind.' So the
+fisherman repaired to the lake and cast his net and hauling it
+in, found in it four fish like the first and carried them to the
+Vizier, who took them to the cookmaid and said to her, 'Come, fry
+them before me, that I may see what happens.' So she cleaned the
+fish and setting the frying-pan on the fire, threw them into it:
+and they had not lain long before the wall opened and the damsel
+appeared, after the same fashion, and thrust the rod into the
+pan, saying, 'O fish, O fish, are you constant to the old
+covenant?' And behold the fish all lifted up their heads and
+cried out as before, 'Yes, yes:
+
+Return, and we return: keep faith, and so will we: Or, if thou
+     wilt, forsake, and we'll do like to thee!'
+
+Then she overturned the pan and went out as she had come and the
+wall closed up again. When the Vizier saw this, he said, 'This is
+a thing that must not be kept from the King. So he went to him
+and told him what he had witnessed; and the King said, 'I must
+see this with my own eyes.' Then he sent for the fisherman and
+commanded him to bring him other four fish like the first; and
+the fisherman went down at once to the lake and casting his net,
+caught other four fish and returned with them to the King, who
+ordered him other four hundred diners and set a guard upon him
+till he should see what happened. Then he turned to the Vizier
+and said to him, 'Come thou and fry the fish before me.' Quoth
+the Vizier, 'I hear and obey.' So he fetched the frying-pan and
+setting it on the fire, cleaned the fish and threw them in: but
+hardly had he turned them, when the wall opened, and out came a
+black slave, as he were a mountain or one of the survivors of the
+tribe of Aad,[FN#21] with a branch of a green tree in his hand:
+and he said, in a terrible voice, 'O fish, O fish, are you
+constant to the old covenant?' Whereupon they lifted up their
+heads and cried out' 'Yes, yes; we are constant:
+
+Return, and we return: keep faith, and so will we: Or, if thou
+     wilt,  forsake, and we'll do like to thee!'
+
+Then the slave went up to the pan and overturning it with the
+branch, went out as he had come, and the wall closed up as
+before. The King looked at the fish and found them black as coal;
+whereat he was bewildered and said to the Vizier, 'This is a
+thing about which it is impossible to keep silence; and indeed
+there must be some strange circumstance connected with these
+fish.' Then he sent for the fisherman and said to him, 'Hark ye,
+sirrah, whence hadst thou those fish?' 'From a lake between four
+hills,' answered he, 'on the thither side of the mountain behind
+the city.' 'How many days' journey hence?' asked the King; and
+the fisherman said, 'O my lord Sultan, half an hour's journey.'
+At this the King was astonished and ordering the troops to mount,
+set out at once, followed by his suite and preceded by the
+fisherman, who began to curse the Afrit. They rode on over the
+mountain and descended into a wide plain, that they had never
+before set eyes on, whereat they were all amazed. Then they fared
+on till they came to the lake lying between the four hills and
+saw the fish therein of four colours, red and white and yellow
+and blue. The King stood and wondered and said to his attendants,
+'Has any one of you ever seen this lake before?' But they
+answered, 'Never did we set eyes on it in all our lives, O King
+of the age.' Then he questioned those stricken in years, and they
+made him the same answer. Quoth he, 'By Allah, I will not return
+to my capital nor sit down on my chair of estate till I know the
+secret of this pond and its fish!' Then he ordered his people to
+encamp at the foot of the hills and called his Vizier, who was a
+man of learning and experience, sagacious and skilful in
+business, and said to him, 'I mean to go forth alone to-night and
+enquire into the matter of the lake and these fish: wherefore do
+thou sit down at the door of my pavilion and tell the amirs and
+viziers and chamberlains and officers and all who ask after me
+that the Sultan is ailing and hath ordered thee to admit no one,
+and do thou acquaint none with my purpose.' The Vizier dared not
+oppose his design; so the King disguised himself and girt on his
+sword and going forth privily, took a path that led over one of
+the hills and fared on all that night and the next day, till the
+heat overcame him and he paused to rest. Then he set out again
+and fared on the rest of that day and all the next night, till on
+the morning of the second day, he caught sight of some black
+thing in the distance, whereat he rejoiced and said, 'Belike I
+shall find some one who can tell me the secret of the lake and
+the fish.' So he walked on, till he came to the black object,
+when he found it a palace built of black stone, plated with iron;
+and one leaf of its gate was open and the other shut. At this the
+King rejoiced and went up to the gate and knocked lightly, but
+heard no answer. So he knocked a second time and a third time,
+with the same result. Then he knocked loudly, but still no one
+answered; and he said to himself, 'It must be deserted.' So he
+took courage and entering the vestibule, cried out, 'Ho, people
+of the palace! I am a stranger and a wayfarer and hungry. Have ye
+any victual?' He repeated these words a second and a third time,
+but none answered. So he took heart and went on boldly into the
+interior of the palace, which he found hung and furnished with
+silken stuffs, embroidered with stars of gold, and curtains let
+down before the doors. In the midst was a spacious courtyard,
+with four estrades, one on each side, and a bench of stone.
+Midmost the courtyard was a great basin of water, from which
+sprang a fountain, and at the corners stood four lions of red
+gold, spouting forth water as it were pearls and jewels; and the
+place was full of birds, which were hindered from flying away by
+a network of gold stretched overhead. The King looked right and
+left, but there was no one to be seen; whereat he marvelled and
+was vexed to find none of whom he might enquire concerning the
+lake and the fish and the palace itself. So he returned to the
+vestibule and sitting down between the doors, fell to musing upon
+what he had seen, when lo, he heard a moaning that came from a
+sorrowful heart, and a voice chanted the following verses:
+
+I hid what I endured from thee: it came to light, And sleep was
+     changed to wake thenceforward to my sight.
+O Fate, thou sparest not nor dost desist from me; Lo, for my
+     heart is racked with dolour and affright!
+Have pity, lady mine, upon the great laid low, Upon the rich made
+     poor by love and its despite!
+Once, jealous of the breeze that blew on thee, I was, Alas! on
+     whom Fate falls, his eyes are veiled with night.
+What boots the archer's skill, if, when the foe draws near, His
+     bow-string snap and leave him helpless in the fight?
+So when afflictions press upon the noble mind, Where shall a man
+     from Fate and Destiny take flight?
+
+When the King heard this, he rose and followed the sound and
+found that it came from behind a curtain let down before the
+doorway of a sitting-chamber. So he raised the curtain and saw a
+young man seated upon a couch raised a cubit from the ground. He
+was a handsome well-shaped youth, with flower-white forehead and
+rosy cheeks and a black mole, like a grain of ambergris, on the
+table of his cheek, as says the poet:
+
+The slender one! From his brow and the night of his jetty hair,
+     The world in alternate gloom and splendour of day doth fare.
+Blame not the mole on his cheek. Is an anemone's cup Perfect,
+     except in its midst an eyelet of black it wear?
+
+He was clad in a robe of silk, laced with Egyptian gold, and had
+on his head a crown set with jewels, but his face bore traces of
+affliction. The King rejoiced when he saw him and saluted him;
+and the youth returned his salute in the most courteous wise,
+though without rising, and said to him, 'O my lord, excuse me if
+I do not rise to thee, as is thy due; indeed, I am unable to do
+so.' 'I hold thee excused, O youth!' answered the King. 'I am thy
+guest and come to thee on a pressing errand, beseeching thee to
+expound to me the mystery of the lake and the fish and of this
+palace, and why thou sittest here alone and weeping.' When the
+young man heard this, the tears ran down his cheeks and he wept
+sore, till his breast was drenched, and repeated the following
+verses:
+
+Say unto those that grieve, at whom doth Fate her arrows cast,
+     "How many an one hath she raised up but to lay low at last!
+Lo, if ye sleep, the eye of God is never closed in sleep. For
+     whom indeed is life serene, for whom is Fortune fast?"
+
+Then he gave a heavy sigh and repeated the following:
+
+Trust thine affair to the Ruler of all that be And put thought-
+     taking and trouble away from thee:
+Say not of aught that is past, "How came it so?" All things
+     depend upon the Divine decree.
+
+The King marvelled and said to him, 'What makes thee weep, O
+youth?' 'How should I not weep,' answered he 'being in such a
+plight?' Then he put out his hand and lifted the skirt of his
+robe, and behold, he was stone from the waist downward. When the
+King saw this his condition, he grieved sore and lamented and
+cried out, 'Alas! alas!' and said, 'Verily, O youth, thou addest
+trouble to my trouble. I came to enquire concerning the fish; and
+now I am concerned to know thy history also. But there is no
+power and no virtue save in God the Most High, the Supreme!
+Hasten therefore, O youth, and expound to me thy story.' Quoth
+the youth, 'Give me thine ears and understanding:' and the King
+replied, 'I am all attention.' Then said the youth, 'There hangs
+a strange story by these fish and by myself, a story which, were
+it graven with needles on the corners of the eye,[FN#22] would
+serve as a warning to those who can profit by example. 'How so ?'
+asked the King and the youth replied, 'Know, O my lord, that
+
+
+
+
+                 Story of the Enchanted Youth.
+
+
+
+My father was King of the city that stood in this place, and his
+name was Mohammed, Lord of the Black Islands, which are no other
+than the four hills of which thou wottest. He reigned seventy
+years, at the end of which time God took him to Himself, and I
+succeeded to his throne and took to wife the daughter of my
+father's brother, who loved me with an exceeding love, so that,
+whenever I was absent from her, she would neither eat nor drink
+till she saw me again. With her I lived for five years, till one
+day she went out to go to the bath, and I bade the cook hasten
+supper for us against her return. Then I entered the palace and
+lay down on the bed where we were wont to lie and ordered two
+slave-girls to sit, one at my head and the other at my feet, and
+fan me. Now I was disturbed at my wife's absence and could not
+sleep, but remained awake, although my eyes were closed.
+Presently I heard the damsel at my head say to the other one, "O
+Mesoudeh, how unhappy is our lord and how wretched is his youth,
+and oh, the pity of him with our accursed harlot of a mistress!"
+"Yes, indeed," replied Mesoudeh; "may God curse all unfaithful
+women and adulteresses! Indeed, it befits not that the like of
+our lord should waste his youth with this harlot, who lies abroad
+every night." Quoth the other, "Is our lord then a fool, that,
+when he wakes in the night and finds her not by his side, he
+makes no enquiry after her?" "Out on thee," rejoined Mesoudeh;
+"has our lord any knowledge of this or does she leave him any
+choice? Does she not drug him every night in the cup of drink she
+gives him before he sleeps, in which she puts henbane? So he
+sleeps like a dead man and knows nothing of what happens. Then
+she dresses and scents herself and goes forth and is absent till
+daybreak, when she returns and burns a perfume under his nose and
+he awakes." When I heard the girls' talk, the light in my eyes
+became darkness, and I thought the night would never come.
+Presently, my wife returned from the bath, and they served up
+supper and we ate and sat awhile drinking and talking as usual.
+Then she called for my sleeping-draught and gave me the cup: and
+I feigned to drink it, but made shift to pour it into my bosom
+and lay down at once and began to snore as if I slept. Then said
+she, "Sleep out thy night and never rise again! By Allah, I hate
+thee and I hate thy person; I am sick of thy company and I know
+not when God will take away thy life!" Then she rose and donned
+her richest clothes and perfumed herself and girt on my sword and
+opened the palace gate and went out. I rose and followed her, and
+she passed through the streets of the city, till she came to the
+gate, when she muttered words I understood not: and straight-way
+the locks fell off and the gate opened. She went forth and fared
+on among the rubbish heaps, I still following her without her
+knowledge, till she came to a reed fence, within which was a hut
+of brick. She entered the hut and I climbed up on the roof and
+looking down, saw my wife standing by a scurvy black slave, with
+blubber lips, one of which overlapped the other, like a coverlet,
+and swept up the sand from the gravel floor, lying upon a bed of
+sugar-cane refuse and wrapped in an old cloak and a few rags. She
+kissed the earth before him, and he raised his head to her and
+said, "Out on thee! why hast thou tarried till now? There have
+been some of my kinsmen the blacks here, drinking; and they have
+gone away, each with his wench; but I refused to drink on account
+of thine absence." "O my lord and my love and solace of my eyes,"
+answered she, "dost thou not know that I am married to my cousin,
+and that I hate to look upon him and abhor myself in his company.
+Did I not fear for thy sake, I would not let the sun rise again
+till his city was a heap of ruins wherein the owl and the raven
+should hoot and wolves and foxes harbour; and I would transport
+its stones behind the mountain Caf."[FN#23] "Thou liest, O
+accursed one!" said the black, "and I swear by the valour of the
+blacks (else may our manhood be as that of the whites!) that if
+thou tarry again till this hour, I will no longer keep thee
+company nor join my body to thine! O accursed one, wilt thou play
+fast and loose with us at thy pleasure, O stinkard, O bitch, O
+vilest of whites?" When I heard and saw what passed between them,
+the world grew dark in my eyes and I knew not where I was; whilst
+my wife stood weeping and humbling herself to him and saying, "O
+my love and fruit of my heart, if thou be angry with me, who is
+left me, and if thou reject me, who shall shelter me, O my
+beloved and light of mine eyes?" And she ceased not to weep and
+implore him till he forgave her. Then she was glad and rose and
+putting off her clothes, said to the slave, "O my lord, hast thou
+aught here for thy handmaid to eat?" "Take the cover off yonder
+basin," answered he; "thou wilt find under it cooked rats' bones,
+and there is a little millet beer left in this pot. Eat and
+drink." So she ate and drank and washed her hands and mouth; then
+lay down, naked, upon the rushes, beside the slave, and covered
+herself with the rags. When I saw this, I became as one
+distraught and coming down from the roof, went in by the door.
+Then I took the sword she had brought and drew it, thinking to
+kill them both. I struck first at the slave's neck and thought I
+had made an end of him; but the blow only severed the flesh and
+the gullet, without dividing the jugulars. He gave a loud
+gurgling groan and roused my wife, whereupon I drew back, after I
+had restored the sword to its place, and resuming to the palace,
+lay down on my bed till morning, when my wife came and awoke me,
+and I saw that she had cut off her hair and put on mourning
+garments. "O my cousin," said she, "do not blame me for this I
+have done; for I have news that my mother is dead, that my father
+has fallen in battle and that both my brothers are dead also, one
+of a snake-bite and the other of a fall from a precipice, so that
+I have good reason to weep and lament." When I heard this, I did
+not reproach her, but said to her, "Do what thou wilt: I will not
+baulk thee." She ceased not to mourn and lament for a whole year,
+at the end of which time she said to me, "I wish to build me in
+thy palace a tomb with a cupola and set it apart for mourning and
+call it House of Lamentations." Quoth I, "Do what seemeth good to
+thee." So she built herself a house of mourning, roofed with a
+dome, and a monument in the midst like the tomb of a saint.
+Thither she transported the slave and lodged him in the tomb. He
+was exceeding weak and from the day I wounded him he had remained
+unable to do her any service or to speak or do aught but drink;
+but he was still alive, because his hour was not yet come. She
+used to visit him morning and evening in the mausoleum and carry
+him wine and broths to drink and weep and make moan over him; and
+thus she did for another year, whilst I ceased not to have
+patience with her and pay no heed to her doings, till one day I
+came upon her unawares and found her weeping and saying, "Why art
+thou absent from my sight, O delight of my heart? Speak to me, O
+my life! speak to me, O my love!" And she recited the following
+verses:
+
+My patience fails me for desire: if thou forgettest me, My heart
+     and all my soul can love none other after thee.
+Carry me with thee, body and soul, wherever thou dost fare, And
+     where thou lightest down to rest, there let me buried be.
+Speak but my name above my tomb; the groaning of my bones,
+     Turning towards thy voice's sound, shall answer drearily.
+
+And she wept and recited the following:
+
+My day of bliss is that whereon thou drawest near to me; And that
+     whereon thou turn'st away, my day of death and fear.
+What though I tremble all the night and be in dread of death, Yet
+     thine embraces are to me than safety far more dear.
+
+And again the following:
+
+Though unto me were given all that can make life sweet, Though
+     the Chosroes empire, yea, and the world were mine,
+All were to me in value less than a midge's wing, If that mine
+     eyes must never look on that face of thine!
+
+When she had finished, I said to her, "O my cousin, let thy
+mourning suffice thee: for weeping profiteth nothing." She
+replied, "Thwart me not, or I will kill myself." So I held my
+peace and let her go her way: and she ceased not to mourn and
+weep for the space of another year. At the end of the third year,
+I came into the mausoleum one day, vexed at something that had
+crossed me and weary of this excessive affliction, and found her
+by the tomb under the dome, saying, "O my lord, I never hear thee
+speak to me, no, not one word. Why dost thou not answer me, O my
+lord?" And she recited the following verses:
+
+O tomb, O tomb, have his beauties ceased, or does thy light
+     indeed, The sheen of the radiant countenance, no more in
+     thee abound?
+O tomb, O tomb, thou art neither earth nor heaven unto me: How
+     comes it then that sun and moon at once in thee are found?
+
+When I heard this, it added wrath to my wrath, and I said, "Alas!
+how much more of this mourning?" and I repeated the following
+[parody of her] verses:
+
+O tomb, O tomb, has his blackness ceased, or does thy light
+     indeed, The sheen of the filthy countenance, no more in thee
+     abound?
+O tomb, thou art neither kitchen-stove nor sewer-pool for me! How
+     comes it then that mire and coal at once in thee are found?
+
+When she heard this, she sprang to her feet and said, "Out on
+thee, thou dog! it was thou that didst thus with me and woundedst
+the beloved of my heart and hast afflicted me and wasted his
+youth, so that these three years he hath lain, neither dead nor
+alive!" "O foulest of harlots and filthiest of whorish doxies of
+hired slaves," answered I, "it was indeed I who did this!" And I
+drew my sword and made at her to kill her; but she laughed and
+said, "Avaunt, thou dog! Thinkst thou that what is past can recur
+or the dead come back to life? Verily, God has given into my hand
+him who did this to me and against whom there was in my heart
+fire that might not be quenched and insatiable rage." Then she
+stood up and pronouncing some words I did not understand, said to
+me, "Let one half of thee by my enchantments become stone and the
+other half remain man." And immediately I became as thou seest me
+and have remained ever since neither sitting nor standing and
+neither dead nor alive. Then she enchanted the city with all its
+streets and gardens and turned it into the lake thou wottest of,
+and the inhabitants, who were of four religions, Muslims,
+Christians, Magians and Jews, she changed to fish of various
+colours, the Muslims white, the Christians blue, the Magians red
+and the Jews yellow; and the four islands she turned into four
+mountains encompassing the lake. Moreover, the condition to which
+she has reduced me does not suffice her: but every day she strips
+me and gives me a hundred lashes with a whip, so that the blood
+runs down me and my shoulders are torn. Then she clothes my upper
+half in a shirt of hair-cloth and over that she throws these rich
+robes.' And he wept and repeated the following verses:
+
+Lord, I submit myself to Thee and eke to Fate, Content, if so
+     Thou please, to suffer and to wait.
+My enemies oppress and torture me full sore: But Paradise at
+     last, belike, shall compensate.
+Though Fate press hard on me, I trust in the Elect,[FN#24] The
+     Accepted One of God, to be my advocate.
+
+With this the King turned to him and said, 'O youth, after having
+rid me of one trouble, thou addest another to me: but tell me,
+where is thy wife and where is the wounded slave?' 'The slave
+lies in the tomb under the dome,' answered the youth, 'and she is
+in the chamber over against the gate. Every day at sunrise, she
+comes out and repairs first to me and strips off my clothes and
+gives me a hundred strokes with the whip; and I weep and cry out,
+but cannot stir to keep her off. When she has done torturing me,
+she goes down to the slave with the wine and broth on which she
+feeds him; and to-morrow at sunrise she will come.' 'O youth,'
+rejoined the King, 'by Allah, I will assuredly do thee a service
+by which I shall be remembered and which men shall chronicle to
+the end of time!' Then he sat down by the youth and talked with
+him till nightfall, when they went to sleep. At peep of day, the
+King rose and put off his clothes and drawing his sword, repaired
+to the mausoleum, where, after noting the paintings of the place
+and the candles and Lamps and perfumes burning there, he sought
+for the slave till he came upon him and slew him with one blow of
+the sword; after which he took the body on his back and threw it
+into a well that was in the palace. Then he returned to the dome
+and wrapping himself in the black's clothes, lay down in his
+place, with his drawn sword by his side. After awhile, the
+accursed enchantress came out and, going first to her husband,
+stripped him and beat him with the whip, whilst he cried out,
+'Alas! the state I am in suffices me. Have mercy on me, O my
+cousin!' But she replied, 'Didst thou show me any mercy or spare
+my beloved?' And beat him till she was tired and the blood ran
+from his sides. Then she put the hair shirt on him and the royal
+robes over it, and went down to the dome with a goblet of wine
+and a bowl of broth in her hands. When she came to the tomb, she
+fell a-weeping and wailing and said, 'O my lord, speak to me!'
+And repeated the following verse:
+
+How long ere this rigour pass sway and thou relent? Is it not yet
+     enough of the tears that I have spent?'
+
+And she wept and said again, 'O my lord, speak to me!' The King
+lowered his voice and knotting his tongue, spoke after the
+fashion of the blacks and said, 'Alack! alack! there is no power
+and no virtue but in God the Most High the Supreme!' When she
+heard this, she screamed out for joy and swooned away; and when
+she revived, she said, 'O my lord, can it be true and didst thou
+indeed speak to me?' The King made his voice small and said, 'O
+accursed woman, thou deservest not that I should speak to thee!'
+'Why so?' asked she; and he replied, 'Because all day thou
+tormentest thy husband and his cries disturb me, and all night
+long he calls upon God for help and invokes curses on thee and me
+and keeps me awake from nightfall to daybreak and disquiets me;
+and but for this, I had been well long ago. This is what has
+hindered me from answering thee.' Quoth she, 'With thy leave, I
+will release him from his present condition.' 'Do so,' said the
+King, 'and rid us of his noise.' 'I hear and obey,' answered she,
+and going out into the palace, took a cup full of water and spoke
+over it certain words, whereupon the water began to boil and
+bubble as the cauldron bubbles over the fire. Then she went up to
+the young King and sprinkled him with it, saying, 'By the virtue
+of the words I have spoken, if thou art thus by my spells, quit
+this shape for thy former one.' And immediately he shook and rose
+to his feet, rejoicing in his deliverance, and said, 'I testify
+that there is no god but God and that Mohammed is His apostle,
+may God bless and preserve him!' Then she said to him, 'Depart
+hence and do not return, or I will kill thee.' And she screamed
+out in his face. So he went out from before her, and she returned
+to the dome and going down into the tomb, said, 'O my lord, come
+forth to me, that I may see thy goodly form!' The King replied in
+a weak voice, 'What hast thou done? Thou hast rid me of the
+branch, but not of the root.' 'O my beloved, O my little black,'
+said she, 'what is the root?' 'Out on thee, O accursed one!'
+answered he. 'Every night, at the middle hour, the people of the
+city, whom thou by thine enchantments didst change into fish,
+lift up their heads from the water and cry to God for help and
+curse thee and me; and this is what hinders my recovery: so do
+thou go quickly and set them free, and after return and take me
+by the hand and raise me up; for indeed health returns to me.'
+When she heard this speech of the King, whom she supposed to be
+the slave, she rejoiced and said, 'O my lord, on my head and eyes
+be it, in the name of God!' Then she went out, full of joy, and
+ran to the lake and taking a little of the water in her hand,
+spoke over it words that might not be understood, whereupon there
+was a great stir among the fish; and they raised their heads to
+the surface and stood upright and became men as before. Thus was
+the spell dissolved from the people of the city and the lake
+became again a populous city, with its streets and bazaars, in
+which the merchants bought and sold, and every one returned to
+his employment; whilst the four hills were restored to their
+original form of islands. Then the enchantress returned to the
+King and said to him, 'O my lord, give me thy noble hand and
+arise.' 'Come nearer to me,' answered he, in a faint voice. So
+she came close to him, and he took his sword and smote her in the
+breast, that the steel came forth, gleaming, from her back. He
+smote her again and cut her in twain, and she fell to the ground
+in two halves. Then he went out and found the young King standing
+awaiting him and gave him joy of his deliverance, whereupon the
+youth rejoiced and thanked him and kissed his hand. Quoth the
+Sultan, 'Wilt thou abide in this thy city or come with me to
+mine?' 'O King of the age,' rejoined he, 'dost thou know how far
+it is from here to thy capital?' And the Sultan replied, 'Two
+and a half days' journey.' 'O King,' said the other, 'if thou
+sleepest, awake! Between thee and thy capital is a full year's
+journey to a diligent traveller; and thou hadst not come hither
+in two days and a half, save that the city was enchanted. But, O
+King, I will never leave thee, no, not for the twinkling of an
+eye!' The Sultan rejoiced at his words and said, 'Praised be God,
+who hath bestowed thee upon me! Thou shalt be my son, for in all
+my life I have never been blessed with a son.' And they embraced
+each other and rejoiced with exceeding great joy. Then they
+returned to the palace, and the young King bade his officers make
+ready for a journey and prepare his baggage and all that he
+required. The preparations occupied ten days, at the end of which
+time the young King set out in company of the Sultan, whose heart
+burned within him at the thought of his long absence from his
+capital, attended by fifty white slaves and provided with
+magnificent presents. They journeyed day and night for a whole
+year, and God ordained them safety, till they drew near the
+Sultan's capital and sent messengers in advance to acquaint the
+Vizier with his safe arrival. Then came out the Vizier and the
+troops, who had given up all hope of the Sultan's return, and
+kissed the ground before him and gave him joy of his safety. So
+he entered his palace and sat down on his throne and the Vizier
+came in to him, to whom he related all that had befallen him with
+the young King: and the Vizier gave the latter joy of his
+deliverance. Then all things being set in order, the Sultan gave
+largesse to many of his people and sending for the fisherman who
+had brought him the enchanted fish and had thus been the first
+cause of the delivery of the people of the Black Islands,
+bestowed on him a dress of honour and enquired of his condition
+and whether he had any children, to which he replied that he had
+three children, two daughters and one son. So the King sent for
+them and taking one daughter to wife, married the other to the
+young King and made the son his treasurer. Moreover, he invested
+his Vizier with the sovereignty of the Black Islands and
+despatched him thither with the fifty officers, who had
+accompanied the young King thence, giving him robes of honour for
+all the amirs. So the Vizier kissed hands and set out for the
+Black Islands. The fisherman became the richest man of his time,
+and he and his daughters and the two Kings their husbands abode
+in peace till death came to them.
+
+
+
+
+
+               THE PORTER AND THE THREE LADIES OF
+                            BAGHDAD.
+
+
+
+
+There was once a porter of Baghdad who was a bachelor. One day,
+as he stood in the market, leant upon his basket, there came to
+him a lady, swathed in a wrapper of gold embroidered muslin,
+fringed with gold lace, and wearing embroidered boots and
+floating tresses plaited with silk and gold. She stopped before
+him and raising her kerchief, showed a pair of languishing black
+eyes of perfect beauty, bordered with long drooping lashes. Then
+she turned to the porter and said, in a clear sweet voice, 'Take
+thy basket and follow me.' No sooner had she spoken than he took
+up his basket in haste, saying, 'O day of good luck! O day of
+God's grace!' and followed her till she stopped and knocked at
+the door of a house, when there came out a Nazarene, to whom she
+gave a dinar, and he gave her in return an olive-green bottle,
+full of wine, which she put into the basket, saying to the
+porter, 'Hoist up and follow me.' Said he, 'By Allah, this is
+indeed a happy and fortunate day!' And shouldering the basket,
+followed her till she came to a fruiterer's, where she bought
+Syrian apples and Turkish quinces and Arabian peaches and autumn
+cucumbers and Sultani oranges and citrons, beside jessamine of
+Aleppo and Damascus water-lilies and myrtle and basil and
+henna-blossoms and blood-red anemones and violets and sweet-briar
+and narcissus and camomile and pomegranate flowers, all of which
+she put into the porter's basket, saying, 'Hoist up!' So he
+shouldered the basket and followed her, till she stopped at a
+butcher's shop and said to him, 'Cut me off ten pounds of meat.'
+He gave her the meat, wrapped in a banana leaf, and she put it in
+the basket, saying, 'Hoist up, O porter!' and went on to a
+grocer's, of whom she took pistachio kernels and shelled almonds
+and hazel-nuts and walnuts and sugar cane and parched peas and
+Mecca raisins and all else that pertains to dessert. Thence to a
+pastry-cook's, where she bought a covered dish and put therein
+open-work tarts and honey-fritters and tri-coloured jelly and
+march-pane, flavoured with lemon and melon, and Zeyneb's combs
+and ladies' fingers and Cadi's mouthfuls and widow's bread and
+meat-and-drink[FN#25] and some of every kind of sweetmeat in the
+shop and laid the dish in the basket of the porter, who said to
+her, 'Thou shouldst have told me, that I might have brought a
+mule or a camel to carry all these good things.' She smiled and
+gave him a tap on the nape, saying, 'Make haste and leave
+chattering and God willing, thou shalt have a good wage.' She
+stopped next at the shop of a druggist, where she bought
+rose-water and water-lily water and orange-flower water and
+willow-flower water and six other kinds of sweet waters and a
+casting bottle of rose-water mingled with musk, besides two
+loaves of sugar and frankincense and aloes-wood and ambergris and
+musk and saffron and candles of Alexandrian wax, all of which she
+put into the basket. Then she went on to a greengrocer's, of whom
+she bought pickled safflower and olives, in brine and fresh, and
+tarragon and juncates and Syrian cheese and put them all into the
+basket and said to the porter, 'Take up thy basket and follow
+me.' So he shouldered his load and followed her till she came to
+a tall handsome house, with a spacious court before it and a
+two-leaved door of ebony, inlaid with plates of glittering gold.
+The lady went up to the door and throwing back her kerchief,
+knocked softly, whilst the porter stood behind her, musing upon
+her beauty and grace. After awhile the door opened and both the
+leaves swung back; whereupon he looked to see who opened it, and
+behold, it was a damsel of dazzling beauty and symmetry,
+high-bosomed, with flower-white forehead and rosy cheeks, eyes
+like those of gazelles or wild oxen and eyebrows like the
+crescent of the new moon of Ramazan[FN#26], cheeks like blood-red
+anemones, mouth like Solomon's seal, lips red as coral and teeth
+like clustered pearls or camomile-petals, neck like an antelope's
+and bosom like a fountain, breasts like double pomegranates,
+belly like brocade and navel holding an ounce of benzoin
+ointment, even as says of her the poet:
+
+Look at her, with her slender shape and radiant beauty! this Is
+     she who is at once the sun and moon of palaces!
+Thine eyes shall ne'er see grace combine so featly black and
+     white As in her visage and the locks that o'er her forehead
+     kiss.
+She in whose cheeks the red flag waves, her beauty testifies Unto
+     her name, if that to paint her sweet seductions miss.
+With swimming gait she walks: I laugh for wonder at her hips, But
+     weep to see her waist, that all too slight to bear them is.
+
+When the porter saw her, his mind and heart were taken by storm,
+so that he well-nigh let fall the basket and exclaimed, 'Never in
+all my life saw I a more blessed day than this!' Then said the
+portress to the cateress, 'O my Sister, why tarriest thou? Come
+in from the gate and ease this poor man of his burden.' So the
+cateress entered, followed by the portress and the porter, and
+went on before them to a spacious saloon, elegantly built and
+handsomely decorated with all manner of colours and carvings and
+geometrical figures, with balconies and galleries and cupboards
+and benches and closets with curtains drawn before them. In the
+midst was a great basin of water, from which rose a fountain, and
+at the upper end stood a couch of juniper wood, inlaid with
+precious stones and surmounted by a canopy of red satin, looped
+up with pearls as big as hazel-nuts or bigger. Thereon sat a lady
+of radiant countenance and gentle and demure aspect, moonlike in
+face, with eyes of Babylonian witchcraft and arched eyebrows,
+sugared lips like cornelian and a shape like the letter I. The
+radiance of her countenance would have shamed the rising sun, and
+she resembled one of the chief stars of heaven or a pavilion of
+gold or a high-born Arabian bride on the night of her unveiling,
+even as says of her the poet:
+
+Her teeth, when she smiles, like pearls in a cluster show, Or
+     shredded camomile-petals or flakes of snow:
+Her ringlets seem, as it were, the fallen night, And her beauty
+     shames the dawn and its ruddy glow.
+
+Then she rose and coming with a stately gait to meet her sisters
+in the middle of the saloon, said to them, 'Why stand ye still?
+Relieve this poor porter of his burden.' So the cateress came and
+stood before and the portress behind him and with the help of the
+third damsel, lifted the basket from his head and emptying it,
+laid everything in its place. Then they gave him two dinars,
+saying, 'Go, O porter!' But he stood, looking at the ladies and
+admiring, their beauty and pleasant manners, never had he seen
+goodlier, and wondering greatly at the profusion of wine and meat
+and fruits and flowers and so forth that they had provided and to
+see no man with them, and made no movement to go. So the eldest
+lady said to him, 'What ails thee that thou dost not go away?
+Belike, thou grudgest at thy pay?' And she turned to the cateress
+and said to her, 'Give him another dinar.' 'No, by Allah, O
+lady!' answered the porter. 'I do not indeed grudge at my pay,
+for my right hire is scarce two dirhems; but of a truth my heart
+and soul are taken up with you and how it is that ye are alone
+and have no man with you and no one to divert you, although ye
+know that women's sport is little worth without men, nor is an
+entertainment complete without four at the table, and ye have no
+fourth. What says the poet?
+
+Dost thou not see that for pleasure four several things combine,
+     Instruments four, harp, hautboy and gittern and psaltery?
+And unto these, four perfumes answer and correspond, Violets,
+     roses and myrtle and blood-red anemone.
+Nor is our pleasure perfect, unless four things have we, Money
+     and wine and gardens and mistress fair and free.
+
+And ye are three and need a fourth, who should be a man, witty,
+sensible and discreet, one who can keep counsel.' When they heard
+what he said, it amused them and they laughed at him and replied,
+'What have we to do with that, we who are girls and fear to
+entrust our secrets to those who will not keep them? For we have
+read, in such and such a history, what says Ibn eth Thumam:
+
+Tell not thy secrets: keep them with all thy might. A secret
+     revealed is a secret lost outright.
+If thine own bosom cannot thy secrets hold, Why expect more
+     reserve from another wight?
+
+Or, as well says Abou Nuwas on the same subject:
+
+The fool, that to men doth his secrets avow, Deserves to be
+     marked with a brand on the brow.'
+
+'By your lives,' rejoined the porter, 'I am a man of sense and
+discretion, well read in books and chronicles. I make known what
+is fair and conceal what is foul, and as says the poet:
+
+None keeps a secret but the man who's trusty and discreet. A
+     secret's ever safely placed with honest folk and leal;
+And secrets trusted unto me are in a locked-up house Whose keys
+     are lost and on whose door is set the Cadi's seal.
+
+When the girls heard this, the eldest one said to him, 'Thou
+knowest that we have laid out much money in preparing this
+entertainment: hast thou aught to offer us in return? For we will
+not let thee sit with us and be our boon companion and gaze on
+our bright fair faces, except thou pay down thy share of the
+cost. Dost thou not know the saying:
+
+     Love without money
+     Is not worth a penny?'
+
+'If thou have aught, my friend,' added the portress, 'then art
+thou something: but if thou have nothing, be off without
+anything.' Here the cateress interposed, saying, 'O sisters, let
+him be: for by Allah, he has not failed us to-day: another had
+not been so patient with us. I will pay his share for him.'
+Whereupon the porter, overjoyed, kissed the earth and thanked
+her, saying, 'By Allah, it was thou didst handsel me this day!
+Here are the two dinars I had of you: take them and admit me to
+your company, not as a guest, but as a servant.' 'Sit down,'
+answered they; 'thou art welcome.' But the eldest lady said,
+'By Allah, we will not admit thee to our society but on one
+condition; and it is that thou enquire not of what does not
+concern thee; and if thou meddle, thou shalt be beaten.' Said the
+porter, 'I agree to this, O my lady, on my head and eyes!
+Henceforth I am dumb.' Then arose the cateress and girding her
+middle, laid the table by the fountain and set out the cups and
+flagons, with flowers and sweet herbs and all the requisites for
+drinking. Moreover, she strained the wine and set it on; and they
+sat down, she and her sisters, with the porter, who fancied
+himself in a dream. The cateress took the flagon of wine and
+filled a cup and drank it off. Then she filled again and gave it
+to one of her sisters, who drank and filled another cup and gave
+it to her other sister: then she filled a fourth time and gave it
+to the porter, saying:
+
+Drink and fare well and health attend thee still. This drink
+     indeed's a cure for every ill.
+
+He took the cup in his hand and bowed and returned thanks,
+reciting the following verses:
+
+Quaff not the cup except with one who is of trusty stuff, One who
+     is true of thought and deed and eke of good descent.
+Wine's like the wind, that, if it breathe on perfume, smells as
+     sweet, But, if o'er carrion it pass, imbibes its evil scent.
+
+And again:
+
+Drink not of wine except at the hands of a maiden fair, Who, like
+     unto thee and it, is joyous and debonair.
+
+Then he kissed their hands and drank and was merry with wine and
+swayed from side to side and recited the following verses:
+
+Hither, by Allah, I conjure thee! Goblets that full of the grape
+     juice be!
+And brim up, I prithee, a cup for me, For this is the water of
+     life, perdie!
+
+Then the cateress filled the cup and gave it to the portress, who
+took it from her hand and thanked her and drank. Then she filled
+again and gave it to the eldest, who filled another cup and
+handed it to the porter. He gave thanks and drank and recited the
+following verses:
+
+It is forbidden us to drink of any blood Except it be of that
+     which gushes from the vine.
+So pour it out to me, an offering to thine eyes, To ransom from
+     thy hands my soul and all that's mine.
+
+Then he turned to the eldest lady, who was the mistress of the
+house, and said to her, 'O my lady, I am thy slave and thy
+servant and thy bondman!' And repeated the following verses:
+
+There is a slave of all thy caves now standing at thy gate Who
+     ceases not thy bounties all to sing and celebrate.
+May he come in, O lady fair, to gaze upon thy charms? Desire and
+     I from thee indeed may never separate.
+
+
+And she said to him, 'Drink, and health and prosperity attend
+thee!' So he took the cup and kissed her hand and sang the
+following verses:
+
+
+I brought my love old wine and pure, the likeness of her cheeks,
+     Whose glowing brightness called to mind a brazier's heart of
+     red.
+She touched the wine-cup with her lips, and laughing roguishly,
+     "How canst thou proffer me to drink of my own cheeks?" she
+     said.
+"Drink!" answered I, "it is my tears; its hue is of my blood; And
+     it was heated at a fire that by my sighs was fed."
+
+And she answered him with the following verse:
+
+If, O my friend, thou hast indeed wept tears of blood for me, I
+     prithee, give them me to drink, upon thine eyes and head!
+
+Then she took the cup and drank it off to her sisters' health;
+and they continued to drink and make merry, dancing and laughing
+and singing and reciting verses and ballads. The porter fell to
+toying and kissing and biting and handling and groping and
+dallying and taking liberties with them: whilst one put a morsel
+into his mouth and another thumped him, and this one gave him a
+cuff and that pelted him with flowers; and he led the most
+delightful life with them, as if he sat in paradise among the
+houris. They ceased not to drink and carouse thus, till the wine
+sported in their heads and got the better of their senses, when
+the portress, arose, and putting off her clothes, let down her
+hair over her naked body, for a veil. Then she threw herself into
+the basin and sported in the water and swam about and dived like
+a duck and took water in her mouth and spurted it at the porter
+and washed her limbs and the inside of her thighs. Then she came
+up out of the water and throwing herself into the porter's lap,
+pointed to her commodity and said to him, 'O my lord O my friend,
+what is the name of this?' 'Thy kaze,' answered he; but she said,
+'Fie! art thou not ashamed!' And cuffed him on the nape of the
+neck. Quoth he, 'Thy catso.' And she dealt him a second cuff,
+saying, 'Fie! what an ugly word! Art thou not ashamed?' 'Thy
+commodity,' said he; and she, 'Fie! is there no shame in thee?'
+And thumped him and beat him. Then said he, 'Thy coney.'
+Whereupon the eldest fell on him and beat him, saying, 'Thou
+shalt not say that.' And whatever he said, they beat him more and
+more, till his neck ached again; and they made a laughing-stock
+of him amongst them, till he said at last, 'Well, what is its
+name amongst you women?' 'The sweet basil of the dykes,' answered
+they. 'Praised be God for safety!' cried he. 'Good, O sweet basil
+of the dikes!' Then they passed round the cup and presently the
+cateress rose and throwing herself into the porter's lap, pointed
+to her kaze and said to him, 'O light of mine eyes, what is the
+name of this?' 'Thy commodity,' answered he. 'Art thou not
+ashamed?' said she, and dealt him a buffet that made the place
+ring again, repeating, 'Fie! Fie! art thou not ashamed?' Quoth
+he, 'The sweet basil of the dykes.' 'No! No!' answered she, and
+beat him and cuffed him on the nape. Then said he, 'Thy kaze, thy
+tout, thy catso, thy coney.' But they replied, 'No! No!' And he
+said again, 'The sweet basil of the dykes.' Whereupon they
+laughed till they fell backward and cuffed him on the neck,
+saying, 'No; that is not its name.' At last he said, 'O my
+sisters, what is its name?' And they answered, 'What sayest thou
+to the peeled barleycorn?' Then the cateress put on her clothes
+and they sat down again to carouse, whilst the porter lamented
+over his neck and shoulders. The cup passed round among them
+awhile, and presently the eldest and handsomest of the ladies
+rose and put off her clothes; whereupon the porter took his neck
+in his hand and said, 'My neck and shoulders are in the way of
+God!' Then she threw herself into the basin and plunged and
+sported and washed; whilst the porter looked at her, naked, as
+she were a piece of the moon or the full moon when she waxes or
+the dawn at its brightest, and noted her shape and breasts and
+her heavy quivering buttocks, for she was naked as God created
+her. And he said, 'Alack!' Alack!' and repeated the following
+verses:
+
+If to the newly-budded branch thy figure I compare, I lay upon my
+     heart a load of wrong too great to bear;
+For that the branch most lovely is, when clad upon with green,
+     But thou, when free of every veil, art then by far most
+     fair.
+
+When she heard this, she came up out of the water and sitting
+down on his knees, pointed to her kaze and said, 'O my little
+lord, what is the name of this?' 'The sweet basil of the dykes,'
+answered he; but she said, 'No! No!' Quoth he, 'The peeled
+barleycorn.' And she said, 'Pshaw!' Then said he, 'Thy kaze.'
+Fie! Fie!' cried she. 'Art thou not ashamed?' And cuffed him on
+the nape of the neck. And whatever name he said, they beat him,
+saying, 'No! No!' till at last he said, 'O my sisters, what is
+its name?' 'The khan[FN#27] of Abou Mensour,' answered they. And
+he said, 'Praised be God for safety! Bravo! Bravo! O khan of Abou
+Mensour!' Then the damsel rose and put on her clothes and they
+returned to their carousing and the cup passed round awhile.
+Presently, the porter rose and putting off his clothes, plunged
+into the pool and swam about and washed under his chin and
+armpits, even as they had done. Then he came out and threw
+himself into the eldest lady's lap and putting his arms into the
+portress's lap and his feet into that of the cateress pointed to
+his codpiece and said, 'O my mistresses, what is the name of
+this?' They laughed till they fell backward and one of them
+answered, 'Thy yard.' 'Art thou not ashamed?' said he. 'A
+forfeit!' and took of each a kiss. Quoth another, 'Thy pintle.'
+But he replied, 'No,' and gave each of them a bite in play. Then
+said they, 'Thy pizzle.' 'No,' answered he, and gave each of them
+a hug; and they kept saying, 'Thy yard, thy pintle, thy pizzle,
+thy codpiece!' whilst he kissed and hugged and fondled them to
+his heart's content, and they laughed till they were well nigh
+dead. At last they said, 'O our brother, and what is its name?'
+'Don't you know?' asked he; and they said, 'No.' Quoth he, 'This
+is the mule Break-all, that browses on the basil of the dykes and
+gobbles up the peeled barleycorn and lies by night in the khan of
+Abou Mensour.' And they laughed till they fell backward. Then
+they fell again to drinking and continued after this fashion till
+the night came upon them, when they said to the porter, 'In the
+name of God, put on thy sandals and be off and let us see the
+breadth of thy shoulders!' Quoth he, 'By Allah, the leaving life
+were easier to me than the leaving you! Let us join the night to
+the day, and to-morrow we will each go our own way.' 'My life on
+you!' said the cateress, 'let him pass the night with us, that we
+may laugh at him, for he is a pleasant rogue; and we may never
+again chance upon the like of him.' So the mistress of the house
+said to the porter, 'Thou shalt pass the night with us on
+condition that thou submit to our authority and that, whatever
+thou seest, thou ask no questions about it nor enquire the reason
+of it.' 'It is well,' answered he; and they said, 'Go and read
+what is written over the door.' So he went to the door and found
+the following words written thereon in letters of gold, 'He who
+speaks of what concerns him not, shall hear what will not please
+him.' And he said, 'Be ye witness against me that I will not
+speak of what concerns me not.' Then rose the cateress and
+prepared food, and they ate: after which they lighted the lamps
+and candles and strewed on the latter ambergris and aloes-wood;
+then changed the service and set on fresh fruits and flowers and
+wine and so forth and sat down again to drink. They ceased not to
+eat and drink and make merry, hobnobbing and laughing and talking
+and frolicking, till there came a knocking at the door: whereupon
+one of them rose and went to the door, without disturbing the
+party, and presently returned, saying, 'Verily, our pleasure is
+to be complete to-night.' 'How so?' asked the others, and she
+replied, 'There are three foreign Calenders[FN#28] at the door,
+with shaven heads and chins and eyebrows and every one blind of
+the right eye, which is a most extraordinary coincidence.
+Apparently they are fresh from a journey and indeed the traces of
+travel are evident on them; and the reason of their knocking at
+the door is this. They are strangers to Baghdad and this is their
+first coming to our city: the night surprised them and they could
+not find a lodging in the city and know no one with whom to take
+shelter: so they said to each other, "Perhaps the owner of this
+house will give us the key of a stable or outhouse and let us
+sleep there." And, O my sisters, each of them is a laughing-stock
+after his own fashion; and if we let them in, they will make us
+sport this night, and on the morrow each shall go his own way.'
+And she ceased not to persuade them, till they said, 'Let them
+come in, on condition that they ask no questions of what does not
+concern them, on pain of hearing what will not please them.' So
+she rejoiced and going to the door, returned with the three
+Calenders, who saluted and bowed low and held back; but the
+ladies rose to them and welcomed them and gave them joy of their
+safety and made them sit down. The Calenders looked about them
+and seeing a pleasant place and a table elegantly spread with
+flowers and fruits and green herbs and dessert and wine, with
+candles burning and perfumes smoking, and the three maidens, with
+their faces unveiled, said with one voice ''Fore Allah, it is
+good!' Then they turned to the porter and saw that he was tipsy
+and jaded with drinking and dalliance. So they took him for one
+of themselves and said, 'He is a Calender like ourselves, either
+an Arab or a foreigner.' When the porter heard this, he rose and
+fixing his eyes on them, said, 'Sit still and do not meddle. Have
+you not read what is written on the door? It befits not folk,
+like yourselves, who come to us as mendicants, to loose your
+tongues on us.' 'We ask pardon of God, O fakir!' answered they.
+'Our heads are before thee.' The ladies laughed and making peace
+between them, set food before the Calenders. When they had eaten,
+they all sat down again to carouse, the portress serving the new
+comers, and the cup passed round awhile, till the porter said to
+the Calenders, 'O brothers, have ye no story or rare trait to
+divert us withal?' The Calenders, being warm with wine, called
+for musical instruments; so the portress brought them a
+tambourine and a lute and a Persian harp; and each Calender took
+one and tuned it and played and sang; and the girls joined in
+lustily and made a great noise. Whilst they were thus engaged,
+some one knocked at the gate and the portress rose and went to
+see who it was. Now the cause of this knocking was that, that
+very night, the Khalif Haroun er Reshid had gone down into the
+City, as was his wont, every now and then, to walk about for his
+diversion and hear what news was stirring, attended by his Vizier
+Jaafer and Mesrour his headsman, all three, as usual, disguised
+as merchants. Their way brought them to the house of the three
+ladies, where they heard the noise of musical instruments and of
+singing and merriment, and the Khalif said to Jaafer, 'I have a
+mind to enter this house and listen to this music and see the
+singers.' 'O Commander of the Faithful,' answered Jaafer, 'these
+people are certainly drunk, and I fear lest some mischief betide
+us at their hands.' 'It matters not,' rejoined the Khalif; 'I
+must and will go in and I desire that thou contrive some pretext
+to that end.' 'I hear and obey,' replied the Vizier and going up
+to the gate, knocked, whereupon the portress came down and
+opened. Jaafer came forward and kissing the earth before her,
+said, 'O lady, we are merchants from Tiberias: we reached Baghdad
+ten days ago and sold our merchandise and took up our lodging at
+the khan of the merchants. Now we were bidden to-night to an
+entertainment at the house of a certain merchant, who set food
+before us and we ate and caroused with him awhile, till he gave
+us leave to depart and we went out, intending for our lodging;
+but being strangers in Baghdad, we lost ourselves and could not
+find our way back to our khan: so we hope, of your courtesy, that
+you will admit us to pass the night with you, and God will
+requite you.' The portress looked at them and saw that they were
+dressed like merchants and appeared respectable; so she returned
+to her sisters and repeated to them Jaafer's story, and they took
+compassion on the supposed strangers and bade her admit them. So
+she resumed and opened the gate to them, and they said, 'Have we
+thy leave to enter?' 'Enter,' answered she; whereupon the Khalif
+and Jaafer and Mesrour entered; and when the girls saw them, they
+rose and welcomed them and made them sit down and served them,
+saying, 'Ye are welcome as our guests, but on one condition.'
+'What is that?' asked they; and the mistress of the house
+answered, 'It is that you be eyes without tongues and that,
+whatever you see, you enquire not thereof nor speak of that which
+concerns you not, lest you hear what will not please you.'
+'Good,' answered they: 'we are no meddlers.' Then they sat down
+to carouse; whilst the Khalif looked at the three Calenders and
+marvelled for that they were all blind of the right eye, and
+gazed upon the ladies and was amazed at their beauty and
+goodliness. They fell to drinking and talking and said to the
+Khalif, 'Drink.' But he answered, 'Excuse me, for I am vowed to
+the pilgrimage.'[FN#29] Whereupon the portress rose and spreading
+a gold-embroidered cloth before him, set thereon a china bowl,
+into which she poured willow-flower water, with a spoonful of
+snow and some pounded sugar-candy. The Khalif thanked her and
+said to himself, 'By Allah, I will reward her to-morrow for her
+kind office!' Then they addressed themselves to carousel, till
+the wine began to work upon them, when the eldest lady rose and
+making an obeisance to her guests, took the cateress by the hand
+and said, 'Come, sisters, let us do our duty.' And they answered,
+'It is well.' So the portress rose and cleared the middle of the
+saloon, after she had removed the table service and thrown away
+the remains of the banquet. Then she renewed the perfumes in the
+censers and made the Calenders sit down on a sofa by the dais and
+the Khalif and his companions on a sofa at the other end; after
+which she called to the porter, saying, 'How dull and slothful
+thou art! Come and help us: thou art no stranger, but one of the
+household!' So he rose and girt his middle and said, 'What would
+you have me do?' And she answered, 'Stay where thou art.' Then
+the cateress rose and setting a chair in the middle of the room,
+went to a closet, which she opened, saying to the porter, 'Come
+and help me.' So he went to her and she brought out two black
+bitches, with chains round their necks, and gave them to him,
+saying, 'Take them.' So he took them and carried them to the
+middle of the saloon; whereupon the mistress of the house tucked
+up her sleeves and taking a whip, said to the porter, 'Bring me
+one of the bitches.' So he brought it to her by the chain; and
+the bitch wept and shook its head at the damsel, who brought the
+whip down on it, whilst the porter held it by the chain. The
+bitch howled and whined, but the lady ceased not to beat it till
+her arm was tired; when she threw away the whip and pressing the
+bitch to her bosom, kissed it on the head and wiped away its
+tears. Then she said to the porter, 'Take it back and bring the
+other.' He did as she bade him, and she did with the second bitch
+as she had done with the first. The Khalif's mind was troubled at
+her doings and his breast contracted and he could not restrain
+his impatience to know the meaning of all this. So he winked to
+Jaafer to ask, but the latter turned and signed to him as who
+should say, 'Be silent: this is no time for impertinent
+curiosity.' Then said the portress to the mistress of the house,
+'O my lady, rise and go up to thy place, that I in turn may do my
+part.' 'It is well,' answered she and went up and sat down on the
+couch of juniper-wood, at the upper end of the dais; whilst the
+portress sat down on a chair and said to the cateress, 'Do what
+thou hast to do.' So the latter rose and going to a closet,
+brought out a bag of yellow satin, with cords of green silk and
+tassels of gold, and came and sat down before the portress. Then
+she opened the bag and took out a lute, which she tuned, and sang
+the following verses, accompanying herself on the lute:
+
+Thou art my wish, thou art my end; And in thy presence, O my
+     friend,
+There is for me abiding joy: Thine absence sets my heart a-flame
+For thee distraught, with thee possest, Thou reignest ever in my
+     breast,
+Nor in the love I bear to thee Is there for me reproach or shame.
+Life's veil for me was torn apart, When Love gat hold upon my
+     heart
+For Love still rends the veils in twain And brings dishonour on
+     fair fame.
+The cloak of sickness I did on; And straight my fault appeared
+     and shone.
+Since that my heart made choice of thee And love and longing on
+     me came,
+My eyes are ever wet with tears, And all my secret thought
+     appears,
+When with my tears' tumultuous flow Exhales the secret of thy
+     name.
+Heal thou my pains, for thou to me Art both disease and remedy.
+Yet him, whose cure is in thy hand, Affliction shall for ever
+     claim,
+Thy glances set my heart on fire, Slay me with swords of my
+     desire:
+How many, truly, of the best Have fallen beneath Love's sword of
+     flame?
+Yet may I not from passion cease Nor in forgetting seek release;
+For love's my comfort, pride and law, Public and private, aye the
+     same.
+Blest eyes that have of thee their fill And look upon thee at
+     their will!
+Ay, of my own unforced intent, The slave of passion I became.
+
+When the portress heard this foursome song, she cried out, 'Alas!
+Alas! Alas!' and tore her clothes and fell down in a swoon; and
+the Khalif saw on her body the marks of beating with rods and
+whips, and wondered greatly. Then the cateress rose and sprinkled
+water upon her and brought her a fresh dress and put it on her.
+When the company saw this, their minds were troubled, for they
+understood not the reason of these things. And the Khalif said to
+Jaafer, 'Didst thou not see the marks of beating with rods upon
+the girl's body! I cannot keep silence nor be at rest, except I
+come at the truth of all this and know the story of this damsel
+and the two bitches.' 'O my lord,' answered Jaafer, 'they made it
+a condition with us that we should not speak of what concerns us
+not, under pain of hearing what should not please us.' Then said
+the portress 'By Allah! O my sister, come and complete thy
+service to me.' 'With all my heart!' answered the cateress and
+took the lute and leant it against her breasts. Then she swept
+the strings with her finger-tips and sang the following verses:
+
+If we complain of absence, what alas! shall we say? Or if longing
+     assail us, where shall we take our way?
+If, to interpret for us, we trust to a messenger, How can a
+     message rightly a lover's plaint convey?
+Or if we put on patience, short is a lover's life, After his
+     heart's beloved is torn from him away.
+Nothing, alas! is left me but sorrow and despair And tears that
+     adown my cheeks without cessation stray.
+Thou that art ever absent from my desireful sight, Thou that art
+     yet a dweller within my heart alway,
+Hast thou kept troth, I wonder, with one who loves thee dear,
+     Whose faith, whilst time endureth, never shall know decay?
+Or hast thou e'en forgotten her who for love of thee, In tears
+     and sickness and passion, hath wasted many a day?
+Alas! though Love unite us again in one embrace, Reproach for thy
+     past rigour with me full long shall stay.
+
+When the portress heard this second song, she gave a loud scream
+and exclaimed, 'By Allah! it is good!' and putting her hand to
+her clothes, tore them as before and fell down in a swoon.
+Whereupon the cateress rose and brought her another dress, after
+she had sprinkled water on her. Then she sat up again and said to
+the cateress 'To it again and help me to do the rest of my duty;
+for there remains but one more song.' So the cateress took the
+lute and sang the following verses:
+
+How long, ah me! shall this rigour last and this inhumanity? Are
+     not the tears that I have shed enough to soften thee?
+If thou, of thy relentless will, estrangement do prolong,
+     Intending my despite, at last, I pray, contented be!
+If treacherous fortune were but just to lovers and their woe,
+     They would not watch the weary night in sleepless agony.
+Have ruth on me, for thy disdain is heavy on my heart; Is it not
+     time that thou relent at last, my king, to me?
+To whom but thee that slayest me should I reveal my pain? What
+     grief is theirs who love and prove the loved one's perfidy!
+Love and affliction hour by hour redouble in my breast: The days
+     of exile are prolonged; no end to them I see.
+Muslims, avenge a slave of love, the host of wakefulness, Whose
+     patience hath been trampled out by passion's tyranny!
+Can it be lawful, O my wish, that thou another bless With thine
+     embraces, whilst I die, in spite of Love's decree?
+Yet in thy presence, by my side, what peace should I enjoy, Since
+     he I love doth ever strive to heap despite on me?
+
+When the portress heard this third song, she screamed out and
+putting forth her hand, tore her clothes even to the skirt and
+fell down in a swoon for the third time, and there appeared once
+more on her body the marks of beat ing with rods. Then said the
+three Calenders, 'Would God we had never entered this house, but
+had slept on the rubbish-heaps! for verily our entertainment hath
+been troubled by things that rend the heart.' The Khalif turned
+to them and said, 'How so?' And they answered, 'Indeed, our minds
+are troubled about this matter.' Quoth he, 'Are you not then of
+the household?' 'No,' replied they; 'nor did we ever see the
+place till now.' Said the Khalif, 'There is the man by you: he
+will surely know the meaning of all this.' And he winked at the
+porter. So they questioned the latter and he replied, 'By the
+Almighty, we are all in one boat! I was brought up at Baghdad,
+but never in my life did I enter this house till to-day, and the
+manner of my coming in company with them was curious.' 'By
+Allah,' said they, 'we thought thee one of them, and now we see
+thou art but as one of ourselves.' Then said the Khalif, 'We are
+here seven men, and they are but three women: so let us question
+them of their case, and if they do not answer willingly, they
+shall do so by force.' They all agreed to this, except Jaafer,
+who said, 'This is not well-advised: let them be, for we are
+their guests, and as ye know, they imposed on us a condition, to
+which we all agreed. Wherefore it is better that we keep silence
+concerning this affair, for but a little remains of the night,
+and each go about his business.' And he winked to the Khalif and
+whispered to him, 'There is but a little longer to wait, and
+to-morrow I will bring them before thee and thou canst then
+question them of their story.' But the Khalif lifted his head
+and cried out angrily, 'I have not patience to wait till then:
+let the Calenders ask them.' And Jaafer said, 'This is not
+well-advised.' Then they consulted together, and there was much
+talk and dispute between them, who should put the question,
+before they fixed upon the porter. The noise drew the notice of
+the lady of the house, who said to them, 'O guests, what is the
+matter and what are you talking about?' Then the porter came
+forward and said to her, 'O lady, the company desire that thou
+acquaint them with the history of the two bitches and why thou
+didst beat them and after fellest to kissing and weeping over
+them and also concerning thy sister and why she has been beaten
+with rods, like a man. This is what they charge me to ask thee,
+and peace be on thee.' When she heard this, she turned to the
+others and said to them 'Is this true that he says of you?' And
+they all replied 'Yes;' except Jaafer, who held his peace. Then
+said she, 'By Allah! O guests, ye have done us a grievous wrong,
+for we made it a previous condition with you that whoso spoke of
+what concerned him not, should hear what should not please him.
+Is it not enough that we have taken you into our house and fed
+you with our victual! But the fault is not so much yours as that
+of her who brought you in to us.' Then she tucked up her sleeves
+and smote three times on the floor, saying, 'Come quickly!'
+Whereupon the door of a closet opened and out came seven black
+slaves, with drawn swords in their hands, to whom said the lady,
+'Bind these babblers' hands behind them and tie them one with
+another.' The slaves did as she bade, and said, 'O noble lady, is
+it thy will that we strike off their heads?' 'Hold your hands
+awhile,' answered she, 'till I question them of their condition,
+before ye strike off their heads.' 'By Allah, O my lady,'
+exclaimed the porter 'do not slay me for another's fault, for all
+have erred and offended save myself. And by Allah, our night
+would have been a pleasant one, had we not been afflicted with
+these Calenders, whose presence is enough to lay a flourishing
+city in ruins.' And he repeated the following verses:
+
+How fair a thing is mercy to the great! And how much more to
+     those of low estate!
+By all the love that has between us been, Doom not the guiltless
+     to the guilty's fate!
+
+When the lady heard this, she laughed, in spite of her anger, and
+coming up to the guests, said to them, 'Tell me who you are, for
+ye have but a little while to live, and were you not men of rank
+and consideration, you had never dared to act thus.' Then the
+Khalif said to Jaafer, 'Out on thee! Tell her who we are, or we
+shall be slain in a mistake, and speak her fair, ere an
+abomination befall us.' 'It were only a part of thy deserts,'
+replied Jaafer. Whereupon the Khalif cried out at him in anger
+and said, 'There is a time to jest and a time to be serious.'
+Then the lady said to the Calenders, 'Are ye brothers?' 'Not so,'
+answered they; 'we are only poor men and strangers.' And she said
+to one of them, 'Wast thou born blind of one eye?' 'No, by
+Allah!' replied he; 'but there hangs a rare story by the loss of
+my eye, a story which, were it graven with needles on the corners
+of the eye, would serve as a lesson to those that can profit by
+example.' She questioned the two other Calenders, and they made a
+like reply, saying, 'By Allah! O our mistress, each one of us
+comes from a different country and is the son of a king and a
+sovereign prince ruling over lands and subjects.' Then she turned
+to the others and said to them, 'Let each of you come forward in
+turn and tell us his history and the manner of his coming hither
+and after go about his business; but whoso refuses, I will cut
+off his head.' The first to come forward was the porter, who
+said, 'O my lady, I am a porter. This lady, the cateress, hired
+me and took me first to the vintner's, then to the butcher's,
+from the butcher's to the fruiterer's, from the fruiterer's to
+the grocer's, from the grocer's to the greengrocer's, from the
+greengrocer's to the confectioner's and the druggist's, and
+thence to this place, where there happened to me with you what
+happened. This is my story; and peace be on thee!' At this the
+lady laughed and said to him, 'Begone about thy business.' But he
+said, 'By Allah, I will not budge 'till I hear the others'
+stories.' Then came forward the first Calender and said, 'Know, O
+lady, that
+
+
+
+
+                  The First Calender's Story.
+
+
+
+My father was a king, and he had a brother, who was also a king
+over another city. The latter had a son and a daughter, and it
+chanced that I and the son of my uncle were both born on the same
+day. In due time we grew up to man's estate and there was a great
+affection between us. Now it was my wont every now and then to
+visit my uncle and abide with him several months at a time.
+One day, I went to visit him as usual and found him absent
+a-hunting; but my cousin received me with the utmost courtesy and
+slaughtered sheep and strained wine for me and we sat down to
+drink. When the wine had got the mastery of us, my cousin said to
+me, "O son of my uncle I have a great service to ask of thee, and
+I beg of thee not to baulk me in what I mean to do." "With all my
+heart," answered I; and he made me swear by the most solemn oaths
+to do his will. Then he went away and returning in a little, with
+a lady veiled and perfumed and very richly clad, said to me,
+"Take this lady and go before me to the burial-ground and enter
+such and such a sepulchre," and he described it to me and I knew
+it, "and wait till I come." I could not gainsay him, by reason of
+the oath I had sworn to him; so I took the lady and carried her
+to the cemetery, and entering the tomb sat down to await my
+cousin, who soon rejoined us, carrying a vessel of water, a bag
+containing plaster and an adze. He went up to the tomb in the
+midst of the sepulchre and loosening its stones with the adze,
+laid them on one side after which he fell to digging with the
+adze in the earth till he uncovered a trap of iron, as big as a
+small door, and raised it, when there appeared beneath it a
+winding stair. Then he turned to the lady and said to her, "Up
+and make thy choice." So she descended the stair and was lost to
+sight; and he said to me, "O my cousin, when I have descended,
+complete thy kindness to me by replacing the trap-door and
+throwing back the earth on it: then mix the plaster in the bag
+with the water in this vessel and build up the tomb again with
+the stones and plaster it over as before, lest any see it and
+say, 'This tomb has been newly opened, albeit it is an old one;'
+for I have been at work here a whole year, unknown to any save
+God. This then is the service I had to ask of thee, and may God
+never bereave thy friends of thee, O my cousin!" Then he
+descended the stair; and when he was out of sight, I replaced the
+trap-door and did as he had bidden me, till the tomb was restored
+to its original condition, and I the while in a state of
+intoxication; after which I returned to the palace, and found my
+uncle still absent. Next morning I called to mind what had
+happened and repented of having obeyed my cousin, when repentance
+was of no avail, but thought that it must have been a dream. So I
+fell to enquiring after my cousin; but none could give me any
+news of him; and I went out to the burial-ground and sought for
+the tomb where I had left him, but could not find it, and ceased
+not to go from sepulchre to sepulchre and from tomb to tomb,
+without success, till nightfall. Then I returned to the palace
+and could neither eat nor drink, for my heart was troubled about
+my cousin, seeing I knew not what was come of him; and I was
+extremely chagrined and slept not that night, but lay awake for
+anxiety till morning. As soon as it was day, I repaired again to
+the cemetery, pondering what my cousin had done and repenting me
+of having hearkened to him, and vent round among all the tombs,
+but could not find the one I sought. Thus I did for the space of
+seven days, but with no better success, and my trouble and
+anxiety increased till I was well-nigh mad and could find nothing
+for it but to return to my father. So I set out and journeyed
+till I reached his capital; but as I entered the gate of the
+city, a number of men sprang out on me and tied my hands behind
+me. At this I was beyond measure amazed, seeing that I was the
+son of the Sultan and that they were his servants and my own; and
+great fear fell on me, and I said to myself, "I wonder what has
+befallen my father!" Then I questioned my captors; but they
+returned me no answer. However, after awhile, one of them, who
+had been my servant, said to me, "Fortune has played thy father
+false; and the troops deserted him. So the Vizier slew him and
+seized on his throne; and we laid wait for thee by his command."
+Then they took me and carried me before the Vizier, well-nigh
+distraught for this news of my father. Now between me and this
+Vizier was an old feud, the cause of which was as follows. I was
+fond of shooting with a pellet-bow, and one day, as I was
+standing on the terrace of my palace, a bird lighted on the
+terrace of the Vizier's house, where the latter chanced to be
+standing at the time. I let fly at the bird, but, as fate and
+destiny would have it, the pellet swerved and striking the Vizier
+on the eye, put it out. As says the poet:
+
+Our footsteps follow on in their predestined way, Nor from the
+     ordered track can any mortal stray:
+And he whom Fate appoints in any land to die, No other place on
+     earth shall see his dying day.
+
+
+The Vizier dared say nothing, at the time, because I was the
+Sultan's son of the city, but thenceforward he nourished a deadly
+hatred against me. So when they brought me bound before him, he
+commanded my head to be smitten off; and I said, "For what crime
+wilt thou put me to death?" "What crime could be greater than
+this?" answered he, and pointed to his ruined eye. Quoth I, "That
+I did by misadventure." And he replied, "If thou didst it by
+misadventure, I will do the like with intent." Then said he,
+"Bring him to me." So they brought me up to him, and he put his
+finger into my right eye and pulled it out; and thenceforward I
+became one-eyed as ye see me. Then he caused me to be bound hand
+and foot and put in a chest and said to the headsman, "Take this
+fellow and carry him forth of the city and slay him and leave him
+for the beasts and birds to eat." So the headsman carried me
+without the city to the midst of the desert, where he took me out
+of the chest, bound hand and foot as I was, and would have
+bandaged my eyes, that he might slay me. But I wept sore till I
+made him weep, and looking at him, repeated the following verses:
+
+I counted on you as a coat of dart-proof mail toward The foeman's
+     arrows from my breast. Alas! ye are his sword!
+I hoped in you to succour me in every evil chance, Although my
+     right hand to my left no more should help afford.
+Yet stand aloof nor cast your lot with those who do me hate, And
+     let my foemen shoot their shafts against your whilom lord!
+If you refuse to succour me against my enemies, At least be
+     neutral, nor to me nor them your aid accord.
+
+And these also:
+
+How many of my friends, methought, were coats of mail! And so
+     they were, indeed, but on my foeman's part.
+Unerring shafts and true I deemed them; and they were Unerring
+     shafts, indeed, alas, but in my heart!
+
+When the headsman heard this (now he had been my father's
+headsman and I had done him kindness) he said, "O my lord what
+can I do, being but a slave commanded?" Then he said, "Fly for
+thy life and never return to this country, or thou art lost and I
+with thee." As says one of the poets:
+
+Escape with thy life, if oppression betide thee, And let the
+     house tell of its builder's fate!
+Country for country thou'lt find, if thou seek it; Life for life
+     never, early or late.
+It is strange men should dwell in the house of abjection, When
+     the plain of God's world is so wide and so great!
+
+I kissed his hands, hardly crediting my escape; and recked little
+of the loss of my eye, in consideration of my deliverance from
+death. Then I repaired to my uncle's capital and going in to him,
+told him what had befallen my father and myself; whereat he wept
+sore and said, "Verily, thou addest affliction to my affliction
+and sorrow to my sorrow; for thy cousin has been missing these
+many days; I know not what is become of him, and none can give me
+any news of him." Then he wept till he swooned away, and my heart
+was sore for him. When he revived, he would have medicined my
+eye, but found there was but the socket left and said, "O my son,
+it is well that it was thine eye and not thy life!" I could not
+keep silence about my cousin; so I told him all that had passed,
+and he rejoiced greatly at hearing news of his son and said,
+"Come, show me the tomb." "By Allah, O my uncle," answered I, "I
+know it not, for I went after many times to seek for it, but
+could not find it." However, we went out to the burial-ground and
+looked right and left, till at last I discovered the tomb. At
+this we both rejoiced greatly and entering, removed the earth,
+raised the trapdoor and descended fifty steps, till we came to
+the foot of the stair, where we were met by a great smoke that
+blinded our eyes: and my uncle pronounced the words, which whoso
+says shall never be confounded, that is to say, "There is no
+power and no virtue but in God the Most High, the Supreme!" Then
+we went on and found ourselves in a saloon, raised upon columns,
+drawing air and light from openings communicating with the
+surface of the ground and having a cistern in its midst. The
+place was full of crates and sacks of flour and grain and other
+victual; and at the upper end stood a couch with a canopy over
+it. My uncle went up to the bed and drawing the curtains, found
+his son and the lady in each other's arms; but they were become
+black coal, as they had been cast into a well of fire. When he
+saw this, he spat in his son's face and taking off his shoe,
+smote him with it, exclaiming, "Swine that thou art, thou hast
+thy deserts! This is thy punishment in this world, but there
+awaits thee a far sorer and more terrible punishment in the world
+to come!" His behaviour amazed me, and I mourned for my cousin,
+for that he was become a black coal, and said to the king, "O my
+uncle, is not that which hath befallen him enough, but thou must
+beat him with thy shoe?" "O son of my brother," answered my
+uncle, "this my son was from his earliest youth madly enamoured
+of his sister, and I forbade him from her, saying in myself,
+'They are but children.' But, when they grew up, sin befell
+between them, notwithstanding that his attendants warned him to
+abstain from so foul a thing, which none had done before nor
+would do after him, lest the news of it should be carried abroad
+by the caravans and he become dishonoured and unvalued among
+kings to the end of time. I heard of this and believed it not,
+but took him and upbraided him severely, saying, 'Have a care
+lest this thing happen to thee; for I will surely curse thee and
+put thee to death.' Then I shut her up and kept them apart, but
+this accursed girl loved him passionately, and Satan got the
+upper hand of them and made their deeds to seem good in their
+eyes. So when my son saw that I had separated them, he made this
+place under ground and transported victual hither, as thou seest,
+and taking advantage of my absence a-hunting, came here with his
+sister, thinking to enjoy her a long while. But the wrath of God
+descended on them and consumed them; and there awaits them in the
+world to come a still sorer and more terrible punishment." Then
+he wept and I with him, and he looked at me and said, "Henceforth
+thou art my son in his stead." Then I bethought me awhile of the
+world and its chances and how the Vizier had slain my father and
+usurped his throne and put out my eye and of the strange events
+that had befallen my cousin and wept again, and my uncle wept
+with me. Presently we ascended, and replacing the trap-door,
+restored the tomb to its former condition. Then we resumed to the
+palace, but hardly had we sat down when we heard a noise of drums
+and trumpets and cymbals and galloping of cavalry and clamour of
+men and clash of arms and clank of bridles and neighing of
+horses, and the world was filled with clouds of dust raised by
+the horses' hoofs. At this we were amazed and knew not what could
+be the matter so we enquired and were told that the Vizier, who
+had usurped my father's throne, had levied troops and hired the
+wild Arabs and was come with an army like the sands of the sea,
+none could tell their number nor could any avail against them.
+They assaulted the city unawares, and the people, being unable to
+withstand them, surrendered the place to them. My uncle was slain
+and I took refuge in the suburbs, knowing that, if I fell into
+the Vizier's hands, he would put me to death. Wherefore trouble
+was sore upon me and I bethought me of all that had befallen me
+and my father and uncle and knew not what to do, for if I showed
+myself, the people of the city and my father's troops would know
+me and hasten to win the usurpers favour by putting me to death;
+and I could find no means of escape but by shaving my face. So I
+shaved off my beard and eyebrows and donning a Calender's habit,
+left the town, without being known of any, and made for this
+city, in the hope that perhaps some one would bring me to the
+presence of the Commander of the Faithful and Vicar of the Lord
+of the Two Worlds, that I might relate to him my story and lay my
+case before him. I arrived here today and was standing, perplexed
+where I should go, when I saw this second Calender; so I saluted
+him, saying "I am a stranger," and he replied, "And I also am a
+stranger." Presently up came our comrade, this other Calender,
+and saluted us, saying, "I am a stranger." "We also are
+strangers," answered we; and we walked on together, till darkness
+overtook us, and destiny led us to your house. This, then, is my
+history and the manner of the loss of my right eye and the
+shaving of my beard and eyebrows.' They all marvelled at his
+story, and the Khalif said to Jaafer, 'By Allah, I never heard or
+saw the like of what happened to this Calender.' Then the
+mistress of the house said to the Calender, 'Begone about thy
+business.' But he answered, 'I will not budge till I hear the
+others' stories.' Then came forth the second Calender and kissing
+the earth, said, 'O my lady, I was not born blind of one eye, and
+my story is a marvellous one; were it graven with needles on the
+corners of the eye, it would serve as a warning to those that can
+profit by example.
+
+
+
+
+                  The Second Calender's Story.
+
+
+
+I am a king, son of a king. My father taught me to read and
+write, and I got the Koran by heart, according to the seven
+readings, and read all manner of books under the guidance of
+learned professors; I studied the science of the stars and the
+sayings of poets and applied myself to all branches of knowledge,
+till I surpassed all the folk of my time. In particular, my skill
+in handwriting excelled that of all the scribes, and my fame was
+noised abroad in all countries and at the courts of all the
+kings. Amongst others, the King of Ind heard of me and sent to my
+father to seek me, with gifts and presents such as befit kings.
+So my father fitted out six ships for me, and we put to sea and
+sailed for a whole month, till we reached the land. Then we
+brought out the horses that were with us in the ships, together
+with ten camels laden with presents for the King of Ind. and set
+out inland, but had not gone far, before there arose a great
+dust, that grew till it covered the whole country. After awhile
+it lifted and discovered fifty steel-clad horsemen, as they were
+fierce lions, whom we soon found to be Arab highwaymen. When they
+saw that we were but a small company and had with us ten laden
+camels, they drove at us with levelled spears. We signed to them
+with our fingers to do us no hindrance, for that we were
+ambassadors to the mighty King of Ind; but they replied (in the
+same manner) that they were not in his dominions nor under his
+rule. Then they set on us and slew some of my attendants and put
+the rest to flight; and I also fled, after I had gotten a sore
+wound whilst the Arabs were taken up with the baggage. I knew not
+whither to turn, being reduced from high to low estate; so I fled
+forth at a venture till I came to the top of a mountain, where I
+took shelter for the night in a cavern. On the morrow, I
+continued my journey and fared on thus for a whole month, till I
+reached a safe and pleasant city. The winter had passed away from
+it with its cold and the spring was come with its roses; its
+flowers were blowing and its streams welling and its birds
+warbling. As says the poet, describing the city in question:
+
+A town, wherein who dwells is free from all affray; Security and
+     peace are masters there alway.
+Like Paradise itself, it seemeth, for its folk, With all its
+     beauties rare decked out in bright array.
+
+I was both glad and sorry to reach the city, glad for that I was
+weary with my journey and pale for weakness and anxiety, and
+grieved to enter it in such sorry case. However, I went in,
+knowing not whither to betake me, and fared on till I came to a
+tailor sitting in his shop. I saluted him, and he returned my
+salute and bade me a kindly welcome, and seeing me to be a
+stranger and noting marks of gentle breeding on me, enquired how
+I came thither. I told him all that had befallen me; and he was
+concerned for me and said, "O my son, do not discover thyself to
+any, for the King of this city is the chief of thy father's foes
+and hath a mortal feud against him." Then he set meat and drink
+before me, and I ate and he with me, and we talked together till
+nightfall, when he lodged me in a chamber beside his own, and
+brought me a bed and coverlet. I abode with him three days, at
+the end of which time he said to me, "Dost thou know any craft by
+which thou mayst earn thy living?" I replied, "I am a doctor of
+the law and a man of learning, a scribe, a grammarian, a poet, a
+mathematician and a skilled penman." Quoth he, "Thy trade is not
+in demand in this country nor are there in this city any who
+understand science or writing or aught but money-getting." "By
+Allah," said I, "I know nought but what I have told thee!" And he
+said, "Gird thy middle and take axe and cord and go and cut
+firewood in the desert for thy living, till God send thee relief,
+and tell none who thou art, or they will kill thee." Then he
+bought me an axe and a cord and gave me in charge to certain
+woodcutters; with whom I went out into the desert and cut wood
+all day and carried home a load on my head. I sold it for half a
+dinar, with part of which I bought victual and laid up the rest.
+On this wise I lived a whole year, at the end of which time I
+went out one day into the desert, according to my wont, and
+straying from my companions, happened on a tract full of trees
+and running streams, in which there was abundance of firewood; so
+I entered and coming on the gnarled stump of a great tree, dug
+round it with my axe and cleared the earth away from it.
+Presently, the axe struck upon a ring of brass; so I cleared away
+the earth, till I uncovered a wooden trap-door, which I raised
+and there appeared beneath it a stair I descended the stair, till
+I came to a door, which I opened and found myself in a vaulted
+hall of goodly structure, wherein was a damsel like a pearl of
+great price, whose aspect banished pain and care and anxiety from
+the heart and whose speech healed the troubled soul and
+captivated the wise and the intelligent. She was slender of shape
+and swelling-breasted, delicate-cheeked and bright of colour and
+fair of form; and indeed her face shone like the sun through the
+night of her tresses, and her teeth glittered above the snows of
+her bosom. As says the poet of her:
+
+Slender of waist, with streaming hair the hue of night, is she,
+     With hips like hills of sand and shape straight as the
+     balsam-tree.
+
+And as says another:
+
+There are four things that ne'er unite, except it be To shed my
+     heart's best blood and take my soul by storm.
+And these are night-black locks and brow as bright as day, Cheeks
+     ruddy as the rose and straight and slender form.
+
+When I looked on her, I prostrated myself before her Maker, for
+the grace and beauty He had created in her and she looked at me
+and said, "Art thou a man or a genie?" "I am a man," answered I;
+and she said, "And who brought thee to this place, where I have
+dwelt five-and-twenty years without seeing man?" Quoth I (and
+indeed her speech was sweet to me), "O my lady, my good star
+brought me hither for the dispelling of my grief and anxiety."
+And I told her all that had befallen me from first to last. My
+case was grievous to her and she wept: then she said, "I will
+tell thee my story in turn. I am the daughter of a King of
+Farther India, by name Efitamous, Lord of the Ebony Islands, who
+married me to my cousin, but on my wedding-night an Afrit called
+Jerjis ben Rejmous, the mother's sister's son of Iblis, carried
+me off and flying away with me, set me down in this place whither
+he transported all that I needed of clothes and ornaments and
+furniture and meat and drink and so forth. Once in every ten days
+he comes to me and lies the night here, then goes his way; for he
+took me without the consent of his family: and he has agreed with
+me that, in case I should ever have occasion for him in the
+interval between his visits, whether by night or by day, I have
+only to touch these two lines engraved upon the alcove, and he
+will be with me before I take away my hand. It is now four days
+since he was here, and there remain six before he comes again.
+Wilt thou therefore spend five days with me and depart the day
+before his coming?" "I will well," answered I. "O rare! if it be
+not all a dream." At this she rejoiced and taking me by the hand,
+led me through a vaulted doorway into a small but elegant
+bath-room, where we put off our clothes and she washed me. Then
+she clad me in a new suit and seated me by her side on a high
+divan and gave me to drink of sherbet of sugar flavoured with
+musk. Then she brought food, and we ate and conversed. After
+awhile, she said to me, "Lie down and rest, for thou art weary."
+So I lay down and slept and forgot all that had befallen me. When
+I awoke, I found her rubbing my feet:[FN#30] so I thanked her and
+blessed her, and we sat talking awhile. Quoth she, "By Allah, I
+was sad at heart, for that I have dwelt alone under ground these
+five-and-twenty years, without any to talk withal. So praised be
+God who hath sent thee to me!" Then she said, "O youth, art thou
+for wine?" And I answered, "As thou wilt." Whereupon she went to
+the cupboard and took out a sealed flask of old wine and decked
+the table with flowers and green herbs. Then she recited the
+following verses:
+
+Had we thy coming known, we would for sacrifice Have poured thee
+     forth heart's blood and blackness of the eyes:
+Ay, and we would have laid our cheeks within thy way, That so thy
+     feet might tread on eyelids, carpet-wise!
+
+I thanked her, for indeed love of her had taken hold of me, and
+my grief and anxiety left me. We sat carousing till nightfall,
+and I passed the night with her, never knew I such a night. On
+the morrow, delight succeeded delight till the middle of the day,
+when I drank wine, till I lost my senses and rose, staggering
+from side to side, and said to her, "Come, O fair one! I will
+carry thee up from under the earth and rid thee of this genie."
+She laughed and replied, "Be content and hold thy peace. One day
+in every ten is the genie's, and the other nine shall be thine."
+Quoth I (and indeed drunkenness had got the better of me), "This
+very moment will I break the alcove, on which is graven the
+talisman, and summon the Afrit hither, that I may kill him, for I
+am used to kill Afrits ten at a time." When she heard this, she
+conjured me by Allah to refrain and repeated the following
+verses:
+
+This is a thing wherein thine own destruction lies: I rede thee
+     keep thyself therefrom, if thou be wise.
+
+And also these:
+
+O thou that seek'st to hasten on the feet Of parting's steeds,
+     the matchless swift of flight,
+Forbear, for fortune's nature is deceit, And parting is the end
+     of love delight.
+
+I paid no heed to her words, but kicked the alcove with all my
+might, and immediately the place grew dark, it thundered and
+lightened, the earth trembled and the world was wrapped in gloom.
+When I saw this, the fumes of the wine left my head and I said to
+the lady, "What is the matter?" "The Afrit is upon us," answered
+she "Did I not warn thee of this! By Allah, thou hast ruined me!
+But fly for thy life and return whence thou camest." So I
+ascended the stair, but, in the excess of my fear I forgot my
+sandals and hatchet. When I had mounted two steps, I turned to
+look, and behold, the ground clove in sunder and out came an
+Afrit of hideous aspect, who said to the lady, "What is this
+commotion with which thou disturbest me? What misfortune has
+befallen thee?" "Nothing has befallen me," answered she, "except
+that I was heavy at heart and drank a little wine to hearten
+myself. Then I rose to do an occasion, but my head became heavy
+and I fell against the alcove." "Thou liest, O harlot!" said he,
+and looked right and left, till he caught sight of the axe and
+the sandals and said, "These are some man's gear. Who has been
+with thee?" Quoth she, "I never set eyes on them till this
+moment; they must have clung to thee as thou camest hither." But
+he said, "This talk is absurd and will not impose on me, O
+strumpet!" Then he stripped her naked and stretching her on the
+ground, tied her hands and feet to four stakes and proceeded to
+torture her to make her confess. I could not bear to hear her
+weeping; so I ascended the stair, quaking for fear. When I
+reached the top, I replaced the trap-door and covered it over
+with earth; and I thought of the lady and her beauty and what had
+befallen her through my folly and repented me sore of what I had
+done. Then I bethought me of my father and his kingdom and how I
+had become a woodcutter, and how, after my life had been awhile
+serene, it had again become troubled, and I wept and repeated the
+following verse:
+
+What time the cruelties of Fate o'erwhelm thee with distress,
+     Think that one day must bring thee ease, another day
+     duresse.
+
+Then I went on till I reached the house of my friend, whom I
+found awaiting me, as he were on coals of fire on my account.
+When he saw me, he rejoiced and said, "O my brother, where didst
+thou pass the night? My heart has been full of anxiety on thine
+account, fearing for thee from the wild beasts or other peril:
+but praised be God for thy safety!" I thanked him for his
+solicitude, and retiring to my chamber, fell a-musing on what had
+passed and reproached myself grievously for my meddlesomeness in
+kicking the alcove. Presently the tailor came in to me and said,
+"O my son, there is without an old man, a foreigner, who seeks
+thee. He has thine axe and sandals and came to the woodcutters
+and said to them, 'I went out at the hour of the call to morning
+prayer and happened on these and know not whose they are: direct
+me to their owner.' They knew thine axe and sent him to thee; and
+he is now sitting in my shop. So do thou go out to him and thank
+him and take thy gear." When I heard this, my colour changed and
+I was sick for terror but before I could think, the floor clove
+asunder and up came the stranger, and lo, it was the Afrit! Now
+he had tortured the lady in the most barbarous manner, without
+being able to make her confess: so he took the axe and sandals,
+saying, "As sure as I am Jerjis of the lineage of Iblis, I will
+bring back the owner of this axe and these sandals!" So he went
+to the woodcutters with the tale aforesaid, and they directed him
+to me. He snatched me up without parley and flew high into the
+air, but presently descended and plunged into the ground with me,
+and I the while unconscious. Then he came up with me in the
+underground palace, where I saw the lady stretched out naked,
+with the blood running from her sides. At this sight, my eyes ran
+over with tears; but the Afrit unbound her and veiling her, said
+to her, "O wanton, is not this thy lover?" She looked at me and
+said, "I know not this man, nor have I ever seen him till now."
+Quoth he, "Wilt thou not confess after all this torture?" And she
+answered, "I never saw him in my life, and God forbid that I
+should lie against him and thou kill him." "Then," said he, "if
+thou know him not, take this sword and cut off his head." She
+took the sword and came and stood at my head; and I made signs to
+her with my eyebrows whilst the tears ran down my cheeks. She
+understood me and signed to me with her eyes as who should say,
+"Thou hast brought all this upon us." And I answered her, in the
+same fashion, that it was a time for forgiveness; and the tongue
+of the case spoke[FN#31] the words of the poet:
+
+My looks interpret for my tongue and tell of what I feel: And all
+     the love appears that I within my heart conceal.
+When as we meet and down our cheeks our tears are running fast,
+     I'm dumb, and yet my speaking eyes my thought of thee
+     reveal.
+She signs to me; and I, I know the things her glances say: I with
+     my fingers sign, and she conceives the mute appeal.
+Our eyebrows of themselves suffice unto our intercourse: We're
+     mute; but passion none the less speaks in the looks we
+     steal.
+
+Then she threw down the sword and said, "How shall I strike off
+the head of one whom I know not and who has done me no hurt? My
+religion will not allow of this." Quoth the Afrit, "It is
+grievous to thee to kill thy lover. Because he hath lain a night
+with thee, thou endurest this torture and wilt not confess upon
+him. It is only like that pities like." Then he turned to me and
+said, "O mortal, dost thou not know this woman?" "Who is she?"
+answered I. "I never saw her till now." "Then," said he "take
+this sword and strike off her head and I will believe that thou
+knowest her not and will let thee go and do thee no hurt." Quoth
+I, "It is well;" and taking the sword, went up to her briskly and
+raised my hand. But she signed to me with her eyebrows, as who
+should say, "What hurt have I done thee? Is it thus thou
+requitest me?" I understood what she would say and replied in the
+same manner, "I will ransom thee with my life." And the tongue of
+the case repeated the following verses:
+
+How many a lover with his eyelids speaks And doth his thought
+     unto his mistress tell
+He flashes signals to her with his eyes, And she at once is ware
+     of what befell.
+How swift the looks that pass betwixt the twain! How fair,
+     indeed, and how delectable!
+One with his eyelids writes what he would say: The other with her
+     eyes the writ doth spell.
+
+Then my eyes ran over with tears and I said, "O mighty Afrit and
+doughty hero! if a woman, lacking sense and religion, deem it
+unlawful to strike off my head, how can I, who am a man, bring
+myself to slay her whom I never saw in my life? Never will I
+do it, though I drink the cup of death and ruin!" And I threw
+the sword from my hand. Quoth the Afrit, "Ye show the good
+understanding between you, but I will let you see the issue of
+your doings." Then he took the sword and cut off the lady's hands
+and feet at four strokes; whilst I looked on and made sure of
+death; and she signed me a farewell with her eyes. Quoth he,
+"Thou cuckoldest me with thine eyes!" And struck off her head
+with a blow of his sword. Then he turned to me and said, "O
+mortal, by our law; when our wives commit adultery, it is lawful
+to us to put them to death. As for this woman, I stole her away
+on her wedding-night, when she was a girl of twelve, and she has
+known no one but myself. I used to come to her once in every
+ten days in the habit of a man, a foreigner, and pass one night
+with her; and when I was assured that she had played me false,
+I slew her. But as for thee, I am not sure that thou west her
+accomplice: nevertheless, I must not let thee go unharmed; but I
+will grant thee a favour." At this I rejoiced greatly and said,
+"What favour wilt thou grant me?" "I will give thee thy choice,"
+replied he, "whether I shall change thee into a dog, an ass or an
+ape." Quoth I (and indeed I had hoped that he would pardon me),
+"By Allah, spare me, and God will reward thee for sparing a true
+believer, who hath done thee no harm." And I humbled myself
+before him to the utmost and wept, saying, "Indeed, thou dost me
+injustice." "Do not multiply words on me," answered he; "it is in
+my power to kill thee: but I give thee thy choice." "O Afrit,"
+rejoined I, "it would best become thee to pardon me, even as the
+envied pardoned the envier." Quoth he, "And how was that?" "They
+say, O Afrit," answered I, "that
+
+
+
+
+Story of the Envier and the Envied.
+
+
+
+There dwelt once in a certain city two men, who occupied
+adjoining houses, having a common party-wall; and one of them
+envied the other and looked on him with an evil eye and did his
+utmost endeavour to work him ill; and his envy grew on him till
+he could hardly eat or enjoy the delight of sleep for it. But the
+envied man did nought but prosper, and the more the other strove
+to do him hurt, the more he increased and throve and flourished.
+At last the hatred his neighbour bore him and his constant
+endeavour to do him hurt came to his knowledge and he said, 'By
+Allah, I will renounce the world on his account!' So he left his
+native place and settled in a distant city, where he bought a
+piece of land, in which was a dried-up well, that had once been
+used for watering the fields. Here he built him an oratory, which
+he fitted up with all that he required, and took up his abode
+therein, devoting himself with a sincere heart to the service of
+God the Most High. Fakirs[FN#32] and poor folk soon flocked to
+him from all sides, and his fame spread abroad in the city, so
+that the notables resorted to him. After awhile, the news reached
+the envious man of the good fortune that had befallen his old
+neighbour and the high consideration in which he was held: so he
+set out for the town in which the latter dwelt and repaired to
+the hermitage, where the envied man welcomed him and received him
+with the utmost honour. Quoth the envier, 'I have journeyed
+hither on purpose to tell thee a piece of good news. So order thy
+fakirs to retire to their cells and go with me apart, for I will
+not say what I have to tell thee, except privately where none may
+overhear us.' Accordingly the envied man ordered the fakirs to
+retire to their cells; and they did so. Then he took the other by
+the hand and walked on with him a little way, till they came to
+the deserted well, when the envious man gave the other a push and
+cast him into the well, unseen of any; after which, he went out
+and went his way thinking that he had killed him. Now this well
+was haunted by Jinn, who bore up the envied man and let him down
+little by little, so that he reached the bottom unhurt, and they
+seated him on a stone. Then said one of the Jinn to the others,
+'Know ye who this is?' And they answered, 'No.' Quoth he, 'This
+is the envied man who fled from him who envied him and settled in
+our city, where he built him this oratory and entertains us with
+his litanies and recitations of the Koran. But the envious man
+set out and journeyed till he rejoined him and contrived to throw
+him into this well. Now the news of him hath this very night come
+to the Sultan of the city and he purposes to visit him to-morrow,
+on account of his daughter. 'And what ails his daughter?' asked
+another. 'She is possessed of an evil spirit,' replied the first,
+'for the genie Meimoun ben Demdem has fallen in love with her;
+but if the pious man knew the remedy, he could cure her; and it
+is the easiest of things.' 'And what is the remedy?' asked the
+other. Quoth the first speaker 'The black cat that is with him in
+the oratory has a white spot, the size of a dirhem, at the end of
+her tail: he should take seven white hairs from this spot and
+fumigate the princess therewith; whereupon the Marid will leave
+her and never return, and she will be cured immediately.' And the
+envied man heard all this. When the day broke and the morning
+appeared and shone, the fakirs came to seek their chief and found
+him rising from the well, wherefore he was magnified in their
+eyes; and he took the black cat and plucking seven white hairs
+from the spot at the end of her tail, laid them aside. The sun
+had hardly risen when the King arrived and entered the hermitage,
+attended by his chief officers, leaving the rest of his suite
+without. The envied man bade him welcome and drawing near to him,
+said, 'Shall I tell thee the object of thy visit?' 'Yes,'
+answered the King. And he said, 'Thou comest to consult me
+concerning thy daughter.' Quoth the King, 'Thou sayst truly, O
+virtuous elder!' Then said the envied man, 'Send and fetch her,
+and (God willing) I trust to cure her at once.' The King rejoiced
+and sent for his daughter; and they brought her bound hand and
+foot. The envied man made her sit down behind a curtain and
+taking out the hairs, fumigated her with them; whereupon the
+Afrit that was in her roared out and departed from her. And she
+was restored to her right mind and veiled her face, saying, 'What
+has happened and who brought me hither?' At this, the Sultan
+rejoiced beyond measure and kissed her on the eyes and kissed the
+envied man's hand. Then he turned to his officers and said, 'How
+say you? What reward doth he deserve who cured my daughter?' They
+answered, 'He deserves to have her to wife;' and the King, 'Ye
+say well.' So he married him to her, and the envied man became
+the King's son-in-law. After awhile, the Vizier died, and the
+King said, 'Whom shall we make Vizier in his stead?' 'Thy
+son-in-law,' answered the courtiers. So the envied man was made
+Vizier. Presently the Sultan also died, and the grandees
+determined to appoint the Vizier King in his place. So they made
+him Sultan, and he became King regnant. One day, as he was riding
+forth in his royal state, surrounded by his Viziers and Amirs and
+grandees, his eyes fell on his old neighbour, the envious man; so
+he turned to one of his viziers and said to him, 'Bring me yonder
+man and frighten him not.' So the Vizier went and returned with
+the envious man: and the King said, 'Give him a thousand dinars
+from my treasury and twenty loads of merchandise and send him
+under an escort to his own city.' Then he bade him farewell and
+sent him away and forbore to punish him for what he had done with
+him See, O Afrit, how the envied man forgave his envier, who had
+always hated him and borne him malice and had journeyed to him
+and made shift to throw him into the well: yet did he not requite
+him his ill-doing, but on the contrary was bountiful to him and
+forgave him." Then I wept before him exceeding sore, and repeated
+the following verses:
+
+I prithee, pardon mine offence: for men of prudent mind To pardon
+     unto those that sin their sins are still inclined.
+If I, alas! contain in me all fashions of offence, Let there in
+     thee forgiveness fair be found in every kind.
+For men are bound to pardon those that are beneath their hand, If
+     they themselves with those that be above them grace would
+     find.
+
+Quoth the Afrit, "I will neither kill thee nor let thee go free,
+but I will assuredly enchant thee." Then he tore me from the
+ground and flew up with me into the air, till I saw the earth as
+it were a platter midmost the water. Presently he set me down on
+a mountain and took a little earth, over which he muttered some
+magical words, then sprinkled me with it, saying, "Quit this
+shape for that of an ape." And immediately I became an ape, a
+hundred years old. Then he went away and left me; and when I saw
+myself in this ugly shape, I wept, but resigned myself to the
+tyranny of fate, knowing that fortune is constant to no one, and
+descended to the foot of the mountain, where found a wide plain.
+I fared on for the space of a month till my course brought me to
+the shore of the salt sea: where I stood awhile and presently
+caught sight of a ship in the midst of the sea, making for the
+land with a fair wind. I hid myself behind a rock on the beach
+and waited till the ship drew near, when I sprang on board. Quoth
+one of the passengers, "Turn this unlucky brute out from amongst
+us!" And the captain said, "Let us kill him." And a third, "I
+will kill him with this sword." But I laid hold of the captain's
+skirts and wept, and the tears ran down my face. The captain took
+pity on me and said, "O merchants, this ape appeals to me for
+protection, and I will protect him: henceforth he is under my
+safeguard, and none shall molest or annoy him." Then he entreated
+me kindly and whatever he said I understood and ministered to all
+his wants and waited on him, so that he loved me. The ship sailed
+on with a fair wind for the space of fifty days, at the end of
+which time we cast anchor over against a great city, wherein were
+much people, none could tell their number save God. No sooner had
+we come to an anchor, than we were boarded by officers from the
+King of the city; who said to the merchants, "Our King gives you
+joy of your safety and sends you this scroll of paper, on which
+each one of you is to write a line. For know that the King's
+Vizier, who was an excellent penman, is dead and the King has
+sworn a solemn oath that he will make none Vizier in his stead
+who cannot write like him." Then they gave them a scroll, ten
+cubits long by one wide, and each of the merchants, who could
+write, wrote a line therein: after which I rose and snatched the
+scroll from their hands, and they cried out at me and rated me,
+fearing that I would tear it or throw it into the sea. But I made
+signs that I would write; whereat they marvelled, saying, "We
+never saw an ape write!" And the captain said to them, "Let him
+alone; if he scrabble, we will drive him away and kill him; but
+if he write well, I will adopt him as my son, for I never saw so
+intelligent and well-mannered an ape; and would God my son had
+his sense and good breeding!" So I took the pen and dipping it in
+the inkhorn, wrote in an epistolary hand the following verses:
+
+Time hath recorded the virtues of the great: But thine have
+     remained unchronicled till now.
+May God not orphan the human race of thee, For sire and mother of
+     all good deeds art thou.
+
+Then I wrote the following in a running hand:
+
+Thou hast a pen whose use confers good gifts on every clime; Upon
+     all creatures of the world its happy favours fall.
+What are the bounties of the Nile to thy munificence, Whose
+     fingers five extend to shower thy benefits on all?
+
+And in an engrossing hand the following:
+
+There is no writer but he shall pass away: Yet what he writes
+     shall last for ever and aye.
+Write, therefore, nought but that which shall gladden thee, When
+     as it meets thine eye on the Judgment Day.
+
+And in a transcribing hand the following:
+
+When separation is to us by destiny decreed And 'gainst the cruel
+     chance of Fate our efforts are in vain,
+Unto the inkhorn's mouth we fly that, by the tongues of pens, Of
+     parting and its bitterness it may for us complain.
+
+And in a large formal hand the following:
+
+The regal state endureth not to any mortal man. If thou deny
+     this, where is he who first on earth held sway?
+Plant therefore saplings of good deeds, whilst that thou yet art
+     great Though thou be ousted from thy stead, they shall not
+     pass away.
+
+And in a court hand the following:
+
+When thou the inkhorn op'st of power and lordship over men, Make
+     thou thine ink of noble thoughts and generous purpose; then
+Write gracious deeds and good therewith, whilst that thy power
+     endures. So shall thy virtues blazoned be at point of sword
+     and pen.
+
+Then I gave the scroll to the officers, who took it and returned
+with it to the King. When he saw it, no writing pleased him but
+mine; so he said to his officers, "Go to the writer of these
+lines and dress him in a splendid robe; then mount him on a mule
+and bring him to me with a band of music before him." At this
+they smiled, and the King was wroth with them and said, "O
+accursed ones, I give you an order, and ye laugh at me!" "O
+King," answered they, "we have good cause to laugh." Quoth he,
+"What is it?" And they replied, "O King, thou orderest us to
+bring thee the man who wrote these lines: now he who wrote them
+is no man, but an ape belonging to the captain of the ship."
+"Can this be true?" asked he; and they said, "Yea, by thy
+munificence!" The King was astonished at their report and shook
+with mirth and said, "I have a mind to buy this ape of the
+captain." Then he sent messengers to the ship and said to them,
+"Dress him none the less in the robe and mount him on the mule
+and bring him hither in state, with the band of music before
+him." So they came to the ship and took me and clad me in the
+robe and mounted me on the mule and carried me in procession
+through the city; whilst the people were astounded and crowded to
+gaze upon me, and the place was all astir on my account. When I
+reached the King's presence, I kissed the earth before him three
+times, and he bade me be seated; so I sat down on my heels; and
+all the bystanders marvelled at my good manners, and the King
+most of all. After awhile the King dismissed his courtiers, and
+there remained but myself, his highness the King, an eunuch and a
+little white slave. Then the King gave orders and they brought
+the table of food, containing all kinds of birds that hop and fly
+and couple in the nests, such as grouse and quails and so forth.
+He signed to me to eat with him; so I rose and kissed the earth
+before him then sat down and ate with him. When we had done
+eating, the table was removed, and I washed my hands seven times.
+Then I took pen and ink and wrote the following verses:
+
+Weep for the cranes that erst within the porringers did lie, And
+     for the stews and partridges evanished heave a sigh!
+Mourn for the younglings of the grouse; lament unceasingly, As,
+     for the omelettes and the fowls browned in the pan, do I.
+How my heart yearneth for the fish, that in its different kinds,
+     Upon a paste of wheaten flour lay hidden in the pie!
+Praised be God for the roast meat! As in the dish it lay, With
+     pot-herbs, soaked in vinegar, in porringers hard by!
+My hunger was appeased: I lay, intent upon the gleam Of arms that
+     in the frumenty were buried bracelet high.
+I woke my sleeping appetite to eat, as 'twere in jest, Of all the
+     tarts that, piled on trays, shone fair unto the eye.
+O soul, have patience! For indeed, Fate full of marvel is: If
+     fortune straiten thee one day, the next relief is nigh.
+
+Then I rose and seated myself at a distance, whilst the King read
+what I had written and marvelled and said "Strange that an ape
+should be gifted with such fluency and skill in penmanship! By
+Allah, this is a wonder of wonders!" Then they set choice wine
+before the King in flagons of glass; and he drank, then passed
+the cup to me; and I kissed the earth and drank and wrote the
+following verses:
+
+They burnt me[FN#33] with fire, to make me speak, And found me
+     patient and debonair.
+For this I am borne on men's hands on high And kiss the rosy lips
+     of the fair!
+
+And these also:
+
+Morn struggles through the dusk; so pour me out, I pray, Of wine,
+     such wine as makes the saddest-hearted gay!
+So pure and bright it is, that whether wine in glass Or glass in
+     wine be held, i' faith, 'tis hard to say.
+
+The King read them and said, with a sigh, "If a man had this
+quickness of wit, he would excel all the folk of his age and
+time." Then he called for a chess-board and said to me, "Wilt
+thou play with me?" I signed with my head as who should say,
+"Yes," and came forward and placed the men and played two games
+with him, each of which I won, much to his amazement. Then I took
+the pen and wrote the following verses:
+
+Two hosts throughout the live-long day contend in deadly fight,
+     That waxes ever till the shades of night upon them creep;
+Then, when the darkness puts an end at last unto their strife,
+     Upon one couch and side by side, they lay them down to
+     sleep.
+
+These verses filled the King with wonder and delight, and he said
+to the eunuch, "Go to thy mistress, the Lady of Beauty, and bid
+her come and amuse herself with the sight of this wonderful ape."
+So the eunuch went out and presently returned with the lady, who,
+when she saw me, veiled her face, and said, "O my father, how
+comes it that thou art pleased to send for me and show me to
+strange men?" "O my daughter," said he, "there is none here save
+the little slave and the eunuch who reared thee and myself, thy
+father. From whom then dost thou veil thy face?" Quoth she, "This
+that thou deemest an ape is a wise and learned man, the son of a
+king; the Afrit Jerjis of the lineage of Iblis enchanted him
+thus, after putting to death his own wife, the daughter of King
+Efitamous, Lord of the Ebony Islands." At this the King wondered
+and turning to me, said, "Is this true that she says of thee?"
+And I signed with my head, as who should say, "Yes;" and wept.
+Then said he to his daughter, "Whence knewest thou that he was
+enchanted?" "O my father," answered she, "there was with me, in
+my childhood, an old woman who was skilled in magic and taught me
+its rules and practice; and I became skilled therein and
+committed to memory a hundred and seventy magical formulas, by
+the least of which I could transport the stones of thy?? behind
+the mountain Caf and make its site an abyss of the sea and its
+people fishes swimming in its midst." "O my daughter," said her
+father, "I conjure thee, by my life, to disenchant this young
+man, that I may make him my Vizier, for he is a right pleasant
+and ingenious youth." "With all my heart," replied she, and
+taking a knife, on which were engraved Hebrew characters, drew
+therewith a circle in the midst of the hall and wrote there in
+names and talismans and muttered words and charms, some of which
+we understood and others not. Presently the world darkened upon
+us, and the Afrit presented himself before us in his own shape
+and aspect, with hands like pitchforks legs like masts and eyes
+like flames of fire. We were affrighted at him, but the princess
+said to him, "An ill welcome to thee, O dog!" Whereupon he took
+the form of a lion and said to her, "O traitress, thou hast
+broken thy compact with me! Did we not swear that neither of us
+should molest the other?" "O accursed one," answered she, "how
+could there be a compact between me and the like of thee?"
+"Then," said he, "take what thou hast brought on thyself." And
+opening his mouth, rushed upon her: but she made haste and
+plucked a hair from her head and waved it in the air, muttering
+the while; and it at once became a sharp sword, with which she
+smote the lion and cut him in two. His head became a scorpion,
+whereupon the princess transformed herself into a great serpent
+and fell upon the scorpion and there befell a sore battle between
+them. Presently the scorpion changed to an eagle, and the serpent
+at once became a griffin, which pursued the eagle a long while,
+till the latter became a black cat. Thereupon the griffin became
+a piebald wolf and they fought long and sore, till the cat
+finding itself beaten, changed into a worm and crept into a
+pomegranate which lay beside the fountain in the midst of the
+hall whereupon the pomegranate swelled till it was as big as a
+watermelon. The wolf ran to seize it, but it rose into the air
+and falling on the pavement, broke in pieces, and all the seeds
+fell out and rolled hither and thither, till the floor was
+covered with them. Then the wolf shook itself and became a cock,
+which fell to picking up the seeds, till they were all gone,
+except one that, by the decree of Fate, had rolled to the side of
+the basin and lay hidden there. The cock began to crow and clap
+its wings and signed to us with his beak, as who should say,
+"Are there any grains left?" But we understood him not; and he
+gave such a cry that we thought the palace would fall on us.
+Then he ran about all over the hall, till he saw the remaining
+pomegranate-seed, and rushed to pick it up, but it sprang into
+the midst of the water and became a fish, which sank to the
+bottom of the basin. Thereupon the cock became big fish and
+plunged in after the other; and we saw nothing of them for
+a time, but heard a loud crying and screaming and trembled.
+Presently the Afrit rose out of the water, as he were one great
+flame, with fire and smoke issuing from his mouth and eyes and
+nostrils. Immediately after, the princess rose also, like a great
+coal of fire, and they fought till they were wrapped in flames
+and the hall was filled with smoke. As for us, we were well-nigh
+suffocated and hid ourselves and would have plunged into the
+water, fearing lest we be burnt up and destroyed: and the King
+said, "There is no power and no virtue but in God the Most High,
+the Supreme! We are God's and to Him we return! Would God I had
+not urged my daughter to attempt the delivery of this ape,
+whereby I have imposed on her this fearful labour with yonder
+accursed Afrit, against whom all the other Afrits in the world
+could not prevail! And would we had never seen this ape, may
+God's blessing not be on him nor on the hour of his coming! We
+thought to do him a kindness for the love of God, by freeing him
+from this enchantment, and lo, we have brought this terrible
+travail upon ourselves!" But my tongue was tied and I could not
+say a word to him. Suddenly, the Afrit roared out from under the
+flames and coming up to us, as we stood on the dais, blew fire in
+our faces. The princess pursued him and blew flames at him, and
+the sparks from them both fell upon us; her sparks did us no
+hurt, but of his one lighted on my right eye and destroyed it;
+another fell on the King's face and scorched the lower part,
+burning away half his beard and making his under teeth drop out,
+and a third lighted on the eunuch's breast and set him on fire,
+so that he was consumed and died forthright. So we despaired of
+life and looked for nothing but death; but presently we heard a
+voice exclaiming, "God is most great! He giveth aid and victory
+to the true believer and abandoneth him who denieth the religion
+of Mohammed, the Moon of the Faith!" And lo, the King's daughter
+had burnt up the Afrit and he was become a heap of ashes! Then
+she came up to us and said, "Bring me a cup of water." They did
+so: and she spoke over the water words we understood not and
+sprinkled me with it, saying, "By the virtue of the Truth and of
+the Most Great Name of God, return to thine original shape!" And
+immediately I shook and became a man as before, save that I had
+lost my right eye. Then she cried out, "The fire! The fire! O my
+father, I have but an instant to live, for I am not used to fight
+with Jinn: had he been a man, I had slain him long ago. I had no
+travail till the time when the pomegranate burst asunder and I
+overlooked the seed in which was the genie's life. Had I picked
+it up, he would have died at once; but as fate and destiny would
+have it, I knew not of this, so that he came upon me unawares and
+there befell between us a sore strife under the earth and in the
+air and in the water: and as often as I opened on him a
+gate[FN#34] (of magic), he opened on me another, till at last he
+opened on me the gate of fire, and seldom does he on whom the
+gate of fire is opened escape alive. But Providence aided me
+against him, so that I consumed him first, after I had summoned
+him to embrace the faith of Islam. As for me, I am a dead woman
+and may God supply my place to you!" Then she called upon God for
+help and ceased not to implore relief from the fire, till
+presently a tongue of fierce flame broke out from her clothes and
+shot up to her breast and thence to her face. When it reached her
+face, she wept and said, "I testify that there is no god but God
+and that Mohammed is the apostle of God!" And we looked at her
+and behold, she was a heap of ashes beside those of the genie. We
+mourned for her and I wished I had been in her place, so had I
+not seen the fair-faced one who had done me this good office
+reduced to ashes; but there is no averting the decree of God.
+When the King saw what had befallen his daughter, he plucked out
+the rest of his beard and buffeted his face and rent his clothes;
+and I did the like, and we both wept for her. Then came in the
+chamberlains and grandees and were amazed to find two heaps of
+ashes and the Sultan in a swoon. So they stood round him till he
+revived and told them what had happened, whereat they were sore
+afflicted and the women and slave-girls shrieked aloud and kept
+up their lamentation for the space of seven days. Moreover, the
+King bade build a great dome over his daughter's ashes and burn
+therein candles and lamps: but the Afrit's ashes they scattered
+to the winds, committing them to the malediction of God. The King
+was sick, well-nigh unto death, for a month's space, after which
+health returned to him and His beard grew again. Then he sent for
+me and said to me, "O youth, verily we led the happiest of lives,
+safe from the vicissitudes of fortune, till thou camest to us,
+when troubles flocked upon us. O that we had never seen thee nor
+the ugly face of thee! For through our taking pity on thee, we
+are come to this state of bereavement. I have lost, on thine
+account, first, my daughter, who was worth a hundred men;
+secondly, I have suffered what befell me by the fire and the loss
+of my teeth, and my eunuch also is dead. I do not indeed blame
+thee for aught of this; for all was decreed of God to us and to
+thee; and praised be He that my daughter delivered thee, though
+at the cost of her own life! But now, O my son, depart from my
+city and let what has befallen us on thine account suffice.
+Depart in peace, and if I see thee again I will kill thee." And
+he cried out at me. So I went forth from his presence, knowing
+not whither I should go, and hardly believing in my escape. And I
+recalled all that had befallen me from first to last and thanked
+God that it was my eye that I had lost and not my life. Before I
+left the town, I entered the bath and shaved my head and put on a
+hair-cloth garment. Then I fared forth at a venture, and every
+day I recalled all the misfortunes that had befallen me and wept
+and repeated the following verses:
+
+By the Compassionate, I'm dazed and know not where I go. Griefs
+     flock on me from every side, I know not whence they grow.
+I will endure till patience' self less patient is than I: I will
+     have patience till it please the Lord to end my woe.
+A vanquished man, without complaint, my doom I will endure, As
+     the parched traveller in the waste endures the torrid glow.
+I will endure till aloes'[FN#35] self confess that I, indeed, Can
+     'gainst a bitt'rer thing abide than even it can show.
+There is no bitt'rer thing; and yet if patience play me false, It
+     were to me a bitt'rer thing than all the rest, I trow.
+The wrinkles graven on my heart would speak my hidden pain If
+     through my breast the thought could pierce and read what
+     lies below.
+Were but my load on mountains laid, they'd crumble into dust; On
+     fire it would be quenched outright; on wind, 'twould cease
+     to blow.
+Let who will say that life is sweet; to all there comes a day
+     When they must needs a bitt'rer thing than aloes[FN#36]
+     undergo.
+
+Then I journeyed through many lands and cities, intending for the
+Abode of Peace[FN#37], Baghdad, in the hope that I might get
+speech of the Commander of the Faithful and tell him all that had
+befallen me. I arrived here this night and found my brother, this
+first Calender, standing perplexed; so I saluted him and entered
+into converse with him. Presently up came our brother, this third
+Calender, and said to us, "Peace be on you! I am a stranger." "We
+also are strangers," answered we, "and have come hither this
+blessed night." So we all three walked on together, none of us
+knowing the others' story, till chance brought us to this door
+and we came in to you. This, then, is my story and the manner of
+the shaving of my face and the loss of my eye.' Quoth the
+mistress of the house, 'Thy story is indeed a rare one: and now
+begone about thy business.' But he replied, 'I will not stir till
+I hear the others' stories.' Then came forward the third Calender
+and said, 'O illustrious lady, my history is not like that of
+these my comrades, but still stranger and more marvellous, in
+that, whilst destiny and fore-ordained fate overcame them
+unawares, I with mine own hand drew fate and affliction upon
+myself, as thou shalt presently hear. Know that
+
+
+
+
+                  Story of the Third Calender.
+
+
+
+I also am a king, the son of a king, and my name is Agib, son of
+Khesib. My father died, and I took the kingdom after him and
+ruled my subjects with justice and beneficence. My capital city
+stood on the shore of a wide spreading sea, on which I had fifty
+merchant ships and fifty smaller vessels for pleasure and a
+hundred and fifty cruisers equipped for war; and near at hand
+were many great islands in the midst of the ocean. Now I loved to
+sail the sea and had a mind to visit the islands aforesaid so I
+took ship with a month's victual and set out and took my pleasure
+in the islands and returned to my capital Then, being minded to
+make a longer voyage upon the ocean, I fitted out half a score
+ships with provision for two months and sailed twenty days, till
+one night the wind blew contrary and the sea rose against us with
+great billows; the waves clashed together and there fell on us a
+great darkness. So we gave ourselves up for lost and I said, "He
+who perils himself is not to be commended, though he come off
+safe." Then we prayed to God and besought Him, but the wind
+ceased not to rage and the waves to clash together, till
+daybreak, when the wind fell, the sea became calm and the sun
+shone out. Presently we sighted an island, where we landed and
+cooked food and ate and rested two days. Then we set out again
+and sailed other twenty days, without seeing land; but the
+currents carried us out of our true course, so that the captain
+lost his reckoning and finding himself in strange waters, bade
+the watch go up to the mast-head and look out. So he climbed the
+mast and looked out and said "O captain, I see nothing to right
+and left save sky and water, but ahead I see something looming
+afar off in the midst of the sea, now black and now white." When
+the captain heard the look-out's words, he cast his turban on the
+deck and plucked out his beard and buffeted his face and said, "O
+King, we are all dead men, not one of us can be saved." We all
+wept for his weeping and I said to him, "O captain, tell us what
+it is the look-out saw." "O my lord," answered he, "know that we
+lost our way on the night of the storm and since then we have
+gone astray one-and-twenty days and there is no wind to bring us
+back to our true course. To-morrow, by the end of the day, we
+shall come to a mountain of black stone, called loadstone, for
+thither the currents bear us perforce. As soon as we come within
+a certain distance, all the nails in the ships will fly out and
+fasten to the mountain, and the ships will open and fall to
+pieces, for that God the Most High has gifted the loadstone with
+a secret virtue, by reason whereof all iron is attracted to it;
+and on this mountain is much iron, how much God only knows, from
+the many ships that have been wrecked there from old time. On its
+summit there stands a dome of brass, raised on ten columns and on
+the top of the dome are a horse and horseman of the same metal.
+The latter holds in his hand a brazen lance and on his breast is
+a tablet of lead, graven with names and talismans: and, O King,
+it is nought but this horseman that causeth the folk to perish,
+nor will the charm be broken till he fall from his horse." Then
+he wept sore and we all made sure of death and each took leave of
+his comrade and charged him with his last wishes, in case he
+should be saved. That night we slept not, and in the morning, we
+sighted the loadstone mountain, towards which the currents
+carried us with irresistible force. When the ships came within a
+certain distance, they opened and the nails started out and all
+the iron in them sought the loadstone and clove to it; so that by
+the end of the day, we were all struggling in the sea round the
+mountain. Some of us were saved, but the most part drowned, and
+even those who escaped knew not one of the other, being stupefied
+by the raging wind and the buffeting of the waves. As for me, God
+preserved me that I might suffer that which He willed to me of
+trouble and torment and affliction, for I got on a plank from one
+of the ships and, the wind driving it ashore, I happened on a
+pathway leading to the top, as it were a stair hewn out of the
+rock. So I called upon the name of God the Most High and besought
+His succour and clinging to the steps, addressed myself to climb
+up little by little. And God stilled the wind and aided me in my
+ascent, so that I reached the summit in safety. There I found
+nothing but the dome; so I entered, mightily rejoiced at my
+escape, and made my ablutions and prayed a two-bow prayer[FN#38]
+in gratitude to God for my preservation. Then I fell asleep under
+the dome and saw in a dream one who said to me, "O son of Khesib,
+when thou awakest, dig under thy feet and thou wilt find a bow of
+brass and three leaden arrows, inscribed with talismanic
+characters. Take the bow and shoot the arrows at the horseman on
+the top of the dome and rid mankind of this great calamity. When
+thou shootest at him, he will fall into the sea and the horse
+will drop at thy feet: take it and bury it in the place of the
+bow. This done, the sea will swell and rise till it is level with
+the top of the mountain, and there will appear on it a boat
+containing a man of brass (other than he whom thou shalt have
+thrown down), with an oar in his hands. He will come to thee, and
+do thou embark with him, but beware of naming God. He will row
+with thee for the space of ten days, till he brings thee to a
+port of safety, where thou shalt find those who will carry thee
+to thine own country: and all this shall be fulfilled to thee, so
+thou pronounce not the name of God." I started up from my sleep
+and hastening to do the bidding of the mysterious voice, found
+the bow and arrows and shot at the horseman and overthrew him;
+whereupon he fell into the sea, whilst the horse dropped at my
+feet and I took it and buried it. Then the sea grew troubled and
+rose till it reached the top of the mountain; nor had I long to
+wait before I saw a boat in the midst of the sea coming towards
+me. So I gave thanks to God: and when the boat came up to me, I
+saw in it a man of brass, with a tablet of lead on his breast,
+inscribed with names and talismans; and I embarked without saying
+a word. The boatman rowed on with me for ten whole days, till I
+caught sight of islands and mountains and signs of safety;
+whereat I was beyond measure rejoiced and in the excess of my
+gladness, I called upon the name of the Almighty and exclaimed,
+"There is no god but God! God is most great!" When behold, the
+boat turned over and cast me out into the sea, then righted and
+sank beneath the water. Now, I knew how to swim, so I swam the
+whole day till nightfall, when my arms and shoulders failed me
+for fatigue, and I abode in mortal peril and made the profession
+of the Faith[FN#39], looking for nothing but death. Presently,
+the sea rose, for the greatness of the wind, and a wave like a
+great rampart took me and bearing me forward, cast me up on the
+land, that the will of God might be done. I clambered up the
+beach and, putting off my clothes, wrung them and spread them out
+to dry, then lay down and slept all night. As soon as it was day,
+I put on my clothes and rose to look about me. Presently I came
+to a grove of trees and making a circuit round it, found that I
+was on a little island, surrounded on all sides by the sea;
+whereupon I said to myself, "No sooner do I escape from one peril
+than I fall into a worse." But as I was pondering my case and
+wishing for death, I spied a ship afar off making towards me; so
+I climbed up into a tree and hid myself among the branches.
+Presently the ship came to an anchor, and ten slaves landed,
+bearing spades, and made for the middle of the island, where they
+dug till they uncovered a trapdoor and raised it. Then they
+returned to the ship and brought thence bread and flour and oil
+and honey and meat and carpets and all else that was needed to
+furnish one dwelling there; nor did they leave going back and
+forth till they had transferred to the underground dwelling all
+that was in the ship: after which they again repaired to the
+vessel and returned, laden with wearing apparel of the finest
+kind and in their midst a very old man, whom time had mauled till
+he was wasted and worn, as he were a bone wrapped in a rag of
+blue cloth, through which the winds blew East and West. As says
+the poet of him:
+
+Time makes us tremble ah, how piteously! For full of violence and
+     might is he.
+Once on a time I walked and was not tired: Now am I tired, yet
+     have not walked, ah me!
+
+He held by the hand a youth cast in the mould of symmetry and
+perfection, so fair that his beauty might well be the subject of
+proverbs; for he was like a tender sapling, ravishing every heart
+with his beauty and seducing every wit with his amorous grace. It
+was of him the poet spoke, when he said:
+
+Beauty they brought to liken it with him: But Beauty hung its
+     head for shame and fear.
+"O Beauty," said they, "dost thou know his like?" It answered,
+     "Never have I seen his peer."
+
+They proceeded to the underground, where they descended all and
+did not reappear for an hour or more, at the end of which time
+the old man and the slaves came up, without the youth, and
+replacing the trap-door, covered it again with earth; then
+returned to the ship and set sail. As soon as they were out of
+sight, I came down from the tree and going to the place I had
+seen them fill up, made shift to clear away the earth, till I
+came to the trap-door, which was of wood, the shape and bigness
+of a mill-stone, and raised it, when there appeared underneath a
+winding stair of stone. At this I wondered and descending, came
+to a fair chamber, spread with various kinds of carpets and hung
+with silken stuffs, where I saw the youth sitting alone upon a
+raised couch and leant upon a cushion, with a fan in his hand and
+sweet-scented flowers and herbs and fruits before him. When he
+saw me, he turned pale; but I saluted him, saying, "Calm thyself
+and put away fear; no harm shall come to thee: I am a man like
+unto thee and a king's son, whom Providence hath sent to bear
+thee company in thy solitude. But now tell me thy history and why
+thou dwellest underground by thyself." When he was assured that I
+was of his kind, he was glad and his colour returned; then he
+made me draw near to him and said, "O my brother, my story is a
+strange one, and it is as follows. My father is a merchant
+jeweller, possessed of great wealth and having black and white
+slaves, who make trading voyages, on his account, in ships and on
+camels, to the most distant countries; and he has dealings with
+kings. Until my birth, he had never been blessed with a child,
+but one night he dreamt that a son had been born to him, who
+lived but a short time, and awoke weeping and crying out. The
+following night my mother conceived and he took note of the date
+of her conception. The days of her pregnancy were accomplished
+and she gave birth to myself, whereupon my father rejoiced and
+made banquets and fed the poor and the needy for that I had been
+vouchsafed to him in his old age. Then he assembled the
+astrologers and mathematicians of the day and those learned in
+nativities and horoscopes; and they drew my horoscope and said to
+my father, 'Thy son will live till the age of fifteen, at which
+date there is a break[FN#40] in his line of life, which if he
+tide over in safety, he shall live long. The danger with which he
+is threatened is as follows. In the Sea of Peril stands a
+mountain called the Loadstone Mountain, on whose summit is a
+horseman of brass, seated on a horse of the same metal, with a
+tablet of lead on his breast. Fifty days after this horseman
+falls from his horse, thy son will die, and his slayer will be he
+who overthrows the statue, a king called Agib, son of Khesib.' My
+father was sore concerned at this prediction; but he brought me
+up and gave me a good education, till I attained my fifteenth
+year. Ten days ago, news came to him that the horseman had fallen
+into the sea and that he who overthrew him was Agib, son of King
+Khesib; whereat he was as one distraught and feared for my life.
+So he built me this place under the earth and stocking it with
+all that I need during the forty days that yet remain of the
+period of danger, transported me hither, that I might be safe
+from King Agib's hands. When the forty days are past, he will
+come back and fetch me; and this is my story and why thou findest
+me here alone." When I heard his story, I marvelled and said to
+myself, "I am that King Agib of whom he speaks; but, by Allah, I
+will assuredly not kill him!" And I said to him, "O my lord, God
+willing, thou shalt be spared suffering and death, nor shalt thou
+see trouble or sorrow or disquiet, for I will abide with thee and
+serve thee; and when I have borne thee company during the
+appointed days, I will go with thee to thy dwelling-place and
+thou shalt bring me to some of thy father's servants, with whom I
+may journey to my own country; and God shall requite thee for
+me." He rejoiced in my words and we sat conversing till nightfall
+when I rose and lighted a great wax candle and fed the lamps and
+set on meat and drink and sweetmeats. We ate and drank and sat
+talking till late into the night, when he lay down to sleep and I
+covered him up and went to sleep myself. Next morning, I rose and
+heated a little water, then woke him gently and brought him the
+warm water, with which he washed his face and thanked me, saying,
+"God requite thee with good, O youth! By Allah, if I escape from
+this my danger and from him they call Agib ben Khesib, I will
+make my father reward thee!" "May the day never come on which
+evil shall befall thee," answered I, "and may God appoint my last
+day before thine!" Then I set on food and we ate, and I made
+ready perfumes with which he scented himself. Moreover, I made
+him a backgammon board[FN#41], and we played and ate sweetmeats
+and played again till nightfall when I rose and lighting the
+lamps, set on food; and we ate and sat talking till the night was
+far spent. Then he lay down to sleep and I covered him up and
+went to sleep myself. Thus I did with him, day and night, and the
+love of him got hold upon my heart and I forgot my troubles and
+said to myself, "The astrologers lied; by Allah, I will not kill
+him!" I ceased not to serve him and bear him company and
+entertain him thus, till nine-and-thirty days were passed and we
+came to the morning of the fortieth day, when he rejoiced and
+said to me, "O my brother, the forty days are up to-day, praised
+be God who hath preserved me from death, and this by thy blessing
+and the blessing of thy coming to me, and I pray Him to restore
+thee to thy country! But now, O my brother, I prithee heat me
+some water, that I may wash my body and change my clothes."
+"With all my heart," answered I; and heated water in plenty
+and carrying it in to him, washed his body well with lupin-
+meal[FN#42] and rubbed him down and changed his clothes and
+spread him a high bed, on which he lay down to rest after the
+bath. Then said he, "O my brother, cut me a melon and sweeten it
+with sugar-candy." So I went to the closet and bringing a fine
+melon I found there on a platter, said to him, "O my lord, hast
+thou no knife?" "Here it is," answered he, "on the high shelf at
+my head." So I got up hurriedly and taking the knife, drew it
+from its sheath; but in stepping down backward, my foot slipped
+and I fell heavily on the youth, holding in my hand the knife,
+which hastened to fulfil that which was ordained and entered his
+heart, and he died forthright. When I saw that he was no more and
+that I had indeed killed him, I cried out grievously and buffeted
+my face and tore my clothes, saying, "We are God's and to Him we
+return! There remained for this youth but one day of the period
+of danger that the astrologers had foretold for him, and the
+death of this fair one was to be at my hand! Verily, my life is
+nought but disasters and afflictions! Would he had not asked me
+to cut the melon or would I had died before him! But what God
+decrees cometh to pass." When I was certain that there was no
+life left in him, I rose and ascending the stair, replaced the
+trap-door and covered it with earth. Then I looked out to sea and
+saw the ship cleaving the waters in the direction of the island.
+Whereat I was afeared and said, "They will be here anon and will
+find their son dead and know 'twas I killed him and will slay me
+without fail." So I climbed up into a high tree and hid myself
+among the leaves. Hardly had I done so, when the vessel came to
+an anchor and the slaves landed with the old man and made direct
+for the place, where they cleared away the earth and were
+surprised to find it soft.[FN#43] Then they raised the trap-door
+and going down, found the boy lying dead, clad in clean clothes,
+with his face shining from the bath and the knife sticking in his
+breast. At this sight, they shrieked aloud and wept and buffeted
+their faces and cried out, "Alas! woe worth the day!" whilst the
+old man swooned away and remained so long insensible, that the
+slaves thought he would not survive his son. So they wrapped the
+dead youth in his clothes and carried him up and laid him on the
+ground, covering him with a shroud of silk. Then they addressed
+themselves to transport all that was in the place to the ship,
+and presently the old man revived and coming up after them, saw
+his son laid out, whereupon he fell on the ground and strewed
+dust on his head and buffeted his face and tore his beard; and
+his weeping redoubled, as he hung over his dead son, till he
+swooned away again. After awhile the slaves came back, with a
+silken carpet, and laying the old man thereon, sat down at his
+head. All this time I was in the tree above them, watching them;
+and indeed my heart became hoary before my head, for all the
+grief and affliction I had undergone. The old man ceased not from
+his swoon till nigh upon sundown, when he came to himself and
+looking upon his dead son, recalled what had happened and how
+what he had feared had come to pass: and he buffeted his face and
+head and recited the following verses:
+
+My heart is cleft in twain for severance of loves; The burning
+     tears pour down in torrents from my eye.
+My every wish with him I loved is fled away: What can I do or
+     say? what help, what hope have I?
+Would I had never looked upon his lovely face! Alas, the ways on
+     me are straitened far and nigh!
+What charm can bring me peace, what drink forgetfulness, Whilst
+     in my heart the fire of love burns fierce and high?
+Would that my feet had trod with him the road of death! Then
+     should I not, as now, in lonely sorrow sigh.
+O God, that art my hope, have pity upon me! Unite us twain, I
+     crave, in Paradise for aye!
+How blessed were we once, whilst one house held us both And
+     twinned in pure content our happy lives passed by!
+Till fortune aimed at us the shafts of severance And parted us;
+     for who her arrows can defy?
+For lo! the age's pearl, the darling of his folk, The mould of
+     every grace, was singled out to die!
+I call him back: "Would God thine hour had never come!" What
+     while the case takes speech and doth forestall my cry.
+Which is the speediest way to win to thee, my son! My soul had
+     paid the price, if that thy life might buy.
+The sun could not compare with him, for lo! it sets. Nor yet the
+     moon that wanes and wasteth from the sky.
+Alas, my grief for thee and my complaint of fate! None can
+     console for thee nor aught thy place supply.
+Thy sire is all distraught with languishment for thee; Since
+     death upon thee came, his hopes are gone awry.
+Surely, some foe hath cast an envious eye on us: May he who
+     wrought this thing his just deserts aby!
+
+Then he sobbed once and gave up the ghost; whereupon the slaves
+cried out, "Alas, our master!" and strewed dust on their heads
+and wept sore. Then they carried the two bodies to the ship and
+set sail. As soon as they were out of sight, I came down from the
+tree and raising the trap-door, went down into the underground
+dwelling, where the sight of some of the youth's gear recalled
+him to my mind, and I repeated the following verses:
+
+I see their traces and pine for longing pain; My tears rain down
+     on the empty dwelling-place!
+And I pray to God, who willed that we should part, One day to
+     grant us reunion, of His grace!
+
+Then I went up again and spent the day in walking about the
+island, returning to the underground dwelling for the night. Thus
+I lived for a month, during which time I became aware that the
+sea was gradually receding day by day from the western side of
+the island, till by the end of the month, I found that the water
+was become low enough to afford a passage to the mainland. At
+this I rejoiced, making sure of delivery, and fording the little
+water that remained, made shift to reach the mainland, where I
+found great heaps of sand, in which even a camel would sink up to
+the knees. However, I took heart and making my way through the
+sand, espied something shining afar off, as it were a bright-
+blazing fire. So I made towards it, thinking to find succour
+and repeating the following verses:
+
+It may be Fate at last shall draw its bridle-rein And bring me
+     happy chance; for Fortune changes still;
+And things shall happen yet, despite the things fordone, To
+     further forth my hopes and bring me to my will.
+
+When I drew near the supposed fire, behold, it was a palace, with
+a gate of brass, whereon, when the sun shone, it gleamed and
+glistened and showed from afar, as it were a fire. I rejoiced at
+the sight and sat down before the palace gate; but hardly had I
+done so, when there came up ten young men, sumptuously clad and
+all blind of the right eye. They were accompanied by an old man;
+and I marvelled at their appearance and at their being all blind
+of the same eye. They saluted me and questioned me of my
+condition, whereupon I told them all that had befallen me. They
+wondered at my story and carried me into the palace, where I saw
+ten couches, with beds and coverlets of blue stuff, ranged in a
+circle, with a like couch of smaller size in the midst. As we
+entered, each of the young men went up to his own couch, and the
+old man seated himself on the smaller one in the middle. Then
+said they unto me, "O youth, sit down on the ground and enquire
+not of our doings nor of the loss of our right eyes." Presently
+the old man rose and brought each one of the young men and myself
+his portion of meat and drink in separate vessels; and we sat
+talking, they questioning me of my adventures and I replying,
+till the night was far spent. Then said they to the old man, "O
+elder, wilt thou not bring us our ordinary? The time is come."
+"Willingly," answered he, and rose and entering a closet,
+disappeared and presently returned, bearing on his head ten
+dishes, each covered with a piece of blue stuff. He set a dish
+before each youth and lighting ten wax-candles, set one upon each
+dish; after which he uncovered the dishes, and lo, they were full
+of ashes and powdered charcoal and soot. Then all the young men
+tucked up their sleeves and fell to weeping and lamenting; and
+they blackened their faces and rent their clothes and buffeted
+their cheeks and beat their breasts, exclaiming "We were seated
+at our ease, but our impertinent curiosity would not let us be!"
+They ceased not to do thus till near daybreak, when the old man
+rose and heated water for them, and they washed their faces and
+put on fresh clothes. When I saw this, my senses left me for
+wonderment and my heart was troubled and my mind perplexed, for
+their strange behaviour, till I forgot what had befallen me and
+could not refrain from questioning them; so I said to them, "What
+makes you do thus, after our sport and merry-making together?
+Praised be God, ye are whole of wit, yet these are the doings of
+madmen! I conjure you, by all that is most precious to you, tell
+me why you behave thus and how ye came to lose each an eye!" At
+this, they turned to me and said, "O young man, let not thy youth
+beguile thee, but leave thy questioning." Then they slept and I
+with them, and when we awoke, the old man served up food; and
+after we had eaten and the vessels had been removed, we sat
+conversing till nightfall, when the old man rose and lit the
+candles and lamps and set meat and drink before us. We ate and
+sat talking and carousing till midnight, when they said to the
+old man, "Bring us our ordinary, for the hour of sleep is at
+hand." So he rose and brought them the dishes of soot and ashes,
+and they did as they had done on the preceding night. I abode
+with them on this wise for a month, during which time they
+blackened their faces every night, then washed them and changed
+their clothes and my trouble and amazement increased upon me till
+I could neither eat nor drink. At last, I lost patience and said
+to them, "O young men, if ye will not relieve my concern and
+acquaint me with the reason of your blackening your faces and the
+meaning of your words, 'We were seated at our ease, but our
+impertinent curiosity would not let us be,' let me leave you and
+return to my own people and be at rest from seeing these things,
+for as says the proverb,
+
+'Twere wiser and better your presence to leave, For when the eye
+     sees not, the heart does not grieve."
+
+"O youth," answered they, "we have not concealed this thing from
+thee but in our concern for thee, lest what befell us before thee
+and thou become like unto us." "It avails not," said I; "you must
+tell me." "We give thee good advice," rejoined they; "do thou
+take it and leave questioning us of our case, or thou wilt become
+one-eyed like unto us." But I still persisted in my demand and
+they said, "O youth, if this thing befall thee, we warn thee that
+we will never again receive thee into our company nor let thee
+abide with us." Then they took a ram and slaughtering it, skinned
+it and gave me a knife, saying, "Lie down on the skin and we will
+sew thee up in it and leave thee and go away. Presently there
+will come to thee a bird called the roc[FN#44], that will catch
+thee up in its claws and fly away with thee and set thee down on
+a mountain. As soon as thou feelest it alight with thee, slit the
+skin with the knife and come forth; whereupon the bird will take
+fright at thee and fly away and leave thee. Then rise and fare on
+half a day's journey, till thou comest to a palace rising high
+into the air, builded of khelenj[FN#45] and aloes and sandal-wood
+and plated with red gold, inlaid with all manner emeralds and
+other jewels. There enter and thou wilt attain thy desire. We all
+have been in that place, and this is the cause of the loss of our
+right eyes and the reason why we blacken our faces. Were we to
+tell thee our stories, it would take too much time, for each lost
+his eye by a separate adventure." They then sewed me up in the
+skin and left me on the ground outside the palace; and the roc
+carried me off and set me down on the mountain. I cut open the
+skin and came out, whereupon the bird flew away and I walked on
+till I reached the palace. The door stood open; so I entered
+and found myself in a very wide and goodly hall, as big as a
+tilting-ground, round which were a hundred doors of sandal and
+aloes-wood, plated with red gold and furnished with rings of
+silver. At the upper end of the hall, I saw forty young ladies,
+sumptuously clad and adorned, as they were moons, one could never
+tire of gazing on them: and they all came up to me, saying,
+"Welcome and fair welcome, O my lord! This month past have we
+been expecting the like of thee; and praised be God who hath sent
+us one who is worthy of us and we of him!" Then they made me sit
+down on a high divan and said to me, "From to-day thou art our
+lord and master, and we are thy handmaids; so order us as thou
+wilt." And I marvelled at their case. Presently one of them arose
+and set food before me, and I ate, whilst others heated water and
+washed my hands and feet and changed my clothes, and yet others
+made ready sherbets and gave me to drink; and they were all full
+of joy and delight at my coming. Then they sat down and conversed
+with me till nightfall, when five of them arose and spreading a
+mat, covered it with flowers and fruits and confections in
+profusion and set on wine; and we sat down to drink, while some
+of them sang and others played the lute and psaltery and
+recorders and other instruments. So the cup went round amongst us
+and such gladness possessed me that I forgot all the cares of the
+world and said, "This is indeed life, but that it is fleeting."
+We ceased not to drink and make merry till the night was far
+spent and we were warm with wine, when they said to me, "O our
+lord, choose from amongst us one who shall be thy bedfellow this
+night and not lie with thee again till forty days be past." So I
+chose a girl fair of face, with liquid black eyes and jetty hair,
+slightly parted teeth[FN#46] and joining eyebrows, perfect in
+shape and form, as she were a palm-sapling or a stalk of sweet
+basil; such an one as troubles the heart and bewilders the wit,
+even as saith of her the poet:
+
+'Twere vain to liken her unto the tender branch, And out on who
+     compares her form to the gazelle!
+Whence should gazelles indeed her shape's perfection get Or yet
+     her honeyed lips so sweet to taste and smell,
+Or those great eyes of hers, so dire to those who love, That bind
+     their victims fast in passion's fatal spell?
+I dote on her with all the folly of a child. What wonder if he
+     turn a child who loves too well!
+
+And I repeated to her the following verses:
+
+My eyes to gaze on aught but thy grace disdain And none but thou
+     in my thought shall ever reign.
+The love of thee is my sole concern, my fair; In love of thee, I
+     will die and rise again.
+
+So I lay with her that night, never knew I a fairer, and when it
+was morning, the ladies carried me to the bath and washed me and
+clad me in rich clothes. Then they served up food and we ate and
+drank, and the cup went round amongst us till the night, when I
+chose from among them one who was fair to look upon and soft of
+sides, such an one as the poet describes, when he says:
+
+I saw upon her breast two caskets snowy-white, Musk-sealed; she
+     doth forbid to lovers their delight.
+She guards them with the darts that glitter from her eyes; And
+     those who would them press, her arrowy glances smite.
+
+I passed a most delightful night with her; and to make a long
+story short, I led the goodliest life with them, eating and
+drinking and carousing and every night taking one or other of
+them to my bed, for a whole year, at the end of which time they
+came in to me in tears and fell to bidding me farewell and
+clinging to me, weeping and crying out; whereat I marvelled and
+said to them, "What ails you? Indeed you break my heart." "Would
+we had never known thee!" answered they. "We have companied with
+many men, but never saw we a pleasanter or more courteous than
+thou: and now we must part from thee. Yet it rests with thee to
+see us again, and if thou hearken to us, we need never be parted:
+but our hearts forebode us that thou will not hearken to us; and
+this is the cause of our weeping" "Tell me how the case stands,"
+said I; and they answered, "Know that we are the daughters of
+kings, who have lived here together for years past, and once in
+every year we are absent for forty days; then we return and abide
+here for the rest of the year, eating and drinking and making
+merry. We are now about to depart according to our custom, and we
+fear lest thou disobey our injunctions in our absence, in which
+case we shall never see thee again; but if thou do as we bid
+thee, all will yet be well. Take these keys: they are those of
+the hundred apartments of the palace, each of which contains what
+will suffice thee for a day's entertainment. Ninety-and-nine of
+these thou mayst open and take thy pleasure therein, but beware
+lest thou open the hundredth, that which has a door of red gold;
+for therein is that which will bring about a separation between
+us and thee." Quoth I, "I will assuredly not open the hundredth
+door, if therein be separation from you." Then one of them came
+up to me and embraced me and repeated the following verses:
+
+If but the days once more our severed loves unite, If but my eyes
+     once more be gladdened by thy sight,
+Then shall the face of Time smile after many a frown, And I will
+     pardon Fate for all its past despite.
+
+And I repeated the following:
+
+When she drew near to bid farewell, upon our parting day, Whilst
+     on her heart the double stroke of love and longing smote,
+She wept pure pearls, and eke mine eyes did rain cornelians
+     forth; And lo, they all combined and made a necklace for her
+     throat!
+
+When I saw her weeping, I said, "By Allah, I will never open the
+hundredth door!" Then they bade me farewell and departed, leaving
+me alone in the palace. When the evening drew near, I opened the
+first door and found myself in an orchard, full of blooming
+trees, laden with ripe fruit, and the air resounded with the loud
+singing of birds and the ripple of running waters. The sight
+brought solace to my soul, and I entered and walked among the
+trees, inhaling the odours of the flowers and listening to the
+warble of the birds, that sang the praises of God the One, the
+Almighty. I looked upon the apple, whose colour is parcel red and
+parcel yellow, as says the poet:
+
+The apple in itself two colours doth unite, The loved one's cheek
+     of red, and yellow of despite.
+
+Then I looked upon the quince and inhaled its fragrance that puts
+musk and ambergris to shame, even as says the poet:
+
+The quince contains all pleasant things that can delight mankind,
+     Wherefore above all fruits that be its virtues are renowned.
+Its taste is as the taste of wine, its breath the scent of musk;
+     Its hue is that of virgin gold, its shape the full moon's
+     round.
+
+Thence I passed to the pear, whose taste surpasses rose-water and
+sugar, and the plum, whose beauty delights the eye, as it were a
+polished ruby. When I had taken my fill of looking on the place,
+I went and locked the door again. Next day, I opened the second
+door and found myself in a great pleasaunce, set with many
+palm-trees and watered by a running stream, whose borders were
+decked with bushes of rose and jessamine and henna[FN#47] and
+camomile and marjoram and sweetbriar and carpeted with narcissus
+and ox-eye and violets and lilies and gillyflowers. The breeze
+fluttered over all these sweet-smelling plants and scattered
+their scents right and left, possessing me with complete delight.
+I took my pleasure in the place awhile, and my chagrin was
+somewhat lightened. Then I went out and locked the door and
+opening the third door, found therein a great hall paved with
+vari-coloured marbles and other precious stones and hung with
+cages of sandal and aloes wood, full of singing-birds, such as
+the thousand-voiced nightingale[FN#48] and the cushat and the
+blackbird and the turtle-dove and the Nubian warbler. My heart
+was ravished by the song of the birds and I forgot my cares and
+slept in the aviary till the morning. Then I opened the fourth
+door and saw a great hall, with forty cabinets ranged on either
+side. The doors of the latter stood open; so I entered and found
+them full of pearls and rubies and chrysolites and beryls and
+emeralds and corals and carbuncles and all manner of precious
+stones and jewels of gold and silver, such as the tongue fails to
+describe. I was amazed at what I saw and said in myself
+"Methinks, if all the kings of the earth joined together they
+could not produce the like of these treasures!" And my heart
+dilated and I exclaimed, "Now am I king of my time, for all these
+riches are mine by the favour of God, and I have forty young
+ladies under my hand, nor is there any with them but myself!" In
+short, I passed nine-and-thirty days after this fashion,
+exploring the riches of the place, till I had opened all the
+doors, except that which the princesses had charged me not to
+open, but my thoughts ran ever on this latter and Satan urged me,
+for my ruin, to open it, nor had I patience to forbear; though
+there remained but one day of the appointed time. So I opened the
+hundredth door, that which was plated with red gold, and was met
+by a perfume, whose like I had never before smelt and which was
+of so subtle and penetrating a quality, that it invaded my head
+and I fell down, as if intoxicated, and lay awhile unconscious.
+Then I revived and took heart and entering, found myself in a
+place strewn with saffron and blazing with light shed by lamps of
+gold and candles, that diffused a scent of musk and aloes. In the
+midst stood two great censers, full of burning aloes wood and
+ambergris and other perfumes, and the place was full of their
+fragrance. Presently I espied a horse, black as night at its
+darkest, girt and bridled and saddled with red gold, standing
+before two mangers of white crystal, one full of winnowed sesame
+and the other of rose-water flavoured with musk. When I saw this,
+I was amazed and said to myself, "Surely this horse must be of
+extraordinary value!" and the devil tempted me, so that I took
+him out and mounted him, but he would not stir. So I spurred him
+with my heel, but he did not move; and I took a. switch and
+struck him with it. When he felt the blow, he gave a neigh like
+the roaring thunder, and spreading a pair of wings flew up with
+me high into the air. After awhile, he descended and set me down
+on the terrace of a palace; then, shaking me off his back, he
+smote me on the face with his tail and struck out my right eye
+and flew away, leaving me there. I went down into the palace and
+found myself again among the ten one-eyed youths, who exclaimed,
+when they saw me, "An ill welcome to thee!" Quoth I, "Behold, I
+am become like unto you, and now I would have you give me a dish
+of soot, that I may blacken my face and admit me to your
+company." "By Allah," answered they, "thou shalt not abide with
+us! Depart hence!" And they drove me away. I was grieved at their
+rejection of me and went out from them, mourning-hearted and
+tearful-eyed, saying to myself, "Of a truth, I was sitting at my
+ease, but my impertinent curiosity would not let me be." Then I
+shaved my beard and eyebrows and renouncing the world, became a
+Calender and wandered about God's earth, till by His blessing, I
+arrived at Baghdad in safety this evening and met with these two
+other Calenders standing bewildered. So I saluted them, saying,
+"I am a stranger;" to which they replied, "We also are strangers."
+And, as it chanced, we were all Calenders and each blind of the
+right eye. This, then, O my lady, is my story and the manner of
+the shaving of my face and the loss of my eye.' Quoth the
+mistress of the house, 'Begone about thy business.' But he said,
+'By Allah, I will not go, till I hear the others' stories!' Then
+she turned to the Khalif and his companions and said, 'Give me an
+account of yourselves.' So Jaafer came forward and repeated the
+story he had told the portress; whereupon the lady said, 'I
+pardon you all: go your ways.' So they all went out; and when
+they reached the street the Khalif said to the Calenders, 'O folk,
+whither are you bound now, seeing that it is not yet day?' 'By
+Allah, O my lord,' answered they, 'we know not where to go!'
+'Then come and pass the rest of the night with us,' said the
+Khalif, and turning to Jaafer, said to him, 'Take them home
+with thee and to-morrow bring them before me, that we may cause
+their adventures to be recorded.' Jaafer did as the Khalif
+bade him, and the latter returned to his palace. Sleep did not
+visit him that night, but he lay awake, pondering the adventures
+of the three Calenders and full of impatience to know the history
+of the two ladies and the black bitches; and no sooner had the
+day dawned than he went out and sat down on his chair of estate.
+Then his courtiers presented themselves and withdrew, whereupon
+he turned to Jaafer and said to him, 'Bring me the three ladies
+and the bitches and the Calenders, and make haste.' So Jaafer
+went out and brought them all before him and seated the ladies
+behind a curtain; then turned to them and said, speaking for the
+Khalif, 'O women, we pardon you your rough usage of us, in
+consideration of your previous kindness and for that ye knew us
+not: and now I would have you to know that you are in the
+presence of the fifth of the sons of Abbas, the Commander of the
+Faithful Haroun er Reshid, son of El Mehdi Mohammed, son of Abou
+Jaafer el Mensour. So do ye acquaint him with your stories and
+tell him nothing but the truth.' When the ladies heard Jaafer's
+speech, the eldest came forward and said, 'O Commander of the
+Faithful, my story is one which, were it graven with needles on
+the corners of the eye, would serve for an example to those who
+can profit by example and a warning to those who can take
+warning. And it is that
+
+
+
+
+                    The Eldest Lady's Story.
+
+
+
+These two bitches are my elder sisters by the same mother and
+father, and these two others, she on whom are the marks of blows
+and the cateress, are my sisters by another mother. When my
+father died, each took her portion of the heritage, and after
+awhile my mother died also and left me and my sisters-german a
+thousand dinars each. After awhile my two sisters married and
+lived with their husbands for a time; then the latter bought
+merchandise with their wives' money and set out on their travels,
+and I heard no more of them for five years: for their husbands
+spent their wives' fortunes and became bankrupt and deserted them
+in a foreign land. Presently, my eldest sister came back to me in
+the guise of a beggar, with tattered clothes and a dirty old
+veil, and altogether in so sorry a plight, that at first I knew
+her not; but when I recognised her, I asked her how she came in
+such a state. "O my sister," answered she, "talking profits not
+now: the pen[FN#49] hath written what was decreed." Then I sent
+her to the bath and clothed her in a suit of my own and entreated
+her kindly and said to her, "O my sister, thou standest to me in
+the stead of my father and mother; and God has blessed me in the
+share of the inheritance that fell to me and prospered it to me,
+so that I am now in flourishing case; and thou shalt share with
+me in my increase." So she abode with me a whole year, during
+which time we were much concerned to know what was become of our
+other sister. At last, she too came back to me, in a worse plight
+than the other, and I dealt still more kindly by her than by the
+first, and each of them had a share of my substance. After
+awhile, they said to me, "O sister, we desire to marry again, for
+we can no longer endure to live without husbands." "O my dear
+ones[FN#50]," answered I, "there is no good in marriage, for
+now-a-days good men are rare to find; nor do I see the advantage
+of marrying again, since ye have already made trial of matrimony
+and it has profited you nothing." They would not listen to me,
+but married without my consent; nevertheless I equipped them and
+portioned them with my own money and they went away with their
+husbands. After a little, the latter cheated them of all they had
+and went away and left them. Then they came to me, in abject
+case, and made their excuses to me, saying, "Do not reproach us;
+thou art younger than we, but riper of wit, so take us as thy
+handmaids, that we may eat our mouthful; and we will never again
+speak of marriage." Quoth I, "Ye are welcome, O my sisters: there
+is nothing dearer to me than you." And I took them in and
+redoubled in kindness to them. We lived thus for a whole year, at
+the end of which time I was minded to travel. So I fitted out a
+great ship at Bassora and loaded her with merchandise and victual
+and other necessaries for a voyage, and said to my sisters, "Will
+you come with me or abide at home till I return?" "We will go
+with thee," answered they, "for we cannot endure to be parted
+from thee." So I took them and set sail, after dividing my money
+into two parts, one of which I deposited with a trusty person,
+saying, "Maybe ill-hap shall betide the ship and yet we remain
+alive; but now, if we return, we shall find what will be of
+service to us." We sailed days and nights, till the captain
+missed the true course and the ship went astray with us and
+entered a sea other than that we aimed at. We knew not of this
+awhile and the wind blew fair for us ten days, at the end of
+which time, the watch went up to the mast-head, to look out, and
+cried, "Good news!" Then he came down, rejoicing, and said to us,
+"I see a city in the distance as it were a dove." At this we
+rejoiced and before an hour of the day was past, the city
+appeared to us afar off: and we said to the captain, "What is the
+name of yonder city?" "By Allah!" replied he, "I know not, for I
+never saw it before nor have I ever sailed this sea in my life;
+but since the affair has issued in safety, ye have nought to do
+but to land your goods, and if ye find a market, sell and buy and
+barter, as the occasion serves; if not, we will rest here two
+days, re-victual and depart." So we entered the harbour and the
+captain landed and was absent awhile, after which he returned and
+said to us, "Arise, go up into the city and marvel at God's
+dealings with His creatures and seek to be preserved from His
+wrath." So we landed and going up to the city, saw at the gate
+men with staves in their hands; but when we drew near them,
+behold, they had been stricken by the wrath of God and were
+become stones. Then we entered the city and found all its in
+habitants changed into black stones: there was not a living soul
+therein, no, not a blower of the fire. At this we were amazed and
+passed on through the bazaars, where we found all the goods and
+gold and silver left lying in their places, and rejoiced and
+said, "Doubtless, there is some mystery in all this." Then we
+dispersed about the streets of the city and each busied himself
+with making prize of the wealth and stuffs lying about and took
+no heed of his comrades, whilst I went up to the citadel and
+found it goodly of fashion. I entered the king's palace and saw
+all the vessels of gold and silver and the king himself seated in
+the midst of his officers and grandees, clad in raiment such as
+confounded the wit. The throne on which he sat was encrusted with
+pearls and jewels and his robes were of cloth of gold, adorned
+with all manner jewels, that shone like stars. Around him stood
+fifty white slaves, with drawn swords in their hands and clad in
+divers sorts of silken stuffs; but when I drew near to them,
+behold, they were all black stones. My understanding was
+confounded at the sight, but I went on and came to the saloon of
+the harem, which I found hung with tapestries of gold-striped
+silk and spread with carpets of the same, embroidered with
+flowers of gold. Here I saw the queen lying, arrayed in a robe
+covered with fresh pearls as big as hazel-nuts and crowned with a
+diadem set with all manner jewels. Her neck was covered with
+collars and necklaces and all her clothes and ornaments were
+unchanged, but she herself had been smitten of God and was become
+black stone. Presently I spied an open door, with seven steps
+leading to it, and going up, found myself in a place paved with
+marble and hung and carpeted with gold-embroidered stuffs. At the
+upper end stood an alcove with drawn curtains and I saw a light
+issuing thence. So I went up to the alcove and found therein a
+couch of juniper wood, inlaid with pearls and diamonds and set
+with bosses of emeralds, with silken coverings of bewildering
+richness and curtains of the same, looped up with pearls. At the
+head of the bed stood two lighted candles and in the midst of the
+alcove was a little stool, on which lay a jewel, the size of a
+goose's egg, that shone like a lamp and lighted the whole place;
+but there was no one to be seen. When I saw these things, I
+wondered and said, "Some one must have lighted these candles."
+Then I went out and came to the kitchen and thence to the buttery
+and the king's treasuries and continued to explore the palace and
+to go from place to place; and for wonderment at what I saw, I
+forgot myself and wandered on, lost in thought, till the night
+overtook me. Then I would have gone out, but lost my way and
+could not find the gate; so I returned to the alcove, where I lay
+down on the bed and covering myself with a quilt, repeated
+somewhat of the Koran and would have slept, but could not, for
+restlessness possessed me. In the middle of the night, I heard a
+low sweet voice reciting the Koran, whereat I rejoiced and
+rising, followed the sound, till it led me to a chamber with the
+door ajar. I looked through the chink of the door and saw an
+oratory, wherein was a prayer-niche[FN#51], with candles burning
+and lamps hanging from the ceiling. In the midst was spread a
+prayer-carpet, on which sat a handsome youth, with a copy of the
+Koran open before him, from which he was reading. I wondered to
+see him alone alive of all the people of the city and entered and
+saluted him; whereupon he raised his eyes and returned my
+salutation. Then said I, "I implore thee, by the truth of that
+thou readest from the book of God, to answer me my questions." He
+looked at me with a smile and said, "O handmaid of God, tell me
+first how thou camest hither, and I will tell thee what has
+befallen me and the people of this city and the manner of my
+preservation." So I told him my story, at which he marvelled, and
+questioned him of the people of the city. Quoth he, "Have
+patience with me a little, O my sister!" and shutting the Koran,
+laid it in a bag of satin. Then he made me sit down by his side,
+and I looked at him and behold, he was like the moon at its full,
+bright-faced, soft-sided, well-shaped and fair to look upon, as
+he were a figure of sugar,[FN#52] even as says the poet of the
+like of him:
+
+A seer of the stars one night was reading the book of the skies,
+     When lo, in his scroll he saw a lovely youth arise.
+Saturn had dyed his hair the hue of the raven's wing And
+     sprinkled upon his face the musk of Paradise[FN#53]:
+The rose of his cheeks from Mars its ruddy colour drew, And the
+     Archer winged the shafts that darted from his eyes.
+Hermes dowered the youth with his own mercurial wit, And the
+     Great Bear warded off the baleful glance of spies.
+Wonder seized on the sage at the sight of the lovely boy, For the
+     full moon kissed the earth before him, servant-wise.
+And indeed God the Most High had clad him in the garment of
+     perfection and broidered it with the shining fringes of his
+     cheeks, even as says the poet of him:
+By the perfume of his eyelids and his slender waist I swear, By
+     the arrows that he feathers with the witchery of his air,
+By his sides so soft and tender and his glances bright and keen,
+     By the whiteness of his forehead and the blackness of his
+     hair,
+By his arched imperious eyebrows, chasing slumber from my eyes,
+     With their yeas and noes that hold me 'twixt rejoicing and
+     despair,
+By the myrtle of his whiskers and the roses of his cheeks, By his
+     lips' incarnate rubies and his teeth's fine pearls and rare,
+By his neck and by its beauty, by the softness of his breast And
+     the pair of twin pomegranates that my eyes discover there,
+By his heavy hips that tremble, both in motion and repose, And
+     the slender waist above them, all too slim their weight to
+     bear,
+By his skin's unsullied satin and the quickness of his spright,
+     By the matchless combination in his form of all things fair,
+By his hand's perennial bounty and his true and trusty speech, By
+     the stars that smile upon him, favouring and debonair,
+Lo, the smell of musk none other than his very fragrance is, And
+     the ambergris's perfume breathes around him everywhere.
+Yea, the sun in all its splendour cannot with his grace compare,
+     Seeming but a shining fragment that he from his nail doth
+     pare.
+
+I stole a look at him, which cost me a thousand sighs, for my
+heart was taken with his love, and I said to him, "O my lord,
+tell me what I asked thee." "I hear and obey," answered he.
+"Know, O handmaid of God, that this city was the capital of my
+father, who is the king thou sawest on the throne, changed to a
+black stone, and as for the queen on the bed, she was my mother;
+and they and all the people of the city were Magians, worshipping
+the fire, instead of the All-powerful King, and swearing by the
+fire and the light and the shade and the heat and the revolving
+sphere. My father had no child, till I was vouchsafed to him in
+his old age, and he reared me and I grew up and flourished. Now,
+as my good star would have it, there was with us an old woman
+stricken in years, who was at heart a Muslim, believing in God
+and His prophet, but conforming outwardly to the religion of my
+people. My father had confidence in her, supposing her to be of
+his own belief, and showed her exceeding favour, for that he knew
+her to be trusty and virtuous; so when I grew to a fitting age,
+he committed me to her charge, saying, 'Take him and do thy best
+to give him a good education and teach him the things of our
+faith.' So she took me and taught me the tenets of Islam and the
+ordinances of ablution and prayer and made me learn the Koran by
+heart, bidding me worship none but God the Most High and charging
+me to keep my faith secret from my father, lest he should kill
+me. So I hid it from him, and I abode thus till, in a little
+while, the old woman died and the people of the city redoubled in
+their impiety and frowardness and in the error of their ways. One
+day, they heard a voice from on high, proclaiming aloud, with a
+noise like the resounding thunder, so that all heard it far and
+near, and saying, 'O people of the city, turn from your worship
+of the fire and serve God the Compassionate King!' At this, fear
+fell on the people of the city and they crowded to my father and
+said to him; 'What is this awful voice that we have heard and
+that has confounded us with the excess of its terror?' But
+he said, 'Let not a voice fright you nor turn you from your
+faith.' Their hearts inclined to his word and they ceased not to
+worship the fire, but redoubled in their frowardness, till the
+anniversary of the day on which they had heard the supernatural
+voice. When they heard it anew, and so again a third time at the
+end of the second year. Still they persisted in their evil ways,
+till one day, at break of dawn, judgment descended on them and
+wrath from heaven, and they were all turned into black stones,
+they and their beasts and cattle; and none was spared, save
+myself. From that day to this, I have remained as thou seest me,
+occupying myself with prayer and fasting and reading the Koran
+aloud; and indeed I am grown weary of solitude, having none to
+bear me company." Then said I to him (and indeed he had won my
+heart), "O youth, wilt thou go with me to the city of Baghdad and
+foregather with men of learning and theologians and grow in
+wisdom and understanding and knowledge of the Law? If so, I will
+be thy handmaid, albeit I am head of my family and mistress over
+men and slaves and servants. I have here a ship laden with
+merchandise; and indeed it was providence drove us to this city,
+that I might come to the knowledge of these things, for it was
+fated that we should meet." And I ceased not to speak him fair
+and persuade him, till he consented to go with me, and I passed
+the night at his feet, beside myself for joy. When it was day, we
+repaired to the treasuries and took thence what was little of
+weight and great of value; then went down into the town, where we
+met the slaves and the captain seeking for me. When they saw me,
+they rejoiced and I told them all I had seen and related to them
+the story of the young man and of the curse that had fallen on
+the people of the city. At this they wondered: but when my
+sisters saw me with the prince, they envied me on his account and
+were enraged and plotted mischief against me in their hearts.
+Then we took ship again, beside ourselves for joy in the booty we
+had gotten, though the most of my joy was in the prince, and
+waited till the wind blew fair for us, when we set sail and
+departed. As we sat talking, my sisters said to me, "O sister,
+what wilt thou do with this handsome young man?" "I purpose to
+make him my husband," answered I; and I turned to the prince and
+said, "O my lord, I have that to propose to thee, in which I will
+not have thee cross me: and it is that, when we reach Baghdad, I
+will give myself to thee as a handmaid in the way of marriage,
+and thou shalt be my husband and I thy wife." Quoth he, "I hear
+and obey; thou art my lady and my mistress, and whatever thou
+dost, I will not cross thee." Then I turned to my sisters and
+said to them, "This young man suffices me; and those who have
+gotten aught, it is theirs." "Thou sayest well," replied they;
+but in their hearts they purposed me evil. We sailed on with a
+fair wind, till we left the sea of peril and came into safe
+waters, and in a few days, we came in sight of the walls of
+Bassora, even as night overtook us. My sisters waited till the
+prince and I were asleep, when they took us up, bed and all, and
+threw us into the sea. The prince, who could not swim, was
+drowned and God wrote him of the company of the martyrs. As for
+me, would I had been drowned with him! But God decreed that I
+should be of the saved; so He threw in my way a piece of wood and
+I got astride of it, and the waters tossed me about till they
+cast me up on an island. I landed and walked about the island the
+rest of the night, and when the day broke, I saw a footway,
+leading to the mainland. By this time, the sun had risen; so I
+dried my clothes in its rays and ate of the fruits of the island
+and drank of its waters. Then I set out and fared on till I
+reached the mainland and found myself but two hours' distant from
+the city. So I sat down to rest and presently I saw a great
+serpent, the bigness of a palm-tree, come fleeing towards me,
+with all her might, whilst her tongue for weariness hung from her
+mouth a span's length and swept the dust as she went. She was
+pursued by a dragon, as long and thin as a spear, which presently
+overtook her and seized her by the tail whereat the tears
+streamed from her eyes and she wriggled from side to side. I took
+pity on her and catching up a stone, threw it at the dragon's
+head and killed him on the spot. Then the serpent spread a pair
+of wings and flew away out of sight, leaving me wondering. Now I
+was tired and drowsiness overcoming me, I slept where I was for
+awhile. When I awoke, I found a damsel sitting at my feet,
+rubbing them, and with her, two black bitches, and I was ashamed
+before her; so I sat up and said to her, "O my sister, who art
+thou?" "How quickly thou hast forgotten me!" answered she. "I am
+the serpent, whom thou didst deliver from my enemy by killing
+him, for I am a Jinniyeh[FN#54] and the dragon was a genie; and I
+was only saved from him by thy kindness. As soon as thou hadst
+done me this service, I flew on the wind to your ship and
+transported all that was therein to thy house. Then I sank the
+vessel and changed thy sisters into two black bitches, for I know
+all that has passed between thee and them: but as for the young
+man, he is drowned." So saying, she flew up with me and the two
+bitches and presently set us down on the roof of my house, where
+I found all the goods that were in my ship, nor was aught
+missing. Then she said to me, "By that which is written on the
+seal of our lord Solomon (on whom be peace!) except thou give
+each of these bitches three hundred lashes every day, I will come
+and make thee like unto them." "I hear and obey," answered I; and
+since then I have never failed to beat them thus, O Commander of
+the Faithful, pitying them the while; and they know it is no
+fault of mine that they are beaten and accept my excuse. And this
+is my story.' The Khalif marvelled at her story and said to the
+portress, 'And thou, how camest thou by the weals on thy body?'
+'O Commander of the Faithful,' answered she:
+
+
+
+
+                     Story of the Portress.
+
+
+
+'My father died and left me great wealth, and soon after his
+death I married one of the richest men of Baghdad. At the end of
+a year he too died and I inherited from him fourscore thousand
+dinars, being my lawful share of his property; so that I became
+passing rich and the report of my wealth spread abroad, for I got
+me half a score suits of clothes, each worth a thousand dinars.
+One day, as I was sitting alone, there came in to me an old woman
+with sunken cheeks and worn eyebrows, bleared eyes and broken
+teeth, blotched face and bald head, grizzled hair and bent and
+mangy body, running nose and sallow complexion, even as says the
+poet of the like of her:
+
+A right pernicious hag! Unshriven be her sins, Nor let her mercy
+     find what time she comes to die!
+So full of wile she is, that with a single thread Of spider's
+     silk she'd curb a thousand mules that shy.
+
+She saluted me and kissing the ground before me, said, "I have an
+orphan daughter whose wedding and unveiling[FN#55] I celebrate
+to-night. We are strangers in the city and know none of its
+inhabitants, and verily our hearts are broken so do thou earn
+through us a recompense and reward in the world to come by being
+present at her unveiling. When the ladies of the city hear that
+thou art to be present, they also will attend, and so wilt thou
+bring healing to her spirit, for now she is broken-hearted and
+has none to look to but God the Most High." Then she wept and
+kissed my feet, repeating the following verses:
+
+Thy presence honoureth us, and we Confess thy magnanimity:
+If thou forsake us, there is none Can stand to us in stead of
+     thee.
+
+I was moved to pity for her and said, "I hear and obey; and God
+willing, I will do more than this for her, for she shall not be
+unveiled but in my clothes and ornaments and jewellery." At this
+the old woman rejoiced and fell at my feet and kissed them,
+saying, "God requite thee with good and gladden thy heart as thou
+hast gladdened mine! But, O my lady, do not trouble thyself now,
+but be ready against the evening, when I will come and fetch
+thee." So saying, she kissed my hand and went away, whilst I
+attired myself and made my preparations. At the appointed time,
+the old woman returned, smiling, and kissed my hand, saying,
+"O my mistress, the most part of the ladies of the city are
+assembled; and I told them that thou hadst promised to be
+present, whereat they rejoiced and they are now awaiting thee and
+are looking eagerly for thy coming." So I veiled myself and taking
+my serving-maids with me, followed the old woman, till we came to
+a street swept and watered, through which blew a pleasant breeze.
+Here she stopped at a handsome portico vaulted with marble and
+leading to a palace that rose from the ground and took hold upon
+the clouds. The gateway was hung with a black curtain and lighted
+by a lamp of gold curiously wrought; and on the door were written
+the following verses:
+
+I am a dwelling, builded for delight; My time is still for
+     joyance day and night.
+Right in my midst a springing fountain wells, Whose waters banish
+     anguish and despite,
+Whose marge with rose, narcissus, camomile, Anemone and myrtle,
+     is bedight.
+
+The old woman knocked at the gate, which opened; and we entered a
+carpeted vestibule hung with lighted lamps and candles and
+adorned with pendants of precious stones and minerals. Through
+this we passed into a saloon, whose like is not to be found in
+the world, hung and carpeted with silken stuffs and lighted by
+hanging lamps and wax candles in rows. At the upper end stood a
+couch of juniper-wood, set with pearls and jewels and canopied
+with curtains of satin, looped up with pearls. Hardly had I taken
+note of all this, when there came out from the alcove a young
+lady more perfect than the moon at its full, with a forehead
+brilliant as the morning, when it shines forth, even as says the
+poet:
+
+Upon the imperial necks she walks, a loveling bright, For
+     bride-chambers of kings and emperors bedight.
+The blossom of her cheek is red as dragon's blood, And all her
+     face is flowered with roses red and white.
+Slender and sleepy-eyed and languorous of gait, All manner
+     loveliness is in her sweetest sight.
+The locks upon her brow are like a troubled night, From out of
+     which there shines a morning of delight.
+
+She came down from the dais and said to me, "Welcome, a thousand
+times welcome to the dear and illustrious sister!" and she
+recited the following verses:
+
+If the house knew who visits it, it would indeed rejoice And
+     stoop to kiss the happy place whereon her feet have stood;
+And in the voice with which the case, though mute, yet speaks,
+     exclaim, "Welcome and many a welcome to the generous and
+     good!"
+
+Then she sat down and said to me, "O my sister, I have a brother,
+who is handsomer than I; and he saw thee at certain festivals and
+assemblies and fell passionately in love with thee, for that thou
+art possessed of beauty and grace beyond thy share. He heard that
+thou wast thine own mistress, even as he also is the head of his
+family, and wished to make thine acquaintance; wherefore he used
+this device to bring thee in company with me; for he desires to
+marry thee according to the law of God and His prophet, and there
+is no shame in what is lawful." When I heard what she said, I
+bethought me that I was fairly entrapped and answered, "I hear
+and obey." At this she was glad and clapped her hands, whereupon
+a door opened and out came the handsomest of young men, elegantly
+dressed and perfect in beauty and symmetry and winning grace,
+with eyebrows like a bended bow and eyes that ravished hearts
+with lawful enchantments, even as says a poet, describing the
+like of him:
+
+His face is like unto the new moon's face With signs[FN#56], like
+     pearls, of fortune and of grace.
+
+And God bless him who said:
+
+He hath indeed been blest with beauty and with grace, And blest
+     be He who shaped and fashioned forth his face!
+All rarest charms that be unite to make him fair, His witching
+     loveliness distracts the human race.
+Beauty itself hath set these words upon his brow, "Except this
+     youth there's none that's fair in any place."
+
+When I looked at him, my heart inclined to him and I loved him;
+and he sat down by me and talked with me awhile. Presently the
+young lady clapped her hands a second time, and behold, a side
+door opened and there came out a Cadi and four witnesses, who
+saluted and sitting down, drew up the contract of marriage
+between me and the young man and retired. Then he turned to me
+and said, "May our night be blessed! O my mistress, I have a
+condition to lay on thee." Quoth I, "O my lord, what is it?"
+Whereupon he rose and fetching a copy of the Koran, said to me,
+"Swear to me that thou wilt never look upon another man than
+myself, nor incline to him." I did as he wished and he rejoiced
+with an exceeding joy and embraced me and my whole heart was
+taken with love of him. Presently they set food before us and we
+ate and drank, till we were satisfied and night closed in upon
+us. Then he took me and went to bed with me and ceased not to
+kiss and embrace me till the morning. I lived with him in all
+delight and happiness for a month, at the end of which time I
+asked his leave to go to the bazaar to buy certain stuffs that I
+wanted, and he gave me leave. So I veiled myself and taking with
+me the old woman and a serving-maid, went to the bazaar, where I
+sat down in the shop of a young merchant, whom the old woman knew
+and had recommended to me, saying, "The father of this young man
+died, when he was a boy, and left him great wealth: he has great
+store of goods, and thou wilt find what thou seekest with him,
+for none in the bazaar has finer stuffs than he." So she said to
+him, "Show this lady thy finest stuffs." And he answered, "I hear
+and obey." Then she began to sound his praises; but I said, "I
+have no concern with thy praises of him; all I want is to buy
+what I need of him and return home." So he brought me what I
+sought, and I offered him the price, but he refused to take it,
+saying, "It is a guest-gift to thee on the occasion of thy visit
+to me this day." Then I said to the old woman, "If he will not
+take the money, give him back the stuff." "By Allah!" said he, "I
+will take nothing from thee! I make thee a present of it all, in
+return for one kiss; for that is more precious to me than all
+that is in my shop." Quoth the old woman, "What will a kiss
+profit thee?" Then she said to me, "O my daughter, thou hearest
+what this young man says. What harm will it do thee, if he take
+from thee a kiss and thou get the stuffs for nothing?" "Dost thou
+not know," answered I, "that I am bound by an oath?" But she
+said, "Hold thy tongue and let him kiss thee, and thou shalt keep
+thy money and no harm shall betide thee." And she ceased not to
+persuade me till I put my head into the noose and consented. So I
+veiled my eyes and held up the edge of my veil between me and the
+street, that the passers-by might not see me; and he put his
+mouth to my cheek under the veil. But, instead of kissing me, he
+bit me so hard that he tore the flesh of my cheek, and I swooned
+away. The old woman took me in her arms and when I came to
+myself, I found the shop shut up and her lamenting over me and
+saying, "Thank God it was no worse!" Then she said to me, "Come,
+take courage and let us go home, lest the thing get wind and thou
+be disgraced. When thou returnest, do thou feign sickness and lie
+down and cover thyself up, and I will bring thee a remedy that
+will soon heal the wound." So, after awhile, I arose, full of
+fear and anxiety, and went little by little, till I came to the
+house, where I lay down and gave out that I was ill. When it was
+night, my husband came in to me and said, "O my lady, what has
+befallen thee in this excursion?" Quoth I, "I am not well: I have
+a pain in my head." Then he lighted a candle and drew near and
+looked at me and said, "What is that wound on thy cheek, in the
+soft part?" Said I, "When I went out to-day to buy stuffs, with
+thy leave, a camel laden with firewood jostled me and the end of
+one of the pieces of wood tore my veil and wounded my cheek, as
+thou seest; for indeed the ways are strait in this city."
+"To-morrow," rejoined he, "I will go to the governor and speak to
+him, that he may hang every firewood-seller in the city." "God on
+thee," cried I, "do not burden thy conscience with such a sin
+against any one! The truth is that I was riding on an ass, and it
+stumbled and threw me down, and my cheek fell on a piece of
+glass, which wounded it." "Then," said he, "to morrow I will go
+to Jaafer the Barmecide and tell him the case, and he will kill
+every ass in the city." "Wilt thou ruin all the folk on my
+account," said I, "when this that befell me was decreed of God?"
+"There is no help for it," answered he, and springing to his
+feet, plied me with questions and pressed me, till I was
+frightened and stammered in my speech, so that he guessed how the
+case stood and exclaimed, "Thou hast been false to thine oath!"
+Then he gave a great cry, whereupon a door opened and in came
+seven black slaves, whom he commanded to drag me from my bed and
+throw me down in the middle of the room. Moreover, he made one
+take me by the shoulders and sit upon my head and another sit on
+my knees and hold my feet and giving a third a naked sword, said
+to him, "Strike her, O Saad, and cut her in twain and let each
+take half and throw it into the Tigris that the fish may eat
+her, for this is the reward of her who breaks her oath and is
+unfaithful to her love." And he redoubled in wrath and repeated
+the following verses:
+
+If any other share with me in her whom I adore, I'll root out
+     passion from my heart, though longing me destroy;
+And I will say unto my soul, "Death is the better part;" For love
+     is naught that men with me in common do enjoy.
+
+Then he said to the slave, "Smite her, O Saad!" Whereupon the
+latter bent down to me and said, "O my lady, repeat the
+profession of the faith and tell us if there be aught thou
+wouldst have done, for thy last hour is come." "O good slave,"
+said I, "grant me a little respite, that I may give thee my last
+injunctions." Then I raised my head and considered my case and
+how I had fallen from high estate into abjection; wherefore the
+tears streamed from my eyes and I wept passing sore. He looked at
+me with angry eyes and repeated the following
+
+Say unto her who wronged us, on whom our kisses tire, Her that
+     hath chosen another for darling of desire,
+Lo, we will spurn thee from us, before thou cast us off! That
+     which is past between us suffices to our ire.
+
+When I heard this, I wept and looked at him and repeated the
+following verses:
+
+You doom my banishment from love and all unmoved remain; You rob
+     my wounded lids of rest and sleep whilst I complain.
+You make mine eyes familiar with watching and unrest; Yet can my
+     heart forget you not, nor eyes from tears refrain.
+You swore to me that you would keep, for aye, your plighted
+     faith; But when my heart was yours, you broke the oath that
+     you had ta'en.
+Are you secure against the shifts of time and evil chance, That
+     you've no mercy on my love nor aught of pity deign?
+If I must die, I prithee, write, 'fore God, upon my tomb, "A
+     slave of passion lieth here, who died of love in vain."
+It may be one shall pass that way, who knows the pangs of love,
+     And looking on a lover's grave, take pity on her pain.
+
+Then I wept; and when he heard what I said and saw my tears, his
+anger redoubled, and he repeated the following verses:
+
+I left the darling of my heart, not from satiety; But she had
+     sinned a sin that called aloud for punishment.
+She would have ta'en another in to share with me her love, But
+     the religion of my heart to share will not consent[FN#57].
+
+Then I wept again and implored him, saying to myself, "I will
+work on him with words; so haply he may spare my life, though he
+take all I have." So I complained to him of my sufferings and
+repeated the following verses:
+
+If thou indeed wert just to me, thou wouldst not take my life.
+     Alas! against the law of Death no arbiter is there!
+Thou layst upon my back the load of passion and desire, When I
+     for weakness scarce can lift the very gown I wear!
+That so my soul should waste away, small wonder is to me; But oh!
+     I wonder how my flesh can thine estrangement bear.
+
+Then I wept again, and he looked at me and reviled and reproached
+me, repeating the following verses:
+
+Thou hast forgotten my love in the arms of another than me; Thou
+     shew'st me estrangement, though I was never unfaithful to
+     thee.
+So I will cast thee away, since thou wast the first to forsake,
+     And by thy pattern content to live without thee will I be.
+And (like thyself) in the arms of another thy charms I'll forget;
+     'Tis thou that hast sundered our loves: thou canst not
+     reproach it to me.
+
+Then he called to the slave with the sword, saying "Cut her in
+half and rid us of her, for we have no profit of her." So the
+slave drew near to me and I gave myself up for lost and committed
+my affair to God the Most High; but, at this moment, in came the
+old woman and threw herself at my husband's feet and kissed them,
+saying, "O my son, for the sake of my fosterage of thee and my
+service to thee, spare this young lady, for indeed she has done
+nothing deserving of death. Thou art a very young man, and I fear
+lest her death be laid to thy count, for it is said, 'He who
+kills shall be killed.' As for this wretched woman, put her away
+from thee and from thy thought and heart." And she ceased not to
+weep and implore him, till he relented and said, "I pardon her,
+but I will set a mark on her that shall stay with her all her
+life." Then he made the slaves strip off my clothes and hold me
+down, and taking a rod of quince-wood beat me with it on the back
+and sides till I lost my senses for excess of pain and despaired
+of life. Then he commanded slaves, as soon as it was dark, to
+carry me back to the house in which I had lived before my
+marriage with him, taking the old woman with them to guide them.
+They did as he bade them and cast me down in my house and went
+away. I did not recover from my swoon till the morning, when I
+applied myself to the dressing of my wounds, and medicined myself
+and kept my bed for four months, at the end of which time my body
+healed and I was restored to health; but my sides still bore the
+marks of the blows, as thou hast seen. As soon as I could walk, I
+went to the house where all this had happened, but found the
+whole street pulled down and nothing but heaps of rubbish where
+the house had stood, nor could I learn how this had come about.
+Then I betook myself to this my half-sister and found with her
+these two black bitches. I saluted her and told her what had
+befallen me; and she said, "O my sister, who is safe from the
+vicissitudes of fortune? Praised be God, who hath brought thee
+off with thy life!" And she repeated the following verse:
+
+Fortune indeed was ever thus: endure it patiently, Whether thou
+     suffer loss of wealth or friends depart from thee.
+
+Then she told me her own story, and we abode together, she and I,
+never mentioning the name of marriage. After awhile there came to
+live with us this our other sister the cateress, who goes out
+every day and buys what we require for the day and night. We led
+this life till yesterday, when our sister went out as usual and
+fell in with the porter. Presently we were joined by these three
+Calenders and later on by three respectable merchants from
+Tiberias, all of whom we admitted to our company on certain
+conditions, which they infringed. But we forgave them their
+breach of faith, on condition that they should give us an account
+of themselves; so they told us their stories and went away; and
+we heard nothing more till this morning, when we were summoned to
+appear before thee; and this is our story.' The Khalif wondered
+at her story, and ordered it and those of her sister and the
+Calenders to be recorded in the archives of his reign and laid up
+in the royal treasury. Then he said to the eldest lady, 'Knowst
+thou where to find the Afriteh who enchanted thy sisters?' 'O
+Commander of the Faithful,' answered she, 'she gave me some of
+her hair, saying, "When thou wouldst see me, burn one or two of
+these hairs, and I will be with thee presently, though I be
+behind the mountain Caf."' Quoth the Khalif, 'Bring me the hair.'
+So she fetched it and he threw the whole lock into the fire,
+whereupon the palace shook and they heard a rumbling sound of
+thunder, and presently the Jinniyeh appeared and saluted the
+Khalif, saying, 'Peace be upon thee, O vicar of God!' 'And on
+thee be peace,' answered he, 'and the mercy of God and His
+blessing!' Quoth she, 'Know that this lady did me a service for
+which I cannot enough requite her, in that she saved me from
+death and slew my enemy. Now I had seen how her sisters dealt
+with her and felt bound to avenge her on them. At first, I was
+minded to kill them, but I feared it would be grievous to her, so
+I turned them into bitches; and now, O Commander of the Faithful,
+if thou wouldst have me release them, I will do so, out of
+respect to thee and to her, for I am of the true believers.'
+'Release them,' said the Khalif; 'and after we will proceed to
+look into the affair of the beaten lady, and if her account prove
+true, we will avenge her on him who wronged her.' 'O Commander of
+the Faithful,' replied she, 'I will release them forthwith and
+bring thee to the knowledge of him who maltreated this lady and
+took her property; and he is the nearest of all men to thee.' So
+saying, she took a cup of water and muttered over it and spoke
+words that might not be understood. Then she threw some of the
+water in the faces of the bitches, saying, 'Return to your former
+human shape;' whereupon they were restored to their original
+form, and the Afriteh said to the Khalif, 'O Commander of the
+Faithful, he who beat this lady is thy son El Amin, brother of El
+Mamoun[FN#58], who heard of her beauty and grace and laid a trap
+for her and married her; and indeed he is not to blame for
+beating her, for he laid a condition on her and took of her a
+solemn oath that she would not do a certain thing; but she was
+false to her vow; and he was minded to kill her, but was
+restrained by the fear of God the Most High and contented himself
+with beating her, as thou hast seen, and sending her back to her
+own place.' When the Khalif heard this, he wondered greatly and
+said, 'Glory be to God the Most High, the Supreme, who hath
+vouchsafed me the delivery of these two damsels from enchantment
+and torment and hath granted me to know the secret of this lady's
+history! By Allah, I will do a thing that shall be chronicled
+after me!' Then he summoned his son El Amin and questioned him of
+the story of the portress, and he told him the truth; whereupon
+the Khalif sent for Cadis and witnesses and married the eldest
+lady and her two sisters-german to the three Calenders, whom he
+made his chamberlains, appointing them stipends and all that they
+needed and lodging them in his palace at Baghdad. Moreover, he
+returned the beaten girl to her husband, his son El Amin,
+renewing the marriage contract between them, and gave her great
+wealth and bade rebuild the house more handsomely than before. As
+for himself, he took to wife the cateress and lay with her that
+night; and on the morrow he assigned her a separate lodging in
+his seraglio, with a fixed allowance and serving-maids to wait on
+her; and the people marvelled at his equity and magnificence and
+generosity.
+
+When Shehrzad had made an end of her story, Dunyazad said to her,
+"By Allah, this is indeed a pleasant and delightful story, never
+was heard its like! But now, O my sister, tell us another story,
+to beguile the rest of the waking hours of our night." "With all
+my heart," answered Shehrzad, "if the King give me leave." And he
+said, "Tell thy story, and that quickly." Then said she, "They
+say, O King of the age and lord of the time and the day, that
+
+
+
+
+                       THE THREE APPLES.
+
+
+
+The Khalif Haroun er Reshid summoned his Vizier Jaafer one night
+and said to him, 'I have a mind to go down into the city and
+question the common people of the conduct of the officers charged
+with its government; and those of whom they complain, we will
+depose, and those whom they commend, we will advance.' Quoth
+Jaafer, 'I hear and obey.' So the Khalif and Jaafer and Mesrour
+went down into the town and walked about the streets and markets
+till, as they were passing through a certain alley, they came
+upon an old man walking along at a leisurely pace, with a
+fishing-net and a basket on his head and a staff in his hand, and
+heard him repeat the following verses:
+
+They tell me I shine, by my wisdom and wit, Midst the rest of my
+     kind, as the moon in the night.
+"A truce to your idle discourses!" I cry, "What's knowledge,
+     indeed, unattended by might?"
+If you offered me, knowledge and wisdom and all, with my inkhorn
+     and papers, in pawn for a mite,
+To buy one day's victual, the pledge they'd reject And cast, like
+     an unread petition, from sight.
+Sorry, indeed, is the case of the poor, And his life, what a load
+     of chagrin and despite!
+In summer, he's pinched for a living and cowers O'er the fire-pot
+     in winter, for warmth and for light.
+The curs of the street dog his heels, as he goes, And the
+     scurviest rascal may rail at the wight.
+If he lift up his voice to complain of his case, He finds not a
+     soul who will pity his plight.
+Since such is the life and the lot of the poor, It were better he
+     lay in the graveyard forthright!
+
+When the Khalif heard this, he said to Jaafer, 'See yonder poor
+man and note his verses, for they show his necessity.' Then he
+went up to him and said, 'O old man, what is thy trade?' 'O my
+lord,' replied he, 'I am a fisherman, with a family to maintain;
+and I have been out since mid-day, but God has not vouchsafed me
+aught wherewith to feed them, and indeed I abhor myself and wish
+for death.' Quoth the Khalif, 'Wilt thou go back with me to the
+Tigris and cast thy net yet once more on my account, and I will
+buy of thee whatever comes up for a hundred dinars?' 'On my head
+be it!' answered the fisherman joyfully. 'I will go back with
+you.' So he returned with them to the river-bank and cast his net
+and waited awhile, then drew it up and found in it a chest,
+locked and heavy. The Khalif lifted it and found it weighty; so
+he gave the fisherman a hundred dinars, and he went his way;
+whilst Mesrour carried the chest to the palace, where he set it
+down before the Khalif and lighted the candles. Then Jaafer and
+Mesrour broke open the chest and found in it a basket of
+palm-leaves, sewn together with red worsted. This they cut open
+and found within a bundle wrapped in a piece of carpet. Under the
+carpet was a woman's veil and in this a young lady, as she were
+an ingot of silver, slain and cut in pieces. When the Khalif saw
+this, he was sore enraged and afflicted; the tears ran down his
+cheeks and he turned to Jaafer and said, "O dog of a Vizier,
+shall folk be murdered in my capital city and thrown into the
+river and their death laid to my account on the Day of Judgment?
+I must avenge this woman on her murderer and put him to death
+without mercy! And as surely as I am descended from the sons of
+Abbas, an thou bring me not him who slew her, that I may do her
+justice on him, I will hang thee and forty of thy kinsmen at the
+gate of my palace!' Quoth Jaafer, 'Grant me three days' respite.'
+And the Khalif said, 'I grant thee this.' So Jaafer went out from
+before him and returned to his house, full of sorrow and saying
+to himself, 'How shall I find him who killed the damsel, that I
+may bring him before the Khalif? If I bring other than the right
+man, it will be laid to my charge by God. Indeed, I know not what
+to do.' Then he kept his house three days, and on the fourth day,
+the Khalif sent one of his chamberlains for him and said to him,
+'Where is the murderer of the damsel?' 'O Commander of the
+Faithful,' replied the Vizier, 'am I inspector of murdered folk,
+that I should know who killed her?' The Khalif was enraged at his
+answer and commanded to hang him before his palace-gate and that
+proclamation should be made in the streets of Baghdad, 'Whoso
+hath a mind to witness the hanging of Jaafer the Barmecide,
+Vizier of the Khalif, and of forty of his kin, before the gate of
+the Khalif's palace, let him come out to see!' So the people came
+out from all quarters to witness the execution of Jaafer and his
+kinsmen, not knowing the reason. Then they set up the gallows and
+made Jaafer and the others stand underneath in readiness; but
+whilst they awaited the Khalif's signal for the execution and the
+people wept for Jaafer and his kinsmen, behold, a handsome and
+well-dressed young man, with shining face and bright black eyes,
+flower-white forehead, downy whiskers and rosy cheeks and a mole
+like a grain of ambergris, pressed through the crowd, till he
+stood before Jaafer and said to him, 'I come to deliver thee from
+this strait, O chief of the Amirs and refuge of the poor! I am he
+who killed the woman ye found in the chest; so hang me for her
+and do her justice on me!' When Jaafer heard this, he rejoiced at
+his own deliverance, but grieved for the young man; and whilst
+they were yet talking, behold, a man far advanced in years made
+his way when he saluted them and said, 'O Vizier and noble lord,
+credit not what this young man says. None killed the damsel but
+I; so do thou avenge her on me, or I do accuse thee before God
+the Most High.' Then said the youth, 'O Vizier, this is a doting
+old man, who knows not what he says: it was I killed her, so do
+thou avenge her on me.' 'O my son,' said the old man, 'thou art
+young and desirest the things of the world, and I am old and
+weary of the world. I will ransom thee and the Vizier and his
+kinsmen with my life. None killed the damsel but I; so God on
+thee, make haste to hang me, or there is no living for me after
+her!' The Vizier marvelled at all this and taking the youth and
+the old man, carried them before the Khalif and said to him, 'O
+Commander of the Faithful, I bring thee the murderer of the
+damsel.' 'Where is he?' asked the Khalif, and Jaafer answered,
+'This youth says he killed her, but this old man gives him the
+lie and affirms that he himself killed her: and behold, they are
+both in thy hands.' The Khalif looked at them and said, 'Which of
+you killed the damsel?' The youth replied, 'It was I.' And the
+old man, 'Indeed, none killed her but myself.' Then the Khalif
+said to Jaafer, 'Take them and hang them both.' But the Vizier
+replied, 'If one of them be the murderer, to hang the other were
+unjust.' 'By Him who vaulted the heavens and spread out the earth
+like a carpet,' cried the youth, 'it was I killed her!' And he
+set forth the circumstance of her death and how they had found
+her body, so that the Khalif was certified that he was the
+murderer, whereat he wondered and said to him, 'Why didst thou
+slay the damsel wrongfully and what made thee come and accuse
+thyself thus and confess thy crime without being beaten?' 'Know,
+O Commander of the Faithful,' answered the young man, 'that this
+damsel was my wife and the daughter of this old man, who is my
+father's brother, and she was a virgin when I married her. God
+blessed me with three male children by her, and she loved me and
+served me, and I also loved her with an exceeding love and saw no
+evil in her. We lived happily together till the beginning of this
+month, when she fell grievously ill. I fetched the doctors to her
+and she recovered slowly; and I would have had her take a bath;
+but she said, "There is something I long for, before I go to the
+bath." "What is it?" asked I, and she replied, "I have a longing
+for an apple, that I may smell it and bite a piece of it." So I
+went out into the city at once and sought for apples, but could
+find none, though, had they been a dinar apiece, I would have
+bought them. I was vexed at this and went home and said to my
+wife, "By Allah, my cousin, I can find none." She was distressed,
+being yet weak, and her weakness increased greatly on her that
+night, and I passed the night full of anxiety. As soon as it was
+day, I went out again and made the round of the gardens, but
+could find no apples anywhere. At last I met an old gardener, of
+whom I enquired for them, and he said to me, "O my son, this
+fruit is rare with us and is not now to be found but in the
+garden of the Commander of the Faithful at Bassora, where the
+gardener keeps them for the Khalif's table.' I returned home,
+troubled at my ill-success, and my love and concern for her moved
+me to undertake the journey to Bassora. So I set out and
+travelled thither and bought three apples of the gardener there
+for three dinars, with which I returned to Baghdad, after having
+been absent fifteen days and nights, going and coming. I went in
+to my wife and gave her the apples; but she took no pleasure in
+them and let them lie by her side; for weakness and fever had
+increased on her and did not leave her for ten days, at the end
+of which time she began to mend. So I left the house and went to
+my shop, where I sat buying and selling. About mid-day a great
+ugly black slave came into the bazaar, having in his hand one of
+the three apples, with which he was playing; so I called to him
+and said, "Prithee, good slave, tell me whence thou hadst that
+apple, that I may get the fellow to it." He laughed and answered,
+"I had it of my mistress; for I had been absent and on my return
+I found her lying ill, with three apples by her side: and she
+told me that the cuckold her husband had made a journey for them
+to Bassora, where he had bought them for three dinars. So I ate
+and drank with her and took this one from her." When I heard
+this, the world grew black in my eyes, and I rose and shut my
+shop and went home, beside myself for excess of rage. I looked
+for the apples and finding but two of them, said to my wife,
+"Where is the third apple?" Quoth she, "I know not what is come
+of it." This convinced me of the truth of the slave's story, so I
+took a knife and coming behind her, without word said, got up on
+her breast and cut her throat; after which I hewed her in pieces
+and wrapping her in her veil and a piece of carpet, sewed the
+whole up hurriedly in the basket. Then I put the basket in the
+chest and locking it up, set it on my mule and threw it into the
+Tigris with my own hands. So, God on thee, O Commander of the
+Faithful, make haste to hang me, for I fear lest she sue for
+vengeance on me at the Day of Resurrection! For when I had thrown
+her into the river, unknown of any, I returned home and found my
+eldest boy weeping, though he knew not what I had done with his
+mother; and I said to him "Why dost thou weep, my son?" He
+replied, "I took one of my mother's apples and went down with it
+into the street to play with my brothers, when lo, a tall black
+slave snatched it from my hand, saying, 'Whence hadst thou this?'
+Quoth I, 'My father journeyed to Bassora for it and brought it to
+my mother, who is ill, with two other apples for which he paid
+three dinars. Give it back to me and do not get me into trouble
+for it.' He paid no heed to my words and I demanded the apple a
+second and a third time; but he beat me and went away with it. I
+was afraid that my mother would beat me on account of the apple;
+so for fear of her, I went without the city with my brothers and
+abode there until night closed in upon us, and indeed I am in
+fear of her: so by Allah, O my father, say nothing to her of
+this, or it will add to her illness." When I heard what the child
+said, I knew that the slave was he who had forged a lie against
+my wife and was certified that I had killed her wrongfully. So I
+wept sore, and presently, this old man, her father, came in and I
+told him what had passed; and he sat down by my side and wept and
+we ceased not weeping half the night. This was five days ago and
+from that time to this, we have never ceased to bewail her and
+mourn for her, sorrowing sore for that she was unjustly put to
+death. All this came of the lying story of the slave, and this
+was the manner of my killing her; so I conjure thee, by the
+honour of thy forefathers, make haste to kill me and do her
+justice on me, for there is no living for me after her.' The
+Khalif wondered at his story and said, 'By Allah, the young man
+is excusable, and I will hang none but the accursed slave!' Then
+he fumed to Jaafer and said to him, 'Bring me the accursed slave,
+who was the cause of this calamity, and if thou bring him not in
+three days, thou shalt suffer in his stead.' And Jaafer went out,
+weeping and saying, 'Verily, I am beset by deaths; the pitcher
+does not come off for aye unbroken. I can do nothing in this
+matter; but He who saved me the first time may save me again. By
+Allah, I will not leave my house during the three days that
+remain to me, and God who is the Truth shall do what He will.' So
+he kept his house three days, and on the fourth day, he summoned
+Cadis and witnesses and made his last dispositions and bade
+farewell to his children, weeping. Presently in came a messenger
+from the Khalif and said to him, 'The Commander of the Faithful
+is beyond measure wroth and sends to seek thee and swears that
+the day shall not pass without thy being hanged.' When Jaafer
+heard this, he wept and his children and slaves and all that were
+in the house wept with him. Then they brought him his little
+daughter, that he might bid her farewell. Now he loved her more
+than all his other children; so he pressed her to his breast and
+kissed her and wept over his separation from her; when lo, he
+felt something round in her bosom and said to her, 'What's this
+in thy bosom?' 'O my father,' answered she, 'it is an apple with
+the name of our lord the Khalif written on it. Our slave Rihan
+brought it to me four days ago and would not let me have it, till
+I gave him two dinars for it.' When Jaafer heard this, he put his
+hand into her bosom and took out the apple and knew it and
+rejoiced, saying, 'O swift Dispeller of trouble[FN#59]!' Then he
+sent for the slave and said to him, 'Harkye Rihan, whence hadst
+thou this apple?' 'By Allah, O my lord,' replied he, 'though
+lying might get me off, yet is it safer to tell the truth[FN#60]!
+I did not steal it from thy palace nor from the palace of His
+Highness nor the garden of the Commander of the Faithful. The
+fact is that some days ago, I was passing along a certain alley
+of this city, when I saw some children playing and this apple in
+the hand of one of them. So I snatched it from him, and he wept
+and said, "O youth, this apple is my mother's and she is ill. She
+longed for apples, and my father journeyed to Bassora and bought
+her three for three dinars, and I took one of them to play with."
+But I paid no heed to what he said and beat him and went off with
+the apple and sold it to my little mistress for two dinars.' When
+Jaafer heard this, he wondered that the death of the damsel and
+all this misery should have been caused by his slave and grieved
+for the relation of the slave to himself, whilst rejoicing over
+his own delivery: and he repeated the following verses:
+
+If through a servant misfortune befall thee, Spare not to save
+thine own life at his cost.
+Servants in plenty thou'lt find to replace him, Life for life
+never, once it is lost.
+
+Then he carried the slave to the Khalif, to whom he related the
+whole story; and the Khalif wondered greatly and laughed till he
+fell backward and ordered the story to be recorded and published
+among the folk. Then said Jaafer, 'O Commander of the Faithful,
+wonder not at this story, for it is not more marvellous than that
+of Noureddin Ali of Cairo and his son Bedreddin Hassan.' 'What is
+that?' asked the Khalif; 'and how can it be more marvellous than
+this story?' 'O Commander of the Faithful,' answered Jaafer, 'I
+will not tell it thee except thou pardon my slave.' Quoth the
+Khalif, 'If it be indeed more marvellous than that of the three
+apples, I grant thee thy slave's life; but if not, I will kill
+him.' 'Know, then, O Commander of the Faithful,' said Jaafer,
+'that
+
+
+
+
+               NOUREDDIN ALI OF CAIRO AND HIS SON
+                       BEDREDDIN HASSAN.
+
+
+
+There was once in the land of Egypt a just and pious King who
+loved the poor and companied with the learned, and he had a
+Vizier, a wise and experienced man, well versed in affairs and in
+the art of government. This Vizier, who was a very old man, had
+two sons, as they were two moons, never was seen their like for
+beauty and grace, the elder called Shemseddin Mohammed and the
+younger Noureddin Ali; but the younger excelled his brother in
+comeliness and fair favour, so that folk heard of him in distant
+lands and journeyed to Egypt to get sight of him. After awhile
+the Vizier died, to the great grief of the Sultan, who sent for
+his two sons and invested them with robes of honour, saying, "Let
+not your hearts be troubled, for you shall stand in your father's
+stead and be joint Viziers of Egypt." At this they were glad and
+kissed the earth before him and mourned for their father a whole
+month, at the end of which time they entered upon the Vizierate,
+and the government passed into their hands, as it had been in
+those of their father, each ruling for a week at a time. Whenever
+the Sultan went on a journey, they took it in turns to accompany
+him; and the two brothers lived in one house, and there was
+perfect accord between them. It chanced, one night, that the
+Sultan purposed setting out on a journey on the morrow and the
+elder, whose turn it was to attend him, was sitting talking with
+his brother and said to him, "O my brother, it is my wish that
+we both marry and go in to our wives on the same night." "O my
+brother," replied Noureddin, "do as thou wilt; I will conform to
+thee." So they agreed upon this and Shemseddin said, "If it be
+the will of God that we both marry on the same night, and our
+wives be brought to bed on the same day, and thy wife bear a boy
+and mine a girl, we will marry the children to one another, for
+they will be cousins." "O my brother," asked Noureddin, "what
+dowry wilt thou require of my son for thy daughter!" Quoth the
+other, "I will have of him three thousand dinars and three
+gardens and three farms, for it would not be fitting that he
+bring her a smaller dowry than this." When Noureddin heard this,
+he said, "What dowry is this thou wouldst impose on my son?
+Knowest thou not that we are brothers and both by God's grace
+Viziers and equal in rank? It behoves thee to offer thy daughter
+to my son, without dowry: or if thou must have a dower, it should
+be something of nominal value, for mere show; for thou knowest
+the male to be more worthy than the female, and my son is a male,
+and our memory will be preserved by him, not by thy daughter; but
+I see thou wouldst do with me according to the saying, 'If thou
+wouldst drive away a purchaser, ask him a high price,' or as did
+one, who, being asked by a friend to do him a favour, replied,
+'In the name of God; I will comply with thy request, but not till
+tomorrow.' Whereupon the other answered him with this verse:
+
+'When one, of whom a favour's asked, postpones it till next day,
+     'Tis, to a man who knows the world, as if he said him nay.'"
+
+Quoth Shemseddin, "Verily, thou errest in that thou wouldst make
+thy son more worthy than my daughter, and it is plain that thou
+lackest both judgment and manners. Thou talkest of thy share in
+the Vizierate, when I only admitted thee to share with me, in
+pity for thee, not wishing to mortify thee, and that thou
+mightest help me. But since thou talkest thus, by Allah, I will
+not marry my daughter to thy son, though thou pay down her weight
+in gold!" When Noureddin heard this, he was angry and said, "And
+I, I will never marry my son to thy daughter." "I would not
+accept him as a husband for her," answered the other, "and were I
+not bound to attend the Sultan on his journey, I would make an
+example of thee; but when I return, I will let thee see what my
+dignity demands." When Noureddin heard this speech from his
+brother, he was beside himself for rage, but held his peace and
+stifled his vexation; and each passed the night in his own place,
+full of wrath against the other. As soon as it was day, the
+Sultan went out to Ghizeh and made for the Pyramids, accompanied
+by the Vizier Shemseddin, whilst Noureddin arose, sore enraged,
+and prayed the morning-prayer. Then he went to his treasury, and
+taking a small pair of saddle-bags, filled them with gold. And he
+called to mind his brother's words and the contempt with which he
+had treated him and repeated the following verses:
+
+Travel, for yon shall find new friends in place of those you
+     leave, And labour, for in toil indeed the sweets of life
+     reside.
+Nor gain nor honour comes to him who idly stays at home; So leave
+     thy native land behind and journey far and wide.
+Oft have I seen a stagnant pool corrupt with standing still; If
+     water run, 'tis sweet, but else grows quickly putrefied.
+If the full moon were always high and never waned nor set, Men
+     would not strain their watchful eyes for it at every tide.
+Except the arrow leave the bow, 'twill never hit the mark, Nor
+     will the lion chance on prey, if in the copse he bide.
+The aloes in its native land a kind of firewood is, And precious
+     metals are but dust whilst in the mine they hide.
+The one is sent abroad and grows more precious straight than
+     gold; The other's brought to light and finds its value
+     magnified.
+
+Then he bade one of his people saddle him his mule with a padded
+saddle. Now she was a dapple mule, high-backed, like a dome
+builded upon columns; her saddle was of cloth of gold and her
+stirrups of Indian steel, her housings of Ispahan velvet, and she
+was like a bride on her wedding night. Moreover, he bade lay on
+her back a carpet of silk and strap the saddle-bags on that and
+spread a prayer-rug over the whole. The man did as he bade him
+and Noureddin said to his servants, "I have a mind to ride out
+a-pleasuring towards Kelyoubiyeh, and I shall lie three nights
+abroad; but let none of you follow me, for my heart is heavy."
+Then he mounted the mule in haste and set out from Cairo, taking
+with him a little victual, and made for the open country. About
+mid-day, he reached the town of Belbeys, where he alighted and
+rested himself and the mule. Then he took out food and ate and
+fared on again in the direction of the desert, after having
+bought victual and fodder for the mule in the town. Towards
+nightfall, he came to a town called Saadiyeh, where he alighted
+and took out food and ate, then spread the carpet on the ground
+and laying the saddle bags under his head, slept in the open air,
+for he was still overcome with anger. As soon as it was day, he
+mounted and rode onward, till he reached the city of Jerusalem
+and thence to Aleppo, where he alighted at one of the khans and
+abode three days, to rest himself and the mule. Then, being still
+intent upon travel, he mounted and setting out again, he knew not
+whither, journeyed on without ceasing, till he reached the city
+of Bassora, where he alighted at a certain khan and spread out
+his prayer-carpet, after having taken the saddle-bags off the
+mule's back and given her to the porter that he might walk her
+about. As chance would have it, the Vizier of Bassora, who was a
+very old man, was sitting at a window of his palace opposite the
+khan and saw the porter walking the mule up and down. He remarked
+her costly trappings and took her to be a mule of parade, of such
+as are ridden by kings and viziers. This set him thinking and he
+became perplexed and said to one of his servants, "Bring me
+yonder porter." So the servant went and returned with the porter,
+who kissed the ground before the Vizier; and the latter said to
+him, "Who is the owner of that mule, and what manner of man is
+he?" "O my lord," replied the porter, "he is a comely young man
+of the sons of the merchants, grave and dignified of aspect."
+When the Vizier heard this, he rose at once and mounting his
+horse, rode to the khan and went in to Noureddin, who, seeing him
+making towards himself, rose and went to meet him and saluted
+him. The Vizier bade him welcome to Bassora and dismounting,
+embraced him and made him sit down by his side and said to him,
+"O my son, whence comest thou and what dost thou seek?" "O my
+lord." answered Noureddin, "I come from the city of Cairo;" and
+told him his story from beginning to end, saying, "I am resolved
+not to return home, till I have seen all the towns and countries
+of the world." When the Vizier heard this, he said to him, "O my
+son, follow not the promptings of thy soul, lest they bring thee
+into peril; for indeed the lands are waste and I fear the issues
+of Fortune for thee." Then he let load the saddle-bags and the
+carpets on the mule and carried Noureddin to his own house, where
+he lodged him in a pleasant place and made much of him, for he
+had conceived a great affection for him. After awhile, he said to
+him, "O my son, I am an old man and have no male child, but God
+has given me a daughter who is thy match for beauty, and I have
+refused many suitors for her hand. But love of thee has got hold
+upon my heart; so wilt thou accept of my daughter to thine
+handmaid and be her husband? If thou consent to this, I will
+carry thee to the Sultan of Bassora and tell him that thou art my
+brother's son and bring thee to be appointed Vizier in my stead,
+that I may keep the house, for, by Allah, O my son, I am a very
+old man and I am weary." When Noureddin heard the Vizier's
+proposal, he bowed his head awhile, then raised it and answered,
+"I hear and obey." At this the Vizier rejoiced and bade his
+servants decorate the great hall, in which they were wont to
+celebrate the marriages of nobles. Then he assembled his friends
+and the notables of the kingdom and the merchants of Bassora and
+said to them, "I had a brother who was Vizier in Cairo, and God
+vouchsafed him two sons, whilst to me, as you know, He has given
+a daughter. My brother proposed to me to marry my daughter to one
+of his sons, to which I consented; and when my daughter came at a
+marriageable age, he sent me one of his sons, this young man now
+present, to whom I purpose now to marry her, for he is better
+than a stranger, and that he shall go in to her in my house this
+night. After, if he please, he shall abide with me, or if he
+please, he shall return with his wife to his father." The guests
+replied, "It is well seen of thee." And they looked at Noureddin
+and were pleased with him. So the Vizier sent for Cadis and
+witnesses, and they drew up the marriage contract, after which
+the servants perfumed the guests with incense and sprinkled
+rose-water on them, and they drank sherbet of sugar and went
+away. Then the Vizier bade his servants take Noureddin to the
+bath and sent him a suit of the best of his own clothes, besides
+cups and napkins and perfume-burners and all else that he
+required. So he went to the bath, and when he came out and put on
+the suit, he was like the moon on the night of her full. Then he
+mounted his mule and returning to the Vizier's palace, went in to
+the latter and kissed his hands. The Vizier welcomed him and said
+to him, "Arise, go in to thy wife this night, and tomorrow I will
+carry thee to the Sultan; and I pray God to bless thee with all
+manner of good!" So Noureddin left him and went in to his wife,
+the Vizier's daughter. To return to his brother Shemseddin. When
+he came back to Cairo, after having been absent awhile with the
+Sultan, he missed his brother and enquired of his servants, who
+said, "On the day of thy departure with the Sultan, thy brother
+mounted his mule, caparisoned as for state, saying, 'I am going
+towards El Kelyoubiyeh and shall be absent a day or two, for I am
+heavy of heart; and let none follow me.' Then he rode away, and
+from that time to this we have heard nothing of him." Shemseddin
+was concerned at his brother's absence and became exceedingly
+uneasy, when he found that he did not return, and said to
+himself, "This is because I spoke harshly to him that night, and
+he has taken it to heart and gone away; but I must send after
+him." Then he went in to the King and acquainted him with what
+had happened, and he wrote letters and despatched couriers to his
+deputies in every province; but after awhile they returned
+without having been able to come at any news of Noureddin, who
+had by this time reached Bassora. So Shemseddin despaired of
+finding his brother and said, "Indeed, I went beyond all bounds
+in what I said to him, with reference to the marriage of our
+children. Would it had not been so! This all comes of my lack of
+sense and judgment." Soon after this he sought in marriage the
+daughter of a merchant of Cairo and took her to wife and went in
+to her (as it happened by the will of God the Most High, that so
+He might carry out what He had decreed to His creatures) on the
+very night on which Noureddin went in to the Vizier's daughter of
+Bassora. Moreover, it was as the two brothers had said; for their
+wives conceived by them and were brought to bed on the same day,
+the wife of Shemseddin of a daughter, never was seen in Cairo a
+fairer than she, and the wife of Noureddin of a son, than whom a
+handsomer was never seen in his time. They named the boy
+Bedreddin Hassan, and his grandfather, the Vizier of Bassora
+rejoiced in him and gave feasts and public entertainments, as for
+the birth of a king's son. Then he took Noureddin and went up
+with him to the Sultan. When Noureddin came in presence of the
+King, he kissed the ground before him and repeated the following
+verses, for he was facile of speech, firm of soul and abounding
+in good parts and natural gifts:
+
+May all delights of life attend thee, O my lord, And mayst thou
+     live as long as night and morning be!
+Lo! when meets tongues recall thy magnanimity, The age doth leap
+     for Joy and Time claps hands for glee.
+
+The Sultan rose to receive them and after thanking Noureddin for
+his compliment, asked the Vizier who he was. The Vizier replied,
+"This is my brother's son." And the Sultan said, "How comes it
+that we have never heard of him?" "O my lord the Sultan,"
+answered the Vizier, know that my brother was Vizier in Egypt and
+died, leaving two sons, whereof the elder became Vizier in his
+father's stead and the younger, whom thou seest, came to me. I
+had sworn that I would give my daughter in marriage to none but
+him; so when he came, I married him to her. Now he is young and I
+am old; my hearing grows dull and my judgment fails; wherefore I
+pray our lord the Sultan to make him Vizier in my room, for he is
+my brother's son and the husband of my daughter, and he is apt
+for the Vizierate, being a man of sense and judgment." The Sultan
+looked at Noureddin and was pleased with him, so granted the
+Vizier's request and appointed him to the Vizierate, presenting
+him with a splendid dress of honour and one of his choicest mules
+and allotting him stipends and allowances. Noureddin kissed the
+Sultan's hands and went home, he and his father-in-law, rejoicing
+greatly and saying, "This is of the good fortune of the new-born
+Hassan.'' Next day he presented himself before the King and
+repeated the following verses:
+
+New favours attend thee each day of thy life, And fortune to
+     counter the craft of thy foes!
+May thy days with God's favour be white to the end, And black be
+     their days with misfortune and woes!
+
+The Sultan commanded him to sit in the Vizier's place; so he sat
+down and applied himself to the business of his office, examining
+into the folks' affairs and giving judgment on their suits, after
+the usage of Viziers, whilst the Sultan watched him and wondered
+at his wit and good sense and judgment, wherefore he loved him
+and took him into favour. When the Divan broke up, Noureddin
+returned to his house and related what had passed to his
+father-in-law, who rejoiced. Thence-forward Noureddin ceased not
+so to apply himself to the duties of the Vizierate, that he left
+not the Sultan day or night and the latter increased his stipends
+and allowances till he amassed great wealth and became the owner
+of ships, that made trading voyages for his hand, as well as of
+slaves and servants, black and white, and laid out many estates
+and made irrigation-works and planted gardens. When his son
+Hassan was four years old, his father-in-law, the old Vizier,
+died, and he buried him with great pomp. Then he occupied himself
+with the education of his son and when he came to the age of
+seven, he brought him a doctor of the law, to teach him in his
+own house, and charged him to give him a good education and teach
+him good manners. So the tutor taught the boy to read and all
+manner of useful knowledge, after he had spent some years in
+committing the Koran to memory; and he grew in stature and beauty
+and symmetry, even as says the poet:
+
+The moon in the heaven of his grace shines full and fair to see,
+     And the sun of the morning glows in his cheeks' anemones.
+He's such a compend of beauties, meseems, indeed, from him The
+     world all beauty borrows that lives in lands and seas.
+
+The professor brought him up in his father's palace, and all his
+years of youth he never left the house, till one day his father
+clad him in his richest clothes, and mounting him on one of the
+best of his mules, carried him to the Sultan, who was struck with
+his beauty and loved him. As for the people of the city, when he
+passed through the streets on his way to the palace, they were
+dazzled with his loveliness and sat down in the road, awaiting
+his return, that they might gaze their fill on his beauty and
+grace and symmetry. The Sultan made much of the boy and bade his
+father bring him with him, whenever his affairs called him to the
+palace. Noureddin replied, "I hear and obey," and ceased not to
+carry him to the Sultan's court, till he reached the age of
+fifteen, when his father sickened and calling his son, said to
+him, "Know, O my son, that this world is but a temporary abode,
+whilst the next is an eternal one. Before I die, I wish to give
+thee certain last injunctions, so pay heed to my words and set
+thy mind to understand them." Then he gave him certain advice as
+to the proper way of dealing with folk and the conduct of his
+affairs; after which he called to mind his brother and his native
+land and wept for his separation from those he loved. Then he
+wiped away his tears and turning to his son, said to him, "Before
+I proceed to my parting exhortations, thou must know that thou
+hast an uncle who is Vizier in Cairo, and I left him and went
+away without his consent." Then he took a sheet of paper and
+wrote therein all that had happened to him from the day of the
+dispute, together with the dates of his marriage and going in to
+the Vizier's daughter and the birth of his son; after which he
+folded and sealed the paper and gave it to his son, saying, "keep
+this paper carefully, for in it is written thy rank and lineage
+and origin, and if any mishap befall thee, go to Cairo and ask
+for thine uncle and give him this and tell him that I died in a
+foreign land, full of longing for him." So Bedreddin took the
+paper and wrapping it in a piece of waxed cloth, sewed it into
+the lining of his skull-cap and wound the muslin of his turban
+over it, weeping the while at the thought of losing his father,
+whilst himself but a boy. Then said Noureddin, "I have five
+behests to lay on thee: and the first is that thou be not too
+familiar with any one, neither frequent him nor foregather with
+him over-much; so shalt thou be safe from his mischief, for in
+retirement is safety, and I have heard it said by a poet:
+
+There is no man in all the world, whose love is worth thy trust,
+     No friend who, if fate play thee false, will true and
+     constant be.
+Wherefore I'd have thee live apart and lean for help on none. In
+     this I give thee good advice; so let it profit thee.
+
+Secondly, O my son, oppress no one, lest Fortune oppress thee;
+for the fortune of this world is one day for thee and another
+against thee, and its goods are but a loan to be repaid. As I
+have heard a poet say:
+
+Be slow to move and hasten not to snatch thy heart's desire; Be
+     merciful to all, as thou on mercy reckonest;
+For no hand is there but the hand of God is over it, And no
+     oppressor but shall be with worse than he oppress.
+
+Thirdly, preserve silence and let thy faults distract thee from
+those of other men; for it is said that in silence is safety; and
+thereon I have heard the following verses:
+
+Silence is fair and safety lies in taciturnity. So, when thou
+     speak'st, I counsel thee, give not thy tongue the rein.
+Since, for one time that thou repent the having held thy tongue,
+     Thou shalt of having spoke repent again and yet again.
+
+Fourthly, O my son, beware of drinking wine, for wine is the root
+of all evils and the thief of wit. Guard thyself from it, for the
+poet says:
+
+Wine and the drinkers of wine I have put away, And am become of
+     those that of it mis-say.
+For wine indeed diverts from the road of right, And to all kinds
+     of evil opens the way.
+
+Lastly, O my son, keep thy wealth, that it may keep thee, and
+watch over it, that it may watch over thee. Squander not thy
+substance, or thou wilt come to need the meanest of folk. Guard
+well thy money, for it is a sovereign salve for the wounds of
+life, even as says the poet:
+
+If wealth should fail, there is no friend will bear thee company,
+     But whilst thy substance still abounds, all men are friends
+     to thee.
+How many a foe for money's sake hath companied with me! But when
+     wealth failed beneath my hand, my dearest friend did flee."
+
+And Noureddin ceased not to exhort his son till his spirit
+departed and his house became the abode of mourning. The King and
+all the Amirs grieved for him and buried him; but Bedreddin
+ceased not to bewail his father for two whole months, during
+which time he never left the house, nor did he attend the Divan
+or present himself before the Sultan. At last the latter became
+wroth with him and made one of his chamberlains Vizier in his
+stead and bade him seize on all Noureddin's houses and goods and
+possessions and seal them up. So the new Vizier went forth to do
+this and take Bedreddin Hassan and bring him before the Sultan,
+that he might deal with him as he thought fit. Now there was
+among the troops one who had been a servant of the deceased
+Vizier, and when he heard this order he spurred his steed and
+rode at full speed to Bedreddin's house, where he found him
+sitting at the gate, with downcast head, broken-hearted. So he
+dismounted and kissing his hand, said to him, "O my lord and son
+of my lord, hasten, ere destruction light on thee!" When
+Bedreddin heard this, he trembled and said, "What is the matter?"
+"The Sultan is wroth with thee," answered the other, "and has
+given orders for thine arrest, and calamity follows hard upon me,
+so flee for thy life." Quoth Bedreddin, "Is there time for me to
+go in and take somewhat to stand me in stead in my strangerhood?"
+But the other answered, "O my lord, rise at once and save thyself
+whilst it is yet time, and leave thy house." So Bedreddin covered
+his face with his skirt and went out and walked on till he came
+without the city. On his way, he heard the people saying that the
+Sultan had sent the new Vizier to the late Vizier's house, to
+seize on his possessions and take his son Bedreddin Hassan and
+bring him before him, that he might put him to death, and they
+grieved for him by reason of his beauty and grace. When he heard
+this, he fled forth at hazard, not knowing whither, and chance
+led him to the cemetery where his father was buried. So he passed
+among the tombs, till he came to his father's sepulchre and
+entering, sat down and let fall from over his head the skirt of
+his cassock, which was made of brocade, with the following lines
+embroidered in gold on the hem:
+
+Thou whose face with the rainbow might vie, That art bright as
+     the stars of the sky,
+May thy fortune ne'er fail to be fair And thy glory for ever be
+     high!
+
+As he sat by his father's tomb, there came up a Jew, as he were a
+money-changer, with a pair of saddle-bags full of gold, and
+accosted him, saying, "Whither away, O my lord? It is near the
+end of the day and thou art lightly clad and bearest the marks of
+chagrin on thy countenance." "I was asleep but now," answered
+Bedreddin, "when my father appeared to me and reproached me for
+not having visited his tomb, and I awoke, trembling, and came
+hither at once, fearing lest the day should pass, without my
+paying him a visit, which would have been grievous to me." "O my
+lord," said the Jew, "thy father had many ships at sea, whereof
+some are now due; and it is my wish to buy of thee the cargo of
+the first that comes into port for a thousand dinars." "I will
+well," answered Bedreddin; whereupon the Jew took out a purse of
+gold and counted out a thousand dinars, which he gave to
+Bedreddin, saying, "Write me an acknowledgment and seal it." So
+Bedreddin took pen and paper and wrote the following in double:
+"The writer, Bedreddin Hassan, son of the Vizier Noureddin of
+Bassora, has sold to Isaac the Jew all the cargo of the first of
+his father's ships that comes into port, at the price of a
+thousand dinars, which he has received in advance." Then he gave
+one copy to the Jew, who took it and went away, and put the other
+in the purse, which he thrust into his waistcloth. And he
+bethought him of his former estate of honour and consideration
+and wept and repeated the following verses:
+
+Home is no longer home to me, now ye are gone away, Nor are the
+     neighbours neighbours now, after our parting-day,
+The comrade, whom I loved whilere, no more a comrade is, And even
+     the very sun and moon' no longer bright are they.
+Ye went away and all the world was saddened for your loss, And
+     all the hills and plains grew dark with sorrow and dismay.
+O that the raven of ill-luck, that croaked our parting hour, May
+     lose his plumes nor find a nest in which his bead to lay!
+My patience fails me for desire, my body wasteth sore; How many a
+     veil the hands of death and parting rend in tway!
+I wonder, will our happy nights come ever back again, Or one
+     house hold us two once more, after the olden way!
+
+Then he wept sore and laying his head on his father's tomb,
+remained plunged in melancholy thought till drowsiness overcame
+him and he fell asleep. He slept on till the moon rose, when
+his head rolled off the tomb and he lay on his back, with his
+face gleaming in the moon. Now the cemetery was haunted by true-
+believing Jinn, and presently a Jinniyeh came out and seeing
+Bedreddin lying asleep, marvelled at his beauty and grace and
+said, "Glory be to God! This can be no other than one of the
+children of Paradise." Then she rose into the air to fly about,
+as was her wont, and met an Afrit flying, who saluted her, and
+she said to him, "Whence comest thou?" "From Cairo," replied he.
+Quoth she, "Wilt thou come with me and look on the beauty of a
+youth who sleeps in the burial-ground yonder?" And he said, "I
+will well." So they both flew down to the tomb and she showed him
+Bedreddin, saying, "Sawest thou ever the like of this young man?"
+The Afrit looked at him and exclaimed, "Blessed be God to whom
+there is none like! But, O my sister, shall I tell thee what I
+have seen this day?" "What is that?" asked she; and he answered,
+"I have seen a young lady in the land of Egypt, who is the
+counterpart of this youth. She is the daughter of the Vizier
+Shemseddin of Cairo and is possessed of beauty and grace and
+symmetry and perfection. When she reached the age of fifteen, the
+Sultan of Egypt heard of her and sending for the Vizier her
+father, said to him, 'O Vizier, it has come to my knowledge
+that thou hast a daughter and I wish to demand her of thee in
+marriage.' 'O my lord the Sultan,' replied the Vizier, 'I
+prithee accept my excuse and take compassion on my grief, for
+thou knowest that my brother Noureddin, who was my partner in the
+Vizierate, left us many years ago and went I know not whither.
+Now the reason of his departure was that one night we were
+sitting talking of marriage and children, when we came to words
+on the subject and he was angry with me and went away in his
+anger. But on the day her mother bore her, fifteen years ago, I
+swore that I would marry my daughter to none but my brother's
+son. Now, awhile ago, I heard that he is lately dead at Bassora,
+where he was Vizier, after having married the former Vizier's
+daughter and had by her a son; and I will not marry my daughter
+but to him, in honour of my brother's memory. Moreover, I
+recorded the date of my marriage and of the conception and birth
+of my daughter and drew her horoscope, and she is destined for
+her cousin and there are girls in plenty for our lord the
+Sultan.' When the Sultan heard the Vizier's answer, he was
+exceeding wroth and said, 'When the like of me demands in
+marriage the daughter of the like of thee, he confers a favour
+on her, and thou puttest me off with idle excuses! As my head
+liveth, I will marry her to the meanest of my serving men, to
+spite thee!' Now the Sultan had a hunchbacked groom, with a hump
+behind and before, and he sent for him and married him to the
+Vizier's daughter, whether she would or no, and bade carry him in
+procession and bring him in to his bride this very night. Now I
+have just come from Cairo, where I left the hunchback at the door
+of the bath, surrounded by the King's servants holding lighted
+flambeaux and making mock of him. As for the Vizier's daughter,
+she sits among her nurses and tire-women, weeping, for they have
+forbidden her father access to her. Never, O my sister, saw I one
+more hideous than the hunchback, whilst the young lady is the
+likest of all folk to this youth, though she is even handsomer
+than he." "Thou liest," replied the Jinniyeh; "this youth is
+handsomer than any one of his day." "By Allah, O my sister,"
+replied the Afrit, "the girl I speak of is handsomer than he, but
+none but he is worthy of her, for they resemble each other as
+they were brother and sister or brothers' children. Alas, the
+pity of her with that hunchback!" Then said she, "O my brother,
+let us take him up and carry him to Cairo, that we may compare
+him with the damsel and see whether of them is the handsomer."
+"I hear and obey," answered the Afrit; "this is right well
+advised, and I will carry him." So he took Bedreddin up and flew
+with him through the air, accompanied by the Afriteh, till he
+alighted in the city of Cairo and set him down on a stone bench.
+Then he aroused him, and when he found himself no longer on his
+father's tomb in Bassora, but in a strange city, he would have
+cried out, but the Afrit gave him a cuff and imposed silence on
+him. Then he brought him a splendid dress and made him put it on,
+and giving him a lighted flambeau, said to him, "Know that I have
+brought thee hither, meaning to do thee a good turn for the love
+of God; so take this torch and mingle with the people at the door
+of the bath and accompany them to the house of the wedding
+festival. Then advance and enter the hall and fear none, but sit
+down on the right hand of the humpbacked bridegroom; and as often
+as the tire-women and singers stop before thee, put thy hand into
+thy pocket and thou wilt find it full of gold. Take it out by
+handsful and give to all who come to thee and spare not, for as
+often as thou puttest thy hand into thy pocket, thou wilt find it
+without fail full of gold. So fear nothing, but put thy trust in
+Him who created thee, for all this is not by shine own strength
+but by that of God, that His decrees may take effect upon His
+creatures." Quoth Bedreddin to himself, "I wonder what is the
+meaning of all this!" And taking the torch, went to the bath,
+where he found the hunchback already on horseback. So he mixed
+with the people and moved on with the bridal-procession; and as
+often as the singing-women stopped to collect largesse from the
+people, he put his hand into his pocket and finding it full
+of gold, took out a handful and threw it into the singers'
+tambourine, till it was full of dinars. The singing women were
+amazed at his munificence and they and the people wondered at his
+beauty and grace and the richness of his dress. He ceased not to
+do thus, till he reached the Vizier's palace, where the
+chamberlains drove back the people and forbade them to enter;
+but the singing women said, "By Allah, we will not enter, unless
+this young man enter with us, for he has overwhelmed us with
+his bounties; nor shall the bride be displayed, except he be
+present." So the chamberlains let him pass, and he entered the
+bridal saloon with the singers, who made him sit down, in
+defiance of the humpbacked bridegroom. The wives of the Viziers
+and Amirs and chamberlains were ranged, each veiled to the eyes
+and holding a great lighted flambeau, in two ranks, extending
+right and left from the bride's throne[FN#61] to the upper end of
+the dais, in front of the door from which she was to issue. When
+the ladies saw Bedreddin and noted his beauty and grace and his
+face that shone like the new moon, they all inclined to him, and
+the singers said to all the women present, "You must know that
+this handsome youth has handselled us with nought but red gold,
+so fail ye not to wait on him and comply with all that he says."
+So all the women crowded round Bedreddin, with their torches, and
+gazed on his beauty arid envied him his grace; and each would
+gladly have lain in his bosom an hour or a year. In their
+intoxication, they let fall their veils from their faces and
+said, "Happy she who belongs to him or to whom he belongs!" And
+they cursed the humpbacked groom and him who was the cause of his
+marriage to that lovely lady; and as often as they invoked
+blessings on Bedreddin, they followed them up with imprecations
+on the hunchback, saying, "Indeed, this youth and he alone
+deserves our bride. Alas, the pity of her with this wretched
+hunchback, God's curse be on him and on the Sultan who will have
+her marry him!" Then the singers beat their tambourines and
+raised cries of joy, announcing the coming of the bride; and the
+Vizier's daughter entered, surrounded by her tire-women, who had
+perfumed her with essences and incensed her and decked her hair
+and dressed her in costly robes and ornaments such as were worn
+by the ancient kings of Persia. Over all she wore a robe
+embroidered in red gold with figures of birds and beasts with
+eyes and beaks of precious stones and feet and claws of red
+rubies and green beryl, and about her neck was clasped a necklace
+of Yemen work, worth many thousands of dinars, whose beazels were
+all manner jewels, never had Caesar or King of Yemen its like.
+She seemed as it were the full moon, when it shines out on the
+fourteenth night, or one of the houris of Paradise, glory be to
+Him who made her so splendidly fair! The women encompassed her as
+they were stars, and she in their midst as the moon breaking
+through the clouds. As she came forward, swaying gracefully to
+and fro, the hunchback rose to kiss her, but she turned from him
+and seeing Bedreddin Hassan seated, with all the company gazing
+on him, went and stood before him. When the folk saw her thus
+attracted towards Bedreddin, they laughed and shouted and the
+singers raised their voices, whereupon he put his hand to his
+pocket and cast gold by handsful into the tambourines of the
+singing-women, who rejoiced and said, "Would this bride were
+thine!" At this he smiled, and the people came round him, with
+the flambeaux in their hands, whilst the hunchback was left
+sitting alone, looking like an ape; for as often as they
+lighted a candle for him, it went out and he abode in darkness,
+speechless and confounded and grumbling to himself. When
+Bedreddin saw the bridegroom sitting moping alone and all the
+lights and people collected round himself, he was confounded and
+marvelled; but when he looked at his cousin, the Vizier's
+daughter, he rejoiced and was glad, for indeed her face was
+radiant with light and brilliancy. Then the tire-women took off
+the veil and displayed the bride in her first dress of red satin,
+and she moved to and fro with a languorous grace, till the heads
+of all the men and women were turned by her loveliness, for she
+was even as says the excellent poet:
+
+Like a sun at the end of a cane in a hill of sand, She shines in
+     a dress of the hue of pomegranate-flower.
+She gives me to drink of her cheeks and her honeyed lips, And
+     quenches the flaming fires that my heart devour.
+
+Then they changed her dress and displayed her in a robe of blue;
+and she reappeared like the moon when it bursts through the
+clouds, with her coal-black hair and her smiling teeth, her
+delicate cheeks and her swelling bosom, even as says the sublime
+poet:
+
+She comes in a robe the colour of ultramarine, Blue as the
+     stainless sky unflecked with white.
+I view her with yearning eyes, and she seems to me A moon of the
+     summer set in a winter's night.
+
+Then they clad her in a third dress and letting down her long
+black ringlets, veiled her face to her eyes with the super-
+abundance of her hair, which vied with the murkiest night in
+length and blackness; and she smote all hearts with the enchanted
+arrows of her glances. As says the poet:
+
+With hair that hides her rosy cheeks ev'n to her speaking eyes,
+     She comes; and I her locks compare unto a sable cloud
+And say to her, "Thou curtainest the morning with the night." But
+     she, "Not so; it is the moon that with the dark I shroud."
+
+Then they displayed her in the fourth dress, and she shone forth
+like the rising sun, swaying to and fro with amorous languor and
+turning from side to side with gazelle-like grace. And she
+pierced hearts with the arrows of her eyelashes; even as says the
+poet:
+
+A sun of beauty she appears to all that look on her, Glorious in
+     arch and amorous grace, with coyness beautified;
+And when the sun of morning sees her visage and her smile,
+     Conquered, he hasteneth his face behind the clouds to hide.
+
+Then they displayed her in the fifth dress, with her ringlets let
+down. The downy hair crept along her cheeks, and she swayed to
+and fro, like a willow-wand or a gazelle bending down to drink,
+with graceful motions of the neck and hips. As says the poet,
+describing her:
+
+Like the full moon she doth appear, on a calm night and fair;
+     Slender of shape and charming all with her seductive air.
+She hath an eye, whose glances pierce the hearts of all mankind,
+     Nor can cornelian with her cheeks for ruddiness compare.
+The sable torrent of her locks falls down unto her hips; Beware
+     the serpents of her curls, I counsel thee, beware!
+Indeed, her glance, her sides are soft, but none the less, alas!
+     Her heart is harder than the rock; there is no mercy there.
+The starry arrows of her looks she darts above her veil; They hit
+     and never miss the mark, though from afar they fare.
+When I clasp hands about her waist, to press her to my heart, The
+     swelling apples of her breast compel me to forbear.
+Alas, her beauty! it outdoes all other loveliness; Her shape
+     transcends the willow-wand and makes the branch despair.
+
+Then they unveiled her in the sixth dress, which was green. In
+this she reached the utmost bounds of loveliness, outvying in
+slender straightness the tawny spear-shaft, and in suppleness and
+flexile grace the bending branch, whilst the splendours of her
+face outshone the radiance of the full moon. Indeed, she
+transcended the fair of all quarters of the world and all hearts
+were broken by her loveliness; for she was even as says the poet:
+
+A damsel made for love and decked with subtle grace; You'd say
+     the very sun had borrowed from her face.
+She came in robes of green, the likeness of the leaf That the
+     pomegranate flower cloth in the bud encase.
+"How call'st thou this thy dress?" we said to her, and she Made
+     answer with a word full of malicious grace.
+"Breaker of Hearts," quoth she, "I call it, for therewith I've
+     broken many a heart among the human race."
+
+Then they dressed her in the seventh dress, which was of a colour
+between saffron and orange, even as says the poet:
+
+Scented with sandal and musk and ambergris, lo! she comes. The
+     blended hues of her dress 'twixt orange and saffron show.
+Slender and shapely she is; vivacity bids her arise, But the
+     weight of her hips says, "Sit, or softly and slowly go."
+When I solicit her kiss and sue for my heart's desire, "Be
+     gracious," her beauty says, but her coquetry answers, "No."
+
+They unveiled the bride, in all her seven dresses, before
+Bedreddin Hassan, leaving the hunchback sitting by himself; and
+when she opened her eyes, she said, "O my God, grant that this
+youth may be my husband and deliver me from this humpbacked
+groom." Then they dismissed the company and all who were present
+retired, except Bedreddin Hassan and the hunchback, whilst the
+tire-women carried off the bride to undress her and prepare her
+for the bridegroom. Thereupon the hunchback came up to Bedreddin
+Hassan and said to him, "O my lord, thou hast cheered us with
+thy company tonight and overwhelmed us with thy favours. Wilt
+thou not now rise and depart?" "In the name of God," replied
+Bedreddin, and rising, went out of the door, where the Afrit met
+him and said to him, "Stay where thou art, and when the hunchback
+goes out to the draught-house, enter thou the bride chamber and
+do not hesitate, but sit down in the alcove, and when the bride
+comes, say to her, ''Tis I who am thy husband, for the King only
+played this trick on thee, to conjure the evil eye from us; and
+he whom thou sawest is one of our grooms.' Then go up to her and
+uncover her face and fear nothing, for jealousy hath taken us of
+this affair and none is worthy to enjoy her youth but thyself.'
+As he was yet speaking, the groom came out and entering the
+closet, sat down on the stool. Hardly had he done so, when the
+Afrit appeared to him in the shape of a mouse, issuing from the
+water-trough,[FN#62] and cried "Queek!" Quoth the hunchback,
+"What ails thee?" And the mouse increased till it became a cat
+and said, "Miaou! Miaou!" Then it grew still more and became a
+dog and cried, "Bow! Wow!" When the hunchback saw this, he was
+terrified and exclaimed, "Begone, O unlucky one!" The dog
+increased and became an ass-colt, that brayed and cried out in
+his face, "Heehaw! Heehaw!" Whereupon the hunchback quaked and
+cried out, "Come to my aid, O people of the house!" But the ass
+increased and swelled, till it became a buffalo and barred the
+way against him and said with a human voice, "Out on thee,
+hunchback, thou stinkard!" The groom was seized with a colic and
+sat down on the jakes with his clothes on and his teeth
+chattering. Quoth the Afrit, "Is the world so small that thou
+canst find none to marry but my mistress?'' But he was silent,
+and the Afrit said, "Answer me, or I will make thee a dweller in
+the dust." "By Allah," replied the hunchback, "I am not to blame,
+for they forced me to marry her, and I knew not that she had a
+buffalo for a gallant; but I repent to God and to thee. What wilt
+thou have me do?" Quoth the Afrit, "I swear to thee that, if thou
+leave this place or speak before sunrise, I will wring thy neck!
+When the sun rises, go thy way and never return to this house."
+So saying, he seized the hunchback and set him upside down
+against the wall, with his head in the slit and his feet in the
+air, and said to him, "I will leave thee here and watch thee
+till sunrise; and if thou stir before then, I will seize thee by
+the feet and dash out thy brains against the wall." Meanwhile
+Bedreddin Hassan entered the bride chamber and sat down in the
+alcove. Presently, in came the bride, attended by an old woman,
+who stopped at the door of the chamber and said, "O father of
+symmetry,[FN#63] arise and take what God sends thee." Then the
+old woman went away, and the bride, whose name was the Lady of
+Beauty, entered, heart-broken and saying to herself, "By Allah, I
+will never yield myself to him, though he kill me!" When she came
+to the alcove, she saw Bedreddin sitting there and said, "O my
+friend, thou here at this hour! By Allah, I was wishing that thou
+wast my husband or that thou and the groom were partners in me!"
+"How should the groom have access to thee," asked Bedreddin,
+"and how should he share with me in thee?" Quoth she "Who is my
+husband, thou or he?" "O Lady of Beauty," replied Bedreddin, "all
+this was only a device to conjure the evil eye from us. Thy
+father hired the hunchback for ten diners to that end, and now he
+has taken his wage and gone away. Didst thou not see the singers
+and tire-women laughing at him and how thy people displayed thee
+before me?" When the Lady of Beauty heard this, she smiled and
+rejoiced and laughed softly. Then she said to him, "Thou hast
+quenched the fire of my heart, so, by Allah, take me and press me
+to thy bosom." Now she was without clothes; so she threw open the
+veil in which she was wrapped and showed her hidden charms. At
+this sight, desire stirred in Bedreddin, and he rose and put off
+his clothes. The purse of a thousand dinars he had received of
+the Jew he wrapped in his trousers and laid them under the
+mattress; then took off his turban and hung it on the settle,
+remaining in a skull-cap and shirt of fine silk, laced with gold.
+With this arose the Lady of Beauty and drew him to her, and he
+did the like with her. Then he took her to his embrace and
+pointing the engine that batters down the fortalice of virginity,
+stormed the citadel and found her an unpierced pearl and a filly
+that none but he had ridden. So he took her maidenhead and
+enjoyed her dower of youth; nor did he stint to return to the
+assault till he had furnished fifteen courses, and she conceived
+by him. Then he laid his hand under her head and she did the
+like, and they embraced and fell asleep in each other's arms,
+whilst the tongue of the case spoke the words of the poet:
+
+Cleave fast to her thou lov'st and let the envious rail amain,
+     For calumny and envy ne'er to favour love were fain.
+Lo! the Compassionate hath made no fairer thing to see Than when
+     one couch in its embrace enfoldeth lovers twain,
+Each to the other's bosom clasped, clad in their own delight,
+     Whilst hand with hand and arm with arm about their necks
+     enchain.
+Lo! when two hearts are straitly knit in passion and desire, But
+     on cold iron smite the folk that chide at them in vain.
+If in thy time thou find but one to love thee and be true, I rede
+     thee cast the world away and with that one remain.
+
+As soon as Bedreddin was asleep, the Afrit said to the Afriteh,
+"Come, let us take up the young man and carry him back to his
+place, ere the dawn overtake us, for the day is near." So she
+took up Bedreddin, as he lay asleep, clad only in his shirt and
+skull-cap, and flew away with him, accompanied by the Afrit. But
+the dawn overtook them midway and the muezzins began to chant the
+call to morning-prayer. Then God let His angels cast at the Afrit
+with shooting-stars, and he was consumed; but the Afriteh escaped
+and lighted down with Bedreddin, fearing to carry him further,
+lest he should come to harm. Now as fate would have it, she had
+reached the city of Damascus, so she laid Bedreddin down before
+one of its gates and flew away. As soon as it was day, the gate
+was thrown open and the folk came out, and seeing a handsome
+young man, clad in nothing but a shirt and skull-cap, lying on
+the ground, drowned in sleep by reason of his much swink of the
+night before, said, "Happy she with whom this youth lay the
+night! Would he had waited to put on his clothes!" Quoth another,
+"A sorry race are young men of family! Belike, this fellow but
+now came forth of the tavern on some occasion or other, but being
+overcome with drunkenness, missed the place he was making for and
+strayed till he came to the city gate, and finding it shut, lay
+down and fell asleep." As they were bandying words about him, the
+breeze blew on him and raising his shirt, showed a stomach and
+navel and legs and thighs, firm and clear as crystal and softer
+than cream; whereupon the bystanders exclaimed, "By Allah, it is
+good!" And made such a noise, that Bedreddin awoke and finding
+himself lying at the gate of a city, in the midst of a crowd of
+people, was astonished and said to them, "O good people, where am
+I, and why do you crowd round me thus?" "We found thee lying here
+asleep, at the time of the call to morning-prayer," replied
+they, "and this is all we know of the matter. Where didst thou
+lie last night?" "By Allah, good people," answered he, "I lay
+last night in Cairo!" Quoth one, "Thou hast eaten hashish." And
+another, "Thou art mad; how couldst thou lie yesternight in Cairo
+and awake this morning in Damascus?" "By Allah, good people,"
+rejoined he, "I do not lie to you; indeed I lay last night in the
+city of Cairo and yesterday I was in Bassora." "Good," said one;
+and another, "This youth is mad." And they clapped their hands at
+him and said to each other, "Alack, the pity of his youth! By
+Allah, there is no doubt of his madness." Then said they to him,
+"Collect thyself and return to thy senses. How couldst thou be in
+Bassora yesterday and in Cairo last night and yet awake in
+Damascus this morning?" But he said, "Indeed, I was a bridegroom
+in Cairo last night." "Doubtless thou hast been dreaming,"
+rejoined they, "and hast seen all this in sleep." So he bethought
+himself awhile, then said to them, "By Allah, it was no dream! I
+certainly went to Cairo and they displayed the bride before me,
+in the presence of the hunchback. By Allah, O my brethren, this
+was no dream; or if it was a dream, where is the purse of gold I
+had with me and my turban and trousers and the rest of my
+clothes?" Then he rose and entered the town and passed through
+its streets and markets; but the people followed him and pressed
+on him, crying out, "Madman! Madman!" till he took refuge in a
+cook's shop. Now this cook had been a robber and a sharper, but
+God had made him repent and turn from his evil ways and open a
+cookshop; and all the people of Damascus stood in awe of him and
+feared his mischief. So when they saw Bedreddin enter his shop,
+they dispersed for fear of him and went their ways. The cook
+looked at Bedreddin and noting his beauty and grace, fell in love
+with him and said to him, "Whence comest thou, O youth? Tell me
+thy case, for thou art become to me dearer than my soul." So
+Bedreddin told him all that had befallen him from first to last;
+and the cook said, "O my lord Bedreddin, this is indeed a strange
+thing and a rare story; but, O my son, keep thy case secret, till
+God grant thee relief, and abide here with me meanwhile, for I am
+childless and will adopt thee as my son." And Bedreddin answered,
+"I will well, O uncle." With this the cook went to the bazaar,
+where he bought him a handsome suit of clothes and made him put
+it on, then carried him to the Cadi and formally acknowledged him
+as his son. So Bedreddin passed in Damascus for the cook's son
+and abode with him, sitting in the shop to take the money.
+
+To return to the Lady of Beauty. When the day broke and she awoke
+from sleep, she missed Bedreddin from her side and thought he had
+gone to the lavatory, so lay expecting him awhile, when behold,
+her father entered. Now he was sore at heart by reason of what
+had passed between him and the Sultan and for that he had married
+his daughter by force to one of his servants, and he a lump of a
+hunchbacked groom; and he said to himself, "If she have suffered
+this damnable fellow to possess her, I will kill her." So he came
+to the door of the alcove and cried out, "Ho, Lady of Beauty!"
+She replied, "Here am I, O my lord"; and came out tottering for
+joy, with a face whose brightness and beauty had redoubled for
+that she had lain in the arms of that gazelle,[FN#64] and kissed
+the ground before her father. When the Vizier saw her thus, he
+said to her, "O accursed woman, dost thou rejoice in this groom?"
+At these words, the Lady of Beauty smiled and said, "O my lord,
+let what happened yesterday suffice, when all the folk were
+laughing at me and flouting me with that groom, who is not worth
+the paring of one of my husband's nails. By Allah, I never in all
+my life passed a pleasanter night! So do not mock me by reminding
+me of that hunchback." When her father heard this, he was filled
+with rage and glared at her, saving, "Out on thee! what words are
+these? It was the hunchbacked groom that lay with thee." "For
+God's sake," replied the Lady of Beauty, "do not mention him to
+me, may God curse his father! And mock me not, for the groom was
+only hired for ten dinars to conjure the evil eye from us, and he
+took his hire and departed. As for me, I entered the bridal
+chamber, where I found my true husband sitting in the alcove, him
+before whom the singers had unveiled me and who flung them the
+red gold by handsful, till he made all the poor there rich; and I
+passed the night in the arms of my sprightly husband, with the
+black eyes and joined eyebrows." When her father heard this, the
+light in his eyes became darkness, and he cried out at her,
+saying, "O wanton, what is this thou sayest? Where are thy
+senses?" "O my father," rejoined she, "thou breakest my heart
+with thy persistence in making mock of me! Indeed, my husband,
+who took my maidenhead, is in the wardrobe and I am with child by
+him." The Vizier rose, wondering, and entered the draught-house,
+where he found the hunchbacked groom with his head in the slit
+and his heels in the air. At this sight he was confounded and
+said, "This is none other than the hunchback." So he called to
+him, "Hallo, hunchback!" The groom made no answer but a grunt,
+thinking it was the Afrit who spoke to him. But the Vizier cried
+out at him, saying, "Speak, or I will cut off thy head with this
+sword." Then said the hunchback, "By Allah, O Chief of the
+Afrits, I have not lifted my head since thou didst set me here;
+so, God on thee, have mercy on me!" "What is this thou sayest?"
+quoth the Vizier. "I am no Afrit; I am the father of the bride."
+"It is enough that though hast already gone nigh to make me lose
+my life," replied the hunchback, "go thy ways ere he come upon
+thee who served me thus. Could ye find none to whom to marry me
+but the mistress of an Afrit and the beloved of a buffalo? May
+God curse him who married me to her and him who was the cause of
+it?" Then said the Vizier to him, "Come, get up out of this
+place." "Am I mad," answered the groom, "that I should go with
+thee without the Afrit's leave? He said to me, 'When the sun
+rises, get up and go thy way.' So has the sun risen or no? for I
+dare not budge till then." "Who brought thee hither?" asked the
+Vizier; and the hunchback replied, "I came here last night to do
+an occasion, when behold, a mouse came out of the water and
+squeaked and grew to a buffalo and spoke to me words that entered
+my ears. Then he left me here and went away, accursed be the
+bride and he who married me to her!" The Vizier went up to him
+and set him on his feet; and he went out, running, not crediting
+that the sun had risen, and repaired to the Sultan, to whom he
+related what had befallen him with the Afrit. Meanwhile, the
+Vizier returned to the bride's chamber, troubled in mind about
+his daughter, and said to her, "O my daughter, expound thy case
+to me." "O my father," answered she, "what more can I tell thee?
+Indeed, the bridegroom, he before whom they displayed me
+yesterday, lay with me all night and took my virginity, and I am
+with child by him. If thou believe me not, there is his turban,
+just as he left it, on the settle, and his trousers under the
+bed, with I know not what wrapped up in them." When her father
+heard this, he entered the alcove and found Bedreddin's turban;
+so he took it up and turning it about, said, "This is a Vizier's
+turban, except that it is of the Mosul cut."[FN#65] Then he
+perceived an amulet sewn in the cap of the turban so he unsewed
+the lining and took it out; then took the trousers, in which was
+the purse of a thousand dinars. In the latter he found the
+duplicate of Bedreddin's docket of sale to the Jew, naming him
+as Bedreddin Hassan, son of Noureddin Ali of Cairo. No sooner had
+he read this, than he cried out and fell down in a swoon; and
+when he revived, he wondered and said, "There is no god but God
+the Omnipotent! O my daughter, dost thou know who took thy
+maidenhead?" "No," answered she; and he said, "It was thy
+cousin, my brother's son, and these thousand dinars are thy
+dowry' Glory be to God! Would I knew how this had come about!"
+Then he opened the amulet and found therein a paper in the
+handwriting of his brother Noureddin; and when he saw his
+writing, he knew it and kissed it again and again, weeping and
+making moan for his brother. Then he read the scroll and found in
+it a record of the dates of Noureddin's marriage with the
+Vizier's daughter of Bassora, his going in to her, her conception
+and the birth of Bedreddin Hassan, and the history of his
+brother's life till his death. At this he wondered and was moved
+to joy and comparing the dates with those of his own marriage and
+the birth of his daughter the Lady of Beauty, found that they
+agreed in all respects. So he took the scroll and carrying it to
+the Sultan, told him the whole story from first to last, at which
+the King wondered and commanded the case to be at once set down
+in writing. The Vizier abode all that day awaiting his nephew,
+but he came not; and when seven days were past and he could learn
+nothing of him, he said, "By Allah, I will do a thing that none
+has done before me!" So he took pen and ink and paper and drew a
+plan of the bride-chamber, showing the disposition of all the
+furniture therein, as that the alcove was in such a place, this
+or that curtain in another, and so on with all that was in the
+room. Then he folded the paper and laid it aside, and causing all
+the furniture to be taken up and stored away, took Bedreddin's
+purse and turban and clothes and locked them up with an iron
+padlock, on which he set a seal, against his nephew's coming. As
+for the Lady of Beauty, she accomplished the months of her
+pregnancy and bore a son like the full moon, resembling his
+father in beauty and grace. They cut his navel and blackened his
+eyelids with kohl[FN#66] and committed him to the nurses, naming
+him Agib. His day was as a month and his month as a year, and
+when seven years had passed over him, his grandfather sent him to
+school, bidding the master teach him to read the Koran and give
+him a good education; and he remained at the school four years,
+till he began to bully the little ones and beat them and abuse
+them, saying, "Which of you is like me? I am the son of the
+Vizier of Egypt." At last the children came, in a body, to
+complain to the monitor of Agib's behavior to them, and he said,
+"I will tell you how to do with him, so that he shall leave
+coming to the school and you shall never see him again. It is
+this: when he comes to-morrow, sit down round him and let one of
+you say to the others, 'By Allah, none shall play at this game
+except he tell us the names of his father and mother; for he who
+knows not his parents' names is a bastard and shall not play with
+us.'" So next day, when Agib came to the school, they all
+assembled round him, and one of them said, "We will play a game,
+in which no one shall join except he tell us the names of his
+father and mother." And they all said, "By Allah, it is good."
+Then said one of them, "My name is Majid, my mother's name is
+Alawiyeh and my father's Izeddin." And the others said the like,
+till it came to Agib's turn and he said, "My name is Agib, my
+mother is the Lady of Beauty and my father Shemseddin, Vizier of
+Egypt." "By Allah," cried they, "the Vizier is not thy father."
+Said he, "He is indeed my father." Then they all laughed and
+clapped their hands at him, saying, "He does not know his father!
+Arise and go out from us, for none shall play with us, except he
+know his father's name." Thereupon they dispersed from around him
+and laughed him to scorn, leaving him choked with tears and
+mortification. Then said the monitor to him, "O Agib, knowst thou
+not that the Vizier is thy mother's father, thy grandfather and
+not thy father? As for thy father, thou knowest him not nor do
+we, for the Sultan married thy mother to a humpbacked groom; but
+the Jinn came and lay with her, and thou hast no known father.
+Wherefore, do thou leave evening thyself with the boys in the
+school, till thou know who is thy father; for till then thou wilt
+pass for a misbegotten brat amongst them. Dost thou not see that
+the huckster's son knows his own father? Thy grandfather is the
+Vizier of Egypt, but as for thy father, we know him not, and we
+say, thou hast no father. So return to thy senses." When Agib
+heard the insulting words of the children and the monitor, he
+went out at once and ran to his mother, to complain to her; but
+his tears would not let him speak awhile. When she heard his sobs
+and saw his tears, her heart was on fire for him and she said to
+him, "O my son, why dost thou weep? Tell me what is the matter."
+So he told her what the children and the monitor had said and
+said to her, "Who is my father, O my mother?" "Thy father is the
+Vizier of Egypt," answered she; but he said, "Do not lie to me.
+The Vizier is thy father, not mine. Who then is my father? Except
+thou tell me the truth, I will kill myself with this dagger."
+When the Lady of Beauty heard him speak of his father, she wept,
+as she thought of her cousin and her bridal-night, and repeated
+the following verses:
+
+Love in my breast, alas! they lit and went away; Far distant is
+     the camp that holds my soul's delight!
+Patience and reason fled from me, when they withdrew; Sleep
+     failed me, and despair o'ercame me like a blight.
+They left me, and with them departed all my joy; Tranquility and
+     peace with them have taken flight.
+They made my lids run down with tears of love laid waste; My eyes
+     for lack of them brim over day and night.
+When as my sad soul longs to see them once again And waiting and
+     desire are heavy on my spright;
+Midmost my heart of hearts their images I trace, Love and
+     desireful pain and longing for their sight.
+O ye, one thought of whom clings round me like a cloak, Whose
+     love it as a shirt about my body dight,
+O my beloved ones, how long will ye delay? How long must I endure
+     estrangement and despite?
+
+Then she wept and cried out and her son did the like, when in
+came the Vizier, whose heart burned within him at the sight of
+their weeping, and he said, "Why do ye weep?" The Lady of Beauty
+told him what had happened to Agib, and the Vizier also wept and
+called to mind his brother and all that had passed between them
+and what had befallen his daughter, and knew not the secret of
+the matter. Then he rose at once and going to the Divan, related
+the matter to the Sultan and begged his leave to travel eastward
+to the city of Bassora and enquire for his nephew. Moreover,
+he besought him for letters-patent, authorizing him to take
+Bedreddin, wherever he should find him. And he wept before the
+King, who took pity on him and wrote him royal letters-patent to
+his deputies in all his provinces; whereat the Vizier rejoiced
+and called down blessings on him. Then taking leave of him, he
+returned to his house, where he equipped himself and his daughter
+and grandson for the journey, and set out and travelled till he
+came to the city of Damascus and found it rich in trees and
+waters, even as says the poet:
+
+I mind me a night and a day spent in Damascus town, (Time swore
+     'twould ne'er again their like to man outmete).
+We lay in its languorous glades, where the careless calm of the
+     night And the morn, with its smiling eyes and its
+     twy-coloured tresses, meet.
+The dew to its branches clings like a glittering chain of pearl,
+     Whose jewels the zephyr smites and scatters beneath his
+     feet.
+The birds on the branches chant from the open book of the lake;
+     The breezes write on the scroll and the clouds mark the
+     points, as they fleet.
+
+The Vizier alighted without the city and pitched his tents in an
+open space called the Plain of Pebbles, saying to his servants,
+"We will rest here two days." So they went down into the city
+upon their several occasions, this to sell, that to buy, another
+to go to the bath and a fourth to visit the Mosque of the
+Ommiades, whose like is not in the world. Agib also went into the
+city to look about him, followed by an eunuch, carrying a knotted
+cudgel of almond-tree wood, wherewith if one smote a camel, it
+would not rise again. When the people of the city saw Agib's
+beauty and symmetry (for he was a marvel of loveliness and
+winning grace, blander than the Northern zephyr,[FN#67] sweeter
+than limpid water to the thirsty and more delightful than
+recovery to the sick), a great concourse of folk followed him,
+whilst others ran on before and sat down in the road, against he
+should come up, that they might gaze on him, till, as Fate would
+have it, the eunuch stopped before the shop of Bedreddin Hassan.
+Now the cook was dead and Bedreddin, having been formally adopted
+by him, had succeeded to his shop and property; and in the course
+of the twelve years that had passed over him, his beard had grown
+and his understanding ripened. When his son and the eunuch
+stopped before him, he had just finished preparing a mess of
+pomegranate-seed, dressed with sugar; and when he looked at Agib
+and saw how beautiful he was, his heart throbbed, blood drew to
+blood and his bowels yearned to him. So he called to him and
+said, "O my lord, O thou that hast gotten the mastery of my heart
+and my soul, thou to whom my bowels yearn, wilt thou not enter my
+shop and solace my heart by eating of my food?" And the tears
+welled up, uncalled, from his eyes, and he bethought him of his
+former estate and compared it with his present condition. When
+Agib heard his words his heart yearned to him, and he said to the
+eunuch, "Indeed, my heart inclines to this cook, and meseems he
+hath lost a child, so let us enter and gladden his soul by
+partaking of his hospitality. Perhaps God may requite us our
+kindness to him by reuniting us with my father." "By Allah!"
+replied the eunuch, "it were a fine thing for a Vizier's son to
+eat in a cookshop! Indeed, I keep off the folk with this stick,
+lest they look too closely on thee, and I dare not let thee enter
+a shop." When Bedreddin heard these words, he wondered and turned
+to the eunuch, with the tears running down his cheeks, and Agib
+said to the latter, "Indeed, my heart yearns for him." But he
+answered, "Leave this talk; indeed, thou shalt not go in." Then
+Bedreddin turned to the eunuch and said, "O noble sir, why wilt
+thou not gladden my soul by entering my shop? O thou who art as a
+chestnut, black without, but with a white heart,[FN#68] thou of
+whom the poet says ..........." The eunuch laughed and said,
+"What? Say on, by Allah, and be quick about it." So Bedreddin
+repeated the following verses:
+
+Were he not polished and discreet and worthy of all trust, He in
+     kings' houses would not be advanced to high estate.
+O what a guardian he is for a seraglio! The very angels of the
+     skies delight on him to wait.
+
+This pleased the eunuch, who laughed and taking Agib by the hand,
+entered the shop with him. Bedreddin ladled out a dishful of
+pomegranate-seed, conserved with almonds and sugar, and set it
+before them, saying, "Ye do me honour. Eat and may health and
+enjoyment attend you!" And Agib said to him, "Sit down and eat
+with us, so haply God may unite us with him for whom we long." "O
+my son," said Bedreddin, "hast thou then suffered the loss of
+friends, at thy tender age?" "Yes, O uncle!" answered Agib, "my
+heart irks me for the loss of a beloved one, who is none other
+than my father; and indeed my grandfather and myself have come
+forth to seek for him throughout the world. Alas I how I sigh to
+be united with him!" Then he wept sore, whilst Bedreddin wept at
+the sight of his tears and for his bereavement, which recalled to
+him his own separation from those he loved and from his father
+and mother, and the eunuch was moved to pity for him. Then they
+ate together till they were satisfied, and Agib and the eunuch
+rose and left the shop. At this, Bedreddin felt as if his soul
+had departed his body and gone with them, for he could not live a
+moment without their sight, albeit he knew not that Agib was his
+son. So he rose and shutting his shop, hastened after them and
+overtook them before they went out at the great gate. The eunuch
+turned and said to him, "What dost thou want?" "When you left
+me," replied Bedreddin, "meseemed my soul had quitted my body,
+and as I had an occasion without the city, I thought to bear you
+company till I had done my business and so return." The eunuch
+was vexed and said to Agib, "This is what I feared. Because we
+entered this fellow's shop and ate that unlucky mouthful, he
+thinks he has a right to presume upon us, for see, he follows us
+from place to place." Agib turned and seeing the cook following
+him, reddened for anger and said to the eunuch, "Let him walk in
+the high road of the Muslims; but if he follow us when we turn
+aside to our tents, we will drive him away." Then he bowed his
+head and walked on, with the eunuch behind him. When they came to
+the Plain of Pebbles and drew near their tents, Agib turned
+and saw Bedreddin still following him; whereat he was enraged,
+fearing least the eunuch should tell his grandfather and vexed
+that it should be said he had entered a cookshop and the cook had
+followed him. So he looked at Bedreddin and found his eyes fixed
+on him, for he was as it were a body without a soul; and it
+seemed to Agib that his eye was that of a knave or a lewd fellow.
+So his rage redoubled and he took up a stone and threw it at
+Bedreddin. It struck him on the forehead and cut it open; and he
+fell down in a swoon, with the blood streaming down his face,
+whilst Agib and the eunuch made for the tents. When he came to
+himself, he wiped away the blood and tore off a piece of the
+muslin of his turban, with which he bound his head, blaming
+himself and saying, "I wronged the lad in closing my shop and
+following him, so that he thought I was some lewd fellow." Then
+he returned to his shop, where he busied himself with the sale of
+his meats; and he yearned after his mother at Bassora and wept
+over her and recited the following verses:
+
+If thou demand fair play of Fate, therein thou dost it wrong; And
+     blame it not, for twas not made, indeed, for equity.
+Take what lies ready to thy hand and lay concern aside, For
+     troubled days and days of peace in life must surely be.
+
+Meanwhile, the Vizier, his uncle, tarried in Damascus three days,
+then departed for Hems, and passing through that city, fared on
+by way of Hemah and Aleppo and thence through Diarbekir, Maridin
+and Mosul, making enquiries at every place he came to, till he
+arrived at Bassora, where he halted and presented himself before
+the Sultan, who received him with honour and consideration and
+asked the reason of his coming. The Vizier related to him
+his history and told him that Noureddin Ali was his brother,
+whereupon the Sultan commended the latter's soul to the mercy of
+God and said, "Sir, he was my Vizier for fifteen years, and I
+loved him greatly. Then he died, leaving a son, who abode here
+but two months after his father's death; since which time he hath
+disappeared and we have never come upon any news of him. But his
+mother, who was the daughter of my former Vizier, is still with
+us." Shemseddin rejoiced to hear that his nephew's mother was
+still alive and said, "O King, I wish to see her." The King at
+once gave him leave to visit her; so he betook himself to his
+brother Noureddin's house and went round about it and kissed its
+threshold. And he bethought him of his brother and how he had
+died in a strange land and wept and repeated the following
+verses:
+
+I wander through the halls, the halls where Leila lived, And kiss
+     the lifeless walls that of her passage tell.
+It is not for the house that I with passion burn, But for the
+     cherished ones that erst therein did dwell.
+
+Then he entered the gate and found himself in a spacious
+courtyard, at the end whereof was a door vaulted over with hard
+stone, inlaid with vari-coloured marbles. He walked round about
+the house, and casting his eyes on the walls, saw the name of his
+brother Noureddin written on them in letters of gold. So he went
+up to the inscription and kissed it and wept for his brother's
+loss and repeated the following verses:
+
+I sue unto the rising sun, each morn, for news of thee, And of
+     the lightning's lurid gleam I do for thee enquire.
+The hands of passion and of pain sport with me all the night; Yet
+     I complain not of the ills I suffer from desire.
+O my beloved, if the times be yet for me prolonged, be all
+     consumed with separation's fire.
+Lo! if thy sight one happy day should bless my longing eyes,
+     There is no other thing on earth that I of Fate require.
+Think not that other loves avail to solace me for thee; My heart
+     can hold no love but thine, my faith can never tire.
+
+Then he walked on till he came to the lodging of his brother's
+widow. Now from the day of her son's disappearance, she had given
+herself up to weeping and lamentation day and night; and when the
+years grew long upon her, she made him a tomb of marble midmost
+the saloon and there wept for him day and night, sleeping not but
+thereby. When the Vizier drew near her apartment, he heard her
+weeping and repeating verses, so he went in to her and saluting
+her, informed her that he was her husband's brother and told her
+all that had passed between them, and how her son Bedreddin
+Hassan had spent a whole night with his daughter, twelve years
+ago, but had disappeared in the morning, and how she had
+conceived by him and borne a son, whom he had brought with him.
+When Bedreddin's mother heard this news of her son and grandson
+and that the former was haply still alive and saw her husband's
+brother, she threw herself at his feet and kissed them, repeating
+the following verses:
+
+
+May God be good to him who brought me news that they were come;
+     For never more delightful news unto my ears were borne.
+If he would take a worn-out weds for boon, I'd proffer him A
+     heart that at the parting hour was all to pieces torn.
+
+Then the Vizier sent for Agib; and his grandmother embraced him
+and wept, but Shemseddin said to her, "This is no time for
+weeping; it behoves thee to make ready to go with us to Egypt;
+perhaps God will reunite us with thy son, my nephew." "I hear and
+obey," answered she, and rising at once, collected her goods and
+treasures and equipped herself and her handmaids for the journey,
+whilst the Vizier went to take his leave of the Sultan of
+Bassora, who sent by him gifts and rarities to the Sultan of
+Egypt. Then he set out at once on his homeward journey and
+travelled till he came to Damascus, where he halted and pitched
+his tents as before, saying to his suite, "We will halt here a
+week, to buy presents and curiosities for the Sultan." Now the
+tie of blood drew Agib to his father, so he said to the eunuch,
+"O Laic, I have a mind to go a-walking; so come, let us go down
+into the streets of Damascus and see what is become of the cook
+whose victuals we ate and whose head we broke, for indeed he was
+kind to us and we used him scurvily." The eunuch replied, "I hear
+and obey." So they left the tents and going down into the city,
+stayed not till they came to the cookshop, where they found
+Bedreddin Hassan standing at the door. It was near the time of
+afternoon-prayer, and as chance would have it, he had just
+prepared a mess of pomegranate-seed. Agib looked at him and saw
+the scar of the blow on his forehead; wherefore his heart yearned
+to him and he said, "Peace be on thee! Know that my heart is with
+thee." When Bedreddin saw him, his bowels were troubled and his
+heart throbbed, and he bowed his head and would have spoken, but
+could not. Then he raised his head and looked at his son humbly
+and imploringly and repeated the following verses:
+
+I longed to look on him I love; but when I saw his face, I was as
+     one amazed and lost the use of tongue and eyes.
+I bowed my head down to his feet for reverence and awe, And would
+     have hidden what I felt, but could it not disguise.
+Volumes of plaining and reproach I had within my heart; Yet, when
+     we met, no word I spoke nor uttered aught but sighs.
+
+Then he said to them, "Heal my heart and eat of my food, for, by
+Allah, I cannot look at you but my heart throbs! I should not
+have followed you the other day, but that I was beside myself."
+"By Allah," replied Agib, "thou art too fond of us! We ate
+with thee before and thou madest us repent of it, in that thou
+followedst us and wouldst have put us to shame; so we will not
+eat with thee, except thou swear not to go out after us nor
+follow us. Else we will not visit thee again during our present
+stay, for we abide here a week, that my grandfather may take
+presents for the King." And Bedreddin said, "I grant you this."
+So Agib and the eunuch entered, and Bedreddin set before them a
+dish of pomegranate-seed. Quoth Agib, "Sit down and eat with us,
+so haply God may grant us relief." At this Bedreddin was glad and
+sat down and ate with them, with his eyes fixed on Agib's face,
+for indeed his heart and entrails were taken with his love, till
+the boy said to him, "What a tiresome dotard thou art! Leave thy
+staring in my face." When Bedreddin heard this, he repeated the
+following verses:
+
+
+Thy face excites in all men's hearts a love they do not own;
+     Folded in silence and concealed, it may not be made known.
+O thou whose beauty puts to shame the splendour of the moon,
+     Whose grace recalls the shining sight of morning newly
+     blown,
+In thy bright visage is a sign that may not be fulfilled, And
+     there all beauties that incite to tenderness are shown.
+Must I then die of thirst, what while thy lips with nectar flow?
+     Thy face is Paradise to me; must I in hell-fire groan?
+
+So they ate till they were satisfied, when Bedreddin rose and
+poured water on their hands, wiping them with a napkin of silk,
+which he loosed from his waist; after which he sprinkled
+rose-water on them from a casting-bottle he had by him. Then he
+went out and returned with a pitcher of sherbet, flavoured with
+rose-water and musk, which he set before them, saying, "Complete
+your favours to me, by drinking of this sherbet." So Agib took
+the pitcher and drank and passed it to the eunuch, and it went
+round amongst them till their stomachs were full, for they had
+eaten and drunken beyond their wont. Then they went away and
+made haste in walking till they reached the tents, and Agib went
+in to his grandmother, who kissed him, and thinking of her son
+Bedreddin Hassan, wept and repeated the following verses:
+
+But for my hope that God would yet our severed loves unite, I had
+     not lived for life to me is void of all delight.
+I swear there's nothing in my heart but love of thee alone, By
+     God, who reads the heart and brings the hidden things to
+     light!
+
+And she said to Agib, "O my son, where hast thou been?" Quoth he,
+"We have been in the city of Damascus. Then she rose and set
+before him confection of pomegranate-seed and said to the eunuch,
+"Sit down and eat with thy young master." The eunuch said to
+himself, "By Allah, we have no mind to eat!" but he sat down,
+and so did Agib, though his belly was full of what he had
+already eaten and drunk. Now the conserve lacked sugar, so
+he took a piece of bread and dipped it therein and ate, but
+found it insipid, for that he was already surfeited, and
+exclaimed, "Faugh! what is this nasty mess?" "O my son," said his
+grandmother, "dost thou find fault with my cookery? I cooked this
+myself, and there is not a cook in the land can compare with me,
+except it be thy father Bedreddin Hassan." "O my lady," replied
+Agib, "this thy dish is naught; for we saw but now in the city a
+cook who dresses pomegranate-seed, so that the very smell of it
+opens the heart and the taste would give a full man an appetite;
+and as for thy mess, compared with his, it is worth neither much
+nor little." When his grandmother heard this, she was exceeding
+wroth and said to the eunuch, "Out on thee, dost thou corrupt my
+grandson and take him into cookshops?" The eunuch was frightened
+and denied, saying, "We did not enter the shop, but only saw it
+in passing." "By Allah!" said Agib, "we went in and ate, and it
+was better than thine." Then his grandmother rose and went and
+told her brother-in-law, who was incensed against the eunuch and
+sending for him, said to him, "Why didst thou take my son into a
+cookshop?" "We did not go in," replied the eunuch. But Agib said,
+"We did go in and ate of pomegranate-seed, till we were full; and
+the cook gave us to drink of iced sherbet of sugar." At this, the
+Vizier's anger redoubled and he questioned the eunuch, but he
+still denied. Then said the Vizier, "If what thou sayest be true,
+sit down and eat before us." So he sat down and tried to eat, but
+could not and threw away the morsel, saying, "O my lord, indeed I
+am full since yesterday." By this, the Vizier knew that he had
+eaten at the cook's and bade his slaves throw him down and beat
+him. So they drubbed him, till he roared for mercy and said,
+"O my lord, do not beat me, and I will tell thee the truth."
+Whereupon the Vizier stopped the beating and said, "Speak the
+truth." Quoth the eunuch, "Know then that we did enter the shop
+of a cook, who was dressing pomegranate seed, and he set some of
+it before us; by Allah, I never ate the like of it in my life,
+nor did I ever taste aught nastier than that which is before us!"
+Bedreddin's mother was enraged at this and said to the eunuch,
+"Thou must go back to the cook and fetch us a dish of his
+pomegranate-seed and show it to thy master, that he may say which
+is the better, his or mine." "Good," answered he. So she gave him
+a dish and half a dinar, and he returned to the shop and said to
+Bedreddin, "We have made a wager about thy cookery in our lord's
+household, for they have pomegranate-seed there also; so give me
+half a dinar's worth of thy confection and let it be of thy best,
+for I have eaten my bellyful of stick on account of thy cookery."
+Bedreddin laughed and answered, "By Allah, none can dress this
+dish aright but myself and my mother, and she is far away." Then
+he filled the dish with pomegranate-seed and finishing it off
+with musk and rose-water, gave it to the eunuch, who hastened
+back with it and delivered it to Bedreddin's mother. No sooner
+had she tasted it and remarked the excellence of its flavour and
+cookery, than she knew who had dressed it and shrieked and fell
+down in a swoon, to the amazement of the Vizier, who sprinkled
+rose-water on her, till she came to herself and said, "If my son
+be yet of this world, none made this conserve but he! Without
+doubt, this cook is my son Bedreddin Hassan, for none knew how to
+dress this dish but he and I, and I taught him." The Vizier
+rejoiced greatly at her words, and said, "O how I long to see my
+brother's son! I wonder if the days will indeed reunite us with
+him! But it is to God alone that we look for reunion with him."
+Then he went out forthright and said to his men, "Let twenty of
+you go to the cook's shop and demolish it; then tie his hands
+behind him with the linen of his turban, saying, 'It was thou
+madest that vile mess of pomegranate-seed,' and bring him hither
+by force, but without doing him any hurt." And they replied, "It
+is well." Then he mounted and riding to the palace, foregathered
+with the Viceroy of Damascus and showed him the Sultan's letters-
+patent. He kissed them and laying them on his head, said to the
+Vizier, "Who is it hath offended against thee?" Quoth the Vizier,
+"He is a cook of this city." So the Viceroy at once despatched
+his chamberlains to the shop and they went thither and found it
+in ruins and everything in it broken; for whilst the Vizier was
+at the palace, his men had done his bidding and carried Bedreddin
+to the tents, where they were then awaiting their master's
+return, whilst Bedreddin said, "I wonder what they can have found
+in the pomegranate-seed to bring matters to this pass!" When the
+Vizier returned to the tents, after having gotten the Viceroy's
+permission to take his debtor and depart with him, he called for
+the cook, and they brought Bedreddin before him, with his hands
+bound behind his back. When he saw his uncle, he wept sore and
+said, "O my lord, what is my offence against thee?" "Art thou he
+who made the mess of pomegranate-seed?" asked Shemseddin. "Yes,"
+replied Bedreddin; "didst thou find aught in it to call for the
+cutting off of my head?" Quoth the Vizier, "That were the least
+of thy desert." "O my lord," said Bedreddin, "wilt thou not tell
+me my crime and what ails the pomegranate-seed?" "Presently,"
+answered the Vizier and called to his men, saying, "Bring the
+camels." So they struck camp and the Vizier caused Bedreddin to
+be put into a chest, which they locked and set on a camel. Then
+they departed and journeyed till nightfall, when they halted to
+eat and took Bedreddin out of his chest and fed him and locked
+him up again. Then they set out again and travelled till they
+reached Kumreh, where they took him out of the chest and brought
+him before the Vizier, who said to him, "Art thou he who made the
+mess of pomegranate-seed?" "Yes, O my lord," answered he; and
+Shemseddin said, "Shackle him." So they shackled him and returned
+him to the chest and fared on again, till they arrived at Cairo
+and halted in the suburb of Er Reidaniyeh. Then the Vizier
+commanded to take Bedreddin out of his chest and sent for a
+carpenter, to whom he said, "Make a cross[FN#69] of wood for this
+fellow." Quoth Bedreddin, "What wilt thou do with it?" "I mean
+to nail thee upon it," replied the Vizier, "and parade thee
+throughout the city." "And why wilt thou use me thus? asked
+Bedreddin; and the Vizier answered, "Because of thy villainous
+mess of pomegranate-seed and for that it lacked pepper." "And
+because it lacked pepper," said Bedreddin, "wilt thou do all this
+to me? Is it not enough that thou hast laid my shop in ruins and
+smashed my gear and imprisoned me and fed me but once a day?" "It
+lacked pepper," answered the Vizier; "and nothing less than death
+is thy desert." At this Bedreddin wondered and mourned for
+himself, till the Vizier said to him, "Of what art thou
+thinking?" "I was thinking of crack-brains like unto thee,"
+answered Bedreddin, "for hadst thou any sense, thou wouldst not
+treat me thus." Quoth the Vizier, "It behoves me to punish thee,
+lest thou do the like again." And Bedreddin said, "Verily, my
+offence were over-punished by the least of what thou hast already
+done to me." "It avails not," answered Shemseddin; "I must
+crucify thee." All this time the carpenter was shaping the cross,
+whilst Bedreddin looked on; and thus they did till nightfall,
+when the Vizier took him and clapped him in the chest, saying,
+"The thing shall be done tomorrow." Then he waited till he knew
+Bedreddin to be asleep, when he mounted and taking the chest up
+before him, rode into the town to his own house, where he
+alighted and said to his daughter, the Lady of Beauty, "Praised
+be God who hath reunited thee with thy cousin! Arise and order
+the house as it was on thy wedding-night." So the servants arose
+and lit the candles, whilst the Vizier took out his plan of the
+bride chamber and directed them what to do, till they had set
+everything in its place, so that whoever saw it would not doubt
+but it was the very night of the wedding. Then he made them lay
+Bedreddin's turban on the stool, where he had left it, and his
+trousers and purse under the mattress, and bade his daughter
+undress herself and go to bed, as on the wedding-night, adding,
+"When he comes in to thee, say to him, 'Thou has tarried long in
+the wardrobe,' and call him to lie with thee and hold him in
+converse till the morning, when we will explain the whole matter
+to him." Then he took Bedreddin out of the chest and laid him in
+the vestibule, after he had unbound him and taken off his
+clothes, leaving him in a shirt of fine silk, and he still asleep
+and knowing nothing. Presently he turned over and awoke, and
+finding himself in a lighted vestibule, said to himself, "Surely,
+I am dreaming." Then he rose and opening the inner door, found
+himself in the chamber, where he had passed his wedding-night,
+and knew the alcove and the stool by the bed-side, with his
+turban and clothes. When he saw this, he was confounded and
+advanced one foot and drew the other back, saying, "Am I asleep
+or awake?" And he began to rub his forehead and say, wondering,
+"By Allah, this is the chamber of the bride that was unveiled
+before me! But where can I be? I was surely but now in a chest."
+Whilst he was debating with himself, the Lady of Beauty lifted
+the curtain of the alcove and said to him, "O my lord, wilt thou
+not come in? Thou hast tarried long in the wardrobe." When he
+heard what she said and saw her face, he laughed and said, "This
+is certainly an imbroglio of dreams!" Then he entered, sighing,
+and recalled what had happened and was perplexed, and his affair
+became confused to him and he knew not what to think. Presently,
+he caught sight of his turban and trousers, so he handled the
+latter and feeling the purse of a thousand dinars, said, "God
+alone is all knowing! I am certainly in the mazes of a dream."
+Then said the Lady of Beauty to him, "What ails thee to stand
+agape and seem perplexed? Thou wast not thus the first part of
+the night." He laughed and said to her, "How long have I been
+absent from thee?" "God preserve thee!" exclaimed she. "The name
+of God encompass thee! Thou didst but go out an hour ago to do an
+occasion and return. Hast thou lost thy wits?" When Bedreddin
+heard this, he laughed and said, "Thou art right; but when I went
+out from thee, I forgot myself in the closet and dozed and dreamt
+that I was a cook in Damascus and abode there twelve years and
+that there came to me a boy, the son of some great man, and with
+him an eunuch." Here he put his hand to his forehead and feeling
+the scar made by the stone, said, "By Allah, O lady, it must have
+been true, for here is the scar made by the stone, with which he
+smote me and cut my forehead open. So it would seem as if it had
+really happened. But perhaps I dreamt it, when we embraced and
+fell asleep together: for meseemed I journeyed to Damascus
+without turban or drawers and set up as a cook there." Then he
+was perplexed and considered awhile and said, "By Allah, I
+fancied also that I made a mess of pomegranate-seed and put too
+little pepper in it. By Allah, I must have slept in the closet
+and dreamt all this!" "God on thee," said the Lady of Beauty,
+"tell me what else thou didst dream." "By Allah," replied he,
+"had I not woke up, they would have nailed me to a cross of
+wood!" "Wherefore?" asked she; and he said, "Because of the lack
+of pepper in the pomegranate-seed. Meseemed they demolished my
+shop and broke my utensils in pieces and put me in a chest;
+then they sent for a carpenter to make a cross and would have
+crucified me thereon. But praised be God who caused all this to
+happen to me in sleep and not on wake!" The Lady of Beauty
+laughed and pressed him to her bosom, and he returned her
+caresses; then he thought again and said, "By Allah, I cannot
+help thinking it must have been a reality after all! Indeed I
+know not what to think of it all." Then he lay down and passed
+the night in a state of perplexity, saying now, "I was dreaming,"
+and now, "I was awake," till the morning, when his uncle
+Shemseddin entered and saluted him. When Bedreddin saw him, he
+said to him, "By Allah, art thou not he who gave orders to bind
+me and demolish my shop and would have nailed me on a cross,
+and all because a mess of pomegranate-seed lacked pepper?" "O
+my son," replied the Vizier, "know that the truth has appeared
+and that which was hidden is divulged. Thou art my brother's
+son, and I did all this with thee but that I might certify
+myself that thou wast indeed he who lay with my daughter on her
+wedding-night. I could not be sure of this, till I saw that thou
+knewest the chamber and thy turban and clothes and purse and the
+scrolls in thy handwriting and that of my brother, for I had
+never seen thee and did not know thee; and I have brought thy
+mother with me from Bassora." So saying, he threw himself on him
+and they embraced and wept for excess of joy. Then said the
+Vizier to Bedreddin, "O my son, all this came of what passed
+between thy father and myself." And he told him what had taken
+place between them and the manner of his father's flight to
+Bassora; after which he sent for Agib, and when his father saw
+him, he exclaimed, "This is he who threw the stone at me!" Quoth
+the Vizier, "This is thy son." And Bedreddin threw himself on
+Agib and repeated the following verses:
+
+Long time 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 should 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.
+
+Presently, Bedreddin's mother came in and fell on him, repeating
+the following verses:
+
+
+When we met, to each other we both did complain Of the manifold
+     things that we each had to say;
+For the lover's complaint of the anguish he feels The tongue of a
+     messenger cannot convey.
+
+Then she wept and related to him what had befallen her since his
+departure, and he told her what he had suffered and they thanked
+God the Most High for their reunion with one another. Two days
+after his arrival, the Vizier went in to the Sultan and kissing
+the earth before him, saluted him after the fashion of salutation
+to kings. The Sultan rejoiced at his return and received him with
+distinguished favour. Then he desired to hear what had befallen
+him in his travels; so the Vizier told him all that had passed,
+and the Sultan said, "Praised be God for that thou hast attained
+thy desire and returned in safety to thy kinsfolk and family! I
+must see thy brother's son, so do thou bring him to the Divan
+tomorrow." Shemseddin replied, "God willing, thy slave shall be
+present tomorrow." Then he saluted him and returning to his own
+house, informed his nephew of the King's wish to see him, to
+which Bedreddin replied, "The slave is obedient to his lord's
+commands." So next day he accompanied his uncle to the Divan and
+after saluting the Sultan in the most punctilious and elegant
+manner, repeated the following verses:
+
+All ranks and classes kiss the earth, in homage to thy state, For
+     lo I through thee their every wish is crowned with happy
+     fate.
+For thou the fount of honour art for those that hope in thee, And
+     from thy hand the bounties flow that make there rich and
+     great.
+
+The Sultan smiled and signed to him to sit down. So he sat down
+beside the Vizier, and the King enquired his name. Quoth
+Bedreddin, "The meanest of thy slaves is known as Bedreddin
+Hassan of Bassora, who prays for thee day and night." The Sultan
+was pleased at his words and being minded to try him and prove
+his knowledge and good-breeding, said to him, "Dost thou remember
+any verses in praise of a mole on the cheek?" "Yes," replied
+Bedreddin, and repeated the following:
+
+When I think of my loved one, the sighs from my breast Burst up
+     and the tears to my eyes quickly start.
+She's a mole, that resembles, in beauty and hue, The black of the
+     eye and the core of the heart.
+
+The Sultan liked these verses and said, "Let us have some more.
+Heaven bless thy sire! May thy tongue never tire!" So he repeated
+the following:
+
+The mole's black spot upon her cheek they liken to a grain Of
+     musk; yet wonder not at that, for wonder were in vain.
+But rather wonder at her face, wherein all beauty is: There is no
+     particle of grace that it doth not contain.
+
+The Sultan shook with delight and said to him, "More! God bless
+thy life!" So he repeated the following:
+
+O thou, the moles upon whose cheek recall Globules of musk upon
+     cornelian strewed,
+Grant me thy favours, be not hard of heart, O thou, my heart's
+     desire, my spirit's food!
+
+Then said the King, "Thou hast done well, O Hassan, and hast
+acquitted thyself most excellently. But tell me how many meanings
+hath the word khal[FN#70] in the Arabic language." "Fifty,"
+replied Hassan, "and some say eight and-fifty." Quoth the King,
+"Thou art right. Canst thou tell me the points of excellence in
+beauty?" "Yes," answered Bedreddin, "Brightness of face, purity
+of skin, shapeliness in the nose, softness in the eyes, sweetness
+in the mouth, elegance in speech, slenderness of shape and
+quickness of wit; and the perfection of beauty is in the hair.
+And indeed Es Shihab el Hijazi has brought them all together in
+the following doggrel:
+
+Say to the face, 'Be bright,' and to the skin, say, 'See, I show
+     thee what befits thee best: 'tis purity.'
+For elegance of shape the nose we chiefly prize, And languor soft
+     it is, that best becomes the eyes.
+Then say unto the mouth, 'Sweetness, but mark thou me; Let
+     fragrancy of breath fail never unto thee.'
+Chaste be the speech, the shape be slender and well knit, And
+     quickness mark the thought, the manners and the wit.
+Then say that in the hair is ever beauty's prime. Give ear to me
+     and eke forgive my doggrel rhyme."
+
+The Sultan rejoiced in his converse and said to him "What is the
+meaning of the popular saying, 'Shureih is more cunning than the
+fox'?" "Know, O King," answered Bedreddin, "may God aid thee!
+that Shureih[FN#71] was wont during the days of the plague, to go
+out to Nejef, and whenever he stood up to pray, there came a fox,
+which would plant itself over against him and distract him from
+his devotions by mimicking his movements. This went on for some
+time, till the man became weary of it; so one day he took off his
+shirt and put it on a cane and shook out the sleeves. Then he set
+his turban on top of the cane and tied a girdle round the middle
+of the effigy and planted it in the place where he used to say
+his prayers. Presently up came the fox, according to his wont,
+and stood over against the figure; whereupon Shureih came behind
+him and took him: hence the saying." When the Sultan heard
+Bedreddin's explanation, he said to his uncle Shemseddin,
+"Verily, this thy nephew is perfect in all kinds of culture. I do
+not believe that his like is to be found in Egypt." At this,
+Bedreddin arose and kissed the earth and sat down again in the
+posture of a servant before his master. When the Sultan had
+thus assured himself of his proficiency in the liberal arts,
+he rejoiced greatly and bestowing on him a splendid dress of
+honour, invested him with an office, whereby he might better his
+condition. Then Bedreddin arose and kissing the earth before the
+King, wished him enduring glory and craved leave to retire. The
+Sultan gave him leave; so he returned home with his uncle and
+they set food before them and they ate, after which Bedreddin
+repaired to his wife's apartment and told her what had passed
+between the Sultan and himself. Quoth she, "He cannot fail to
+make thee his boon-companion and load thee with favours and
+presents; and by the grace of God, the splendours of thy
+perfections shall shine like the greater light,[FN#72] wherever
+thou goest, by land or sea." Then said he, "I purpose to make an
+ode in the King's praise, that he may redouble in affection for
+me." "That is well thought," replied she. "Consider it well and
+word thy thought elegantly, and I doubt not but it will procure
+thee his favour." So Bedreddin shut himself up and composed the
+following verses, which he copied in an ornamental hand:
+
+My King hath reached the height of lordlihead; The shining path
+     of virtue he cloth tread.
+His justice blocks the ways against his foes And peace and plenty
+     showers on every stead.
+Bold as a lion, pious, quick of wit, Angel or King,[FN#73] he's
+     whichsoe'er is said.
+He sends the suppliant content away. Words fail, indeed, to paint
+     his goodlihead.
+In time of gifts, he's like the brilliant moon; Like night, in
+     battle, lowering and dread.
+Our necks are girt with his munificence; He rules by favours on
+     the noble shed.
+May God prolong his life for our behoof And ward the blows of
+     Fortune from his head.
+
+When he had finished transcribing the poem, he despatched it by
+one of his uncle's slaves to the King, who perused it, and it
+gladdened his heart; so he read it out to those present before
+him and they praised it exceedingly. Then he sent for Bedreddin
+to his sitting-chamber and said to him, "Henceforth thou art my
+boon-companion and I appoint thee a stipend of a thousand
+dirhems a month, over and above what I have already given thee."
+So he arose and kissing the earth three times before the Sultan,
+wished him abiding glory and length of life. Then Bedreddin
+increased in honour and estate, so that his report spread into
+all countries, and he abode in the enjoyment of all the delights
+and comforts of life, he and his uncle and family, till Death
+overtook him.'
+
+When the Khalif Haroun er Reshid heard this story from the mouth
+of his Vizier Jaafer, he wondered and said, 'It behoves that
+these stories be written in letters of gold.' Then he set the
+slave at liberty and assigned the young man who had killed his
+wife such a monthly allowance as sufficed to make his life easy.
+Moreover he gave him one of his female slaves to wife, and he
+became one of his boon-companions.
+
+
+
+
+
+                     STORY OF THE HUNCHBACK
+
+
+
+There lived once in the city of Bassora a tailor, who was
+openhanded and loved pleasure and merrymaking: and he was wont,
+he and his wife, to go out by times, a-pleasuring, to the
+public places of recreation. One day they went out as usual and
+were returning home in the evening, when they fell in with a
+hunchback, the sight of whom would make the disappointed laugh
+and dispel chagrin from the sorrowful. So they went up to look at
+him and invited him to go home and make merry with them that
+night. He consented and accompanied them to their house;
+whereupon, the night being now come, the tailor went out to the
+market and buying fried fish and bread and lemon and conserve of
+roses by way of dessert, set them before the hunchback, and they
+ate. Presently, the tailor's wife took a great piece of fish and
+cramming it into the hunchback's mouth, clapped her hand over it,
+saying, 'By Allah, thou must swallow it at one gulp; and I will
+give thee no time to chew it.' So he bolted it; but there was a
+great bone in it, which stuck in his gullet, and his hour being
+come, it choked him, and he died at once. When the tailor saw
+this, he exclaimed, 'There is no power and no virtue but in God!
+Alas, poor wretch, that he should have come by his death at our
+hands!' 'Why dost thou waste time in idle lamentation?' rejoined
+his wife. 'Hast thou not heard it said......?' And she repeated
+the following verses:
+
+What ails me that I waste the time in idle grief, Until I find no
+     friend mishap for me to bear?
+Who but a fool would sit upon an unquenched fire? To wait upon
+     mischance as great a folly were.
+
+'What is to be done?' asked he; and she replied, 'Rise and take
+the hunchback in thine arms and cover him with a silk handkerchief:
+then go out with him, and I will go before thee: and if thou meet
+any one, say, "This is my son: his mother and I are taking him
+to the doctor, that he may look at him." So he rose and taking
+the hunchback in his arms, carried him along the streets, preceded
+by his wife, who kept saying, 'O my son, God keep thee! Where has
+this smallpox attacked thee and in what part dost thou feel pain?'
+So that all who saw them said, 'It is a child ill of smallpox.'
+They went along, enquiring for a doctor, till the people directed
+them to the house of one, who was a Jew. They knocked at the gate,
+and a black servant-maid came down and opened the door and seeing
+a man carrying a child and a woman with him, said to them, 'What
+is your business?' 'We have a sick child here,' answered the
+tailor's wife, 'whom we want the doctor to look at: so take
+this quarter-dinar and give it to thy master, and let him come
+down and see my son.' The girl went up to tell her master,
+leaving the tailor and his wife in the vestibule, whereupon
+the latter said to her husband, 'Let us leave the hunchback
+here and be off.' So the tailor carried the dead man to the
+top of the stairs and propping him up against the wall, went
+away, he and his wife. Meanwhile the serving-maid went in to the
+Jew and said to him, 'There are a man and a woman at the gate,
+with a sick child; and they have given me a quarter-dinar for
+thee, that thou mayst go down and see the child and prescribe for
+him.' When the Jew saw the quarter-dinar, he was glad and rose
+hastily and went down in the dark. Hardly had he made a step,
+when he stumbled on the dead body and threw it down, and it
+rolled to the bottom of the stairs. So he cried out to the girl
+to make haste with the light, and she brought it, whereupon he
+went down and examining the hunchback, found that he was dead. 'O
+Esdras and Moses and the ten Commandments!' exclaimed he; 'O
+Aaron and Joshua, son of Nun! I have stumbled against the sick
+person and he has fallen downstairs and is dead! How shall I get
+the body out of my house?' Then he took it up and carrying it
+into the house, told his wife what had happened. Quoth she, 'Why
+dost thou sit still? If he be found here when the day rises, we
+shall both of us lose our lives. Let us carry him up to the roof
+and throw him over into the house of our neighbour the Muslim;
+for if he abide there a night, the dogs will come down on him
+from the terraces and eat him all up.' Now the neighbour in
+question was controller of the Sultan's kitchen and was wont to
+bring home great store of fat and broken meats; but the cats and
+mice used to eat it, or, if the dogs scented a fat sheep's tail,
+they would come down from the roofs and tear at it; and in this
+way he lost much of what he brought home. So the Jew and his wife
+carried the hunchback up to the roof, and letting him down,
+through the windshaft, into the controller's house, stood him up
+against the wall and went away. Hardly had they done so, when the
+controller, who had been spending the evening with some of his
+friends, hearing a recitation of the Koran, came home and going
+up with a lighted candle, found a man standing in the corner,
+under the ventilator. When he saw this, he said, 'By Allah, this
+is a fine thing! He who steals my goods is none other than a
+man.' Then he turned to the hunchback and said to him, 'So it is
+thou that stealest the meat and fat. I thought it was the cats
+and dogs, and I kill the cats and dogs of the quarter and sin
+against them. And all the while it is thou comest down through
+the windshaft! But I will take my wreak of thee with my own
+hand.' So he took-a great cudgel and smote him on the breast, and
+he fell down. Then he examined him and finding that he was dead,
+cried out in horror, thinking that he had killed him, and said,
+'There is no power and no virtue but in God the Supreme, the
+Omnipotent!' And he feared for himself and said, 'May God curse
+the fat and the sheep's tails, that have caused this man's death
+to be at my hand!' Then he looked at the dead man and seeing him
+to be humpbacked, said, 'Did it not suffice thee to be a
+hunchback, but thou must turn thief and steal meat and fat? O
+Protector, extend to me Thy gracious protection!' Then he took
+him up on his shoulders and going forth with him, carried him to
+the beginning of the market, where he set him on his feet against
+the wall of a shop, at the corner of a dark lane, and went away.
+After awhile, there came up a Christian, the Sultan's broker, who
+had sallied forth, in a state of intoxication, intending for the
+bath, for in his drunkenness he thought that matins were near.
+He came staggering along, till he drew near the hunchback and
+squatted down over against him to make water, when, happening to
+look round, he saw a man standing against the wall. Now some one
+had snatched off the broker's turban early in the night, and
+seeing the hunchback standing there he concluded that he meant
+to play him the same trick. So he clenched his fist and smote him
+on the neck. Down fell the hunchback, whilst the broker called to
+the watchman of the market and fell on the dead man, pummelling
+and throttling him in the excess of his drunken rage. Presently,
+the watchman came up and finding a Christian kneeling on a Muslim
+and beating him, said to the former, 'What is the matter?' 'This
+fellow tried to snatch off my turban,' answered the broker;
+and the watchman said, 'Get up from him.' So he rose, and
+the watchman went up to the hunchback and finding him dead,
+exclaimed, 'By Allah, it is a fine thing that a Christian should
+kill a Muslim!' Then he seized the broker and tying his hands
+behind him, carried him to the house of the prefect of police,
+where they passed the night; and all the while the broker kept
+saying, 'O Messiah! O Virgin! how came I to kill this man?
+Indeed, he must have been in a great hurry to die of one blow
+with the fist!' And his drunkenness left him and reflection came
+in its stead. As soon as it was day, the prefect came out and
+commanded to hang the supposed murderer and bade the executioner
+make proclamation of the sentence. So they set up a gallows,
+under which they made the broker stand, and the hangman put the
+rope round his neck and was about to hoist him up, when behold,
+the controller of the Sultan's kitchen, passing by, saw the
+broker about to be hanged, and pressing through the crowd, cried
+out to the executioner, saying, 'Stop! Stop! I am he who killed
+the hunchback.' Quoth the prefect, 'What made thee kill him?' And
+he replied, 'I came home last night and found this man who had
+come down the windshaft to steal my goods; so I struck him with a
+cudgel on the breast and he died. Then I took him up and carried
+him to the market and set him up against the wall in such a
+place. Is it not enough for me to have killed a Muslim, without
+burdening my conscience with the death of a Christian also? Hang
+therefore none but me.' When the prefect heard this, he released
+the broker and said to the executioner, 'Hang up this man on his
+own confession.' So he loosed the rope from the broker's neck and
+threw it round that of the controller, and placing him under the
+gallows, was about to hang him, when behold, the Jewish physician
+pushed through the press and cried out, 'Stop! It was I and none
+else who killed him! I was sitting at home last night, when a man
+and a woman knocked at the door, carrying this hunchback, who was
+sick, and gave my servant a quarter-dinar, bidding her give it to
+me and tell me to come down to see him. Whilst she was gone, they
+brought the hunchback into the house and setting him on the
+stairs, went away. Presently, I came down and not seeing him,
+stumbled on him in the dark, and he fell to the foot of the stair
+and died forthright. Then we took him up, I and my wife, and
+carried him on to the roof, whence we let him down, through the
+windshaft, into the house of this controller, which adjoins my
+own. When he came home and found the hunchback, he took him for a
+robber and beat him, so that he fell to the ground, and he
+concluded that he had killed him. So is it not enough for me to
+have killed one Muslim unwittingly, without burdening myself with
+the death of another wittingly?' When the prefect heard the Jew's
+story, he said to the hangman, 'Let the controller go, and hang
+the Jew.' So the hangman took the Jew and put the rope round his
+neck, when behold, the tailor pressed through the folk and cried
+out to him, 'Hold thy hand! None killed him save I, and it fell
+out thus. I had been out a-pleasuring yesterday and coming back
+in the evening, met this hunchback, who was drunk and singing
+lustily to a tambourine. So I carried him to my house and bought
+fish, and we sat down to eat. Presently, my wife took a piece of
+fish and crammed it down the hunchback's throat; but it went the
+wrong way and stuck in his gullet and choked him, so that he died
+at once. So we lifted him up, I and my wife, and carried him to
+the Jew's house, where the girl came down and opened the door to
+us, and I said to her, "Give thy master this quarter-dinar and
+tell him that there are a man and a woman at the door, who have
+brought a sick person for him to see." So she went in to tell her
+master, and whilst she was gone, I carried the hunchback to the
+top of the stair, where I propped him up, and went away with my
+wife. When the Jew came out, he stumbled over him and thought
+that he had killed him.' Then he said to the Jew, 'Is not this
+the truth?' 'It is,' replied the Jew. And the tailor turned to
+the prefect and said, 'Let the Jew go, and hang me.' When the
+prefect heard the tailor's story, he wondered at the adventure of
+the hunchback and exclaimed, 'Verily, this is a matter that
+should be recorded in books!' Then he said to the hangman, 'Let
+the Jew go, and hang the tailor on his own confession.' So the
+hangman took the tailor and put the rope round his neck, saying,
+'I am tired of taking this man and loosing that, and no one
+hanged after all.'
+
+Now the hunchback in question was the favourite buffoon of the
+Sultan, who could not bear him out of his sight: so when he got
+drunk and did not make his appearance that night or next day, the
+Sultan asked the courtiers about him and they replied, 'O our
+lord, the chief of the police has come upon him dead and ordered
+his murderer to be hanged: but, as the hangman was about to
+hoist him up, there came a second and a third and a fourth,
+each declaring himself to be the sole murderer and giving the
+prefect an account of the manner in which the crime had been
+committed.' When the King heard this, he cried out to one of his
+chamberlains, saying, 'Go down to the chief of the police and
+bring me all four of them.' So the chamberlain went down at once
+to the place of execution, where he found the hangman on the
+point of hanging the tailor and cried out to him to stop. Then he
+gave the King's order to the prefect, who took the tailor, the
+physician, the controller and the broker, and brought them all,
+together with the dead hunchback, before the King. When he came
+into the presence, he kissed the earth and told the King all that
+had passed; whereat he was moved to wonder and mirth and
+commended the story to be written in letters of gold, saying to
+the courtiers, 'Did you ever hear a more wonderful story than
+that of this hunchback?' With this came forward the Christian
+broker and said, 'O King of the age, with thy leave, I will tell
+thee a thing that happened to myself and which is still stranger
+and more wonderful and pleasant than the story of the hunchback.'
+Quoth the King, 'Let us hear it.' Then said the broker, 'O King
+of the age, I came to this city with merchandise, and Fate made
+me settle here with you, but
+
+
+
+
+                 The Christian Broker's Story.
+
+
+
+I am by birth a Copt, and a native of Cairo, where I was brought
+up. My father was a broker, and when I came to man's estate, he
+died and I became a broker in his stead. One day, as I was
+sitting in my shop, there came up to me a young man as handsome
+as could be, richly clad and riding on an ass. When he saw me, he
+saluted me, and I rose to do him honour. Then he pulled out a
+handkerchief, containing a sample of sesame, and said to me,
+"What is the worth of an ardebb[FN#74] of this?" "A hundred
+dirhems," replied I; and he said, "Take porters and measures and
+come to-morrow to the Khan of El Jaweli, by the Gate of Victory,
+where thou wilt find me." Then he went away, leaving with me the
+handkerchief containing the sample of sesame; and I went round to
+the buyers and agreed for a hundred and twenty dirhems an ardebb.
+Next day, I took four gaugers and carried them to the Khan, where
+I found him awaiting me. As soon as he saw me, he rose and opened
+his magazines, and we measured the contents and found them fifty
+ardebbs of sesame, making five thousand dirhems. Then said he to
+me, "Thou shalt have ten dirhems an ardebb to thy brokerage; so
+take the price and lay by four thousand five hundred dirhems for
+me; and when I have made an end of selling my other goods, I will
+come to thee and take the amount." "It is well," replied I, and
+kissed his hand and went away, having made that day a profit of a
+thousand dirhems, besides the brokerage. I saw no more of him for
+a month, at the end of which time he came to me and said, "Where
+is the money?" I rose and saluted him and said to him, "Wilt thou
+not eat somewhat with me?" But he refused, saying, "Get the money
+ready, and I will come back for it." So I brought out the money
+and sat down to await his return, but saw no more of him for
+another month, at the end of which time he came to me and said,
+"Where is the money?" I rose and saluted him and said, "Wilt thou
+not eat a morsel with me?" But he refused, saying, "Have the
+money ready against my return," and rode away. So I fetched the
+dirhems and sat awaiting him; but he did not come near me for
+another month, and I said, "Verily, this young man is the
+incarnation of liberality." At the end of the month, he came up,
+riding on a mule and clad in sumptuous raiment. His face shone
+like the moon at its full and he seemed as if he had just come
+from the bath, with his rosy cheeks and flower-white forehead and
+mole like a grain of ambergris, even as says the poet:
+
+Within one mansion of the sky the sun and moon combine; With all
+     fair fortune and delight of goodliness they shine.
+Their beauty stirs all those that see to passion and to love:
+     Good luck to them, for that they move to ravishment divine!
+In grace and beauty they increase and aye more perfect grow: All
+     souls yearn out to them for love, all hearts to them
+     incline.
+Blessed be God, whose creatures are so full of wonderment!
+     Whate'er He wills He fashions forth, even as He doth design.
+
+When I saw him, I rose and saluted him and kissed his hand,
+saying, "O my lord, wilt thou not take thy money?" "What hurry is
+there?" replied he; "wait till I have made an end of my business,
+when I will come and take it." Then he went away, and I said to
+myself, "By Allah, when he comes next time, I must press him to
+eat with me," for I had traded with his money and profited
+largely by it. At the end of the year he came again, dressed even
+more richly than before, and I conjured him to dismount and eat
+of my victual; and he said to me, "I consent, on condition that
+what thou expendest on me shall be of my money in thy hands." "So
+be it," replied I, and made him sit down, whilst I made ready
+what was needful of meat and drink and so forth and set the tray
+before him, saying, "In the name of God." So he came to the table
+and put out his left hand and ate with me; and I wondered at his
+using his left hand.[FN#75] When we had done eating, I poured
+water on his hand and gave him wherewith to wipe it. Then we sat
+talking, after I had set sweetmeats before him, and I said to
+him, "O my lord, I prithee relieve my mind by telling me why thou
+eatest with thy left hand. Belike something ails thy right hand?"
+When he heard my words, he recited the following verses:
+
+Ask not, I prithee, my friend, of the anguish that burns in my
+     heart 'Twould but the infirmities show that now in my bosom
+     lie hid.
+If with Selma I company now and harbour with Leila no more,
+     Believe me, 'tis none of my will; needs must, if necessity
+     bid.
+
+Then he drew his right arm out from his sleeve, and behold, it
+was a stump without a hand, the latter having been cut off at the
+wrist. I was astonished at this, and he said to me, "Thou seest
+that my eating with the left hand arose, not from conceit, but
+from necessity; and there hangs a strange story by the cutting
+off of my right hand." "And how came it to be cut off?" asked I.
+"Know," answered he, "that I am a native of Baghdad and the son
+of one of the principal men of that city. When I came to man's
+estate, I heard the pilgrims and travellers and merchants talk of
+the land of Egypt, and this abode in my thought till my father
+died, when I laid out a large sum of money in the purchase of
+stuffs of Baghdad and Mosul, with which I set out on my travels
+and God decreed me safety, till I reached this your city." And he
+wept and recited the following verses:
+
+It chances oft that the blind man escapes a pit, Whilst he that
+is clear of sight falls into it:
+The ignorant man can speak with impunity A word that is death to
+the wise and the ripe of wit:
+The true believer is pinched for his daily bread, Whilst infidel
+rogues enjoy all benefit.
+What is a man's resource and what shall he do? It is the
+Almighty's will: we must submit.
+
+"So I entered Cairo," continued he, "and put up at the Khan of
+Mesrour, where I unpacked my goods and stored them in the
+magazines. Then I gave the servant money to buy me something to
+eat and lay down to sleep awhile. When I awoke, I went to the
+street called Bein el Kesrein[FN#76] and presently returned and
+passed the night at the Khan. Next morning, I said to myself, 'I
+will walk through the bazaars and see the state of the market.'
+So I opened a bale and took out certain stuffs, which I gave to
+one of my servants to carry, then repaired to the Bazaar of
+Jergis, where I was accosted by the brokers, who had heard of my
+arrival. They took my stuffs and cried them for sale, but could
+not get the prime cost of them. I was vexed at this; but the
+chief of the brokers said to me, 'O my lord, I will tell thee
+how thou mayst make a profit of thy goods. Thou shouldst do
+as the other merchants do and sell thy goods on credit, for a
+fixed period, on a contract drawn up by a scrivener, and duly
+witnessed, and employ a money-changer and take thy money every
+Monday and Thursday. So shalt thou profit two dirhems for every
+one; and besides this, thou canst amuse thyself meanwhile at
+leisure in viewing Cairo and the Nile.' Quoth I, 'This advice is
+good,' and carried the brokers to the Khan. They took my stuffs
+and transported them to the bazaar, where I sold them to various
+merchants, taking their bonds for the value. These bonds I
+deposited with a money-changer, who gave me an acknowledgment in
+writing, with which I returned to my Khan. Here I abode a month,
+breaking my fast with a cup of wine every morning and sending out
+for mutton and sweetmeats, till the time came when my receipts
+began to fall due. So, every Monday and Thursday, I used to
+repair to the bazaar and sit in the shop of one or other of the
+merchants, whilst the scrivener and money-changer went round to
+collect the money from the different merchants, till after the
+time of afternoon-prayer, when they brought me the amount, and I
+counted it and gave receipts for it, then took it and returned to
+my Khan. One day I went to the bath and retured to the Khan,
+where I broke my fast on a cup of wine, after which I slept a
+little. When I awoke, I ate a fowl, and scenting myself, repaired
+to the shop of a merchant called Bedreddin el Bustani, who
+welcomed me; and I sat talking with him till the market should
+open. Presently, there came up a lady of stately figure, wearing
+a magnificent head-dress and exhaling perfumes, as she walked
+along with a swimming gait. She stopped before Bedreddin and
+saluted him, raising her kerchief and showing a pair of large
+black eyes. He returned her salute and stood talking with her;
+and when I heard her speech, the love of her got hold upon my
+heart. Then she said to Bedreddin, 'Hast thou any stuffs of
+figured cloth of gold?' So he brought out to her a piece that he
+had had of me and she bought it of him for twelve hundred
+dirhems, saying, 'I will take it with me and send thee the
+price.' 'It may not be, O my lady,' answered he. 'This is the
+owner of the stuff and I owe him the price of it.' 'Out on thee!'
+said she. 'Do I not use to take great store of costly stuffs of
+thee, at a greater profit than thou askest, and send thee the
+money?' 'Yes,' rejoined he; 'but I am in pressing need of the
+price to-day.' With this she took the piece of stuff and threw it
+back into his lap, saying, 'You merchants have no respect for any
+one!' Then she turned to go, and I felt as if my soul went with
+her; so I rose and stopped her, saying, 'O my lady, favour me by
+retracing thy gracious steps!' She smiled and saying, 'For thy
+sake, I will return,' came back and sat down in the shop opposite
+me. Then I said to Bedreddin, 'What is the price set upon this
+piece?' And he replied, 'Eleven hundred dirhems.' 'The other
+hundred shall be thy profit,' rejoined I. 'Give me a piece of
+paper and I will write thee a discharge for it! So I wrote him a
+docket to that effect and gave the piece of stuff to the lady,
+saying, 'Take it and, if thou wilt, bring me the price next
+market-day; or, better still, accept it as a gift from me to
+thee.' 'May God requite thee with good,' answered she, 'and make
+thee my husband and master of my property!'[FN#77] (And God heard
+her prayer.) 'O my lady,' replied I, 'this piece of stuff is
+thine and another like it, if thou wilt but let me see thy face.'
+So she lifted her veil, and I took one look at her face, that
+caused me a thousand regrets, and fell so violently in love with
+her, that I was no longer master of my reason. Then she let down
+her veil and taking the piece of stuff, said, 'O my lord, leave
+me not desolate!'[FN#78] and went away, whilst I remained sitting
+in the shop till the time of afternoon-prayer was past, lost to
+the world and fairly distraught for love; and the violence of my
+passion prompted me to make enquiries about her of the merchant,
+who replied, 'She is a lady of wealth, the daughter of an Amir,
+who died and left her a large fortune.' Then I took leave of him
+and returned to the Khan, where they set the evening meal before
+me; but I could not eat, for thinking of her, and laid down to
+rest. But sleep came not to me and I lay awake till daylight,
+when I rose and changed my dress. I broke my fast on a cup of
+wine and a morsel of bread and going to the market, saluted
+Bedreddin and sat down by him in his shop. Presently up came the
+lady, followed by a slave-girl, and more richly dressed than
+before, and saluting me, instead of Bedreddin, said to me, in a
+voice than which I never heard a sweeter or softer, 'Send with me
+some one to take the twelve hundred dirhems, the price of the
+stuff.' 'What hurry is there?' asked I. And she said, 'May we
+never lose thee!' And gave me the money. Then I sat talking with
+her, and presently I made signs to her, by which she understood
+that I desired to  enjoy her and rose hastily, as if vexed with
+me, and went away. My heart clung to her and I rose and followed
+in her track; but as I went along, a slave-girl accosted me,
+saying. 'O my lord, my mistress would speak with thee.' At this I
+was astonished, and said, 'There is no one who knows me here.' 'O
+my lord,' answered the slave, 'how quickly thou hast forgotten
+her! My mistress is she who was to-day at the shop of the
+merchant Bedreddin.' So I followed her to the money-changer's,
+where I found the lady, who drew me to her side and said to me,
+'O my beloved, thou hast made prize of my heart, and love of thee
+has conquered my soul. Since the day I saw thee first, I have
+taken no delight in sleep nor in meat nor drink.' 'My sufferings
+have been still greater than thine,' answered I; 'and my state
+dispenses me from complaint.' Then said she, 'O my lord, shall I
+come to thee or wilt thou come to me?' Quoth I, 'I am a stranger
+here and have no lodging but the Khan; so by thy favour, it
+shall be at thy house.' 'It is well,' replied she; 'to-night
+is Friday eve, and nothing can be done; but to-morrow, after
+the morning-prayer, mount thine ass and enquire for the house
+of Berekat the Syndic, known as Abou Shameh, in the Hebbaniyeh
+quarter; for I live there; and do not delay, for I shall be
+expecting thee.' At this, I rejoiced greatly and took leave of
+her and returned to the Khan, where I passed a sleepless night.
+As soon as it was day, I rose and changed my clothes and
+perfumed myself with essences and sweet-scented smoke. Then I
+took fifty dinars in a handkerchief and went out to the Zuweyleh
+Gate, where I hired an ass, bidding the driver carry me to the
+Hebbaniyeh. So he set off with me and brought me in the twinkling
+of an eye to a by-street called El Munkeri, where I bade him go
+in and enquire for the Syndic's house. After a little he returned
+and said, 'Alight.' But I made him guide me to the house, where I
+dismounted and giving him a quarter-dinar, said, 'Come back
+to-morrow at daybreak and fetch me away.' 'In the name of God,'
+answered he, and went away. Then I knocked at the gate and there
+came out two young girls, high-bosomed maids, as they were moons,
+and said to me, 'Enter, for our mistress awaits thee, and she
+slept not last night for joyance in thee.' So I entered and they
+brought me, through a vestibule, into an upper chamber with seven
+doors, paved with vari-coloured marbles and furnished with
+hangings and carpets of coloured silk. The walls were plastered
+with stucco-royal, in which one might see his own face, and the
+roof was ribbed with gold and bordered with inscriptions
+emblazoned in ultramarine. All around were latticed windows
+overlooking a garden, full of fruits of all colours, with streams
+running and birds singing on the branches, and midmost the hall
+was a fountain, at whose angles stood birds fashioned in red
+gold, spouting forth water as it were pearls and jewels; and
+indeed the place comprised all kinds of beauty and dazzled the
+beholder with its radiance. I entered and sat down; but hardly
+had I done so, when the lady came up to me, crowned with a diadem
+of pearls and jewels and having her eyebrows pencilled and her
+hands stained with henna. When she saw me, she smiled on me and
+embraced me and pressed me to her bosom; and she set her mouth to
+mine and sucked my tongue, and I did the like with her. Then she
+said, 'Can it be true that thou art indeed come to me?' 'I am thy
+slave,' answered I; and she said, 'Welcome, a thousand times! By
+Allah, since I first saw thee, sleep has not been sweet to me nor
+food pleasant!' Quoth I, 'So has it been with me also.' Then we
+sat down to converse, and I bowed my head for bashfulness.
+Presently, she set before me a tray of the most exquisite meats,
+such as ragouts and fritters soaked in honey and fricassees and
+fowls stuffed with sugar and pistachio-nuts, and we ate till we
+were satisfied. Then they brought ewer and basin and I washed my
+hands, after which we scented ourselves with rose-water mingled
+with musk and sat down again to converse. We complained to each
+other of the sufferings we had undergone, and my love for her
+took such hold on me, that all my wealth was of little account to
+me, in comparison with her. We passed the time in toying and
+kissing and dalliance, till nightfall, when the damsels set
+before us a banquet of food and wine and we sat carousing half
+the night. Then we went to bed and I lay with her till the
+morning, never in my life saw I the like of that night. As soon
+as it was day, I arose and took leave of her, after having
+slipped under the mattress the handkerchief containing the
+dinars; and she wept and said 'O my lord, when shall I see that
+fair face again?' 'I will be with thee at eventide,' answered I,
+and going out, found the ass-man waiting for me at the door. So I
+mounted and rode to the Khan of Mesrour, where I alighted and
+gave the driver half a dinar, saying, 'Come back at sun down.'
+And he said, 'Good.' Then I broke my fast and went out to seek
+the price of my stuffs, after which I returned and taking a roast
+lamb and some sweetmeats, called a porter and despatched them by
+him to the lady, paying him his hire in advance. I occupied
+myself with my affairs till sunset, when the ass-driver came for
+me and I took fifty dinars in a handkerchief and rode to the
+house, where I found the marble floor swept, the brass burnished,
+the lamps filled and the candles lighted, the meats ready dished
+and the wines strained. When my mistress saw me, she threw her
+arms round my neck and exclaimed, 'Thou hast desolated me by
+thine absence!' Then they set the tables and we ate till we were
+satisfied, when the serving-maids took away the tray of food and
+set on wine. We gave not over drinking till midnight, when we
+went to the sleeping-chamber and lay together till morning. Then
+I rose and went away, leaving the fifty dinars with her as
+before. I found the ass-driver at the door and mounting, rode to
+the Khan, where I slept awhile, then went out to prepare the
+evening-meal. I took a brace of geese with broth on two platters
+of dressed rice, together with colocasia-roots[FN#79], fried and
+soaked in honey, and wax candles and fruits and conserves and
+flowers and nuts and almonds, and sent them all to her. As soon
+as it was night, I mounted the ass as usual, taking with me fifty
+dinars in a handkerchief, and rode to the house, where we ate and
+drank and lay together till morning, when I left the handkerchief
+and dinars with her and rode back to the Khan. I ceased not to
+lead this life, till one fine morning I found myself without a
+single dirhem and said, 'This is Satan's doing!' And I repeated
+the following verses:
+
+
+When a rich man grows poor, his lustre dies away, Like to the
+     setting sun that pales with ended day.
+Absent, his name is not remembered among men: Present, he hath no
+     part in life and its array.
+He passes through the streets and fain would hide his head And
+     pours out floods of tears in every desert way.
+By Allah, when distress and want descend on men, But strangers
+     midst their kin and countrymen are they.
+
+Then I left the Khan and walked along Bein el Kesrein till I came
+to the Zuweyleh Gate, where I found the folk crowded together and
+the gate blocked up for the much people. As Fate would have it, I
+saw there a trooper, against whom I pressed, without meaning it,
+so that my hand came on his pocket and I felt a purse inside. I
+looked and seeing a string of green silk hanging from the pocket,
+knew that it belonged to the purse. The crowd increased every
+moment and just then, a camel bearing a load of wood jostled the
+trooper on the other side and he turned to ward it off from him,
+lest it should tear his clothes. When I saw this, Satan tempted
+me; so I pulled  the string and drew out a little purse of blue
+silk, full of something that chinked like money. Hardly had
+I done so, when the soldier turned and feeling his pocket
+lightened, put his hand to it and found it empty; whereupon he
+turned to me and raising his mace, smote me on the head I fell to
+the ground, whilst the people came round us and seizing the
+soldier's horse by the bridle, said to him, 'Is it because he
+pushed against thee in the throng, that thou smitest this young
+man such a blow?' But he cried out at them and said, 'This fellow
+is an accursed thief!' With this I came to myself and stood up,
+and the folk looked at me and said, 'This is a comely youth and
+would not steal aught.' Some took part for me and others against
+me and there was a great clamour, and the people pulled at me and
+would have rescued me from the trooper; but as Fate would have
+it, the chief of the police and the captain and officers of the
+watch entered by the gate at this moment; and the prefect, seeing
+the crowd about the soldier and myself, enquired what was the
+matter. 'O my lord,' replied the soldier, 'this fellow is a
+thief. I had a blue purse in my pocket, containing twenty dinars,
+and he took it, whilst I was in the crush.' 'Was any one else by
+thee?' asked the magistrate, and the trooper answered, 'No.' Then
+the prefect cried out to the officers of the watch, who seized me
+and stripping me by his order, found the purse in my clothes. He
+took it and found in it twenty dinars, as the soldier had said,
+whereat he was wroth and calling to the officers to bring me
+before him, said to me, 'O young man tell me the truth. Didst
+thou steal this purse?' At this I hung down my head and said to
+myself, 'It is useless for me to say I did not steal the purse,
+for they found it in my clothes: and if I confess to the theft, I
+fall into trouble.' So I raised my head and said, 'Yes: I took
+it.' When the prefect heard what I said, he wondered and called
+for witnesses, who came forward and attested by confession. Then
+he bade the hangman cut off my right hand, and he did so; after
+which he would have cut off my left foot also; but the trooper
+took pity on me and interceded for me with the prefect, who left
+me and went away; whilst the folk remained round me and gave me a
+cup of wine to drink. As for the trooper, he gave me the purse,
+saying, 'Thou art a comely youth, and it befits not that thou be
+a thief.' And I repeated the following verses:
+
+By Allah, trusty brother mine, I am indeed no thief, Nor, O most
+     bountiful of men, a highwayman am I.
+But the vicissitudes of fate overthrew me suddenly, And care and
+     stress and penury full sorely did me try.
+It was not thou, but God who cast the fatal shaft at me, The
+     shaft that made from off my head the crown of honour fly.
+
+Then he left me, and I went away, after having wrapt my hand in a
+piece of rag and thrust it into my bosom. I betook me to my
+mistress's house, faint and ill at ease and pale by reason of
+what had befallen me, and threw myself on the couch. She saw that
+my colour was changed and said to me, 'What ails thee and why do
+I see thee thus changed?' 'My head irks me,' answered I; 'I am
+not well.' When she heard this, she was vexed and concerned for
+me and said to me, 'Fret not my heart, O my lord! Sit up and
+raise thy head and let me know what has happened to thee to-day,
+for thy face tells me a tale.' 'Spare me this talk,' replied I.
+But she wept and said, 'Meseems thou art tired of me, for I see
+that thou art contrary to thy wont.' But I was silent, and she
+continued to talk to me, though I made her no answer, till
+nightfall, when she brought me food: but I refused it, fearing to
+let her see me eat with my left hand, and said to her, 'I do not
+care to eat at present.' Quoth she 'Tell me what has befallen
+thee to-day and what ails thee, that thou art troubled and broken
+in heart and spirit.' 'Presently,' replied I; 'I will tell thee
+at my leisure.' Then she brought me wine, saying, 'Take it for it
+will dispel thy care: thou must indeed drink and tell me what is
+thy matter with thee.' 'Must I tell thee?' said I; and she
+answered, 'Yes.' Then said I, 'If it must be so, give me to drink
+with thine own hand.' So she filled and drank then filled again
+and gave me the cup. I took it from her with my left hand and
+repeated the following verses with tears running from my eyes:
+
+When God would execute His will in anything On one endowed with
+     sight, hearing and reasoning,
+He stops his ears and blinds his eyes and draws his wit From him,
+     as one draws out the hairs to paste that cling;
+Till, His decrees fulfilled, He gives him back his wit, That
+     therewithal he may receive admonishing.
+
+At this she gave a loud cry and said to me, 'What makes thee
+weep? Thou settest my heart on fire. And what ails thee to take
+the cup with thy left hand?' 'I have a boil on my right hand,'
+answered I; and she said, 'Put it out and I will lance it for
+thee.' 'It is not ripe for lancing,' answered I; 'so do not
+torment me, for I will not show it thee at present.' Then I drank
+off the cup, and she plied me with wine till I became drowsy and
+fell asleep in my place; whereupon she looked at my right arm and
+saw that it was but a stump without a hand. So she searched me
+and found the purse of gold and my severed hand wrapt in a piece
+of rag. With this, there overcame her such grief as none ever
+knew, and she ceased not to lament for my sake till the morning.
+When I awoke, I found she had made me a dish of broth of four
+boiled fowls, which she brought to me, together with a cup of
+wine. I ate and drank and laying down the purse, would have gone
+out; but she said to me, 'Whither goest thou?' 'Where my business
+calls me,' replied I; and she said, 'Thou shalt not go: sit
+down.' So I sat down, and she said, 'Has thy love for me brought
+thee to such a pass, that thou hast wasted thy substance and lost
+thy hand on my account? Since this is so, I call God to witness
+against me that I will never part with thee: and thou shalt see
+the truth of my words.' Then she sent for the Cadi and the
+witnesses and said to them, 'Draw up a contract of marriage
+between me and this young man and bear witness that I have
+received the dowry.' So they drew up our marriage contract, and
+she said to them, 'Be witness that all my money that is in this
+chest and all that belongs to me and all my slaves, male and
+female, are the property of this young man.' So they took act of
+this and withdrew, after having received their fees. Then she
+took me by the hand and leading me to a closet, opened a large
+chest and said to me, 'See what is herein.' I looked and behold,
+it was full of handkerchiefs. Quoth she, 'This is the money I had
+of thee; for every time thou gavest me a handkerchief, with fifty
+dinars in it, I wrapped it together and threw it into this chest;
+so now take thy money, for indeed it returns to thee, and thou
+to-day art become of high estate. Fate afflicted thee, so that
+thou didst lose thy right hand for my sake, and I can never
+requite thee: nay, though I gave my life, it were little and I
+should still remain thy debtor.' Then she said to me, 'Take
+possession of thy property!' and transferred the contents of the
+other chest to that which contained the money I had given her. At
+this, my heart was gladdened and my grief forsook me, and I rose
+and kissed and thanked her. Quoth she, 'Thou hast lost thy hand
+for love of me, and how can I requite thee? By Allah, if I gave
+my life for thy love, it were far short of thy due!' Then she
+made over to me by deed all her clothes and jewels and other
+property and lay not down to sleep that night, being in sore
+concern on my account, till I told her all that had befallen me.
+I passed the night with her; but before we had lived together a
+month's time, she fell grievously ill and sickness was upon her,
+by reason of her grief for the loss of my hand; and she endured
+but fifty days before she was numbered of the folk of the other
+world. So I laid her in the ground and had recitations of the
+Koran made over her tomb and gave much money in alms for her;
+after which I returned to the house and found that she had
+left much substance in money and houses and lands. Among her
+storehouses was one full of sesame, whereof I sold part to thee;
+and it was the fact of my being busied in selling the rest of my
+goods and all that was in the storehouses, that diverted my
+attention from thee; nor have I till now made an end of receiving
+the price. This, then, is the reason of the cutting off of my
+right hand and of my eating with the left. Now thou shalt not
+baulk me in what I am about to say, for that I have eaten of thy
+victual; and it is that I make thee a gift of the money that is
+in thy hands." "Indeed," replied I, "thou hast shown me the
+utmost kindness and liberality." Then said he, "Wilt thou journey
+with me to my native country, whither I am about to return with a
+lading of Cairo and Alexandria stuffs?" "I will well," answered
+I, and appointed with him for the end of the month. So I sold all
+I had and bought merchandise; then we set out, he and I, and
+journeyed till we came to this town, where he sold his goods, and
+buying others in their stead, set out again for Egypt. But it was
+my lot to abide here, so that there befell me in my strangerhood
+what befell last night. This, then, is my story, O King of the
+age. Is it not more marvellous than that of the hunchback?' 'Not
+so,' answered the King; 'and needs must you all be hanged.' Then
+came forward the controller of the Sultan's kitchen and said,
+'With thy leave, I will tell thee what happened to me but lately
+and if it be more marvellous than the story of the hunchback, do
+thou grant us our lives.' 'So be it,' answered the King. Then
+said the controller, 'Know, O King, that
+
+
+
+
+The Controller's Story.
+
+
+
+I was the night before last in company with a number of persons
+who were assembled for the purpose of hearing a recitation of the
+Koran. The doctors of the law attended, and when the readers had
+made an end of reading, the table was spread, and amongst other
+things they set before us a ragout flavoured with cumin-seed.
+So we sat down to eat it; but one of our number held back and
+abstained from eating. We conjured him to eat of the ragout; but
+he swore that he would not, and we pressed him till he said,
+"Press me not; what has already befallen me through eating of
+this dish suffices me." And he repeated the following verses:
+
+Shoulder thy tray, 'fore God, and get thee gone with it, And to
+     thine eyes apply such salve as thou deem'st fit.[FN#80]
+
+"For God's sake," said we, "tell us the reason of thy refusal to
+eat of the ragout!" "If I must eat of it," replied he, "I will
+not do so, except I may wash my hands forty times with soap,
+forty times with potash and forty times with galingale, in all a
+hundred and twenty times." So the master of the house ordered his
+servants to bring water and all that he required; and the young
+man washed his hands as he had said. Then he sat down, as if
+afraid, and dipping his hand into the ragout, began to eat,
+though with evident repugnance and as if doing himself violence,
+whilst we regarded him with the utmost wonder; for his hand
+trembled and we saw that his thumb had been cut off and he ate
+with his four fingers only. So we said to him, "God on thee, what
+has become of thy thumb? Is thy hand thus by the creation of God
+or has it been mutilated by accident?" "O my brothers, answered
+he, "it is not this thumb alone that has been cut off, but also
+that of the other hand and the great toe of each of my feet, as
+ye shall see." Then he bared his left hand and his feet, and we
+saw that the left hand was even as the right and that each of his
+feet lacked the great toe. At this sight, our amazement increased
+and we said to him, "We are impatient to know thy history and the
+manner of the cutting off of thy thumbs and great toes and the
+reason of thy washing thy hands a hundred and twenty times."
+"Know then," answered he, "that my father was chief of the
+merchants of Baghdad in the time of the Khalif Haroun er Reshid;
+but he was given to drinking wine and listening to the lute and
+other instruments, so that when he died, he left nothing. I
+buried him and had recitations of the Koran made over him and
+mourned for him days and nights. Then I opened his shop and found
+he had left little but debts. However, I compounded with his
+creditors for time to pay and betook myself to buying and
+selling, paying them something week by week on account, till at
+last I succeeded in clearing off the debts and began to add to my
+capital. One day, as I sat in my shop, there came up to the
+entrance of the bazaar a lady, than whom my eyes never saw a
+fairer, richly clad and decked and riding on a mule, with one
+slave walking before and another behind her. She halted the mule
+at the entrance of the bazaar and entered, followed by an eunuch,
+who said to her, 'O my lady, come out, without telling any one,
+or thou wilt bring us into trouble.' And he stood before
+her,[FN#81] whilst she looked at the shops. She found no shop
+open but mine, so came up, with the eunuch behind her, and
+sitting down in my shop, saluted me; never did I hear aught
+sweeter than her voice or more pleasant than her speech. Then she
+unveiled her face and I saw she was like the moon and stole at
+her a glance that cost me a thousand sighs. My heart was
+captivated with her love and I could not take my eyes off her
+face; and I repeated the following verses:
+
+Say to the fairest fair, her in the dove-coloured veil, "Death
+     would be welcome to me, to save me from thy bale:
+Grant me thy favours, I pray! so I may live perchance. Lo! I
+     stretch forth my palm: let not thy bounties fail."
+
+When she heard this, she answered me by repeating the following
+verses:
+
+Power to forget thee, for desire, fails even unto me: My heart
+     and all my soul will love none other after thee.
+If my eyes ever look on aught except thy loveliness, May union
+     after severance ne'er brighten them with glee!
+I've sworn an oath by my right hand ne'er to forget thy grace. My
+     sad heart pineth for thy love and never may win free.
+Passion hath given me to drink a brimming cup of love; Would it
+     had given the self-same draught to drink, dear heart, to
+     thee!
+If thou shouldst ask me what I'd crave most earnestly of God,
+     "The Almighty's favour first, then thine," I'd say, "my
+     prayer shall be."
+
+Then she said to me, 'O youth, hast thou any handsome stuffs?' 'O
+my lady,' answered I, 'thy slave is poor: but wait till the
+merchants open their shops, and I will get thee what thou wilt.'
+Then we sat talking, she and I, whilst I was drowned in the sea
+of her love and dazed with passion for her, till the merchants
+opened their shops, when I rose and fetched her all she sought,
+to the value of five thousand dirhems. She gave the stuffs to the
+slave and leaving the bazaar, mounted the mule and rode away,
+without telling me whence she came, and I was ashamed to ask her.
+So I became answerable to the merchants for the price of the
+goods and thus took on myself a debt of five thousand dirhems.
+Then I went home, drunken with love of her, and they set the
+evening-meal before me. I ate a mouthful and lay down to rest,
+musing upon her beauty and grace: but sleep came not to me. A
+week passed thus, and the merchants sought their money of me,
+but I persuaded them to wait another week, at the end of which
+time she came up, riding on the mule and attended by an eunuch
+and two slaves. She saluted me and said, 'O my lord, we have
+been long in bringing thee the price of the stuffs; but now
+fetch a money-changer and take the amount.' So I sent for the
+money-changer, and the eunuch counted me out the money, and we
+sat talking, the lady and I, till the market opened, when she
+said to me, 'Get me this and this.' So I got her from the
+merchants what she wanted, and she took it and went away, without
+saying a word to me about the price. As soon as she was out of
+sight, I repented me of what I had done, for the price of what
+I had bought for her was a thousand dinars, and I said to
+myself, 'What doting is this? She has brought me five thousand
+dirhems[FN#82], and taken a thousand dinars'[FN#83] worth of
+goods.' And I feared lest I should be beggared, through having to
+pay the merchants their money, and said, 'They know none but me
+and this woman is none other than a cheat, who hath cozened me
+with her beauty and grace, for she saw that I was young and
+laughed at me; and I did not ask her address.' She did not come
+again for more than a month, and I abode in constant distress and
+perplexity, till at last the merchants dunned me for their money
+and pressed me so that I put up my property for sale and looked
+for nothing but ruin. However, as I was sitting in my shop, one
+day, absorbed in melancholy thought, she rode up and dismounting
+at the gate of the bazaar, came in and made towards me. When I
+saw her, my anxiety ceased and I forgot my troubles. She came up
+to me and greeting me with her pleasant speech, said to me,
+'Fetch the money-changer and take thy money.' So she gave me the
+price of the goods I had gotten for her and more, and fell to
+conversing freely with me, till I was like to die of joy and
+delight. Presently, she said to me, 'Hast thou a wife?' 'No,'
+answered I; 'I have never known woman.' And fell a-weeping. Quoth
+she, 'Why dost thou weep?' 'It is nothing,' replied I; and giving
+the eunuch some of the dinars, begged him to use his influence
+with her for me; but he laughed and said, 'She is more in love
+with thee than thou with her. She had no occasion for the stuffs
+she bought of thee and did all this but out of love for thee. So
+ask of her what thou wilt; she will not deny thee.' When she saw
+me give the eunuch money, she returned and sat down again; and I
+said to her, 'Be charitable to thy slave and pardon him what he
+is about to say.' Then I told her what was in my mind, and she
+assented and said to the eunuch, 'Thou shalt carry my message to
+him.' Then to me, 'Do as the eunuch bids thee.' Then she rose and
+went away, and I paid the merchants what I owed them, and they
+all profited; but as for me, I gained nought but regret for the
+breaking off of our intercourse. I slept not all that night; but
+before many days were past, the eunuch came to me, and I made
+much of him and asked after his mistress. 'She is sick for love
+of thee,' replied he; and I said, 'Tell me who she is.' Quoth he,
+'She is one of the waiting-women of the Lady Zubeideh, the wife
+of the Khalif Haroun er Reshid, who brought her up and advanced
+her to be stewardess of the harem and granted her the right of
+going in and out at will. She told her mistress of thee and
+begged her to marry her to thee; but she said, "I will not do
+this, till I see the young man; and if he be worthy of thee, I
+will marry thee to him." So now we wish to bring thee into the
+palace at once and if thou succeed in entering without being
+seen, thou wilt win to marry her; but if the affair get wind,
+thou wilt lose thy head. What sayst thou?' And I answered, 'I
+will go with thee and abide the risk of which thou speakest.'
+Then said he, 'As soon as it is night, go to the mosque built by
+the Lady Zubeideh on the Tigris and pray and pass the night
+there.' 'With all my heart,' answered I. So at nightfall I
+repaired to the mosque, where I prayed and passed the night. Just
+before daybreak, there came up some eunuchs in a boat, with a
+number of empty chests, which they deposited in the mosque and
+went away all, except one who remained behind and whom, on
+examination, I found to be he who served as our go-between.
+Presently, in came my mistress herself and I rose to her and
+embraced her. She kissed me, weeping, and we talked awhile; after
+which she made me get into one of the chests and locked it upon
+me. Then the eunuchs came back with a number of packages; and she
+fell to stowing them in the chests and locking the latter one by
+one, till she had filled them all. Then they embarked the chests
+in the boat and made for the Lady Zubeideh's palace. With this,
+reflection came to me and I said to myself, 'My lust will surely
+bring me to destruction, nor do I know whether I shall gain my
+end or no!' And I began to weep, shut up as I was in the chest,
+and to pray to God to deliver me from the peril I was in, whilst
+the boat ceased not going till it reached the palace gate, where
+they lifted out the chests and amongst them that in which I was.
+Then they carried them into the palace, passing through a troop
+of eunuchs, guardians of the harem and door-keepers, till they
+came to the post of the chief of the eunuchs, who started up from
+sleep and called out to the lady, saying, 'What is in those
+chests?' Quoth she, 'They are full of wares for the Lady
+Zubeideh.' 'Open them,' said he, 'one by one, that I may see what
+is in them.'--'Why wilt thou open them?' asked she: but he cried
+out at her, saying, 'Give me no words! They must and shall be
+opened.' Now the first that they brought to him to open was that
+in which I was: and when I felt this, my senses failed me and I
+bepissed myself for terror, and the water ran out of the chest.
+Then said she to the eunuch, 'O chief, thou hast undone me and
+thyself also, for thou hast spoiled that which is worth ten
+thousand dinars. This box contains coloured dresses and four
+flasks of Zemzem water; and now one of the bottles has broken
+loose and the water is running out over the clothes and their
+colours will be ruined.' Then said the eunuch, 'Take up thy
+chests and begone with God's malison!' So the slaves took up the
+chests and hurried on with them, till suddenly I heard a voice
+saying, 'Alas! Alas! the Khalif! the Khalif!' When I heard this,
+my heart died within me and I spoke the words which whoso says
+shall not be confounded, that is to say, 'There is no power and
+no virtue but in God the Most High, the Supreme! I have brought
+this affliction on myself.' Presently I heard the Khalif say to
+my mistress, 'Harkye, what is in those chests of thine ?'
+'Clothes for the Lady Zubeideh,' answered she; and he said, 'Open
+them to me.' When I heard this, I gave myself up for lost and
+said, 'By Allah, this is the last of my worldly days!' and began
+to repeat the profession of the Faith. Then I heard the lady say
+to the Khalif, 'These chests have been committed to my charge by
+the Lady Zubeideh, and she does not wish their contents to be
+seen of any one.'--'No matter,' said he; 'I must open them and
+see what is in them.' And he cried out to the eunuchs saying,
+'Bring them to me.' At this, I made sure of death and swooned
+away. Then the slaves brought the chests up to him and opened
+them, one after another, and he saw in them perfumes and stuffs
+and rich clothes, till none remained unopened but that in which I
+was. They put their hands to it to open it, but the lady made
+haste and said to the Khalif, 'This one thou shalt see in the
+Lady Zubeideh's presence, for that which is in it is her secret.'
+When he heard this, he ordered them to carry in the chests; so
+they took up that in which I was and carried it, with the rest,
+into the harem and set it down in the middle of the saloon; and
+indeed my spittle was dried up for fear. Then my mistress opened
+the chest and took me out, saying, 'Fear not: no harm shall
+befall thee, but be of good courage and sit down, till the Lady
+Zubeideh comes, and thou shalt surely win thy wish of me.' So I
+sat down, and after awhile, in came ten maidens like moons and
+ranged themselves in two rows, one facing the other, and after
+them other twenty, high-bosomed maids with the Lady Zubeideh, who
+could hardly walk for the weight of her dresses and ornaments. As
+she drew near, the damsels dispersed from around her, and I
+advanced and kissed the earth before her. She signed to me to be
+seated and questioned me of my condition and family, to which I
+made such answers as pleased her, and she said to my mistress, 'O
+damsel, our nurturing of thee has not been in vain.' Then she
+said to me, 'Know that this damsel is to us even as our own
+child, and she is a trust committed to thee by God.' I kissed the
+earth again before her, well pleased that I should marry my
+mistress, and she bade me sojourn ten days in the palace. So I
+abode there ten days, during which time I saw not my mistress nor
+any one save a serving-maid, who brought me the morning and
+evening meals. After this the Lady Zubeideh took counsel with the
+Khalif on the marriage of her favourite, and he gave leave and
+assigned her a wedding portion of ten thousand dinars. So the
+Lady Zubeideh sent for the Cadi and the witnesses, and they drew
+up our marriage contract, after which the women made sweetmeats
+and rich viands and distributed them among the inmates of the
+harem. Thus they did other ten days, at the end of which time my
+mistress entered the bath. Meanwhile, they set before me a tray
+of food, on which was a basin containing a ragout of fricasseed
+fowls' breasts dressed with cumin-seed and flavoured with sugar
+and rose-water, mixed with musk, and many another dish, such as
+amazed the wit; and by Allah, I did not hesitate, but fell upon
+the ragout and ate my fill of it. Then I wiped my hands, but
+forgot to wash them and sat till it grew dark, when they lit the
+candles and the singing-women came with tambourines and proceeded
+to display the bride and carry her in procession from room to
+room, receiving largesse of gold and pieces of silk, till they
+had made the round of the palace. Then they brought her to me and
+disrobed her. When I found myself alone in bed with her, I
+embraced her, hardly believing in my good fortune; but she smelt
+the odour of the ragout on my hands and gave a loud cry, at which
+the maids came running to her from all sides. I was alarmed and
+trembled, not knowing what was the matter, and the girls said to
+her, 'What ails thee, O sister?' Quoth she, 'Take this madman
+away from me: methought he was a man of sense.' 'What makes thee
+think me mad?' asked I. 'O madman,' answered she, 'what made thee
+eat of ragout of cumin-seed, without washing thy hands? By Allah,
+I will punish thee for thy misconduct! Shall the like of thee
+come to bed to the like of me, with unwashed hands?' Then she
+took from her side a whip of plaited thongs and laid on to my
+back and buttocks till I swooned away for the much beating; when
+she said to the maids, 'Take him and carry him to the chief of
+the police, that he may cut off the hand wherewith he ate of the
+ragout and washed it not.' When I heard this, I said, 'There is
+no power and no virtue but in God! Wilt thou cut off my hand,
+because I ate of a ragout and did not wash?' And the girls
+interceded with her, saying, 'O our sister, forgive him this
+once!' But she said, 'By Allah, I must and will dock him of
+somewhat!' Then she went away and I saw no more of her for ten
+days, at the end of which time, she came in to me and said, 'O
+black-a-vice, I will not make peace with thee, till I have
+punished thee for eating ragout of cumin-seed, without washing
+thy hands!' Then she cried out to the maids, who bound me; and
+she took a sharp razor and cut off my thumbs and toes, as ye have
+seen. Thereupon I swooned away and she sprinkled the severed
+parts with a powder which staunched the blood; and I said, 'Never
+again will I eat of ragout of cumin-seed without washing my hands
+forty times with potash, forty times with galingale and forty
+times with soap!' And she took of me an oath to that effect. So
+when the ragout was set before me, my colour changed and I said
+to myself, 'It was this that was the cause of the cutting off of
+my thumbs and toes.' And when ye forced me, I said, 'I must needs
+fulfil the oath I have taken.'" "And what befell thee after
+this?" asked the others. "After this," replied he, "her heart was
+appeased and I lay with her that night. We abode thus awhile,
+till she said to me, one day, 'It befits not that we continue in
+the Khalif's palace: for none ever came hither but thou, and thou
+wonst not in but by the grace of the Lady Zubeideh. Now she has
+given me fifty thousand dinars; so take this money and go out and
+buy us a commodious house.' So I went forth and bought a handsome
+and spacious house, whither she transported all her goods and
+valuables." Then (continued the controller) we ate and went away:
+and after, there happened to me with the hunchback that thou
+wottest of. This then is my story and peace be on thee.' Quoth
+the King, 'This story is not more agreeable than that of the
+hunchback: on the contrary, it is less so, and you must all be
+hanged.' Then came forward the Jewish physician and kissing the
+earth, said, 'O King of the age, I will tell thee a story more
+wonderful than that of the hunchback.' 'Tell on,' answered the
+King; and the Jew said, 'The strangest adventure that ever befell
+me was as follows:
+
+
+
+
+
+The Jewish Physician's Story.
+
+
+
+In my younger days I lived at Damascus, where I studied my art;
+and one day, as I sat in my house, there came to me a servant
+with a summons from the governor of the city. So I followed him
+to the house and entering the saloon, saw, lying on a couch of
+juniper-wood, set with plates of gold, that stood at the upper
+end, a sick youth, never was seen a handsomer. I sat down at his
+head and offered up a prayer for his recovery. He made a sign to
+me with his eyes and I said to him, "O my lord, give me thy
+hand." So he put forth his left hand, at which I wondered and
+said to myself, "By Allah, it is strange that so handsome a
+young man of high family should lack good breeding! This can be
+nothing but conceit." However, I felt his pulse and wrote him a
+prescription and continued to visit him for ten days, at the end
+of which time he recovered and went to the bath, whereupon the
+governor gave me a handsome dress of honour and appointed me
+superintendent of the hospital at Damascus. I accompanied
+him to the bath, the whole of which they had cleared for his
+accommodation, and the servants came in with him and took off his
+clothes within the bath, when I saw that his right hand had been
+newly cut off, and this was the cause of his illness. At this I
+was amazed and grieved for him: then looking at his body I
+saw on it the marks of beating with rods, for which he had used
+ointments. I was perplexed at this and my perplexity appeared in
+my face. The young man looked at me and reading my thought, said
+to me, "O physician of the age, marvel not at my case. I will
+tell thee my story, when we leave the bath." Then we washed and
+returning to his house, partook of food and rested awhile; after
+which he said to me, "What sayest thou to taking the air in the
+garden?" "I will well," answered I; so he bade the slaves carry
+out carpets and cushions and roast a lamb and bring us some
+fruit. They did as he bade them, and we ate of the fruits, he
+using his left hand for the purpose. After awhile, I said to him,
+"Tell me thy story." "O physician of the age," answered he, "hear
+what befell me. Know that I am a native of Mosul and my father
+was the eldest of ten brothers, who were all married, but none of
+them was blessed with children except my father, to whom God had
+vouchsafed me. So I grew up among my uncles, who rejoiced in me
+with exceeding joy, till I came to man's estate. One Friday, I
+went to the chief mosque of Mosul with my father and my uncles,
+and we prayed the congregational prayers, after which all the
+people went out, except my father and uncles, who sat conversing
+of the wonders of foreign lands and the strange things to be seen
+in various cities. At last they mentioned Egypt and one of my
+uncles said, 'Travellers say that there is not on the face of the
+earth aught fairer than Cairo and its Nile.' Quoth my father,
+'Who has not seen Cairo has not seen the world. Its dust is gold
+and its Nile a wonder; its women are houris and its houses
+palaces: its air is temperate and the fragrance of its breezes
+outvies the scent of aloes-wood: and how should it be otherwise,
+being the  mother of the world? Bravo for him who says,' And he
+repeated the following verses:
+
+Shall I from Cairo wend and leave the sweets of its delight? What
+     sojourn after it indeed were worth a longing thought?
+How shall I leave its fertile plains, whose earth unto the scent
+     Is very perfume, for the land contains no thing that's
+     naught?
+It is indeed for loveliness a very Paradise, With all its goodly
+     carpet[FN#84] spread and cushions richly wrought.
+A town that maketh heart and eye yearn with its goodliness,
+     Uniting all that of devout and profligate is sought,
+Or comrades true, by God His grace conjoined in brotherhood,
+     Their meeting-place the groves of palms that cluster round
+     about.
+O men of Cairo, if it be God's will that I depart, Let bonds of
+     friendship and of love unite us still in thought!
+Name not the city to the breeze, lest for its rival lands It
+     steal the perfumes, wherewithal its garden-ways are fraught.
+
+'And if,' added my father, 'you saw its gardens in the evenings,
+with the tree-shadows sloping over them, you would behold a
+marvel and incline to them with delight.' And they fell to
+describing Cairo and the Nile. When I heard their accounts of
+Cairo, my mind dwelt on it and I longed to visit it; and when
+they had done talking, each went to his own dwelling. As for me,
+I slept not that night, for stress of yearning after Egypt, nor
+was meat nor drink pleasant to me. After awhile, my uncles
+prepared to set out for Cairo, and I wept before my father, till
+he made ready for me merchandise and consented to my going wish
+them, saying to them, 'Let him not enter Egypt, but leave him to
+sell his goods at Damascus.' Then I took leave of my father and
+we left Mosul and journeyed till we reached Aleppo, where we
+abode some days. Then we fared on, till we came to Damascus and
+found it a city as it were a paradise, abounding in trees and
+rivers and birds and fruits of all kinds. We alighted at one of
+the Khans, where my uncles tarried awhile, selling and buying:
+and they sold my goods also at a profit of five dirhems on every
+one, to my great satisfaction; after which they left me and went
+on to Egypt, whilst I abode at Damascus in a handsome house, such
+as the tongue fails to describe, which I had hired for two dinars
+a month. Here I remained, eating and drinking and spending the
+money in my hands, till, one day, as I sat at the door of my
+lodging, there came up a young lady, clad in costly apparel,
+never saw my eyes richer. I winked at her; and she entered
+without hesitation. I entered with her and shut the door, and she
+raised her kerchief and did off her veil, when I found her of
+surpassing beauty, and love of her took hold upon my heart. So I
+rose and fetched a tray of the most delicate viands and fruits
+and all that was needed for a carouse, and we ate and sported and
+drank till we were warm with wine. Then I lay with her the most
+delightful of nights, till the morning, when I offered to give
+her ten dinars; but she frowned and knit her brows and said, 'For
+shame! Thinkest thou I covet thy money?' And she took out from
+the bosom of her shift ten dinars and laid them before me,
+saying, 'By Allah, except thou take them, I will never come
+back!' So I accepted them, and she said to me, 'O my beloved,
+expect me again in three days' time, when I will be with thee
+between sundown and nightfall; and do thou provide us with these
+dinars the like of yesterday's entertainment.' So saying, she
+bade me adieu and went away, taking my reason with her. At the
+end of the three days, she came again, dressed in gold brocade
+and wearing richer ornaments than before. I had made ready a
+repast; so we ate and drank and lay together, as before, till the
+morning, when she gave me other ten dinars and appointed me again
+for three days thence. Accordingly, I made ready as before, and
+at the appointed time she came again, more richly dressed than
+ever, and said to me, 'O my lord, am I not fair?' 'Yea, by
+Allah!' answered I. Then she said, 'Wilt thou give me leave to
+bring with me a young lady handsomer than I and younger, that she
+may frolic with us and that thou and she may laugh and make merry
+and rejoice her heart, for she has been sad at heart this long
+time past and has asked me to let her go out and spend the night
+abroad with me?' 'Ay, by Allah!' answered I; and we drank till we
+were warm with wine and slept together till the morning, when she
+gave me twenty dinars and said to me, 'Add to thy usual
+provision, on account of the young lady who will come with me.'
+Then she went away, and on the fourth day, I made ready as usual,
+and soon after sundown she came, accompanied by another damsel,
+wrapped in a veil. They entered and sat down; and when I saw
+them, I repeated the following verses:
+
+How lovely and how pleasant is our day! The railer's absent,
+     reckless of our play,
+Love and delight and wine with us abide, Each one enough to charm
+     the wit away;
+The full moon[FN#85] glitters through the falling veil;
+     Bough-like, the shapes within the vestments sway:
+The rose blooms in the cheeks, and in the eyes Narcissus
+     languishes, in soft decay[FN#86].
+Delight with those I love fulfilled for me And life, as I would
+     have it, fair and gay!
+
+Then I lighted the candles and received them with joy and
+gladness. They put off their outer clothing, and the new damsel
+unveiled her face, when I saw that she was like the moon at its
+full, never beheld I one more beautiful. Then I rose and set meat
+and drink before them, and we ate and drank: and I began to feed
+the new damsel and to fill her cup and drink with her. At this
+the first lady was secretly jealous and said to me, 'Is not this
+girl more charming than I?' 'Ay, by Allah!' replied I. Quoth she,
+'It is my intent that thou lie with her this night.' And I
+answered, 'On my head and eyes!' Then she rose and spread the bed
+for us, and I took the young lady and lay with her that night
+till the morning, when I awoke and found myself wet, as I
+thought, with sweat. I sat up and tried to rouse the damsel, but
+when I shook her by the shoulders, her head rolled off the
+pillow. Thereupon my reason fled and I cried out, saying, 'O
+gracious Protector, extend to me Thy protection!' Then I saw that
+she had been murdered, and the world became black in my sight and
+I sought the lady my first mistress, but could not find her. So I
+knew that it was she who had murdered the girl, out of jealousy,
+and said, 'There is no power and no virtue but in God the Most
+High, the Supreme! What is to be done?' I considered awhile, then
+rose and taking off my clothes, dug a hole midmost the courtyard,
+in which I laid the dead girl, with her jewellery and ornaments,
+and throwing back the earth over her, replaced the marble of the
+pavement. After this I washed and put on clean clothes and taking
+what money I had left, locked up the house and took courage and
+went to the owner of the house, to whom I paid a year's rent,
+telling him that I was about to join my uncles at Cairo. Then I
+set out and journeying to Egypt, foregathered with my uncles, who
+rejoiced in me and I found that they had made an end of selling
+their goods. They enquired the reason of my coming, and I said,
+'I yearned after you;' but did not let them know that I had any
+money with me. I abode with them a year, enjoying the pleasures
+of the city and the Nile and squandering the rest of my money in
+feasting and drinking, till the time drew near for my uncles'
+departure when I hid myself from them and they sought for me, but
+could hear no news of me and said, 'He must have gone back to
+Damascus.' So they departed, and I came out from my hiding and
+sojourned in Cairo three years, sending year by year the rent of
+the house at Damascus to its owner, until at last I had nothing
+left but one year's rent. At this my breast was straitened and I
+set out and journeyed till I reached Damascus, where my landlord
+received me with joy. I alighted at the house and found
+everything locked up as I had left it: so I opened the closets
+and took out what was in them and found under the bed, where I
+had lain with the murdered girl, a necklet of gold set with
+jewels. I took it up and cleansing it of her blood, examined it
+and wept awhile. Then I abode in the house two days and on the
+third day, I went to the bath and changed my clothes. I had now
+no money left and the devil prompted me to sell the necklet, that
+destiny might be accomplished; so I took it to the market and
+handed it to a broker, who made me sit down in the shop of my
+landlord and waited till the market was full, when he took the
+necklet and offered it for sale privily without my knowledge. The
+price bidden for it was two thousand dinars; but the broker
+returned and said to me, 'This necklet is a brass counterfeit of
+Frank manufacture, and a thousand dirhems have been bidden for
+it.' 'Yes,' answered I; 'I knew it to be brass, for we had it
+made for such an one, that we might mock her: and now my wife has
+inherited it and we wish to sell it; so go and take the thousand
+dirhems.' When the broker heard this, his suspicions were roused;
+so he carried the necklet to the chief of the market, who took it
+to the prefect of police and said to him, 'This necklet was
+stolen from me, and we have found the thief in the habit of a
+merchant.' So the officers fell on me unawares and brought me to
+the prefect, who questioned me and I told him what I had told the
+broker: but he laughed and said, 'This is not the truth.' Then,
+before I knew what was toward, his people stripped me and beat me
+with rods on my sides, till for the smart of the blows I said, 'I
+did steal it,' bethinking me that it was better to confess that I
+stole it than let them know that she who owned it had been
+murdered in my house, lest they should put me to death for her.
+So they wrote down that I had stolen it and cut off my hand. The
+stump they seared with boiling oil and I swooned away: but they
+gave me wine to drink, and I revived and taking up my hand, was
+returning to my lodging, when the landlord said to me, 'After
+what has passed, thou must leave my house and look for another
+lodging, since thou art convicted of theft.' 'O my lord,' said I,
+'have patience with me two or three days, till I look me out a
+new lodging.' 'So be it,' he answered and I returned to the
+house, where I sat weeping and saying, 'How shall I return
+to my people with my hand cut off and they know not that I am
+innocent?' Then I abode in sore trouble and perplexity for two
+days, and on the third day the landlord came in to me, and with
+him some officers of police and the chief of the market, who had
+accused me of stealing the necklace. I went out to them and
+enquired what was the matter, but they seized on me, without
+further parley, and tied my hands behind me and put a chain about
+my neck, saying, 'The necklet that was with thee has been shown
+to the Governor of Damascus, and he recognizes it as one that
+belonged to his daughter, who has been missing these three
+years.' When I heard this, my heart sank within me, and I said to
+myself, 'I am lost without resource; but I must needs tell the
+governor my story; and if he will, let him kill me, and if he
+will, let him pardon me.' So they carried me to the governor's
+house and made me stand before him. When he saw me, he looked at
+me out of the corner of his eye and said to those present, 'Why
+did ye cut off his hand? This man is unfortunate and hath
+committed no offense; and indeed ye wronged him in cutting off
+his hand.' When I heard this, I took heart and said to him, 'By
+Allah, O my lord, I am no thief! But they accused me of this
+grave offence and beat me with rods in the midst of the market,
+bidding me confess, till for the pain of the beating, I lied
+against myself and confessed to the theft, although I am
+innocent.' 'Fear not,' said the governor; 'no harm shall come to
+thee.' Then he laid the chief of the market under arrest, saying
+to him, 'Give this man the price of his hand, or I will hang thee
+and seize on all thy goods.' And he cried out to the officers,
+who took him and dragged him away, leaving me with the governor,
+who made his people unbind me and take the chain off my neck.
+Then he looked at me and said, 'O my son, speak the truth and
+tell me how thou camest by the necklet.' And he repeated the
+following verse:
+
+To tell the whole truth is thy duty, although It bring thee to
+     burn on the brasier of woe!
+
+'By Allah, O my lord,' answered I, 'such is my intent!' And I
+told him all that had passed between me and the first lady and
+how she had brought the second one to me and had slain her out of
+jealousy. When he heard my story, he shook his head and beat hand
+upon hand; then putting his handkerchief to his eyes, wept awhile
+and repeated the following verses:
+
+I see that Fortune's maladies are many upon me, For, every
+     dweller in the world, sick unto death is he.
+To every gathering of friends there comes a parting day: And few
+     indeed on earth are those that are from parting free?
+
+Then he turned to me and said, 'Know, O my son, that she who
+first came to thee was my eldest daughter. I brought her up in
+strict seclusion and when she came to womanhood, I sent her to
+Cairo and married her to my brother's son. After awhile, he died
+and she came back to me: but she had learnt profligate habits
+from the natives of Cairo: so she visited thee four times and at
+last brought her younger sister. Now they were sisters by the
+same mother and much attached to each other; and when this
+happened to the elder, she let her sister into her secret, and
+she desired to go out with her. So she asked thy leave and
+carried her to thee; after which she returned alone, and I
+questioned her of her sister, finding her weeping for her; but
+she said, "I know nothing of her." However, after this, she told
+her mother privily what had happened and how she had killed her
+sister; and her mother told me. Then she ceased not to weep and
+say, "By Allah, I will never leave weeping for her till I die!"
+And so it fell out. This, O my son, is what happened, and now I
+desire that thou baulk me not in what I am about to say to thee;
+it is that I purpose to marry thee to my youngest daughter, for
+she is a virgin and born of another mother, and I will take no
+dower from thee, but on the contrary will appoint thee an
+allowance, and thou shalt be to me as my very son.' 'I will
+well,' replied I; 'how could I hope for such good fortune?' Then
+he sent at once for the Cadi and the witnesses and married me to
+his daughter, and I went in to her. Moreover, he got me a large
+sum of money from the chief of the market and I became in high
+favour with him. Soon after, news came to me that my father was
+dead so the governor despatched a courier to fetch me the
+property he had left behind him, and now I am living in all
+prosperity. This is how I came to lose my right hand." His story
+amazed me (continued the Jew) and I abode with him three days,
+after which he gave me much money and I set out and travelled,
+till I reached this thy city. The sojourn liked me well, so I
+took up my abode here and there befell me what thou knowest with
+the hunchback.' Quoth the King, 'This thy story is not more
+wonderful than that of the hunchback, and I will certainly hang
+you all. However, there still remains the tailor, who was the
+head of the offending.' Then he said to the tailor, 'O tailor, if
+thou canst tell me aught more wonderful than the story of the
+hunchback, I will pardon you all your offenses.' So the tailor
+came forward and said, 'Know, O King of the age, that a most rare
+thing happened to me yesterday before I fell in with the
+hunchback.
+
+
+
+
+
+The Tailor's Story.
+
+
+
+Yesterday morning early I was at an entertainment given by a
+friend of mine, at which there were assembled near twenty men of
+the people of the city, amongst them tailors and silk-weavers and
+carpenters and other craftsmen. As soon as the sun had risen,
+they set food before us that we might eat, when behold, the
+master of the house entered, and with him a comely young man, a
+stranger from Baghdad, dressed in the finest of clothes and
+perfectly handsome, except that he was lame. He saluted us, while
+we rose to receive him; and he was about to sit down, when he
+espied amongst us a certain barber; whereupon he refused to sit
+and would have gone away. But we stopped him and the host seized
+him and adjured him, saying, "What is the reason of thy coming in
+and going out again at once?" "By Allah, O my lord," answered he,
+"do not hinder me, for the cause of my turning back is yonder
+barber of ill-omen sitting there." When the host heard this, he
+wondered and said, "How comes this young man, who is from
+Baghdad. to be troubled in his mind about this barber?" Then we
+looked at the young man and said to him, "Tell us the reason of
+thine anger against the barber." "O company," replied he, "there
+befell me a strange adventure with this barber in my native city
+of Baghdad; he was the cause of the breaking of my leg and of my
+lameness, and I have sworn that I will never sit in the same
+place with him nor tarry in any city of which he is an
+inhabitant. I left Baghdad, to be rid of him, and took up my
+abode in this city and lo, I find him with you! But now not
+another night shall pass, before I depart hence." So we begged
+him to sit down and tell us what had passed between him and the
+barber in Baghdad, whereat the latter changed colour and hung
+down his head. Then said the young man, "Know, O company, that my
+father was one of the chief merchants of Baghdad, and God had
+vouchsafed him no child but myself. When I grew up to man's
+estate, my father was translated to the mercy of God, leaving me
+great wealth in money and slaves and servants, and I began to
+dress handsomely and feed daintily. Now God had made me a hater
+of women, and one day, as I was going along one of the streets of
+Baghdad, a company of women stopped the way before me; so I fled
+from them, and entering a by-street without an outlet, sat down
+upon a stone bench at the other end. I had not sat long, before
+the lattice of one of the houses in the street opened and a young
+lady, as she were the moon at its full, never in my life saw I
+her like, put forth her head and began to water some flowers she
+had on the balcony. Then she turned right and left and seeing me
+watching her, smiled and shut the window and went away.
+Therewithal, fire flamed up in my heart and my mind was taken up
+with her, and my hatred (of women) was changed to love. I
+continued sitting there, lost to the world, till sundown, when
+the Cadi of the city came riding up the street, with slaves
+before him and servants behind him, and alighting, entered the
+very house at which the young lady had appeared. By this I
+guessed that he was her father; so I went home, sorrowful, and
+fell on my bed, oppressed with melancholy thoughts. My women came
+in to me and sat round me, puzzled to know what ailed me; but I
+would not speak to them nor answer their questions, and they wept
+and lamented over me. Presently, in came an old woman, who looked
+at me and saw at once what was the matter with me. So she sat
+down at my head and spoke me fair and said, 'O my son, tell me
+what ails thee, and I will bring thee to thy desire.' So I told
+her what had happened to me, and she said, 'O my son, this girl is
+the Cadi's daughter of Baghdad; she is kept in strict seclusion,
+and the window at which thou sawest her is that of her apartment,
+where she dwells alone, her father occupying a great suite of
+rooms underneath. I often visit her, and thou shalt not come at
+her but through me; so gird thy middle and be of good cheer.' So
+saying, she went away, whilst I took comfort at what she said and
+arose in the morning well, to the great satisfaction of my
+people. By-and-by the old woman came in, chopfallen, and said to
+me, 'O my son, do not ask how I have fared with her! When I
+opened the subject to her, she said to me, "An thou leave not
+this talk, pestilent hag that thou art, I will assuredly use thee
+as thou deserves!" But needs must I have at her again.' When I
+heard this, it added sickness to my sickness: but after some
+days, the old woman came again and said to me, 'O my son, I must
+have of thee a present for good news.' With this, life returned
+to me, and I said, 'Whatever thou wilt is thine.' Then said she,
+'O my son, I went yesterday to the young lady, who seeing me
+broken-spirited and tearful-eyed, said to me, "O my aunt, what
+ails thee that I see thy heart thus straitened?" Whereupon I wept
+and replied, "O my lady, I am just come from a youth who loves
+thee and is like to die for thy sake." Quoth she (and indeed her
+heart was moved to pity), "And who is this youth of whom thou
+speakest?" "He is my son," answered I, "and the darling of my
+heart. He saw thee, some days since, at the window, tending thy
+flowers, and fell madly in love with thee. I told him what passed
+between thee and me the other day, whereupon his disorder
+increased and he took to his bed and will surely die." At this
+her colour changed and she said, "Is all this on my account?"
+"Yea, by Allah!" answered I. "What wouldst thou have me do?" Then
+said she, "Go back to him and salute him for me and tell him that
+my sufferings are twice as great as his. And on Friday, before
+the time of prayer, let him come hither and I will come down and
+open the door to him. Then I will carry him to my chamber, where
+we can converse awhile and he can go away, before my father comes
+back from the mosque."' When I heard this, my anguish ceased and
+my heart was comforted. So I took off the clothes I was wearing
+and gave them to the old woman; and she said, 'Be of good cheer.'
+'There is no pain left in me,' answered I; and she went away. My
+household and friends rejoiced in my restoration to health, and I
+abode thus till Friday, when the old woman entered and asked me
+how I did, to which I replied that I was well and in good case.
+Then I dressed and perfumed myself and sat down to await the
+going in of the folk to the mosque, that I might betake myself to
+the young lady. But the old woman said to me, 'Thou hast time and
+to spare; so thou wouldst do well to go to the bath and have thy
+head shaved, to do away the traces of thy disorder.' 'It is well
+thought,' answered I; 'I will first have my head shaved and then
+go to the bath.' Then I said to my servant, 'Go to the market and
+bring me a barber, and look that he be no meddler, but a man of
+sense, who will not split my head with his much talk.' So he went
+out and returned with this wretched old man. When he came in, he
+saluted me, and I returned his salutation. Then said he, 'Surely,
+I see thee thin of body.' And I replied, 'I have been ill.' Quoth
+he, 'God cause affliction and trouble and anxiety to depart from
+thee!' 'May God hear thy prayer!' answered I: and he said, 'Be of
+good cheer, O my lord, for indeed recovery is come to thee. Dost
+thou wish to be polled or let blood? Indeed, it is reported, on
+the authority of Ibn Abbas[FN#87] (whom God accept!), that the
+Prophet said, "Whoso is polled on a Friday, God shall avert from
+him threescore and ten diseases;" and again, "He who is cupped
+on a Friday is safe from loss of sight and a host of other
+ailments."' 'Leave this talk,' said I; 'come, shave my head at
+once, for I am yet weak.' With this he pulled out a handkerchief,
+from which he took an astrolabe with seven plates, mounted in
+silver, and going into the courtyard, held the instrument up to
+the sun's rays and looked for some time. Then he came back and
+said to me, 'Know that eight degrees and six minutes have elapsed
+of this our day, which is Friday, the tenth of Sefer, in the six
+hundred and fifty-third year of the Flight of the Prophet (upon
+whom be the most excellent of blessing and peace!) and the seven
+thousand three hundred and twentieth year of the Alexandrian era,
+and the planet now in the ascendant, according to the rules of
+mathematics, is Mars, which being in conjunction with Mercury,
+denotes a favourable time for cutting hair; and this also
+indicates to me that thou purposest to foregather with some one
+and that your interview will be propitious; but after this there
+occurs a sign, respecting a thing which I will not name to thee.'
+'By Allah,' exclaimed I, 'thou weariest me and pesterest me with
+thy foolish auguries, when I only sent for thee to shave my head!
+So come, shave me at once and give me no more talk.' 'By Allah,'
+rejoined he, 'if thou knewest what is about to befall thee, thou
+wouldst do nothing this day; and I counsel thee to do as I shall
+tell thee, by observation of the stars.' 'By Allah,' said I, 'I
+never saw a barber skilled in astrology except thee: but I think
+and know that thou art prodigal of idle talk. I sent for thee to
+shave my head, and thou plaguest me with this sorry prate!' 'What
+more wouldst thou have!' replied he. 'God hath vouchsafed thee a
+barber, who is an astrologer, versed in the arts of alchemy and
+white magic, syntax, grammar and lexicology, rhetoric and logic,
+arithmetic, astronomy and geometry, as well as in the knowledge
+of the Law and the Traditions of the Prophet and in exegesis.
+Moreover, I have read many books and digested them and have had
+experience of affairs and understand them thoroughly. In short, I
+have examined into all things and studied all arts and crafts and
+sciences and mastered them; and thy father loved me because of my
+lack of officiousness, for which reason my service is obligatory
+on thee. I am no meddler, as thou pretendest, and on this account
+I am known as the Silent, the Grave One. Wherefore it behoves
+thee to give thanks to God and not cross me for I am a true
+counsellor to thee and take an affectionate interest in thee. I
+would I were in thy service a whole year, that thou mightst do me
+justice: and I would ask no hire of thee for this.' When I heard
+this, I said, 'Thou wilt certainly be the death of me this day!'
+'O my lord,' replied he, 'I am he whom the folk call the Silent,
+by reason of my few words, to distinguish me from my six
+brothers, the eldest of whom was called Becbac,[FN#88] the
+second Heddar,[FN#89] the third Fekic,[FN#90] the fourth El
+Kouz el Aswani,[FN#91] the fifth El Feshar,[FN#92] the sixth
+Shecashic[FN#93] and the seventh (myself) Samit[FN#94].' Whilst
+he thus overwhelmed me with his talk, I thought my gall-bladder
+would burst so I said to the servant, 'Give him a quarter-dinar
+and let him go, for God's sake! I won't have my head shaved
+to-day.' 'What words are these, O my lord?' said he. 'By Allah, I
+will take no hire of thee till I have served thee; and needs must
+I serve thee, for indeed it is incumbent on me to do so and
+fulfil thy need; and I care not if I take no money of thee. If
+thou knowest not my worth, I know thine; and I owe thy father
+(may God the Most High have mercy on him!) many a kindness, for
+he was a generous man. By Allah, he sent for me one day as it
+were this blessed day, and I went in to him and found a company
+of his friends with him. He would have had me let him blood; but
+I pulled out my astrolabe and taking an altitude for him, found
+the aspect inauspicious and the hour unfavourable for the letting
+of blood. I told him of this and he conformed to my advice and
+put off the operation to a more convenient season. So I recited
+the following verses in his honour:
+
+I came one day unto my lord, that I might let him blood, But
+     found that for his body's health the season was not good;
+So sat me down and talked with him of many a pleasant thing And
+     all the treasures of my mind before him freely strewed.
+Well pleased, he listened, then, "O mine of knowledge!" he did
+     say, "Thy wit and wisdom overpass the bounds of likelihood!"
+"Not so," quoth I; "my wit indeed were little, but for thee, O
+     prince of men, that pour'st on me thy wisdom like a flood!
+Thou seem'st indeed the lord of grace, bounty and excellence,
+     World's treasure-house of knowledge, wit, sense and
+     mansuetude!"
+
+Thy father was charmed and cried out to the servant, saying,
+"Give him a hundred and three dinars and a dress of honour." The
+servant did as he bade, and I waited till a favourable moment,
+when I let him blood; and he did not cross me, but thanked me,
+and all present also praised me. When the cupping was over, I
+could not help saying to him, "By Allah, O my lord, what made
+thee say to the servant, 'Give him a hundred and three dinars'?"
+Quoth he, "One dinar was for the astrological observation,
+another for thine entertaining converse, the third for the
+bloodletting and the remaining hundred and the dress for thy
+verses in my honour."' 'May God show no mercy to my father,'
+exclaimed I, 'for knowing the like of thee?' He laughed and said,
+'There is no god but God and Mohammed is His Apostle! Glory be to
+Him who changes but is not changed! I took thee for a man of
+sense; but I see thou dotest for illness. God says, in His
+precious Book, that Paradise is prepared for "those who restrain
+their wrath and forgive men", and in any case thou art excused.
+But I am ignorant of the cause of thy haste, and thou must know
+that thy father and grandfather did nothing without consulting
+me, for indeed it is said that he with whom one takes counsel
+should be trustworthy and that he who takes counsel shall not be
+disappointed. It is said also that he who hath not an elder (to
+advise him) will never be an elder himself; and indeed the poet
+says:
+
+Ere thou decide to venture thyself in aught, Consult an
+     experienced man and cross him not.
+
+And indeed thou wilt find none better versed in affairs than I,
+and I am here standing on my feet to serve thee. I am not vexed
+with thee: why shouldst thou be vexed with me? But I will bear
+with thee for the sake of the favours I owe thy father.' 'By
+Allah,' exclaimed I, 'O thou whose tongue is as long as a
+jackass's tail, thou persistest in pestering me with talk and
+pelting me with words, when all I want of thee is to shave my
+head and take thyself off!' Then he lathered my head, saying, 'I
+know that thou art vexed with me, but I bear thee no malice; for
+thy wit is weak and thou art a boy: it was but yesterday I took
+thee on my shoulders and carried thee to the school' 'O my
+brother,'. cried I, 'for God's sake, do what I want and go thy
+way!' And I rent my clothes. When he saw me do this, he took the
+razor and fell to sharpening it and stinted not, till I was
+well-nigh distraught. Then he came up to me and shaved a part of
+my head, then held his hand and said, 'O my lord, hurry is of the
+Devil and deliberation of the Merciful One. Methinks thou knowest
+not my station; verily my hand falls on the heads of kings and
+amirs and viziers and sages and learned men: and it was of me the
+poet said:
+
+All the trades are like necklets of jewels and gold And this
+     barber indeed's the chief pearl of the strings.
+He excelleth all others that boast of their skill. And under his
+     hand are the topknots of kings.'
+
+'Leave what concerns thee not,' said I: 'indeed thou hast
+straitened my breast and troubled my mind.' Quoth he, Meseems
+thou art in haste. 'Yes, yes, yes!' answered I, and he, 'Thou
+wouldst do well to proceed with deliberation, for haste is of the
+Devil and bequeaths repentance and disappointment. Verily he upon
+whom be blessing and peace[FN#95] hath said, "The best affair is
+that which is undertaken with deliberation." By Allah, thy case
+troubles me, and I would have thee let me know what it is thou
+art in such haste to do, for I fear me it is other than good.'
+Then said he, 'It wants three hours yet of the time of prayer.
+However, I do not wish to be in doubt as to this, but am minded
+to know the time for certain; for speech, when it is conjectural,
+is but faulty, especially in the like of me, whose merit is plain
+and known of all men; and it does not befit me to talk at random,
+as do the common sort of astrologers.' So saying, he threw down
+the razor and taking up the astrolabe, went out under the sun and
+stood a long while, after which he returned and said to me, 'It
+wants three hours of the time of prayer, neither more nor less.'
+'By Allah,' answered I, 'hold thy tongue, for thou breakest my
+heart in pieces!' So he took his razor and after sharpening it as
+before, shaved another part of my head. Then he said, 'I am
+concerned about thy haste; and indeed thou wouldst do well to
+tell me the cause of it, for thou knowest that thy father and
+grandfather did nothing without my counsel.' When I saw that
+there was no getting rid of him, I said to myself, 'The time of
+prayer draws near and I wish to go to her before the folk come
+out from the mosque. If I am delayed much longer, I know not
+how I shall come at her.' Then I said to him, 'Be quick and
+leave this prating and officiousness, for I have to go to an
+entertainment at the house of one of my friends.' When he heard
+me speak of an entertainment, he said, 'This thy day is a blessed
+one for me! Verily, yesterday I invited a party of my intimate
+friends and I have forgotten to provide aught for them to eat. I
+bethought me of it but now, on hearing thee speak of an
+entertainment. Alack, how I shall be disgraced in their eyes!'
+'Be in no concern for that,' answered I. 'Have I not told thee
+that I am bidden abroad to-day? All the meat and drink in the
+house shall be thine, so thou despatch my affair and make haste
+to shave my head.' 'God requite thee with good!' rejoined he.
+'Tell me what thou hast for my guests, that I may know.' Quoth I,
+'I have five dishes of meat and ten fricasseed fowls and a
+roasted lamb.' 'Bring them out to me,' said he, 'that I may see
+them.' So I had all this brought, and when he saw it, he said,
+'There lacks the wine.' 'I have a flagon or two in the house,'
+answered I; and he said, 'Have it brought out.' So I sent for it,
+and he exclaimed, 'God bless thee for a generous soul! But there
+are still the perfumes and the essences.' So I brought him a box,
+containing fifty dinars' worth of aloes-wood and ambergris and
+musk and other perfumes. By this, the time began to run short and
+my heart was straitened; so I said to him, 'Take it all and
+finish shaving my head, by the life of Mohammed, whom God bless
+and preserve!' 'By Allah,' said he, 'I will not take it till
+I see all that is in it.' So I made the servant open the box,
+and the barber threw down the astrolabe and sitting down on
+the ground, turned over the contents, till I was well-nigh
+distracted. Then he took the razor and coming up to me, shaved
+some little of my head and recited the following verse:
+
+The boy after his father's guise grows up and follows suit As
+     surely as the tree springs up from out its parent root.
+
+Then said he, 'O my son, I know not whether to thank thee or thy
+father; for my entertainment to-day is all due to thy kindness
+and liberality, and none of my company is worthy of it; though I
+have none but men of consideration, such as Zentout the
+bath-keeper and Selya the corn-chandler and Silet the bean-seller
+and Akresheh the grocer and Hemid the scavenger and Said the
+camel-driver and Suweyd the porter and Abou Mukarish the
+bathman[FN#96] and Cassim the watchman and Kerim the groom.
+There is not among them all one curmudgeon or make-bate or
+meddler or spoil-sport; each has his own dance that he dances
+and his own couplets that he repeats, and the best of them is
+that they are like thy servant, knowing not abundance of talk
+nor meddlesomeness. The bath-keeper sings enchantingly to the
+tambourine and dances and says, "I am going, O my mother, to fill
+my jar!" As for the corn-chandler, he brings more skill to it
+than any of them; he dances and says, "O mourner, my mistress,
+thou dost not fall short!" and draws the very heart out of one
+for laughing at him. Whilst the scavenger sings, so that the
+birds stop to listen to him, and dances and says, "News with my
+wife is not kept in a chest!" And indeed he is a witty,
+accomplished rogue, and of his excellence I use to say the
+following:
+
+My life redeem the scavenger! I love him passing dear, For, in
+     his goodly gait, he's like the zephyr-shaken bough.
+Fate blessed my eyes with him one night; and I to him did say,
+     (Whilst in my bosom, as I spoke, desire did ebb and flow,)
+"Thou'st lit thy fire within my heart!" Whereto he answer made
+     "What wonder though the scavenger have turned a
+     fire-man[FN#97] now?"
+
+And indeed each is perfection in all that can charm the wit with
+mirth and jollity. But hearing is not like seeing; and indeed if
+thou wilt join us and put off going to thy friends, it will be
+better both for us and for thee: for the traces of sickness are
+yet upon thee and belike thou art going amongst talkative folk,
+who will prate of what does not concern them, or there may be
+amongst them some impertinent busybody who will split thy head,
+and thou still weak from illness.' 'This shall be for another
+day,' answered I and laughed in spite of my anger. 'Finish what
+thou hast to do for me and go in peace and enjoy thyself with thy
+friends, for they will be awaiting thy coming.' 'O my lord,'
+replied he, 'I only seek to bring thee in company with these
+pleasant folk, amongst whom there is neither meddlesomeness nor
+excess of talk; for never, since I came to years of discretion,
+could I endure to consort with those who ask of what concerns
+them not, nor with any except those who are, like myself, men of
+few words. Verily, if thou wert once to see them and company with
+them, thou wouldst forsake all thy friends.' 'God fulfil thy
+gladness with them!' rejoined I. 'Needs must I foregather with
+them one of these days.' And he said, 'I would it were to be
+to-day, for I had made up my mind that thou shouldst make one of
+us: but if thou must indeed go to thy friends to-day, I will take
+the good things, with which thy bounty hath provided me for them,
+to my guests, and leave them to eat and drink, without waiting
+for me, whilst I return to thee in haste and accompany thee
+whither thou goest; for there is no ceremony between me and my
+friends to hinder me from leaving them.' 'There is no power and
+no virtue but in God the Most High, the Supreme!' cried I. 'Go
+thou to thy friends and make merry with them and let me go to
+mine and be with them this day, for they expect me.' 'I will
+not let thee go alone,' replied he: and I said, 'None can enter
+where I am going but myself.' Then said he, 'I believe thou
+hast an assignation with some woman to-day; else thou wouldst
+take me with thee, for it is the like of me that furnishes a
+merry-making; or if thou go to any one with whom thou wouldst be
+private, I am the fittest of all men for thy purpose, for I would
+help thee to what thou desirest and look that none saw thee. I
+fear lest thou go in to some strange woman and lose thy life; for
+in this city one cannot do aught of the kind, especially on a day
+like this and under so keen and masterful a chief of the police
+as ours of Baghdad.' 'Out on thee, O wretched old man!' cried I.
+'Avaunt! what words are these thou givest me?' 'O dolt!' rejoined
+he, 'thou sayest to me what is not true and hidest thy mind from
+me; but I know that this is so and am certain of it, and I only
+seek to help thee this day.' I was fearful lest my people or the
+neighbours should hear the barber's talk, so kept silence, whilst
+he finished shaving my head; by which time the hour of prayer was
+come and it was wellnigh time for the exhortation.[FN#98] When he
+had done, I said to him, 'Take the meat and drink and carry them
+to thy friends. I will await thy return.' For I thought it best
+to dissemble with the accursed fellow and feign compliance with
+his wishes, so haply he might go away and leave me. Quoth he,
+'Thou art deceiving me and wilt go alone and cast thyself into
+some peril, from which there will be no escape for thee. For
+God's sake, do not go till I return, that I may accompany thee
+and see what comes of thine affair.' 'It is well,' answered I:
+'do not be long absent.' Then he took all that I had given him
+and went out; but, instead of going home with it, the cursed
+fellow delivered it to a porter, to carry to his house, and hid
+himself in a by-street. As for me, I rose at once, for the
+Muezzins had already chanted the Salutation,[FN#99] and, dressing
+myself in haste, went out and hurried to the house where I had
+seen the young lady. I found the old woman standing at the door,
+awaiting me, and went up with her to the young lady's apartment.
+Hardly had I done so, when the master of the house returned from
+the mosque and entering the saloon, shut the door. I looked out
+from the window and saw this barber (God's malison on him!)
+sitting over against the door, and said, 'How did this devil find
+me out?' At this moment, as God had decreed it for my undoing, it
+befell that a slave-girl belonging to the master of the house
+committed some offence, for which he beat her. She cried out, and
+a male slave came in to deliver her, whereupon the Cadi beat him
+also, and he too cried out. The cursed barber concluded that it
+was I he was beating and fell to tearing his clothes and strewing
+dust on his head, shrieking and calling for help. So the folk
+came round him, and he said to them, 'My master is being murdered
+in the Cadi's house!' Then he ran, shrieking, to my house, with
+the folk after him, and told my people and servants: and before I
+knew what was forward, up they came, with torn clothes and
+dishevelled hair, calling out, 'Alas, our master!' and the barber
+at their head, in a fine pickle, tearing his clothes and
+shouting. They made for the house in which I was, headed by the
+barber, crying out, 'Woe is us for our murdered master!' And the
+Cadi, hearing the uproar at his door, said to one of his
+servants, 'Go and see what is the matter.' The man went out and
+came back, saying, 'O my lord, there are more than ten thousand
+men and women at the door, crying out, "Woe is us for our
+murdered master!" and pointing to our house.' When the Cadi heard
+this, he was troubled and vexed; so he went to the door and
+opening it, saw a great concourse of people; whereat he was
+amazed and said, 'O folk, what is the matter?' 'O accursed one, O
+dog, O hog,' replied my servants, 'thou hast killed our master!'
+Quoth he, 'And what has your master done to me that I should kill
+him? Behold, this my house is open to you!' 'Thou didst beat him
+but now with rods,' answered the barber; 'for I heard his cries.'
+'What has he done that I should beat him?' repeated the Cadi;
+'and what brings him into my house?' 'Be not a vile, perverse old
+man!' replied the barber; 'I know the whole story. The long and
+the short of it is that thy daughter is in love with him and he
+with her; and when thou knewest that he had entered the house,
+thou badest thy servants beat him, and they did so. By Allah,
+none shall judge between us and thee but the Khalif! So bring us
+out our master, that his people may take him, before I go and
+fetch him forth of thy house and thou be put to shame.' When the
+Cadi heard this, he was dumb for amazement and confusion before
+the people, but presently said to the barber, 'If thou speak
+truth, come in and fetch him out.' Whereupon the barber pushed
+forward and entered the house. When I saw this, I looked about
+for a means of escape, but saw no hiding-place save a great chest
+that stood in the room. So I got into the chest and pulled the
+lid down on me and held my breath. Hardly had I done this, when
+the barber came straight to the place where I was and catching up
+the chest, set it on his head and made off with it in haste. At
+this, my reason forsook me and I was assured that he would not
+let me be; so I took courage and opening the chest, threw myself
+to the ground. My leg was broken in the fall, and the door of the
+house being opened, I saw without a great crowd of people. Now I
+had much gold in my sleeve, which I had provided against the like
+of this occasion; so I fell to scattering it among the people, to
+divert their attention from me; and whilst they were busy
+scrambling for it, I set off running through the by-streets of
+Baghdad, and this cursed barber, whom nothing could divert from
+me, after me. Wherever I went, he followed, crying out, 'They
+would have bereft me of my master and slain him who has been a
+benefactor to me and my family and friends! But praised be God
+who aided me against them and delivered my lord from their hands!
+Where wilt thou go now? Thou persistedst in following thine own
+evil devices, till thou broughtest thyself to this pass, and if
+God had not vouchsafed me to thee, thou hadst never won free from
+this strait, for they would have plunged thee into irremediable
+ruin. How long dost thou expect I shall live to save thee? By
+Allah, thou hast well-nigh undone me by thy folly and thy
+perverseness in wishing to go by thyself! But I will not reproach
+thee with ignorance, for thou art little of wit and hasty.' 'Does
+not what thou hast brought upon me suffice thee,' replied I, 'but
+thou must pursue me with the like of this talk through the public
+streets?' And I well-nigh gave up the ghost for excess of rage
+against him. Then I took refuge in the shop of a weaver in the
+midst of the market and sought protection of the owner, who drove
+the barber away. I sat down in the back shop and said to myself,
+'If I return home, I shall never be able to get rid of this
+accursed barber, for he will be with me night and day, and I
+cannot endure the sight of him.' So I sent out at once for
+witnesses and made a will, dividing the greater part of my money
+among my people, and appointed a guardian over them, to whom I
+committed the charge of great and small directing him to sell my
+house and estates. Then I set out at once on my travels, that I
+might be free of this ruffian, and came to settle in your town,
+where I have lived for some time. When you invited me and I came
+hither the first thing I saw was this accursed pimp seated in the
+place of honour. How, then, can I be at my ease and how can it be
+pleasant to me to consort with you, in company with this fellow,
+who brought all this upon me and was the cause of the breaking of
+my leg and of my exile from my country and family?" And he
+refused to sit down and went away. When we heard the young man's
+story (continued the tailor), we were beyond measure amazed and
+diverted and said to the barber, "Is it true that this young man
+says of thee?" "By Allah," replied he, "I dealt thus with him of
+my courtesy and good sense and humanity. But for me, he had
+perished and none but I was the cause of his escape. Well for him
+that it was in his leg that he suffered and not in his life! Were
+I a man of many words or a busybody, I had not done him this
+kindness; but now I will tell you something that happened to me,
+that ye may know that I am indeed sparing of speech and no
+impertinent meddler, as were my six brothers; and it is this:
+
+
+
+
+
+The Barber's Story.
+
+
+
+I was living at Baghdad, in the time of the Khalif Mustensir
+Billah,[FN#100] who loved the poor and needy and companied with
+the learned and the pious. One day, it befell that he was wroth
+with a band of highway robbers, ten in number, who infested the
+neighbourhood, and ordered the chief of the Baghdad police to
+bring them before him on the day of the Festival. So the prefect
+sallied out and capturing the robbers, embarked with them in a
+boat. I caught sight of them, as they were embarking, and said to
+myself, 'These people are surely bound on some party of pleasure;
+methinks they mean to spend the day in eating and drinking, and
+none shall be their messmate but I.' So, of the greatness of my
+courtesy and the gravity of my understanding, I embarked in the
+boat and mingled with them. They rowed across to the opposite
+bank, where they landed, and there came up soldiers and police
+officers with chains, which they put round the necks of the
+robbers. They chained me with the rest, and, O company, is it not
+a proof of my courtesy and spareness of speech that I kept
+silence and did not choose to speak? Then they took us away in
+chains and next morning they carried us all before the Commander
+of the Faithful, who bade strike off the heads of the ten
+robbers. So the herdsman came forward and made us kneel before
+him on the carpet of blood;[FN#101] then drawing his sword,
+struck off one head after another, till none was left but
+myself. The Khalif looked at me and said to the headsman, 'What
+ails thee thou thou struck off but nine heads?' 'God forbid,'
+replied he, 'that I should behead only nine, when thou didst
+order me to behead ten!' Quoth the Khalif, 'Meseems, thou hast
+beheaded but nine and he who is before thee is the tenth.' 'By
+thy munificence,' replied the headsman, 'I have beheaded ten!' So
+they counted the dead men, and behold, they were ten. Then said
+the Khalif to me, 'What made thee keep silence at such a time and
+how camest thou in company with these men of blood? Thou art a
+man of great age, but assuredly thy wit is but little.' When I
+heard the Khalif's words, I replied, 'Know, O Commander of the
+Faithful, that I am the Silent Elder, and am thus called to
+distinguish me from my six brothers. I am a man of great
+learning, whilst, as for the gravity of my understanding, the
+excellence of my apprehension and the spareness of my speech,
+there is no end to them; and by craft I am a barber. I went out
+early yesterday morning and saw these ten men making for a boat,
+and thinking they were bound on a party of pleasure, joined
+myself to them and embarked with them. After awhile, there came
+up the officers, who put chains round their necks and round mine
+amongst the rest, but in the excess of my courtesy, I kept
+silence and did not speak, nor was this other than generosity on
+my part. Then they brought us before thee and thou didst order
+the ten robbers' heads to be stricken off; yet did I not make
+myself known to thee, purely of my great generosity and courtesy,
+which led me to share with them in their death. But all my life
+have I dealt thus nobly with the folk, and they still requite me
+after the foulest fashion.' When the Khalif heard what I said and
+knew that I was a man of exceeding generosity and few words and
+no meddler (as this young man would have it, whom I rescued from
+horrors and who has so scurvily repaid me), he laughed so
+immoderately that he fell backward. Then said he to me, 'O silent
+man, are thy six brothers like thee distinguished for wisdom and
+knowledge and spareness of speech?' 'Never were they like me,'
+answered I; 'thou dost me injustice, O Commander of the Faithful,
+and it becomes thee not to even my brothers with me: for, of the
+abundance of their speech and their lack of conduct and courtesy,
+each one of them has gotten some bodily defect. One is blind of
+an eye, another paralysed, a third blind, a fourth cropped of the
+ears and nose, a fifth crop-lipped and a sixth hunchbacked and a
+cripple. Thou must not think, O Commander of the Faithful, that I
+am a man of many words; but I must needs explain to thee that I
+am a man of greater worth and of fewer words than they. By each
+one of my brothers hangs a tale of how he came by his defect,
+[FN#102] and these I will relate to thee. Know then, O Commander
+of the Faithful that
+
+
+
+
+
+Story of the Barber's First Brother.
+
+
+
+My first brother, the hunchback, was a tailor in Baghdad, and
+plied his craft in a shop, which he hired of a very rich man, who
+dwelt over against him and had a mill in the lower part of the
+house. One day, as my brother the hunchback was sitting in his
+shop, sewing, he chanced to raise his head and saw, at the
+bay-window of his landlord's house, a lady like the rising full
+moon, engaged in looking at the passers-by. His heart was taken
+with love of her and he passed the day gazing at her and
+neglecting his business, till the evening. Next day, he opened
+his shop and sat down to sew: but as often as he made a stitch,
+he looked at the bay-window and saw her as before; and his
+passion and infatuation for her redoubled. On the third day, as
+he was sitting in his usual place, gazing on her, she caught
+sight of him, and perceiving that he had fallen a captive to her
+love, smiled in his face, and he smiled back at her. Then she
+withdrew and sent her slave-girl to him with a parcel of red
+flowered silk. The girl accosted him and said to him, "My lady
+salutes thee and would have thee cut out for her, with a skilful
+hand, a shift of this stuff and sew it handsomely." "I hear and
+obey," answered he; and cut out the shift and made an end of
+sewing it the same day. Next morning early, the girl came back
+and said to him, "My mistress salutes thee and would fain know
+how thou hast passed the night; for she has not tasted sleep by
+reason of her heart being taken up with thee." Then she laid
+before him a piece of yellow satin and said to him, "My mistress
+bids thee cut her two pairs of trousers of this stuff and sew
+them this day." "I hear and obey," answered he; "salute her for
+me with abundant salutation and say to her, 'Thy slave is
+obedient to thy commands so order him as thou wilt.'" Then he
+applied himself to cut out the trousers and used all diligence in
+sewing them. Presently the lady appeared at the window and
+saluted him by signs, now casting down her eyes and now smiling
+in his face, so that he made sure of getting his will of her. She
+did not let him budge till he had finished the two pairs of
+trousers, when she withdrew and sent the slave-girl, to whom he
+delivered them, and she took them and went away. When it was
+night, he threw himself on his bed and tossed from side to side,
+till morning, when he rose and sat down in his shop. By-and-by,
+the slave-girl came to him and said, "My master calls for thee."
+When he heard this, he was afraid; but the girl, seeing his
+alarm, to him, "Fear not: nought but good shall befall thee. My
+lady would have thee make acquaintance with my master." So my
+brother rejoiced greatly and went out with her. When he came into
+his landlord's presence he kissed the earth before him, and the
+latter returned his salute; then gave him a great piece of linen,
+saying, "Make this into shirts for me." "I hear and obey,"
+replied my brother, and fell to work at once and cut out twenty
+shirts by nightfall, without stopping to taste food. Then said
+the husband "What is thy hire for this?" "Twenty dirhems,"
+answered my brother. So the man cried out to the slave-girl to
+give him twenty dirhems; but the lady signed to my brother not to
+take them, and he said, "By Allah, I will take nothing from
+thee!" And took his work and went away, though he was sorely in
+want of money. Then he applied himself to do their work, eating
+and drinking but little for three days, in his great diligence.
+At the end of this time, the slave-girl came to him and said,
+"What hast thou done?" Quoth he, "They are finished;" and carried
+the shirts to his landlord, who would have paid him his hire; but
+he said, "I will take nothing," for fear of the lady, and
+returning to his shop, passed the night without sleep for hunger.
+Now the lady had told her husband how the case stood, and they
+had agreed to take advantage of his infatuation to make him sew
+for them for nothing and laugh at him. Next morning, as he sat in
+his shop, the servant came to him and said, "My master would
+speak with thee." So he accompanied her to the husband, who said
+to him, "I wish thee to make me five cassocks." So he cut them
+out and took the stuff and went away. Then he sewed them and
+carried them to the man, who praised his work and offered him a
+purse of money. He put out his hand to take it, but the lady
+signed to him from behind her husband not to do so, and he
+replied, "O my lord, there is no hurry: by-and-by." Then he went
+out, more abject than an ass, for verily five things at once were
+sore upon him, love and beggary and hunger and nakedness and
+toil; nevertheless, he heartened himself with the hope of gaining
+the lady's favours. When he had made an end of all their work,
+they put a cheat upon him and married him to their slave-girl.
+but when he thought to go in to her, they said to him, "Lie this
+night in the mill; and to-morrow all will be well." My brother
+concluded that there was some good reason for this and passed the
+night alone in the mill. Now the husband had set on the miller to
+make my brother turn the mill; so in the middle of the night, the
+miller came in and began to say, "This ox is lazy and stands
+still and will not turn, and there is much wheat to be ground. So
+I will yoke him and make him finish grinding it this night, for
+the folk are impatient for their flour." Then he filled the
+hoppers with grain and going up to my brother, with a rope in his
+hand, bound him to the yoke and said to him, "Come, turn the
+mill! Thou thinkest of nothing but eating and voiding." Then he
+took a whip and laid on to my brother, who began to weep and cry
+out; but none came to his aid, and he was forced to grind the
+wheat till near daylight, when the husband came in and seeing him
+yoked to the shaft and the miller flogging him, went away. At
+daybreak the miller went away and left him still yoked and well
+nigh dead; and soon after in came the slave-girl, who unbound him
+and said to him, "I am grieved for what has befallen thee, and
+both I and my lady are full of concern for thee." But he had no
+tongue wherewith to answer her, for excess of beating and toil.
+Then he returned to his lodging, and presently the notary who had
+drawn up the marriage contract came to him and saluted him,
+saying, "God give thee long life! May thy marriage be blessed!
+Thou hast doubtless passed the night clipping and kissing and
+dalliance from dusk to dawn." "May God curse thee for a liar,
+thousandfold cuckold that thou art!" replied my brother. "By
+Allah, I did nothing but turn the mill in the place of the ox all
+night!" Quoth the notary, "Tell me thy story." So my brother told
+him what had happened, and he said, "Thy star agrees not with
+hers: but if thou wilt, I can alter the contract for thee." And
+my brother answered, "See if thou have another device." Then the
+notary left him and he sat down in his shop, till some one should
+bring him work by which he might earn his day's bread. Presently
+the slave-girl came to him and said, "My mistress would speak
+with thee." "Go, my good girl," replied he; "I will have no more
+to do with thy mistress." So the girl returned to her mistress
+and told her what my brother had said, and presently she put her
+head out of the window, weeping and saying, "O my beloved, why
+wilt thou have no more to do with me?" But he made her no answer.
+Then she swore to him that all that had befallen him in the mill
+was without her sanction and that she was guiltless of the whole
+affair. When he saw her beauty and grace and heard the sweetness
+of her speech, he forgot what had befallen him and accepted her
+excuse and rejoiced in her sight. So he saluted her and talked
+with her and sat at his sewing awhile, after which the servant
+came to him and said, "My mistress salutes thee and would have
+thee to know that her husband purposes to lie this night abroad
+with some intimate friends of his; so when he is gone, do thou
+come to us and pass the night with her in all delight till the
+morning." Now the man had said to his wile, "How shall we do to
+turn him away from thee?" Quoth she, "Let me play him another
+trick and make him a byword in the city." But my brother knew
+nothing of the malice of women. As soon as it was night, the
+servant came to him and carried him to the house; and when the
+lady saw him, she said to him, "By Allah, O my lord, I have been
+longing for thee!" "By Allah," replied he, "make haste and give
+me a kiss first of all." Hardly had he spoken, when the master of
+the house came in from an inner room and seized him, saying, "By
+Allah, I will not let thee go, till I deliver thee to the chief
+of the police." My brother humbled himself to him; but he would
+not listen to him and carried him to the prefect, who gave him a
+hundred lashes with a whip and mounting him on a camel, paraded
+him about the city, whilst the folk proclaimed aloud, "This is
+the punishment of those who violate people's harems!" Moreover,
+he fell off the camel and broke his leg and so became lame. Then
+the prefect banished him from the city and he went forth, not
+knowing whither to turn; but I heard of his mishap and going out
+after him, brought him back and took him to live with me.'
+
+The Khalif laughed at my story and said, 'Thou hast done well, O
+Silent One, O man of few words!' and bade me take a present and
+go away. But I said, 'I will take nothing except I tell thee what
+befell my other brothers: and do not think me a man of many
+words. Know, O Commander of the Faithful, that
+
+
+
+
+
+Story of the Barber's Second Brother.
+
+
+
+My second brother's name was Becbac and he was the paralytic. One
+day, as he was going about his business, an old woman accosted
+him and said to him, "Harkye, stop a little, that I may tell thee
+of somewhat, which, if it please thee, thou shalt do for me." My
+brother stopped and she went on, "I will put thee in the way of a
+certain thing, so thy words be not many." "Say on," replied my
+brother; and she, "What sayest thou to a handsome house and a
+pleasant garden, with running waters and fruits and wine and a
+fair-faced one to hold in thine arms from dark till dawn?" "And
+is all this in the world?" asked my brother. "Yes," answered she;
+"and it shall be thine, so thou be reasonable and leave
+impertinent curiosity and many words and do as I bid thee." "I
+will well, O my lady," rejoined my brother; "but what made thee
+choose me of all men for this affair and what is it pleases thee
+in me?" Quoth she, "Did I not bid thee be sparing of speech? Hold
+thy peace and follow me. Thou must know that the young lady, to
+whom I shall carry thee, loves to have her own way and hates to
+be crossed, so if thou fall in with her humour, thou shalt come
+to thy desire of her." And my brother said, "I will not thwart
+her in aught." Then she went on and he followed her, eager to
+enjoy what she had promised him, till she brought him to a fine
+large house, richly furnished and full of servants, and carried
+him to an upper story. When the people of the house saw him, they
+said to him, "What dost thou here?" But the old woman bade them,
+"Let him be and trouble him not; for he is a workman and we have
+occasion for him." Then she brought him into a fine great
+gallery, with a fair garden in its midst, and made him sit down
+upon a handsome couch. He had not sat long, before he heard a
+great noise and in came a troop of damsels, with a lady in their
+midst, as she were the moon on the night of its full. When he saw
+her, he rose and made an obeisance to her; whereupon she bade him
+welcome and ordered him to be seated. So he sat down and she said
+to him. "God advance thee! Is all well with thee?" "O my lady,"
+replied my brother, "all is well." Then she called for food, and
+they brought her a table richly served. So she sat down to eat,
+making a show of affection to my brother and jesting with him,
+though all the while she could not keep from laughing: but as
+often as he looked at her, she signed towards the waiting-maids,
+as if she laughed at them. My ass of a brother understood
+nothing, but concluded, in the blindness of his doting, that the
+lady was in love with him and would admit him to his desire. When
+they had finished eating, they set on wine, and there came in ten
+damsels like moons, with strung lutes in their hands, and fell a
+singing right melodiously; whereupon delight got hold upon him
+and he took the cup from the lady's hands and drank it off. Then
+she drank a cup of wine, and he rose and bowed to her, saying,
+"Health to thee!" She filled him another cup and he drank it off,
+and she gave him a cuff on the nape of his neck; whereupon he
+rose and went out in a rage; but the old woman followed him and
+winked to him to return. So he came back and the lady bade him
+sit, and he sat down without speaking. Then she dealt him a
+second cuff, and nothing would serve her but she must make all
+her maids cuff him also. Quoth he to the old woman, "Never saw I
+aught finer than this!" And she kept saying, "Enough, enough, I
+conjure thee, O my lady!" The women cuffed him till he was
+well-nigh senseless, and he rose and went out again in a rage;
+but the old woman followed him and said, "Wait a little, and thou
+shalt come to what thou wishest." "How much longer must I wait?"
+asked he. "Indeed I am faint with cuffing." "As soon as she is
+warm with wine," answered she, "thou shalt have thy desire." So
+he returned to his place and sat down, whereupon all the damsels
+rose and the lady bade them fumigate him and sprinkle rose-water
+on his face. Then said she to him, "God advance thee! Thou hast
+entered my house and submitted to my conditions; for whoso
+thwarts me, I turn him away, but he who is patient has his
+desire." "O my lady," replied he, "I am thy slave and in the
+hollow of thy hand." "Know then," continued she, "that God has
+made me passionately fond of frolic, and whoso falls in with my
+humour comes by what he wishes." Then she ordered the damsels to
+sing with loud voices, and they sang, till the whole company was
+in ecstasy: after which she said to one of the maids, "Take thy
+lord and do what is wanting to him and bring him back to me
+forthright." So the damsel took my brother, who knew not what she
+would do with him; but the old woman came up to him and said, "Be
+patient; there remains but little to do." At this his face
+cleared and he said, "Tell me what she would have the maid do
+with me." "Nothing but good," replied she, as I am thy ransom.
+She only wishes to dye thine eyebrows and pluck out thy
+moustaches." Quoth he, "As for the dyeing of my eyebrows, that
+will come off with washing, but the plucking out of my moustaches
+will be irksome." "Beware of crossing her," said the old woman;
+"for her heart is set on thee." So my brother suffered them to
+dye his eyebrows and pluck out his moustaches, after which the
+damsel returned to her mistress and told her. Quoth she, "There
+is one thing more to be done; thou must shave his chin, that he
+may be beardless." So the maid went back and told my brother what
+her mistress bade her do, whereupon cried my fool of a brother,
+"How can I do what will dishonour me among the folk?" But the old
+woman said, "She only wishes to do thus with thee, that thou
+mayst be as a beardless youth and that no hair may be left on thy
+face to prick her; for she is passionately in love with thee. Be
+patient and thou shalt attain thy desire." So he submitted to
+have his beard shaved off and his face rouged, after which they
+carried him back to the lady. When she saw him with his eyebrows
+dyed, his whiskers and moustaches plucked out, his beard shaved
+off and his face rouged, she was affrighted at him, then laughed
+till she fell backward and said, "O my lord, thou hast won my
+heart with thy good nature!" Then she conjured him, by her life,
+to rise and dance; so he began to dance, and there was not a
+cushion in the place but she threw it at him, whilst the damsels
+pelted him with oranges and limes and citrons, till he fell down
+senseless. When he came to himself, the old woman said to him,
+"Now thou hast attained thy desire. There is no more beating for
+thee and there remains but one thing more. It is her wont, when
+she is heated with wine, to let no one have to do with her till
+she put off her clothes and remain stark naked. Then she will bid
+thee strip, in like manner, and run before thee from place to
+place, as if she fled from thee, and thou after her, till thy
+yard be in good point, when she will stop and give herself up to
+thee. So now rise and put off thy clothes." So he rose, well-nigh
+beside himself, and stripped himself stark naked; whereupon the
+lady stripped also and saying to my brother, "Follow me, if thou
+desire aught," set off running in at one place and out at another
+and he after her, transported for desire, till his yard rose, as
+he were mad. Presently she entered a dark passage, and in
+following her, he trod upon a soft place, which gave way with
+him, and before he knew where he was, he found himself in the
+midst of the market of the fell-mongers, who were calling skins
+for sale and buying and selling. When they saw him in this
+plight, naked, with yard on end, shaven face, dyed eyebrows and
+rouged cheeks, they cried out and clapped their hands at him and
+flogged him with skins upon his naked body, till he swooned away;
+when they set him on an ass and carried him to the chief of the
+police, who said, "What is this?" Quoth they, "This fellow came
+out upon us from the Vizier's house, in this plight." So the
+prefect gave him a hundred lashes and banished him from Baghdad.
+However, I went out after him and brought him back privily into
+the city and made him an allowance for his living, though, but
+for my generous disposition, I had not put up with such a fellow.
+
+
+
+
+
+Story of the Barber's Third Brother
+
+
+
+The name of my third brother was Fekic and he was blind. One day,
+chance and destiny led him to a great house and he knocked at the
+door, desiring speech of the owner, that he might beg of him
+somewhat. Quoth the master of the house, "Who is at the door?"
+But my brother was silent and heard him repeat, in a loud voice,
+"Who is there?" Still he made no answer and presently heard the
+master come to the door and open it and say, "What dost thou
+want?" "Charity," replied my brother, "for the love of God the
+Most High!" "Art thou blind?" asked the man; and my brother said,
+"Yes." Quoth the other, "Give me thy hand." So my brother put out
+his hand, thinking that he would give him something; but he took
+it and drawing him into the house, carried him up, from stair to
+stair, till they reached the housetop, my brother thinking the
+while that he would surely give him food or money. Then said
+he to my brother, "What dost thou want, O blind man?" "Charity,
+for the love of God!" repeated my brother. "God succour
+thee!"[FN#103] answered the master of the house. "O man,"
+answered my brother, "why couldst thou not tell me this
+downstairs?" "O loser," answered he, "why didst thou not answer
+me, when I asked who was at the door?" Quoth my brother, "What
+wilt thou with me now?" And the other replied, "I have nothing to
+give thee." "Then take me down again," said my brother. But he
+answered, "The way lies before thee." So my brother rose and made
+his way down the stairs, till he came within twenty steps of the
+door, when his foot slipped and he rolled to the bottom and broke
+his head. Then he went out, knowing not whither to turn, and
+presently fell in with other two blind men, comrades of his, who
+enquired how he had fared that day. He told them what had passed
+and said to them, "O my brothers, I wish to take some of the
+money in my hands and provide my self with it." Now the master of
+the house had followed him and heard what they said, but neither
+my brother nor his fellows knew of this. So my brother went on to
+his lodging and sat down to await his comrades, and the owner of
+the house entered after him without his knowledge. When the other
+blind men arrived, my brother said to them, "Shut the door and
+search the house, lest any stranger have followed us." The
+intruder, hearing this, caught hold of a rope that hung from the
+ceiling and clung to it, whilst the blind men searched the whole
+place, but found nothing. So they came back and sitting down
+beside my brother, brought out their money, which they counted,
+and lo, it was twelve thousand dirhems. Each took what he wanted
+and the rest they buried in a corner of the room. Then they set
+on food and sat down to eat. Presently my brother heard a strange
+pair of jaws wagging at his side; so he said to his comrades,
+"There is a stranger amongst us;" and putting out his hand,
+caught hold of that of the intruder. Therewith they all fell on
+him and beat him, crying out, "O Muslims, a thief is come in to
+us, seeking to take our property!" So much people flocked to
+them, whereupon the owner of the house caught hold of the blind
+men and shutting his eyes, feigned to be blind like unto them, so
+that none doubted of it. Then he complained of them, even as they
+of him, crying out, "O Muslims, I appeal to God and the Sultan
+and the chief of the police! I have a grave matter to make known
+to the chief of the police." At this moment, up came the watch
+and seizing them all, dragged them before the chief of the
+police, who enquired what was the matter. Quoth the spy, "See
+here; thou shalt come at nought except by torture: so begin by
+beating me, and after me, beat this my captain." And he pointed
+to my brother. So they threw the man down and gave him four
+hundred strokes on the backside. The beating pained him, and he
+opened one eye; and as they redoubled their blows, he opened the
+other. When the chief of the police saw this, he said to him,
+"What is this, O accursed one?" "Give me the seal-ring of
+pardon!" replied he. "We are four who feign ourselves blind and
+impose upon people, that we may enter houses and gaze upon women
+and contrive for their corruption. In this way, we have gotten
+much money, even twelve thousand dirhems. So I said to my
+comrades, 'Give me my share, three thousand dirhems.' But they
+fell on me and beat me and took away my money, and I appeal to
+God and thee for protection; better thou have my share than they.
+So, an thou wouldst know the truth of my words, beat each of the
+others more than thou hast beaten me and he will surely open his
+eyes." The prefect bade begin with my brother: so they bound him
+to the whipping-post,[FN#104] and the prefect said, "O rascals,
+do ye abjure the gracious gifts of God and pretend to be blind?"
+"Allah! Allah!" cried my brother, "by Allah, there is not one
+amongst us who can see!" Then they beat him, till he fainted and
+the prefect said, "Leave him till he revives and then beat him
+again." And he caused each of the others to be beaten with more
+than three hundred blows, whilst the sham blind man stood by,
+saying to them, "Open your eyes, or you will be beaten anew."
+Then he said to the prefect, "Send some one with me to fetch the
+money, for these fellows will not open their eyes, lest they be
+put to shame before the folk." So the prefect sent to fetch the
+money and gave the impostor three thousand dirhems to his
+pretended share. The rest he took for himself and banished the
+three blind men from the city. But, O Commander of the Faithful,
+I went out and overtaking my brother, questioned him of his case;
+whereupon he told me what I have told thee. So I carried him back
+privily into the city and appointed him in secret wherewithal to
+eat and drink.' The Khalif laughed at my story and said, 'Give
+him a present and let him go.' By Allah,' rejoined I, 'I will
+take nothing till I have made known to the Commander of the
+Faithful what happened to my other brothers, for I am a man of
+few words.' Then I went on as follows
+
+
+
+
+
+Story of the Barber's Fourth Brother.
+
+
+
+'My fourth brother, the one-eyed, was a butcher at Baghdad, who
+sold meat and reared rams; and the notables and men of wealth
+used to buy meat of him, so that he amassed much wealth and got
+him cattle and houses. He fared thus a long while' till one day,
+as he was sitting in his shop, there came up to him an old man
+with a long beard, who laid down some money and said, "Give me
+meat for this." So he gave him his money's worth of meat, and the
+old man went away. My brother looked at the money he had paid
+him, and seeing that it was brilliantly white, laid it aside by
+itself. The old man continued to pay him frequent visits for five
+months, and my brother threw the money he received from him into
+a chest by itself. At the end of this time, he thought to take
+out the money to buy sheep; so he opened the chest, but found in
+it nothing but white paper, cut round. When he saw this, he
+buffeted his face and cried out, till the folk came round him and
+he told them his story, at which they wondered. Then he rose, as
+of his wont, and slaughtering a ram, hung it up within the shop;
+after which he cut off some of the meat and hung it up outside,
+saying the while, "Would God that pestilent old man would come!"
+And surely before long up came the old man, with his money in his
+hand; whereupon my brother rose and caught hold of him, crying
+out, "Come to my help, O Muslims, and hear what befell me with
+this scoundrel!" When the old man heard this, he said to him, "An
+thou loose me not, I will expose thee before the folk!" "In what
+wilt thou expose me?" asked my brother, and the other replied,
+"In that thou sellest man's flesh for mutton." "Thou liest, O
+accursed one!" cried my brother: and the old man said, "He is the
+accursed one who has a man hanging up in his shop." "If it be as
+thou sayest," rejoined my brother, "I give thee leave to take my
+property and my life." Then said the old man, "Ho, people of the
+city! an ye would prove the truth of my words, enter this man's
+shop." So they rushed into the shop, when they saw the ram was
+become a dead man hanging up and seized on my brother, crying
+out, "O infidel! O villain!" And his best friends fell to beating
+him and saying, "Dost thou give us man's flesh to eat?" Moreover,
+the old man struck him on the eye and put it out. Then they
+carried the carcase to the chief of the police, to whom said the
+old man, "O Amir, this fellow slaughters men and sells their
+flesh for mutton, and we have brought him to thee; so arise and
+execute the justice of God, to whom belong might and majesty!" My
+brother would have defended himself, but the prefect refused to
+hear him and sentenced him to receive five hundred blows with a
+stick and to forfeit all his property. And indeed, but for his
+wealth, they had put him to death. Then he banished him from the
+city and my brother fared forth at a venture, till he came to a
+great city, where he thought well to set up as a cobbler. So he
+opened a shop and fell to working for his living. One day, as he
+went on an occasion, he heard the tramp of horse, and enquiring
+the cause, was told that the King was going out to hunt and
+stopped to look on his state. It chanced that the King's eye met
+his, whereupon he bowed his head, saying, "I take refuge with God
+from the evil of this day!" And drawing bridle, rode back to his
+palace, followed by his retinue. Then he gave an order to his
+guards, who seized my brother and beat him grievously, till he
+was well-nigh dead, without telling him the reason: after which
+he returned to his shop, in a sorry plight, and told one of the
+King's household, who laughed till he fell backward and said to
+him, "O my brother, know that the King cannot endure the sight of
+a one-eyed man; especially if he be blind of the left eye, in
+which case, he does not let him go without killing him." When my
+brother heard this, he resolved to fly that city, so went forth
+and repaired to another country, where he was known of none. Here
+he abode a long while, till one day, being heavy at heart for
+what had befallen him, he went out to divert himself. As he was
+walking along, he heard the tramp of horse behind him; whereupon
+he exclaimed, "The judgment of God is upon me!" and looked out
+for a hiding-place, but found none. At last he saw a closed door,
+and pushing against it, it yielded and he found himself in a long
+corridor, in which he took refuge. Hardly had he done so, when
+two men laid hold of him, exclaiming, "Praise be to God, who hath
+delivered thee into our hands, O enemy of Allah! These three
+nights thou hast bereft us of sleep and given us no peace and
+made us taste the agonies of death!" "O folk," said my brother,
+"what ails you?" And they answered, "Thou givest us the change
+and goest about to dishonour us and to murder the master of the
+house! Is it not enough that thou hast brought him to beggary,
+thou and thy comrades? But give us up the knife, wherewith thou
+threatenest us every night." Then they searched him and found in
+his girdle the knife he used to cut leather; and he said, "O
+folk, have the fear of God before your eyes and maltreat me not,
+for know that my story is a strange one." "What is thy story?"
+asked they. So he told them what had befallen him, hoping that
+they would let him go; however, they paid no heed to what he
+said, but beat him and tore off his clothes, and finding on his
+sides the marks of beating with rods, said, "O accursed one,
+these scars bear witness to thy guilt!" Then they carried him to
+the chief of the police, whilst he said to himself, "I am undone
+for my sins and none can save me but God the Most High!" The
+prefect said to him, "O villain, what made thee enter their house
+with murderous intent?" "O Amir," replied my brother, "I conjure
+thee by Allah, hear my words and hasten not to condemn me!" But
+the two men said to the prefect, "Wilt thou listen to a robber,
+who beggars the folk and has the scars of beating on his back?"
+When the Amir saw the scars on my brother's sides, he said to
+him, "They had not done this to thee, save for some great crime."
+And he sentenced him to receive a hundred lashes. So they flogged
+him and mounting him on a camel, paraded him about the city,
+crying out, "This is the reward and the least of the reward of
+those who break into people's houses!" Then they thrust him forth
+the city, and he wandered at random, till I heard what had
+befallen him and going in search of him, questioned him of his
+case. So he told me all that passed and I carried him back
+privily to Baghdad, where I made him an allowance for his living.
+
+
+
+
+
+Story of the Barber's Fifth Brother.
+
+
+
+My fifth brother, he of the cropt ears, O Commander of the
+Faithful, was a poor man, who used to ask alms by night and live
+by day on what he got thus. Now, our father, who was an old man,
+far advanced in years, fell sick and died, leaving us seven
+hundred dirhems. So we took each of us a hundred; but when my
+brother received his share, he was at a loss to know what to do
+with it, till he bethought him to buy glass of all sorts and sell
+it at a profit. So he bought a hundred dirhems' worth of glass
+and putting it in a great basket, sat down, to sell it, on a
+raised bench, at the foot of a wall, against which he leant his
+back. As he sat, with the basket before him: be fell to musing in
+himself and said, "I have laid out a hundred dirhems on this
+glass and I will sell it for two hundred, with which I will buy
+other glass and sell it for four hundred; nor will I cease to
+buy and sell thus, till I have gotten much wealth. With this I
+will buy all kinds of merchandise and jewels and perfumes and
+gain great profit on them, till, God willing, I will make my
+capital a hundred thousand dirhems. Then I will buy a handsome
+house, together with slaves and horses and trappings of gold,
+and eat and drink, nor will I leave a singing-man or woman in
+the city but I will have them to sing to me. As soon as I have
+amassed a hundred thousand dirhems,[FN#105] I will send out
+marriage-brokers to demand for me in marriage the daughters of
+kings and viziers; and I will seek the hand of the Vizier's
+daughter, for I hear that she is perfect in beauty and of
+surpassing grace. I will give her a dowry of a thousand dinars,
+and if her father consent, well; if not, I will take her by
+force, in spite of him. When I return home, I will buy ten little
+eunuchs and clothes for myself such as are worn by kings and
+sultans and get me a saddle of gold, set thick with jewels of
+price. Then I will mount and parade the city, with slaves before
+and behind me, whilst the folk salute me and call down blessings
+upon me: after which I will repair to the Vizier, the girl's
+father, with slaves behind and before me, as well as on my either
+hand. When he sees me, he will rise and seating me in his own
+place, sit down below me, for that I am his son-in-law. Now I
+will have with me two eunuchs with purses, in each a thousand
+dinars, and I will deliver him the thousand dinars of the dowry
+and make him a present of other thousand, that he may have cause
+to know my nobility and generosity and greatness of mind and the
+littleness of the world in my eyes; and for ten words he proffers
+me, I will answer him two. Then I will return to my house, and if
+one come to me on the bride's part, I will make him a present of
+money and clothe him in a robe of honour; but if he bring me a
+present, I will return it to him and will not accept it, that
+they may know that I am great of soul. Then I will command them
+to bring her to me in state and will order my house fittingly in
+the meantime. When the time of the unveiling is come, I will don
+my richest clothes and sit down on a couch of brocaded silk,
+leaning on a cushion and turning neither to the right nor to the
+left, for the haughtiness of my mind and the gravity of my
+understanding. My wife shall stand before me like the full moon,
+in her robes and ornaments, and I, of my pride and my disdain,
+will not look at her, till all who are present shall say to me,
+'O my lord, thy wife and thy handmaid stands before thee: deign
+to look upon her! for standing is irksome to her.' And they will
+kiss the earth before me many times, whereupon I will lift my
+eyes and give one glance at her, then bend down my head again.
+Then they will carry her to the bride-chamber, and meanwhile I
+will rise and change my clothes for a richer suit. When they
+bring in the bride for the second time, I will not look at her
+till they have implored me several times, when I will glance at
+her and bow down my head; nor will I leave to do thus, till they
+have made an end of displaying her, when I will order one of my
+eunuchs to fetch a purse of five hundred dinars and giving it to
+the tire-women, command them to lead me to the bride-chamber.
+When they leave me alone with the bride, I will not look at her
+or speak to her, but will lie by her with averted face, that she
+may say I am high of soul. Presently her mother will come to me
+and kiss my head and hands and say to me, 'O my lord, look on thy
+handmaid, for she longs for thy favour, and heal her spirit. But
+I will give her no answer; and when she sees this, she will come
+and kiss my feet repeatedly and say, 'O my lord, verily my
+daughter is a beautiful girl, who has never seen man; and if thou
+show her this aversion, her heart will break; so do thou incline
+to her and speak to her.' Then she will rise and fetch a cup of
+wine, and her daughter will take it and come to me; but I will
+leave her standing before me, whilst I recline upon a cushion of
+cloth of gold, and will not look at her for the haughtiness of my
+heart, so that she will think me to be a Sultan of exceeding
+dignity and will say to me, 'O my lord, for God's sake, do not
+refuse to take the cup from thy servant's hand, for indeed I am
+thy handmaid.' But I will not speak to her, and she will press
+me, saying, 'Needs must thou drink it,' and put it to my lips.
+Then I will shake my fist in her face and spurn her with my foot
+thus." So saying, he gave a kick with his foot and knocked over
+the basket of glass, which fell to the ground, and all that was
+in it was broken. "All this comes of my pride!" cried he, and
+fell to buffeting his face and tearing his clothes and weeping.
+The folk who were going to the Friday prayers saw him, and some
+of them looked at him and pitied him, whilst others paid no heed
+to him, and in this way my brother lost both capital and profit.
+Presently there came up a beautiful lady, on her way to the
+Friday prayers, riding on a mule with a saddle of gold and
+attended by a number of servants and filling the air with the
+scent of musk, as she passed along. When she saw the broken glass
+and my brother weeping, she was moved to pity for him; so she
+asked what ailed him and was told that he had a basket full of
+glass, by the sale of which he thought to make his living, but it
+was broken, and this was the cause of his distress. So she called
+one of her attendants and said to him, "Give this poor man what
+is with thee." And he gave my brother a purse in which he found
+five hundred dinars, whereupon he was like to die for excess of
+joy and called down blessings on her. Then he returned to his
+house, a rich man; and as he sat considering, some one knocked at
+the door. So he rose and opened and saw an old woman whom he knew
+not. "O my son," said she, "the time of prayer is at hand, and I
+have not yet made the ablution; so I beg thee to let me do so in
+thy house." "I hear and obey," replied he, and bade her come in.
+So she entered and he brought her an ewer, wherewith to wash, and
+sat down, beside himself for joy in the dinars When she had made
+an end of her ablutions, she came up to where he sat and prayed a
+two-bow prayer, after which she offered up a goodly prayer my
+brother, who thanked her and putting his hand to the bag of
+money, gave her two dinars, saying in himself, "This is an alms
+from me." "Glory to God!" exclaimed she. "Why dost thou look on
+one, who loves thee, as if she were a beggar? Put up thy money! I
+have no need of it; or if thou want it not, return it to her who
+gave it thee, when thy glass was broken." "O my mother," asked
+he, "how shall I do to come at her?" "O my son," replied she,
+"she hath an inclination for thee, but she is the wife of a
+wealthy man of the city; so take all thy money with thee and
+follow me, that I may guide thee to thy desire: and when thou art
+in company with her, spare neither fair words nor persuasion, and
+thou shalt enjoy her beauty and her wealth to thy heart's
+content." So my brother took all his money and rose and followed
+the old woman, hardly believing in his good fortune. She led him
+on till they came to the door of a great house, at which she
+knocked, and a Greek slave-girl came out and opened to them. Then
+the old woman took my brother and brought him into a great
+saloon, spread with magnificent carpets and hung with curtains,
+where he sat down, with his money before him and his turban on
+his knee. Presently in came a young lady richly dressed, never
+saw eyes handsomer than she; whereupon my brother rose to his
+feet, but she smiled upon him and welcoming him, signed to him to
+be seated. Then she bade shut the door and taking my brother by
+the hand, led him to a private chamber, furnished with various
+kinds of brocaded silk. Here he sat down and she seated herself
+by his side and toyed with him awhile; after which she rose and
+saying, "Do not stir till I come back," went away. After awhile,
+in came a great black slave, with a drawn sword in his hand, who
+said to him, "Woe to thee! who brought thee hither and what dost
+thou want?" My brother could make no answer, being tongue-tied
+for fear; so the black seized him and stripping him of his
+clothes, beat him with the flat of his sword till he swooned
+away. Then the pestilent black concluded that he was dead, and my
+brother heard him say, "Where is the salt-wench?" Whereupon in
+came a slave-girl, with a great dish of salt, and the black
+strewed salt upon my brother's wounds; but he did not stir, lest
+he should know that he was alive and finish him. Then the
+salt-girl went away and the black cried out, "Where is the
+cellaress?" With this in came the old woman, and taking my
+brother by the feet, dragged him to an underground vault, where
+she threw him down upon a heap of dead bodies. There he remained
+two whole days, but God made the salt the means of saving his
+life, for it stayed the flow of blood. Presently, he found
+himself strong enough to move; so he rose and opening the
+trap-door, crept out fearfully; and God protected him, so that he
+went on in the darkness and hid himself in the vestibule till the
+morning, when he saw the cursed old woman sally forth in quest of
+other prey. So he went out after her, without her knowledge, and
+made for his own house, where he dressed his wounds and tended
+himself till he was whole. Meanwhile he kept a watch upon the old
+woman and saw her accost one man after another and carry them to
+the house. However, he said nothing; but as soon as he regained
+health and strength, he took a piece of stuff and made it into a
+bag, which he filled with broken glass and tied to his middle.
+Then he disguised himself in the habit of a foreigner, that none
+might know him, and hid a sword under his clothes. Then he went
+out and presently falling in with the old woman, accosted her and
+said to her, with a foreign accent, "O dame, I am a stranger, but
+this day arrived here, and know no one. Hast thou a pair of
+scales wherein I may weigh nine hundred dinars? I will give
+thee somewhat of the money for thy pains." "I have a son, a
+moneychanger," replied she, "who has all kinds of scales; so come
+with me to him, before he goes out, and he will weigh thy gold
+for thee." And he said, "Lead the way." So she led him to the
+house and knocked at the door; and the young lady herself came
+out and opened it; whereupon the old woman smiled in her face,
+saying, "I bring thee fat meat to-day." Then the damsel took him
+by the hand and carrying him to the same chamber as before, sat
+with him awhile, then rose and went out, bidding him stir not
+till she came back. Ere long in came the villainous black, with
+his sword drawn, and said to my brother, "Rise, O accursed one!"
+So he rose and as the slave went on before him, he drew the sword
+from under his clothes and smiting him with it, made his head fly
+from his body; after which he dragged the corpse by the feet to
+the vault and cried out, "Where is the salt-wench?" Up came the
+girl with the dish of salt, and seeing my brother sword in hand,
+turned to fly; but he followed her and smote her and struck off
+her head. Then he called out, "Where is the cellaress?" And in
+came the old woman, to whom said he, "Dost thou know me, O
+pestilent old woman?" "No, my lord," replied she; and he said, "I
+am he of the five hundred dinars, to whose house thou camest to
+make the ablution and pray, and whom thou didst after lure
+hither." "Fear God and spare me!" exclaimed she. But he paid no
+heed to her and striking her with the sword, cut her in four.
+Then he went in search of the young lady; and when she saw him,
+her reason fled and she called out for mercy. So he spared her
+and said to her, "How camest thou to consort with this black?"
+Quoth she, "I was slave to a certain merchant and the old woman
+used to visit me, till I became familiar with her. One day she
+said to me, 'We have to-day a wedding at our house, the like of
+which was never beheld, and I wish thee to see it.' 'I hear and
+obey,' answered I, and rising, donned my handsomest clothes and
+jewellery and took with me a purse containing a hundred dinars.
+Then she brought me hither, and hardly had I entered the house,
+when the black seized on me, and I have remained in this case
+these three years, through the perfidy of the accursed old
+woman." Then said my brother, "Is there aught of his in the
+house?" "He had great store of wealth," replied she: "and if thou
+canst carry it away, do so, and may God prosper it to thee!" Then
+she opened to him several chests full of purses, at which he was
+confounded, and said to him, "Go now and leave me here and fetch
+men to carry off the money." So he went out and hired ten men,
+but, when he returned, he found the door open and the damsel
+gone, and nothing left but a little of the money and the
+household stuff. By this, he knew that she had cheated him; so he
+opened the closets and took what was in them, together with the
+rest of the money, leaving nothing in the house, and passed the
+night in all content. When he arose in the morning, he found at
+the door a score of troopers, who seized him, saying, "The chief
+of the police seeks for thee." My brother implored them to let
+him return to his house, but they would grant him no delay,
+though he offered them a large sum of money, and binding him fast
+with cords, carried him off. On the way, there met them a friend
+of my brother, who clung to his skirts and implored him to stop
+and help to deliver him from their hands. So he stopped and
+enquired what was the matter; to which they replied, "The chief
+of the police has ordered us to bring this man before him, and we
+are doing so." The man interceded with them and offered them five
+hundred dinars to let my brother go, saying, "Tell the magistrate
+that ye could not find him." But they refused and dragged him
+before the prefect, who said to him, "Whence hadst thou these
+stuffs and money?" Quoth my brother, "Grant me indemnity." So the
+magistrate gave him the handkerchief of pardon, and he told him
+all that had befallen him, from first to last, including the
+flight of the damsel, adding, "Take what thou wilt, so thou leave
+me enough to live on." But the prefect took the whole of the
+stuff and money for himself and fearing lest the affair should
+reach the Sultan's ears, said to my brother, "Depart from this
+city, or I will hang thee." "I hear and obey," replied my
+brother, and set out for another town. On the way thieves fell on
+him and stripped him and beat him and cut off his ears. But I
+heard of his misfortunes and went out after him, taking him
+clothes, and brought him back privily to the city, where I made
+him an allowance for meat and drink.
+
+
+
+
+
+Story of the Barber's Sixth Brother
+
+
+
+My sixth brother, he of the cropt lips, O Commander of the
+Faithful, was once rich, but after became poor. One day he went
+out to seek somewhat to keep life in him and came presently to a
+handsome house, with a wide and lofty portico and servants and
+others at the door, ordering and forbidding. My brother enquired
+of one of those standing there and he told him that the house
+belonged to one of the Barmecide family. So he accosted the
+door-keepers and begged an alms of them. "Enter," said they, "and
+thou shalt get what thou seekest of our master." Accordingly, he
+entered and passing through the vestibule, found himself in a
+mansion of the utmost beauty and elegance, paved with marble and
+hung with curtains and having in the midst a garden whose like he
+had never seen. He stood awhile perplexed, knowing not whither to
+direct his steps: then seeing the door of a sitting-chamber,
+he entered and saw at the upper end a man of comely presence
+and goodly beard. When the latter saw my brother, he rose and
+welcomed him and enquired how he did; to which he replied that he
+was in need of charity. Whereupon the other showed great concern
+and putting his hand to his clothes, rent them, exclaiming, "Art
+thou hungry in a city of which I am an inhabitant? I cannot
+endure this!" and promised him all manner of good. Then said he,
+"Thou must eat with me." "O my lord," replied my brother, "I can
+wait no longer; for I am sore an hungred." So, the Barmecide
+cried out, "Ho, boy! bring the ewer and the basin!" and said to
+my brother, "O my guest, come forward and wash thy hands." My
+brother rose to do so, but saw neither ewer nor basin. However,
+the host made as if he were washing his hands and cried out,
+"Bring the table." But my brother saw nothing. Then said the
+Barmecide, "Honour me by eating of this food and be not ashamed."
+And he made as if he ate, saying the while, "Thou eatest but
+little: do not stint thyself, for I know thou art famished."
+So my brother began to make as if he ate, whilst the other said
+to him, "Eat and note the excellence of this bread and its
+whiteness." My brother could see nothing and said to himself,
+"This man loves to jest with the folk." So he replied, "O my
+lord, never in my life have I seen whiter or more delicious
+bread." And the host said, "I gave five hundred dinars for the
+slave-girl who bakes it for me." Then he called out, "Ho, boy!
+bring the frumenty first and do not spare butter on it." And
+turning to my brother, "O my guest," said he, "sawst thou ever
+aught better than this frumenty? Eat, I conjure thee, and be not
+ashamed!" Then he cried out again, "Ho, boy! bring in the pasty
+with the fatted grouse in it." And he said to my brother, "Eat, O
+my guest, for thou art hungry and needest it." So my brother
+began to move his jaws and make as if he chewed; whilst the other
+ceased not to call for dish after dish and press my brother to
+eat, though not a thing appeared. Presently, he cried out, "Ho,
+boy I bring us the chickens stuffed with pistachio-kernels!"
+And said to my brother, "These chickens have been fattened on
+pistachio-nuts; eat, for thou hast never tasted the like of
+them." "O my lord," replied my brother, "they are indeed
+excellent." Then the host feigned to put his hand to my brother's
+mouth, as if to feed him, and ceased not to name various dishes
+and expatiate upon their excellence. Meanwhile my brother was
+starving, and hunger was so sore on him that his soul lusted for
+a cake of barley bread. Quoth the Barmecide, "Didst thou ever
+taste aught more delicious than the seasoning of these dishes?"
+"Never, O my lord," replied my brother. "Eat heartily and be not
+ashamed," repeated the host. "O my lord," said my brother, "I
+have had enough of meat." So the Barmecide cried out, "Take away
+and bring the sweetmeats." Then he said, "Eat of this almond
+conserve, for it is excellent, and of these fritters. My life on
+thee, take this one before the syrup runs out of it!" "May I
+never be bereaved of thee, O my lord!" replied my brother, and
+asked him of the abundance of musk in the fritters. "It is my
+custom," said the other, "to have three pennyweights of musk and
+half that quantity of ambergris put into each fritter." All
+this time my brother was wagging his jaws and moving his head
+and mouth, till the host said, "Enough of this! Bring us the
+dessert." Then said he to him, "Eat of these almonds and walnuts
+and raisins and of this and that," naming different kinds of
+dried fruits, "and be not ashamed." "O my lord," answered my
+brother, "indeed I am full: I can eat no more." "O my guest,"
+repeated the other, "if thou have a mind to eat more, for God's
+sake do not remain hungry!" "O my lord," replied my brother, "how
+should one who has eaten of all these dishes be hungry?" Then he
+considered and said to himself "I will do that which shall make
+him repent of having acted thus." Presently the host called out,
+"Bring me the wine," and making as if it had come, feigned to
+give my brother to drink, saying, "Take this cup, and if it
+please thee, let me know." "O my lord," replied he, "it has a
+pleasant smell, but I am used to drink old wine twenty years of
+age." "Then knock at this door,"[FN#106] said his host; "for thou
+canst not drink of aught better." "O my lord, this is of thy
+bounty!" replied my brother and made as if he drank. "Health and
+pleasure to thee!" exclaimed the host, and feigned, in like wise,
+to fill a cup and drink it off and hand a second cup to my
+brother, who pretended to drink and made as if he were drunken.
+Then he took the Barmecide unawares and raising his arm, till the
+whiteness of his arm-pit appeared, dealt him such a buffet on the
+neck that the place rang to it. Then he gave him a second cuff
+and the host exclaimed, "What is this, O vile fellow?" "O my
+lord," replied my brother "thou hast graciously admitted thy
+slave into thine abode and fed him with thy victual and plied him
+with old wine, till he became drunk and dealt unmannerly by thee;
+but thou art too noble not to bear with his ignorance and pardon
+his offence." When the Barmecide heard my brother's words, he
+laughed heartily and exclaimed, "Long have I used to make mock of
+men and play the fool with those who are apt at jesting and
+horse-play; but never have I come across any, who had patience
+and wit to enter into all my humours, but thee; so I pardon thee,
+and now thou shalt be my boon companion, in very deed, and never
+leave me." Then he bade his servants lay the table in good
+earnest, and they set on all the dishes of which he had spoken,
+and he and my brother ate till they were satisfied, after which
+they removed to the drinking-chamber, where they found damsels
+like moons, who sang all manner of songs and played on all kinds
+of musical instruments. There they remained, drinking, till
+drunkenness overcame them, and the host used my brother as a
+familiar friend, so that he became as it were his brother, and
+bestowed on him a dress of honour and loved him with an exceeding
+love. Next morning, they fell again to feasting and carousing,
+and ceased not to lead this life for twenty years, at the end of
+which time the Barmecide died and the Sultan laid hands on all
+his property and squeezed my brother, till he stripped him of all
+he had. So he left the city and fled forth at random, but the
+Arabs fell on him midway and taking him prisoner, carried him to
+their camp, where the Bedouin, his captor, tortured him, saying,
+"Ransom thyself with money, or I will kill thee." My brother fell
+a-weeping and replied, "By Allah, I have nought! I am thy
+prisoner; do with me as thou wilt." Thereupon the Bedouin took
+out a knife and cut off my brother's lips, still urging his
+demand. Now this Bedouin had a handsome wife, who used to make
+advances to my brother, in her husband's absence, and offer him
+her favours, but he held off from her. One day, she began to
+tempt him as usual, and he toyed with her and took her on his
+knee, when lo, in came the Bedouin, and seeing this, cried out,
+"Woe to thee, thou villain! Wouldst thou debauch my wife?" Then
+he took out a knife and cut off my brother's yard, after which he
+set him on a camel and carried him to a mountain, where he threw
+him down and left him. Here he was found by some travellers, who
+recognized him and gave him meat and drink and acquainted me with
+his plight, whereupon I went forth to him and brought him back to
+Baghdad, where I provided him with enough to live on. This then,
+O Commander of the Faithful, is the history of my brothers, and I
+was unwilling to go away without relating it to thee, that I
+might disabuse thee of thine error in confounding me with them.
+And now thou knowest that I have six brothers and support them
+all.' When the Khalif heard my words, he laughed and said, 'Thou
+sayst sooth, O Silent One! Thou art neither a man of many words
+nor an impertinent meddler; but now go out from this city and
+settle in another.' And he banished me from the city; so I left
+Baghdad and travelled in foreign countries, till I heard of his
+death and the coming of another to the Khalifate. Then I returned
+to Baghdad, where I found my brothers dead and fell in with this
+young man, to whom I rendered the best of services, for without
+me he had been killed. Indeed he accuses me of what is foreign to
+my nature and what he relates of my impertinence is false; for
+verily I left Baghdad on his account and wandered in many
+countries, till I came to this city and happened on him with you;
+and was not this, O good people, of the generosity of my nature?"
+
+When we heard the barber's story (continued the tailor) and saw
+the abundance of his speech and the way in which he had oppressed
+the young man, we laid hands on him and shut him up, after which
+we sat down in peace and ate and drank till the time of the call
+to afternoon-prayer, when I left the company and returned home.
+My wife was sulky and said to me, "Thou hast taken thy pleasure
+all day, whilst I have been moping at home. So now, except thou
+carry me abroad and amuse me for the rest of the day, it will be
+the cause of my separation from thee." So I took her out and we
+amused ourselves till nightfall, when we returned home and met
+the hunchback, brimming over with drunkenness and repeating the
+following verses:
+
+The glass is pellucid, and so is the wine: So bring them together
+and see them combine:
+Tis a puzzle; one moment, all wine and no cup; At another, in
+turn, 'tis all cup and no wine.
+
+So I invited him to pass the evening with us and went out to buy
+fried fish, after which we sat down to eat. Presently my wife
+took a piece of bread and fish and crammed them into his mouth,
+and he choked and died. Then I took him up and made shift to
+throw him into the house of the Jewish physician. He in his turn
+let him down into the house of the controller, who threw him in
+the way of the Christian broker. This, then, is my story. Is it
+not more wonderful than that of the hunchback?'
+
+When the King heard the tailor's story, he shook his head for
+delight and showed astonishment, saying, 'This that passed
+between the young man and the meddlesome barber is indeed more
+pleasant and more wonderful than the story of that knave of a
+hunchback.' Then he bade the tailor take one of the chamberlains
+and fetch the barber out of his duresse, saying, 'Bring him to
+me, that I may hear his talk, and it shall be the means of the
+release of all of you. Then we will bury the hunchback, for he is
+dead since yesterday, and set up a tomb over him.' So the
+chamberlain and the tailor went away and presently returned with
+the barber. The King looked at him and behold, he was a very old
+man, more than ninety years of age, of a swarthy complexion and
+white beard and eyebrows, flap-eared, long-nosed and simple and
+conceited of aspect. The King laughed at his appearance and said
+to him, 'O silent man, I desire thee to tell me somewhat of thy
+history.' 'O King of the age,' replied the barber, 'why are all
+these men and this dead hunchback before thee?' Said the King,
+'Why dost thou ask?' 'I ask this,' rejoined the barber, 'that
+your Majesty may know that I am no impertinent meddler and that I
+am guiltless of that they lay to my charge of overmuch talk; for
+I am called the Silent, and indeed I am the man of my name, as
+says the poet:
+
+Thine eyes shall seldom see a man that doth a nickname bear, But,
+     if thou search, thou'lt find the name his nature doth
+     declare.
+
+So the King said, 'Explain the hunchback's case to him and repeat
+to him the stories told by the physician, the controller, the
+broker and the tailor.' They did as he commanded, and the barber
+shook his head and exclaimed, 'By Allah, this is indeed a wonder
+of wonders!' Then said he, 'Uncover the hunchback's body, that
+I may see it.' They did so, and he sat down and taking the
+hunchback's head in his lap, looked at his face and laughed till
+he fell backward. Then said he, 'To every death there is a cause;
+but the story of this hunchback deserves to be recorded in
+letters of gold!' The bystanders were astounded at his words and
+the King wondered and said to him, 'O silent man, explain thy
+words to us.' 'O King of the age,' replied the barber, 'by thy
+munificence, there is yet life in this hunchback.' Then he pulled
+out from his girdle a barber's budget, whence he took a pot of
+ointment and anointed therewith the neck of the hunchback and its
+veins. Then he took out a pair of tweezers and thrusting them
+down the hunchback's throat, drew out the piece of fish and its
+bone, soaked in blood. Thereupon the hunchback sneezed and sat
+up, and passing his hand over his face, exclaimed, 'I testify
+that there is no god but God and that Mohammed is His Apostle!'
+At this all present wondered and the King laughed, till he
+fainted, and so did the others. Then said the King, 'By Allah,
+this is the most wonderful thing I ever saw! O Muslims, O
+soldiers all, did you ever in your lives see a man die and come
+to life again? For verily, had not God vouchsafed him this barber
+to be the cause of his preservation, he had been dead!' 'By
+Allah,' said they, 'this is a wonder of wonders!' Then the King
+caused the whole history to be recorded and laid up in the royal
+treasury; after which he bestowed splendid dresses of honour on
+the Jew, the broker and the controller and sent them away. Then
+he gave the tailor a costly dress of honour and appointed him his
+own tailor, with a suitable stipend, and made peace between him
+and the hunchback, on whom he also bestowed a rich and fair dress
+of honour and made him his boon-companion, appointing him due
+allowances. As for the barber, he made him a like present and
+appointed him state barber and one of his boon-companions,
+assigning him regular allowances and a fixed salary. And they all
+ceased not from the enjoyment of all the delights and comforts of
+life, till there overtook them the Destroyer of delights and the
+Sunderer of companies.
+
+
+
+
+
+          NOUREDDIN ALI AND THE DAMSEL ENIS EL JELIS.
+
+
+
+There was once a King in Bassora who cherished the poor and needy
+and loved his subjects and bestowed of his wealth on those who
+believed in Mohammed (whom God bless and preserve!) and he was
+even as the poet hath described him:
+
+A King who, when the hostile hosts assault him in the field,
+     Smites them and hews them, limb from limb, with trenchant
+     sword and spear
+Full many a character of red he writes upon the breasts What time
+     the mailed horsemen break before his wild career.
+
+His name was King Mohammed ben Suleiman ez Zeini, and he had two
+Viziers, one called Muin ben Sawa and the other Fezl ben Khacan.
+Fezl was the most generous man of his time; noble and upright of
+life, all hearts concurred in loving him, and the wise complied
+with his counsel, whilst all the people wished him long life; for
+that he was a compend of good qualities, encouraging good and
+preventing evil and mischief. The Vizier Muin, on the contrary,
+was a hater of mankind and loved not good, being indeed
+altogether evil; even as says of him the poet:
+
+Look thou consort with the generous, sons of the gen'rous; for
+     lo! The generous, sons of the gen'rous, beget the gen'rous,
+     I trow.
+And let the mean-minded men, sons of the mean-minded, go, For the
+     mean-minded, sons of the mean, beget none other than so.
+
+And as much as the people loved Fezl, so much did they hate Muin.
+It befell one day, that the King, being seated on his throne,
+with his officers of state about him, called his Vizier Fezl and
+said to him, 'I wish to have a slave-girl of unsurpassed beauty,
+perfect in grace and symmetry and endowed with all praiseworthy
+qualities.' Said the courtiers, 'Such a girl is not to be had for
+less than ten thousand dinars!' whereupon the King cried out to
+his treasurer and bade him carry ten thousand dinars to Fezl's
+house. The treasurer did so, and the Vizier went away, after the
+King had charged him to go to the market every day and employ
+brokers and had given orders that no girl worth more than a
+thousand dinars should be sold, without being first shown to the
+Vizier. Accordingly, the brokers brought him all the girls that
+came into their hands, but none pleased him, till one day a
+broker came to his house and found him mounting his horse, to go
+to the palace; so he caught hold of his stirrup and repeated the
+following verses:
+
+O thou whose bounties have restored the uses of the state, O
+     Vizier helped of heaven, whose acts are ever fortunate!
+Thou hast revived the virtues all were dead among the folk. May
+     God's acceptance evermore on thine endeavours wait!
+
+Then said he, 'O my lord, she for whom the august mandate was
+issued is here.' 'Bring her to me,' replied the Vizier. So he
+went away and returned in a little with a damsel of elegant
+shape, swelling-breasted, with melting black eyes and smooth
+cheeks, slender-waisted and heavy-hipped, clad in the richest of
+clothes. The dew of her lips was sweeter than syrup, her shape
+more symmetrical than the bending branch and her speech softer
+than the morning zephyr, even as says one of those who have
+described her:
+
+A wonder of beauty! Her face full moon of the palace sky; Of a
+     tribe of gazelles and wild cows the dearest and most high!
+The Lord of the empyrean hath given her pride and state,
+     Elegance, charm and a shape that with the branch may vie;
+She hath in the heaven of her face a cluster of seven stars, That
+     keep the ward of her cheek to guard it from every spy.
+So if one think to steal a look, the imps of her glance Consume
+     him straight with a star, that shoots from her gleaming eye.
+
+When the Vizier saw her she pleased him exceedingly, so he turned
+to the broker and said to him, 'What is the price of this
+damsel?' 'Her price is ten thousand dinars,' replied he, 'and
+her owner swears that this sum will not cover the cost of the
+chickens she hath eaten, the wine she hath drunk and the
+dresses of honour bestowed on her teachers; for she hath learnt
+penmanship and grammar and lexicology and the exposition of the
+Koran and the rudiments of law and theology, medicine and the
+calendar, as well as the art of playing on instruments of music.'
+Then said the Vizier, 'Bring me her master.' So the broker
+brought him at once, and behold, he was a foreigner, who had
+lived so long that time had worn him to bones and skin. Quoth
+the Vizier to him, 'Art thou content to sell this damsel to
+the Sultan for ten thousand dinars?' 'By Allah,' replied the
+merchant, 'if I made him a present of her, it were but my duty!'
+So the Vizier sent for the money and gave it to the slave-dealer,
+who said, 'By the leave of our lord the Vizier, I have something
+to say.' 'Speak,' said the Vizier: and the slave-dealer said, 'If
+thou wilt be ruled by me, thou wilt not carry the damsel to the
+King to-day, for she is newly off a journey; the change of air
+has affected her and the journey has fretted her. But let her
+abide in thy palace ten days, that she may recover her good
+looks. Then send her to the bath and dress her in the richest of
+clothes and go up with her to the Sultan, and this will be more
+to thy profit.' The Vizier considered the man's advice and
+approved it; so he took her to his palace, where he appointed her
+a separate lodging and a daily allowance of meat and drink and so
+forth, and she abode thus awhile.
+
+Now the Vizier Fezl had a son like the rising full moon, with
+shining visage, red cheeks covered with a tender down and a mole
+like a grain of ambergris; as says of him the poet and therein
+errs not:
+
+A moon,[FN#107] whose glances slay the folk, on whom he turns his
+     eye; A branch, whose graces break all hearts, as he goes
+     stately by
+Slack as the night his browlocks are, his face the hue of gold;
+     Fair is his person, and his shape the spear-shaft doth
+     outvie.
+Ah me, how hard his heart, how soft and slender is his waist! Why
+     is the softness not transferred from this to that, ah why?
+Were but the softness of his sides made over to his heart, He'd
+     ne'er to lovers be unjust nor leave them thus to sigh.
+O thou that blam'st my love of thee, excuse me rather thou, Nor
+     chide me, if my body pine for languor like to die.
+The fault, indeed, lies not with me, but with my heart and eye;
+     So chide me not, but let me be in this my misery.
+
+Now he knew not the affair of the damsel, and his father had
+lessoned her, saying, 'Know, O my daughter, that I have bought
+thee for the bed of the King Mohammed ben Suleiman ez Zeini, and
+I have a son who leaves no girl in the quarter but he has to do
+with her; so be on thy guard against him and beware of letting
+him see thy face or hear thy voice.' 'I hear and obey,' replied
+she; and the Vizier left her and went away. Some days after this
+it chanced, as Fate would have it, that the damsel went to the
+bath in the house, where some of the serving-women washed her,
+after which she arrayed herself in rich apparel, and her beauty
+and grace redoubled. Then she went in to the Vizier's wife and
+kissed her hand; and the lady said to her, 'May it profit thee, O
+Enis el Jelis! How didst thou find the bath?' 'O my lady,'
+answered she, 'I lacked but thy presence there.' Thereupon said
+the mistress to her waiting-women, 'Come with me to the bath, for
+it is some days since I went thither.' 'We hear and obey,'
+answered they; and rose and accompanied her to the bath, after
+Enis el Jelis had retired to her own chamber and the lady had set
+two little slave-girls to keep the door, charging them to let
+none go in to the damsel. Presently, as Enis el Jelis sat resting
+after the bath, in came the Vizier's son, whose name was
+Noureddin Ali, and asked after his mother and her women, to which
+the two little slaves replied that they had gone to the bath. The
+damsel heard Noureddin's voice and said to herself, 'I wonder
+what like is this youth, of whom his father says that there is
+not a girl in the quarter but he has had to do with her. By
+Allah, I long to see him!' So she rose, fresh as she was from the
+bath, and going to the door, looked at Noureddin and saw that he
+was like the moon at its full. The sight cost her a thousand
+sighs, and Noureddin, chancing to look that way, caught a glance
+of her that caused him also a thousand regrets, and each fell
+into the snare of the other's love. Then he went up to the two
+little slaves and cried out at them, whereupon they fled before
+him and stood afar off to see what he would do. And behold, he
+went up to the door of the damsel's chamber and entering, said to
+her, 'Art thou she whom my father bought for me?' 'Yes,' answered
+she: whereupon Noureddin, who was heated with wine, went up to
+her and embraced her, whilst she wreathed her arms about his neck
+and met him with kisses and sighs and amorous gestures. Then he
+sucked her tongue and she his, and he did away her maidenhead.
+When the two little slaves saw their young master go in to the
+damsel, they cried out and shrieked. So, as soon as he had done
+his desire, he rose and fled, fearing the issue of his conduct.
+When the Vizier's wife heard the slaves' cries, she sprang up and
+came out of the bath, with the sweat dripping from her, saying,
+'What is this clamour in the house?' Then she came up to the two
+little slaves, and said to them, 'Out on you! what is the
+matter?' 'Our lord Noureddin came in and beat us,' answered they:
+'so we fled and he went in to the damsel and embraced her, and we
+know not what he did after this: but when we cried out to thee,
+he fled.' Thereupon, the mistress went in to Enis el Jelis and
+enquired what had happened. 'O my lady,' answered she, 'as I was
+sitting here, there came in a handsome young man, who said to me,
+"Art thou she whom my father bought for me?" I answered, "Yes;"
+(for by Allah, O my lady, I believed that he spoke the truth!)
+and with this he came up to me and embraced me.' 'Did he nought
+else with thee?' asked the lady. 'Yes,' replied Enis el Jelis:
+'he took of me three kisses.' 'He did not leave thee without
+deflowering thee!' cried the Vizier's wife, and fell to weeping
+and buffeting her face, she and her women, fearing that
+Noureddin's father would kill him. Whilst they were thus, in came
+the Vizier and asked what was the matter, and his wife said to
+him, 'Swear that thou wilt hearken to what I say.' 'It is well,'
+replied he. So she told him what his son had done, and he was
+greatly afflicted and tore his clothes and buffeted his face and
+plucked out his beard. 'Do not kill thyself,' said his wife: 'I
+will give thee the ten thousand dinars, her price, of my own
+money.' But he raised his head and said to her, 'Out on thee! I
+have no need of her price, but I fear to lose both life and
+goods.' 'How so?' asked his wife, and he said, 'Dost thou not
+know that yonder is our enemy Muin ben Sawa, who, when he hears
+of this affair, will go up to the Sultan and say to him, "Thy
+Vizier, who thou wilt have it loves thee, had of thee ten
+thousand dinars and bought therewith a slave-girl, whose like was
+never seen; but when he saw her, she pleased him and he said to
+his son, 'Take her: thou art worthier of her than the Sultan.' So
+he took her and did away her maidenhead, and she is now with
+him." The King will say, "Thou liest!" To which Muin will reply,
+"With thy leave, I will fall on him at unawares and bring her to
+thee." The King will order him to do this, and he will come down
+upon the house and take the damsel and bring her before the King,
+who will question her and she will not be able to deny what has
+passed. Then Muin will say, "O my lord, thou knowest that I give
+thee true counsel, but I am not in favour with thee." Thereupon
+the Sultan will make an example of me, and I shall be a
+gazing-stock to all the people and my life will be lost.' Quoth
+his wife, 'Tell none of this thing, which has happened privily,
+but commit thy case to God and trust in Him to deliver thee from
+this strait.' With this the Vizier's heart was set at rest, and
+his wrath and chagrin subsided.
+
+Meanwhile, Noureddin, fearing the issue of the affair, spent the
+whole day in the gardens and came back by night to his mother's
+apartment, where he slept and rising before day, returned to the
+gardens. He lived thus for a whole month, not showing his face to
+his father, till at last his mother said to the Vizier, 'O my
+lord, shall we lose our own son as well as the damsel? If things
+continue thus for long, the lad will flee forth from us.' 'What
+is to be done?' said he: and she answered, 'Do thou watch this
+night, and when he comes, seize on him and frighten him. I will
+rescue him from thee and do thou then make peace with him and
+give him the girl, for she loves him and he her; and I will pay
+thee her price.' So the Vizier watched that night and when his
+son came, he seized him and throwing him down, knelt on his
+breast and made as if he would cut his throat; but his mother
+came to his succour and said to her husband, 'What wilt thou do
+with him?' Quoth he, 'I mean to kill him.' And Noureddin said to
+his father 'Am I of so little account with thee?' Whereupon the
+Vizier's eyes filled with tears and he replied, 'O my son, is the
+loss of my goods and my life of so little account in thine eyes?'
+Quoth Noureddin, 'Hear, O my father, what the poet says:
+
+Pardon me: true, I have sinned: yet the sagacious man Ceases
+     never to pardon freely the erring wight.
+Surely, therefore, thy foe may hope for pardon from thee, Since
+     he is in the abyss and thou on honour's height!'
+
+Then the Vizier rose from off his breast, saying, 'O my son, I
+forgive thee!' for his heart was softened. Noureddin rose and
+kissed the hand of his father, who said to him, 'If I knew that
+thou wouldst deal fairly by Enis el Jelis, I would give her to
+thee.' 'O my father,' replied Noureddin, 'how should I not deal
+fairly by her?' Quoth the Vizier, 'O my son, I charge thee not to
+take another wife nor concubine to share with her nor sell her.'
+'O my father,' answered Noureddin, 'I swear to thee that I will
+do none of these things.' Then he went in to the damsel and abode
+with her a whole year, whilst God caused the King to forget the
+affair. The matter, indeed, came to Muin's ears, but he dared not
+speak of it, by reason of the favour in which the Vizier Fezl
+stood with the Sultan. At the end of the year, the Vizier Fezl
+went one day to the bath and coming out, whilst still in a sweat,
+the air smote him and he caught cold and took to his bed. His
+malady gained upon him and sleeplessness was long upon him; so he
+called his son Noureddin and said to him, 'O my son, know that
+fortune is lotted out and the term of life fixed, and needs must
+every soul drain the cup of death.' And he repeated the following
+verses:
+
+I'm dead: yet glory be to Him that dieth not; For that I needs
+     must die, indeed, full well I wot,
+He is no king, who dies with kingship in his hand, For sovranty
+     belongs to Him that dieth not.
+
+Then he continued, 'O my son, I have no charge to lay on thee,
+except that thou fear God and look to the issue of thine actions
+and cherish the damsel Enis el Jelis.' 'O my father,' said
+Noureddin, 'who is like unto thee? Indeed thou art renowned for
+the practice of virtue and the praying of the preachers for thee
+in the pulpits.' Quoth Fezl, 'O my son, I hope for acceptance
+from God the Most High.' Then he pronounced the two professions
+of the faith and was numbered among the blessed. The palace was
+filled with crying and lamentation, and the news of his death
+reached the King and the people of the city, and even the
+children in the schools wept for Fezi ben Khacan. Then his son
+Noureddin arose and took order for his funeral, and the Amirs and
+Viziers and grandees were present, amongst them the Vizier Muin
+ben Sawa; and as the funeral train came forth of the palace, one
+of the mourners recited the following verses:
+
+The fifth day I departed and left my friends alone: They laid me
+     out and washed me upon a slab of stone;
+Then stripped me of the raiment that on my body was, That they
+     might put upon me clothes other than my own
+On four men's necks they bore me unto the place of prayer And
+     prayed a prayer above me by no prostration known.
+Then in a vaulted dwelling they laid me. Though the years Shall
+     waste, its door will never be open to them thrown.
+
+When they had laid him in the earth, Noureddin returned with the
+folk; and he lamented with groans and tears and the tongue of the
+case repeated the following verses:
+
+On the fifth day they departed in the eventide, and I Took of
+     them the last leave-taking, when they went and left me here.
+When they turned away and left me, lo! the soul with them did go.
+     And I said, "Return." It answered, "Where, alas! should I
+     recur;
+Shall I come back to a body whence the life and blood are flown?
+     Nothing now but bones are left it, rattling in the
+     sepulchre.
+Lo! my eyes, excess of weeping hath put out their sight, I trow,
+     And a deafness eke is fallen on my ears: I cannot hear."
+
+He abode a long while in great grief for his father, till one
+day, as he sat in his house, there came a knocking at the door;
+so he rose and opening the door, found there a man who had been
+one of his father's friends and boon-companions. He entered and
+kissing Noureddin's hand, said to him, 'O my lord, he who has
+left the like of thee is not dead; and to this pass (death) came
+even the lord of the first and the last.[FN#108] O my lord, take
+comfort and leave mourning!' Thereupon Noureddin rose and going
+to the guest-chamber, transported thither all that he needed.
+Then his friends gathered together to him and he took his
+slave-girl again and collecting round him ten of the sons of the
+merchants, began to eat meat and drink wine, giving entertainment
+after entertainment and dispensing gifts and favours with a
+lavish hand, till one day his steward came to him and said, 'O my
+lord Noureddin, hast thou not heard the saying, "He who spends
+and does not reckon, becomes poor without knowing it?"' And he
+repeated the following verses:
+
+I'll hold my money fast, knowing, as well as I know, That 'tis my
+     sword and shield against my every foe.
+If I should lavish it on those who love me not, My luck among the
+     folk would change to grief and woe.
+So I will eat and drink my wealth for my own good Nor upon any
+     man a single doit bestow.
+I will preserve with care my money from all those By nature base
+     and true to none. 'Tis better so
+Than that I e'er should say unto the mean of soul, "Lend me so
+     much I'll pay to-morrow five-fold mo,"
+And see my friend avert his face and turn away, Leaving my soul
+     cast down, as 'twere a dog's, I trow!
+O what a sorry lot is his, who hath no pelf, E'en though his
+     virtues bright like to the sun should show!
+
+'O my lord,' continued the steward, 'this lavish expense and
+prodigal giving waste away wealth.' When Noureddin heard his
+steward's words, he looked at him and said, 'I will not hearken
+to one word of all thou hast said, for I have heard the following
+saying of the poet:
+
+If I be blessed with wealth and be not liberal with it, May my
+     hand wither and my foot eke paralysed remain!
+Show me the niggard who hath won glory by avarice! Show me the
+     liberal man his own munificence hath slain!
+
+And he said, 'Know, O steward, it is my desire that so long as
+there remains in thy hands enough for my morning meal, thou
+trouble me not with taking care for my evening meal.' Therewith
+the steward went away and Noureddin continued his extravagant way
+of living; and if any of his boon-companions chanced to say to
+him, 'This thing is handsome,' he would answer, 'It is thine as a
+gift;' or if another said, 'O my lord, such and such a house is
+handsome,' he would say, 'Take it: it is thine.' In this manner
+he continued to live for a whole year, giving his friends a
+banquet in the morning and another in the evening, till one day
+as they were sitting together, the damsel Enis el Jelis repeated
+the following verses:
+
+Thou madest fair thy thought of Fate, when that the days were
+     fair, And fearedst not the unknown ills that they to thee
+     might bring:
+The nights were fair and calm to thee; thou wert deceived by
+     them, For in the peace of night is born full many a
+     troublous thing.
+
+
+Just as she had finished, there came a knocking at the door; so
+Noureddin rose to open it, and one of his companions followed him
+without his knowledge. At the door he found his steward and said
+to him, 'What is the matter?' 'Omylord,' replied he, 'what I
+feared for thee has come to pass!' 'How so?' asked Noureddin; and
+the steward said, 'Know that there remains not a dirhem's worth,
+less nor more, in my hands. Here are registers containing an
+account of the original state of thy property and the way in
+which thou hast spent it.' At this, Noureddin bowed his head and
+exclaimed, 'There is no power and no virtue but in God!' When the
+man who had followed him secretly to spy on him heard what the
+steward said, he returned to his companions and said to them,
+'Look what ye do; for Noureddin Ali is bankrupt.' When Noureddin
+returned, they read trouble in his face; so one of them rose and
+said to him, 'O my lord, maybe thou wilt give me leave to
+retire?' 'Why wilt thou go away to-day?' said he. 'My wife is
+brought to bed,' replied the other; 'and I cannot be absent from
+her; I wish to return and see how she does.' So Noureddin gave
+him leave, whereupon another rose and said, 'O my lord, I wish to
+go to my brother, for he circumcises his son to-day.' And each
+made some excuse to retire, till they were all gone and Noureddin
+remained alone. Then he called his slave-girl and said to her, 'O
+Enis el Jelis, hast thou seen what has befallen me?' And he
+related to her what the steward had told him. 'O my lord,'
+replied she, 'some nights ago I had it in my mind to speak with
+thee of this matter; but I heard thee reciting the following
+verses:
+
+If fortune be lavish to thee, look thou be lavish with it Unto
+     all classes of men, ere it escapes from thy hand!
+Munificence will not undo it, whilst it is constant to thee, Nor,
+     when it turneth away, will avarice force it to stand.
+
+When I heard thee speak thus, I held my peace and cared not to
+say aught to thee.' 'O Enis el Jelis,' said Noureddin, 'thou
+knowest that I have not expended my substance but on my friends,
+who have beggared me, and I think they will not leave me without
+help.' 'By Allah,' replied she, 'they will not profit thee in
+aught.' Said he, 'I will rise at once and go to them and knock at
+their doors: maybe I shall get of them somewhat with which I may
+trade and leave pleasure and merry-making.' So he rose and
+repaired to a certain street, where all his ten comrades lived.
+He went up to the first door and knocked, whereupon a maid came
+out and said, 'Who art thou?' 'Tell thy master,' replied he,
+'that Noureddin Ali stands at the door and says to him, "Thy
+slave kisses thy hands and awaits thy bounty."' The girl went in
+and told her master, who cried out at her, saying, 'Go back and
+tell him that I am not at home.' So she returned and said to
+Noureddin, 'O my lord, my master is from home.' With this, he
+went away, saying to himself, 'Though this fellow be a whoreson
+knave and deny himself, another may not be so.' Then he came to
+the second door and sent in a like message to the master of the
+house, who denied himself as the first had done, whereupon
+Noureddin repeated the following verse:
+
+They're gone who, if before their door thou didst arrest thy
+     feet, Would on thy poverty bestow both flesh and roasted
+     meat.
+
+And said 'By Allah, I must try them all: there may be one amongst
+them who will stand me in the stead of the rest.' So he went
+round to all the ten, but not one of them opened his door to him
+or showed himself to him or broke a cake of bread in his face;
+whereupon he repeated the following verses:
+
+A man in time of affluence is like unto a tree, Round which the
+     folk collect, as long as fruit thereon they see,
+Till, when its burden it hath cast, they turn from it away, Leave
+     it to suffer heat and dust and all inclemency.
+Out on the people of this age! perdition to them all! Since not a
+     single one of ten is faithful found to be.
+
+Then he returned to his slave-girl, and indeed his concern was
+doubled, and she said to him, 'O my lord, did I not tell thee
+that they would not profit thee aught?' 'By Allah,' replied he,
+'not one of them would show me his face or take any notice of
+me!' 'O my lord! said she, 'sell some of the furniture and
+household stuff, little by little, and live on the proceed,
+against God the Most High provide.' So he sold all that was in
+the house, till there was nothing left, when he turned to her and
+said, 'What is to be done now?' 'O my lord,' replied she, 'it is
+my advice that thou rise and take me down to the market and sell
+me. Thou knowest that thy father bought me for ten thousand
+dinars; perhaps God may help thee to near that price, and if it
+be His will that we be reunited, we shall meet again.' 'O Enis el
+Jelis,' replied Noureddin, 'by Allah, I cannot endure to be
+parted from thee for a single hour!' 'By Allah, O my lord,'
+rejoined she, 'nor is it easy to me; but necessity compels, as
+says the poet:
+
+Necessity in life oft drives one into ways That to the courteous
+mind are foreign and abhorred.
+We do not trust our weight unto a rope, unless It be to do some
+thing adapted to the cord.'
+
+With this, he rose to his feet and took her, whilst the tears
+streamed down his cheeks like rain and he recited with the tongue
+of the case what follows:
+
+Stay and vouchsafe me one more look before our parting hour, To
+     soothe the anguish of a heart well-nigh for reverence slain!
+Yet, if it irk thee anywise to grant my last request, Far rather
+     let me die of love than cause thee aught of pain!
+
+Then he went down to the market and delivered the damsel to a
+broker, to whom he said, 'O Hajj[FN#109] Hassan, I would have
+thee note the value of her thou hast to offer for sale!' 'O my
+lord Noureddin,' replied the broker, 'I have not forgotten my
+business.[FN#110] Is not this Enis el Jelis, whom thy father
+bought of me for ten thousand dinars?' 'Yes,' said Noureddin.
+Then the broker went round to the merchants, but found they were
+not all assembled; so he waited till the rest had arrived and the
+market was full of all kinds of female slaves, Turks and Franks
+and Circassians and Abyssinians and Nubians and Egyptians and
+Tartars and Greeks and Georgians and others; when he came forward
+and said, 'O merchants! O men of wealth! every round thing is not
+a walnut nor every long thing a banana; every thing red is not
+meat nor everything white fat. O merchants, I have here this
+unique pearl, this unvalued jewel! What price shall I set on
+her?' 'Say four thousand five hundred dinars,' cried one. So the
+broker opened the biddings for her at that sum and as he was yet
+calling, behold, the Vizier Muin ben Sawa passed through the
+market and seeing Noureddin standing in a corner, said to
+himself, 'What doth the son of Khacan here? Has this gallows-bird
+aught left to buy girls withal?' Then he looked round and seeing
+the broker crying out and the merchants round him, said to
+himself, 'Doubtless he is ruined and has brought the damsel Enis
+el Jelis hither to sell her! What a solace to my heart!' Then he
+called the crier, who came up and kissed the ground before him,
+and he said to him, 'Show me the girl thou art crying for sale.'
+The broker dared not cross him, so he answered, 'O my lord, in
+the name of God!' And brought the damsel and showed her to him.
+She pleased him and he said, 'O Hassan, what is bidden for this
+damsel?' 'Four thousand five hundred dinars,' replied the broker,
+'as an upset price.' Quoth the Vizier, 'I take that bid on
+myself.' When the merchants heard this, they hung back and dared
+not bid another dirhem, knowing what they did of the Vizier's
+tyranny. Then Muin looked at the broker and said to him, 'What
+ails thee to stand still? Go and offer four thousand dinars for
+her, and the five hundred shall be for thyself.' So the broker
+went to Noureddin and said to him, 'O my lord, thy slave is gone
+for nothing!' 'How so?' said he. The broker answered, 'We had
+opened the biddings for her at four thousand five hundred dinars,
+when that tyrant Muin ben Sawa passed through the market and when
+he saw the damsel, she pleased him and he said to me, "Call me
+the buyer for four thousand dinars, and thou shalt have five
+hundred for thyself." I doubt not but he knows she belongs to
+thee, and if he would pay thee down her price at once, it were
+well; but I know, of his avarice and upright, he will give thee a
+written order on some of his agents and will send after thee to
+say to them, "Give him nothing." So as often as thou shalt go to
+seek the money, they will say, "We will pay thee presently," and
+so they will put thee off day after day, for all thy high spirit,
+till at last, when they are tired of thine importunity, they will
+say, "Show us the bill." Then, as soon as they get hold of it,
+they will tear it up, and so thou wilt lose the girl's price.'
+When Noureddin heard this, he looked at the broker and said
+to him, 'What is to be done?' 'I will give thee a counsel,'
+answered he, 'which if thou follow, it will be greatly to thine
+advantage.' 'What is that?' asked Noureddin. 'Do thou come to me
+presently,' said the broker, 'when I am standing in the midst of
+the market and taking the girl from my hand, give her a cuff and
+say to her, "O baggage, I have kept my vow and brought thee down
+to the market, because I swore that I would put thee up for sale
+and make the brokers cry thee." If thou do this, it may be the
+device will impose upon the Vizier and the folk, and they will
+believe that thou broughtest her not to the market but for
+the quittance of thine oath.' 'This is a good counsel,' said
+Noureddin. Then the broker left him and returning to the midst of
+the market, took the damsel by the hand; then beckoned to Muin
+and said to him, 'O my lord, here comes her owner.' With this up
+came Noureddin and snatching the girl from the broker, gave her a
+cuff and said to her, 'Out on thee, thou baggage! I have brought
+thee down to the market for the quittance of my oath; so now
+begone home and look that thou cross me not again. Out on thee!
+do I need thy price, that I should sell thee? The furniture of my
+house would fetch many times thy value, if I sold it.' When Muin
+saw this, he said to Noureddin, 'Out on thee! Hast thou aught
+left to sell?' And he made to lay violent hands on him; but the
+merchants interposed, for they all loved Noureddin, and the
+latter said to them, 'Behold, I am in your hands, and ye all know
+his tyranny!' 'By Allah,' exclaimed the Vizier, 'but for you, I
+would have killed him!' Then all the merchants signed to
+Noureddin with their eyes as who should say, 'Work thy will of
+him; not one of us will come betwixt him and thee.' Whereupon
+Noureddin, who was a stout-hearted fellow, went up to the Vizier
+and dragging him from his saddle, threw him to the ground. Now
+there was in that place a mortar-pit, into the midst of which he
+fell, and Noureddin fell to cuffing and pummelling him, and one
+of the blows smote his teeth, dyeing his beard with his blood.
+There were with the Vizier ten armed slaves, who, seeing their
+master thus evil entreated, clapped their hands to their swords
+and would have drawn them and fallen on Noureddin, to kill him;
+but the bystanders said to them, 'This is a Vizier and that a
+Vizier's son; it may be they will make peace with one another
+anon, in which case you will have gotten the hatred of both of
+them. Or a blow may fall on your lord, and you will all die the
+foulest of deaths; so you would do wisely not to interfere.' So
+they held aloof and when Noureddin had made an end of beating the
+Vizier, he took his slave-girl and went home; and Muin rose, with
+his white clothes dyed of three colours with black mud, red blood
+and ashes. When he saw himself in this plight, he put a halter
+round his neck and taking a bundle of coarse grass in either
+hand, went up to the palace and standing under the King's
+windows, cried out, 'O King of the age, I am a man aggrieved!' So
+they brought him before the Sultan, who looked at him and knowing
+him for his chief Vizier, asked who had entreated him thus.
+Whereupon he wept and sobbed and repeated the following verses:
+
+Shall fortune oppress me, and that in thy day, O King? Shall
+     wolves devour me, whilst thou art a lion proud?
+Shall all that are thirsty drink of thy water-tanks And shall I
+     thirst in thy courts, whilst thou art a rain-fraught cloud?
+
+'O my lord,' continued he, 'thus fare all who love and serve
+thee.' 'Make haste,' said the Sultan, 'and tell me how this
+happened and who hath dealt thus with thee, whose honour is a
+part of my own honour.' 'Know then, O my lord,' replied the
+Vizier, 'that I went out this day to the slave-market to buy me a
+cook-maid, when I saw in the bazaar a damsel, whose like for
+beauty I never beheld. She pleased me and I thought to buy her
+for our lord the Sultan; so I asked the broker of her and her
+owner, and he replied, "She belongs to Noureddin Ali son of Fezl
+ben Khacan." Now our lord the Sultan aforetime gave his father
+ten thousand dinars to buy him a handsome slave-girl, and he
+bought therewith this damsel, who pleased him, so that he grudged
+her to our lord the Sultan and gave her to his own son. When Fezl
+died, his son sold all that he possessed of houses and gardens
+and household stuff and squandered the price, till he became
+penniless. Then he brought the girl down to the market, to
+sell her, and handed her to the broker, who cried her and the
+merchants bid for her, till her price reached four thousand
+dinars; whereupon I said to myself, "I will buy her for our lord
+the Sultan, for it was his money that paid for her." So I said to
+Noureddin, "O my son, sell her to me for four thousand dinars."
+He looked at me and replied, "O pestilent old man, I will sell
+her to a Jew or a Christian rather than to thee!" "I do not buy
+her for myself," said I, "but for our lord and benefactor the
+Sultan." When he heard my words, he flew into a passion and
+dragging me off my horse, for all I am an old man, beat me till
+he left me as thou seest; and all this has befallen me but
+because I thought to buy the girl for thee.' Then the Vizier
+threw himself on the ground and lay there, weeping and trembling.
+When the Sultan saw his condition and heard his story, the vein
+of anger started out between his eyes, and he turned to his
+guards, who stood before him, forty swordsmen, and said to them,
+'Go down at once to the house of Noureddin ben Fezl, and sack it
+and raze it; then take him and the damsel and drag them hither
+with their hands bound behind them.' 'We hear and obey,' answered
+they: and arming themselves, set out for Noureddin's house. Now
+there was with the Sultan a man called Ilmeddin Senjer, who had
+aforetime been servant to Noureddin's father Fezl ben Khacan, but
+had left his service for that of the Sultan, who had advanced him
+to be one of his chamberlains. When he heard the Sultan's order
+and saw the enemies intent upon killing his master's son, it was
+grievous to him; so he went out from before the Sultan and
+mounting his steed, rode to Noureddin's house and knocked at the
+door. Noureddin came out and knowing him, would have saluted
+him: but he said, 'O my lord, this is no time for greeting or
+converse.' 'O Ilmeddin,' asked Noureddin, 'what is the matter?'
+'Arise and flee for your lives, thou and the damsel,' replied he:
+'for Muin ben Sawa hath laid a snare for you; and if you fall
+into his hands, he will kill you. The Sultan hath despatched
+forty swordsmen against you and I counsel you flee ere evil
+overtake you.' Then Senjer put his hand to his pouch and finding
+there forty dinars, took them and gave them to Noureddin, saying,
+'O my lord, take these and journey with them. If I had more, I
+would give them to thee; but this is no time to take exception.'
+So Noureddin went in to the damsel and told her what had
+happened, at which she wrung her hands. Then they went out at
+once from the city, and God let down the veil of His protection
+over them, so that they reached the river-bank, where they found
+a ship about to sail. Her captain stood in the waist, saying,
+'Whoso has aught to do, whether in the way of victualling or
+taking leave of his friends, or who has forgotten any necessary
+thing, let him do it at once and return, for we are about to
+sail.' And every one said, 'O captain, we have nothing left to
+do.' Whereupon he cried out to his crew, saying, 'Ho, there! cast
+off the moorings and pull up the pickets!' Quoth Noureddin,
+'Whither bound, O captain?' 'To the Abode of Peace, Baghdad,'
+replied he. So Noureddin and the damsel embarked with him, and
+they launched out and spread the sails, and the ship sped forth,
+as she were a bird in full flight, even as says right well the
+poet:
+
+Look at a ship, how ravishing a sight she is and fair! In her
+     swift course she doth outstrip the breezes of the air.
+She seems as 'twere a scudding bird that, lighting from the sky,
+     Doth on the surface of the stream with outspread pinions
+     fare.
+
+Meanwhile the King's officers came to Noureddin's house and
+breaking open the doors, entered and searched the whole place,
+but could find no trace of him and the damsel; so they demolished
+the house and returning to the Sultan, told him what they had
+done; whereupon he said, 'Make search for them, wherever they
+are!' And they answered, 'We hear and obey.' Then he bestowed
+upon the Vizier Muin a dress of honour and said to him, 'None
+shall avenge thee but myself.' So Muin's heart was comforted and
+he wished the King long life and returned to his own house. Then
+the Sultan caused proclamation to be made in the town, saying, 'O
+all ye people! It is the will of our lord the Sultan that whoso
+happens on Noureddin Ali ben Khacan and brings him to the Sultan
+shall receive a dress of honour and a thousand dinars, and he who
+conceals him or knows his abiding-place and informs not thereof,
+deserves the exemplary punishment that shall befall him.' So
+search was made for Noureddin, but they could find neither trace
+nor news of him; and meantime he and the damsel sailed on with a
+fair wind, till they arrived safely at Baghdad and the captain
+said to them, 'This is Baghdad, and it is a city of safety: the
+winter hath departed from it, with its cold, and the season of
+the Spring is come, with its roses; its trees are in blossom and
+its streams flowing.' So Noureddin landed, he and the damsel, and
+giving the captain five dinars, walked on awhile, till chance
+brought them among the gardens and they came to a place swept and
+sprinkled, with long benches on either hand and hanging pots full
+of water. Overhead was a trelliswork of canes shading the whole
+length of the alley, and at the further end was the door of a
+garden; but this was shut. 'By Allah,' said Noureddin to the
+damsel, 'this is a pleasant place!' And she answered, 'O my lord,
+let us sit down on these benches and rest awhile.' So they
+mounted and sat down on the benches, after having washed their
+faces and hands; and the air smote on them and they fell asleep,
+glory be to Him who never sleeps! Now the garden in question was
+called the Garden of Delight and therein stood a pavilion called
+the Pavilion of Pictures, belonging to the Khalif Haroun er
+Reshid, who used, when sad at heart, to repair thither and there
+sit. In this pavilion were fourscore windows and fourscore
+hanging lamps and in the midst a great chandelier of gold. When
+the Khalif entered, he was wont to have all the windows opened
+and to order his boon-companion Isaac ben Ibrahim and the
+slave-girls to sing, till his care left him and his heart was
+lightened. Now the keeper of the garden was an old man by name
+Gaffer Ibrahim, and he had found, from time to time, on going out
+on his occasions, idlers taking their case with courtezans in the
+alley leading to the door of the garden, at which he was sore
+enraged; so he complained to the Khalif, who said, 'Whomsoever
+thou findest at the door of the garden, do with him as thou
+wilt.' As chance would have it, he had occasion to go abroad that
+very day and found these two sleeping at the gate, covered with
+one veil; whereupon, 'By Allah,' said he, 'this is fine! These
+two know not that the Khalif has given me leave to kill any one
+whom I may catch at the door of the garden: but I will give them
+a sound drubbing, that none may come near the gate in future.' So
+he cut a green palm-stick and went out to them and raising his
+arm, till the whiteness of his armpit appeared, was about to lay
+on to them, when he bethought himself and said, 'O Ibrahim, wilt
+thou beat them, knowing not their case? Maybe they are strangers
+or wayfarers, and destiny hath led them hither. I will uncover
+their faces and look on them.' So he lifted up the veil from
+their faces and said, 'They are a handsome pair! It were not
+fitting that I should beat them.' Then he covered their faces
+again, and going to Noureddin's feet, began to rub them,
+whereupon the young man awoke, and seeing an old man of venerable
+appearance rubbing his feet, was abashed and drawing them in, sat
+up; then took Ibrahim's hand and kissed it. Quoth the old man, 'O
+my son, whence art thou?' 'O my lord,' replied Noureddin, 'we are
+strangers.' And the tears started to his eyes. 'O my son,' said
+Ibrahim, 'know that the Prophet (whom God bless and preserve!)
+hath charged us to be hospitable to strangers. Wilt thou not
+rise, O my son, and pass into the garden and take thy pleasure
+therein and gladden thy heart?' 'O my lord,' said Noureddin, 'to
+whom does the garden belong?' And he replied, 'O my son, I
+inherited it from my family.' Now his object in saying this was
+to put them at their ease and induce them to enter the garden. So
+Noureddin thanked him and rose, he and the damsel, and followed
+him into the garden. They entered through a gateway, vaulted like
+a gallery and overhung with vines bearing grapes of various
+colours, the red like rubies and the black like ebony, and
+passing under a bower of trellised boughs, found themselves in a
+garden, and what a garden! There were fruit-trees growing singly
+and in clusters and birds warbling melodiously on the branches,
+whilst the thousand-voiced nightingale repeated the various
+strains: the turtle-dove filled the place with her cooing, and
+there sang the blackbird, with its warble like a human voice, and
+the ring-dove, with her notes like a drinker exhilarated with
+wine. The trees were laden with all manner of ripe fruits, two of
+each: the apricot in its various kinds, camphor and almond and
+that of Khorassan, the plum, whose colour is as that of fair
+women, the cherry, that does away discoloration of the teeth, and
+the fig of three colours, red and white and green. There bloomed
+the flower of the bitter orange, as it were pearls and coral,
+the rose whose redness puts to shame the cheeks of the fair,
+the violet, like sulphur on fire by night, the myrtle, the
+gillyflower, the lavender, the peony and the blood-red anemone.
+The leaves were jewelled with the tears of the clouds; the
+camomile smiled with her white petals like a lady's teeth, and
+the narcissus looked at the rose with her negro's eyes: the
+citrons shone like cups and the limes like balls of gold, and the
+earth was carpeted with flowers of all colours; for the Spring
+was come and the place beamed with its brightness; whilst the
+birds sang and the stream rippled and the breeze blew softly, for
+the attemperance of the air. Ibrahim carried them up into the
+pavilion, and they gazed on its beauty and on the lamps aforesaid
+in the windows; and Noureddin called to mind his banquetings of
+time past and said, 'By Allah, this is a charming place!' Then
+they sat down and the gardener set food before them; and they ate
+their fill and washed their hands; after which Noureddin went up
+to one of the windows and calling the damsel, fell to gazing on
+the trees laden with all manner of fruits. Then he turned to the
+gardener and said to him, 'O Gaffer Ibrahim, hast thou no drink
+here, for folk use to drink after eating?' The old man brought
+him some fresh sweet cold water, but he said, 'This is not the
+kind of drink I want.' 'Belike,' said Ibrahim, 'thou wishest for
+wine?' 'I do,' replied Noureddin. 'God preserve me from it!' said
+the old man. 'It is thirteen years since I did this thing, for
+the Prophet (whom God bless and preserve!) cursed its drinker,
+its presser, its seller and its carrier.' 'Hear two words from
+me,' said Noureddin. 'Say on,' replied Ibrahim. 'If,' said
+Noureddin, 'that unlucky ass there be cursed, will any part of
+the curse fall on thee?' 'Not so,' replied the old man. 'Then,'
+said Noureddin, 'take this dinar and these two dirhems and mount
+the ass and stop at a distance (from the wineshop); then call the
+first man thou seest buying, and say to him, "Take these two
+dirhems and buy me this dinar's worth of wine and set it on the
+ass." Thus thou wilt be neither the purchaser nor the carrier of
+the wine and no part of the curse will fall on thee.' At this the
+gardener laughed and said, 'O my son, never have I seen one
+readier-witted than thou nor heard aught sweeter than thy
+speech.' So he did as Noureddin had said, and the latter thanked
+him, saying, 'We are dependent on thee, and it is only fitting
+that thou comply with our wishes; so bring us what we require.'
+'O my son,' replied he, 'there is my buttery before thee.' (Now
+this was the store-room provided for the Commander of the
+Faithful.) Enter and take what thou wilt; there is more there
+than thou needest.' So Noureddin entered the pantry and found
+therein vessels of gold and silver and crystal, incrusted with
+all kinds of jewels, and was amazed and delighted at what he saw.
+Then he took what he wanted and set it on and poured the wine
+into flagons and decanters, whilst Ibrahim brought them fruits
+and flowers and withdrew and sat down at a distance. So they
+drank and made merry, till the wine got the mastery of them, so
+that their cheeks flushed and their eyes sparkled and their hair
+became dishevelled. Then said Ibrahim to himself, 'What ails me
+to sit apart? Why should I not sit with them? When shall I find
+myself in company with the like of these two, who are like two
+moons?' So he came and sat down at the corner of the dais, and
+Noureddin said to him, 'O my lord, my life on thee, come and sit
+with us!' So he came and sat by them, and Noureddin filled a cup
+and said to him, 'Drink, that thou mayst know the flavour of it.'
+'God forbid!' replied he. 'I have not done such a thing these
+thirteen years.' Noureddin did not press him, but drank off the
+cup, and throwing himself on the ground, feigned to be overcome
+with drunkenness. Then said the damsel, 'O Gaffer Ibrahim, see
+how he serves me!' 'O my lady,' replied he, 'what ails him?'
+'This is how he always treats me,' said she; 'he drinks awhile,
+then falls asleep and leaves me alone, with none to bear me
+company over my cup nor to whom I may sing whilst he drinks.' 'By
+Allah,' said he (and indeed her words touched his heart and made
+his soul incline to her), 'this is not well!' Then she looked at
+him and filling a cup said to him, 'I conjure thee, on my life,
+not to refuse me, but take this cup and drink it off and solace
+my heart.' So he took it and drank it off and she filled a second
+cup and set it on the chandelier, saying, 'O my lord, there is
+still this one left for thee.' 'By Allah, I cannot take it,'
+answered he; 'that which I have drunk suffices me.' 'By Allah,'
+said she, 'thou must indeed drink it.' So he took the cup and
+drank; and she filled him a third cup, which he took and was
+about to drink, when behold, Noureddin opened his eyes and
+sitting up, exclaimed, 'Hello, Gaffer Ibrahim, what is this? Did
+I not adjure thee just now, and thou refusedst, saying, "I have
+not done such a thing these thirteen years"?' 'By Allah,' replied
+he (and indeed he was abashed), 'it is her fault, not mine.'
+Noureddin laughed and they sat down again to carouse, but the
+damsel turned to Noureddin and whispered to him, 'O my lord,
+drink and do not press him, and I will show thee some sport with
+him.' Then she began to fill her master's cup and he to fill to
+her, and so they did time after time, till at last Ibrahim looked
+at them and said, 'What manner of good fellowship is this? God's
+malison on the glutton who keeps the cup to himself! Why dost
+thou not give me to drink, O my brother? What manners are these,
+O Blessed One!' At this they laughed till they fell backward;
+then they drank and gave him to drink and ceased not to carouse
+thus, till a third part of the night was past. Then said the
+damsel, 'O Gaffer Ibrahim, with thy leave, I will light one of
+these candles.' 'Do so,' said he; 'but light no more then one.'
+So she rose and beginning with one candle, lighted fourscore and
+sat down again. Presently Noureddin said, 'O Gaffer Ibrahim, how
+stands my favour with thee? May I not light one of these lamps ?'
+'Light one,' replied he, 'and plague me no more.' So Noureddin
+rose and lighted one lamp after another, till he had lighted the
+whole eighty and the palace seemed to dance with light. Quoth
+Ibrahim (and indeed intoxication had mastered him), 'Ye are more
+active than I.' Then he rose and opened all the windows and sat
+down again; and they fell to carousing and reciting verses, till
+the place rang with their mirth.
+
+Now as God the All-powerful, who appointeth a cause to
+everything, had decreed, the Khalif was at that moment seated at
+one of the windows of his palace, overlooking the Tigris, in the
+light of the moon. He saw the lustre of the candles and lamps
+reflected in the river and lifting his eyes, perceived that it
+came from the garden-palace, which was in a blaze with light. So
+he called Jaafer the Barmecide and said to him, 'O dog of a
+Vizier, has the city of Baghdad been taken from me and thou hast
+not told me?' 'What words are these?' said Jaafer. 'If Baghdad
+were not taken from me,' rejoined the Khalif, 'the Pavilion of
+Pictures would not be illuminated with lamps and candles, nor
+would its windows be open. Out on thee! Who would dare to do this
+except the Khalifate were taken from me?' Quoth Jaafer (and
+indeed he trembled in every limb), 'Who told thee that the
+pavilion was illuminated and the windows open?' 'Come hither and
+look,' replied the Khalif. So Jaafer came to the window and
+looking towards the garden, saw the pavilion flaming with light,
+in the darkness of the night, and thinking that this might be by
+the leave of the keeper, for some good reason of his own, was
+minded to make an excuse for him. So he said, 'O Commander of the
+Faithful, Gaffer Ibrahim said to me last week, "O my lord Jaafer,
+I desire to circumcise my sons during thy life and that of the
+Commander of the Faithful." "What dost thou want?" asked I; and
+he said, "Get me leave from the Khalif to hold the festival in
+the pavilion." So I said to him, "Go, circumcise them, and I will
+see the Khalif and tell him." So he went away and I forgot to
+tell thee.' 'O Jaafer,' said the Khalif, 'thou hast committed two
+offences against me, first, in that thou didst not tell me,
+secondly, in that thou didst not give the old man what he sought;
+for he only came and told thee this, by way of hinting a request
+for some small matter of money, to help him out with the
+expenses; and thou gavest him nothing nor toldest me.' 'O
+Commander of the Faithful,' replied Jaafer, 'I forgot.' 'By the
+virtue of my forefathers,' rejoined the Khalif, 'I will not pass
+the rest of the night but with him, for he is a pious man, who
+consorts with the elders of the faith and the fakirs: doubtless
+they are now assembled with him and it may be that the prayer of
+one of them may profit us both in this world and the next.
+Besides, my presence will advantage him and he will be pleased.'
+'O Commander of the Faithful,' objected Jaafer, 'the night is far
+spent, and they will now be about to break up.' 'It matters not,'
+replied the Khalif; 'I must and will go to them.' And Jaafer was
+silent, being perplexed and knowing not what to do. Then the
+Khalif rose to his feet and taking with him Jaafer and Mesrour
+the eunuch, they all three disguised themselves as merchants and
+leaving the palace, walked on through the by-streets till they
+came to the garden. The Khalif went up to the gate and finding it
+open, was surprised and said to the Vizier, 'Look, Jaafer, how
+Gaffer Ibrahim has left the gate open to this hour, contrary to
+his wont!' They entered and walked on till they came under the
+pavilion, when the Khalif said, 'O Jaafer, I wish to look in upon
+them privily before I join them, that I may see what they are
+about, for up to now I hear no sound nor any fakir naming[FN#111]
+God.' Then he looked about and seeing a tall walnut-tree, said to
+Jaafer, 'I will climb this tree, for its branches come near the
+windows, and so look in upon them.' So he mounted the tree and
+climbed from branch to branch, till he reached a bough that came
+up to one of the windows. On this he seated himself and looking
+in at the window, saw a young lady and a young man as they were
+two moons (glory be to Him who created them and fashioned them!),
+and by them Gaffer Ibrahim seated, with a cup in his hand,
+saying, 'O princess of fair ones, drink without music is nothing
+worth; indeed I have heard a poet say:
+
+Pass round the wine in the great and the small cup too, And take
+     the bowl from the hands of the shining moon.[FN#112]
+But without music, I charge you, forbear to drink, For sure I see
+     even horses drink to a whistled tune.'
+
+When the Khalif saw this, the vein of anger started out between
+his eyes and he descended and said to the Vizier, 'O Jaafer,
+never saw I men of piety in such a case! Do thou mount this tree
+and look upon them, lest the benisons of the devout escape thee.'
+So Jaafer climbed up, perplexed at these words, and looking in,
+saw Noureddin and the damsel and Gaffer Ibrahim with a cup in his
+hand. At this sight, he made sure of ruin and descending, stood
+before the Commander of the Faithful, who said to him, 'O Jaafer,
+praised be God who hath made us of those who observe the external
+forms of the Divine ordinances!' Jaafer could make no answer for
+excess of confusion, and the Khalif continued, 'I wonder how
+these people came hither and who admitted them into my pavilion!
+But the like of the beauty of this youth and this girl my eyes
+never beheld!' 'Thou art right, O Commander of the Faithful,'
+replied Jaafer, hoping to propitiate him. Then said the Khalif,
+'O Jaafer, let us both mount the branch that overlooks the
+window, that we may amuse ourselves with looking at them.' So
+they both climbed the tree and looking in, heard Ibrahim say, 'O
+my lady, I have laid aside gravity in drinking wine, but this is
+not thoroughly delectable without the melodious sound of the
+strings. 'By Allah,' replied Enis el Jelis, 'if we had but some
+musical instrument, our joy would be complete!' When the old man
+heard what she said, he rose to his feet, and the Khalif said to
+Jaafer, 'I wonder what he is going to do.' 'I know not,' replied
+Jaafer. Then Ibrahim went out and returned with a lute; and
+the Khalif looked at it and knew it for that of Isaac the
+boon-companion. 'By Allah,' said he, 'if this damsel sing ill, I
+will crucify you, all of you; but if she sing well, I will pardon
+them and crucify thee.' 'God grant she may sing ill!' said Jaafer
+'Why so?' asked the Khalif. 'Because,' replied Jaafer 'if thou
+crucify us all together, we shall keep each other company.' The
+Khalif laughed at his speech; then the damsel took the lute and
+tuning it, played a measure which made all hearts yearn to her,
+then sang the following verses:
+
+O ye that to help unhappy lovers are fain! We burn with the fire
+     of love and longing in vain.
+Whatever ye do, we merit it: see, we cast Ourselves on your ruth!
+     Do not exult in our pain.
+For we are children of sadness and low estate. Do with us what
+     you will; we will not complain.
+What were your glory to slay us within your courts? Our fear is
+     but lest you sin in working us bane.
+
+'By Allah,' said the Khalif, 'it is good, O Jaafer! Never in my
+life have I heard so enchanting a voice!' 'Belike,' said Jaafer,
+'the Khalif's wrath hath departed from him.' 'Yes,' said the
+Khalif, 'it is gone.' Then they descended from the tree, and the
+Khalif said to Jaafer, 'I wish to go in and sit with them and
+hear the damsel sing before me.' 'O Commander of the Faithful,'
+replied Jaafer, 'if thou go in to them, they will most like be
+troubled and Gaffer Ibrahim will assuredly die of fright.' 'O
+Jaafer,' said the Khalif, 'thou must teach me some device,
+whereby I may foregather with them, without being known of them.'
+So they walked on towards the Tigris, considering of this affair,
+and presently came upon a fisher man standing fishing under the
+windows of the pavilion. Now some time before this, the Khalif
+(being in the pavilion) had called to Gaffer Ibrahim and said to
+him, 'What is this noise I hear under the windows?' 'It is the
+voices of the fishermen, fishing,' answered he; and the Khalif
+commanded him to go down and forbid them to resort thither; so
+the fishermen were forbidden to fish there. However, that night a
+fisherman named Kerim, happening to pass by and seeing the garden
+gate open, said to himself, 'This is a time of negligence: I will
+take advantage of it to fish.' So he went in, but had hardly cast
+his net, when the Khalif came up alone and standing behind
+him, knew him and called out to him, saying, 'Ho, Kerim!' The
+fisherman, hearing himself called by his name, turned round, and
+seeing the Khalif, trembled in every limb and exclaimed, 'O
+Commander of the Faithful, I did it not in mockery of the edict;
+but poverty and distress drove me to what thou seest.' Quoth the
+Khalif, 'Make a cast in my name.' At this the fisherman was glad
+and going to the bank, cast his net, then waiting till it had
+spread out to the utmost and settled down, pulled it up and found
+in it various kinds of fish. The Khalif was pleased and said, 'O
+Kerim, put off thy clothes.' So he put off a gown of coarse
+woollen stuff, patched in a hundred places and full of disgusting
+vermin, and a turban that had not been unwound for three years,
+but to which he had sewn every rag he came across. The Khalif
+pulled off his cassock and mantle and two vests of Alexandria and
+Baalbec silk and saying to the fisherman, 'Take these and put
+them on,' donned the latter's gown and turban and tied a chin
+band [FN#113] round the lower part of his face. Then said he to
+the fisherman, 'Go about thy business.' So he kissed the Khalif's
+feet and thanked him and recited the following verses:
+
+Thou hast heaped benefits on me, past all that I could crave! My
+     tongue suffices not to praise thy goodness to thy slave.
+So I will thank thee whilst I live; and when I come to die, My
+     very bones shall never cease to thank thee in the grave.
+
+Hardly had he finished, when the lice began to crawl over the
+skin of the Khalif, who fell to snatching them with either hand
+from his neck and throwing them down, exclaiming, 'Out on thee, O
+fisherman, this gown is swarming with vermin!' 'O my lord,'
+replied the fisherman, 'they torment thee just now, but before a
+week has passed, thou wilt not feel them nor think of them.' The
+Khalif laughed and said, 'Out on thee! Dost thou think I mean to
+leave this gown on my body?' 'O my lord,' said the fisherman,
+'I desire to say one word to thee.' 'Say on,' answered the
+Khalif. 'It occurs to me, O Commander of the Faithful,' said the
+fisherman, 'that if thou wish to learn hunting, so thou mayst
+have an useful trade ready to thy hand, this gown will be the
+very thing for thee.' The Khalif laughed, and the fisherman went
+his way. Then the Khalif took up the basket of fish, and laying a
+little grass over it, carried it to Jaafer and stood before him.
+Jaafer, concluding that it was Kerim the fisherman, was alarmed
+for him and said, 'O Kerim, what brings thee hither? Flee for thy
+life, for the Khalif is in the garden to-night, and if he see
+thee, thou wilt lose thy head.' At this the Khalif laughed, and
+Jaafer knew him and said, 'Surely thou art our lord the Khalif?'
+'Yes, O Jaafer,' replied he. 'And thou art my Vizier and I came
+hither with thee; yet thou knewest me not; so how should Gaffer
+Ibrahim know me, and he drunk? Stay here, till I come back.' 'I
+hear and obey,' answered Jaafer. Then the Khalif went up to the
+door of the pavilion and knocked softly, whereupon said
+Noureddin, 'O Gaffer Ibrahim, some one knocks at the door.' 'Who
+is at the door?' cried the old man; and the Khalif replied, 'It
+is I, O Gaffer Ibrahim!' 'Who art thou?' asked the gardener. 'I,
+Kerim the fisherman,' rejoined the Khalif. 'I hear thou hast
+company, so have brought thee some fine fish.' When Noureddin
+heard the mention of fish, he was glad, he and the damsel, and
+they both said to Ibrahim, 'O my lord, open the door and let him
+bring the fish in to us.' So he opened the door, and the Khalif
+entered, in his fisherman's disguise, and began by saluting them.
+Quoth Ibrahim, 'Welcome to the brigand, the robber, the gambler!
+Let us see thy fish.' So the Khalif showed them the fish and
+behold, they were still alive and moving, whereupon the damsel
+exclaimed, 'O my lord, these are indeed fine fish! Would that
+they were fried!' 'By Allah, O my mistress,' replied Ibrahim,
+'thou art right.' Then said he to the Khalif, 'O fisherman, why
+didst thou not bring us the fish ready fried? Go now and fry them
+and bring them to us.' 'It shall be done at once,' answered he.
+Said they, 'Be quick about it.' So he went out, running, and
+coming up to Jaafer, cried out, 'Hallo, Jaafer!' 'Here am I, O
+Commander of the Faithful!' replied he. 'They want the fish
+fried,' said the Khalif. 'O Commander of the Faithful,' answered
+Jaafer, 'give it to me and I will fry it for them.' 'By the tombs
+of my forefathers,' said the Khalif, 'none shall fry it but I,
+with my own hand!' So he repaired to the keeper's hut, where he
+searched and found all that he required, even to salt and saffron
+and marjoram and so forth. Then he laid the fish on the
+frying-pan and setting it on the brazier, fried them handsomely.
+When they were done, he laid them on a banana-leaf, and gathering
+some lemons from the garden, carried the dish to the pavilion and
+set it before them. So Noureddin and the damsel and Ibrahim came
+forward and ate, after which they washed their hands and
+Noureddin said to the Khalif, 'O fisherman, thou hast done us a
+right welcome service this night!' Then he put his hand to his
+pouch and taking out three of the dinars that Senjer had given
+him, said, 'O fisherman, excuse me. By Allah, had I known thee
+before that which has lately befallen me, I had done away the
+bitterness of poverty from thy heart; but take this as an earnest
+of my good will!' Then he threw the dinars to the Khalif, who
+took them and kissed them and put them up. Now the Khalif's sole
+desire in all this was to hear the damsel sing; so he said to
+Noureddin, 'O my lord, thou hast rewarded me munificently, but I
+beg of thy great bounty that thou wilt let this damsel sing an
+air, that I may hear her.' So Noureddin said, 'O Enis el Jelis!'
+'Yes,' replied she. And he said, 'My life on thee, sing us
+something for the sake of this fisherman, for he wishes to hear
+thee.' So she took the lute and struck the strings, after she had
+tuned them, and sang the following verses:
+
+The fingers of the lovely maid went wandering o'er the lute, And
+     many a soul to ravishment its music did compel.
+She sang, and lo, her singing cured the deaf man of his ill, And
+     he that erst was dumb exclaimed, "Thou hast indeed done
+     well!"
+
+
+Then she played again, so admirably that she ravished their wits,
+and sang the following verses:
+
+Thou honour'dst us, when thou didst in our land alight; Thy
+     lustre hath dispelled the moonless midnight gloom!
+Wherefore with camphor white and rose-water and musk It e'en
+     behoveth us our dwelling to perfume.
+
+At this the Khalif was agitated and so overcome with emotion that
+he was not master of himself for excess of delight, and he
+exclaimed, 'By Allah, it is good! By Allah, it is good! By Allah,
+it is good!' Quoth Noureddin, 'O fisherman, doth this damsel
+please thee?' 'Ay, by Allah!' replied he. Whereupon said
+Noureddin, 'I make thee a present of her, the present of a
+generous man who does not go back on his giving nor will revoke
+his gift.' Then he sprang to his feet and taking a mantle, threw
+it over the pretended fisherman and bade him take the damsel and
+begone. But she looked at him and said, 'O my lord, art thou
+going away without bidding me adieu? If it must be so, at least,
+stay whilst I bid thee farewell and make known my case.' And she
+repeated the following verses:
+
+I am filled full of longing pain and memory and dole, Till I for
+     languor am become a body without soul.
+Say not to me, beloved one, "Thou'lt grow consoled for me;" When
+     such affliction holds the heart, what is there can console?
+If that a creature in his tears could swim as in a sea, I to do
+     this of all that breathe were surely first and sole.
+O thou, the love of whom doth fill my heart and overflow, Even
+     when wine, with water mixed, fills up the brimming bowl,
+O thou for whom desire torments my body and my spright! This
+     severance is the thing I feared was writ on fortune's
+     scroll.
+O thou, whose love from out my heart shall nevermore depart, O
+     son of Khacan, thou my wish, my hope unshared and whole,
+On my account thou didst transgress against our lord and king And
+     left'st thy native land for me, to seek a foreign goal.
+Thou givest me unto Kerim,[FN#114] may he for aye be praised! And
+     may th' Almighty for my loss my dearest lord console!
+
+When she had finished, Noureddin answered her by repeating the
+following:
+
+She bade me adieu on the day of our parting And said, whilst for
+     anguish she wept and she sighed,
+"Ah, what wilt thou do, when from me thou art severed?" "Ask that
+     of the man who'll survive," I replied.
+
+When the Khalif heard what she said in her verses, 'Thou hast
+given me to Kerim,' his interest in her redoubled and it was
+grievous to him to separate them; so he said to Noureddin, 'O my
+lord, verily the damsel said in her verses that thou hadst
+transgressed against her master and him who possessed her; so
+tell me, against whom didst thou transgress and who is it that
+has a claim on thee?' 'By Allah, O fisherman,' replied Noureddin
+'there hangs a rare story by me and this damsel, a story, which,
+were it graven with needles on the corners of the eye, would
+serve as a lesson to him who can profit by example.' Said the
+Khalif, 'Wilt thou not tell us thy story and acquaint us with thy
+case? Peradventure it may bring thee relief, for the help of God
+is near at hand.' 'O fisher man,' said Noureddin, 'wilt thou hear
+our story in prose or verse?' 'Prose is but words,' replied the
+Khalif, 'but verse is strung pearls.' Then Noureddin bowed his
+head and spoke the following verses.
+
+     O my friend, I have bidden farewell to repose, And the
+          anguish of exile has doubled my woes
+     I once had a father, who loved me right dear, But left me,
+          to dwell in the tombs, where all goes.
+     There fell on me after him hardship and pain And Fate broke
+          in pieces my heart with its blows.
+     He bought me a slave-girl, the fairest of maids; Her shape
+          shamed the branch and her colour the rose.
+     I wasted the substance he left me, alas! And lavished it
+          freely on these and on those,
+     Till for need I was minded to sell the fair maid, Though
+          sorely I grudged at the parting, God knows!
+     But lo! when the crier 'gan call her for sale, A scurvy old
+          skin-flint to bid for her chose.
+     At this I was angered beyond all control And snatched her
+          away ere the crier could close;
+     Whereupon the old rancorous curmudgeon flamed up With
+          despite and beset me with insults and blows.
+     In my passion I smote him with right hand and left, Till my
+          wrath was assuaged; after which I arose
+     And returning, betook me in haste to my house, Where I hid
+          me for feat of the wrath of my foes.
+     Then the king of the city decreed my arrest: But a
+          kind-hearted chamberlain pitied my woes
+     And warned me to flee from the city forthright, Ere my
+          enemies' springes my life should enclose.
+     So we fled from our house in the dead of the night And came
+          to Baghdad for a place of repose.
+     I have nothing of value, nor treasures nor gold, Or I'd
+          handsel thee, fisherman, freely with those!
+     But I give thee, instead, the beloved of my soul, And in her
+          thou hast gotten my heart's blood, God knows!
+
+When he had finished, the Khalif said to him, 'O my lord
+Noureddin, explain to me thy case more fully!' So he told him the
+whole story from beginning to end, and the Khalif said to him,
+'Whither dost thou now intend?' 'God's world is wide!' replied
+he. Quoth the Khalif, 'I will write thee a letter to carry to the
+Sultan Mohammed ben Suleiman ez Zeini, which when he reads, he
+will do thee no hurt.' 'Who ever heard of a fisherman writing to
+kings?' said Noureddin. 'Such a thing can never be.' 'True,'
+replied the Khalif; 'but I will tell thee the reason. Know that
+he and I learnt in the same school, under one master, and that I
+was his monitor. Since that time, fortune has betided him and he
+is become a Sultan, whilst God hath abased me and made me a
+fisherman: yet I never send to him to seek aught, but he does my
+desire; nay, though I should ask of him a thousand favours a day,
+he would comply.' When Noureddin heard this, he said, 'Good:
+write that I may see.' So the Khalif took pen and inkhorn and
+wrote as follows: 'In the name of God, the Compassionate, the
+Merciful! This letter is from Haroun er Reshid son of el Mehdi
+to His Highness Mohammed ben Suleiman ez Zeini, whom I have
+compassed about with my favour and made governor for me in
+certain of my dominions. The bearer of these presents is
+Noureddin son of Felz ben Khacan the Vizier. As soon as they come
+to thy hand, do thou put off thy kingly dignity and invest him
+therewith, and look thou oppose not my commandment, so peace be
+on thee.' Then he gave the letter to Noureddin, who took it and
+kissed it, then put it in his turban and set out at once on his
+journey. As soon as he was gone, Gaffer Ibrahim fumed to the
+Khalif and said to him, 'O vilest of fishermen, thou hast brought
+us a couple of fish, worth a score of paras, and hast gotten
+three dinars for them; and thinkest thou to take the damsel
+also?' When the Khalif heard this, he cried out at him and made a
+sign to Mesrour, who discovered himself and rushed upon him. Now
+Jaafer had sent one of the gardeners to the doorkeeper of the
+palace for a suit of the royal raiment for the Commander of the
+Faithful; so he went and returning with the suit, kissed the
+earth before the Khalif and gave it to him. Then he threw off the
+clothes he had on and dressed himself in those which the gardener
+had brought, to the great amazement of Gaffer Ibrahim, who bit
+his nails in bewilderment and exclaimed, 'Am I asleep or awake?'
+'O Gaffer Ibrahim,' said the Khalif, 'what state is this in which
+I see thee?' With this, he recovered from his drunkenness and
+throwing himself on the ground, repeated the following verses:
+
+Forgive the error into which my straying feet did fall, For the
+     slave sues for clemency from him to whom he's thrall!
+Lo, by confessing I have done what the offence requires! Where
+     then is that for which good grace and generous mercy call?
+
+The Khalif forgave him and bade carry the damsel to the palace,
+where he assigned her a separate lodging and servants to wait
+upon her, saying to her, 'Know that we have sent thy master to be
+Sultan in Bassora, and God willing, we will despatch him a dress
+of honour and thee with it.'
+
+Meanwhile, Noureddin fared on, till he reached Bassora, when he
+repaired to the Sultan's palace and gave a loud cry. The Sultan
+heard him and sent for him; and when he came into his presence,
+he kissed the earth before him and pulling out the letter, gave
+it to him. The Sultan, seeing that the superscription was in the
+handwriting of the Khalif, rose to his feet and kissed the letter
+three times, then read it and said, 'I hear and obey God and the
+Commander of the Faithful!' Then he summoned the four Cadis and
+the Amirs and was about to divest himself of the kingly office,
+when in came the Vizier Muin ben Sawa. The Sultan gave him the
+Khalif's letter, and he read it, then tore it in pieces and
+putting it in his mouth, chewed it and threw it away. 'Out on
+thee!' exclaimed the Sultan (and indeed he was angry); 'what made
+thee do that?' 'By thy life, O our lord the Sultan,' replied
+Muin, 'this fellow hath never seen the Khalif nor his Vizier:
+but he is a gallows-bird, a crafty imp who, happening upon a
+blank[FN#115] sheet in the Khalif's handwriting, hath written his
+own desire in it. The Khalif would surely not have sent him to
+take the Sultanate from thee, without a royal mandate and a
+patent appended thereto, nor would he have omitted to send with
+him a chamberlain or a vizier. But he is alone and hath never
+come from the Khalif, never! never!' 'What is to be done?' said
+the Sultan. 'Leave him to me,' replied the Vizier: 'I will send
+him in charge of a chamberlain to the city of Baghdad. If what he
+says be true, they will bring us back royal letters-patent and a
+diploma of investiture; and if not, I will pay him what I owe
+him.' When the Sultan heard the Vizier's words, he said, 'Take
+him.' So Muin carried Noureddin to his own house and cried out to
+his servants, who threw him down and beat him, till he swooned
+away. Then he caused heavy shackles to be put on his feet and
+carried him to the prison, where he called the gaoler, whose name
+was Cuteyt, and said to him, 'O Cuteyt, take this fellow and
+throw him into one of the underground cells in the prison and
+torture him night and day.' 'I hear and obey,' replied he, and
+taking Noureddin into the prison, locked the door on him. Then he
+bade sweep a bench behind the door and laying  thereon a mattress
+and a leather rug, made Noureddin sit down. Moreover, he loosed
+his fetters and treated him kindly. The Vizier sent every day to
+the gaoler, charging him to beat him, but he abstained from this,
+and things abode thus forty days' time. On the forty-first day,
+there came a present from the Khalif: which when the Sultan saw,
+it pleased him and he took counsel about it with his Viziers, one
+of whom said, 'Mayhap this present was intended for the new
+Sultan.' Quoth Muin, 'We should have done well to put him to
+death at his first coming;' and the Sultan said, 'By Allah, thou
+remindest me of him! Go down to the prison and fetch him, and I
+will strike off his head.' 'I hear end obey,' replied Muin. 'With
+thy leave I will have proclamation made in the city, "Whoso hath
+a mind to look upon the beheading of Noureddin Ali ben Khacan,
+let him repair to the palace!" So, great and small will come out
+to gaze on him and I shall heal my heart and mortify those that
+envy me.' 'As thou wilt,' said the Sultan; whereupon the Vizier
+went out, rejoicing, and commanded the chief of the police to
+make the aforesaid proclamation. When the folk heard the crier,
+they all mourned and wept, even to the little ones in the schools
+and the tradersin the shops, and some hastened to get them places
+to see the sight, whilst others repaired to the prison thinking
+to accompany him thence. Presently, the Vizier came to the
+prison, attended by ten armed slaves, and the gaoler said to him,
+'What seekest thou, O our lord the Vizier?' 'Bring me that
+gallows-bird,' replied the Vizier; and the gaoler said, 'He is in
+the sorriest of plights for the much beating I have given him.'
+Then Cuteyt went into the prison, where he found Noureddin
+repeating the following verses:
+
+Who shall avail me against the woes that my life enwind? Indeed
+     my disease is sore and the remedy hard to find.
+Exile hath worn my heart and my spirit with languishment, And
+     evil fortune hath turned my very lovers unkind.
+O folk, is there none of you all will answer my bitter cry! Is
+     there never a merciful friend will help me of all mankind?
+Yet death and the pains of death are a little thing to me; I have
+     put off the hope of life and left its sweets behind.
+O Thou that sentest the Guide, the Chosen Prophet to men, The
+     Prince of the Intercessors, gifted to loose and bind,
+I prithee, deliver me and pardon me my default, And put the
+     troubles to flight that crush me, body and mind I
+
+The gaoler took off his clean clothes and clothing him in two
+filthy garments, carried him to the Vizier. Noureddin looked at
+him, and knowing him for his enemy who still sought to compass
+his death, wept and said to him, 'Art thou then secure against
+Fate? Hast thou not heard the saying of the poet?
+
+Where are now the old Chosroes, tyrants of a bygone day? Wealth
+     they gathered; but their treasures and themselves have
+     passed away!
+
+O Vizier,' continued he, 'know that God (blessed and exalted be
+He!) doth whatever He will!' 'O Ali,' replied the Vizier, 'dost
+thou think to fright me with this talk? Know that I mean this day
+to strike off thy head in despite of the people of Bassora, and
+let the days do what they will, I care not; nor will I take
+thought to thy warning, but rather to what the poet says:
+
+Let the days do what they will, without debate, And brace thy
+     spirit against the doings of Fate.
+
+And also how well says another:
+
+He who lives a day after his foe Hath compassed his wishes, I
+     trow!
+
+Then he ordered his attendants to set Noureddin on the back of a
+mule, and they said to the youth (for indeed it was grievous to
+them), 'Let us stone him and cut him in pieces, though it cost us
+our lives.' 'Do it not,' replied Noureddin. 'Have ye not heard
+what the poet says?
+
+A term's decreed for me, which I must needs fulfil, And when its
+     days are spent, I die, do what I will.
+Though to their forest dens the lions should me drag, Whilst but
+     an hour remains, they have no power to kill.'
+
+Then they proceeded to proclaim before Noureddin, 'This is the
+least of the punishment of those who impose upon kings with
+forgery!' And they paraded him round about Bassora, till they
+came beneath the windows of the palace, where they made him kneel
+down on the carpet of blood and the headsman came up to him and
+said, 'O my lord, I am but a slave commanded in this matter: if
+thou hast any desire, let me know, that I may fulfil it; for now
+there remains of thy life but till the Sultan shall put his head
+out of the window.' So Noureddin looked in all directions and
+repeated the following verses:
+
+I see the headsman and the sword, I see the carpet spread, And
+     cry "Alas, my sorry plight! Alas, my humbled head!"
+How is't I have no pitying friend to help me in my need? Will no
+     one answer my complaint or heed the tears I shed?
+My time of life is past away and death draws nigh to me: Will no
+     one earn the grace of God by standing me in stead?
+Will none take pity on my state and succour my despair With but a
+     cup of water cold, to ease my torments dread?
+
+The people fell to weeping for him, and the headsman rose and
+brought him a draught of water; but the Vizier smote the gugglet
+with his hand and broke it: then he cried out at the executioner
+and bade him strike off Noureddin's head. So he proceeded to bind
+the latter's eyes; whilst the people cried out against the Vizier
+and there befell a great tumult and dispute amongst them. At this
+moment there arose a great cloud of dust and filled the air and
+the plain; and when the Sultan, who was sitting in the palace,
+saw this, he said to his attendants, 'Go and see what is the
+meaning of that cloud of dust.' 'When we have cut off this
+fellow's head,' replied Muin; but the Sultan said, 'Wait till we
+see what this means.'
+
+Now the cloud of dust in question was raised by Jaafer the
+Barmecide, Vizier to the Khalif, and his retinue; and the reason
+of his coming was as follows. The Khalif passed thirty days
+without calling to mind the affair of Noureddin Ali ben Khacan,
+and none reminded him of it, till one night, as he passed by the
+apartment of Enis el Jelis, he heard her weeping and reciting the
+following verse, in a low and sweet voice:
+
+Thine image is ever before me, though thou art far away, Nor doth
+     my tongue give over the naming of thee aye!
+
+And her weeping redoubled; when lo, the Khalif opened the door
+and entering the chamber, found her in tears. When she saw him,
+she fell to the earth and kissing his feet three times, repeated
+the following verses:
+
+O thou pure of royal lineage and exalted in thy birth! O thou
+     tree of fruitful branches, thou the all unstained of race!
+I recall to thee the promise that thy noble bounty made: God
+     forbid thou shouldst forget it or withhold the gifted grace!
+
+Quoth the Khalif, 'Who art thou?' And she answered, 'I am she
+whom thou hadst as a present from Noureddin Ali ben Khacan, and I
+crave the fulfilment of thy promise to send me to him with the
+dress of honour; for I have now been here thirty days, without
+tasting sleep.' Thereupon the Khalif sent for Jaafer and said to
+him, 'O Jaafer, it is thirty days since we had news of Noureddin
+Ali ben Khacan, and I doubt me the Sultan has killed him; but by
+the life of my head and the tombs of my forefathers, if aught of
+ill have befallen him, I will make an end of him who was the
+cause of it, though he be the dearest of all men to myself! So it
+is my wish that thou set out at once for Bassora and bring me
+news of my cousin Mohammed ben Suleiman ez Zeini and how he hath
+dealt with Noureddin; and do thou tell my cousin the young man's
+history and how I sent him to him with my letter, and if thou
+find that the King hath done otherwise than after my commandment,
+lay hands on him and his Vizier Muin ben Sawa and bring them to
+us, as thou shalt find them. Nor do thou tarry longer on the road
+than shall suffice for the journey, or I will strike off thy
+head.' 'I hear and obey,' replied Jaafer, and made ready at once
+and set out for Bassora, where he arrived in due course. When he
+came up and saw the crowd and turmoil, he enquired what was the
+matter and was told how it stood with Noureddin Ali, whereupon he
+hastened to go in to the Sultan and saluting him, acquainted him
+with his errand and the Khalif's determination, in case of any
+foul play having befallen Noureddin, to destroy whosoever should
+have been the cause of it. Then he seized upon the Sultan and his
+Vizier and laid them in ward, and commanding Noureddin to be
+released, seated him on the throne in the place of Mohammed ben
+Suleiman. After this Jaafer abode three days at Bassora, the
+usual guest-time, and on the morning of the fourth day, Noureddin
+turned to him and said, 'I long for the sight of the Commander of
+the Faithful.' Then said Jaafer to Mohammed ben Suleiman, 'Make
+ready, for we will pray the morning-prayer and take horse for
+Baghdad.' And he answered, 'I hear and obey.' So they prayed the
+morning-prayer and set out, all of them, taking with them the
+Vizier Muin ben Sawa, who began to repent of what he had done.
+Noureddin rode by Jaafer's side and they fared on without
+ceasing, till they arrived in due course at the Abode of Peace,
+Baghdad, and going in to the Khalif's presence, told him how
+they had found Noureddin nigh upon death. The Khalif said to
+Noureddin, 'Take this sword and strike off thine enemy's head.'
+So he took the sword and went up to Muin ben Sawa, but the latter
+looked at him and said, 'I did according to my nature; do thou
+according to thine.' So Noureddin threw the sword from his hand
+and said to the Khalif, 'O Commander of the Faithful, he hath
+beguiled me with his speech,' and he repeated the following
+verse:
+
+Lo, with the cunning of his speech my heart he hath beguiled, For
+     generous minds are ever moved by artful words and mild!
+
+'Leave him, thou,' said the Khalif, and turning to Mesrour,
+commanded him to behead Muin. So Mesrour drew his sword and smote
+off the Vizier's head. Then said the Khalif to Noureddin, 'Ask a
+boon of me.' 'O my lord,' answered he, 'I have no need of the
+sovereignty of Bassora: all my desire is to have the honour of
+serving thee and looking on thy face.' 'With all my heart,'
+replied the Khalif. Then he sent for Enis el Jelis and bestowed
+plentiful favours upon them both, assigning them a palace at
+Baghdad and regular allowances. Moreover, he made Noureddin one
+of his boon-companions, and the latter abode with him in the
+enjoyment of the most delectable life, till Death overtook him.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+              GHANIM BEN EYOUB THE SLAVE OF LOVE.
+
+
+
+There lived once at Damascus, in the days of the Khalif Haroun er
+Reshid, a wealthy merchant, who had a son like the moon at its
+full and withal sweet of speech, called Ghanim ben Eyoub, and a
+daughter called Fitneh, unique in her beauty and grace. Their
+father died and left them abundant wealth and amongst other
+things a hundred loads of silk and brocade and bladders of musk,
+on each of which was written, 'This is of the loads intended for
+Baghdad,' he having been about to make the journey thither, when
+God the Most High took him to Himself. After awhile, his son took
+the loads and bidding farewell to his mother and kindred and
+townsfolk, set out for Baghdad with a company of merchants,
+committing himself to God the Most High, who decreed him safety,
+so that he arrived without hindrance at that city. Here he hired
+a handsome house, which he furnished with carpets and cushions
+and hangings, and stored his goods therein and put up his mules
+and camels. Then he abode awhile, resting, whilst the merchants
+and notables of Baghdad came and saluted him; after which he took
+a parcel containing ten pieces of costly stuffs, with the prices
+written on them, and carried it to the bazaar, where the
+merchants received him with honour and made him sit down in the
+shop of the chief of the market, to whom he delivered the parcel
+of stuffs. He opened it and taking out the stuffs, sold them for
+him at a profit of two dinars on every one of prime cost. At this
+Ghanim rejoiced and went on to sell his stuffs, little by little,
+for a whole year. On the first day of the following year, he
+repaired, as usual, to the bazaar in the market-place, but found
+the gate shut and enquiring the reason, was told that one of the
+merchants was dead and that all the others had gone to wail in
+his funeral and was asked if he were minded to gain the favour of
+God by going with them. He assented and enquired where the
+funeral was to be held, whereupon they directed him to the place.
+So he made the ablution and repaired with the other merchants to
+the place of prayer, where they prayed over the dead, then went
+before the bier to the burial-place without the city and passed
+among the tombs till they came to the grave. Here they found that
+the dead man's people had pitched a tent over the tomb and
+brought thither lamps and candles. So they buried the dead and
+sat down to listen to the reading of the Koran over the tomb.
+Ghanim sat with them, being overcome with bashfulness and saying
+to himself, 'I cannot well go away till they do.' They sat
+listening to the recitation till nightfall, when the servants set
+the evening meal and sweetmeats before them and they ate till
+they were satisfied, then sat down again, after having washed
+their hands. But Ghanim was troubled for his house and property
+being in fear of thieves, and said to himself, 'I am a stranger
+here and thought to be rich, and if I pass the night abroad, the
+thieves will steal the money and the goods.' So he arose and left
+the company, having first asked leave to go about a necessary
+business, and following the beaten track, came to the gate of the
+city, but found it shut and saw none going or coming nor heard
+aught but the dogs barking and the wolves howling, for it was now
+the middle of the night. At this he exclaimed, 'There is no power
+and no virtue but in God! I was in fear for my property and came
+back on its account, but now I find the gate shut and am become
+in fear for my life!' And he retraced his steps, seeking a place
+where he might pass the night, till he found a tomb enclosed by
+four walls, with a palm-tree in its midst and a gate of granite.
+The gate stood open; so he entered and lay down, but sleep came
+not to him and fright and oppression beset him, for that he was
+alone among the tombs. So he rose to his feet and opening the
+door, looked out and saw, in the distance, a light making for the
+tomb from the direction of the city-gate. At this he was afraid
+and hastening to shut the gate, climbed up into the palm-tree and
+hid himself among the branches. The light came nearer and nearer,
+till he could see three black slaves, two carrying a chest and a
+third a lantern, an adze and a basket of plaster. When they came
+to the tomb, one of those who were carrying the chest cried out
+to the other, 'Hello, Sewab!' 'What ails thee, O Kafour?' said
+the other. 'Were we not here at nightfall,' asked the first, 'and
+did we not leave the gate open?' 'True,' replied Sewab. 'See,'
+said the other, 'it is now shut and barred.' 'How small is your
+wit!' broke in the bearer of the lantern, whose name was Bekhit.
+'Do ye not know that the owners of the gardens use to come out of
+Baghdad to tend them, and when the night overtakes them, they
+enter this place and shut the gate, for fear the blacks like
+ourselves should catch them and roast them and eat them?' 'Thou
+art right,' replied the others; 'but, by Allah, none of us is
+less of wit than thou!' 'If you do not believe me,' said Bekhit,
+'let us go into the tomb and I will unearth the rat for you; I
+doubt not but that, when he saw the light and us making for the
+tomb, he took refuge in the palm-tree, for fear of us.' When
+Ghanim heard this, he said to himself, 'O most damnable of
+slaves, may God not have thee in His keeping for this thy craft
+and quickness of wit! There is no power and no virtue but in God
+the Most High, the Supreme! How shall I escape from these
+blacks?' Then said the two bearers to him of the lantern, 'Climb
+over the wall and open the door to us, O Bekhit, for we are tired
+of carrying the chest on our shoulders; and thou shalt have one
+of those that we seize inside, and we will fry him for thee so
+featly that not a drop of his fat shall be lost.' But he said, 'I
+am afraid of somewhat that my little sense has suggested to me;
+we should do better to throw the chest over the wall; for it is
+our treasure.' 'If we throw it over, it will break,' replied
+they. And he said, 'I fear lest there be brigands within who kill
+four and steal their goods; for they are wont when night falls on
+them, to enter these places and divide their spoil.' 'O thou of
+little wit!' rejoined they, 'how could they get in here?' Then
+they set down the chest and climbing the wall, got down and
+opened the gate, whilst Bekhit held the light for them, after
+which they shut the door and sat down. Then said one of them, 'O
+my brothers, we are tired with walking and carrying the chest,
+and it is now the middle of the night, and we have no breath left
+to open the tomb and bury the chest: so let us rest two or three
+hours, then rise and do what we have to do. Meanwhile each of us
+shall tell how he came to be an eunuch and all that befell him
+from first to last, to pass away the time, whilst we rest
+ourselves.' 'Good,' answered the others; and Bekhit said, 'O my
+brothers, I will begin.' 'Say on,' replied they. So he began as
+follows, 'Know, O my brothers, that
+
+
+
+
+
+Story of the Eunuch Bekhit.
+
+
+
+I was brought from my native country, when I was five years old,
+by a slave-merchant, who sold me to one of the royal messengers.
+My master had a three-year-old daughter, with whom I was reared,
+and they used to make sport of me, letting me play with the girl
+and dance and sing to her, till I reached the age of twelve and
+she that of ten; and even then they did not forbid me from her.
+One day, I went in to her and found her sitting in an inner room,
+perfumed with essences and scented woods, and her face shone like
+the round of the moon on its fourteenth night, as if she had just
+come out of the bath that was in the house. She began to sport
+with me, and I with her. Now I had just reached the age of
+puberty, and my yard rose on end, as it were a great bolt. Then
+she threw me down and mounting my breast, pulled me hither and
+thither, till my yard became uncovered. When she saw this, and it
+in point, she seized it in her hand and fell to rubbing it
+against the lips of her kaze, outside her trousers. At this, heat
+stirred in me and I put my arms round her, whilst she wreathed
+hers about my neck and strained me to her with all her might,
+till, before I knew what I did, my yard thrust through her
+trousers, and entering her kaze, did away her maidenhead. When I
+saw what I had done, I fled and took refuge with one of my
+comrades. Presently, her mother came in to her, and seeing her in
+this state, was lost to the world. However, she smoothed the
+matter over and hid the girl's condition from her father, of the
+love they bore me, nor did they cease to call to me and coax me,
+till they took me from where I was. After two months had passed
+by, her mother married her to a young man, a barber, who used to
+shave her father, and portioned and fitted her out of her own
+monies, whilst her father knew nothing of what had passed. Then
+they took me unawares and gelded me: and when they brought her to
+her husband, they made me her eunuch, to go before her, wherever
+she went, whether to the bath or to her father's house. On the
+wedding-night, they slaughtered a young pigeon and sprinkled the
+blood on her shift;[FN#116] and I abode with her a long while,
+enjoying her beauty and grace, by way of kissing and clipping and
+clicketing, till she died and her husband and father and mother
+died also; when they seized me for the Treasury and I found
+my way hither, where I became your comrade. This then, O my
+brothers, is my story and how I came to be docked of my cullions;
+and peace be on you.' Then said the second eunuch, 'Know, O my
+brothers, that
+
+
+
+
+
+Story of the Eunuch Kafour.
+
+
+
+From the time when I was eight years old, I was wont to tell the
+slave-merchants one lie every year, so that they fell out with
+one another, till at last my master lost patience with me and
+carrying me down to the market, delivered me to a broker and bade
+him cry me for sale, saying, "Who will buy this slave with his
+fault?" He did so, and it was asked him, "What is his fault?"
+Quoth he, "He tells one lie every year." Then came up one of the
+merchants and said to the broker, "How much have they bidden for
+this slave, with his fault?" "Six hundred dirhems," replied the
+broker. "And twenty dirhems for thyself," said the merchant. So
+he brought him to the slave-dealer, who took the money, and the
+broker carried me to my master's house and went away, after
+having received his brokerage. The merchant clothed me as
+befitted my condition, and I bode in his service the rest of the
+year, until the new year came in with good omen. It was a blessed
+season, rich in herbage and the fruits of the earth, and the
+merchants began to give entertainments every day, each bearing
+the cost in turn, till it came to my master's turn to entertain
+them in a garden without the city. So he and the other merchants
+repaired to the garden, taking with them all that they required
+of food and so forth, and sat, eating and drinking and carousing,
+till noon, when my master, having need of something from the
+house, said to me, "O slave, mount the mule and go to the house
+and get such and such a thing from thy mistress and return
+quickly." I did as he bade me and started for the house, but as I
+drew near, I began to cry out and weep copiously, whereupon all
+the people of the quarter collected, great and small; and my
+master's wife and daughters, hearing the noise I was making,
+opened the door and asked me what was the matter. Quoth I, "My
+master and his friends were sitting beneath an old wall, and it
+fell on them: and when I saw what had befallen them, I mounted
+the mule and came hither, in haste, to tell you." When my
+master's wife and daughters heard this, they shrieked aloud
+and tore their clothes and buffeted their faces, whilst the
+neighbours came round them. Then my mistress overturned the
+furniture of the house, pell-mell, tore down the shelves, broke
+up the casements and the lattices and smeared the walls with mud
+and indigo. Presently she said to me, "Out on thee, O Kafour!
+Come and help me tear down these cupboards and break up these
+vessels and porcelain!" So I went to her and helped her break up
+all the shelves in the house, with everything on them, after
+which I went round about the roofs and every part of the house,
+demolishing all I could and leaving not a single piece of china
+or the like in the house unbroken, till I had laid waste the
+whole place, crying out the while, "Alas, my master!" Then my
+mistress sallied forth, with her face uncovered and only her
+kerchief on, accompanied by her sons and daughters, and said to
+me, "Go thou before us and show us the place where thy master
+lies dead under the wall, that we may take him out from the ruins
+and lay him on a bier and carry him to the house and give him a
+goodly funeral." So I went on before them, crying out, "Alas, my
+master!" and they after me, bareheaded, crying out, "Alas! Alas
+for the man!" And there was not a man nor a woman nor a boy nor
+an old woman in the quarter but followed us, buffeting their
+faces and weeping sore. On this wise, I traversed the city with
+them, and the folk asked what was the matter, whereupon they told
+them what they had heard from me, and they exclaimed, "There is
+no power and no virtue but in God!" Then said one of them, "He
+was a man of consideration; so let us go to the chief of the
+police and tell him what has happened." So they repaired to the
+magistrate and told him, whereupon he mounted and taking with him
+workmen with spades and baskets, set out for the scene of the
+accident, following my track, with all the people after him. I
+ran on before them, buffeting my face and throwing dust on my
+head and crying out, followed by my mistress and her children,
+shrieking aloud. But I outran them and reached the garden before
+them, and when my master saw me in this state and heard me crying
+out, "Alas, my mistress! Alas! Alas! Who is left to take pity on
+me, now that my mistress is dead? Would God I had died instead of
+her!" he was confounded and his colour paled. Then said he to me,
+"What ails thee, O Kafour? What is the matter?" "O my lord,"
+replied I, "When thou sentest me to the house, I found that the
+wall of the saloon had given way and the whole of it had fallen
+in upon my mistress and her children." "And did not thy mistress
+escape?" "No, by Allah, O my master!" answered I. "Not one of
+them was saved, and the first to die was my mistress, thine elder
+daughter." "Did not my younger daughter escape?" asked he. "No,"
+replied I; and he said, "What became of the mule I use to ride?
+Was she saved?" "No, by Allah," answered I; "the walls of the
+house and of the stable fell in on all that were in the dwelling,
+even to the sheep and geese and fowls, so that they all became a
+heap of flesh and the dogs ate them: not one of them is saved."
+"Not even thy master, my elder son?" asked he. "No, by Allah!"
+repeated I. "Not one of them was saved, and now there remains
+neither house nor inhabitants nor any trace of them: and as for
+the sheep and geese and fowls, the dogs and cats have eaten
+them." When my master heard this, the light in his eyes became
+darkness and he lost command of his senses and his reason, so
+that he could not stand upon his feet, for he was as one taken
+with the rickets and his back was broken. Then he rent his
+clothes and plucked out his beard and casting his turban from his
+head, buffeted his face, till the blood streamed down, crying
+out, "Alas, my children! Alas, my wife! Alas, what a misfortune!
+To whom did there ever happen the like of what hath befallen me?"
+The other merchants, his companions, joined in his tears and
+lamentations and rent their clothes, being moved to pity of his
+case; and my master went out of the garden' buffeting his face
+and staggering like a drunken man, for stress of what had
+befallen him and the much beating he had given his face. As he
+came forth of the garden-gate, followed by the other merchants,
+behold, they saw a great cloud of dust and heard a great noise of
+crying and lamentation. They looked, and behold, it was the chief
+of the police with his officers and the townspeople who had come
+out to look on, and my master's family in front of them, weeping
+sore and shrieking and lamenting. The first to accost my master
+were his wife and children; and when he saw them, he was
+confounded and laughed and said to them, "How is it with you all
+and what befell you in the house?" When they saw him, they
+exclaimed, "Praised be God for thy safety!" and threw themselves
+upon him, and his children clung to him, crying, "Alas, our
+father! Praised be God for thy preservation, O our father!" Then
+said his wife, "Thou art well, praised be God who hath shown us
+thy face in safety!" And indeed she was confounded and her reason
+fled, when she saw him, and she said, "O my lord, how did you
+escape, thou and thy friends the merchants?" "And how fared it
+with thee in the house?" asked he. "We were all in good health
+and case," answered they; "nor has aught befallen us in the
+house, save that thy slave Kafour came to us, bareheaded, with
+his clothes torn and crying out, 'Alas, my master! Alas, my
+master!' So we asked what was the matter, and he said, 'The wall
+of the garden has fallen on my master and his friends, and they
+are all dead.'" "By Allah," said my master, "he came to me but
+now, crying out, 'Alas, my mistress! Alas, her children!' and
+said, 'My mistress and her children are all dead.'" Then he
+looked round and seeing me with my torn turban hanging down my
+neck, shrieking and weeping violently and strewing earth on my
+head, cried out at me. So I came to him and he said, "Woe to
+thee, O pestilent slave, O whore-son knave, O accurst of race!
+What mischiefs hast thou wrought! But I will strip thy skin from
+thy flesh and cut thy flesh off thy bones!" "By Allah," replied
+I, "thou canst do nothing with me, for thou boughtest me with my
+fault, with witnesses to testify against thee that thou didst so
+and that thou knewest of my fault, which is that I tell one lie
+every year. This is but half a lie, but by the end of the year, I
+will tell the other half, and it will then be a whole lie." "O
+dog, son of a dog," exclaimed my master, "O most accursed of
+slaves, is this but a half lie? Indeed, it is a great calamity!
+Go out from me; thou art free before God!" "By Allah," rejoined
+I, "if thou free me, I will not free thee, till I have completed
+my year and told the other half lie. When that is done, take me
+down to the market and sell me, as thou boughtest me, to
+whosoever will buy me with my fault: but free me not, for I have
+no handicraft to get my living by: and this my demand is
+according to the law, as laid down by the doctors in the chapter
+of Manumission." Whilst we were talking, up came the people of
+the quarter and others, men and women, together with the chief of
+the police and his suite. So my master and the other merchants
+went up to him and told him the story and how this was but half a
+lie, at which the people wondered and deemed the lie an enormous
+one. And they cursed me and reviled me, whilst I stood laughing
+and saying, "How can my master kill me, when he bought me with
+this fault?" Then my master returned home and found his house in
+ruins, and it was I who had laid waste the most part of it,
+having destroyed things worth much money, as had also done his
+wife, who said to him, "It was Kafour who broke the vessels and
+the china." Thereupon his rage redoubled and he beat hand upon
+hand, exclaiming, "By Allah, never in my life did I see such a
+son of shame as this slave; and he says this is only half a lie!
+How if he had told a whole one? He would have laid waste a city
+or two!" Then in his rage he went to the chief of the police, who
+made me eat stick till I fainted: and whilst I was yet senseless,
+they fetched a barber, who gelded me and cauterized the parts.
+When I revived, I found myself an eunuch, and my master said to
+me, "Even as thou hast made my heart bleed for the most precious
+things I had, so will I grieve thy heart for that of thy members
+by which thou settest most store." Then he took me and sold me at
+a profit, for that I was become an eunuch, and I ceased not to
+make trouble, wherever I came, and was shifted from Amir to Amir
+and notable to notable, being bought and sold, till I entered the
+palace of the Commander of the Faithful, and now my spirit is
+broken and I have abjured my tricks, having lost my manhood.'
+
+When the others heard his story, they laughed and said, 'Verily,
+thou art dung, the son of dung! Thou liedst most abominably!'
+Then said they to the third slave, 'Tell us thy story.' 'O my
+cousins,' replied he, 'all that ye have said is idle: I will tell
+you how I came to lose my cullions, and indeed, I deserved more
+than this, for I swived my mistress and my master's son: but my
+story is a long one and this is no time to tell it, for the dawn
+is near, and if the day surprise us with this chest yet unburied,
+we shall be blown upon and lose our lives. So let us fall to work
+at once, and when we get back to the palace, I will tell you my
+story and how I became an eunuch.' So they set down the lantern
+and dug a hole between four tombs, the length and breadth of the
+chest, Kafour plying the spade and Sewab clearing away the earth
+by basketsful, till they had reached a depth of half a fathom,
+when they laid the chest in the hole and threw back the earth
+over it: then went out and shutting the door, disappeared from
+Ghanim's sight. When he was sure that they were indeed gone and
+that he was alone in the place, his heart was concerned to know
+what was in the chest and he said to himself; 'I wonder what was
+in the chest!' However, he waited till break of day, when he came
+down from the palm-tree and scraped away the earth with his
+hands, till he laid bare the chest and lifted it out of the hole.
+Then he took a large stone and hammered at the lock, till he
+broke it and raising the cover, beheld a beautiful young lady,
+richly dressed and decked with jewels of gold and necklaces of
+precious stones, worth a kingdom, no money could pay their price.
+She was asleep and her breath rose and fell, as if she had been
+drugged. When Ghanim saw her, he knew that some one had plotted
+against her and drugged her; so he pulled her out of the chest
+and laid her on the ground on her back. As soon as she scented
+the breeze and the air entered her nostrils and lungs, she
+sneezed and choked and coughed, when there fell from her mouth a
+pastille of Cretan henbane, enough to make an elephant sleep from
+night to night, if he but smelt it. Then she opened her eyes and
+looking round, exclaimed in a sweet and melodious voice, 'Out on
+thee, O breeze! There is in thee neither drink for the thirsty
+nor solace for him whose thirst is quenched! Where is Zehr el
+Bustan?' But no one answered her; so she turned and cried out,
+'Ho, Sebiheh, Shejeret ed Durr, Nour el Huda, Nejmet es Subh,
+Shehweh, Nuzheh, Hulweh, Zerifeh![FN#117] Out on ye, speak!'
+But no one answered her; and she looked about her and said,
+'Woe is me! they have buried me among the tombs! O Thou who
+knowest what is in the breasts and who wilt requite at the Day of
+Resurrection, who hath brought me out from among the screens and
+curtains of the harem and laid me between four tombs?' All this
+while Ghanim was standing by: then he said to her, 'O my lady,
+here are neither screens nor curtains nor palaces; only thy bond
+slave Ghanim ben Eyoub, whom He who knoweth the hidden things
+hath brought hither, that he night save thee from these perils
+and accomplish for thee all that thou desirest.' And he was
+silent. When she saw how the case stood, she exclaimed, 'I
+testify that there is no god but God and that Mohammed is the
+Apostle of God!' Then she put her hands to her face and turning
+to Ghanim, said in a sweet voice, 'O blessed youth, who brought
+me hither! See, I am now come to myself.' 'O my lady,' replied
+he, 'three black eunuchs came hither, bearing this chest;' and
+told her all that had happened and how his being belated had
+proved the means of her preservation from death by suffocation.
+Then he asked her who she was and what was her story. 'O youth,'
+said she, 'praised be God who hath thrown me into the hands of
+the like of thee! But now put me back into the chest and go out
+into the road and hire the first muleteer or horse-letter thou
+meetest, to carry it to thy house. When I am there, all will be
+well and I will tell thee my story and who am I, and good shall
+betide thee on my account.' At this he rejoiced and went out into
+the road. It was now broad day and the folk began to go about the
+ways: so he hired a muleteer and bringing him to the tomb, lifted
+up the chest, in which he had already replaced the young lady,
+and set it on the mule. Then he fared homeward, rejoicing, for
+that she was a damsel worth ten thousand dinars and adorned with
+jewels and apparel of great value, and love for her had fallen on
+his heart. As soon as he came to the house, he carried in the
+chest and opening it, took out the young lady, who looked about
+her, and seeing that the place was handsome, spread with carpets
+and decked with gay colours, and noting the stuffs tied up and
+the bales of goods and what not, knew that he was a considerable
+merchant and a man of wealth. So she uncovered her face and
+looking at him, saw that he was a handsome young man and loved
+him. Then said she to him, 'O my lord, bring us something to
+eat.' 'On my head and eyes,' replied he, and going to the market,
+bought a roasted lamb, a dish of sweetmeats, dried fruits and wax
+candles, besides wine and drinking gear and perfumes. With these
+he returned to the house, and when the damsel saw him, she
+laughed and kissed and embraced him. Then she fell to caressing
+him, so that love for her redoubled on him and got the mastery of
+his heart. They ate and drank, each in love with the other, for
+indeed they were alike in age and beauty, till nightfall, when
+Ghanim rose and lit the lamps and candles, till the place blazed
+with light; after which he brought the wine-service and set on
+the banquet. Then they sat down again and began to fill and give
+each other to drink; and they toyed and laughed and recited
+verses, whilst joy grew on them and each was engrossed with love
+of the other, glory be to Him, who uniteth hearts! They ceased
+not to carouse thus till near upon daybreak, when drowsiness
+overcame them and they slept where they were till the morning.
+Then Ghanim arose and going to the market, bought all that they
+required in the way of meat and drink and vegetables and what
+not, with which he returned to the house; and they both sat down
+and ate till they were satisfied, when he set on wine. They drank
+and toyed with each other, till their cheeks flushed and their
+eyes sparkled and Ghanim's soul yearned to kiss the girl and lie
+with her. So he said to her, 'O my lady, grant me a kiss of thy
+mouth; maybe it will quench the fire of my heart.' 'O Ghanim,'
+replied she, 'wait till I am drunk: then steal a kiss from me, so
+that I may not know thou hast kissed me.' Then she rose and
+taking off her upper clothes, sat in a shift of fine linen and a
+silken kerchief. At this, desire stirred in Ghanim and he said to
+her, 'O my mistress, wilt thou not vouchsafe me what I asked of
+thee!' 'By Allah,' replied she, 'this may not be, for there is a
+stubborn saying written on the ribbon of my trousers.' Thereupon
+Ghanim's heart sank and passion grew on him the more that what he
+sought was hard to get; and he recited the following verses:
+
+I sought of her who caused my pain A kiss to ease me of my woe.
+"No, no!" she answered; "hope it not!" And I, "Yes, yes! It shall
+     be so!"
+Then said she, smiling, "Take it then, With my consent, before I
+     know."
+And I, "By force!" "Not so," said she: "I freely it on thee
+     bestow."
+So do not question what befell, But seek God's grace and ask no
+     mo;
+Think what thou wilt of us; for love Is with suspect made sweet,
+     I trow.
+Nor do I reck if, after this, Avowed or secret be the foe.
+
+Then love increased on him, and the fires were loosed in his
+heart, while she defended herself from him, saying, 'I can never
+be thine.' They ceased not to make love and carouse, whilst
+Ghanim was drowned in the sea of passion and distraction and she
+redoubled in cruelty and coyness, till the night brought in the
+darkness and let fall on them the skirts of sleep, when Ghanim
+rose and lit the lamps and candles and renewed the banquet and
+the flowers; then took her feet and kissed them, and finding them
+like fresh cream, pressed his face on them and said to her, 'O my
+lady, have pity on the captive of thy love and the slain of thine
+eyes; for indeed I were whole of heart but for thee!' And he wept
+awhile. 'O my lord and light of my eyes,' replied she, 'by Allah,
+I love thee and trust in thee, but I know that I cannot be
+thine.' 'And what is there to hinder?' asked he. Quoth she,
+'Tonight, I will tell thee my story, that thou mayst accept my
+excuse.' Then she threw herself upon him and twining her arms
+about his neck, kissed him and wheedled him, promising him her
+favours; and they continued to toy and laugh till love got
+complete possession of them. They abode thus for a whole month,
+sleeping nightly on one couch, but whenever he sought to enjoy
+her, she put him off, whilst mutual love increased upon them,
+till they could hardly abstain from one another. One night as
+they lay, side by side, both heated with wine, he put his hand to
+her breast and stroked it, then passed it down over her stomach
+to her navel. She awoke and sitting up, put her hand to her
+trousers and finding them fast, fell asleep again. Presently, he
+put out his hand a second time and stroked her and sliding down
+to the ribbon of her trousers, began to pull at it, whereupon she
+awoke and sat up. Ghanim also sat up beside her and she said to
+him, 'What dost thou want?' 'I want to lie with thee,' answered
+he, 'and that we may deal frankly one with the other.' Quoth she,
+'I must now expound my case to thee, that thou mayst know my
+condition and my secret and that my excuse may be manifest to
+thee.' 'It is well,' replied he. Then she opened the skirt of her
+shift, and taking up the ribbon of her trousers, said to him, 'O
+my lord, read what is on this ribbon.' So he took it and saw,
+wrought in letters of gold, the following words, 'I am thine, and
+thou art mine, O descendant of the Prophet's Uncle!' When he read
+this, he dropped his hand and said to her, 'Tell me who thou
+art.' 'It is well,' answered she; 'know that I am one of the
+favourites of the Commander of the Faithful and my name is Cout
+el Culoub. I was reared in his palace, and when I grew up, he
+looked on me, and noting my qualities and the beauty and grace
+that God had bestowed on me, conceived a great love for me; so he
+took me and assigned me a separate lodging and gave me ten female
+slaves to wait on me and all this jewellery thou seest on me. One
+day he went on a journey to one of his provinces and the Lady
+Zubeideh came to one of my waiting-women and said to her, "I have
+somewhat to ask of thee." "What is it, O my lady?" asked she.
+"When thy mistress Cout el Culoub is asleep," said Zubeideh, "put
+this piece of henbane up her nostrils or in her drink, and thou
+shalt have of me as much money as will content thee." "With all
+my heart," replied the woman, and took the henbane, being glad
+because of the money and because she had aforetime been in
+Zubeideh's service. So she put the henbane in my drink, and when
+it was night, I drank, and the drug had no sooner reached my
+stomach than I fell to the ground, with my head touching my feet,
+and knew not but that I was in another world. When Zubeideh saw
+that her plot had succeeded, she put me in this chest and
+summoning the slaves, bribed them and the doorkeepers, and sent
+the former to do with me as thou sawest. So my delivery was at
+thy hands, and thou broughtest me hither and hast used me with
+the utmost kindness. This is my story, and I know not what is
+come of the Khalif in my absence. Know then my condition, and
+divulge not my affair.' When Ghanim heard her words and knew that
+she was the favourite of the Commander of the Faithful, he drew
+back, being smitten with fear of the Khalif, and sat apart from
+her in one of the corners of the place, blaming himself and
+brooding over his case and schooling his heart to patience,
+bewildered for love of one who might not be his. Then he wept,
+for excess of longing, and bemoaned the injustice and hostility
+of Fortune (Glory be to Him who occupies hearts with love!)
+reciting the following verses:
+
+The heart of the lover's racked with weariness and care, For his
+     reason ravished is for one who is passing fair.
+It was asked me, "What is the taste of love?" I answer made,
+     "Love is sweet water, wherein are torment and despair."
+
+
+Thereupon Cout el Culoub arose and pressed him to her bosom and
+kissed him, for love of him mastered her heart, so that she
+discovered to him her secret and the passion that possessed her
+and throwing her arms about his neck, embraced him; but he held
+off from her, for fear of the Khalif. Then they talked awhile
+(and indeed they were both drowned in the sea of mutual love)
+till day, when Ghanim rose and going to the market as usual, took
+what was needful and returned home. He found her in tears; but
+when she saw him, she ceased weeping and smiled and said, 'Thou
+hast made me desolate, O beloved of my heart! By Allah, the hour
+that thou hast been absent from me has been to me as a year! I
+have let thee see how it is with me for the excess of my passion
+for thee; so come now, leave what has been and take thy will of
+me.' 'God forbid that this should be!' replied he. 'How shall the
+dog sit in the lion's place? Verily, that which is the master's
+is forbidden to the slave.' And he withdrew from her and sat down
+on a corner of the mat. Her passion increased with his refusal;
+so she sat down beside him and caroused and sported with him,
+till they were both warm with wine, and she was mad for dishonour
+with him. Then she sang the following verses:
+
+The heart of the slave of passion is all but broken in twain: How
+     long shall this rigour last and this coldness of disdain?
+O thou that turnest away from me, in default of sin, Rather to
+     turn towards than away should gazelles be fain!
+Aversion and distance eternal and rigour and disdain; How can
+     youthful lover these hardships all sustain?
+
+Thereupon Ghanim wept and she wept because he did, and they
+ceased not to drink till nightfall, when he rose and spread two
+beds, each in its place. 'For whom is the second bed?' asked she.
+'One is for me and the other for thee,' answered he. 'Henceforth
+we must lie apart, for that which is the master's is forbidden to
+the slave.' 'O my lord,' exclaimed she, 'let us leave this, for
+all things happen according to fate and predestination.' But be
+refused, and the fire was loosed in her heart and she clung to
+him and said, 'By Allah, we will not sleep but together!' 'God
+forbid!' answered he, and he prevailed against her and lay apart
+till the morning, whilst love and longing and distraction
+redoubled on her. They abode thus three whole months, and
+whenever she made advances to him, he held aloof from her,
+saying, 'Whatever belongs to the master is forbidden to the
+slave.' Then, when this was prolonged upon her and affliction and
+anguish grew on her, for the weariness of her heart she recited
+the following verses:
+
+O marvel of beauty, how long this disdain? And who hath provoked
+     thee to turn from my pain?
+All manner of elegance in thee is found And all fashions of
+     fairness thy form doth contain.
+The hearts of all mortals thou stir'st with desire And on
+     everyone's lids thou mak'st sleeplessness reign.
+I know that the branch has been plucked before thee; So, O
+     capparis-branch, thou dost wrong, it is plain.
+I used erst to capture myself the wild deer. How comes it the
+     chase doth the hunter enchain?
+But the strangest of all that is told of thee is, I was snared,
+     and thou heard'st not the voice of my pain.
+Yet grant not my prayer. If I'm jealous for thee Of thyself how
+     much more of myself? Nor again,
+As long as life lasteth in me, will I say, "O marvel of beauty,
+     how long this disdain?"'
+
+Meanwhile, the Lady Zubeideh, when, in the absence of the Khalif,
+she had done this thing with Cout el Culoub, abode perplexed and
+said to herself, 'What answer shall I make the Khalif, when he
+comes back and asks for her?' Then she called an old woman, who
+was with her, and discovered her secret to her, saying, 'What
+shall I do, seeing that Cout el Culoub is no more?' 'O my lady,'
+replied the old woman, 'the time of the Khalif's return is at
+hand; but do thou send for a carpenter and bid him make a figure
+of wood in the shape of a corpse. We will dig a grave for it and
+bury it in the middle of the palace: then do thou build an
+oratory over it and set therein lighted lamps and candles and
+command all in the palace to put on mourning. Moreover, do thou
+bid thy slave-girls and eunuchs, as soon as they know of the
+Khalif's approach, spread straw in the vestibules, and when the
+Khalif enters and asks what is the matter, let them say, "Cout el
+Culoub is dead, may God abundantly replace her to thee! and for
+the honour in which she was held of our mistress, she hath buried
+her in her own palace." When the Khalif hears this, it will be
+grievous to him and he will weep: then will he cause recitations
+of the Koran to be made over her and will watch by night over her
+tomb. If he should say to himself, "My cousin Zubeideh has
+compassed the death of Cout el Culoub out of jealousy," or if
+love-longing should master him and he order to take her forth of
+the tomb, fear thou not; for when they dig and come to the
+figure, he will see it as it were a human body, shrouded in
+costly grave-clothes; and if he desire to take off the swathings,
+do thou forbid him and say to him, "It is unlawful to look upon
+her nakedness." The fear of the world to come will restrain him
+and he will believe that she is dead and will cause the image to
+be restored to its place and thank thee for what thou hast done:
+and so, if it please God, thou shalt be delivered from this
+strait.' Her advice commended itself to Zubeideh, who bestowed on
+her a dress of honour and a sum of money, bidding her do as she
+had said. So she at once ordered a carpenter to make the
+aforesaid figure, and as soon as it was finished, she brought it
+to Zubeideh, who shrouded it and buried it and built a pavilion
+over it, in which she set lighted lamps and candles and spread
+carpets round the tomb. Moreover, she put on black and ordered
+her household to do the same, and the news was spread abroad in
+the palace that Cout el Culoub was dead. After awhile, the Khalif
+returned from his journey and entered the palace, thinking only
+of Cout el Culoub. He saw all the pages and damsels and eunuchs
+in mourning, at which his heart quaked; and when he went in to
+the Lady Zubeideh, he found her also clad in black. So he asked
+the cause of this and was told that Cout el Culoub was dead,
+whereupon he fell down in a swoon. As soon as he came to himself,
+he enquired of her tomb, and Zubeideh said to him, 'Know, O
+Commander of the Faithful, that for the honour in which I held
+her, I have buried her in my own palace.' Then he repaired to her
+tomb, in his travelling dress, and found the place spread with
+carpets and lit with lamps. When he saw this, he thanked Zubeldeh
+for what she had done and abode perplexed, halting between belief
+and distrust, till at last suspicion got the better of him and he
+ordered the grave to be opened and the body exhumed. When he saw
+the figure and would have taken off the swathings to look upon
+the body, the fear of God the Most High restrained him, and the
+old woman (taking advantage of his hesitation) said, 'Restore her
+to her place.' Then he sent at once for readers and doctors of
+the Law and caused recitations of the Koran to be made over her
+grave and sat by it, weeping, till he lost his senses. He
+continued to frequent the tomb for a whole month, at the end of
+which time, he chanced one day, after the Divan had broken up and
+his Amirs and Viziers had gone away to their houses, to enter the
+harem, where he laid down and slept awhile, whilst one damsel sat
+at his head, fanning him, and another at his feet, rubbing them.
+Presently he awoke and opening his eyes, shut them again and
+heard the damsel at his head say to her at his feet, 'Hist,
+Kheizuran!' 'Well, Kezib el Ban?' answered the other. 'Verily,'
+said the first, 'our lord knows not what has passed and watches
+over a tomb in which there is only a carved wooden figure, of the
+carpenter's handiwork.' 'Then what is become of Cout el Culoub?'
+enquired the other. 'Know,' replied Kezib el Ban. 'that the Lady
+Zubeideh bribed one of her waiting-women to drug her with henbane
+and laying her in a chest, commanded Sewab and Kafour to take it
+and bury it among the tombs.' Quoth Kheizuran, 'And is not the
+lady Cout el Culoub dead?' 'No,' replied the other; 'God preserve
+her youth from death! but I have heard the Lady Zubeideh say that
+she is with a young merchant of Damascus, by name Ghanim ben
+Eyoub, and has been with him these four months, whilst this our
+lord is weeping and watching anights over an empty tomb.' When
+the Khalif heard the girls' talk and knew that the tomb was a
+trick and a fraud and that Cout el Culoub had been with Ghanim
+ben Eyoub for four months, he was sore enraged and rising up,
+summoned his officers of state, whereupon the Vizier Jaafer the
+Barmecide came up and kissed the earth before him, and the Khalif
+said to him, 'O Jaafer, take a company of men with thee and fall
+upon the house of Ghanim ben Eyoub and bring him to me, with my
+slave-girl Cout el Culoub, for I will assuredly punish him!' 'I
+hear and obey,' answered Jaafer, and setting out with his guards
+and the chief of the police, repaired to Ghanim's house. Now the
+latter had brought home a pot of meat and was about to put forth
+his hand to eat of it, he and Cout d Culoub, when the damsel,
+happening to look out, found the house beset on all sides by the
+Vizier and the chief of the police and their officers and
+attendants, with drawn swords in their hands, encompassing the
+place, as the white of the eye encompasses the black. At this
+sight, she knew that news of her had reached the Khalif, her
+master, and made sure of ruin, and her colour paled and her
+beauty changed. Then she turned to Ghanim and said to him, 'O my
+love, fly for thy life!' 'What shall I do?' said he; 'and whither
+shall I go, seeing that my substance and fortune are in this
+house?' 'Delay not,' answered she, 'lest thou lose both life and
+goods.' 'O my beloved and light of my eyes,' rejoined he, 'how
+shall I do to get away, when they have surrounded the house?'
+'Fear not,' said she: and taking off his clothes, made him put on
+old and ragged ones, after which she took the empty pot and put
+in it a piece of bread and a saucer of meat, and placing the
+whole in a basket, set it on his head and said, 'Go out in this
+guise and fear not for me, for I know how to deal with the
+Khalif.' So he went out amongst them, carrying the basket and its
+contents, and God covered him with His protection and he escaped
+the snares and perils that beset him, thanks to the purity of his
+intent. Meanwhile, Jaafer alighted and entering the house, saw
+Cout el Culoub, who had dressed and decked herself after the
+richest fashion and filled a chest with gold and jewellery and
+precious stones and rarities and what else was light of carriage
+and great of value. When she saw Jaafer, she rose and kissing the
+earth before him, said, 'O my lord, the pen[FN#118] hath written
+from of old that which God hath decreed.' 'By Allah, O my lady,'
+rejoined Jaafer, 'I am commanded to seize Ghanim ben Eyoub.' 'O
+my lord,' replied she, 'he made ready merchandise and set out
+therewith for Damascus and I know nothing more of him; but I
+desire thee to take charge of this chest and deliver it to me in
+the palace of the Commander of the Faithful.' 'I hear and obey,'
+said Jaafer, and bade his men carry the chest to the palace,
+together with Cout el Culoub, commanding them to use her with
+honour and consideration. And they did his bidding, after they
+had plundered Ghanim's house. Then Jaafer went in to the Khalif
+and told him what had happened, and he bade lodge Cout el Culoub
+in a dark chamber and appointed an old woman to serve her,
+thinking no otherwise than that Ghanim had certainly debauched
+her and lain with her. Then he wrote a letter to the Amir
+Mohammed ben Suleiman ez Zeini, the viceroy of Damascus, to the
+following purport, 'As soon as this letter reaches thee, lay
+hands on Ghanim ben Eyoub and send him to me.' When the letter
+came to the viceroy, he kissed it and laid it on his head, then
+caused proclamation to be made in the streets of Damascus, 'Whoso
+is minded to plunder, let him betake himself to the house of
+Ghanim ben Eyoub!' So they repaired to the house, where they
+found that Ghanim's mother and sister had made him a tomb midmost
+the house and sat by it, weeping for him, whereupon they seized
+them, without telling them the cause, and carried them before the
+Sultan, after having plundered the house. The viceroy questioned
+them of Ghanim, and they replied, 'This year or more we have had
+no news of him.' So they restored them to their place.
+
+Meanwhile Ghanim, finding himself despoiled of his wealth and
+considering his case, wept till his heart was well-nigh broken.
+Then he fared on at random, till the end of the day, and hunger
+was sore on him and he was worn out with fatigue. Coming to a
+village, he entered a mosque, where he sat down on a mat, leaning
+his back against the wall, and presently sank to the ground, in
+extremity for hunger and weariness, and lay there till morning,
+his heart fluttering for want of food. By reason of his sweating,
+vermin coursed over his skin, his breath grew fetid and he became
+in sorry case. When the people of the town came to pray the
+morning-prayer, they found him lying there, sick and weak with
+hunger, yet showing signs of gentle breeding. As soon as they had
+done their devotions, they came up to him and finding him cold
+and starving, threw over him an old mantle with ragged sleeves
+and said to him, 'O stranger, whence art thou and what ails
+thee?' He opened his eyes and wept, but made them no answer;
+whereupon, one of them, seeing that he was starving, brought him
+a saucerful of honey and two cakes of bread. So he ate a little
+and they sat with him till sunrise, when they went about their
+occupations. He abode with them in this state for a month, whilst
+sickness and infirmity increased upon him, and they wept for him
+and pitying his condition, took counsel together of his case and
+agreed to send him to the hospital at Baghdad. Meanwhile, there
+came into the mosque two beggar women, who were none other than
+Ghanim's mother and sister; and when he saw them, he gave them
+the bread that was at his head and they slept by his side that
+night, but he knew them not. Next day the villagers fetched a
+camel and said to the driver, 'Put this sick man on thy camel
+and carry him to Baghdad and set him down at the door of the
+hospital, so haply he may be medicined and recover his health,
+and God will reward thee.' 'I hear and obey,' said the camel-
+driver. So they brought Ghanim, who was asleep, out of the
+mosque and laid him, mat and all, on the back of the camel; and
+his mother and sister came out with the rest of the people to
+look on him, but knew him not. However, after considering him,
+they said, 'Verily, he favours our Ghanim! Can this sick man be
+he?' Presently, he awoke and finding himself bound with ropes on
+the back of a camel, began to weep and complain, and the people
+of the village saw his mother and sister weeping over him, though
+they knew him not. Then they set out for Baghdad, whither the
+camel-driver forewent them and setting Ghanim down at the door of
+the hospital, went away. He lay there till morning, and when the
+people began to go about the ways, they saw him and stood gazing
+on him, for indeed he was become as thin as a skewer, till the
+syndic of the market came up and drove them away, saying, 'I will
+gain Paradise through this poor fellow; for if they take him into
+the hospital, they will kill him in one day.' Then he made his
+servants carry him to his own house, where he spread him a
+new bed, with a new pillow, and said to his wife, 'Tend him
+faithfully.' 'Good,' answered she; 'on my head be it!' Then she
+tucked up her sleeves and heating some water, washed his hands
+and feet and body, after which she clothed him in a gown
+belonging to one of her slave-girls and gave him a cup of wine to
+drink and sprinkled rose-water over him. So he revived and
+moaned, as he thought of his beloved Cout el Culoub! and sorrows
+were sore upon him.
+
+Meanwhile, Cout el Culoub abode in duresse fourscore days, at the
+end of which time, the Khalif chancing one day to pass the place
+in which she was, heard her repeating verses and saying, 'O my
+beloved, O Ghanim, how great is thy goodness and how chaste is
+thy nature! Thou didst good to him who hath injured thee, thou
+guardedst his honour who hath violated thine, and didst protect
+the harem of him who hath despoiled thee and thine! But thou wilt
+surely stand, with the Commander of the Faithful, before the Just
+Judge and be justified of him on the day when the judge shall be
+the Lord of all (to whom belong might and majesty) and the
+witnesses the angels!' When the Khalif heard her complaint, he
+knew that she had been wrongfully entreated and returning to his
+palace sent Mesrour the eunuch for her. She came before him, with
+bowed head, tearful-eyed and mournful-hearted, and he said to
+her, 'O Cout el Culoub, I find thou taxest me with injustice and
+tyranny and avouchest that I have wronged him who did me good.
+Who is this that hath guarded my honour and whose honour I have
+violated, and who hath protected my harem, whilst I have enslaved
+his?' 'Ghanim ben Eyoub,' replied she; 'for by thy munificence, O
+Commander of the Faithful, he never approached me by way of
+lewdness nor with evil intent!' Then said the Khalif, 'There is
+no power and no virtue but in God! Ask what thou wilt of me, O
+Cout el Culoub, and it shall be granted to thee.' 'O Commander of
+the Faithful,' said she, 'I ask of thee my beloved Ghanim ben
+Eyoub.' The Khalif granted her prayer, and she said, 'O Commander
+of the Faithful, if I bring him to thee, wilt thou bestow me on
+him?' 'If he come,' replied the Khalif, 'I will bestow thee on
+him, the gift of a generous man who does not go back on his
+giving.' 'O Commander of the Faithful,' said she, 'suffer me to
+go in quest of him: it may be God will unite me with him.' 'Do
+what seemeth good to thee,' answered he. So she rejoiced and
+taking with her a thousand dinars, went out and visited the
+elders of the various religious orders and gave alms for Ghanim's
+sake. Next day she went to the merchants' bazaar and told the
+chief of the market what she sought and gave him money, saying,
+'Bestow this in alms on strangers.' The following week she took
+other thousand dinars and going to the market of the goldsmiths
+and jewellers, called the syndic and gave him the money, saying,
+'Bestow this in alms on strangers.' The syndic, who was none
+other than Ghanim's benefactor, looked at her and said, 'O my
+lady, wilt thou go to my house and look upon a strange youth I
+have there and see how goodly and elegant he is?' (Now this
+stranger was Ghanim, but the syndic had no knowledge of him and
+thought him to be some unfortunate debtor, who had been despoiled
+of his property, or a lover parted from his beloved.) When she
+heard his words, her heart fluttered and her bowels yearned, and
+she said to him, 'Send with me some one who shall bring me to thy
+house.' So he sent a little boy, who led her thither and she
+thanked him for this. When she reached the house, she went in and
+saluted the syndic's wife, who rose and kissed the ground before
+her, knowing her. Then said Cout el Culoub, 'Where is the sick
+man who is with thee?' 'O my lady,' replied she, weeping, 'here
+he is, lying on this bed. By Allah, he is a man of condition and
+bears traces of gentle breeding!' So Cout el Culoub turned and
+looked at him, but he was as if disguised in her eyes, being worn
+and wasted till he was become as thin as a skewer, so that his
+case was doubtful to her and she was not certain that it was he.
+Nevertheless, she was moved to compassion for him and wept,
+saying, 'Verily, strangers are unhappy, though they be princes in
+their own land!' And his case was grievous to her and her heart
+ached for him, though she knew him not to be Ghanim. Then she
+appointed him wine and medicines and sat by his head awhile,
+after which she mounted and returned to her palace and continued
+to make the round of the bazaars in search of Ghanim.
+
+Meanwhile Ghanim's mother and sister arrived at Baghdad and fell
+in with the charitable syndic, who carried them to Cout el Culoub
+and said to her, 'O princess of benevolent ladies, there be come
+to our city this day a woman and her daughter, who are fair of
+face and the marks of gentle breeding and fortune are manifest
+upon them, though they are clad in hair garments and have each
+a wallet hanging to her neck; and they are tearful-eyed and
+sorrowful-hearted. So I have brought them to thee, that thou
+mayest shelter them and rescue them from beggary, for they are
+not fit to ask alms, and if God will, we shall enter Paradise
+through them.' 'O my lord,' exclaimed she, 'thou makest me long
+to see them! Where are they? Bring them to me.' So he bade the
+eunuch bring them in; and when she looked on them and saw that
+they were both possessed of beauty, she wept for them and said,
+'By Allah, they are people of condition and show signs of former
+fortune.' 'O my lady,' said the syndic's wife, 'we love the poor
+and destitute, because of the recompense that God hath promised
+to such as succour them: as for these, belike the oppressors have
+done them violence and robbed them of their fortune and laid
+waste their dwelling-place.' Then Ghanim's mother and sister wept
+sore, recalling their former prosperity and contrasting it with
+their present destitute and miserable condition and thinking of
+Ghanim, whilst Cout el Culoub wept because they did. And they
+exclaimed, 'We beseech God to reunite us with him whom we desire,
+and he is none other than our son Ghanim ben Eyoub!' When Cout el
+Culoub heard this, she knew them to be the mother and sister of
+her beloved and wept till she lost her senses. When she revived,
+she turned to them and said, 'Have no care and grieve not, for
+this day is the first of your prosperity and the last of your
+adversity.' Then she bade the syndic take them to his own house
+and let his wife carry them to the bath and clothe them
+handsomely. And she charged him to take care of them and treat
+them with all honour, and gave him a sum of money. Next day, she
+mounted and riding to his house, went in to his wife, who rose
+and kissed her hands and thanked her for her goodness. There she
+saw Ghanim's mother and sister, whom the syndic's wife had taken
+to the bath and clothed afresh, so that the traces of their
+former condition were now plainly apparent. She sat awhile,
+conversing with them, after which she enquired for the sick
+youth, and the syndic's wife replied, 'He is in the same state.'
+Then said Cout el Culoub, 'Come, let us go and visit him.' So
+they all went into the room where he lay and sat down by him.
+Presently, Ghanim heard them mention the name of Cout el Culoub,
+whereupon his life came back to him, wasted and shrunken as he
+was, and he raised his head from the pillow and cried out, 'O
+Cout el Culoub!' 'Yes, O friend!' answered she. 'Draw near to
+me,' said he. So she looked at him earnestly and knew him and
+said to him, 'Surely thou art Ghanim ben Eyoub?' 'I am indeed
+he,' replied he. At this, she fell down in a swoon, and when
+Ghanim's mother and sister heard their words, they both cried
+out, 'O joy!' and swooned away. When they recovered, Cout el
+Culoub exclaimed, 'Praised be God who hath brought us together
+again and hath reunited thee with thy mother and sister!' Then
+she told him all that had befallen her with the Khalif and said,
+'I have made known the truth to the Commander of the Faithful,
+who believed me and approved of thee; and now he wishes to see
+thee.' Then she told him how the Khalif had bestowed her on him,
+at which he was beyond measure rejoiced, and she returned to the
+palace at once, charging them not to stir till she came back.
+There she opened the chest that she had brought from Ghanim's
+house, and taking out some of the money, carried it to the syndic
+and bade him buy them each four suits of the best stuffs and
+twenty handkerchiefs and what else they needed; after which she
+carried them all three to the bath and commanded to wash them and
+made ready for them broths and galingale and apple-water against
+their coming out. When they left the bath, they put on new
+clothes, and she abode with them three days, feeding them with
+fowls and broths and sherbet of sugar-candy, till their strength
+returned to them. After this, she carried them to the bath a
+second time, and when they came out and had changed their
+clothes, she took them back to the syndic's house and left them
+there, whilst she returned to the palace and craving an audience
+of the Khalif, told him the whole story and how her lord Ghanim
+and his mother and sister were now in Baghdad. When the Khalif
+heard this, he turned to his attendants and said, 'Bring hither
+to me Ghanim.' So Jaafer went to fetch him: but Cout el Culoub
+forewent him to the syndic's house and told Ghanim that the
+Khalif had sent for him and enjoined him to eloquence and
+self-possession and pleasant speech. Then she clad him in a
+rich habit and gave him much money, bidding him be lavish of
+largesse to the household of the Khalif, when he went in to him.
+Presently, Jaafer arrived, riding on his Nubian mule, and Ghanim
+met him and kissed the ground before him, wishing him long life.
+Now was the star of his good fortune risen and shone, and Jaafer
+took him and brought him to the Khalif. When he entered, he
+looked at the viziers and amirs and chamberlains and deputies and
+grandees and captains, Turks and Medes and Arabs and Persians,
+and then at the Khalif. Then he made sweet his speech and his
+eloquence and bowing his head, spoke the following verses:
+
+Long life unto a King, the greatest of the great, Still following
+     on good works and bounties without date!
+Glowering with high resolves, a fountain of largesse, For ever
+     full; 'tis said, of fire and flood and fate,
+That they none else would have for monarch of the world, For
+     sovran of the time and King in Kisra's gate.[FN#119]
+Kings, salutation-wise, upon his threshold's earth, For his
+     acceptance lay the jewels of their state;
+And when their eyes behold the glory of his might, Upon the
+     earth, in awe, themselves they do prostrate.
+This humbleness it is that profits them with thee And wins them
+     wealth and power and rank and high estate.
+Upon old Saturn's heights pitch thy pavilion, Since for thy
+     countless hosts the world is grown too strait,
+And teach the stars to know thine own magnificence, In kindness
+     to the prince who rules the starry state.
+May God with His consent for ever favour thee! For steadfastness
+     of soul and sense upon thee wait:
+Thy justice overspreads the surface of the earth, Till far and
+     near for it their difference abate.
+
+The Khalif was charmed with his eloquence and the sweetness of
+his speech and said to him, 'Draw near to me.' So he drew near
+and the Khalif said, 'Tell me thy story and expound to me thy
+case.' So Ghanim sat down and related to him all that had
+befallen him, from beginning to end. The Khalif was assured that
+he spoke the truth; so he invested him with a dress of honour and
+took him into favour. Then he said to him, 'Acquit me of the
+wrong I have done thee.' And Ghanim did so, saying, 'O Commander
+of the Faithful, the slave and all that is his belong to his
+lord.' The Khalif was pleased with this and bade set apart a
+palace for Ghanim, on whom he bestowed great store of gifts and
+assigned him bountiful stipends and allowances, sending his
+mother and sister to live with him; after which, hearing that his
+sister Fitneh was indeed a seduction[FN#120] for beauty, he
+demanded her in marriage of Ghanim, who replied, 'She is thy
+handmaid and I am thy servant.' The Khalif thanked him and gave
+him a hundred thousand dinars; then summoned the Cadi and the
+witnesses, who drew up the contracts of marriage between the
+Khalif and Fitneh on the one hand and Ghanim and Cout el Culoub
+on the other; and the two marriages were consummated in one and
+the same night. On the morrow, the Khalif ordered the history of
+Ghanim to be recorded and laid up in the royal treasury, that
+those who came after him might read it and wonder at the dealings
+of destiny and put their trust in Him who created the night and
+the day.
+
+
+
+End Of Vol. 1
+
+
+
+
+
+                     Footnotes to Volume 1.
+
+
+
+[FN#1] The visible and the invisible. Some authorities make it
+three worlds (those of men, of the angels and of the Jinn or
+genii), and ethers more.
+
+[FN#2] The Arabic word for island (jezireh) signifies also
+"peninsula," and doubtless here used in the latter sense. The
+double meaning of the word should be borne in mind, as it
+explains many apparent discrepancies in Oriental tales.
+
+[FN#3] A powerful species of genie. The name is generally (but
+not invariably) applied to an evil spirit.
+
+[FN#4] God on thee! abbreviated form of "I conjure thee (or call
+on thee) by God!"
+
+[FN#5] lit. bull
+
+[FN#6] Epithet of the ass and the cock. The best equivalent would
+be the French "Père L'Eveillé."
+
+[FN#7] i.e. stupid.
+
+[FN#8] The Arabic word for garden (bustan) applies to any
+cultivated or fertile spot, abounding in trees. An European would
+call such a place as that mentioned in the tale an oasis.
+
+[FN#9] in preparation for death.
+
+[FN#10] Jinn, plural of genie.
+
+[FN#11] A dinar (Lat. denarius) is a gold coin worth about 10s.
+
+[FN#12] i.e. I have nothing to give thee.
+
+[FN#13] A dirhem (Gr. drachma) is a silver coin worth about 6d.
+
+[FN#14] Afriteh, a female Afrit. Afrit means strictly an evil
+spirit; but the term is not unfrequently applied to benevolent
+Jinn, as will appear in the course of these stories.
+
+[FN#15] for his impatience.
+
+[FN#16] A Marid is a genie of the most powerful class. The name
+generally, though not invariably, denotes an evil spirit.
+
+[FN#17] Of Islam, which is fabled by the Muslims to have existed
+before Mohammed, under the headship, first of Abraham and
+afterwards of Solomon.
+
+[FN#18] From this point I omit the invariable formula which
+introduces each night, as its constant repetition is only
+calculated to annoy the reader and content myself with noting the
+various nights in the margin. {which will not be included in this
+electronic version}
+
+[FN#19] Probably the skin of some animal supposed to be a defence
+against poison.
+
+[FN#20] Literally, "eyes adorned with kohl:" but this expression
+is evidently used tropically to denote a natural beauty of the
+eye, giving it that liquid appearance which it is the object of
+the use of the cosmetic in question to produce.
+
+[FN#21] A fabulous tribe of giants mentioned in the Koran.
+
+[FN#22] The word here translated "eye" may also be rendered
+"understanding."  The exact meaning of the phrase (one of
+frequent recurrence in these stories) is doubtful.
+
+[FN#23] A fabulous range of mountains which, according to Muslim
+cosmography, encompasses the world.
+
+[FN#24] The prophet Mohammed.
+
+[FN#25] Various kinds of cakes and sweetmeats.
+
+[FN#26] The appearance of which is the signal for the
+commencement of the fast. All eyes being on the watch, it
+naturally follows that the new moon of this month is generally
+seen at an earlier stage than are those of the other months of
+the year, and its crescent is therefore apparently more slender.
+Hence the comparison.
+
+[FN#27] Caravanserai or public lodging-place.
+
+[FN#28] A kind of religious mendicant.
+
+[FN#29] One condition of which is that no violation of the
+ceremonial law (which prohibits the use of intoxicating liquors)
+be committed by the pilgrim, from the time of his assuming the
+pilgrim's habit to that of his putting it off; and this is
+construed by the stricter professors to take effect from the
+actual formation of the intent to make the pilgrimage. Haroun er
+Reshid, though a voluptuary, was (at all events, from time to
+time) a rigid observer of Muslim ritual.
+
+[FN#30] It is a frequent practice, in the East, gently to rub and
+knead the feet, for the purpose of inducing sleep or gradually
+arousing a sleeper.
+
+[FN#31] An expression frequent in Oriental works, meaning "The
+situations suggested such and such words or thoughts."
+
+[FN#32] Religious mendicants.
+
+[FN#33] Referring, of course, to the wine, which it appears to
+have been customary to drink warm or boiled (vinum coctum) as
+among several ancient nations and in Japan and China at the
+present day.
+
+[FN#34] Or chapter or formula.
+
+[FN#35] A play upon words is here intended turning upon the
+double meaning ("aloes" and "patience") of the Arabic word sebr.
+
+[FN#36] See note on p. 120. {Vol. 1, FN#35}
+
+[FN#37] Dar es Selam.
+
+[FN#38] A certain fixed succession of prayers and acts of
+adoration is called a rekah (or bow) from the inclination of the
+body that occurs in it. The ordained prayers, occurring five
+times a day, consist of a certain number of rekahs.
+
+[FN#39] i.e. "There is no god but God", etc.
+
+[FN#40] or sinister conjunction of the planets.
+
+[FN#41] Menkeleh, a game played with a board and draughtmen,
+partaking of the character of backgammon, draughts and
+fox-and-geese.
+
+[FN#42] A common Oriental substitute for soap.
+
+[FN#43] i.e. newly dug over.
+
+[FN#44] lit. rukh.
+
+[FN#45] A sweet-scented, variegated wood.
+
+[FN#46] The Arabs consider a slight division of the two middle
+teeth a beauty.
+
+[FN#47] The Egyptian privet; a plant whose flowers have a very
+delicious fragrance.
+
+[FN#48] A kind of mocking-bird.
+
+[FN#49] Of providence.
+
+[FN#50] Literally, "O my eyes!"
+
+[FN#51] A niche in the wall, which indicates the position the
+worshipper must assume, in order to face Mecca, in accordance
+with the ritual of prayer.
+
+[FN#52] cf. Germ. Zuckerpuppchen.
+
+[FN#53] i.e., moles, which are considered a great beauty in the
+East.
+
+[FN#54] A female genie.
+
+[FN#55] The unveiling or displaying of the bride before her
+husband is the culminating ceremony of a Muslim wedding of the
+better class. The bride is always displayed in the richest
+clothes and ornament that can be mustered or borrowed for the
+occasion.
+
+[FN#56] Moles?
+
+[FN#57] There is a play upon words in this line, founded upon the
+double meaning of the word shirk, sharing (or partnership) and
+polytheism or the attributing partners or equals to God (as in
+the Trinity), the one unpardonable sin of the Muslim religious
+code.
+
+[FN#58] Both afterwards Khalifs.
+
+[FN#59] i.e. God.
+
+[FN#60] lit "though lying save, yet truth saves and saves."
+
+[FN#61] On which she sits to be displayed.
+
+[FN#62] Placed there for the purpose of the ablution prescribed
+by the ceremonial law.
+
+[FN#63] Speaking, of course, ironically and supposing Bedreddin
+to be the hunchback.
+
+[FN#64] Bedreddin.
+
+[FN#65] Mosul is a town of Mesopotamia, some two hundred miles
+N.E. of Baghdad.  It is celebrated for its silk and muslin
+manufactories.  The Mosulis doubtless set the fashion in turbans
+to the inhabitants of Baghdad and Bassora, and it would appear
+from the Vizier's remark that this fashion was notably different
+from that followed at Cairo.
+
+[FN#66] Eye-powder.  The application of kohl to an infant's eyes
+is supposed to be beneficial.
+
+[FN#67] The North wind holds the same place in Oriental metaphor
+and poetry as does the West wind in those of Europe.
+
+[FN#68] Or kernel.
+
+[FN#69] lit. puppet or lay figure.
+
+[FN#70] Mole.
+
+[FN#71] A well-known legist and Cadi of Cufa in the seventh
+century.
+
+[FN#72] The Sun.
+
+[FN#73] The word melik 'king,' by changing the second (unwritten)
+vowel to e becomes melek 'angel'.
+
+[FN#74] A measure of about five bushels.
+
+[FN#75] The left hand is considered unclean, being used for
+certain ablutions, and it is therefore a breach of good manners
+to use it in eating.
+
+[FN#76] Between the two palaces.
+
+[FN#77] Apparently said in jest.
+
+[FN#78] i.e. do not forget me.
+
+[FN#79] A kind of edible arum.
+
+[FN#80] This is apparently some proverbial saying. The meaning
+appears to be, "Let every man be judge of his own case."
+
+[FN#81] That none might stare at or jostle her.
+
+[FN#82] About a hundred and twenty-five pounds.
+
+[FN#83] About five hundred pounds.
+
+[FN#84] i.e. of prime cost.
+
+[FN#85] The face of a mistress.
+
+[FN#86] It is a common Oriental figure to liken a languishing eye
+to a dying narcissus.
+
+[FN#87] One of the companions of Mohammed.
+
+[FN#88] Prater.
+
+[FN#89] Babbler.
+
+[FN#90] Gabbler.
+
+[FN#91] The Stone Mug.
+
+[FN#92] The Braggart.
+
+[FN#93] Noisy.
+
+[FN#94] Silent.
+
+[FN#95] Mohammed.
+
+[FN#96] Or attendant on the people in the bath.
+
+[FN#97] i.e. a stoker or man who keeps up the fire in the baths.
+
+[FN#98] A sort of sermon, which immediately follows, the noontide
+call to prayer on Fridays.
+
+[FN#99] Preliminary to the call to prayer.
+
+[FN#100] A.H. 623-640.
+
+[FN#101] A leather rug on which they make criminals kneel to be
+beheaded.
+
+[FN#102] It will be seen that the stories told by the barber do
+not account for the infirmities of all his brothers, as this
+would imply.
+
+[FN#103] A formula of refusal.
+
+[FN#104] lit. ladder; a sort of frame, like the triangles to
+which they bound criminals sentenced to be flogged.
+
+[FN#105] Dinars; 100,000 dirhems would be only five thousand
+dinars and it will be seen from the sequel that El Feshar
+proposed to spend half that amount upon the dowry and presents to
+the tire-women alone.
+
+[FN#106] i.e. try this.
+
+[FN#107] The moon is masculine in Arabic.
+
+[FN#108] Mohammed.
+
+[FN#109] Or Hajji, pilgrim; title given to those who have made
+the pilgrimage to Mecca.
+
+[FN#110] lit. the fundamentals are remembered.
+
+[FN#111] i.e. chanting the ninety-nine names of God or repeating
+the words "There is no god but God."
+
+[FN#112] i.e. a fair faced cup bearer.
+
+[FN#113] Generally, the floating ends of the turban. This was for
+the purpose of concealment and is a common practice with the
+Bedouins.
+
+[FN#114] The name Kerim means "generous."
+
+[FN#115] Or perhaps "cancelled."
+
+[FN#116] To simulate the customary evidence of virginity.
+
+[FN#117] Names of her waiting women.
+
+[FN#118] Of providence.
+
+[FN#119] i.e. monarch of Persia, the realm of the ancient Kisras
+or Chosroes.
+
+[FN#120] Fitneh.
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE BOOK OF THE THOUSAND NIGHTS AND ONE NIGHT, VOLUME I ***
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